Great googly-moogly!--Francis Vincent Zappa

Let’s do this. I guess I goofed that “Wingin’ It” announcement. The "Wingin' It" date and time is Sunday, April 6th, 1:00 to 4:00. Please do not loiter behind those girls in the dryer-shrunken hot pants this year.

Check this e-mail:

******March 23, 24, 25......vacation?******

I could not post at all for a couple of days. I had to study for the mother of all skills tests which was work related. Remember, I got MAD skills.

I think the BLOG has been fairly interesting so far, but I was hoping to see more of a pro and con happening. I guess the mayor’s twenty or so remaining supporters either don’t own a computer, or judging from reading the SAYSO columns, are somewhat illiterate and dim-witted. “I tinks he does a good job with the garbage and dem, dere, dose firemen sleep on duty.” May God help our once fair city.

Here’s a good read:

Okay, some U.S. soldier who also happens to be a ‘peaceful’ Muslim decided to frag his commanding officers. Why was he there in the first place? Whatever. That nitwit is not what pissed me off today. Check this pic from San Fragcisco:

Yeah, folks have the right to protest rather than doing constructive things, but these fother muckers should have been stoned to death as soon that they hoisted that banner. They support some confused goober’s killing of OUR soldiers while in their tents? Is that anti-war? Anti-Bush? Or downright anti-American? Americans support a goober that kills it’s own troops in a time of war? They are lucky I wasn’t in attendance. There would have been a mini-brawl right quick! Don’t I have the right to lash out at folks that are enemies of my country?

On Thursday the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to express "... support and appreciation of the nation for the president and the members of the armed forces who are participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom." When that measure came to a vote in the House of Representatives 11 members, all Democrats, decided that they just couldn't go along. They voted NO. Here is your dishonor roll.

Many of these elected goofs, that’s goofs are the usual suspects that bash this country every opportunity they get.

Here is a paragraph from a UPI dispatch from Jordon. It seems some American anti-war demonstrators have seen the light.

"A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

Here’s a simple reminder of why we had to go on the offensive rather than going down on White House interns:

Check this out. Save this one to your favorites. A BLOG posted by a resident of Baghdad:

Ya’ wanna’ know the best part of this warfare in Iraq deal? The mayor, who has been issuing useless press releases faster than the Iraqis do is being wagged. Who gives a muck about overdue paving projects, curbside pick-ups, clutter cleanups and the mayor’s newest cause-defending the city from the methadone zombies-while American troops are dying, possibly being executed and being captured and paraded like trophies for the cameras? The dude is spending our tax dollars at an accelerated rate and has his re-election press release machine on overdrive and the entire city is huddled around the water cooler talking about Iraq or just hunkered down in front of their favorite video advertising box news source. I gotta tell ya’, while I really, really fear for our troops as they march toward a probable chemical weapon attack, a part of me does love it.

Here’s a sign for ya’:

BANG! DISPUTE THAT!

How about an e-mail:

******Mark, I'm old enough to remember the "peace demonstrations" of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Vividly. You see, my XXXXXX was a news reporter in XXXXX, and covered all of those "peaceful" demonstrations that prolonged the Vietnam conflict by turning it into a "limited" war. And my aunt and uncle were hippies. For those youngsters out there, a "limited" war is one in which the politicians dictate the actions of the military for political gain.
By dictating when and where a soldier can fight, the war drags on endlessly. Ya know, it gives the enemy time to prepare for the pending attack. It's the decent thing to do. And that in a nut shell was Vietnam.
What most people don't know is that the majority of the demonstrators had no idea what they were protesting. It was just cool to show up at these events, smoke a lot of dope, steal some stuff, trash everything, feel empowered and then go home to reminisce about the good time they had. It was for the most part a social event rather than a true statement of ones political ideology. I fear we are seeing the same thing going on now. God, I hope it doesn't become cool to be a protestor again.
And all these years later, the folks who wanted to "stick it to the man" are discovering that they were merely pawns of the cold war. You guessed it. Most of the funding behind the "hippies" came firstly from Red China, and to a lesser extent from the USSR. It really frosts my buns. Why? Because we have the same thing going on right now. The only difference is in the financing. The new breed of tree hugging, sandal wearing, dope smoking, alternative lifestyle exploring dirt balls are now getting their bucks from leftist organizations in Europe. And the mainstream media is falling right into their hands. It makes me want to puke.
Why is it so hard to understand the reality of this conflict? Saddam is a brutal dictator. He has no feelings about gassing thousands of his own people. It doesn't bother him to launch scuds at population centers in Israel. Clearly he is a threat to every nation surrounding him as was evidenced in the Iran/Iraq war of the `80's and the occupation of Kuwait/Gulf War in the `90's. Peaceniks, wake up and smell the coffee. Remember that those are your brothers fighting the new war. Remember that they volunteered to do so! And finally, remember the lesson of the Vietnam era: Don't be a patsy for the enemy!

