Wayo! Ya just gotta love that letter from a McMayor supporter to the editor published in today’s Voice. He deserves credit? Credit for the clutter clean-up program. Yeah, it’s supposed to rid the city of junk, but the city looks like total sh*t. Curbside recycling? That would have occurred anyway if we elected Charlie Weiss or Charlie the Tuna as mayor. Pickup of phone books, appliances and tires? Is this chick for real or simply too lazy to haul her old fridge up to Bielecki‘s? ? Free cardboard pickup? Is there anything of note he did other than run our DPW boys ragged for seven years? Anything that doesn’t involve a dump truck?

Ooooooooh....The NIT Team she says. The Neighborhood Impact Team Team, as she put it. The housing stock in this city is absolutely, undeniably appalling when compared to the similarly aged housing in any of our neighboring communities. The NIT has amassed a pile of press clippings and not much more. The letter writer goes on to say that “Instead of having a negative attitude and complaining about things that have not been done, how about looking at things that have been done” without citing anything more than the previously mentioned curbside collection obsession.

We’re known for loan defaults and flirting with Act 47 status, yet we should be thankful that we didn’t have to throw away our old phone books? We didn’t raise taxes? Wilkes-Barre already has one of the most confiscatory tax rates in the state and what has it bought us? John Bergold single-handedly built our recycling program from scratch and won a few awards and accolades for his efforts in the process before leaving the city’s employ and the McMayor deserves the credit?

This election is shaping up as a battle between the rightfully frustrated vs. the mentally castrated and Wilkes-Barre’s future or possibly lack thereof hangs in the balance. I hope she was proud of her less than thought out, published arguments. Is the city better off than it was eight years ago? Why yes, they pickup my phone book.

You tell me man!

McMayor supporters, this link could change your life. Do it!

Hopefully she has some sort of redeeming quality to fall back on such as a magnificent, callipygian feature to gawk at.

Check out this nifty video. Support Your Troops!

So, both local papers reported today that, Virgil Argenta, a city council hopeful was recently sentenced to two years probation. I read the Scranton Times every day, so I knew about that a while back. The Times owns the Voice, so I figured that the Voice people knew about it too and it would be news right quick. I wondered, should I pull the trigger on anyone and everyone that runs for local political office, especially with something so potentially damaging? In my less than objective opinion, our mayor needs to be replaced and then we need to play it by ear and see if any further political bloodletting needs to happen. A day passed and it wasn’t news. Then another. And another. Where was the Voice I wondered? A couple more days passed and I figured that if anyone was going to report it, I would have to be the one that did it. Then it showed up in the BLOG. Somebody had posted the accounts of the Times story.

The word was out locally for those of us that enjoy wandering through cyber space. Still, the local press was slow to report it. A few have referred to me as the Matt Drudge of Wilkes-Barre and one even called me the godfather of the internet. This goofy internet destination has become a unique local happening to some degree, but I have never been presented with or actually found a smoking gun before and was not sure what to do with it when I found it. I hesitated. I blinked. Now it’s news anyway. After reading the local papers this morning, I had all day to chew on the fact that I blinked. This is where I ended up.

Maybe this “Media” site as some have called it never should have happened in the first place. Maybe one person should not have been so idealistic so as to believe that one person should or could raise their voice against the machine and actually help to make a difference. Maybe I shouldn’t have posted my name and my picture on the site. Maybe I shouldn’t have pointed out the fact that my aging Huffy was red. Maybe I should have just moved away as so many others have already done. Maybe targeting oneself by speaking out in a county and city known for political corruption and inept leadership was not the brightest of ideas.

It’s just that I’ve grown tired of being the recipient of some very subtle threats and outright displays of hostility from people who‘s salaries I help to pay and people who have sworn to serve me. In a country known for it’s unbridled passion for freedom and undying love of democracy, speaking out should not be seen as some sort of freakish behavior. I think those acts sent my way speak volumes about the current leadership and the nose-pickers that prop it up. Demanding open and honest government tinged with a bit of competency is apparently not looked kindly upon in such a rapidly failing place.

