Tomorrow is the big day… RiverFest 2007. They’re telling me to expect a big turnout in the morning. Rots and rots of boats and whatnot. Cool.
I lost track, being that nobody supplied with a river odometer. Last I remember, Kayak Dude had amassed over 1,000 miles paddled on the Susquehanna. Impressive, when you consider that the river runs 444 miles from beginning to end.
Let’s see, I did 18 miles during ‘Fest 2002. The 2003 event was cancelled due to high water. Um, very, very high it was. So, not to be denied, Kayak Dude and I did 30 miles, putting in at Tunkhannock and keeping up a very brisk pace all the way to Nesbitt Park. 2004 was the year Gage made it halfway, 9 miles I think. It was cold, it was pouring and the kid was shivering uncontrollably. We bugged out at Nesbitt Park and KD finished the trip on his own. We both missed the 2005 event due to prior commitments. And ‘Fest 2006 included another 18 miles. Plus, we did something like 20 during January of 2006, going from Wysox to Wyalusing.
Anywho, I guess I’m in the 100 mile range. Hardly a card-carrying River Rat, but getting close enough to at least call myself a Rat apprentice. If I stick with it, maybe they’ll trust me with a kayak of my own one day.
Gage Andrew went on home to Tennessee, so he won’t be manning the middle seat of the U.S.S. Dude, a Nimitz-class surface ship. This year, we’re having my brother’s son along. And I know he’s never done anything even remotely like this. His suddenly overprotective mom’s first concern was the drowning issue. But, since the current river level at Wilkes-Barre is approximately 7.5 millimeters, I’m sure she’ll breathe easier at work tomorrow.
If you’re participating, I’ll see you on the river. Oh, and they tell me our boat will be leading the entire flotilla down the river. Remember, no peeing off of the many bridges tomorrow. We’ll have a kid on board, so cut me a break.
Check this inflammatory claptrap:
“…Wilkes-Barre is still the subject of much scorn, which it should be.”--Steve Corbett, WILK, June 21, 2007
“Lou is a one-time flame who’s glow, I believe, is diminishing.”--Steve Corbett, on Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta WILK, June 21, 2007
So, Wilkes-Barre and Hazelton, more specifically, Wilkes-Barre and Hazelton’s leadership are two of Steve’s favorite whipping boys. But, the hypocrisy in all of this is, since his unfortunate return from Mexico North, he’s criticized Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty to no end for choosing to skip the always rowdy city council meetings in his own city.
A fair criticism for sure. But what does Steve do when he finally…finally manages to get Doherty to respond to one of his many calls? Well, he sure as hell didn’t give him a hard time. No, he was in an adoring mood. Almost a groupie.
So I sent this along:
And his response?
Poppycock!!!
Barletta is in your cross-hairs. Leighton is in your cross-hairs. But, Doherty? Well, he was until he called you on-air and you got to gushing like a 4th-grade girl with a massive crush.
The Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities Conference is being held in Scranton? Oh, Chris, you are to die for. That’s great news, Chris. I am so, so happy. Please call me again, Chris. I dig you, man. You’re the goods.
And past misdeeds? Why not look into the frightening indebtedness of your own city? Explain to us how those debts will be retired? And, decorum? Decorum in Scranton? Since when? Have you been to one of those dust-ups that pass as council meetings in that city? I think it’d be more cordial if you got Fatah and Israeli Intelligence together for a late brunch. Decorum? They schedule council meetings and trailer park rebellions break out.
Its not as easy as I might think? Well, ripping every other mayor in NEPA seems to come real easy to you, but, apparently, not Chris Doherty. No, can’t hold his feet to the fire if you want to be invited to the luncheons and high-falootin’ gatherings of the movers and shakers. When your attention turns towards any other city, you’re kickin’ ass and taking names. Oh, but when Scranton comes up, it’s a different story. Then it’s a mutual admiration society. Hugs and kisses, Mayor Doherty. You’re doing a fine, fine job.
And, a “free pass?” You didn’t give him a free pass? Okay, then what do they call it in Mexico North that you so obviously miss? Doherty is asked not one tough question, but Tom Leighton needs written permission from the great “Corbett” just to pick a vacation destination? Lou Barletta is (pick a slanderous insult), but Scranton is doing perfectly fine? No free pass? Yeah, when those massive outstanding debts start coming due, we’ll just see if anyone in that town gets a free pass as the tax increases begin to fly.
You are to consistency what anal sex is to reproduction. You are to hypocrisy what Rosie O’Donnell is to repulsiveness.
He did no respond to this one:
He likewise failed to respond to this:
Once again, he ignored this one:
Guess what, “Corbett.”
Just like I so often do to that other aging member of the Worst Generation currently slandering away at WILK (Yes, he called Frank Scavo a “creep”), I must point out that you can’t hang up on me in this forum. Nope. You can’t cut me off. You can’t shout me down. You can’t change the subject when you get pigeonholed. You can’t take my call as you are up against a hard break. And there isn’t a fu>king thing you can do about it.
You wanted discourse and you got it, amigo.
Although, your prevaricated bull sessions have been comprised of mostly bull. And until you reluctantly approach your arbitrary dissertations from a position of relative fairness, I’ll be here to regularly rebuke all of your regurgitated talk radio phlegm.
“You not only got to walk the walk, you got to talk the talk.”--Steve, yesterday
Talk is cheap, as are banally-applied cliches, incendiary rhetoric and political buzzwords. But when that talk is coming over the public airwaves, it had better be fair and evenly applied. And if not, the perpetrators of such rubbish can expect to hear from me in my chosen forum.