9-9-2004

Tanks on Public Square?

Americans who care about this stuff know where George W Bush stands. They're not sure where the Democrats do - sometimes it's full-scale Michael Moore denial, at other times it's going through the multilateral motions with Kofi and Co. No point on that continuum is of sufficient electoral appeal.

Last week, apropos the Islamists' impressive mound of Israeli, Nepalese and Russian corpses, Kofi Annan's office issued the following statement: "The secretary-general strongly condemns all hostage-takings and killings of innocent civilians."

Or, as Cole Porter wrote in Friendship: "If they ever put a bullet through your brain, I'll complain."

That's the UN policy on Sudan. Americans don't want it to be the policy in the war on terror. That's why they'll stick with Bush.--Mark Steyn, The Telegraph

Rutro! Kerry's polling numbers have slipped a bit further. And it now looks as if Ohio, one of the key battleground states, may be a lost cause for Kerry. And he has even pulled his advertising in a few other less important (fewer electoral votes) battleground states. You know what that means, don't you?

Welcome to the wonderful Democratic world of baseless and unproveable accusations: Round 1,137.

Welcome to "Bush was AWOl: The prequel to the sequel." You'll be dazzled by "Bush was a coke fiend." And the surprise smash: Republican librarians gone wild on dope!"

I'm hoping that the Kerry/Edwards campaign office on S. Main Street has one-size-fits-all clothespins available for all of the noses belonging to Dems in this county. I realize most of ya'll are probably too proud to admit that your candidate and his party's tactics stink, but you shouldn't have to wallow in that stench. Give 'em a buzz and inquire about those clothespins.

And don't stop there, take a quick trip to The Hill.

I came in to a sizeable...

...amount of money today. Ten-frickin-thousand. Got that? Ten-fargin-thousand. Dinars, not dollars. Anybody know the exchange rate? If I'm lucky, maybe I can convert this foreign puppy into dollars and grab me a rock classic down at Joe Nardone's. Flo & Eddie's Illegal, Immoral & Fattening, anyone?

Yup. My nephew Rory, currently serving with the 109th, sent us 10,000 dinars directly from Baghdad. He also sent along something else: News that if things break just right he might... that's, he might be flying into Wilkes-Barre or thereabouts come next Thursday. We're hoping that if he does come home on leave, he'll fly directly into Avoca. It'd be real nice to reunite with him in private. Sorry Todd. Sorry Skrep. Just busting your tattered jewels.

No, seriously. Nearly everyone involved in this family has work committments and next Thursday is kinda short notice. What are we supposed to do, call off en masse and hoof it to JFK? Imagine our horror when some bored TV news crew spots us welcoming home a solder from Iraq and wants to shoot some video. I'd have to do a "Crossin" on 'em by slamming them backwards over a folding chair while yelling: "No! My boss.."

We shall see. We're waiting and hoping for good news.

PASS CHRIS?

A kid from GAR missed 117 out of 180 school days and he thinks that he should be promoted to the next grade level? And he has 50 ardent supporters, no less?

What this kid desperately needs is to find a vo-tech school that offers a course such as Bucket, Mop & Wringer 101. Whether he "graduates" to the next level or not, I think his future is sort of set already. Well, I guess that depends on whether he's got any friends in high places, of course.

Let's see here. He missed 117 of 180 school days. That's an absentee rate of 65%. Ouch. How in God's name are we going to find him some delectable employment opportunities? Wait! I know. What about the Senate Intelligence Committee? John Kerry skipped 38 of 49 mandatory meetings which translates into an absentee rate of 77.5%. Hell! He's got nothing on the Gameboy pro. Ah, what the hay. Pass the kid. He's not asking for the nuclear suitcase or anything even remotely close. But the chronically absent John F. Nuance is.

Allrighty then! Who is the...

...hapless moron that put a Confederate flag on some black guy's lawn in East End?

Worse yet, why would anyone want, let alone steal a freakin' Kerry/Edwards yard sign? Hee! Hee!

Seriously. I read the story in the Leader about this unfortunate incident and it seems as if the recipients of the Confederate flag are mostly productive and involved citizens. So why the needless racism bullspit sent in their direction?

It appears that some ya'll in East End need to police your neighbors. Or rather, a neighbor.

Nancy & Kev....

...on WILK this morning could not imagine how a new mayor taking office could amount to increased arrests by his police department in his city.

That one's easy. That's because the previous mayor steadfastly refused to admit that crime even existed in this city. Why was it that he refused to release our Uniform Crime Statistics to the state three years running? Why? Because the truth of the matter would have embarrassed him being that he just about reduced our police department to seven guys and two 1972 AMC Hornets.

