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Q: opening a large text file on Label or Text widget in tkinter I'm working a tkinter application, i want to display a read only text file, whenever i add the text file using label or text, the file is not oranised at all
I want to open a text file in Label or Text(which ever works), but what I keep getting is a text that skids beyond my window frame. I added the scroll button, it's still doing the same thing. I want to the text to be well ordered in a specified Label/Text widgets(read only). thank you in advance.
from tkinter import *
root = Tk()

text_file = open("C:\\Users\stone's\Desktop\\works.txt")
text1 = text_file.read()
for i in text1:
       if len(text1)==50:
               ## MOVE TO NEXT LINE
                Label(root, text="%s" % ('\n'),
                      font=('Bradley Hand ITC', '25', 'bold'),
bg='#c9e3c1').pack()
       else:
               ## DON'T MOVE OVER TO NEXT LINE
                Label(root, text="%s" % (i), font=('Bradley Hand ITC',
'25', 'bold'
                                                   ),
bg='#c9e3c1').pack(side = LEFT)
        ## ALL I'M TRYING TO DO IS TO SHOW A TEXT ON A LABEL APPROPRIATELY
       ## WITHOUT THE TEXTS SKIDDING OUT OF THE WINDOW FRAME
root.mainloop()

A: As said in the answers in this question the question is for python 2 however the comment I linked shows it for python 3 so you can make the text widget readonly.
As a side note: labels are for displaying small pieces of text as labels for other elements not displaying a whole file read only.

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Posted on October 13, 2015 January 29, 2018 by ALPHA BLOG
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE UNITED STATES NAVY
Today we are on to the U.S. Navy, the third branch in our Armed Forces Week series. In 1775, the Continental Congress established the Continental Navy, a fleet of armed ships commissioned to fight British ships during the Revolutionary War. The Navy was disbanded after the Revolutionary War, but re-established by Congress through the Naval Act of 1794.
Reflecting its original mission to stop piracy and protect trade, the Navy strives to "maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas." Today, the U.S. Navy operates aircraft carriers, assault ships, submarines, destroyers and other powerful warships.
Here are some interesting facts about the U.S. Navy:
Ray Mabus is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy and leads America's Navy and Marine Corps. Secretary Mabus is responsible for an annual budget in excess of $170 billion and leadership of almost 900,000 people.
The U.S. Navy has 327,099 active duty servicemen, 108,820 ready reserves, 272 deployable battleships and more than 3700 aircraft.
The National Museum of the U.S. Navy was established in 1961 and opened to the public in 1963. Located in Washington, DC it is one of 14 Navy museums throughout the country. It is the only one that presents an overview of U.S. naval history. Permanent and temporary exhibitions commemorate the Navy's wartime heroes and battles as well as its peacetime contributions in exploration, diplomacy, navigation and humanitarian service.
Did you know that in the Navy a ship's toliet is referred to as "the head"? The use of the term dates to as early as 1708. "Head" in a nautical sense referring to the bow or fore part of a ship dates to 1485. The ship's toilet was typically placed at the head of the ship near the base of the bowsprit, where splashing water served to naturally clean the toilet area.
On March 3, 1819 an act of Congress formally placed the responsibility for assigning names to the Navy's ships in the hands of the Secretary of the Navy, a prerogative which he still exercises.
In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive order that established the convention for naming ships that we use today. "In order that there shall be uniformity in the matter of designating naval vessels, it is hereby directed that the official designation of vessels of war, and other vessels of the Navy of the United States, shall be the name of such vessel, preceded by the words, United States Ship, or the letters U.S.S., and by no other words or letters."
Three popular Navy dishes from 1958 include Baking Powder Biscuits, Creamed Sliced Dried Beef and Navy Bean Soup.
The U.S. Navy played an important role in the NASA space program. Not only were some astronauts naval officers, but the Navy also supplied ships and helicopter squadrons used in the recovery of astronauts and equipment, and UDT frogmen who were the first to reach capsules after splashdown.
TheSEAL Team Six. DEVGRU and its Army counterpart, Delta Force, are the United States military's primary counter-terrorism units. Although DEVGRU was created as a maritime counter-terrorism unit, it has become a multi-functional special operations unit with several roles that include high-risk personnel/hostage extractions and other specialized missions.
The Naval Academy prepares young men and women to become professional officers of competence, character, and compassion in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Naval Academy students are midshipmen on active duty in the U.S. Navy. The scenic Naval Academy campus, known as the Yard, is located in historic Annapolis, Md., where the Severn River flows into the Chesapeake Bay. With its combination of early 20th-century and modern buildings, the Naval Academy is a blend of tradition and state-of-the-art technology that exemplifies today's Navy and Marine Corps.
The United States Navy has two mottos, one official and one unofficial. The official is "Semper Fortis," and the unofficial "Non Sibi Sed Patriae." The first means "ever strong," the second "not for self but for country."
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Newt Gingrich Suggests Engaging More Directly With Rest Of 'Axis Of Evil' (VIDEO)
By Jeremy Binckes
UPDATED Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich last week criticized the United States for not engaging more forcefully with other countries besides Iraq that President Georgw W. Bush had identified as the "Axis of Evil."
"I believe he was right but in fact could not operationalize what he said," Gingrich said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute. "That is, there was an Axis of Evil, Iran, Iraq, North Korea. Well we're one out of three. And people ought to think about that. If Bush was right in January of 2002 -- and by the way virtually the entire Congress gave him a standing ovation when he said it -- then why is it that the other two parts of the Axis of Evil are still visibly, cheerfully making nuclear weapons? And it's because we've stood at brink, looked over and thought, 'too big a problem.'"
Separately in an interview with Newsmax, Gingrich said that the "secular elites" haven't taken seriously "threats to America," and that Elena Kagan has "no real appreciation of the danger of Sharia," because she "welcomed Saudi money" while serving as the Dean of Harvard University Law School.
"Radical Islamists are people who want to impose on the rest of us Sharia, which is a form of medieval law which would fundamentally end America as we've known it," Gingrich said. "There are disturbing signs that some places ... you see judges succumb to this line of reasoning." He called on "isolating and defeating radicals," while "modernizing" moderates.
The former House Speaker also told Newsmax that the planned mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan should be stopped. He suggested that, were he president, he would "declare the area around the World Trade Center a national military battlefield because that was a battle and it part of a real war."
WATCH: Newt Gingrich speak about the American reaction to Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech, (from
WATCH: Newt Gingrich's interview with Newsmax:
Jeremy Binckes
Jeremy Binckes is an intern for Huff Politics. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in international relations, double majoring in political science and a minor in journalism. He can be reached at jbinckes@huffingtonpost.com
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HAWAII REPERATORY THEATRE
Hannah Schauer Galli and Rob Duval star in the Hawaii Reperatory Theatre's production of "Inventing Van Gogh."
Seamless story artfully weaves plots
Review by John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com
No prior exposure to the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh is necessary to be pulled into the action as Hawaii Repertory Theatre opens its season with a challenging and beautifully produced production of Steven Dietz's surrealistic mystery, "Inventing Van Gogh."
What: "Inventing Van Gogh," presented by Hawaii Repertory Theatre
When: Continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Kawananakoa Backstage Theatre, Kawananakoa Middle School.
Tickets: $25; $20 seniors; $15 students. Call: 545-7170 or visit www.hawaiireptheatre.org
Those who know Van Gogh only as "the guy who cut his ear off," or as the subject of a 1972 pop hit, "Vincent," will find Dietz's play a perfect blend of fact, fiction and drama. Others with more background in art can compare Dietz's take on Van Gogh, Gauguin and other historical characters with their own.
The premise is simple yet surprisingly complicated. Rene Bouchard, a respected art expert, decides to run a world-class scam by "discovering" and then authenticating a previously unknown Van Gogh self-portrait - the very last before he committed suicide. Since the portrait does not exist, he strong-arms conflicted young artist Patrick Stone into painting it.
