Democracies always reflect a country's customs and culture, and I know that. Yet democracies have certain things in common; they have a rule of law, and protection of minorities, a free press, and a viable political opposition.--Dubya

Check it out. I snagged this list of things not to do from the Leader web site.

Complete list of Academy Awards Associated Press Complete list of winners at the 77th annual Academy Awards, presented Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles: Picture: "Million Dollar Baby." Actor: Jamie Foxx, "Ray." Actress: Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby." Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby." Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator." Director: Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby." Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, "Sideways." Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Art Direction: "The Aviator." Cinematography: "The Aviator." Film Editing: "The Aviator." Visual Effects: "Spider-Man 2." Sound Mixing: "Ray." Sound Editing: "The Incredibles." Original Score: "Finding Neverland." Original Song: "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" from "The Motorcycle Diaries." Costume: "The Aviator." Makeup: "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." Foreign Film: "The Sea Inside" (Spain). Animated Feature: "The Incredibles." Animated Short: "Ryan." Documentary Feature: "Born Into Brothels." Documentary Short: "Mighty Times: The Children's March." Live Action Short: "Wasp."

I have never had the displeasure of suffering through any of that abject garbage and thankfully, I never, ever will. I'd rather watch Jose Canseco inject something illegal under Barry Bonds' mammoth and muscular fingernails.

I called the number, (406) 284-6929, and talked to a lady who really works at the Oasis Steakhouse. She was very pleasant and talkative, but you could tell that she was acting out a well-worn script.

She told me the story told in that e-mail is complete bunk and that the steakhouse has received thousands of calls about it.

You know, the Vietnam war wasn't waged that long ago and I kinda doubt that Hanoi Jane would be asking complete strangers, "Do you know who I am?"

Those of us old enough to remember crushing a tin-friction car or two know damned well who she is and many of us would love nothing more than to be on the receiving end of that question.

Do you know who I am?

You can bet yer sweet hammer & sickle pendant we do, comrade!

That not so silent killer of needed business and finance, the dreaded "Not in my f**king back yard" disease has reared it's ugly head once again. Say a prayer for the hopelessly afflicted in South Wilkes-Barre, and pray that they never buy a house across the street from your neighborhood Little League field.

Make checks payable to the: Save the NIMBY Simpletons Foundation.

The Citizens Voice Council action puts city business on the spot By Heidi E. Ruckno, Staff Writer 02/28/2005 Wilkes-Barre residents Bill and Marilynn May are disgusted with the truck traffic in their neighborhood, and for a year, they've been fighting to stop it. Wilkes-Barre City Council was listening, but no formal legislative action had been taken - until recently. During a regular session on Feb. 10, council passed a resolution ordering signs reading, "Vehicles in Excess of 10 Tons Prohibited" posted on Conwell, Charles and New Elizabeth streets. The resolution also directed the police department to enforce those signs. Its passage presents a problem for Master Chemical because its loading docks are at the corner of Charles and Conwell streets, but the Mays and their fellow Conwell Street residents blame the Carey Avenue business for the problem. "We don't understand why he thinks he can have all those violations just because he has a business in the city," Mrs. May said. Both she and her husband say Master Chemical is in blatant violation of an ordinance prohibiting an intersection from being blocked. "He's (Master Chemical Vice President Walter Volinski) the only person I know that will block a street in the City of Wilkes-Barre," Mr. May said. Concerned about emergency vehicle access to their neighborhood, the Mays and their neighbors complained. As a result, the city began enforcing its traffic codes prohibiting large tractor-trailers from traveling in residential areas. Attorney Stephen Menn, who represents Master Chemical, threatened to file an injunction in December to stop the city from enforcing those codes. He said the laws were affecting his client's ability to do business and that the company could fold if it was unable to receive deliveries. Menn never filed the injunction because the city agreed not to cite drivers who were making deliveries until the issue was resolved. Assistant Solicitor Bill Vinsko confirmed the agreement. Menn said he would have to file the injunction as early as this week if the city reneged on the agreement. Vinsko did not know if the police had been issuing citations as a result of the resolution. He said the City Attorney's Office was not involved on that level, however. "I don't know what the police department has done because I haven't spoken to them directly," he said. Reached Sunday, Sgt. Matt Stash believed truck drivers were only being warned about the violation. He said officers did not frequently ticket in that area of the city. Vinsko, who hopes the matter can be resolved out of court, said he only asked for the resolution so there would be a record indicating when the signs were posted. He and Councilwoman Kathy Kane have met repeatedly with Menn and Master Chemical representatives to try and find an amicable solution, but the parties have been unable to reach an agreement. Kane could not be reached for comment Sunday. hruckno@citizensvoice.com