Our new mayor (while still not being able to afford as many cops as he'd like) has given the new police chief free reign over the streets of Wilkes-Barre, which is a nice change of pace from having the ruthless druggies, the defiant hookers and the piss-stained kooks ruling our streets.

How can a mayor make a difference? By surrounding himself with quality people and then delegating the proper authority to them to work their brand of magic in their fields of expertise. That's how.

"Look out for...

...tanks on Public Square." (???)

That neurotic ditty ended Claire Wert's recent 'Letters to the Editor' challenge to the attorney that filed the court challenge to Walter Griffith's ill-fated and incorrectly prepared confetti posing as brillance.

And I quote: "If Mr. Polishan has proof of these allegations, then let him take the next step."

Uh-huh. What-f**king-ever. It seems to me that "the next step" would have been when Walter showed up in court and proved beyond reasonable doubt that the "allegations" were totally wthout merit. As we all know, he very wisely decided to forego that route, so Claire's rantings are completely laughable at best.

I don't care where she went to high school, or where she went to college; she followed a guy into battle who was not properly prepared for the battle that he alone sought out. So now she's reduced to lashing out in print at the folks that do happen to know what the farg they're talking about and how it pertains to city government.

My only crime was questioning our system of democracy.

No, your only crime was not doing your homework. Oh, and allying yourself with a verbose and platitudinous pretender. And by the way, this still glorious country of our's is not a democracy. Did they fail to mention that at the best schools that Wilkes-Barre has to offer? Give me a ringie sometime. I'll tutor you for a very nominal fee.

This is rich:

If Mr. Polishan wants to investigate something, why doesn't he investigate the fact that the city's insurance is written through an office in Pittston! God forbid the city give one of its own taxpayers some business.

Oops! Which insurance agency should the city be dealing with? Would that be the same one you happen to work for, Claire? Now why is it again that you've gotten yourself knee-deep in politics all of a sudden? Personal gain perhaps? Or some greater, some much more noble purpose such as correcting "some of the wrongs that currently exist in our local governement?"

I've heard plenty of cost-cutting ideas from residents that really don't know much about how this city works. One bright idea is to switch to a volunteer fire department. I'm sure we'd save tons of money, but if I wanted a volunteer fire department to arrive too late to save my burning home, I'd move to Kunkle with the rest of the people mowing their ravenous lawns in their underwear. Another is to privatize our curb-side pick-ups. That one doesn't phase me one way or another, except to say that the private haulers move a helluva faster than our guys do. Any other bright ideas that will actually amount to significant savings?

How about removing every existing incentive in place that might actually attract professional people to City Hall? How 'bout that? That's what you're calling for, Claire. In a city with a $35 million budget, your current life's work is the stripping away of any incentive for the best and brightest to get involved in our city in a major, major way.

You offer us no substantial monetary savings through your screwed up and misguided efforts. What you offer us is a way to stick it to the people that the majority of us elected to preside over Wilkes-Barre's rebirth. You offer us some sort of hack-kneed payback, childish pettiness and little else.

This is not about democracy. No, your short-sighted and feeble efforts are an affront to your so-called democracy. This is about the always disgruntled few with a "how to" government manual and some ambition who wish to rule by appealing to the always disgruntled many, and for all the wrong reasons.

Claire, I do have a question for you. Since Walter is now the self-appointed champion of the perpetually disgruntled taxpayers, let's revisit his promise to the residents of this city during the last election cycle. And I quote:

I support term limits for Council and Mayor and reduction in benefits for Council And Mayor to save taxpayers money.

End quote.

Why is it that the highly prolific author of so many referendum questions left out the promise to seek term limits for Council and Mayor? Why is that? Is he planning on running for a council seat again? If so, has he suddenly rethought the term limit promise? Why not take care of all of his lofty promises with one fell swoop?

At the bottom of one of Walter's campaign door hangers it clearly states: Please vote responsibly on November 4, 2003

And that is the one glaring part of the equation that is totally lost upon all of the taxpayer activist crazies currently wreaking their self-styled brand of havoc upon this city.

We did!

We did vote responsibly on November 4, 2003.

And yet, you refuse to abide by the wishes of the majority of the voters.

Look out for tanks on Public Square?

You may have once studied with the best that literati supposedly has to offer, but your ill-disciplined efforts and especially your reflexive, sour grapes comments are displaying your outright contempt for the voters who can actually think.

You, your fellow jihadi and this city would be much better served by your playing the political game as it currently stands, rather than by trying to reinvent the game to suit your questionable needs. And if you must persist in all of your self-righteous, self-serving quasi-religiosity, you can count on me to counter your every effort.

Nite