Bouchard didn't pick Stone at random. Stone was a student and longtime friend of Dr. Jonas Miller, an American professor who was obsessed with Van Gogh and was convinced that the artist had in fact painted a final portrait in the last week of his life. Miller's obsession caused him finally to commit suicide in almost the exact same place in France that Van Gogh shot himself in 1890. Bouchard hints darkly that he could get the authorities to reopen the case as a homicide investigation with Stone as the suspect.
And, if that's not enough pressure, Stone also has a history with Miller's abrasive, off-putting daughter, Hallie. Bouchard is using her to pressure Stone as well.
The story begins when Van Gogh appears in Stone's studio and begins talking with him about art. It isn't long after that that Gauguin drops in to give Stone his opinion of Van Gogh, his work and their friendship.
The story shifts seamlessly between past and present as two interconnected stories play out. There's Stone trying to make sense of his life, his career and his relationship with Hallie as he forges a Van Gogh amid discussions with the artist. And there's Van Gogh careening through the last months of his life in France. Both stories are riveting, start to finish.
Director Paul T. Mitri provides a strong foundation with his performance as Stone. Rob Duval is brilliant in playing Van Gogh as a fragile, mentally unstable genius we'd all nonetheless be honored to count as a friend.
The other cast members play multiple characters in each time period. Russell Motter, always good as a villain, is convincing and entertaining as the malevolent, manipulative art expert. His portrayal of Gauguin is appropriately more opaque: Did Gauguin treat Van Gogh badly, or did he simply have a low tolerance for Van Gogh's strange behavior?
Ned Van Zandt (Jonas Miller) is convincing as a man obsessed. Miller provides much of the academic backstory, including a well-reasoned argument for the existence of a final Van Gogh self-portrait. Van Zandt also is a success as Van Gogh's doctor.
Hannah Schauer Galli completes the cast in the dual roles of Marguerite Gachet, one of Van Gogh's love interests, and Hallie Miller. Marguerite was apparently in a dysfunctional relationship with Van Gogh. Hallie, meanwhile, is so abrasive that it is never clear what attracted Patrick to her in the first place.
Brian Lee Sackett's solid-looking warehouse set and David Griffith's lighting give the talented cast an attractive performance space and allow the audience to see some of Van Gogh's (real) artwork as well.


You have conflict with your spouse. Okay, that happens. I'm here to help you know how to you bring up marriage problems in a way that gets you listened to and not dismissed. You may have very good points or legitimate concerns but the way you talk about them with your partner sets you up to not be heard or to be easily dismissed.
Have you ever had the experience of trying to talk to your partner about something, they become defensive and point out something you did wrong, and then you end up fighting about something different? The thing you tried to bring up gets left in the dust.
Your approach might be partially at fault; you may be getting in your own way. If you come at your partner with an attack, they are likely to respond with defense. This is natural; it is not a failing in your partner. Someone feels attacked, they defend. They may then counter-attack or withdraw completely. If they hurt you worse then maybe you'll stop attacking or they just run away from the attack. Either way, your partner is looking to feel safe. Again, this is just human nature. You probably react similarly when you feel attacked.
Okay, so don't criticize, don't attack. But you can't just not talk about problems. That's not a solution either. The relationship skill to work on is bringing up problems in a gentle way, a way that doesn't look like an attack to your partner. Drs. John and Julie Gottman call this changing criticism to complaint.
You had plans together after work, and your spouse is late. Again.
I can't believe you're late again! You always do this to me! Don't you care about anyone but yourself? Now our whole night is ruined!
What you are suggesting but not saying exactly is that your partner is selfish and uncaring. It's a character attack. Stay away from always and never. They are attack words and are likely to lead to defensiveness. Let's look at the same situation with the problem phrased as a complaint rather than a criticism.
I'd like to talk to you about something that's a big deal for me. When we have plans and you show up late, I feel frustrated and uncared for. I get to thinking about all the things I could have been doing instead of waiting for you and I wonder whether you're even excited to see me. Then when you do show up, I'm angry. And I don't like feeling angry with you. When we make plans together I need you to be on time. I understand that sometimes things happen that make you late, and when that happens I need you to communicate with me so that I'm not left getting angry and wondering if you forgot about me. Can you do that for me?
Putting the effort into approaching problems in a more gentle way will do wonders for your relationship. But wait a minute! There's a problem—and it's obviously your spouse's problem—and now I'm asking you to put in extra effort to soften the way you talk to them about it? Yes, that is what I'm asking. It doesn't seem fair but here's why: getting rid of criticism is what's best for your relationship. Approaching problems without criticism is a more direct and easier way for you to get more of what you want in your relationship.
When you're really upset about or bothered by something, it often seems obvious to you what the problem is and why. But it's not always obvious to your partner. Or it could be that something that's a problem for you isn't a problem for your partner. Take the example of the spouse who arrives late. Arriving late isn't a problem for them, the only problem they may see is that you're criticizing them. If something is a problem for you in the relationship, you need to take responsibility for seeing that the problem is addressed. That means it's your job to bring it up. This might be especially hard for you if you were brought up in a home where problems were't addressed openly or if it's in your personality to avoid conflict.
As a final thought, let's talk about how to respond when your partner voices a complaint and asks for you to change. Please don't become defensive. Recognize that it takes some care, thought, and work to bring problems to you in a gentle way. Appreciate that your partner cares enough about making a satisfying relationship for you both that they brought this issue to your attention. Take responsibility for where you may have gone wrong, been insensitive, or hurt feelings, even if you did so unintentionally. Remember that you love your partner too. Do what you can to change so that they feel loved, valued, and respected.
Conflicts and disagreements happen. They just do. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because your partner is bringing a problem to your attention they are just making it up, trying to pick a fight with you, or making a big deal out of nothing. The situation might not be a problem for you, but if it is a problem for your partner, it's worth talking about. This is your spouse, your lover, your best friend; if they have a problem, help them solve it, even if and especially if the problem is with you.
If you are in or near Riverside, California and would like help changing your criticism to complaint, give me a call at 951-999-7775. I'm also available for online sessions for anyone in the state of California. Read more about my services here.
Pingback: Preserve your relationship during conflict. Learn to make repairs.


Allies of Hillary Clinton ridiculed Donald Trump on Wednesday for describing his foreign policy vision as "America first" without acknowledging the phrase's original use by critics of America's involvement in World War II. "Maybe he never read history or he doesn't understand it, but he cleary didn't understand what the American First-ers used to talk about was that there wasn't any Nazi threat to American interests," former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters in a conference call organized by Clinton's campaign. "If you don't know enough history to know that that was the movement that tried to keep America out of World War II … that's almost a dis-qualifier right there," added Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a prominent backer of Clinton's who was also on the call.Trump on Wednesday offered his most detailed vision yet of the "America first" foreign policy, which is largely skeptical of international alliances and looks to use unilateral economic leverage to influence world events. Critics have derided Trump's vision as isolationist and a dramatic break from foreign policy orthodoxy, but his supporters praise his willingness to buck decades of mainstream thought. Sorry Albright but you don't understand history, we didn't get involved in WWll until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. If your against America first then what does Hillary put first, pathetic social issues and globalism and the banks? By going against the message of America first, then you are proving to us that the Hillary team is for America last. Hillary's first dis-qualifier should be of being against an America first. America first is not an isolationist movement. America first is just that by putting America's security and success before all nations of the world. America first could even perhaps keep us from never ending wars like Iraq and Afghanistan, for the fact that other interest were put in place when we attacked countries that had no part in 9/11. By being against America first, it should only dis-qualify you from being the president of the United States Of America. America is ready for America before foreign interest, whatever those interest are in the first place.


A large number of popular video slot games have been updated and reinvented specifically for use on mobile phones. They feature smoother and more vibrant graphics than ever before as well as a whole host of impressive extras that gamers are sure to love.
