What a way to start the day. Another simpleton summoned up enough courage to call SAYSO.

The first one is poor beyond belief. J.J. Murphy is coordinating what will prove to be a unique spectacle the likes of which has never graced this county before. According to some estimates, the Healing Field has the potential to draw over 100,000 visitors to Kirby Park. There will be food, rides and fireworks on consecutive Saturdays. And there will be a sea of commemorative flags as far as the eye can see.

I can't help but to wonder what it will be like to wander through through those flags with seemingly no end to them in sight. The entire undertaking is meant to honor those who perished on 9/11. What emotions will that field in Kirby Park conjure up? Will it be uplifting? Will it evoke sadness? Will it bring back anger for some? Or will it cause us to quietly reflect upon where we've been and we're going as a nation? I imagine it'll mean different things for different people.

For one among us it is seen as a chance for some politicos to personally profit and little else. "Honor before profit" they demand, but I doubt they have even an inkling about what honor entails, or anything else for that matter. And to even suggest that J.J., a Captain in the Air Force Reserve who still finds himself back at Langley Air Force base on occasion for some search & rescue duties, would be involved in any flags-for-profit corruption is absolutely flabbergasting in my mind. Maybe SAYSO should be disconnected already. Stop encouraging these mentally deficient cretins.

Now on to that second SAYSO. How do you suppose the American Legion folks got themselves worked into a retarded tizzy in the first place? It seems there is a shop right here in the valley that sells flags, banners and associated trinkets. The owner of that shop, after learning that our Healing Field flags were being supplied from the good folks that started all of this, decided to contact some veterans groups and get them all worked up over nothing. Talk about a spoiled sport. We either buy all of our flags from him, or all hell breaks loose in the press? It's a great event for Wilkes-Barre, but not for one local businessman, so it's acceptable to attempt to cast the entire event in a negative light?

Who's trying to profit? Someone in the political order, was it? Just for the halibut, let's revisit where the proceeds will go.

Each flag will be sold for $30, with the proceeds going to a support group for local military units deployed to Iraq; local veterans organizations, youth groups, local charities and the Osterhout Free Library.

I swear. Only in numb-nutted Culm County could the locals find fault with such a great event.

I enjoyed a helluva bike ride today and I came across this thingy behind the City Center building. The folks from Lane's Cranes were getting ready to hoist it to the top of the building. As I watched them tool about, I wondered what the muck it could be. It could be some sort of communications thingamabob. It could be that they're gonna grow pot inside of it. Or, thanks to the Patriot Act, Dubya is going to use this thing to take even more of our precious rights away by eavesdropping on us when we get naked. Well, John Kerry and his hateful myrmidons might go for the latter, but not us rational folks.

It's time for some Zappa!

Some politicos are now saying out loud that we need to reinstitute the dreaded draft. The subject dominated talk radio today as most folks were surprised by the news, but this has been brewing for a while. The interesting part is, as we get closer and closer to the fall election, the draft drumbeat seems to be growing louder and louder. Now, why do you suppose that is? Could it be just another ploy used to suggest to the average dolts such as us that Dubya has everything completely screwed-up? That was the plan hatched during the summer of 2003 if, and when the Iraq situation seemed to grow worse to any degree. Whatever.

This is the way I see it. We ended the draft thirty years ago or so. Until that moment, troop rotation was never a problem. Then, those brain-dead folks in D.C. sh*t-canned the draft. So far, so good. Then the Clintons rolled into town. Within a few years of their arrival, our military was halved. Entire divisions disappeared. Air wings were eliminated. Our Navy went from 600 surface ships to 301. What the hell! The Soviets quit. They gave up. What the heck did we need a military for at that point? How short-sighted.

Here we are in 2004 and mustering 120,000 troops for an overseas operation is impossible without activating practically every reserve unit and a few Boy Scout troops. And based upon what's currently going down in Iraq, rotating our troops in a timely manner seems to be an impossibilty also. The term "Tour of Duty" should be replaced with "Indefinate Tour," and that is proof that our politicos in D.C. have gone and f**ked things up again. Not Dubya. The folks that came before him.

Let's be honest, the Iraq engagement is not exactly a world war. What if hostilities five times what we currently face broke out in a big hurry? Then what? Who's left to mobilize? The Wilkes-Barre Ladies Auxilary and the Heights Packers? Deal with it, we halved our military so as to free up money for politicos to buy votes with. And now, almost suddenly, the world has become a very dangerous place. In '91, we deployed 550,000 active duty troops to bitch-slap Saddam. Today, 550,000 might be an impossible deployment to achieve without a draft.

