Talk about having things saturated. Whew! Here’s the scoop: If campaign yard signs counted as votes, Virgil Argenta wins in a landslide.

Although, as we should all know by know, the real winners will be the candidates with the largest extended families. 300 votes enough? Probably.

Here’s a couple of quotes that came my way of late.

“If Virgil was on Valium, I might vote for him.”

“Walter is like Robert Redford. Everybody knows his name, but nobody knows why.”

I heard mayor and council hopeful Tim Grier on WILK today. The new-&-improved Tim, I should say. Gone are the bombastic accusations. Gone is the fiery rhetoric. Gone are the references to “rats” and suchlike. Hell, they went and cleaned him up for the election.

He said somebody told him he needs to be less “heavy-handed.” Damn, I’ve been trying to tell him as much for two years now. Remember, Tim? Burning bridges?

The scary part is we are of a totally like mind whereas the following story is concerned:

From the Citizens’ Voice:

To be perfectly frank, I was shocked when I read that story. I’m thinking this is something that should and could be hashed-out behind closed doors, not on Page 3. Boscov’s stuck it out through thick, thin, thinner and even thinner, and I don’t think they should be publicly flogged in the newspapers because of the conditions of the mammoth store.

I’ve visited some of the newer locations, and it’s obvious that Wilkes-Barre’s store is not exactly the pearl of the chain. Then again, I fail to understand what the gripe is. It’s not like it’s falling apart. It’s not dirty. It’s got the best damned kitchen department in this entire area. And, thanks to my chosen profession, I get to see the parts of Boscov’s that none of you get the chance to see. The absolute worst that could be said of Boscov’s is that it’s looking a little dated.

Another thing. If I was a councilman, the very last thing I would do is publicly scold the operators of Wilkes-Barre’s longtime downtown anchor. Al Boscov was committed to the downtown, but he’s not calling the shots anymore. Let’s not give the next generation of owners a reason to reconsider that commitment. Remodeling that enormous store would require a significant capital outlay, and who’s to say the current management isn’t playing wait-and-see like everyone else with a major stake in the downtown’s resurgence?

With that said, Rob Finlay has a valid point.

“If Boscov’s renovates the store, that would not only help their sales, but it would also lure national tenants, similar to what is in the Shoppes at Montage,” Finlay said. “If they renovate, the downtown would become much more attractive and people would want to fill our stores, but we need help from the anchor.” Finlay, who owns a major chunk of properties on Public Square, the first block of South Main Street and Midtown Village, recalls in 1998 when he and his father, Alan Finlay, met with Al Boscov and Boscov’s store manager Tom Jacobs. At that time, Boscov said if the city could bring a theater and a joint college bookstore downtown, he would renovate the downtown store. Now, Finlay wants action. With the deteriorating condition of the store and parking garage today, potential tenants wonder if the store might close, he said.

Like I said, Boscov’s stuck it out through the worst of times, and they deserve some loyalty from us for that. But, if Boscov’s could give some outward sign that it is still committed to the downtown, that might greatly accelerate it’s fledgling revitalization. Theater or no theater, nobody would want to open a new business down there only to learn that the retail shopping anchor is abruptly pulling out. Nobody.

It’s just I don’t understand how the spanking of Boscov’s pee-pee turns into a newspaper story.

I dunno.

Can one man really make a difference? The conventional wisdom says no, but history tells us otherwise.

From the Citizens’ Voice:

WILKES-BARRE — Don Williams stood overlooking the Susquehanna River, his message clear, hoping for feedback in the form of honks and waves from people in passing cars. “NO DAM” read the banner that faced traffic from the south sidewalk of the Market Street Bridge.

He awoke at 3 a.m. to make sure he’d be at the bridge by sunrise, and was joined throughout the day by a handful of members from the local Audubon Society and Sierra Club.

As far as I’m concerned, he did make a difference. And he did it by raising the public’s awareness of this stupid dam, while few others were bothering in any meaningful sense.

A long while back somebody asked me (no tree hugger by any stretch of the imagination) what I thought of damming the river. And I said something to the effect that putting a dam in front of sh*t didn’t sound none too keen to me. Enter Kayak Dude.

No sooner had I typed my concerns, he had invited me to get on out there on the river and take it in for what it’s worth. And depending on conditions, the river can be a lot of things, sometimes very conflicting things. It can be smelly when it‘s low and slow. It can be foamy when it‘s high and moving fast. It can be beautiful at one locale, and repulsive at the very next. It can sadden you when you consider what the coal robber barons got away with, literally, walked away from filthy rich. And it can fill you with hope when you get to picturing it clean, bluish and free-flowing at some future date, hopefully not so far removed from today’s date.

