Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you.

We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.--Hillary Clinton, speaking at a Democrat fund-raiser in San Fragcisco

Hmmm. The common good. Did anyone out there happen to take Communism 101? Does anyone else out there in Anonymityville want to mistakenly take further issue with my liberal use of the word "commie?" Yeah! That's what I thought.

This post from the forum had me carving a few Inca roads into my scalp. I really had no inkling as to what this was supposed to concern. So I scrolled all the way back to the aforementioned date only to find myself somewhat mystified.

5 WEEKS and counting........... -- were waiting, 06:16:16 07/02/04 Fri [1]

Back on 5/25/04 of this forum a individual posted how,there are many things in the works right now and rest assured only the opening salvos have been fired. Well what happened? It seems the opening salvos kinda missed. And it seems not much more is being done. Out of salvos? Did a surrender take place? It's been strangely silent.One would think that every concievable solution or battle to right this wrong would be taking place,every minute of every day,but it is now 5 WEEKS since.Is this chapter about to be closed,and chalked up to a Oh Well?

Someone wants to pick an anonymous internet fight with the fire department union dons all over again? Okay, the basic premise of the post is acceptable and it offers up some legitimate questions. There's no point in busting anyone's cajones here, but I was under the impression that all union members already had a forum available to them whereas they could put their union reps on the hot seat. I thought they were called 'union meetings.' That's what I thought.

Are there members of Local 104 too timid to voice their opinions at union meetings now? It was recently pointed out to me that some city employees are better protected from the rath of higher ups than some others happen to be, but what's up with the anonymous challenges to the union bosses? Are they a vindictive lot too? Will they getcha as soon as they find out who posted what?

Tell me if I'm following this correctly. If one rises above the leg-humpers that drool into the phone while calling SAYSO, the big, bad mayor will see to it that they end up cleaning septic systems in a nearby bucolic county. Or, if he doesn't getcha, those dastardly council folks will issue a proclamation whereby the first-born of each and every city employee suspected of being grumpy will be sold into slavery in a Third World country near you. And if they don't getcha, the union bosses will certainly see to it that your wretched life becomes even more miserable than a bloated crockumentary filmmakers happens to be.

I guess the overriding question is: Is there anyone that doesn't frighten you into retreating to the safe haven that anonymity is? Is anyone currently employed by the City of Wilkes-Barre even remotely approachable, or are they all looking to screw over the first sumbitch that even dares to suggest that alternative points of view exist within the ranks of the downtrodden employees?

The last time I checked, not one of the folks that posted their names here were kidnapped at gavel point, ground up by the latest water-jet technology, and then used as spackling putty on the interior of the new Woolworth's Innovation Emporium, or whatever the muck it's been named.

So...it's been five weeks and counting. And still, still I'm left to wonder how many weeks it takes to grow a firm set of rather weighty testicles?

Here's another one from the forum:

Millwood Stinks -- A.W., 05:58:47 07/04/04 Sun [1]

When are the Phillies going to realize that Millwood is nothing but a bum

Bum may be a bit harsh. Millwood is inconsistent. One year he's borderline Cy Young. The next he gets hit more often than a rapper's girlfriend. He is a quality starter, an inning eater for sure, but he just can't seem to keep his mechanics consistent for any length of time.

It's true that AOL/Time Warner ordered the Braves to cut payroll which defies all known logic. One of the biggest corporate conglomerates on this planet could not afford to pay Millwood's salary? Or Tom Glavine's? Or Greg Maddux's? Or Gary Sheffield's? But while the Braves were losing salary, the Phil's general manager was adding payroll in an attempt to win right now. And he made a few very poor decisions. The most glaring of which was trading Johnny Estrada for Millwood. Estrada is going to be an all-star for years to come, while both Millwood and Larry Bowa will most likely be moving on to greener astro-turf after this season.

The Braves have stumbled through this entire season, mostly because of injuries and some very inconsistent starting pitching, but they added a potential superstar by trading Millwood. What did the Phils get in return?

Worth mentioning is the fact that despite all of the Phils expensive additions and the Braves numerous high-profile departures, the Braves are still hanging around and are only four games back in the loss column. If the Phils really wanted to win and win now, they should have traded for Bobby Cox.

I ran across...

...one of those MoveOn.org kids in the Back Mountain a couple of days ago. She was incensed. She was motivated. Sh*t, I think she was rabid. She can't locate Iraq on a globe, but she has devoted every one of her fickled cells to stamping out evil, i.e., George W. Bush, in our lifetimes. She was not armed with anything that even remotely resembled a fact, but she did know all of the latest catch phrases, the anti-Bush talking points and the always growing list of baseless accusations that dominate our media reporting. She was especially outraged by the Patriot Act. You've heard all of this before. Ashcroft and Bush are usurping our rights, trampling on the constitution and they just ordered extra black helos. Kids. She'll grow out of it. I hope.

So...I awoke today and eventually stumbled upon yet another ridiculous political cartoon in the Sunday Voice. Oh no! The Patriot Act has resulted in our civil rights being suspended. Say it ain't so! What the hell are we gonna do about it? Meet me on the edge of Fag Forest and we'll pitch some crates of tea into the river. What the hay! What hasn't been tossed into that river by some folks that got filthy rich while doing so? Give me liberty or give me Michael Moore.

Somehow, despite all of the hysteria being whipped-up by the myrmidons on the wrong side of the political aisle, living in Dubya's new-and-improved police state hasn't been all that bad of late.

Let's see here. On most days, I feel free to log onto the internet and criticize any politician I damn well please. And yet, an armored police vehicle surrounded by SWAT team operatives has yet to make it's way through my front door. Weird, heyna?

