It‘s official.

The New York Mercenaries…er, The New York Yankees are coming to town and apparently, local baseball fans couldn’t be happier. And I am truly happy for the lot of them.

With the triple A version of the Yankees playing locally, we’ll be able to see the very best, the up-and-comers in the Yankees farm system right before they are to be traded away for some aging, bloated, overpaid has-been superstar as part of their “win today at all costs” philosophy.

Nifty.

The calls to WILK radio against the proposed 9/11 memorial have been coming in at a furious clip, and with next to no calls coming from supporters of such an undertaking. And it’s been that way since the story first broke on, of all days, 9/11.

From The Times Leader:

From The Citizens’ Voice:

When I first saw the artist’s rendition of the proposed memorial in the Times Leader, I was kind of nonplussed by it. If they built it, great. And if they don’t manage to build it, whatever. That’s where I was at. And then the negative uproar started the very same day on WILK. And to be painfully honest, I was caught completely off guard by all of it.

And I’ve been getting a steady diet of this sort of stuff ever since:

Slipping how? What’s the big deal? If the money is raised independent of the city’s monies, the funding and the eventual price tag is a total non-issue. I heard some ignorant fool on WILK say the following earlier today: “Fix the city first!” The fool knows not of which he babbles, but he’s happy to share his lack of facts with all of us.

Okay, so call PNC, Geisinger and maybe Guard Insurance and ask them if they’d be interested in paying to have our streets paved. I think I already know what the unanimous response will be. And grant dollars do not come without significant strings attached as well as without oodles and oodles of red tape to be waded through. If the money for the memorial is found, nothing in this city will be neglected as a result. The apparent sticker shock some are currently afflicted with is patently absurd. It’s beyond nonsensical, but not uncommon among the indigenous species found in these parts.

$1.3 million? I could really care less.

I snagged the following from the Voice story:

The city resident presented a petition signed by 174 people opposed to the 60-foot-wide memorial. Saxton said the memorial would result in a “loss of a sense of joy” at the park. Its “scale and enormity” will overwhelm park users, he said.

Ahem, we’re talking about a 60-foot-wide memorial. It’s “scale and enormity???” You’re talking about the distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate. Not exactly a monolith by anyone’s standards. Its “scale and enormity” will overwhelm park users??? If that’s the case, how the hell did they sneak the construction of the Martz Pavilion past him? He’s either full of baloney, near blind, a political hack, or not capable of operating a freaking measuring tape without assistance. Pick one.

How ‘bout this beauty?

Wilkes-Barre resident Peter Gagliardi questioned if the objective of the memorial was to honor Sept. 11 victims or to bring tourists and commerce to Wilkes-Barre. “You’re taking part of Kirby Park away from your citizens,” Gagliardi said.

How many people squeeze into that part for the annual 4th of July festivities? I can’t remember off the top of my pointy little head. 40,000? 50,000? More? Oh, but if we lose a track of land some 60-foot-wide, the park is barely usable forever more? More absurd banalities coming from one of those city council hopefuls.

On a related note, it ought to be very entertaining when we finally get down to voting by districts. It’ll likely be very similar to taking a quick stroll through the freak show tents of old. You wanted to vote by districts, so don’t come whining to me when the meek, the geeks, the freaks and the moonbats get themselves elected for the very first time. You wanted it, you got it: The freak show.

Some other pinhead suggested to Sue Henry that the planning of the memorial was done behind closed doors, far from the public eye. Ooh, another conspiracy nutjob!

First of all, during the well-received Healing Field festivities way back in May of ‘04 J.J. Murphy announced that the city was hoping to erect a permanent 9/11 memorial in Kirby Park and no one batted an eye. No one protested. No one even asked about it.

Oh, but now, the pathetic story is it was purposely kept from the public. Basically, our pinhead is yet another good argument for legalized abortion. Or castration.

And then there’s the tourism argument, as if benefiting from the events of 9/11 are all too uncommon. Y’all better rethink that completely short-sighted gibberish. Trust me, plenty of people have profited in the aftermath of that fateful day and last I can recall, that’s called capitalism. I have a hat pin which is a likeness of the twin towers and nothing else. Somebody created those pins, sold those pins and kept the profits they earned. We have a 9/11 clock. I have a couple of 9/11 T-shirts. Sick bastards all, heyna?

By the way, how much did the FDNY ball cap set you back?

I’ve heard all of the specious arguments against the proposed memorial and I have to tell you, I am not impressed. Then again, getting the dimwits in this area to believe in anything at all is quite the tall order. They didn’t believe in a baseball stadium. They didn’t believe in an arena. They didn’t believe in a movie theater. And as evidenced by the latest, almost completely needless hubbub, they can’t believe in much of anything. But we already knew that, didn’t we?

Slipping? Not at all. I just don’t get my sticky thong all in a bunch over inconsequential matters such as these. Or, to put it more succinctly, I really don’t care about it none too much.

If we build it, they may or may not come.

Yawn.

