2010 March » PureBunkum

Powell’s Boat Sets Sail

Local

Mar 312010

Listeners of Sue Henry’s radio talk show had some fun Wednesday morning re-naming attorney Robert Powell’s yacht, which he forfeited last year after pleading guilty in the “Kids for Cash” scandal.

Powell admitted paying former Luzerne County judges, Mike Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, a quarter-million dollars for sending juveniles to his new detention center.

Bank of America, which held a lien on the 56-foot yacht, sold it, The TImes Leader reported on Wednesday.

Powell, an attorney, had named his yacht, Reel Justice. Since Powell was a lawyer, that may at one time have been a clever name. But in retrospect, it was more of a mockery of justice. Darn, we should have called that name into Sue’s show. Maybe someone did.

Callers really got into Henry’s request for names, and it was fun hearing so many people wanting to take part.

Our personal favorite was The HMS Pinafore-feit. This caller was obviously a Gilbert and Sullivan fan.

Other callers offered these names: Sunken Treasure, Fishin’ for Contrition, Bait and Switch, Let’s Make A Deal, and Squids for Cash, another good one.

We didn’t call in, but we’d like to play. In fact, we have three names.

As a tribute to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which indicted Powell, Conahan, Ciavarella and others, we’d like to re-name the yacht, “Reel ‘Em In,” or how about, “Catch of the Day.”

All things considered, Reel Justice was never a fitting name for Powell’s yacht. ”Bottom Feeders” was.

- PureBunkum

Did One Judge Help Another? Just Asking.

Local

Mar 312010

It’s good to know that the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice plans to question local businessman and political powerbroker Patrick Judge next month, because he needs to explain a few things.

Judge was a member of the state Judicial Conduct Board when a complaint was filed there against former Luzerne County judge, Michael Conahan, who is facing racketeering, bribery and mail fraud charges related to what’s being called the “Kids for Cash” scandal.

Conahan and Judge were business partners. This is very significant because the Conduct Board, after receiving the complaint against Conahan, shelved it. At the time, the board was busy going after another county judge, Ann Lokuta, a sworn enemy of Conahan’s. Judge was on the board at that time too.

Lokuta has claimed, rather convincingly, that Conahan engineered the case against her. He testified against her, that we know, as did his co-defendant in the “Kids” case, Mark Ciavarella.

Lokuta, who wasn’t exactly the darling of the Luzerne County Courthouse, also lost her pension, but is fighting to get it back along with her job.

The JCB’s case against Lokuta was rife with conflicts of interest. Aside from Judge’s business ties with Conahan, the presiding judge of the Judicial Discipline Board, which heard the case and then ousted Lokuta from the county bench, was Attorney Richard Sprague. Sprague at one time had represented one Robert Powell, who also had business ties to Conahan. Powell admitted paying off Conahan and Ciavarella for sending juveniles to his new detention center. He claims he was a victim of extortion.

Clearly, the deck seemed stacked against Lokuta. However, the credibility of our entire justice system is at stake here, so we need to know exactly what role Pat Judge played in all of this. You have to wonder why he was on a board which investigates ethical abuses by judges in the first place. What’s his expertise in that field, anyway?

Maybe it was just sheer coincidence that Pat Judge sat on a board around the time a complaint was filed against his business partner and then was subsequently set aside, but one filed against the business partner’s nemesis was pursued with a vengeance.

Or, maybe it wasn’t.

- Betty Roccograndi

Is This One “Sticky” Too?

Local

Mar 302010

Last week, Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said Al Flora Jr. working as the interim county chief public defender and as a private attorney for former county judge, Mark Ciavarella, creates at the very least “a sticky situation.” That may very well be.

But, what do you call it if the county hires a local law firm to handle tax claims when one of its partners was just appointed to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas?

Two firms are being considered to replace the county’s tax claim office. One is from Norristown and one is the law firm of Wetzel, Caverly, Shea, Phillips & Rodgers, of Wilkes-Barre.

We’re quite certain that attorney Lewis Wetzel, of that law firm, is now the Honorable Judge Lewis Wetzel.