Choy Sun Doa is one of the most memorable and fun slots out there. This game is also known as God of Wealth and as the name suggests, the game has a strong Chinese theme. The theme is well represented by the imaginative graphics as well as the background that gives players plenty to feast their eyes on while they spin. This has to be one of the most eagerly awaited slot games, as Choy Sun Doa has long been a popular land based casino game. Players can now enjoy the fun no matter where they are, and this cute game can be very addictive.
The most popular type of slots bonus that is offered to users of mobile casinos is the free spins bonus. This allows gamers to play certain types of slot games for free for a designated number of times. Other bonuses that are awarded may include in game cash to use on certain slot games and bonus points.
Book Of Ra Classic is one of the most popular mobile slots around and the game puts players right in the heart of the action with its colorful and engaging graphics. Members of the exciting mobile casino are taken on a mysterious journey through ancient Egypt to solve puzzles and ultimately spin the slots to win prizes. One of the things that make Book Of Ra Classic one of the most popular mobile slots is that the reels look and feel very realistic. Players can get the experience of being inside a real casino with all of the sights and sounds by using a mobile casino when they are on the move.
Five Dragons is an exciting Asian-themed slot that really brings the orient to life. This is one of the most successful additions to the mobile casino and like many of the leading, it is extremely addictive and fun to play. The game was originally released in 1997 and has been reinvented and modified for the mobile casino. Five Dragons brings all the magic and mystery of slots right to your mobile. The vibrant graphics of this game are one of the most alluring features. Players will want to keep their eyes open for the special Chinese dragon and lantern icons as they spin around the screen.
Dolphin Treasure – not only is this mobile casino game extremely exciting, it is also very easy to play. People who are new to mobile slots will be able to get to grips with the action immediately and there are colorful and interesting symbols that perfectly follow the aquatic theme. This game is ideal for casual players who have a little time to kill and want to unwind for a while, although more serious players will also find plenty to keep them interested.
Pelican Pete – this has quickly become one of the most popular mobile slot games, largely because of the amount of free spins and bonuses that players can enjoy. The bonus round is extremely generous and players simply need to score three lighthouse symbols on the first three reels to enter the bonus stage.
As a result of the availability to use mobile phones to play slot games, it is only natural that the usage of mobile phones has increased. This gives fans of slot games the freedom to play wherever and whenever they wish and this is a great way to kill time when traveling.
coach's sacking a good thing for jarryd hayneAthletes (and any public figures, really) have to navigate Twitter and other social media carefully from both sides. We've seen plenty of instances of athletes getting in cheap nfl jerseys trouble for controversial tweets, but that's not all they must worry about. One example of Pioli's (and Chiefs' head coach Todd Haley's) dedication to discipline is their quarterback: Matt Cassel. Considered a good but unexceptional quarterback prior to 2010, Cassel decided this year to "go to school" on the NFL quarterback he considered the epitome of discipline: Drew Brees. Already in the mix, a NHL expansion team is due to debut in Las Vegas next year and the NFL is trying to lure the Oakland Raiders to the region. Betting market. The Royal Society apparently weighed out "This guy is cutting people open and putting in cow sickness" and "Hey, he tried it on his own son" and came down on Jenner's side. Although vaccination took a while to catch on fully, it eventually got big, to the extent that smallpox is now a hipster disease that no one's really heard of.. Elf gnome: 1947 An elf gnome smiles at the camera in 1947. Hurray! The parade went live for the first time locally in 1946 and nationally in 1947. The ultimate aim is to get Leeds back to the Premier League. It's the motivation. You do not have to perform this in 30 minute or one hour time blocks. Instead, you can spend 15 minutes in the morning, afternoon and night incorporating exercise into your routine.. MARTIN: And I should mention that we did ask a representative from the NFL to join us. They declined, and we'll have a statement from them on our Web site. DEGGANS: You know, we have some really loose figures. You know, what we've heard about the RNC, for example, is that 2.8 cheap nfl jerseys million viewers seemed to tune in to the live stream that the Republican National Convention had. cheap football jerseys china Mayo were cheap oakleys possibly custom jerseys involved in some shady dealings during their brief stays on campus doesn't mean the rules are bad, but it could possibly indicate they are immature and not quite ready for the world they can't wait to embrace. To say a rule should be abolished because someone ray ban sunglasses tries to circumvent it is like saying we shouldn't wholesale nfl jerseys have traffic signals because somebody ran a red light. Choose a design that works for you, where you can easily have it placed securely in a bunched updo, or left loose around your shoulders. Opt for a simple updo when attending a formal affair (as seen in the images above), and leave it open for casual meets.


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Brat, Frat or Rack Pack
When I saw Judd Nelson's name all over the Internet recently due to an online hoax reporting the actor deceased, I couldn't help but think of the Brat Pack – a group of young, cool, talented actors that hung out with each other in the '80s that consisted of Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, and Andrew McCarthy.
Among the group's accolades include having Entertainment Weekly's best high school movie of all time, "The Breakfast Club," and Ringwald, Lowe and Hall making up three of the top four of VH1's top teen stars.
Then yesterday it was announced that Steve Carrell made the cover of GQ magazine after being named their Villain of the Year for his role as John du Pont in "Foxcatcher" and that caused the Frat Pack to come to mind.
The Frat Pack is a group of comedic actors that have made many of the highest grossing comedy films since the late '90s and members include Carrell, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Owen and Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn. To add a touch of confusion, there was another Frat Pack consisting of dramatic actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Naturally, my knowledge of these two groups stems from my own admiration and respect for the group that practically invented "cool" – the Rat Pack. The Brat Pack's name was born as an insult from a, perhaps, envious reporter and the current Frat Pack was named by USA Today, but both are obvious attempts to establish importance by playing on and associating with the original Rat Pack who received their name from Lauren Bacall after the group returned home somewhat dishevelled due to a night of play in Las Vegas.
It's the compliment to the significance of Sinatra's group that impresses me – the hope that establishing a moniker that will incite memories of the hippest of the hip will somehow give them relevance. That's a big compliment to Frank, Dean, Sammy and the rest, so I'll leave you with this clip from Drinkin' – Singin' – Swingin', enjoy!


Tiffany Cloud is the hostess of Storm Politics on WYLN in Hazelton which has become one of my favorite public affairs programs on TV. She also wrote the great book Sleeping with Dog Tags . The thing about Tiffany is that she welcomes all comers and has a great discussion with people she disagrees with that doesn't turn into a talking head shouting match like you see on the cable news channels.
In the latest episode she handed out the Lightening Bolt Awards. Cloud, Storm, Lightening the weather metaphors are endless. May I suggest the Snow Job Awards for next year.
The winner is Yasue Bengali, a Japanese immigrant to the US who recently became a citizen and explains how great this county is as only an immigrant could.
The honorable mentions of other people who have appeared on her show is a mix of Democratic and Republican office holders plus those that will be elected in the future or never at all.
Some Bolts went out to Aaron Kaufer, Matt Cartwright, Tarah Toohil, Stefanie Salavantis and Lou Barletta.Young Republicans Bob Zaruta and Jen Rinehamer and Young Dem Thom Shibula along with the happiest man I know, Casey Evans.
In December of last year I was her guest on Storm Politics and David Yonki has also been on the program and we came in 9th. I think she gives us too much credit for the election results but I'll take it. To answer her question of why anyone would push the liberal agenda in these economic times is simple. Austerity doesn't work. You don't cut spending when the economy is down and if anything the government's goal should be to get the unemployment rate down to 4%. The US government is borrowing money right now at a negative interest rate when you factor in inflation. Borrow more and put people to work! She said the conservatives are being outsmarted by these 2 lovers of the left. Hah!
The highlight of this clip is at the 2 minute mark.
The Luzerne County 6th District Republican Committee has an end of the year party tomorrow. This should be the kickoff event of the 2013 local elections.
