John Hurt is the actor who has died the most on screen meeting his demise in 43 movies and TV shows. He is followed by Bela Lugosi who died 36 times. Sean Bean has the highest death per film ratio, though, at .32.
School Closing Numbers Pass Into History
School Closing Numbers Pass Into History — All things must pass. KYW has stopped broadcasting school closing numbers on snow days, which it had been doing since the 1960s. Listening for them was a well-remembered part of childhood for several generations. That’s right sonny, we had to listen to the radio to find out if we didn’t have school.
School Closing Numbers Pass Into History
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-11-17
What do The Professor from Gilligan’s Island and Curly from City Slickers have in common? The actors who played them — Russell Johnson and Jack Palance — were born in Luzerne County, Pa.
Both also served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. It was The Professor, though, that got the Purple Heart.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-11-17
Central Caucus Has Not Endorsed Val
Central Caucus Has Not Endorsed Val — This statement from Pennsylvania State Republican Central Caucus co-chairs Dick Stewart and Katherine Wood-Jacobs has been placed on Facebook and declares that their group has made no endorsement in the race for Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman despite claims made by the Val DiGiorgio camp that they have tapped him.
The other leading contender is respected attorney Lawrence Tabas who is general counsel of the state Republican Party.
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2017 4:11 PM
Dear State Committee Members,
Last night, an email was sent out deliberately misrepresenting the truth about yesterday’s Central Caucus meeting. It is such a complete distortion of the facts that we cannot stay silent.
When it comes to the statements made about the State Chair race, there was NO VOTE by the Central Caucus.
The vote was about whether to allow time to hear from Lawrence and Val yesterday or wait until our February caucus breakfast. The vote had nothing to do with showing support for one candidate or the other but only to allow them time to speak. Val’s email claiming victory is a misrepresentation of the facts.
We made the decision in mid-December when we called the meeting that the sole purpose of the meeting was to interview statewide judicial candidates and to have a straw ballot with respect to those candidates. Both candidates for chairman were advised that they would have an opportunity to address the caucus at our caucus meeting in February.
In order to consider business not called for in the notice of the meeting, the bylaws would have to be suspended. A vote was taken and it failed.
As it was, in order to give all of the judicial candidates a full and complete vetting we skipped lunch and still had to inconvenience the hotel by extending our stay past the hotels deadline for vacating the room.
We believe the most important task of the day was to find the best possible candidates for our statewide courts. We didn’t think we needed to change our long standing practice because it didn’t suit Val’s timetable.
The Central Caucus takes pride in being the first to vet the candidates for public office in our Commonwealth. We take our role very seriously and understand the importance of this year’s judicial elections.
The truth is simple. There was no straw poll and any statement inferring otherwise is just wrong.
Sincerely,
Dick Stewart & Katherine Wood-Jacobs
Central Caucus Co-Chairs
CIA Hoaxed Reportedly And This is Scary
CIA Hoaxed Reportedly And This is Scary — A denizen of the notorious internet chatboard 4chan figured he’d have some fun and cooked up a bizarre tale about Donald Trump doing something bizarrely obscene in a Russian hotel room once shared by President and Mrs. Obama.
He says he sent it off to NeverTrump Republican pundit Rick Wilson who not merely believed it but sent it to the CIA.
And they put it in an official classified intelligence report on Russian involvement in the election.
An internet joke. The CIA may have treated an internet joke as real intelligence.
If they told us a particular country had WMDs, should we trust them enough to invade?
President Trump is going to have some serious house cleaning to do with regard to our national “intelligence” services.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-10-17
Japanese vs Chinese — Japanese and Chinese have different linguist roots, at least as spoken. Japanese writing is based on Chinese.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-10-17
Wayne Langerholc Temptation Test
Wayne Langerholc Temptation Test
By Lowman S. Henry
As the saying goes you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That is very bad news for freshman State Senator Wayne Langerholc who arguably has made the worst first impression of any legislator in the history of Penn’s Woods.
Langerholc is one of three Republican senators who captured seats in last November’s election formerly held by Democrats. Their election has given the GOP a veto proof majority in the state senate helping to further tilt the scales in Harrisburg against the big spending policies of Governor Tom Wolf.
