Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.--Albert Einstein

Can you say “politically incorrect?”

Someone wanted to know if I have any Plasmatics lying around. Sometimes I feel it. Sometimes I feel it. Sometimes I feel it when I’m down on my knees! On vinyl. Next silly question.

The top local story? Wilkes-Barre paid a loan off on time. Does anybody know of a Wilkes-Barre fight song? Let’s stage a bonfire on the square. Let’s have a parade. I can still remember the Coughlin fight song.

Let’s do this. A snippet from today’s Voice:

"The Wilkes-Barre City Charter, which is the controlling legislation, contains no prohibition against council members serving on the boards of municipal authorities."--City Solicitor Tim Henry

Can we get on to meaningful and legitimate issues now? Council not bad after all/Mayor lied.

I imagine everyone was waiting for the mayor’s reaction to being labeled the “Worst mayor in PA.” I was. I thought that I knew how he’d react, but that prediction was based on logic and simplicity. I never thought that he’d stoop so low as to suggest that Tom Leighton might have had something to do with it. Our mayor will apparently go as low as he sees fit in his deluded “it’s all politics” underworld. Here’s another snippet from the Voice:

As for McGroarty, he stopped one step short of saying Councilman Thomas Leighton, his main opponent in this May's primary election, had something to do with the Web site's designation.

"Who is this? What is their street address?" the mayor asked. "Is this some guy in his basement?" McGroarty labeled the move "dirty politics," but never accused Leighton directly.

"If you allow your supporters to do some negative things, I will hold you personally responsible," the mayor charged. "If Mr. Leighton is friends with that individual, I would ask him to cease and desist.

It’s interesting that he would ask for a name and an address first, but I’m still annoyed by the fact that the prank calls at this address started as soon as the fire chief’s office was supplied with my unlisted phone number when I requested the free smoke detectors that are offered to all city residents. Basically, the mayor was annoyed by the fact that he wasn’t supplied with a painted target to retaliate against. He asks “Is this some guy in a basement?” Does that even matter? Whether the author is sitting in a basement with a gerbil up his ass and wearing a Bullwinkle mask, it doesn’t much matter-he was probably very accurate in his political assessments. If not ours, then who is the worst mayor in Pennsylvania?

Then the full-time, all the time dirty politician plants the idea in the minds of the masses that Tom Leighton might know the author of PoliticsPA.com. The guy is really getting desperate and he will make this into an ugly campaign despite the fact that what Wilkes-Barre desperately needs to hear right now is something uplifting. Give us some hope. Give us your vision. Give us a future. Nope. What we get is “I didn’t raise your taxes,” “It’s not my fault” and my opponents are (pick something despicable). The Garbage King is going to drag the voters through his favorite place, the landfill, whether we like it or not.

I listened to the Sue Henry show today and did not have access to a telephone. I was seriously annoyed with what I heard. I heard McG supporters distorting the facts. Gee, where did they learn that? “The mayor gave council 6 days warning and not one of them could attend the meeting?” 6 days? Some of them (some didn‘t) received the memo at 4 pm on Friday alerting them to a Tuesday meeting right before Easter weekend. I guessing that they really did have plans that weekend and what is the point of attending an emergency council meeting without fully reviewing and researching the agenda first? Enough with that exercise in re-writing local history.

This afternoon, Kevin Lynn’s show was all over the web site story and Tom Leighton’s name kept coming up. I kept hearing that if he, or any other local candidate are involved with this “worst mayor” flap, they are not worthy of the voters support. The impression I got from listening to both of these local talk shows, was that folks believed that this web site recently burst onto the scene. I broke the speed limits of the city while racing to a phone. I called Kevin and alerted him to the fact that I have been checking the site in question for something approaching two years. I also pointed out the fact that it rarely, if ever, delves into small town politics and that I wanted to put this suggestion that Tom Leighton, or any other person running for mayor had anything to do with this. I stupidly mentioned that I had a local web site and when Kev found out it was about politics, he asked me what my last name was. Duh! Cour. “Spell it” he said. C-O-U-R. While I agree that I live in the Pennsylvania city with the worst mayor, this site is not driven by an anonymous author. They already know my address and my unlisted phone number. It’s Cour and I want a professional, competent mayor!