Sticky? Or problematic?

- Betty Roccograndi

When’s Our Turn, Congressman?

Local, National

Mar 302010

Finally. U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski will discuss the new health care reform bill, which recently passed the House of Representatives on a partisan vote of 219 Democrats. He was one of the 219.

The downside is that Kanjorski will speak to only 100 people, and they have to pay to hear him. Kanjorski will address the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce’s Red Carpet Breakfast Wednesday at the Keystone Job Corps Center in Drums.

Chamber members will be charged $15 and non-members will pay $20. Only 100 can attend.

We’re sure our congressman will follow up this red carpet gathering with a town hall meeting where those of us whom this bill actually impacts can ask him some questions. We know, he refused to hold any last summer before the bill was passed. But we’re going to give Kanjo the benefit of the doubt that he’ll invite us to meet with him now. After all, he must have had good reason to vote Yes on a bill that a majority of Americans did not want; otherwise he wouldn’t have, right?

If President Barack Obama can hit the road trying to sell this bill after the fact, we’re confident our congressman will also.

Watch for the announcement in your local paper – next to the one where he accepts his opponent Corey O’Brien’s invitation to debate him before the May primary.

See you at the town hall meeting.

- Betty Roccograndi

For Obama, Coming Together Means Dividing A Nation

Local, National, Today's BULLSH*T

Mar 282010

This is “what’s possible when we can come together to overcome the politics of the moment, pushing back on special interests and look beyond the next election to do what’s right for the next generation,” President Barack Obama said Saturday, patting himself on the back for getting through a new health care entitlement.

This drivel epitomizes the essence of PureBunkum.

Coming together, for Obama, is when 219 members of Congress – Democrats only – pass a bill most Americans made clear they did not want. It’s passing a bill most members of Congress likely did not read. It’s passing a bill that squeaked through via coercion and bribes.

Pushing back on special interests? Does he mean the big labor unions? Obama planned to tax “cadillac” health care benefits, which most union members have, to pay for insuring 32 million more people. But that was until the union honchos warned him, don’t you dare. Okay, man, the president responded and then decided to tax, instead, unearned income, namely from those who work and save and invest in the future.

As far as doing what’s right for the next generation, what he’s doing is saddling the next generation with an avalanche of unfunded mandates and skyrocketing deficits.

Yeah, we came together.

Times Leader columnist Kevin Blaum, a former Democratic state lawmaker, was tickled pink that our local representatives came together in support of the bill. Blaum waxed poetic about Obama’s victory.

“The right of all Americans to health insurance now imbues the very tissue of our living, breathing and inexorable American Pageant,” Blaum wrote in his Sunday column.

He then gave a high-five to the “Honorable Christopher Carney, Paul Kanjorski, Bob Casey (Robert for those of us not chummy with the senator) and Arlen Specter” – gentlemen all.

Democrats all. Foot soldiers all.

- PureBunkum

Why, Paul, Why?

Local, National

Mar 272010

Everyone must be wondering this weekend why Kanjo doesn’t like Chris Carney.

Carney had a shot at a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, but Kanjo, in a secret ballot, reportedly voted instead for a Bucks County Congressman, The Times Leader learned from an anonymous ”congressional source.”

What did Chris DO to Kanjo?, everybody must also be wondering.

The TL said, “A request to speak to Kanjorski was not immediately accepted.” And there is a very good liklihood a similar request later would also not be accepted. That’s our Kanjo.

Carney wanted this seat, which his two predecessors in the 10th Congressional District, Don Sherwood and Joe McDade, held. But Kanjorski put the kibosh on that aspiration.

Why Kanjorski would reject a colleague from Northeastern PA from sitting on the very influential Appropriations Committee is anyone’s guess. Maybe he wasn’t thinking straight after throwing Sallie Mae under the bus and thumbing his nose at his constituents by voting for Barack Obama’s and Nancy Pelosi’s health care reform bill.

It didn’t take very long, not that it ever does, for Kanjo’s opponent in this spring’s primary election, the “nice, young man,” from Lackawanna County, to weigh in.

