1-10-2005 The politburo


Is anyone really surprised that another Clinton confidante has been indicted? Hillary Clinton's public life reads like an instruction manual for breaking the rules. New Yorkers deserve better.--Stephen Minarik, New York State Republican Party chairman

Too partisan? Or too accurate?

Boy, oh boy. Harry sure stirred the pot real good.

Allow me to add some "Eye of Newt."

From the e-mail inbox:

*******Markaroni,

You admit that you don't really understand what led to the ff's staffing so why then do you still fell free to comment? You go on and on about it and get people pissed at each other and at the end of the day nobody gets what they want anyway. What is the point?

Unsafe in the heights*******

Markaroni? Markaroni, the San FranFreako treat. Nah. What in hell is going on today? Is the Earth passing through the tail of a radioactive comet or something? Markaroni? Earlier today someone referred to me as "blog boy." Whatever. I stopped sobbing hours ago after dialing 829-1341.

I got people pissed at each other? Au contraire, mon ami. I seriously doubt that any rancor generated here in the past few days can be blamed on moi. And even if it could be pinned on myself, I could really give a flying f**k. If truth be told, a spirited debate of the sometimes cloudy issues that affect us all is by no stretch of the imagination construed to be a bad thing. Even if gets someone's Irish up in the process. Or Slovak. Is it even possible to get your Slovak up? I'll have to piss off a Slovak and find out. Nifty.

And just in case you're new to this internet outpost, the members of our fire department are at times a very volatile bunch. They've been taking it on the chin for years now, so it should not amaze anyone if they get hot now and again. But that's neither here nor there whereas your comments are concerned.

Here's another small point that may have breezed right past you. I reside in Wilkes-Barre and have done so since 1971. And during those three decades, I've seen Wilkes-Barre do nothing but go sprawling backwards. And I'll damn well please comment on any f**king thing I see fit to comment on. Got it?

And here's another thing you might want to consider. I keep hearing that the "leaky roof" at East Station is just a ploy, a ruse, a lie to facilitate the closing of that firehouse against everyone's wishes. Yet, to hear our mayor tell it, he offered the union boys a chance to keep it open provided that they back off on the three men on every apparatus proviso. They didn't back off, the station is closed, and now we're being told he planned to close it from the get-go. And in a belated effort to save that station, the union finally relented and said they'd accept a two man staff if the building was returned to service. The mayor says one thing and the union says another. And I'm somehow at fault for being somewhat confused on this issue and should just clam up? Methinks not.

What is the point? If you don't already know, my silly self sure as heck can't 'splain it to you.

And here's another thing. A committee comprised of concerned Heights residents with a few council folks thrown in for good measure was formed to do a bit of fact-finding about the firehouse closing and a possible reopening or replacement. Wonderful. So the committee starts out with oodles and oodles of good intentions and bravely presses onward. Well, sort of.

The initial Tragical History Tour of the firehouse turned out to a circus sideshow. No, make that a freak show. The publicity whores, you know, our taxpayer activist super heroes had to show up and suck up some press. One of which doesn't even live anywhere near the freakin' Heights. But if the press is going to be there, he's f**king concerned, too. Another of our self-appointed guardians of the lunatic faith got locked out of the proceedings and proceeded to make an ass of himself on cue.

And then the most vocal of the concerned residents practically turned the entire affair into a disrespectful and less than productive shoutfest. The Fire Chief? The Mayor? This place can't be fixed? Forget them! Forget that! It doesn't look so damn bad to me. This roof won't collapse. Stick a couple of do-dads on it. It'll be okay. Why don't we simply put the firefighters out back in a ramshackle trailer with a kerosene heater? How's about a portable dog kennel? A big one.

What was supposed to be a committee comprised of reasonable folks working together for a common goal, quickly devolved into a captive audience shouted down by the apoplectic few. Forget investigative follow-ups or feasibility studies yet to be completed. Forget any suggestion of compromise. Forget dealing with reality. The mayor had better do something expensive and he had better do it right frickin' now!!! And we see how well that misguided approach worked. Heh? Other than some scrapbook bait for the perpetrators, what did it really accomplish?

If your intellectual level approaches that of a gun-toting, snarling taxpayer activist; then this would be the approach for you. But berating and belittling the word of elected officials rarely, if ever achieves the desired results. And as should also be expected, the vociferous leaders of this group have turned out to be about as popular amongst their own group's members as a gangster rapper appearing at the pool party of the Klan's Imperial Wizard would. I thought we had all learned some valuable lessons about where being hammerheaded would lead us during the past painful eight years, but apparently some folks missed those lessons. We've got more than enough blockheads blowing hot air at our council meetings of late. The last thing we need in this city is even more upstart blockheads posing as leaders. As our former mayor taught us, yelling, cursing, stomping our feet, or holding our breath until we get what we want will not get us anywhere of note.

Plenty of our elected folks have gone on the record as saying that the firehouse needs to be replaced or repaired. And it's not likely to happen during the '05 budget year unless someone at City Hall can pull a financial rabbit out of a hat. Although, that could come about. You never know. So where do the concerned citizens go from here? Should they follow those who do not merit being followed? Or should they seek out a more reasoned leadership, and try to work with the elected folks to get something accomplished?