Mean ole' angry XXXXX******

We’re at war all right, and Iraq at least had the testicle matter to admit they hate us and are working against us. Give the leaders of that country some credit. Some of the old guard European Union members and United Nations members will never admit it.

Here’s another e-mail from a Kings kid:

****** Hey Mark,

Well, It's about 1AM on a Friday night, and yep...I'm not out waking the dead! I actually have to be in Jersey early tomorrow to start looking for apartments. I got my dream job, I really can't believe it. My soon-to-be roommate is defecting from Wilkes-Barre, and so are 3 other King's kids come May 18. That’s 3 Wilkes-Barre kids that are packing up post-college shop and leaving for greener pastures. March Madness is on TV, and this year I don’t even care. I've been watching Fox News waiting to see if Iraq becomes our 51st state, but it should be called New Florida...I like that name. Anyways, i was sitting in class on Wednesday, and this 18 year old girl was telling the class how we deserved whole WTC attack, and how Bill Clinton was the best and bravest president to ever rule America. The bitch even went so far as to say that the French were great people, and their government was the best. I mean, I would never hit a girl, but she was goddamn close to getting an open handed pimp slap. I'm convinced that the younger kids don't understand what’s going on. We need this war, we've been sitting on our hands way too long, but this is just my opinion.

So I was at Keenans last Saturday celebrating St. Paddy's Day. I was amazed at how many Leighton For Mayor shirts that were there. I had a conversation with one of the guys, he was really nice to talk to. Unfortunately, those 26 ounce cans of Fosters impaired my memory, and I forgot his name. He was telling me that he would like to see the grads stay and all that, but we both knew we all have to leave to make any kind of respectable income. Well I just want to let ya know what happening over here on campus, and hope you're doing well. Oh yeah, the parking ticket sh*thead has been targeting Union Street 3 to 4 times a day. What a prick that guy is..he drives car 420...I think we need to retaliate on that ba*tard. Anyways, I gotta get goin...I have a meeting with the Sand Man. Talk to ya soon!!******

The brain drain continues. As far as the meter maids are concerned-I’m thinking water balloons.

Since winter finally started releasing it’s awful grip, I’ve been doing 7.4 miles per day, everyday, on the aging Huffy. Every morning I check the status of the cat food under one of the few remaining train cars on Thom Greco’s property. It’s always refreshed, but I never see any cats on the property. You don’t suppose the homeless are now subsisting on Meow mix, do you?

I was sitting in the kitchen last night reading the latest from Iraq, when I was absolutely sure I heard gunfire from an automatic weapon. I didn’t mention it to wifey, because it would sound too far-out. Then, seconds later (10:38 p.m.) one of our copper dudes barks into his mike about what I had heard. This much I caught: “...there was about 9 shots. It sounded like an AK.” That would be an AK-47! Yikes! Finally, I told wifey what was going on or at least what at least I and one of our copper dudes thought was going on. Meanwhile, the copper dudes led by #512 were hot after some kids on top of the abandoned, window pane dropping Corcoran building. Then I heard it again. By now I had the back door open and it sure as hell sounded like an automatic weapon being discharged. No mention of that second “volley” came over the scanner, so you got me as to what the heck happened. It did sound as if the dudes in blue/black polyester caught themselves three graffiti dipsh*ts on top of the Corcoran building though. GOOD!

I saw a nifty car wreck on the way from work today, in front of Jack Knelly’s market. I noticed Engine 1 was staffed with only one firefighter. Hmmm... Now lemme guess. Two flat and straight streets that intersect and have a street light controlling the flow. What could have caused this? Oh, I know, they both had the green light, right? LOFL!!!! LIAR!!!