Corey O’Brien, through his campaign spokesman Justin Carroll, called Kanjorski’s vote against Carney an act of betrayal. Carroll said, “that decision could cost our region millions of dollars in lost opportunities.” Well, that may be a slight exaggeration. But he continued, “To deny our region a voice on the Appropriations Committee when we need it the most is a public affront to the people of our region.”

That may be true, but the bigger affront to the people of our region was Kanjorski and Carney voting for a health care bill most of their constituents did not want.

In this year’s primary and general elections, we’ll see how their secret ballot voting plays out.

- PureBunkum

Million-Dollar Baby

Local

Mar 262010

By Betty Roccograndi

Wilkes-Barre City taxpayers are stuck with a $1-million bill, and it’s not money well-spent.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but let’s start with the city’s police officers who cried the blues years ago when the city relieved them of their duties to read parking meters and collect any amounts due.

That’s THEIR job, the cops protested after the city tried to save money by hiring civilians to perform a task a trained monkey could do.

Unfair, protested the police officers’ union, which filed a grievance arguing that the city was taking work away from the police. The union apparently wasn’t interested in having more time to fight crime and protect the citizenry. Isn’t that their main purpose, after all? No, the only thing they were interested in was protecting their turf.

So that greed set off an explosion, which resulted in a costly lawsuit and ultimately a 15-mill tax increase.

The city settled with the cops by giving each of them a lump sum payment of $1,300 in 2002 and 2003 and $1,500 for each year thereafter, The Times Leader reported. Who knew that reading parking meters could prove so lucrative?

And so much for trying to save the city money.

Then to make matters worse, the city firefighters’ union stepped in, demanding their share. I know what you’re thinking. Firefighters don’t read meters so why should they benefit here? But they have a parity clause in their contract. Whatever the police get, they get too, and vice-versa.

So the firefighters union did what all unions do because they know they will win. They went to arbitration. And sure enough, the union hit the jackpot when the arbitrators predictably ruled in the firefighters’ favor: $13,100 for each firefighter to make up for their overdue salary increases from 2002, or an estimated cost to city taxpayers of $1-million , the TL reported.

The city spent two years fighting this ruling. One can only imagine what two years’ worth of legal fees have also cost Wilkes-Barre taxpayers.

Was it even worth fighting since a contract is a contract and some administrative bonehead agreed to parity clauses in the first place, even though firefighters and police officers perform totally different jobs?

But it gets worse. The lawyer for the firefighters’ union said, not so fast. We want six-percent interest on our $1-million award from 2008. Yes, they want an additional $60,000.

One day soon, labor unions and their demands are going to break the backs of taxpayers. And the wells will run dry. Teachers refuse to pay a reasonable portion, if any at all, of their “cadillac” health care plans. Luzerne County union members demand on-call pay to pick up the phone after hours and when police officers settle a grievance they filed, firefighters are in line for their cut even though the issue has nothing to do with them.

It’s time for taxpayers to make a few demands of their own when these contracts come up for renewal.

He’s There To Lend A Helping Hand

National

Mar 262010

First we bailed out the banks, then we lent a helping hand to Freddie & Fannie. Along the way, AIG and GM came knocking. And, now, there are people who can’t pay their mortgages.

Calling President Barack Obama to the rescue. Yes, Mr. Generous wants to use TARP money to help out people who can’t or simply won’t pay their mortgages.

While I feel bad for people who have lost their jobs and can’t pay their mortgages, they knew what they were doing when they signed that promissory note.

When the banks paid the TARP money back, it should have immediately been returned to the taxpayers and reduced our national debt.

But Obama has other plans for it, and he continues to pick and choose who gets help and who doesn’t.

Why should anyone pay the debts they promised to when they signed on the dotted line when the Chosen One is so willing to stick it to the rest of us who do?

The Plumber

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

National

Mar 262010

The Congressional Budget Office is said to be bi-partisan. Maybe it is, but who cares because it can’t count.

This office is almost always wrong when it comes to budget deficits. We can’t really blame them for that since our politicians inevitably spend more than they say they will.

