I think we all know by now the particulars of why I mistakenly decided to build this web locale well over four years ago. I didn't want to save the entire world. I wasn't trying to save America from herself. I didn't want to bring down a sitting president. I didn't hope to force a long-time senator to his knees begging for mercy. Somehow, I came to the realization a while back that all politics is local. And to this oft-floundering mental munchkin, that meant that we can't save the world, the country, or the severely mutated porcupines of the ANWAR variety by devoting all of our energies to toppling state, national or international politicos. To save whatever it is that needs saving, we need to elect exceptional people at the local level, hold them accountable and hope that after doing a bang-bang job here at home, they one day gravitate higher on the political food chain. In that unique place where my internal electrical impulses are completely mis-fired from, we save Wilkes-Barre and see where that leads us. One person might, that's might, be able to significantly influence events in a city of 42,000 people, but to devote oneself to saving the entire world in one's own lifetime suggests that the devotee is wasting their time and effort for the most part.
Enter Kurt Shotko.
Very early this morning, much to my surprise, I found myself being berated and then some for wholeheartedly supporting the arrest of a defiant protestor at our local parade. Our constitutional right to express our opinions was being explained to me in detail and I had to giggle to myself at the utter cluelessness of the offending common folk suddenly turned learned constitutional scholar. If you really felt the over-riding need to lecture anyone about our supposed God-given rights to express ourselves, would you set your sights on lecturing me? I thought I'd be the very last person still clinging to Wilkes-Barre to ever receive that bit of preachy info. Oh well.
And upon my arrival back here at the comforting abode, I happened upon this in the e-mail inbox:
Holy friggin' Jesus Alou! What did I do to deserve this less than impressive civics lesson? The constitution? Well, DUH! Isn't that the name of the deep sea trench where the U.S.S. Yorktown now lies? Or is it the name of a Triple Crown winner riden by the world's first and foremost pygmy jockey? A space shuttle? An empty retirement community for the members of Congress that saw public service as a noble calling rather than a long-term career? A stripper bar in Benton?
I have no problem at all with unemployed potheads wanting to regurgitate in public whatever they happened to read on the internet last week. But I do take serious issue with their insensitive and inappropriate choices of venues on occasion. And I do take serious issue with anything that Kurt Shotko has to vomit on cue for public consumption. Or, more accurately, repeat.
The guy calls WILK practically every, single day and tells us that to save all of humankind we need to go to CriticalThinking.org. Then, and only then, will we finally see the light and go forth and make asses of ourselves in public whenever possible. Excuse me, I meant to say "save the world." Can you imagine turning your life upside down because of what some web site says? If Kurt somehow found himself addicted to this stupid site a couple of years back, he would have been the real life Pisser Dude created on SNAKE's software. Is he smart? Well-read? Or in need of some professional help?
On his own turf up there in Scranton, he is tolerated, but mocked on a regular basis. The folks up there know he's a misguided fool and pay him little attention, so I guess that's why he's decided to take his freak show on the road throughout Luzerne County.
Maybe those of us living here in Wilkes-Barre need to learn what this hemp fan is all about.
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Times Leader, The (Wilkes Barre, PA)
June 2, 2004 HAZLETON-AREA CANDIDATE CHARGED IN INCIDENT WITH RECRUITERS KURT J. SHOTKO OF THE GREEN PARTY SAYS HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO TALK TO ARMY PERSONNEL WHEN POLICE WERE CALLED. KEVIN OWEN KEARNEY, kkearney@leader.net HAZLE TWP. - A Green Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives was arrested Tuesday after a verbal altercation with officers at an Army recruiting station, police said.
But the candidate, Kurt J. Shotko, 37, of 506 N. Irving Ave. in Scranton, said he was the one who called state police because he had been ``thrown to the ground'' by a recruiter at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station on the Airport Beltway.
