HOW ‘BOUT THEM COWBOYS?!?

What was it? Romo good/Manning bad. Romo good/Manning bad. Romo good/Manning bad. Now Eli Manning is in Green Bay with some thermal undies in tow. And Romo’s cavorting somewhere with his future ex-wife.

Whatever.

I see that our electronic get-together with J.J. Murphy spawned a story in the Citizens’ Voice.

WILKES-BARRE — City Administrator J.J. Murphy, a major in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, will be deployed to Djibouti, Africa, for a six-month tour starting in March to serve as a search and rescue controller. Murphy, a father of four girls, has spent over 10 years in the Air Force, more than six of which have been on active duty. The 36-year-old has never been deployed to a combat area overseas until now. After talking it over with his family and Mayor Tom Leighton, Murphy agreed to go to eastern Africa after his commander asked him. “The reaction by this patriotic community has been overwhelming thus far,” Murphy said. “I know some people are confused about why I would want to go overseas and help in this global war. Maybe the great Thomas Paine said it best when he said, ‘If there must be trouble, let it be in my day that my child may have peace’.”

It’s nothing new for something that was posted here to end up splashed all over the pages of one or both of the local newspapers. But there has been a stark difference as to the handling by the newspapers of such “scoops” generated by those dreaded folks who scribble away on the internet.

The Times Leader has always gone out of it’s way to either acknowledge that the internet actually exists, and many times to actually credit the folks on the internet for what they brought to the limelight.

On the other hand, the Citizens’ Voice building would likely sprout maple syrup-covered wings doting billions of flies and fly away into the iffin’ one of it’s employees ever credited a local blogger for a “scoop.”

Anyway, City Administrator J.J. Murphy will be deploying to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti later this year, and you heard it first at the Citizens’ Voice. Camp Lemonier is a former French Foreign Legion base that was acquired in 2001 and serves as home to the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa under CENTCOM. It is under the direct control of the U.S. Navy. From here, the U.S. military monitors Marine beach landings, Navy warships, Army infantry maneuvers and Air Force flights, keeping in close communication with Central Command headquarters in Qatar and troops in the field. And there are secret operations no one will talk about.

As for J.J.’s recent comments, most of the feedback I received was very positive. And some of it was of an appreciative tact for his bothering to take the time and all.

But, of course, there are those that see only negatives. You know the discontented types. Oh, so why should the City pay a guy to go off to a war zone?

Interesting.

When the fireman or the policeman deploys to a forward operating site, that’s a patriotic endeavor worthy of endless praises and prayers. Oh, but when someone from City Hall does likewise, well, there’s just got to be a budding scandal mixed in there somewhere? Right?

Actually, the City adopted a policy to address all of this since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq drew a few city employees into the War on Terror and the like. Basically, a city employee heading off to war can use accrued and volunteered sick days to keep some sort of income flowing while being deployed overseas. And there is a stipulation whereas the city will pay the difference between the employees city base pay and their military base pay. But I’m a little vague on all of that.

Whatever the policy is, shame on those who would look for scandal as someone readies to be deployed to a hot zone, someone who basically volunteered to do as much. Think about it. Why the need for search-and-rescue people? Because shots are being fired in anger.

I don‘t want to waste too much time on that irascible blogger from Scranton, Mr. Foglietta. But since the e-mails continue to come on in, let’s do it.

Finally, I received this one from none other than Scranton’s bomb-thrower extraordinaire himself.

First of all, David “Yonko” Yonki does not write this site, you hapless dingle berry. And if you were half the seasoned journalist you pretend to be, you’d already know that. Glad I could help. Glad I could help shed some light on that. Glad to point out your journalistic shortcomings. You’re welcome.

And why did you delete the reader’s comments on your site advising you of this fact? Your readers clued you in as to your gross error, and yet you persist by sending an e-mail to me. And if you’re going to repost the material you deleted, why not repost all of it? Repost that disturbing bit about Sue Henry’s scent, why don’t you. Repost the relentless, voluminous attacks, not just the one rambling attack. As far as dictionary use is concerned, flip yours open and look up the word pervert.

I’m sure WILK has the transcripts and recordings. And they’ll share with the district magistrate what you had to say about Bosco, despite what is not in your extensive vocabulary.

I really enjoyed that diatribe about not wanting to “fu>k” a local female politician up your way. Is that still on your site, or did you delete that, too? Allow me to guess what your response will be. “Fu>k” is not in your vocabulary? Jackass!

You claim that “homo” is not in your vocabulary, yet your e-mail asks of me, “Are you gay?” No matter where your slanderous way leads you on any particular day, you never seem to stray too far from the same-sex thing. Which leads me to wonder about whether you have been repressing something for years on end. Sit on any lubed spindles lately?