Cease and desist. That’s the message we will deliver to the Mudslinger-in-Chief 20 short days from know.

Let’s do an email snippet that speaks volumes about our mayor’s approach to law-and-order in Wilkes-Barre:

******Mark,

I want to let you know that I spoke with Donna K (the gal with the hair solon). McG came to her house tonight with the outline of his address at his press conference, where he called us all liars and "politically motivated". He made a point of telling her that he "cannot wait" until Friday. When we all assemble in demonstration, he plans on having us all arrested for "illegal assembly".******

Politically motivated liars. Right! Those are the folks that don’t enjoy living in a rapidly failing city being dictated to by a paranoid political animal. SO! The mayor “cannot wait” until Friday, when the protest at city hall is scheduled to take place. FINALLY! The mayor plans to lay down the law. Imagine that. Eight years of crime run amok and now he threatens to arrest the citizens of the city that dare to protest his complete incompetence. I told ya’. Complaints, especially high-profile complaints from residents are nothing more than political philandering in his mind. We’re not upset at how far this city has fallen under his rule, we’re playing politics and politics contrary to his will not be allowed, judging by his off-camera threats to residents. The depths of his depravity seems to be bottomless.

He threatens to arrest the residents, but continues to pretend that the criminals that motivated the protesting residents do not exist.

This is what I’m hearing from the copper dudes. Give us the proper equipment and we’ll give you some results. A marked police cruiser will not deter the prostitutes and drug dealers to a large degree. Patrol units can only do so much to satisfy the complaints of the residents dealing with scum just off their porches. What the copper dudes need is 1.) Un-marked cars 2.) The order to let em’ have it and 3.) Residents that are willing to testify to what they’ve seen on occasion. The dudes have devoted more patrols to the neighborhood in question recently and the 7 pm-3 am shift has spent most of their time in that troubled neighborhood. The problem is, most criminals will not commit criminal acts within close proximity to a marked patrol car. If I’m reading the copper dudes right, what we need is a mini-fleet of un-marked, ordinary-looking vehicles to clamp down on what the chief readily admitted was the “red light district.” Good luck dudes! Good luck residents! If we start procuring un-marked police vehicles, we can’t hold a press conference to announce that someone deserves votes. If we acquire marked units, then we can stage a press conference, lock the cars away in the DPW garage for the better part of a year and then announce their acquisition again.

It’s all politics. Residents notice the new marked units and so do the criminals. Residents vote. Criminals don’t. Residents do not notice the un-announced acquisition of un-marked units AND neither do the criminals. SO! The copper dudes are saying “Give us the proper equipment and we’ll give you some results.” The next question is, when do we give the copper dudes what they really need to do their job?

Expect some arrest announcements real soon. The mayor received some bad press. Here’s a tip. If you own a scanner, pay close attention tonight for “Code 16” activity.

Speaking of proper equipment, check this e-mail from a hose dude:

******Mark,

In all my years I have never seen the expediency and deliberate drive to purchase a piece of equipment for the city, until now. A new ambulance, which was so conveniently ordered and received in record time is being lettered and striped as I write. I hear it isn't what the employees would have recommended based on the type and size for what they need in the city. Strange how this ambulance was put on the fast track since the May 20th primary is just weeks away. Coincidence? I think not. I imagine the mayor will grandstand once again that the greedy firemen and paramedics don't appreciate all that he has done for the fire department and then he will unveil the new ambulance. Can you say....It's all politics in the last month before the primary?

Now I know for a fact that there were other pressing equipment issues that far outweighed the ambulance. He knows it too. But when you have the state and federal health department grant money available, in the mayor's eyes, you buy what he says we need. Funny, the 1975 ladder truck, the only one we have by the way, is on its last legs. But when there is no grant money available anywhere to replace it, it doesn't matter or happen. So he decides. Unfortunately this political budgeting process that McGroarty uses is ultimately doomed to failure. It allows some things to fall apart by the way side while other things are duplicated over and over. I would like to know what capital investment in equipment has not been tied to state of federal money, and where have we budgeted or planned to replace equipment when it was needed, ever, without relying on our state and federal tax money to purchase equipment? The answer....probably in only a few rare instances. I'll bet for the most part they were small ticket items or some other city's problem junker they just happened upon.....AKA the garbage trucks from NYC.....and this only after the mayor of Scranton, in the mayor's mind, showed him up by purchasing them first. This mayor of ours has never faced the fact that you cannot rely on others to purchase everything for you. There is no free lunch! That is the difference between fiscal responsibility and the current state of finances in our city.