He also said U.S. military personnel were killing innocent babies and civilians in Iraq, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Trooper David E. Balliet of the state police barracks in Hazleton. The affidavit states: The recruiters, Pernell Bowersox, Russell Burnham and Timothy Paul, became ``seriously annoyed and alarmed'' by Shotko's remarks and conduct and told him numerous times to leave. Shotko refused and said he wanted to stay to protest the war. He remained in front of the station for about 15 minutes before being arrested by Balliet, police said. Shotko said he was not causing a disturbance. ``I was sitting in the waiting room reading a book,'' he said Tuesday night after being released on $5,000 bail. ``(The trooper) didn't ask me what I had to say, he just arrested me.'' Shotko doesn't dispute some of the claims. He said he called the recruiters cowards after they refused to talk to him because he had been wearing a ``No War'' pin. ``I went there as a candidate for Congress; I'm not just some guy off the street. I deserve the respect to at least ask a few questions,'' Shotko said. Neither the recruiters nor Balliet could be reached for comment Tuesday night. Shotko was arraigned before District Justice James Tupper in Trucksville on charges of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and harassment. As part of the bail agreement, he is ordered not to go within 2,000 feet of the Hazle Township recruiting station. |
(The charges against the energizer activist were dropped when the arresting officer failed to attend his hearing.)
From GlobalHemp.com:
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United States Senate (District 10)
• Kurt Shotko, Green Party: Production of industrial hemp could help save family farms. (“Kurt Shotko’s Platform,” Kurt Shotko Press Release, Tuesday, May 7, 2002) |
From DeadNetCentral.com:
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Kurt J. Shotko - 10:57am Feb 5, 1999 PDT (#128 of 1575)
Hello! Let's try and change the world with drumming and dancing. The hope of the future is with counter-culture people. Think about making signs, having dances, going on marches, starting news letters, using the net, writting letters to the editor, sponsering drum circles, calling talk radio, living large. Give peace a chance, fight the drug war and the military/industrial complex
Kurt Shotko
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From The Scranton Times Tribune:
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Others were outraged, and none more so than local activist and Green Party congressional candidate Kurt Shotko, who is outraged pretty much any time he's awake.
For those who don't recognize the name, Kurt is the guy you've seen on Courthouse Square wearing a sandwich board and carrying signs excoriating everyone from Big Tobacco to (insert conservative cause). |
From www.gp.org (Green Party):
| "What's happening is that, thanks to the Bush delegation, multinational corporations are going to run the show, and only self-regulated 'public-private partnerships' to save the environment will be seriously considered," said Kurt Shotko, Green candidate for the 10th Congressional District in Pennsylvania. "That means global warming measures that won't interfere with the profits of fossil fuel companies -- or affect the deteriorating pace of global climate change." |
From The Scranton Times Tribune:
| "You're fake, you're nothing but a bunch of hate-filled, racist homophobes!" shouted Kurt Shotko, a local activist best known for his outrage-inspiring letters to the Times and for using courthouse square as his personal soapbox. |
From a Scranton City Council meeting:
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MR. SHOTKO: Well this is a problem, but we are going to form a tenant’s movement, if anybody is interesting in my number is 343-2239. We have to rain on the slumlords in this community because they really are endangering our lives and our risking our property values.
Second, I am really disgusted that this mayor wants to solve our budget problems by taking money out of the pockets of our first responders. Our fireman, our police. That shows where his morality is.
These people are essential to our community. With his giveaways and no big contract his is showing what his values are and there. I guess feeding his donors, his pals. I think Mr. Doherty is an embarrassment to our city. More corruption in his leadership and I would also say to Mr. McTiernan and Mr. Pocius you also are an embarrassment to our city.