Whatever. Ah, the carefree dot com nineties. It was "the economy stupid," remember? We closed base after base, turned our navy into reefs, and allocated more money for high-tech weapons. But we funked up bigtime because there will always be a need for significant numbers of ground troops. We can bomb 'em all back to the stone ages, but somebody will still have to go in on the ground and take the property.

Do we need to reinstitute the draft? It depends on who we elect in November. Dubya has promised to take it to the terrorists and the rogue states that encourage them. Kerry has promised to ask the U.N. for permission first, which translates into an even smaller active-duty military after they poo-poo our requests to defend ourselves.

It's certainly not my ox being gored, but I say bring back the draft. At the very least, it'll make men of our bored skateboard slackers.

I listened to the hose dudes respond to the fire call at Dan Flood Elementary yesterday and I didn't expect too much. Our grade schools don't burn down very often but, ya never know. When I heard the call go out for a polaroid, I instantly knew that one of the kiddies just might be in a bit of trouble. So I spied the morning paper today and there it was: A kindergarten kid? A glorified toddler torched the place? Boy! Things are gettin' tough around here. And according to the paper, the school district is expected to file charges against the pint-sized arsonist. Charges? Like what? Three months without her favorite Teddy Bear and she must refrain from eating too much sugar? And what of restitution? Does she have to forfeit her milk money until all of the associated costs are paid in full? Things continue to get weirder and weirder.

We have to fine tune this recycling nonsense. I found myself flying down the length of a freshly paved Wyoming Street on the Stomper this morning. Talk about a smooth cruise. Anywho, with all of this paving going on up here in the Nord End, I'm thinking we've got a few streets that won't need to be swept and such. Well, guess again. As I flew down Wyoming, the recycling bins had already been emptied by our DPW guys. And there was crushed plastic bottles blowing about from one end of the street to the other. Folks over-pile their bins, the wind kicks up a tad and Wilkes-Barre looks a little bit worse than it did the day before.

Street sweepers won't scoop up the crushed plastic bottles and neither will ninety percent of the neighbors on any given street. So what do we do about it? What's the answer? Are plastics lying about all over the place something that we should just get used to, or should we sweep our own streets every other day? This afternoon, I swept Thompson Street from the top to very bottom. By the time I was done, an empty can of Pepsi came rolling down the street from one of the neighbors bins that was over-filled.

I know we'll be receiving more recycling grants from the state sooner or later. Maybe folks need another white bin. Maybe we all need a bigger bin. Maybe we need a lid for our bins. Maybe all it would take is for most of our neighbors to stop being so piggish and so f**king stupid. You tell me, man. I can only sweep so much.

Wow! Instead of picking a fight with softball players as our former tyrant did, our new mayor saw to it that the lights were replaced at the Kirby Park ballyard with a big assist from Truck 6.

But...can we bring beer to the games?

I could back it out of there. Come on, Lar!

That's neat.

From Gary Aldrich writing for Townhall.com:

We can’t stop the world until November so John Kerry can get an issue going for his floundering campaign. He’ll just have to try to keep up.

The seemingly hapless John Kerry cannot decide where he stands on yet another issue. First he wants higher prices, then flips-flops and says he does not want higher gasoline prices. He later decides he does want high prices – if a lower price benefits President Bush’s chances for re-election.

Kerry just wants the White House, and apparently he’ll say anything to get the job.

Saying anything is the same as saying nothing. Let me say something: This is shaping up to be a particularly boring presidential campaign, and should be an easy win for President Bush, given his competition.

This is too much fun. The one and only SNAKE has a new web site. He's really outdone himself this time.

This just in from WBRE.com:

A man admitting to have murdered his roommate has just been arraigned.
21 year old Joshua Williams is in police custody after admitting to strangling to death his roommate, Jim Woods, with a shoelace.
He confessed to leaving the body in a bag in their Wilkes-Barre apartment about three weeks ago.
Police were called to this apartment building at 77 Davis place around 9-30 last night. Neighbors reported a dog barking for days inside an apartment.
When police searched the place, they made the gruesome discovery.

Davis Place again. Hmmm. How about a controlled burn down there?

Some ass named Ted called Sue Henry today and said he'd be all for a draft if "Dubya's kids. Those two little drinkers" went to war. Ass! Your unbridled hatred of two young girls is showing. They are guilty of??? Drinking? Oh, yeah. Their Dad is a Republican.

He didn't stop there. Why save some face?

"George Dubya's band of thieves have turned this into a crusade. He's one of these right-wing zealots."

Ah, yes. The Democratic party. The party of tolerance. NOT!!!

I gotta go pay for my Flag of Honor tommorrow. Gee, I hope the politicos don't take my money and buy dope with it instead.

Later