This year Social Security will pay out more than it takes in. What happened to that lock box Al Gore was talking about before he invented the Internet? Well, the bi-partisan CBO said this wouldn’t happen until 2016. Oops!

The CBO also miscalculated another entitlement, Medicare, by a multiple of 80. That’s right, it’s 80 times more expensive than they projected. Yikes!

Now the Democrats are touting the CBO’s estimates that the new health care reform bill will save us $132 billion over the next 10 years and over $1-trillion the following decade. Uh Huh!

Why should we have any doubt? After all, the Congressional Budget Office is bi-partisan, so there’s no reason to worry.

- PureBunkum

You’re Concerned? You’re A Little Late

National

Mar 262010

Large companies like AT&T and Caterpillar are now saying that the new health care reform law will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. One has to wonder what this means for jobs.

Well, Nancy, it looks as though we may lose jobs, not create the instant 400,000 new ones that you crowed about.

The bigger question is: Where were these companies a few weeks ago when the health care debate was raging?

Shareholders should be outraged that these firms didn’t speak up and join the public debate. They had to know weeks ago what this bill would mean. Maybe they were intimidated by or supported the Obama administration. It’s hard to figure out.

One thing that is becoming obvious, though, is that this health care law is going to cost a a lot more than these companies and the general public now realize.

Stay tuned!

The Plumber

I’m So Sorry

National

Mar 262010

Have you hugged your kids today?

Now that the heated rhetoric regarding health care reform is starting to die down, I would like to relate a story.

The night the House passed the health care legislation, I got a call from my 20-year- old daughter who is away at college. After she said, “Hi Dad,” I went on a 10- minute rant about how bad I thought this legislation is. Before I handed the phone to her mother, I told her I was sorry. I believe what makes us a great nation is that every generation leaves the generation that follows in greater shape. Not this time.

Our parents sacrificed for us and did what they could so we could have a better life, just as their parents did for them. But what are the socialists in Washington doing? They are spreading the wealth around, of course.

It’s our kids who will be forced to pick up the tab for the Social Security and Medicare entitlements to the tune of more than $100 trillion in unfunded mandates. Click onto ”Your Children’s Legacy” at the bottom right.

This health care debacle really disgusts me. The Chosen One and his ultra liberal side kick from San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi, want to take from people of means and give to people of lesser means. This health care legislation does that through taxes and, eventually, through higher health care premiums.

As the socialists level out the playing field for everybody, the young adults, who are generally healthier than older people and therefore have cheaper health care insurance premiums, will one day pay much more to take care of the dead beats in their parents’ generation. It is inevitable!

ObamaCare will not only take your money but will also force your kids to pay for the 32 million uninsured. If they don’t buy insurance, the President of the United States will fine them. Elections do have consequences.

I’m sorry, honey!

The Plumber

GRrrrrrrrrrr!

National

Mar 252010

I'll Get You, My Pretty

He likely gritted his teeth, winced, then reluctantly signed the promised Executive Order banning federal funds from paying for abortions. There was no fanfare. No 22 pens. No ear-to-ear grin. And no television cameras.

No, President Barack Obama inked this order – grudgingly promised in order to push through his health care overhaul bill - behind closed doors. Only a handful of anti-abortion human props witnessed the shallow event.

One would have thought that Obama was signing a death warrant, something he clearly found repugnant but was forced to do for the sake of political expediency.

An Associated Press story led with “Anything but jubilant,” the president “awkardly” kept his promise. The AP noted Obama was not beaming. He was probably thinking, I’ll get you, Stupak.

Vicki Kennedy wasn’t there as she was for the ballyhooed, 22-pen signing of the new health care law, which Obama will now hit the road trying to convince an unconvinced American public that it is good for what ails them.

And speaking of Mrs. Kennedy, why was she even at the White House? To rub salt in the American public’s wound? Massachusetts voters did the unthinkable when they replaced her late husband, the ultra-liberal “Lion of the Senate,” Ted Kennedy, with Republican state Sen. Scott Brown, who vowed to be the 41st vote against this bill.