MR. DIBILEO: That was a personal remark. Please refrain from that. MR. SHOTKO: It was a remark regarding his professional conduct. I am saying in regard to the sale of the park to a non-tax paying entity. That’s theft of public property. And anyone who condones theft of public property is a coconspirator, as I believe you people are. MR. DIBILEO: Change of subject please. MR. SHOTKO: Change the subject, from the theft of public property. MR. DIBILEO: Well that’s personal accusations. MR. SHOTKO: It’s not personal it’s professional. As a council member his is supporting what many people not just myself believe is theft of public property. That’s a crime. And we are going to look at the law and see what we can do. |
From The Times Leader:
| Sherwood, a Chevy dealer who won knock-down, drag-out elections against Scranton Democrat Patrick Casey in 1998 and 2000, also corralled the Democratic nomination this time around. He is expected to cruise to victory against Green Party nominee Kurt Shotko of Moscow, who is best known for calling talk radio shows and carrying signs on Scranton's Courthouse Square protesting cigarette sales to minors and extolling nationalized health care. |
From The Electric City:
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Best Community Activist
WINNER: Kurt Shotko Advocating Alternatives Once known only as "that guy with the signs at Courthouse Square," the local Green party co-founder has achieved name recognition as folks have discerned that he's not going to go away no matter how many times they blink. Most recently Shotko stood up against the unopposed U.S. Representative Don Sherwood in the race for Senate, because, well, somebody had to. Misunderstood by many and underestimated by most, Shotko is commonly criticized for sensationalism. Yet his in your face protests have achieved a formidable end. He's made NEPA people think, helping to dissolve the apathetic veneer that's clouded the vision of a region once resigned. The Greens have, in general, received a lot more credit in this skeptical post-Enron political climate, but your votes indicate that Kurt Shotko, too, deserves a little credit. -agp |
From The Scranton Times Tribune:
| Kurt Shotko of Scranton, who announced he would be the Green Party candidate against Mr. Sherwood, did not submit enough signatures to get on the ballot, according to the state Bureau of Elections. |
``I went there as a candidate for Congress; I'm not just some guy off the street. I deserve the respect to at least ask a few questions,'' Shotko said.
That's fairly close to what he had to say to our city administrator when he was confronted and asked to cease and desist at our well-attended St. Patty's Day parade.
I ran for congress and I'm running again in '06. You're gonna be in big trouble...
Blah-blaf-f**king-blah Green (nutball) Party swill. Yippee! He ran for congress and very quickly had his fat head handed to him. Repeat after me: Big f**king whoop!
It's funny, he called Sue Henry today and repeated that drivel he had to say to the local papers. Basically, that he knows what he's doing as a professional protester, so the cops must be at fault for this needless incident. Really? Is that so?
Whether the hemp pro realizes it or not, Public Square is officially designated as being a park. And as such, dumb-dumb would have had to have applied for and received a permit from the city to legally stage his pansy-assed protest against whatever ill happened to annoy his unemployed ass this week. In other words, his mostly sorry act may be acceptable in Scranton, but in Wilkes-Barre, his nonsense is not going to be tolerated without going through the proper channels he either ignored, or didn't have a freakin' clue about. Then again, after suffering through his meandering and hate-filled diatribes on WILK for many years now, it's become obvious to me that there really isn't anything much he knows about the real world as we have come to know it.
And he also referred to our city cops as being "The Gestapo" over the local airwaves. He promised that he and his videotographer will be making the rounds on a regular basis, so I hope our cops have a long memory and a short fuse when no one is looking. Oh, and despite mentioning "our videotographer" on WILK today, he quickly realized his gross error and claimed that no such person hoping to catch the next Rodney King event on videotape had followed him during his short-lived romp through downtown Wilkes-Barre. Yeah...RIGHT! And the Green Party is a viable political force. HA! HA! HA! More like a bunch of disaffected loonies.
And straight out of the InstaPoliticalLoony.org handbook, the energizer activist wasting no time before firing off a letter to the editor of the Voice:
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Editor:
Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton called the St. Patrick's Day parade a "huge success for the city and the entire Wyoming Valley."
Well, not quite.