There are 4 seats on the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board up for election next year and candidates can cross file so this would be a good event for any prospective Republican or Democratic hopeful to attend.
County wide there are 5 spots up on the County Council with 2 Republican incumbents and Controller Walter Griffith is running for reelection. Plains Township will be electing 2 Commissioners.
6TH DISTRICT REPUBLICAN END OF YEAR HO-HO-HOLIDAY SOCIAL !
Enjoy Holiday music and a good home cooked meal ! ! !
150 Watson St., Wilkes-Barre Twp., PA.
Somewhere down the line the Don Wilkenson Agency got renamed Centax after the passage of Act 32 in 2009 which mandated that each county hire a single tax collector for it's numerous municipalities by 2012. That seemed sensible enough until millions of dollars came up missing and Centax-Wilkenson went belly up. This was a top down mandate from Harrisburg with little input from the local municipalities and wasn't even tested in a few counties to see how it would work before imposing it on the whole state.
Many local governments in Luzerne County and across Pennsylvania are now short of cash because they have not received the taxes owed to them that were collected by Centax but have disappeared into to some sort of legal limbo black hole. Wilkes-Barre is owed $1.9 million and the locals are howling because cuts to services and a big tax increase to make up for the shortfall. Small towns like Butler Twp. are owed $50,000 and even that low tax haven of Wilkes-Barre Township had to pass a tax increase because they were burned for $500,000.
They tell us that Berkheimer has taken over from Wilkenson and will make everybody whole somehow, someway, someday.
I've never understood why there there is this Balkanized tax collection system for local governments and the point of Act 32 was to consolidate some of it. Real Estate taxes are collected by local Tax Collectors which is an anachronism and private companies are hired to performed what is a government function. In this day of technology it couldn't be that hard for the taxing bodies to send out a bill with a return envelope or an option to pay online. Most jurisdictions could absorb the workload or hire a clerk or two to handle it without paying an outside company.
The big question is where did the money go? In a story by Elizabeth Skrapkis in the CV the lawyer representing Wilkenson wants the records destroyed because there is no money to pay for storage. To paraphrase the Bard "Something is rotten in the state of Pennsylvania."
At least $9 million is missing in Luzerne County and much more across the state, where the hell is the Attorney General and/or the Auditor General in this?
I'm not one to make unfounded accusations unlike the commenter's on the TL & CV websites but this sounds like an attempt to destroy evidence.
Mr. Cordaro please convince me that I'm wrong.
Please accept without obligation, express or implied, these best wishes for an environmentally safe, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, and gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday as practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice (but with respect for the religious or secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or for their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all) and further for a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated onset of the generally accepted calendar year (including, but not limited to, the Christian calendar, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures). The preceding wishes are extended without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee(s).
A message from Sue Henry: I am going to make Christmas fun again with some alt tunes on WRKC at 3 today. It's all for you!!!!!
CHRISTMAS IS JUST NOT FUN ANYMORE!!!!!!
Well, here we go again with the stupid holiday of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knockin' the birth of good ol' Jesus, but the things that I have to go through this time each year. Damn!!!!!!!!
Of course, it's just not one day either; I have to put up with my stupid family not just on Christmas Day but also on Christmas Eve----two days of Hell!!! I would rather be back in the heat of the Battle of the Bulge than to go through these next two days (and that wasn't no picnic!). Of course on that night my dimwit hippie sons and their useless wives will flop themselves in my living room along with their demented kids. Which only means that instead of a relaxing evening watching Wheel of Fortune and Murder She Wrote with the great Angela Lansbury (now that's a "lady"!) I'll probably be forced to look at some stupid rapper Christmas special because my grandkids are in charge of their parents. Damn!!!!! Not to mention to add more misery my stupid brother in law John will be arriving with his "friend", Hal. These two funny boys should just go and get married already since President Obama said it's OK!!!!!!!!
In my day, Christmas was different. Don't get me wrong, we celebrated Christmas Eve and the blessed day also, but everything was more polite and not too extravagant. Christmas Eve usually involved Mom lugging us all to Mass. For some reason Pops always seemed to have a bad cold that night but had his trusty bottle of Seagram's to medicate himself. But before we did that ol' Pops and me would go out into the woods and cut down a tree for the house. I remember one Christmas when Pops was just a bit way too medicated to go "tree hunting" as he called it, the responsibility was in my 10 year old hands. I remember it was a windy night combined with heavy snow/sleet. I could still feel the sleet stinging my face like needles and pins as I trekked up the hill to find a good tree. It was so bad that I just took the hatchet to the first tree I found and dragged it home. When I got into the house, Pops blew his top screaming that the tree I chose wasn't good enough for a bordello let alone a good Christian home. He dragged me and the tree out to the front porch and flung me to the icy/cold sidewalk screaming that I had better get my tail back to the woods and find a decent tree. After about an hour and a half I finally found a tree I figured Pops would like but it didn't matter anyhow because when I got back to the house he was sleeping off his medication. Nevertheless, Mom, me and my dumb brother Skip decorated the tree and a nice Christmas Eve was had by all. I'll say one thing about ol' Pops, he certainly made Christmas interesting—you never knew what you were gonna get. He could be either Santa or Scrooge both with a little Joe Louis thrown in for good measure---he was one of a kind and a real man. I miss him a lot.
Kid just don't respect adults anymore. And God help you if you don't give them the load of expensive presents!! All we ever got on Christmas morning was a tangerine and some socks---and it was great!!!!! Try giving that to a runt today!!!!!!! Damn, I hate it all!!!! So all you dimwit Commies have a nice Christmas holiday. Maybe you can send Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro each a nice get well Christmas Card. As for me, I will be in my trusty attic smoking a Lucky (the cigarette that went to war), swigging a Steg and listening to the soothing sounds of Jerry Vale singing, "Home for the Holidays". Hell, maybe I'll even invite my pals Creep, Gummo and Skeets over. Merry Christmas. I hate you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I studied Music Pathology under Professor Schickele at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople he taught me that classical music is the easiest to parody because you had a couple of hundred years to think of the jokes.
These guys learned that lesson. Without uttering a word they make you laugh.
I found out about the shooting at Newtown, Connecticut in the mid-morning, that Friday, when I was in a foreign policy briefing. U.S. Rep.-elect Elizabeth Esty, the excellent new Congresswoman for the district in which Newtown is located, was sitting next to me. She took the call on her mobile phone. I saw the look on her face. She was stricken.
It's hard to know when the right time is to shift from mournful comments about the tragic loss of lives, and the terrible toll taken on the families. It's hard to know when it's all right to start talking about how it could have been prevented or at least how it could have been prevented from being as bad as it was. The problem is that people will feel that it's not right to try to score political points out of a horrible situation like this.
I don't want to make points about politics. I want to make a point about law.
The most important principle about making laws is that they should promote good and avoid evil.
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his best-known work, the Summa Theologica, wrote of the natural law, "this is the first precept of the law, that good is to be done, and promoted, and evil is to be avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based on this." He wrote that in 1274.
If ever there was a clear presentation of the contrast between good and evil, it appeared in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. The goodness, the innocence, of 6- and 7-year old boys and girls, full of fun, eager to learn, and excited to be together, would never be questioned. Whatever it was that possessed their killer, whatever psychosis invaded his brain, whatever mental turmoil it was that drove Adam Lanza to kill that day, it was evil. And what he actually did, with a Bushmaster AR-15, inside that elementary school, was pure evil. No one doubts it.
The question is, how is this kind of evil to be avoided? Can we make laws to help avoid this kind of unspeakable evil?
The answer is, yes, we can. We can enact laws that restrict the purchase and sale of semi-automatic assault rifles. We can enact laws that restrict the purchase and sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines. We can do this, and it is legal.
It has been done before. Between 1994 and 2004 we had an assault rifle ban in our country. Prominent members of the law enforcement community supported the ban. The nation did not dissolve. The Constitution did not disintegrate. The sky did not fall.