Sorry, but you are incorrect. I never told anyone to follow any Republican anywhere. What I did correctly point out is that the Democrats and their myrmidons have worked themselves into a collective frenzy. They rage and rage and then rage some more, but rarely offer anything even remotely close to a workable solution for which they are raging about.

They belittle everyone not with the talking points. They launch vitriolic smears on a daily basis. They choose their “facts” very selectively. And they have embraced the farthest of the far left, as well as the worst of the conspiracy theorists just back from the sanitariums. When a former president sits at a national convention with a shameless and unfair assassin the likes of Michael Moore, that political party is going off the deep end.

As for myself being a myrmidon is concerned, consider the following factoids:

1. I intend to vote for an incumbent governor who just happens to be a Democrat.

2. I intend to vote for a political neophyte, a Republican, over Paul Kanjorski.

3. I am going to vote for a Democrat, Ed Pashinski, to serve in our state legislature.

4. I will vote for Rick Santorum rather than the Democratic Senate hopeful who seems to be too afraid to state his position on much of anything.

5. I changed my party affiliation to vote for a Democratic mayoral candidate over the Republican candidate.

Of course, that’s assuming none of the above are caught in bed with a Girl Scout, or some such scandalous thing.

Fact is, I’ll vote for whomever I believe to be the best candidate. And quite frankly, the Republicans don’t need any help from me. They are going to retain control of both the House and Senate come November the 7th. And then the suicide rates in the blue states will likely spike sharply upwards. And based on the vitriolic swill that comes from that side of the apoplectic aisle, that might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

I’m a partisan, but I’m no blind myrmidon. My voting record proves as much.

Nice try, though.

No, I don’t have a problem with the proposed ordinance, per se. I have a problem with the entire program whereas child molesters are concerned.

If they are so sick--if they can’t be cured of that which ails them and society as a whole--why aren’t they incarcerated until they dry up and blow away? If the rate of recidivism is so staggering for the pederasts, how is it that they are allowed even a chance to molest, injure or kill any child ever again?

Some states have ‘three strikes and you’re out’ laws in which the third conviction results in a life sentence. So, why not two strikes and the molesters are history? Depending upon the severity of the sex crime and associated whatnots, why not one, that’s one strike and you’re Bubba’s fu>k doll? Why are they released back into society?

I’ve seen the state police site. We’ve got two registered sexual predators that I know of living right here in Nord End, one of which moved and never alerted the authorities until a resident took it upon himself to intervene. We can’t keep track of every one of these creeps. Allah only knows whether you or I have got one living nearby. But how are you going to react if one of them touches one of your grandkids? You gonna call the cops? Or are you gonna go with your very first instinct? The phone? Or the aluminum bat?

As for Chia Kev, he’d never respond to his critiques in print because that would provide them with the opportunity to debunk his classless bunk. He won’t play in a forum where he can’t hang up on those who dare to disagree with his all-knowing wisdom. He’s a blowhard and a coward, WILK enables him and I am beginning to loathe WILK for it.

We’re talking about a guy who can’t secure a fulltime job. Now, if he’s so completely all-knowing in every respect, what’s up with that?

All I know is, when the inevitable finally comes about--when WILK terminates his employment--I’m calling off sick, getting a half of Rolling Rock and everyone who happens to read this is definitely invited. We’re gonna make like the Palestinians did when 3,000 innocent people died in one fell swoop…we’re gonna party!!!

Oh, yeah. I tape his shows so that when he finally goes too far with his big fat mouth and gets his sad self canned all over again, I’ll have that glorious moment on tape. So, if you want to hear a name-calling sycophant going down in flames on the radio, I’ll have the disc. I can’t wait.

Stay in touch, council dude.

It’s like this. It’s sort of silly to be bragging about a team that stumbled all over itself for three quarters. Although, them there Eagles sure did collapse after only one bad break, that one bad bounce.

There’s an old Yiddish phrase that applies here. Um…oh, I got it.

Fu>k them!!!

Thanx. I was happy with the slide thingie. Tell you what, there was nary a dry eye among the females in attendance. I guess I made my first chick flick.

Predictably, the e-mails have gone about 50-50. 50% liked it and 50% called me some less than creative names. Got me, man. One moron wondered why, if I’m so freaking smart, I seemed to spend so much of my time in housing projects.

Uh, that would probably be because my earning potential was none too high when I was but six-years-old!!!

Anyways, thanx for the niceties.

Encouragement? From moi? Alright, who’s trying to pull my frickin’ leg?

However, if that e-mail actually came from Walter, I think he just made a couple of good friends in the Barretts. Come to think of it, maybe not. Whatever.

So, vote for the “taxpayer advocate,” Walter “I stand corrected” Griffith.

Is there a full moon tonight? What gives?

Jeez.

Dude…are you trying to get me all choked up? I feel exactly the same thing when I venture on by there. Memories up the proverbial whazoo, man. I once told the manager of that Mark II that he and his could call that place whatever they wished, but to many of us, it would always be Franklin’s. He looked at me kind of weird. But I get that a lot.

Thanks, Gort.

May the Gort be with you.

Something like that.

Later