Everybody is complaining about a tax increase? We have to have Wilkes-Barre. The health of Wilkes-Barre is important to us. It's our home. It's our life.--Joe Matteo, addressing City Council last night.

And then there's my more simplistic plea for some fiscal sanity. We're freaking broke you freaking dolts!

David Bowie? Count me in, Private Sector Dude. I read that Earl Slick is touring with him. If you wanna see a whiz-bang, kick-ass guitarist who inspires younger folks to take guitar lessons, this guy is the real deal. I'll take a couple of big gulps from the wine sack, close my eyes, and pretend I'm listening to Mick Ronson all over again. My Moonage Daydream re-revisited. After three decades of heavy headphone usage coupled with albums such as Ziggy Stardust, it's a wonder I can still hear at all.

I could fall asleep at night as a rock & roll star

I could fall in love all right as a rock & roll star

Plus, you can count on me to sponsor your daughters for the St. Judes Math-a-Thon. Not one to brag, what Sector Dude left out of his comments today was the fact that his eldest has scored 100% on these math tests for three consecutive years. A chip off the old blockhead for sure. Just razzin' on ya', don't start. Too many parents push their kids to throw a ball farther than their peers and consider that an accomplishment. You should be very proud of her kid's mathematical prowess.

I too was perturbed to learn that the 11 year-old girl kidnapped in Florida was found and is no longer with us. This sort of story is becoming all too common, but not so commonplace that I don't wish the perpetrators a protracted and excruciatingly painful demise. Somehow, I found myself at this site yesterday, looking at pictures of Jane and John Does, and reading of the murky circumstances of their deaths. I clicked on one particular Jane Doe link and was appauled. There was this face of a girl estimated to have been between 14 and 20 years-old. She was found in a field October, 5, 1980 completely naked. 24 years later, she remains a Jane Doe. That was someone's daughter. Was she a runaway? Did she make some poor decisions and put herself at risk? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe she was just walking home all alone and some thrice paroled pervent grabbed her. The particulars don't really matter. Nobody deserves to end up like that Jane Doe. These guys convicted of sexual escapades with children should be kept on a chain for the rest of their lives. And if they kill their victims, execution should be their fate.

I had heard that PCN taped Sue Henry's show yesterday and then I got on with my day and completely forgot that it was being aired last night. I'm sittin' here playing with the 'puter last night and the cell phone goes off. The caller says to me: "Hey. Your girlfriend is on Channel 56." Oh boy. So, I watched the remainder of the show and came away feeling that yesterday's guest really needs to answer the questions posed to her by radio hosts with less than 10,000-15,000 words per question. I will admit to tuning her guest out to a great degree, but I always do that when people are babbling on about the need for more education, education funding, or educational alternatives that require even more money than we're already spending. That's all bullspit.

My nephew attended some supposedly progressive, pre, pre, pre, pre-school classes in the Back Mountain at the tender age of four and he's no brighter than most of his toys. Then there's Gage Andrew, the amazing grandson. He and his mom play school with his blackboard. She watches some educational television programming with him and quizzes him all the way through it. And they explore his Dr. Suess book collection together on occasion. He's two and a half years old and can identify shapes as complex as hexagons. He knows his colors. He can count to ten, and is currently being taught his alphabet by mom. He has been taught to be polite and he corrects us when we cuss. He can even identify a Cheap Trick CD after seeing the cover art. Wanna get the toddlers off to a quick start? Do it. Don't expect someone else to and don't expect someone else to pay for it.

Hell! Let's go all the way. And don't expect your toddlers to have their sh*t wired right if you warehouse them in daycare centers all day long while you pay off the 10 ton SUV. Now I've gone and done it. Heyna?

Let's see if I've got this right. The Democrats are rallying behind John Kerry all of a sudden because they see him as the candidate most capable of beating the dreaded G.W. Satan in November? Well, that's a helluva weak resume. That's less than passionate, if not less than intelligent. By using the process of elimination, they have now found their next JFK? Whatever happened to following one's principles? Or examining the man's less than stellar track record? This unbridled hatred of GW coming from the DNC, the willing press, and forces from abroad is further clouding the judgment of the coalition of one issue voters that comprise the Democratic party. This mindset of 'Anybody but Bush' could wind up helping to elect a complete horses ass come November.

Apparently, that's okay though. Even President Pee Wee Herman would be preferable to Bush, right? Putting terrorism aside as the Dems seem so willing, almost eager to do, we are entering a very dangerous period.

This is a first. I'm posting a pic sent to me that was actually taken with a cell phone. I'm very old-fashioned. I take pictures with a camera. Kids today, eh? The open season declared on light standards and whatnot in this city has not ended yet.

You gotta be freakin' kidding me? A casket cam?

How about matching jammies for the entire family? At the very least, they look very warm and fuzzy.

How about pics of one of our Thunderbirds crashing at an Idaho air show last September? Yikes! I think you're supposed to eject before the damn jet starts skimming across the tops of parked cars.

Bill O'Reilly Bingo? Holy frig! Scroll down a tad and have at it.

Okay. The travel allowances are histoire. And council, as well as the mayor will forego any budgeted raises for themselves this year. I'm sure folks will continue to carp on them about their health-care benefits, but surprisingly, no one seems very concerned about the private yacht they have tucked away at taxpayer expense at Lake Wallenpaupack. Where's the Taxpayer Association when you need 'em? The Spirit of Wilkes-Barre II

Damn the torpedoes, Jim. Full speed ahead!

Well, looky here. From Newsmax.com:

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 11:26 a.m. EST

Bush Guard Commander Recants AWOL Charge

The ex-military man who first launched charges during the 2000 presidential campaign that President Bush had gone AWOL from the National Guard has recanted his story.

The account from Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, who told the Boston Globe four years ago that Bush never showed up for Guard drills with his Alabama unit, had become the centerpiece of Democratic attacks on the White House in recent days.

"Had [Bush] reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," Gen. Turnipseed told the Globe in May 2000. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."

But on Wednesday Gen. Turnipseed reversed course, telling NBC News: "I don't know if [Bush] showed up, I don't know if he didn't. I don't remember how often I was even at the base."

Still, the same day the retired general had withdrawn the allegation, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe was citing Turnipseed's earlier, erroneous account in a bid to keep AWOL charges against Bush afloat.

"The commander this week reiterated the entire time [Bush] was supposed to show up in the Alabama National Guard he wasn't there," McAuliffe told CNN's "Inside Politics" on Wednesday. "He said he made it up later, but you don't have that option. When you're supposed to serve our country, you're supposed to be there."

In fact, McAuliffe was wrong on the latter point as well, since Guard regulations expressly allow for make-up drills, according to no less an authority than Gen. Turnipseed himself.

In July 2000, the New York Times reported, "Colonel Turnipseed, who retired as a general, said in an interview that regulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter."

Asked if McAuliffe was prepared to apologize to the White House for misstating Gen. Turnipseed's position on the Bush AWOL allegation, a spokesman for the DNC told NewsMax: "I don't know. We'll get back to you."

Bush lied? Or more lies from the professional liars?

I'm outa here. I've got three grandkids and a nephew raising all sorts of havoc right now.

CYA