Banning assault rifles like the Bushmaster AR-15 used on the Sandy Hook children would not cure the evil that drove Adam Lanza to kill. But it would make it more difficult for him to kill. In killing 27 people, Lanza is reported to have fired as many as three hundred rounds, pumping as many as 11 bullets into each victim. Lanza was using equipment that made him an efficient child-killing machine.
This kind of firepower is not necessary for hunting, or self-defense. Our American experience has showed us example after example of assault rifles and high capacity clips being used in mass killings of innocent people. What we never hear about are instances of these weapons being used in self-defense, which is the point of the Second Amendment. We also never hear about assault rifles being taken hunting. No self-respecting deer hunter would even consider firing a dozen bullets at a buck.
I announced my support for an assault rifle ban in July, after the Aurora shooting. I urge you to contact your elected officials to express your support for bans on assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
How many more innocent schoolchildren have to die before we find the courage to enact laws that will actually help us avoid this kind of evil?
Over the weekend it was announced that the DA won't pursue the removal of Plymouth Councilman Bill Dixon. That came as bad news to Borough Coordinator Joe Mazur after he got the council to hire a $200/hr. lawyer to get rid of him because of state charges that have been pardoned by the Governor but there is a federal conviction that has not been pardoned, yet. Jim Haggerty is working on that.
Mazur said he is required to draw up a budget proposal and make it available for public review for 10 days before council votes on it, but not to provide copies.
"He's not deprived of it," Mazur said. "He's a councilman; he can sit there and look at it all day."
This is so petty that it makes me laugh. It would infuriate me if I was a resident of Plymouth. How hard is it to make some copies? Madrack told me that Mazur is living in the 1950's. Mazur said "But to put it out on the street, we would run into so many problems that you can never get a budget done."I don't think he has heard of the internet or a Xerox machine.
There seems to be some bad blood between Madrack and Mazur that I picked up from this story in CV by Michael Sisak last month: Mazur blamed Madrack for the divisiveness on the council, but scoffed when asked whether the borough should be investigating Madrack instead.
"Who the hell cares about him?" Mazur said.
A job in the street department has come open and Madrack want's it advertised in the local papers but Mazur said he already had a stack of applications.
People tell me that Joe Mazur is an expert on job applications. He has recommended many applicants for positions as a member of the Wyoming Valley West School Board.
The split of the revenue from slot machines at Mohegan Sun is 55% to the state and 45% to the casino. Much less goes to the state from table games. Only 34% is earmarked for school property tax relief which is the reason this was sold to us. Wilkes-Barre Area taxpayers have seen a reduction of about $200 a year since this started. The host communities get a cut off the top to pay for increased police costs, etc but there are 2 other pools of money. 12% is dedicated to the dying horse racing industry and there is pot of gold that local governments can apply for.
In past years the Plains Township Commissioners have applied to kick back $3 million to Mohegan to clean up the East Side Landfill so they could pave the parking lot and The Commonwealth Financing Authority approved it.
Now the board of Bridgette Murray O'Connor, Ciro Cinti, Ron Fillipini, Joe Yozwiak and Robert Sax has unanimously approved an application by The Woodlands to grab a piece of the pie. According to this story in the TL by Andrew Seder the Woodlands management will be knocking down cottages on the Woodlands property just north of the hotel and conference center's building along Route 315.
In their place would be built a multilevel building with commercial/office space on the lower floors and apartments on the upper floors.
It's a $40 million project that not been even put on the drawing board yet let alone submitted for zoning or other approval. The Kornfelds did not return phone calls from Andrew or me. (Disclaimer: I once worked for the Kornfelds).
I have a novel idea. If the Kornfleds want to expand/upgrade their business they should go to a bank and apply for a loan.
In 2013 there will be 2 spots up on the board of the Plains Commissioners. The incumbents are Robert Sax and Jerry Woziak.
What was billed as a benefit to offset Plymouth Council member Bill Dixon's legal bills turned into a celebration when his lawyer announced that the DA had declined to get involved in the case.
MC Scott Cannon thanked the people that put together the event and introduced Bill. He was almost speechless. He thanked everybody and choked up when he thanked his wife saying she "is the reason I am the man I am today." I know the feeling.
Jim Haggerty delivered the good news and the crowd erupted in applause.
The challenge to Dixon was engineered by Joe Mazur who is a past Luzerne County Democratic Chairman but now has been reduced to trying to run a little town of 6000 people. He is not doing it well.
Plymouth Council member Cliff Madrack ripped into Mazur.
"He thinks he is in the 1950's. He want's to be the boss. It's easier to say come along instead of do what I say."
No, not because of Global Warming but because I got a new snow blower. Mrs. G bought me a new machine for XMAS and Santa delivered it early. My friends tell me that by buying it I have inoculated us against blizzards this year and I hope they are right. Last year there was very little snow and maybe we will lucky 2 years in a row. If not, I'm prepared.
My pal Zen and the salesman tell me that this beast will actually throw slush. I hope they are right since I live on a corner and get plowed in all the time. It's an old joke but I swear the plows lurk around the corner until I'm finished clearing the snow then push it back onto my sidewalk.
My trusty assistant blessed it by lifting his leg. I look forward to throwing the snow 40 feet to bury him while he is barking at me.
In a letter to Attorney Jim Haggerty Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavanits said she will not seek the removal of Bill Dixon from Plymouth Borough Council.
"Obviously, since it has been confirmed to my office that Mr. Dixon has been pardoned as described herein by Governor Corbett, we have determined that it would be imprudent for this office to pursue Mr. Dixon's removal from his elected position as member of the Plymouth Borough Council via Quo Warranto action.
Preliminarily, I note that in cases where a citizen was duly elected by the electorate (rather than appointed), it has been the policy of this office not to interfere with the will of the voters. We presume the voters make a knowing and informed choice in choosing their representative and therefore, it is not the intent of this office to be used as a political pawn by those unhappy with the candidate's victory, nor to supersede the voters' choice by unseating an elected official thereby. "
The good news in this TL story for the people in my little burgh of Plains Township is that our property taxes will not go up. The question is why aren't they being reduced as promised.
Being the host community of the Mohegan Sun Casino Plains get's a cut off the top for putting up with the place to cover extra police costs, etc. We have seen some benefits such as reduced garbage fees and more roads paved.
Rapid Edward (Gov Rendell) sold Casino gambling as a way of reducing school property taxes but only half the revenue goes to to that worthy goal. There is another pot of money for the health, safety and economic development projects in those counties where the casinos are located.
In the past the Plains Twp Board of Commissioners have kicked backed a million dollars a year to the Casino to pave the parking lot that is located on top of the old East Side Landfill neglecting other needs such as purchasing a new ladder truck for the fire department. Kevin Blaum documented that a few years ago. Such nonsense, we are supposed to make money off the place not subsidize it.
Sure enough, there was an application on DCED's list for $5 million, half the amount available, to remove garbage from Mohegan Sun land to enlarge its parking lot. Obviously Mohegan is capable of paying for its own paving and garbage removal. Yet this project survived DCED's initial cut (an official act) while many projects in other communities did not.
It's important to note that a casino may not apply for this money. If it did, it would be laughed out of town. ...To end-run this prohibition, the application was submitted by none other than Plains Township (an official act). This application, if approved, would return $5 million to Mohegan Sun at the expense of other municipalities that need these funds.
Why would anyone do such a thing? Follow the money.
Now they are at it again.
The township is serving as sponsor for expansion projects for the Woodlands Inn & Resort and Geisinger Wyoming Valley. Board President Ron Filippini described the government sponsorship of the grant applications for private entities as economic measures intended to spur job creation.
That's it, no details of what the projects are or how many jobs they are going to create. How do you measure this? It sounds like more corporate welfare.
Giving money to the Woodlands ???? Really?
