THE END OF AN ERA
Yesterday in the Hill Section of Scranton, there was a memorial service for the late Governor William Scranton. The service itself reflected the late Governor’s life and style. To the point, optimistic, joyful and elegantly understated. Ecumenical it certainly was with prayers by Monsignor Joseph Quinn, Rabbi Louis Schwartz and Scranton’s former Pastor Fred Mulligan Junior. I mean the entire service reflected the eclectic nature of this ultimate renaissance man, Bill Scranton.
We learned that he had returned to school as a senior to study Italian Classics, we heard “Joy To the World” in the middle of August and mourners walked in to the cello and piano rendition of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “All That I Ask”. Perhaps the most poignant moment came when Scranton’s son, William Warren Scranton III detailed how the former Governor told him that living in a small room in a health care facility next to his beloved wife Mary made him the happiest he has ever been. Telling for a man of the world who eschewed elective office to devote more time to his family and causes he believed in.
Scranton III ended his eulogy by admitting he was stumped as to how he would end his tribute to his father. He recounted how he met a neighbor when he was walking his dogs who told him that she was a worker at Allied Services. She told the younger Scranton when the former Governor went to the gym there, he made everyone feel like a million bucks looking him dead in the eyes and telling him his father was a true gentleman.
And you get the impression that Bill Scranton, the former Congressman, Governor, Ambassador, business mogul and renaissance man….would have been just fine if that is the only thing any mourner said about him yesterday.
HERE COME THE LIES
If you are listening to the radio, you’ll hear an ad regarding the Affordable Health Care Act and how Americans should weigh the risk factors of the new law. A “mom” talks about how her child needed special medical care and how she is sooooooo worried that Obama Care will change that. She talks about how it might cost more and that Americans should look into the risk factors of Obama Care. She obviously is stating a correct scenario, she had health care coverage and it worked for her family. Good for her. The ad implies that the situation she stated is at risk.WRONG.
Let’s go over the “risk” factors of Obama Care:
Obama Care does not replace private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.
The Fact is ObamaCare gives 47 million women access to preventive health services and makes it illegal to charge women different rates than men.
ObamaCare gives seniors access to cheaper drugs, free preventive care, reforms Medicare Advantage, and closes the Medicare Part D 'donut hole. The AARP agrees, costs won't rise because of ObamaCare, if anything, the improvements to the system will decrease the average cost of health care for seniors.
1 in 2 Americans have a "pre-existing" condition they could be denied health insurance for. ObamaCare chips Away at pre-existing conditions until 2017 when there are no more pre-existing conditions for anyone, including high-risk customers.
54 million Americans with private health insurance now have access to preventive services with no cost sharing due to the new minimum standards of ObamaCare.
ObamaCare doesn't ration health care; it protects consumers from the health care rationing insurance companies have been doing for ages.
ObamaCare reduces the growth in healthcare spending. The current $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare system costs almost $9k a year for every man, woman, and child.
Starting OCT 2013, insurance companies will compete to be your healthcare provider via a health insurance exchange pool known as the Affordable Health Insurance Exchange. Americans earning below 400% of the Federal Poverty Level maybe eligible for cost assistance. Make sure you realize what you are reading in the last line. The ad conveys the message that if you try to make Health Care available to the working poor, the well to do will get screwed. Guess who the ad was paid by?
A group called Americans for Prosperity or better known as “I got mine, I don’t ever care if you get yours”.
FIORUCCI NOT GUILTY
Former City Councilman, in that huge metropolis of Sugar Notch, Mario Fiorucci was charged with trespassing this past spring. A little background. Fiorucci self publishes a newsletter that he hand carries to residents of the borough. In it is an array of facts regarding the Borough and how citizens can better utilize their local government, such as it is. Fiorucci was charged with leaving a flyer on Paul Casey’s porch. The cops or cop (I’m not sure how big the ‘Notch police force is but I’m betting 5-0 has nothing to fret about!) charged Fiorucci with Defiant Trespassing. Casey brought the event up at the Sugar Notch Council meeting saying Fiorucci was trespassing. Casey said he told Fiorucci not to put a flyer on his porch. Fiorucci apparently forgot, left it on the guy’s house, went back to retrieve it when he was confronted by Casey. Casey said that even though he did not have a No Trespassing sign on his property, he felt that by telling Fiorucci he didn’t want the newsletter, that the implication was there that Fiorucci would be violating the law. Trespassing. Apparently Casey thinks everyone in town should be a mind reader.Frank Sorick of the Wilkes Barre Independent Gazaette reported that Fiorucci was found not guilty. So Fiorucci who was performing a community service gets crucified and Paul Casey brings new, extreme meaning to the old man phrase, “Get Off My Lawn”. The worst part of all of this is it was a news story. Even on TV! Imagine an out of town business looking to relocate here and seeing this Gomer/Goober town in action! Sad.
MEDIA MATTERS
ECTV
Rusty Fender is scheduled to fill in an co-host for ECTV Live for the week on August 19th while David DeCosmo hosts a tour into Canada. He and Tom Munley will welcome Keith Williams to the program to talk about all the events at the annual "Wally Fest" at Lake Wallenpaupack! ECTVLive is broadcast daily on Comcast TV Ch19 at Noon and Midnight. There are also selected showings at 6pm.
SNEDEKER @ 20
Can you believe Joe Snedeker has been cavorting for more than 80 seasons of wacky weather. This week Snedeker celebrates 20 years as Channel 16’s Meteorologist. He is vastly entertaining, informative and attracts viewers with his down to earth style and honesty. A quick story here, when I was undergoing treatment for cancer in 2009, Medical Oncology Associates would always have on WNEP's Morning programs. I always noticed that when Snedeker came on the air, the glum sad faces turned into laughs and smiles. That is his true legacy and contribution. Also, his daily lectures on how precious life is resonates. Joe does more for people than he will ever know. We wish him another twenty.
SUNDAY MAGAZINE
SUE HENRY’S SPECIAL EDITION
This week on Special Edition, it's an interview with Dallas Adams, a San Francisco bike shop owner who believes the inspiration for screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz's Rosebud in "Citizen Kane" was a bike stolen from in front of the Osterhout Library in Wilkes-Barre. Also, Nezka Pfiefer, curator of the Everhart Museum, discusses the creation of "Sidewalk Surfing," an exhibition paying tribute to skateboarding which includes contributions from local collectors and an interview with the fraud analyst for First Keystone Community Bank in Berwick about scams involving fraudulent checks that are targeted toward senior citizens, costing some thousands. Special Edition is on at 2pm Saturdays and 7pm Sundays on WILK AM and FM.