Lemme guess here. Those would be the relatively new neighbors on the NIMBY block? I would have to assume as much. Master Chemical has been operating out of that building since the very first ice age ended prematurely, but...business as usual on Conwell Street is no longer acceptable. It sure sounds like some new neighbors have arrived on the scene to me.

Concerned about emergency vehicle access to their neighborhood, the Mays and their neighbors complained. As a result, the city began enforcing its traffic codes prohibiting large tractor-trailers from traveling in residential areas.

I own a pretty decent map of Wilkes-Barre and that "concern" is crap. It's bullsh*t, but the press never challenges baseless allegations emanating from the folks generating the headlines. If Master Chemical is accepting a delivery...city emergency vehicles have no access to Conwell or Charles Street??? None? Or are they facing a three mile detour? Repeat after me: BULLSH*T!!!

Wilkes-Barre, meet Mr. & Mrs. Poppycock. The current king & queen of ridiculous NIMBY fiddle-faddle.

Not a f**king problem though. The folks that own Master Chemical can easily find a much more suitable facility well outside of Wilkes-Barre's confines. They can take their annoying trucks, their annoying deliveries and the taxes they pay to the city elsewhere. And then the NIMBY dimwits on Conwell Street will be whining at council meetings about a hulking and empty structure that attracts grafitti, vagrants and rodents on a regular basis. And we wonder why Leighton had to raise fees and such. BILO split the city. Radio Shack split the city. Dozens of other viable businesses have split from the city. And now Mr. & Mrs. Poppycock will not rest until Master Chemical splits the city also. And worse yet, we have council folks encouraging these people by pretending that they're not just a bunch of pains in the asses.

When Master Chemical finally splits from this place, somebody call Mr. & Mrs. Poppycock on the NIMBY hotline and ask them if they can kick in the tax dollars we lost because of their namby-pamby NIMBY nonsense.

There'll be no more urinal aids to be had in Wilkes-Barre.

Does anybody remember this meaningless twaddle dated September 5, 2004?

Just weeks after withdrawing his petitions to reduce the salaries and benefits of Wilkes-Barre elected officials, Walter Griffith Jr. made it clear that he was not going away.

The former city council candidate and activist has formed a political action committee to support his proposeed referendum called "Citizens for Charter Change." Its intent is to re-submit the petitions in time for the May 2005 primary election.

You can click on the following images to view even larger versions.

What-farging-ever. I wandered on down to the Voter Services office today to see just how much money this shadowy political action committee had amassed as the May 2005 primary election draws closer and closer.

As it turns out, Walter and his "powerful" PAC couldn't afford to put me and the grandkids up at Abe's Hoddogs for a single lunch hour pigfest. Are we surprised? And this guy wanted to be put in charge of the city's future?

There was no possible way that I could pass up these two tasty and totally clueless morsels from today's SAYSO garbage.

A few weeks ago when I was paying my sewer bill at city hall, I noticed that after a year and almost two months have past, former Mayor McGroarty’s picture has not yet been added to the beautiful display in the hallway. Even though the current administration may not want it there, it should be. Former Mayor McGroarty was more in touch with most of the citizens because he came from a family that knew how to get by from paycheck to paycheck. All these increased fees, etc., don’t hurt the rich at all, and they don’t much give a darn either. But the average guy struggling to get by always is left dangling in the wind.

McG's picture? I imagine it's in the employee lunch room dead center in the middle of a dart board. Anything less than that would leave me devastated.

Paycheck to paycheck? Increased fees? Argh!!! Who was it that was unceremoniously dumped from his elected office and left us with $10.4 million in overdue debts?