The Woodlands is a kids bar that keeps our police very busy defeating the purpose of having this extra money. How many stabbings , shootings, acts of vandalism and other displays of beer muscles have there been over the years? The place is in the police blotter all the time. Similar incidents at other establishments in other parts of the Wyoming Valley have resulted in the places being shut down as nuisance bars.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is an organization that has been knocked for years as being a dumping ground for politicians who can't find another patronage job for their cronies. Fair criticism or not you have to ask why there are 2 organizations governing the highway system in Pennsylvania.
A PennDot official has just been named to be the CEO and Auditor General Jack Wagner released an audit showing 7,000 employees and contractors have a free pass. A commenter at KeystonePolitics brings up the point that construction workers need to get to the job site so that number may be inflated. Maybe they should carpool.
John Micek reports that toll booths will become a thing of the past with all electronic tracking. If you have an EZPass that already happens but if you don't the system will take a picture of the license plate and send you a bill. Good luck collecting that bill.
In the near future we will be paying more tolls and the interchanges will be automated. For now I love blowing past the schmucks stopping to pay the the toll while I fly by in the EZPass lane on my way to Allentown, Philly or the Delaware beaches.
On a related note just about everybody agrees that our highway infrastructure is in need of repair. Roads need to be fixed and bridges are not safe. The federal gas tax has not been raised since Clinton was President and it is the primary funding source for highway improvement and repair. I know it's regressive but I look at it as more of a user fee. I drive and I want my roads and bridges to be safe. I'm willing to pay 10, 15 or 25 cents more for a gallon of gas in exchange for the piece of mind that the bridge I'm driving across won't collapse. Another idea is an Infrastructure Bank.
Reading the tea leaves of PoliticsPA reporting of the Pennsylvania Society meetup in New York this past weekend it looks like about 37 people are floating the the idea of running for Governor of Pennsylvania. Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor said he was thinking of primary challenge to Tom Corbett. He is the only Republican name thrown out there so far other than the usual cranks.
Democrat John Hanger has already declared that he is the race .Bob Casey and Allyson Schwartz are not. Former Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper and PA State Senator Mike Stack said they are looking at the race. PA Treasurer Rob McCord will will be a candidate and possibly Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy. More to come.
A couple events caught my eye.
I wasn't invited and that makes me sad. I'm the biggest non supporter of Lou in these parts who actually likes the guy. I'll buy him dinner at Dominick's Cafe.
The rumor is that the Mean Old Man and Professor Milburn Cleaver, OPA made it to this gathering.
The best roundup of the PA Society weekend came from my 2nd favorite state legislator (Phyllis is still in the lead) Daylin Leach.
= I'm running for Governor, but not of Pennsylvania.
= I'm running for Congress.
= I'm running for the Bundestag.
= Pat Toomey has asked me to be his Vice-Senator.
= Governor Corbett calls me his 'little minx'".
= I once shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
= My CIA nick-name is "Danger Hunk".
Plymouth Councilman Bill Dixon is taking fire because he committed some crimes many years ago and his neighbors are planning a show of support.
This is a clear example of our punitive laws being so destructive. From all the accounts Dixon went to Vietnam in the service of his country and had a hard time when he came home and did some stupid things for which he was punished. Since then he has been a model citizen CV: Dixon and his wife, Janet, raised two children in the borough. He has worked in substation maintenance for UGI, the regional electric utility, for the last 25 years. He has coached youth sports in the community for more than two decades.
A year after he was elected as top vote getter in 2011 the Plymouth Borough Coordinator Joe Mazur decided to make an issue of his past.
We all remember Mazur for his eloquence when he was the Luzerne County Democratic Chairman and said Register of Wills Dotty Stankovic was "a cancer within the organization. " He was also gleeful" when Petrilla defeated incumbent Controller Steve Flood in the 2005 primary.
The DA or Attorney General could remove him from office but it looks like they will pass on getting into the weeds of Plymouth politics.
The Examiner is all over this story.
Many of my friends are having fun with the fact that Senator Mitch McConnell filibustered his own bill. It just shows how screwed up the Senate has become with his mindless obstruction.
In December 1970 Dirk sued Stig and Nasty, Barry sued Dirk, Nasty sued Stig and Barry, and Stig sued himself accidentally.
The 114th annual Pennsylvania Society get together is being held this weekend in midtown Manhattan. There are many black tie invitation only high priced events for the politically connected who get to rub elbows with a gaggle of possible candidates for Governor in 2014.
If you can't make it to New York there is another event in Harrisburg that sounds like fun.
(Harrisburg, PA) The 8th Annual People's Society Dinner will take place in the East Wing Rotunda on Friday, December 7th. Starting at 3 p.m. a table will be set for the eight former legislators who are currently serving time for their abuses of the Pennsylvania taxpayer. The individual pictures will be prominently featured.
"Instead of being served at a dinner, each is serving time for their crimes against the Pennsylvania taxpayer," said Eric Epstein of Rock the Capital.
The People's Society Dinner has taken place every year since 2005. It was started in response to the Pennsylvania Society Dinner which is taking place this weekend in New York City.
The reorganization meeting of the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board was anything but organized according to the story by Peter Cameron in the Citizens Voice with 2 breaks for executive sessions and Christine Katsock calling the meeting illegal.
Former Coughlin HS teacher and sports coach John Quinn was elected President and Barbara Youngblood Louis Elmy as VP. The Secret Service was interested in Quinn's son a few months ago according to the TL.
You have to wonder who would even want the job of school director in Wilkes-Barre. It doesn't pay anything and you get a lot of grief in the local papers after you hire a relative for a position. Or maybe that's it.
This is a body that has seen 3 members convicted of corruption. Jim Height, Brian Dunn and Frank Pizzella. After Pizzella was indicted he was elected as board President with the support of former reformer Christine Katsock . If there is any government body in Luzerne County that needs to change it's public persona it's this one but that doesn't seem to faze this bunch much. They made a hash of hiring a new superintendent and the new hiring policy is a joke.
Four seats are up in the upcoming election in May. The incumbents are Christine Katsock, Lynn Evans, Phil Latinski and Bob Corcoran. I haven't heard if any of them will seek reelection.
Katsock ran for many offices as a Republican reformer before she finally a spot on the school board. She came within 800 votes of defeating Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton in 2003 and gave State Rep Eddie Day Pashinski a run for his money in 2006. She switched to the Democrats when she ran for the board and had no comment when asked to explain her vote for Pizzella but it's not hard to figure out if you look at her Campaign Finance Report. Frank Pizzella was her top cash contributor pitching in $3000. She also got $1800 as a in-kind contribution from the Friends of Frank Pizzella.
Evans voted against Pizella and the new super and revealed the pick system of filling jobs.
Pure Bunkum has a couple of insightful posts about this subject.
Seeing a poll result like this makes me worry about my country.
Raleigh, N.C. – PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.
Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.
ACORN, The New Black Panther Party, Somalians in Ohio, black people voting in Maine, Zero votes for Romney in Philly and Tinkie Winkie fixed the election for President Obama. Sheesh, you guys lost so get over it.
No, he is not Superman.
Wake up Republicans. Get out of your echo chamber.
Republican State Sen. Dominic Pileggi (pictured at right) is at it again. Last year he proposed that PA award its Electoral College votes by Congressional Districts that was predictably was opposed by Democrats and actually freaked out many Republicans. So his new idea is to divvy it up proportionally.
PoliticsPA: But instead of determining the votes by congressional district, they would be allocated according to percentage of the popular vote, plus two for the statewide winner.
His Memo: Under the proportional system, two of Pennsylvania's 20 electors are chosen on a statewide, at-large basis (representing the two senatorial electors). The remaining 18 electors are chosen based on the percentage of the statewide vote earned by each candidate (rounded to the thousandths). For example, President Obama won 52.088% of the vote in November. Under this system, he would have received 12 of Pennsylvania's 20 electors (the two statewide electors plus 10 of the 18 remaining electors, which would be distributed proportionately).