But the champagne corks were put back into the bottles when Langerholc decided to renege on a key campaign pledge even before being sworn into office. The result has been an uproar not seen since the rebellion over the middle-of-the-night pay raise a decade ago.
First some background: Langerholc began 2016 as a challenger to long time State Senator John Wozniak in a district sandwiched between Johnstown and Altoona. The district had been trending Republican giving rise to GOP hopes of a pick-up. Wozniak himself realized the hopelessness of his situation and bailed out of the race long before Election Day.
Early on Langerholc made a pledge to the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP), a Harrisburg-based pro-growth PAC that he would not accept a pension if elected. CAP generally requires such a pension declination of its candidates because it supports pension reform that would move away from the current defined benefits to a defined contribution (401k) style system. (By way of full disclosure I serve on the board of CAP PAC’s affiliated nonprofit.)
Having declined the pension and otherwise fitting the profile of a CAP candidate the PAC invested over $15,000 in Langerholc’s general election campaign including sending a glossy mailer to voters in his district highlighting his pledge not to take the state pension.
But then he did.
Langerholc’s reason for breaking his pledge to the taxpayers of his district is clear as mud. As the uproar over his apostasy went viral he offered various explanations. The wayward senator claimed he still supports pension reform and told a Harrisburg television station that he wants all legislators and newly hired state employees in a 401k-style retirement system.
So why not lead by example? Langerholc then offered up another statement employing pretzel logic that resembled John Kerry’s infamous “I voted for the bill before I voted against it” comment by claiming he had to sign up for the pension in order to eventually join a 401k-style system. To justify that position he cited provisions in proposed legislation.
But the bottom line is whatever the requirements will be for those currently in the state employees retirement system to move into a 401k-style plan the law will be written by the legislature which, for the moment at least, includes Senator Langerholc. He has quickly learned an old Harrisburg trick: claim to be captive of the very laws you write.
The initial ABC27 report on Langerholc’s pension pledge violation quickly spread with the senator’s subsequent interviews on the subject becoming more and more convoluted. His response included everything except an admission that he lapped up a perk which many consider to be unconstitutional in the first place. The result was not only a media firestorm, but a viral reaction on Facebook with the senator being called many names not suitable for recounting here.
This dust-up brings into focus the larger issue of candidates for legislative seats signing pledges or responding to candidate questionnaires. The vast majority of organizations from local TEA parties to those who employ professional lobbyists will ask candidates to take a position on issues of importance to them.
The political consulting class and many party leaders are more and more advising if not requiring their candidates to not sign pledges or to fill out questionnaires. They don’t want their clients taking stands on tough issues and likely will use the Langerholc kerfuffle as a prime example of what happens when you do.
But when it comes to pledges and questionnaires the solution is not for candidates to refuse to answer. The solution is actually very simple: tell us where you stand, tell us what you will do, and then keep your word.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.)
Wayne Langerholc Temptation Test
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-9-17
Microwaving Better — You’re better off microwaving your broccoli than boiling it.
Or stir frying it.
At least that’s what the government found when it measured nutrient loss using common cooking methods.
For the record, steaming was the best method with regard to keeping the good stuff.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-9-17 Microwaving Better
Kentucky Slams Union Corruption
Kentucky Slams Union Corruption — Kentucky, Saturday, Jan. 7, became the nation’s 27th right-to-work state when Gov. Matt Bevin signed a bill passed by the newly seated state legislature. November’s election put the GOP in control for the first time in almost a century.
“Right to work” means employees may refuse to pay union dues. This is a good thing. Mandatory dues do not advance the cause of the working person. Anyone not brain dead can see this considering what has been happening to unions over the last 50 years.
Mandatory union dues, however, do provide nice lifestyles for union bosses and fund the political campaigns of those who would like to put working people out of work. 
Kentucky last week end struck a big blow against corruption. Pennsylvania are you listening?
Kentucky Slams Union Corruption
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-7-17
The Great Snow of 1717 dropped 3 to 5 feet of the white stuff on Boston with some drifts reaching 25 feet.