Who called that one in? Tom, or Gerry?

The condition of the Wilkes-Barre city firehouses, I think it’s a slap in the face to taxpayers that these buildings are in such deplorable conditions. Why didn’t the Wilkes-Barre city firefighters report minor leaks and problems when they occurred? It is their house and they should maintain their house and not let the buildings go into such deplorable condition that they cannot even be used.

Yeah! Yeah! Why didn’t the Wilkes-Barre city firefighters report minor leaks and problems when they occurred? All of these firehouse closings could have been avoided had those firemen reported those minor leaks. It's a slap in the face to us taxpayers.

Who called that one in? Tom? Gerry? Or some escaped mental patient that collects antique scissors and headless rodents?

WARNING: This section contains dirty words sure to upset somebody.

Is this, like, a return to the old days or something? Rather than paying to put prisoner transport cages in the back seats of every new police cruiser we purchase from here on out, wouldn't it be mucho cheaper to just buy a Black Maria? You know, a friggin' paddy wagon? The meat wagon?

Ray's guitar broke. No, we won't play Rawhide, won't play anything. We'll play the theme from the Dinah Shore show. Who wants to be Dinah Shore? Who's alter-ego is Dinah Shore? Oh, his fists didn't go up so quickly this time. Yawn...yawn..yawn. Put those headphones on, it's be-bop time.

I want to tell you a story about the last time I was in Portland. The night before we played at the Long Goodbye. I was walking on the street about 10:30 at night. A lot of people go to bed around here at 10:30 at night. And well, I was walking along when suddenly these jocks in this bright blue pickup drove up. It had KC lights, tractor tires, everything but the CB. It was a life-size Hot Wheels car for some dumb rich kid, right. Well, they drove up to me and they yelled what dumb rich kids usually yell, "Hey, faggot," and showered me with some water.

So, I stood there thinking, what a bunch of fuckheads and picked up a rock. Now, I waited, walked down about a block to where the Kentucky Fried Chicken is, on Burnside, and sure enough they drove around again. They said, "Hey, faggot, where's the nearest McDonald's?" I said, "I don't know" and they squirted me again. So I threwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww the rock and put a nice-size dent in their giant Hot Wheels car.

They screached to a halt in the parking lot of some department store, who's name I don't remember, it's up the street from Fred Meyer, and they got out their clubs and they ran after me, yelling, "We're gonna kill you, you god damn faggot, we're gonna kill you, you motherfucker." So I got in a phonebooth by the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Burnside, held my legs straight out like this so they couldn't open the door to the phonebooth.

So they began charging the phonebooth, beating on it with their club, yelling, "We're gonna kill you, you motherfucker, we're gonna kill you, you god damn faggot." I just looked at them. So, there was a crowd gathering by this time and these kids were standing nearby and they said, "Oh, look at him, he's insane." I thought, ah-hah, here's my way out. I yelled at them, "Take me to a mental hospital right away. I wanna be be put away. Please put me away, c'mon, call the cops and put me away. Please put me away now." They said, "Alright, faggot, we're calling the police."

So they called the police. The cop comes out and I go, ah, my savior, I'm away from these jocks. He opens up the door, "Get out of there, you," throws me up against the car, frisks me, shoves me in the back. Then he goes over to the jocks, "Now what happened here? It looks like we're going have to take him to jail but we got to have the full story first" So the jocks, who had an ace in the hole, ace in the hole [Take down on the bass, a little bit down on the bass. Yeah], ace in the hole, and they go, "Well, goddammit, the motherfucker put a dent in my truck, a $5000 truck, right, so I got my club, I went out and I wanted to kill him.

I want to kill him. Let me kill him, goddammit. Let me kill him." So the cop made them go home, and he drove me home, and he confiscated their club and my rock as further evidence. And I thought, so this is Oregon, huh? Tolerant Oregon?

Ray, are you done with your guitar yet? He isn't done yet. So what else do you want to hear, I'm out of stories. That's a true story, too. Just ask Bruce Loose.

Dead Kennedys: Night of the Living Rednecks

Have a good one.

Later