This doesn't work unless you can get the rest of country to adopt the same system. State Senator Daylin Leach tweeted: How about when Texas does it too?
The Constitution leaves it up to the states to decide how to cast their electoral votes so the next proposal from Harrisburg might be to skip the election altogether and let the legislature decide the Electoral College votes.
Phyllis on the lottery: If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Riffing on my earlier post State Rep Phyllis Mundy and 17 other PA House Democrats sent a letter to Gov. Tom Cabot Corbett to forget about his plan to privatize the Pennsylvania Lottery. NCFE defends this form of voluntary taxation that has been successful. In the end, why screw this up?
HARRISBURG, Dec. 3 – State Rep. Phyllis Mundy joined 17 other House Democrats in signing a letter that urges Gov. Tom Corbett to drop his plans to privatize the Pennsylvania Lottery.
"The Pennsylvania Lottery is a proven, well-run program that last fiscal year made more than $1 billion for programs to help our seniors, such as the Property Tax Rent/Rebate Program and Pennsylvania's low-cost prescription drug programs for older adults, PACE and PACENET," Mundy said. "The system isn't broken, and we don't need to take unnecessary risks with it."
The letter notes that the Pennsylvania Lottery is one of the most successful and well managed state lotteries in the nation, with administrative costs of just over 2 percent. Just one company, United Kingdom-based Camelot Group, has submitted an offer to run the Pennsylvania Lottery. Camelot Group has conceded the Pennsylvania Lottery is presently well-run.
"So our question for you is, 'Why are you trying so hard to privatize a successful government program and, in the process, hand over millions in administrative fees to a third party manager?'" reads the letter, which was delivered to Corbett's office today.
Mundy pointed out that Camelot would get a cut of the lottery profits and have its operating expenses paid, including salaries for its executives, by the commonwealth.
Just two states – Illinois and Indiana – have privately run lotteries. Illinois awarded a contract to Northstar Lottery Group, a partnership between GTECH and Scientific Games. Northstar has fallen short of the $825 million it promised Illinois officials, and the company has taken the state to court to try to change terms of its contract.
Mundy said the Illinois' problems show why Corbett should not rush to privatize the lottery here.
"There's too much at stake," Mundy said. "The lottery generates important revenue for our older Pennsylvanians, and it's too risky to outsource it to a foreign company."
Mundy added the lottery-funded programs are particularly important in Luzerne County, where people 65 and older make up nearly 18 percent of the population.
Camelot Global Services' bid to manage the state Lottery will expire on Dec. 31. This contract would lock the commonwealth into an agreement for 20 years, long after Gov. Corbett is gone.
No, not that guy but a real one.
MC: Hanger, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in Kenya, where his farmer father worked for the British Foreign Service helping develop coffee and tea farms. The family moved to Ireland in 1963, and Hanger came to the United States in 1970.
Actually he was born a subject of Queen Elizabeth, God save her. So Donald Trump doesn't have to worry about him running for President.
I like some of his policy positions.
I know that some of my anti-fracking friends don't trust him.
This is what he had to say on his blog.
I'm not backing any 2014 Guv candidate until I hear from Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy.
He has a get together scheduled next weekend at the Pennsylvania Society shindig in NYC.
The 43rd floor would probably give me a nose bleed.


Getting the right people on board is essential to a successful business. Anne Lee sees how Steve and Angela Reed recruited a farm manager for their Canterbury dairy conversion.
A YouTube video and a family photograph both played a part in bringing Canterbury farm owners and their soon-to-be farm managers together through the recruitment process but there was plenty of good old-fashioned planning, organisation and face-to-face interaction involved too.
Steve and Angela Reed are in the middle of converting a 219-hectare, 830-cow property, Waikirikiri Farm Partners, near Darfield.
It's one of few conversions being carried out in Canterbury these days and has been made possible by stage two of the Central Plains Water scheme.
It all kicked off in November last year with the Reeds forming an equity partnership with the Taylor family.
"We knew we needed a complete farm team so right from the very early planning stages of the conversion we had the people aspect of it at the forefront.
"The process was very people-centric as is the farm because it's been designed around people's needs and ease of management," Angela says.
The couple say 220ha is the sweet spot from a people management point of view.
The farm's been laid out to optimise ease-of-farm management. Paddock sizes are even with a centrally located farm dairy and lanes, so staff can spend time on growing grass and optimising its utilisation.
"We tried to get the fundamentals sorted out right up front, so the cow shed is a size that enables less time in the shed, more time outside doing the important stuff and allowing a good roster and time off," Angela says.
They also did a lot of thinking at the outset about the number and structure of the farm team.
They've found three to four people in one farm team is optimal to create team performance.
More people can mean more-complicated team dynamics taking the focus off everyone reaching their potential, Steve believes.
Having a farm manager and two herd manager/dairy assistants gives a flatter structure that allows team members to be trained so they're both able to step up if the manager isn't there, which in turn helps reduce risk.
Steve says they take a long-term view with recruitment.
"We want to provide an environment that enables recruits to thrive and that continues to grow and develop their talent through their time with us," Steve says.
Their first recruitment was for a farm manager and, with the help of their YouTube video introducing the farm, they began the process of advertising shortly after Christmas.
"We though post-Christmas was a good time to start, particularly for those key responsibility roles – after people had had a bit of a break and were thinking about their next step.
The interview – creating a relaxed environment is important. From left, Nastassja and Sarel Van der Merwe and Steve and Angela Reed.
"But we got organised ahead of that and thought about what we're good at and what we're not so good at.
"With the conversion we're pretty busy and we knew that to have a people-centred process we needed to process the applicants quickly and respond to people so we engaged recruitment company No.8HR to do the first part of the recruitment," Angela says.
Angela organised the job description, the information pack, employment contract and tenancy agreements and put the video together so by the time the advertisement went out they were all ready to go.
"In hindsight we probably had the application period open for too long because we got most of the recruits very quickly. I think we'd cut it back to two weeks rather than three," she says.
There were 80 applicants for the farm manager position which Kathryn Jack from No.8HR narrowed to 20, based on her brief from Steve and Angela.
"We'd been quite specific with the type of person and level of experience we wanted," Steve says.
Despite that being conveyed in their ad they still had applicants from a wide spectrum.
They read every CV presented to them and were impressed by the skills, apparent capability and experience of many.
A few things stood out to Steve and Angela on successful candidate Sarel and Nastassja Van der Merwe's CV.
The first was a family photograph showing them with their two young children Sarina and Nickolas.
It was shot by a professional photographer in the great outdoors and immediately portrayed its own story.
"The photo was impressive – it was personal to them and showed them in a very personable way," Angela says.
"It did help the CV stand out and it did give this strong family message," Steve says.
That message was backed in the personal statement at the top of the CV.
"I think a personal statement is really quite important – it doesn't have to be a whole cover letter. It tells us in a nutshell what you stand for, what your values are," Angela says.
Steve says he immediately looked at the type of farming system the applicants had come from, what their level of experience was and how long they'd been at the more recent positions.
"That's because we weren't looking for someone who was already a manager but someone who was ready for us to take to that level," Steve says.
From the 20 CVs Steve and Angela were able to get down to eight candidates.
Kathryn phoned each of the eight and went through some pre-interview questions aimed at cross-checking some of the points made on the CVs to ensure they were likely to be able to deliver and getting an overview of expectations.
"That cut out a few and in the end we went with four to interview," Steve says.
Again, they wanted to make the turnaround time quick so carried out the interviews back-to-back over a three-day period.
Each candidate came to the farm and was interviewed in the house that goes with the position.
Chantal Taylor, one of the shareholders, sat on the interview panel with Steve and Angela and although not a farmer brought great insight through her background in psychology.
"She was able to delve a little deeper to find out a bit more about how they ticked.
"We didn't get into technical farming things in the interview. We did talk about their farming experience more generally, why they were interested in the job, what their aspirations were and what was important to them," Angela says.