Unlike the passage of the health care power grab, which Vice-President Joe Biden called a “big f*****ng deal,” the Executive Order that taxpayers will not have to pay for abortions, apparently, for Obama, was nothing more than a “big f*****ng” pain in the ass.

- PureBunkum

Potty Mouth

National

Mar 232010

Biden is right. This IS a big f*****ng deal!

“The Secretary shall……” is listed 2,000 times in the new health care reform bill. Maybe she’ll allow that procedure; maybe she won’t.

You bet this is a big f*****ng deal!

15,000 IRS agents will fine your ass if you don’t buy insurance.

You bet this is a big f*****ng deal!

Four federal agencies will oversee this big f*******ng deal.
You’ll pay a 10-percent tax to tan your ass. Botox is reportedly exempt. Thanks, Nancy.
It took millions and millions of dollars in bribes to pass this big f******ng deal.
The plan calls for $500-billion in Medicare cuts.

Yes, this is definitely a big f*****ng deal! Ask our senior citizens.

FDR gave us the New Deal. And, now, Obama, Biden and Pelosi gave us the Big F*****ng Deal. THANKS!

-PureBunkum

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Strikes Again

PB-Ometer, Today's BULLSH*T

Mar 232010

“ACORN has faced a series of well-orchestrated, relentless, well-funded right wing attacks that are unprecedented since the McCarthy era. The videos were a manufactured, sensational story that led to rush to judgment and an unconstitutional act by Congress.” – Bertha Lewis, the CEO of the militant-sounding Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a group near and dear to President Barack Obama’s heart.

ACORN may be forced to disband because of a vast right-wing conspiracy witch hunt.

Ms. Bertha is mad because two young videographers, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, secretly filmed ACORN workers giving them tips on how to get subsidized housing to conduct their business. Congress cut off its funding as a result. There were no reports on whether Obama put up a fight.

ACORN, a strong proponent of universal health care, is also known for registering hundreds of thousands of low-income workers to vote, said Tuesday’s Associated Press story. The organizers have also faced numerous allegations of vote fraud over time. They reportedly registered one Mickey Mouse to vote in the 2008 presidential election. PureBunkum couldn’t confirm as of press time whether ACORN also signed up Winnie the Pooh as a Democrat.

Oh, Bertha!

-PureBunkum

Kanjorski And Carney Side With Their Party, Not With The People

Local, National

Mar 222010

Just as expected, Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney voted for the Health Care Reform package. I’ll give Kanjorski this, though, he could have voted No once Obama gave the Stupak anti-abortion group an “Executive Order” that there would be no federal funding for abortions.

But why was it even necessary to issue an “Executive Order? Didn’t Obama say taxpayer-funded abortion was not in the bill? Then again, this guy says a lot of things. We think Obama threw the Stupak gang a bone, allowing them to take cover. Let’s see how that turns out.

Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney never intended to vote against the Democratic Party’s leadership. Well, Paul and Chris, you both have a lot of explaining to do. You voted against the Catholic Bishops. You, Paul, gambled Sallie Mae in the process - a company which claims it may have to lay off 20% of its workforce. Okay, you told The Citizens’ Voice that Education Secretary Arne Duncan promised “to use all of the tools within his authority” to save the local Sallie Mae jobs. We’ll be watching to see if Arne comes through or whether you were played like so many others.

And most importantly, Mr. Kanjorski and Mr. Carney, you voted against the will of the people!

I’m sure we’ll get some answers at your next town hall meetings. Oh, my mistake. For Paul, it would be his first town hall meeting. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to be scheduled.

The Plumber

Older Entries

PureBunkum

Powell’s Boat Sets Sail

Did One Judge Help Another? Just Asking.

Is This One “Sticky” Too?

When’s Our Turn, Congressman?

For Obama, Coming Together Means Dividing A Nation

Why, Paul, Why?

Million-Dollar Baby

He’s There To Lend A Helping Hand

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

You’re Concerned? You’re A Little Late

I’m So Sorry

GRrrrrrrrrrr!

Potty Mouth

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Strikes Again

Kanjorski And Carney Side With Their Party, Not With The People

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