This democracy experiment of ours should never be a spectator sport. But it doesn't have to be freakin' smashmouth all of the time either. Whatever, man. Really, whatever. Some folks simply equate being reasonable and civil with something approaching that of being blatantly criminal.

The folks genuinely capable of interaction without counterproductive confrontation need to take the helm and foist some progress upon the Heights.

It can't be "World Targets in Megadeaths" all the time. Can it?

Sue Gilbert...come on down!!!

You're the next contestant on...The Heights made right!


Here we go....this ought to get me some electronic bitch-slapping right quick.

Somebody asked me what charitable outfit I sent my tsunami donations to. He was concerned about which charities are legit, and which ones are less than legit.

The fact is, I didn't send a freaking dollar over there. And say what you will about that decision, but nothing could convince to, no matter how many disturbing videos the TV networks repeat over and over. My precognitive skills will never get me invited to toke up with Art Bell and the boys some night, but I'm expecting even more bad news from the tsunami region soon enough.

Sorry, kiddies, but that region is Muslim central. And it won't be very long before we learn that some of our soldiers toting food, water, and medicine got blown to smithereens and whatnot. We can send every dollar we have over there, but we're not going to win any hearts and minds. They'll eat our MREs today, and stab us through our infidel backs tomorrow.

I know that's painting with a very wide brush, but I won't send a damn thing. Want me to adopt some orphaned kid? Let's talk. Want me to send money that could end up feeding some uneducated swamp herder, some deranged leader of a terrorist fringe group? Fat freaking chance.

I'm a meanie.


From Neal Boortz'...web site. When is WILK going to hook back up with this guy?

BIG VS. LITTLE --- MAMMARILLY SPEAKING

First ... let this be said. This is something you will never hear Limbaugh or Hannity bring up on their shows. Savage? Maybe. So ... let's get on with it.

I've been telling you for years that in the business of advertising automobile dealerships, "the louder the commercial, the dumber they think their customer is." Pay attention to car commercials on radio. If the commercial features a calm, reasoned announcer with soft background music you're probably listening to a commercial for a more expensive car. If the commercial features explosions, loud music, drum beats, weird sounds and screaming-dueling announcers destroying their vocal chords, you're probably listening to a commercial for a cheaper car.

You may not look at it this way, but generally speaking, the smarter you are the more money you make, and the more money you make the more expensive the car you will buy. The dumber you are the less money you make, and the more likely it is you will be searching the car lots for something cheap.

I've just made the observation here, I can't tell you why it's true, but stupid people just seem to be more willing to listen to someone screaming at them. Maybe that's because they're used to it.

Now ... thanks to my incredible powers of observation I have another interesting discovery. It's sort of a physiological corollary to the "louder the commercial the dumber they think you are" bit. This one applies only to television commercials. Here we go. The bigger the breasts, the dumber they think you are. To support this theory I direct your attention to television ads featuring females. If the product being advertised is financial services, medical services or items generally used by people in the upper income levels the females will have ordinary breasts. If you're seeing something advertised, including cars, that would generally be consumed by people of lesser means, step back before your eye gets poked out.

I just wanted you to understand that my powers of observation and understanding go far beyond the political and government policy realm.

********

Yeah, baby! Yeah! C'mon, sell me a Yugo, baby!


Marine recruiters... are calling people at their homes? Say it ain't so. Please! Will George Hitler Bush stop at nothing? He's trying to take our boys. He's trying to eat my children. He's taking away all of my rights. I'm going on the Atkins Diet and ending it all. Oh, woe is me.

Okay. So nobody said you had to be well-schooled on the issues to call a talk radio station. And nobody said I couldn't mock their paltry mental existance. So I sent this e-mail along to Sue Henry today. She didn't read it on the air and I'm completely flummoxed as to why? Hee. Hee.

*******Suzie Q,

Marine recruiters called my house throughout '75 and '76 when I was a senior in "high" school. And they called again when my daughter Peace rapidly approached her eventual escape from "high" school. And then they called again when "the boy" barely escaped the very same federally-manipulated babysitting facility. And yet again when my youngest daughter was still smashing volleyballs off of the faces of her "high" school opponents. And what should we glean from these facts?

George Bush is a fascist puppet of the military/industrial complex who will continue to eat our children. Pass the barbeque sauce. What Duke from Dallas (Mr. American Century Project himself) forgot to mention is that Halliburton spelled backwards reads Enron. Or was it Diebold?

Gotta go. A black helicopter just buzzed the house. Imagine my distress.

Mark*******

What the heck. One more time:

*******Suzie Q,

Only if we accept Kurt's daily dose of limp-wristed, "Eve of Destruction" (if Republicans aren't hunted down and killed) do-gooding run amok on copious amounts of illegally harvested agricultural amusement aids.

(/Markie) (/blog boy)*******

Please allow me to 'splain. I got whacked in an MVA and missed seven weeks at work. Then I worked three short weeks and got my Winter pink slip.

I simply have wayyyyyyy too much time on my hands. Help me.

Sorry Suzie Q.

(/markie)

(/blog boy)