And then there’s this just in from Private Sector Dude:

******Mark,

How's it going? Busy here, but I just had to make a comment. It seems that the hose dudes of NY City are going to have to remove the American Flag from their fire vehicles and apparatus. It seems the anti-war, anti-America, anti-Bush crowd (call them the anti-anti crowd) have decided that civil disobedience is a means of getting their 1-2% majority heard and the hose dudes are afraid of being attacked by the anti-anti crowd. Someone please tell me what the hell is going on with these idiots. Here's a plan-it is simple. Mark, I know you like simple. Arrest their sorry, tired, lazy, welfare asses, along with the socialistic, pseudo-intellectual professors that teach them this crap and take 'em to Cuba with the other prisoners of war and let them see how it would be to live elsewhere. You want to protest-great, go for it, say what you want, make as big a fool of yourselves as you want, but civil disobedience to the guys that ran INTO burning, exploding, collapsing buildings and gave their lives up because of some asshole terrorists?! Ship them off to Saddam, as I'm sure things are so much better in Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Yemen, etc. I wouldn't trade one NY Hose Dude for the entire Middle East including the damn oil.

The sad part is that this is happening because there is a Republican in the White House and our friends on the left and in the media have divided our political views to a point that it is impossible to even debate issues. What used to be disagreements on increasing welfare spending by the conservative's 3% or the liberal's 5% then became "An extreme, right-wing attack on welfare and the poor by CUTTING or SLASHING welfare spending by 2%" even though it is a 3% increase. Remember how a 5% increase in the school lunch program became "A right-wing attempt to starve our children". You know what, most of my friends are Democrats and we are hardly at odds politically speaking. We differ slightly in ideology, but not much. My friends all think we pay too many taxes, they all hunt and fish, they all love this country and support our troops-especially the union guys that have been in the military, many of who fought in Vietnam. But to listen to the press, you would think all Republicans hate the Democrats and vise-versa. Why? Because the press just loves covering these idiots. Covering the average, everyday blue collar and white collar dudes and dudettes just isn't a story. The idiot with the sign calling Bush a terrorist is. Why? Because they have "guts", they are "expressing their beliefs", they are using "freedom of speech". Yes, it's okay to shout that Bush is a terrorist, but just let someone stand up and say abortion is bad. Oh, no, oh, no!!! That person should be censored-that "extreme Christian right-winger."

Anything that attacks America or Bush-good. Everyday, ordinary folks that support Bush regardless of their party or that support our troops regardless of their belief in war-bad. This is why so many folks are abandoning the Democrats, especially the blue collar Democrats, the ones that go to work each day, come home kiss their wives, coach the kids' little league baseball team, and relax at night with a beer. This is why the left has to constantly support folks like MBLA, the environmentalist, the animal rights crowd, and other fringe groups that in NO WAY represent the Democrats I know. The Democrats I know are like me, and I am like them, and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of my President, I'm proud of my Country, I'm proud of my Flag, and I am proud of our Troops that are keeping this country free. If it is so bad here then why are so many people trying to come to America? I don't see any waiting lines for folks that want to go to Haiti, or Qatar, or even Finland or France. As for you protesters, get a life, or at least get a job and try adding some VALUE to society and our Country first before you attack it.

Semper Fi (Semper Fidelis)-"always faithful"
The NY Hose dudes represent all that is America-keep your flags boys!
Private Sector Dude.******

I can’t attend the rally on Public Square Friday night, I’ll be celebrating the arrival of the amazing granddaughter on Friday morning. Yep, Gage will have to share his toys soon enough. RUTRO! I think that every city resident should get their buns down there and support our KIDS that are wading through tracer rounds to defend our freedom. Yepper, get down there and make a ton of noise and if any of those anti-American goofniks, the fringe element, show up holding hands and chanting tired phrases-somebody had better get me some pics for the site as the full-fledged water balloon assault begins. Inciting violence? Maybe somebody should. Maybe the average Americans, the Americans that don’t dump on this country every opportunity they get, should start raising some hell too.

I’ve got a bag of 100 balloons to donate to the cause, but I’ll be meeting my very first granddaughter that night. Have at it!

Nite

TLFM