But, before Kayak Dude got me to doing more than just giving the passing river an occasional glance from the middle of a bridge, the inflatable dam was an issue that did not resonate with the average land-lovers the likes of you and me. Yeah, the tree-huggers may have been working behind the scenes to put the kibosh to Kanjorski’s ill-fated plans, but meanwhile, you and I hadn’t even thunk about it. He got me out there, and in turn, he got us arguing about it. And that’s why I believe that one man did make a difference.

Regardless of whether KD would call himself an environmentalist or not, on this issue, I think he’s more river enthusiast than anything else. By paddling more than 1,000 miles on it, he’s made that river his home away from home for a long time. And when the need arose, he choose to protect that second home of his from clueless politicians. His is a selfless act, personally protecting his watery playground. Mostly, it’s a labor of love.

Can one man really make a difference?

Well, I think it’s undeniable that in the case of Kanjorski v. KD, one man did. And whether that giant condom of a dam gets stretched across the river or not, one man will know that he fought the good fight, he tried.

Despite what the conventional wisdom suggests, there are exceptions to every rule and KD is one of those exceptions.

One man did.

Thanks, KD.

Ah, Kevin, aka Chia Kev. Yeah. Try as he may to make us believe he’s a deep thinker, he simply repeats whatever the far-left compels him to repeat. If some leftist stooge at some college somewhere says paper clips are destroying the ozone layer, Kev’s gonna start harping against Big Paper Clips. If some disturbed lesbo feminist somewhere claims heterosexual sex is warming the oceans, Kev’s gonna tell us to grab a couple of same-sex partners and save the planet by tonight. If he actually spewed an original thought just one time, the Earth would spin right off of it’s axis and collide with that planet Kev lives on.

But, take heart as his generation, the worst generation, the generation that gave us rampant drugs, rampant and deadly STDs, peace (?), homegrown anti-American fervor and debilitating political correctness is rapidly running out of birthdays. The clueless hippie generation is coming up daisies at an accelerated rate, so there is hope for this country.

I hope.

Even though this news did not grace the pages of our two local newspapers, our police department recently rounded up a slew of illegal aliens only to be told by the INS to release them.

Yep. Be they rapists, arsonists, murderers or serial killers…let them go. That’s your Fedrule Govmint at work. That’s your Fedrule Govmint compromising your safety and your livelihood. And with only a working knowledge of the federal responsibilities as defined in our founding documents, that is treacherous, if not treasonous.

For the purposes of this exercise, let it be understood that the term “illegal aliens” means Mexicans. As if they’re not!

Practically everyone repeats this well-worn and tired gibberish about how hard-working the “undocumented” are.

Really? So, where do illegal aliens work?

Have you encountered any Mexican employees at Sprawl Mart? Seen any working at the nearby Turkey Hill? Toiling away at The Gap, Circuit City, or Target, perhaps? How about Boscov’s? Have you come across anyone that could be described as looking Central American manning a register at Boscov’s?

In short, no, you haven’t.

No, they are working under the table. They constitute the backbone of the underground, illegal economy. They pay no appreciable taxes. They pay nothing to the social security fund. They have no health care to speak of. And they pay no school taxes. And despite what Steve “I am a Mexican” Corbett will insult your intelligence with, they are a burden upon all of the support systems poorer Americans rely on, as well as drive up the cost of practically everything else for middle class Americans.

They live in my neighborhood. They can’t speak English, but have valid driver’s licenses. (?) They can’t pronounce Marlboro, but they do have Access Cards. (?) They live 30 to a half a double block, but somehow, they go unnoticed to the code enforcement types. (?) The can’t decipher what the sign on the air pump at the gas station is telling them, but they are driving a late-model automobile. (?) They wait in line at the emergency room filling out public assistance health forms, and the cost of my health insurance skyrockets each and every year. (?) They live amongst us, yet act as if we, the native-borne, hard working, taxpaying Americans do not even exist.(?)

Basically, by it’s own inaction, the Fedrule Govmint is creating a whole new racial divide. I could go on and on, but the short version is, I’ve got a hundred or so good reasons to dislike the newest of my neighbors, and the federal government single-handedly created darn near every one of them.

And as far as I’m concerned, until all of the illegal aliens are expelled from this country, I won’t know who’s legal and who’s not, so I say to hell with the lot of them and to hell with any politician that sounds as wishy-washy as Steve Corbett does.

They’re hard workers, Steve? Good. They can go work hard in their own homeland. And you might as well head south along with them, since you condone lawbreaking when it’s politically expedient. See ya!

The long and short of illegal immigration is that average Americans know they are getting fu>ked by their own government. And nothing anyone says will dissuade them from that belief.

So, what to do about it?

Follow the links to the campaign Web sites on my front page. Although, as far as I know, there aren’t many candidates putting up campaign sites.

The phone book comes to mind.

Hope that helps.

Buh-bye.