Sarel says he'd come to the interview with Nastassja expecting a few more technical questions and was prepared for the quick maths type questions but he found the approach helped him relax and probably share more.
Nastassja, too, had an opportunity to participate and Steve and Angela could see where she sat in terms of participating and supporting.
"I think everyone needs to be clear upfront on that – you're not necessarily hiring the partner and you can't be expecting them to work or devote a lot of their time if it's not agreed to at the outset," Steve says.
The initial interview was also an opportunity for the candidates to ask questions and interview their prospective employers too.
Once through the "round the kitchen table" discussion Steve and the candidates headed out for a drive around the farm.
The importance of family portrayed in the video and CV helped bring these two families together – Steve and Angela Reed left with sons Hayden, left and James, right, and Sarel and Nastassja Van der Merwe and their two children, Nickolas and Sarina.
"Farm managers aren't necessarily comfortable sitting around inside face-to-face and getting out in the truck gives you more of an opportunity to talk about farming, show them what we're planning and talk about what they might do in certain situations," Steve says.
Sarel agrees – having the discussion out on the farm in the truck feels a lot more natural.
Within the next day or two Steve also went to visit the candidates on their own farms to see for himself how they operated, take a walk in the paddock and look at the cows.
They were all open to that and again it gave a good level of insight into how they operated and their level of skill.
They could talk about what they'd do for instance to get condition on cows through the autumn and see how their eyes were calibrated in comparison to Steve's on matters such as condition score.
He accepts that not all applicants might be in a position to have their prospective employer on their farm, but he urges farmers to try and do that, particularly if they're filling leadership roles.
Reference checks were only carried out on the four preferred candidates and while the couple did put weight on them they were more of a cross-check to see that the views they were forming were correct.
"We did all the interviews on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and committed to tell them by the Sunday if they were successful, so it was pretty full on.
"I sat down and reflected on what each of us involved in the process was thinking – Kathryn, Angela, Chantal and me and all of us had different insights that were important to take into account when we made the final decision," Steve says.
Sarel and Nastassja will start work at Waikirikiri early in May but are already working with Steve and Angela on their days off from their current position on plans for the new season.
They include doing a YouTube video of their own to help them recruit the staff who will report to Sarel.
He says it's great to be involved in that process so he can be sure his team will gel and be effective from day one.
He's not sure about getting in front of the camera but given the Reeds' video caught their attention he's willing to put his reservations aside and give it a go.
Just like Steve and Angela, who were advised to write down their top five must-have's in an employee, Sarel and Nastassja have been putting their mind to that and putting them in order of importance.
"Chantal encouraged us to write those things down in priority order and then refer to them right the way through the process with each candidate and it really helped bring the right candidates into focus," Angela says.
Making use of social media and online technologies can give you an edge when it comes to attracting candidates.
A YouTube video doesn't have to be a highly polished production.
It should give a flavour of your values, showcase the farm and spell out what the opportunity is.
Make sure you've thought it through well, though, before you touch the start record button because it reflects your standards.
As Steve and Angela did, you could include your children and try and make it a bit different.
Older children can help you with the technical side of it if the online world is a bit of mystery to you.
Consider attaching a good photo that tells a story about you.
A quick selfie probably won't help you stand out.
Include a cover letter stating who you are, why you are applying for the position and why you'd be a good fit. No need for it to be a long-winded essay though.
Have a succinct personal statement that portrays your values – make sure they can be backed up.
Go online for a smart, well laid out CV template and tailor it to you and the position.
Keep the skills mentioned to the ones that relate to the position.


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Audi RS Q e-tron aims to take on the Dakar with an electrified drivetrain
Team OD Updated: July 26, 2021, 07:25 PM IST
Audi aims to be the first manufacturer to bring an electrified drivetrain and put it up against conventionally powered opponents in what is considered one of the toughest and most robust rallies, the Dakar. Julius Seebach, managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH and the man responsible for motorsport at Audi said "The Quattro was a game-changer for the World Rally Championship. Audi was the first brand to win the Le Mans 24 Hours with an electrified drivetrain. Now, we want to usher in a new era at the Dakar Rally, while testing and further developing our e-tron technology under extreme conditions. Our RS Q e-tron was created on a blank sheet of paper in record time and stands for Vorsprung durch Technik."
Engineers encounter various obstacles as a result of the Dakar Rally's challenging features. The marathon race lasts for two weeks, with daily stages ranging in length from 200 to 800 kilometers. "That's a very long distance," says Andreas Roos, responsible for the Dakar project at Audi Sport. "What we are trying to do has never been done before. This is the ultimate challenge for an electric drivetrain."
Due to the lack of charging stations in the desert, Audi has devised a novel charging idea. The TFSI engine from the DTM is used in the Audi RS Q e-tron. It's a component of an energy converter that charges the high-voltage battery while you're driving. The specific consumption is substantially below 200 grams per kWh since the combustion engine is operated in a particularly efficient range of 4,500 to 6,000 rpm.
A motor-generator unit (MGU) from the current Audi e-tron FE07 Formula E vehicle, built by Audi Sport for the 2021 season, is installed on both the front and back axles. Just a few modifications had to be made to the MGU to make it Dakar Rally compliant. A third MGU, with the same construction as the others, is part of the energy converter and is used to charge the high-voltage battery while driving. Furthermore, energy is recovered during braking.
"The battery is also a proprietary development that we have realized together with a partner," says Stefan Dreyer, head of development at Audi Sport for motorsport projects. "As engineers, we basically see development potential in every component. But in terms of the drivetrain system, we have already achieved a system efficiency of over 97 per cent in Formula E. There's not much more room for improvement. The situation is quite different with battery and energy management. This is where the greatest development potential lies in electromobility in general. What we learn from the extremely challenging Dakar project will flow into future production models. As always, we are also working closely with our colleagues from road car development on this project."
The maximum system power of the e-drivetrain is 500 kW. How much of this may be used during the Dakar Rally is still being finalized by the organizers. The electric drivetrain offers many advantages. The electric motors can be controlled extremely precisely and can thus ensure good drivability. In addition, braking energy can be recovered.
The Audi RS Q e-tron only needs one forward gear. The front and rear axles are not mechanically connected, as is also common in electric vehicles. Audi's software takes over torque distribution between the axles, resulting in a virtual and flexibly programmable center differential. This has the added benefit of saving weight and space that would have been required by prop shafts and a mechanical differential.
The Audi RS Q e-tron is also distinctively different from conventionally powered Dakar prototypes. Juan Manuel Diaz, team leader of Motorsport Design at Audi "The vehicle looks futuristic and has many design elements that are typical of Audi. Our aim was to symbolize Vorsprung durch Technik and the future of our brand."
The Dakar Rally entry is being run in conjunction with Q Motorsport. "Audi has always chosen new and bold paths in racing, but I think this is one of the most complex cars that I have ever seen," says team principal Sven Quandt. "The electric drivetrain means that a lot of different systems have to communicate with each other. Besides reliability, which is paramount in the Dakar Rally, that's our biggest challenge in the coming months."
Quandt compares Audi's Dakar project to the first moon landing: "Back then, the engineers didn't really know what was coming. It's similar with us. If we finish the first Dakar event, that's already a success."
The Audi RS Q e-tron prototype made its public debut in Neuburg at the beginning of July. From now until the end of the year, a rigorous test program and the first test entries at cross-country rallies are on the horizon.
"This project's schedule is extremely packed and challenging," says Andreas Roos. "Less than twelve months have passed since the project officially started. We had to begin the development while the regulations for alternatively-powered vehicles had not even been finalized yet. And all of the development took place during the Corona pandemic. You mustn't underestimate that either. What the team has achieved so far is unique. The roll-out was a very special moment for everyone."
Text by Kenneth John
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Tags: Audi | Audi RS Q e-tron | Audi cars | Audi motorsports | Dakar Rally | audi rs | Audi vehicles | Audi automobiles | audi sport | motorsport |
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