Yesterday, Gage Andrew and I blew up enough fireworks to draw some close scrutiny from a NORAD satellite circling overhead. By the way, we ventured out there this morning and cleaned up the entire street, so don't get your anonymous selves in an uproar. Anywhooey, the good folks from the Deapartment of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms didn't surround the adobe and burn every man, woman and child to death. It was a previous president that ordered the wholesale deaths of American citizens on private property.

Okay, so we used more ordinance than the B-17s dropped on Berlin, and John Ashcroft didn't pay us a visit. Whew! Plus, we drank enough fermented weeds to get noticed by those mostly peckish folks at the Guinness Book of World Records. Still no super, secret police detail came a calling with tear gas cannisters at the ready. And get this, despite living in Dubya's end-of-times draconian police state, while I was breaking numerous laws, I was also monitoring the radio frequencies of our local police departments. Randy Weaver would be proud to call me a kindred soul. In case you forgot, a previous president presided over the police operation that resulted in the killing of Randy's teen-aged boy and his wife on private property because he was a devout and vocal separatist.

And while we were breaking laws, we also enjoyed some Cheap Trick that would have ruptured the ear drums of most of the folks stupid enough to approach our defensive perimeter. Let's sum this up, shall we? We were drinking, smoking, rock-n-rolling, lighting fireworks and keeping tabs on the cops the entire time. All of this coming from a nobody, a boob that invites scrutiny by posting his thoughts on the internet. Where were the storm troopers? What happened to the black helos? What is it about the Patriot Act that should shake me to my very core? (Or Cour)

What the hell do I have to do to result in my nondescript compound being surrounded and my family shot, or burned to death by the government? Why, I need to elect one of those folks purported to be horrified by the Patriot Act. If I really want my civil rights and my family to be trampled upon by an out-of-control government, I need look no farther than the Democratic party.

Religious kooks get burned to death, and separatist kooks get shot to death, but the party of "tolerance" that has clearly displayed their intolerance now tells me that Bush, Ashcroft and the Patriot Act are coming to get me. And many of our younger folks are falling for that lie hook, line and sinker. Do you need any further proof that our federally-manipulated system of education in this country has been fatally corrupted by completely self-centered unions that see America as a one party system?

Try this one on for size. Who has trampled on the civil rights of more Americans? Who has, through their actions, caused the deaths of more innocent Americans? Janet Reno? Or John Ashcroft? Would any of you factually-challenged conspiracy nutballs, formerly known as Democrats, care to take a shot at answering that one?

The Patriot Act? I could really care less about it. I'm way, WAY too busy enjoying my freedoms to fret about what the limp-wristed are obsessed with. And I've got much more beer, music and fireworks to attend to on this extended weekend of ours. Hell! I might even lube the barrel of my trusty Crossman 760 and shoot a few Starlings through the eye. I have the freedom to do that now that Janet Reno and her agents of unchecked tyranny have been summarily dispatched back to the pits they should have never slimed up from.

The Patriot Act? It's somehow cramping my style? Blow it out of your wide ass and then examine what that utter nonsense amounts to.

PennsylVegas...

...that's what Sue Henry of WILK has taken to calling this sorry state of ours as of late. Needless to say, she is not in favor of legalized gambling coming to this state. And I happen to agree with her. Our elected folks at the state level have decided that competant management and fiscal responsibility are both well beyond their reach, so instead they offer us a one-time cash cow, a gimmic, and expect us to call that effective leadership. And some of us are falling for that short-sighted gambit.

Some argue that we need to keep our gamblers here, rather than having them spending their social security benefits in New Jersey. Okay. If they, and their fellow AARP buddies blow their entire wad here, where will that money go? To the folks that own the gaming parlors, that's who. And the $1 billion in projected additional revenues to the state will never materialize. What revenues are produced will quickly evaporate due to fiscal mismanagement, and our clueless legislators led by a clueless governor will be once again reduced to raising sin taxes because they either cannot, or refuse to do what direly needs to be done. Namely, live within their already massive resources.

This is more proof that government has gotten way too big, bigger than it was ever intended to be. When the primary role of government is reduced to seeking more and more revenue sources to support itself, it's obvious that there is a systemic problem that no one on the inside will properly address.

Out of the gate, we will be bombarded with the feel-good stories about how 61,000 slot machines are somehow saving our state. And after the initial inertia slows and the entire folly collapses under the heavy weight that it is, our legislators will be hot after the next possible revenue source. What's next? Legalized prostitution? Legalizing reefer, or worse? How about legalizing fireworks and then slamming them with sin taxes?

Is this sound, long-term, fiscally responsible leadership? Gimme even more money and I'll do great things with it? Based on what? Certainly not the troubling track record of this state's historically inept government.

There is a positive note though. If all of those seniors that supposedly can't afford their property taxes, or who are supposedly forced to eat Alpo race off to Pocono Downs; I should be able to buy a pack of smokes at the local Turkey Hill without waiting in line forever behind those very same seniors praying to the lottery machine. Remember, the lottery proceeds benefit senior citizens, or so we're told, which is only right. The proceeds of the state's 41,000 separate lotteries come at the expense of those very same seniors for the most part.

Sorry folks, but living in PennsylVegas won't be much of an improvement over living in Pennsylvania. It'll surely take a while before many of us come to that realization, but when hoodwinking somehow passes as governing, it usually takes a while for the hoi polloi to come up to speed on any given issue and realize that they've been had once again.

61,000 slot machines. If we're to believe what we're currently being told, that is what passes as leaderhip in this state.

PennsylVegas.

Enjoy the 4th. Hopefully, we'll all have ten fingers come Tuesday. If not, at least we have the freedom to do harm to ourselves without government intervention.

BANG?