Now don't get me wrong here. When we do have the opportunity to purchase the PROPER, NEEDED, LONG OVERDUE equipment with the aide of grant money, yes, it benefits the community. But when we ignore the real problems or equipment that need to be replaced and purchased, or only acquire equipment that has grant money tagged to it, are we really serving the community to its fullest, or are we only playing a wasteful political game of lookie what I bought, aren't I the best? The answer....we aren't serving the community to the fullest. Do we really need to waste tax payer dollars on a radio station that no one will ever use? Do we really need to waste tax dollars on equipment that is so specific to one use....AKA the huge snow blower that was used like once? Do we need to waste your tax dollars on equipment that for all practical purposes was only purchased to grab a few headlines to inflate the dollar amount of grant money that was received by the city?

The facts are clear. With no strategic financial plan our mayor has only relied upon others, namely us, through our own state and federal tax dollars to purchase what he thinks, at that moment, is the best for the city. If the city had to tow their own line we would have had disastrous results from this administration, because there is no plan, no vision, no fiscal responsibility to do the right thing, no attempt to utilize the talent of employees to make purchases based on what all departments need in the field. It has been one persons opinion and agenda that has caused this city to fall into the state it currently finds itself in. To be responsible would overwhelm the mayor. He has shown us for two terms what an irresponsible leader he is. Don't allow him to show us for a third term.******

BANG! No comment from me is necessary after reading that.

Whoa! Check this out, The cyber-squatters of the world mistakenly think this is a new scam. When a domain name with any hits to speak of comes available, some creep will latch onto it and hope to sell it back to the original owner at a ridiculously inflated price. Think again squat boy:

I watched a guy in a wheel chair this afternoon as he raked his entire lawn. The linear footage of that house had to approach about 220 feet. Further proof that the only limit to your ability is your imagination. One tough mucker for sure.

RUTRO! Check this e-mail. It seems that one of our political hopefuls has a problem:

******Hi Mark -

Don't know if Mikey from the TL is aware of this yet, but this morning at around 10 AM, the police were called to XXXXX’s house on a domestic. Something about a PFA- trying to get more info-will let you know if I hear anything else. Seems like the VLP and the TXXXX are very similar in temperments !! (HOT)******

That’s what they tell me. Fill in the blanks kiddies. Let me guess. Someone refused to press charges?

Here’s another snippet from yet another Voice story:

"There is evidence here to prove we're doing the job," Chief George told the resident. "I'm not going to get involved in our strategy on the drug dealing."

10-4. I wouldn’t reveal the strategy either. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding. I can remember when we, the poor kids living in the Coal Street complex, took to egging the security guard at Coal Street Park after dark. Night after night we splattered eggs all over that guy and then ran away laughing like hyenas, while he stumbled after us rather slowly and cursing uncontrollably the entire time. What good, innocent fun. We got away with this for weeks upon weeks. Tormenting the security guard after “lights out” at 11 pm was our favorite thing to do.

Then on one hot summer night, as we rounded the pool fence, we found ourselves surrounded by Wilkes-Barre cops as they were known back then. We were interrogated for well over an hour. We were threatened with juvenile detention, we were cursed at non-stop and a few of us (your author included) were bounced off of the pool fence and then pinned-up against it again real quick. Smart mouthing was not advisable on that particular night. He hated those bastards after they finally allowed us to wander home with our tails between our legs. Message received. We still hung out at the park every night as we had done so many other nights before, but we never egged the security guard again.

Message received. I’m wondering why the message hasn’t been received by the lawless creeps that have so many of our residents so upset. There is definitely something to be gained by employing overwhelming force and strong-arming tactics when the situation calls for them. When will the lawless miscreants that are lowering our quality of life see a bit of “ shock and awe” coming their way? Our copper dudes are fully capable of delivering it. When will the necessary equipment be provided to them? When will the order be given? We’re not waiting for the next promise, we’re all waiting for the clampdown. And the next mayor.

Gotsta go.

TLFM