As a former congressional candidate and intended challenger to Congressman Don Sherwood in 2006, I have for many years been exercising the civil rights granted by our constitution: namely, free speech. I have protested for social justice and against corruption and unjust and unnecessary wars for more than 10 years in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I have learned a lot. I have learned what my legal rights are and where they stop. I know where the line is. The police crossed that line. During the St. Patrick's Day parade, police violated my constitutional right to free speech. I was carrying a sign demonstrating against corporate greed, the worship of money and President Bush. I broke no law. I at no time interfered with the parade or any spectator. I stood behind the crowd, and my sign was carried above the heads of the spectators. For years, I have done the same at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Scranton. I know what I am doing. The Wilkes-Barre police are lying about my conduct. On Saturday, I was told by a representative of the parade committee that I could not continue forward because I would be in view of Gov. Ed Rendell and other politicians. After a five-second conversation, the police attacked and handcuffed my companion and me. My sign was broken and my rights violated. I intend to make full use of the legal protections granted me by the U.S. Constitution. The incident was caught on videotape and camera phone. A police captain wrestled a camera phone from a pregnant woman who was taking photos of my arrest. What does this say about the police? Taking a camera to eliminate evidence of a crime is obstruction of justice and a very serious crime. While the police gave me no paperwork, they did go to the trouble of putting out a press release of this incident for damage control. Citizens who would like a firsthand view of the events can see for themselves. The video will be shown on Adelphia Cable TV, Channel 10, on Thursday, March 17, at 5:30 p.m. The next Wilkes-Barre City council meeting is Tuesday, March 22. The press and concerned citizens should attend. I will remind city council members what democracy looks like. I have to take action so that activists who come to the city in the future will be allowed to express their opinions without the threat of police violence.
Kurt Shotko
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The Wilkes-Barre police are lying about my conduct.
Well, at least he's consistent. The recruiters were lying. The state police in Hazleton were lying. And now the Wilkes-Barre "Gestapo" is lying. Isn't that weird how Kurt keeps running into liars no matter where he goes? It must suck being him.
A police captain wrestled a camera phone from a pregnant woman who was taking photos of my arrest.
Wrestled? A police captain wrestled (?) with a pregnant woman? A pregnant woman who just happened to be traveling with the loonies and looking for an incident that would quickly translate into headlines for the political candidate with no job, no money and not enough signatures on his nominating petitions to even get himself beaten up at the polls on election day? He couldn't even get himself on the ballot, but he dares to lecture us about truth, justice and the anti-American Green Party way?
Well, I've got a newsflash for the guy who always yammers on about justice for all. He's gonna be treated to some justice Wilkes-Barre style when he returns to this neck of the woods for his hearing. And the powers that be in Wilkes-Barre are gonna show up, too. This ain't Hazleton. And this ain't frickin' Scranton, champ. He said he's knows what he's doing, so let's just hope for his sake that he doesn't smart off in front of the magistrate when the time comes. Knowing him, he'll probably turn the entire affair into a circle jerk and find himself being a 10-47. I can only hope. Those guys in the county prison need sex every once in a while and I think Kurt would fit in there very nicely. Well, something would fit somewhere, but I'm not so sure how nicely something might, or might not fit.
Wanna save the world all by your lonesome? By all means, knock yourself out.
But when your ethos becomes blurred with a pathos that causes you to rage rather than enjoying life, you are the problem and not the solution.
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD!!!
It's the dreaded Gestapo Shock Troops on motorcycles!!!
Mayor Tom...please. I take it back. I don't really think your cap is goofy looking. I think it's cool. Please...please...I don't want to die without rubbing up ever so slightly against Debby Harry at least once. Call them off! Call them off! I'll be good. I swear.
I don't care what Kevin Lynn tells his clueless fans. I don't think your hair is greasy. I mean it. I mean it. Call them off.
Remember, kiddies. Consider the source.
Be good, or else.
Nite