Here’s the gig. I am tired. I am tired of being the one person in Wilkes-Barre that has managed to piss off practically everyone else and especially those pathetically hanging from the government teat. I do grow weary of the fight that I had a big hand in starting. But, I will not blink again. I will see this thing through and if we can’t manage to bring responsible government to Wilkes-Barre, I’ll hit the eject button and get the hell out of here and watch the city’s demise accelerate from afar. But, until that day is forced upon me-I will not blink again.

Whatever. One comment from the mayor reported by the Leader story about Argenta caught my eye:

“He has bought and fixed up at least half a dozen properties in the North End, and he hasn't come to me and said, 'Give me a hundred thousand bucks to do it.”

What? Can we do that? Call the mayor’s hotline and request a hundred thousand bucks? What the fu*k is he talking about? Who did spend a hundred thousand bucks to do it? Well the mayor did. He rehabbed the former Butler House for a reported hundred thousand and it sits empty for two and a half years now. Oh, and what has become of 397 Hazle street that was rehabbed for a like amount? Well, it sits there unfinished and vacant too. Somebody needs to stuff a sock in their mouth.

And then we have this goofball letter of his. You have to click on this link and read this total pap. We helped at a flood in North Dakota? Vote for me? We helped at a tornado in Wyoming County? If we work together obstacles can be overcome? In other areas? What about the obstacles Wilkes-Barre faces? I’m trying to figure out which letter is more pathetic. The one composed by our mayor or the one composed by one of his supporters. Read the thing:

If you would like to see those videos and still pictures of our captured troops, check this link to the new English version Al-Jazeera news web site. It tends to be very busy, so you might or might not get right through. Save the address: english.aljazeera.net

An e-mail:

*****Hello Mark,

Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate yours and your email contributors' thoughts about the War to Liberate Iraq. All of the commentary (especially last week's Amerika? post) are very articulate and well reasoned.

That being said, I wanted to let you know about a comment made by an individual I go to school with. At a student government meeting, this individual stood up and let the rest of the body know that he and other members of the school are offended by posters that were hanging around the school. Can you guess what type of posters they were? They were announcing PRO AMERICA/PRO TROOP rallies. After corraling my urges to puke/give him a backhand it was pointed out to him that no matter what your political beliefs/affiliations you can certainly appreciate the value of a rally to support our troops, our brave fellow citizens who are currently dying for this nation. Not him. He said basically that they signed up to fight an "unjust" war and that they were just as bad as President Bush.

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! What planet do these people come from? (My guess is the "Red" planet, but thats another story) For someone who is purportedly smart, that is perhaps the most asinine comment I've heard since I've been here, and believe me I've heard all of the liberals' best lines. What the peace pinheads fail to realize is that their beliefs are equally offensive to the vast majority of us who support this just war and our President. But I guess that doesn't matter. As was alluded to in your last post by a contributor, Liberal views=free speech. Conservative view= radical and/or religious right.

This member of the silent majority will be silent no longer. I can't wait for the pro-America rally on Friday night. Its about time we answer these Liberals and show the world how this country really feels. The good majority of us love this nation, support our president and are proud to be Americans.

God Bless America!

Take care and congratulations on your new arrival...*****

Thanks Pittston Dude! Within thirty-six hours, I will have an amazing granddaughter. I can’t wait! I think the fact that teaching American history was scratched from the country’s local, yet federally manipulated school district curriculum is coming back to haunt us. Goofs making laws and policies-go figure! Many of our young people see MTV as a viable and important source of learning, but I’m hoping that they’ll one day grow out of it and learn a thing or two. I’m hoping. Until they realize that self-mutilation is really not helping their future job options and that America really isn’t the Great Satan that so many believe it to be, we’ll just have to diligently attend rallies and make sure that their anti-American voices are shouted down. Public Square. Friday night.

So who’s to blame for the American soldiers current deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq?

I gotta go. We have a few preparations to see to before the arrival of the second amazing one. Gage meets his baby sister. Wow!

Give me some feedback on this. What do you think of a live internet, radio talk show hosted from Wilkes-Barre? I think it would be a hoot! I tried this once before, but the host was not up to it. This time, I’ve found a host that can deliver on it’s promises. What do you think? Live from Wilkes-Barre! It’s Friday night!

WBOL!?

TLFM