You said, “You're completely biased in favor of the slime at WILK.”

That’s interesting. It’s interesting when you consider that both Kevin Lynn and Steve Corbett probably hate my guts for what I’ve had to say about their on-air exploits, they‘re ideological incontinence. As for Sue Henry, I would defend her from the likes of you at every opportunity. Doesn’t matter, though. You can see right through me, since you’re so utterly brilliant and I’m a worthless “Yonko” slime ball.

As far as my misuse of philandering goes, shoot me. I work, work, work, play, play and play some more. And when I finally get around to the word processor, I usually have sugar-raged grandchildren crawling all over me. And if I lose my train of thought, or misspell a word, I could really care less what people of your demented ilk have to say about it. So spare me the lessons in journalism, you moon-fu>king-bat!

In conclusion, I am not David Yonki, and I don’t play him on a sitcom. Although, when they turn one of his books into a blockbuster on the silver screen, maybe I will assume the role. No, my name is Mark Cour. That’s C-O-U-R, jackass. And if you wanna fight, we will fight.

Jackass!

Is there something in the water that we don’t know about?

From that aforementioned Citizens’ Voice:

Miernicki was a paramedic who answered the call at 819 W. Diamond Ave. on Dec. 9, she said. A man who “appeared scared” waved her inside, Miernicki said. As she entered, she heard a woman who was “very upset” and crying. “I heard her saying, ‘My baby,’” Miernicki said. “She kept repeating, ‘My baby.’” The boy, who was covered in vomit, was lying on his back wearing only a diaper, which was full, the paramedic said. He had no pulse, she said. She also observed numerous bruises on the boy’s face, chest and abdomen. Det. Lt. Gary Sworen testified next. Sworen said the child was covered with bruises and abrasions on his initial examination, and during autopsy, X-rays showed that both bones of his left forearm were broken, as was the back of one of his ribs. Sworen also described the boy’s injuries using photographs. He explained that the child was hit in the face, then hit another hard object, the wall. The injuries occurred within the last 12 hours and were caused by blunt force trauma, he said. The photos also showed bruising to the neck area and chest, Sworen said. An internal examination showed the boy’s abdomen was filled with blood; his liver had been lacerated and there was severe hemorrhaging, he said. Hemorrhaging had also been found in the child’s head and his brain was swollen, he said. Sworen testified that some of the child’s injuries could have been caused by a fall down a flight of stairs, but the vast majority of his injuries did not occur in a fall. Either the head injury or liver injury would have been fatal if not treated, Sworen said. Gonzalez had more than 100 different injuries to his body, he said.

I vote for cruel and unusual punishment.

This news carries with it a huge yawn factor.

From the Times Leader:

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for televising local government meetings. I’d watch them when I could. But I seriously doubt that very many others would. My biggest fear is that televising these meetings would result in the freak shows that the televising of Scranton’s council meetings brought about. If there’s anything productive about what goes on up there, I surely do not see it.

No, putting our governmental meetings on the tube will excite the crazies, the revolutionaries, the activist/candidates and the few well-meaning citizens that actually pay attention, but very few others. I know the proponents of this see is it as a vehicle by which they can turn their local government on it’s pointy little head, but they’re wrong again, as they so frequently are.

Nah, I see it much the way it happens in Scranton. I see an endless parade of self-aggrandizement and pontificating coming from those who see themselves as something much larger than they actually are. I’m picturing more of dese, dem, dose and dat coming from those who would be king.

Grier taking action Grier, the tattooed public advocate who recently challenged Luzerne County’s bond borrowing practices, thinks airing Wilkes-Barre City Council meetings would be an eye-opener to those who have never attended a session. “Elected officials demeaning and belittling residents would hopefully become a thing of the past if they are videotaped,” Grier said. “There is secrecy and nepotism and deceit coming from both the Luzerne County Courthouse and from Wilkes-Barre City Hall. Wilkes-Barre wants to put up surveillance cameras to watch the neighborhoods, but the council does not want to adopt a policy ensuring civil rights are protected.”

How typical? He demands civil public discourse, but reserves the right to stick with his accusatory and incendiary ways. Demeaning and belittling would come to an end?

Yeah, right! The public officials will just sit there and clap ever so politely after you accuse them of unsubstantiated wrongdoing after unsubstantiated wrongdoing. Yep, that’s how civil public discourse happens. How the hell did civilization get this far without the likes of Tim Grier? Hmmm.

Despite his incessant noise, his one-man crusade is akin to curing cancer by way of a mercury-vapor light. He’s got it all ass-backwards. If ever there were to be a hero to the people that hold up there pants with a piece of rope, he would be my pick.

Another ill-begotten 5 minutes of fame.

Yawn.

Giants-Packers?

I dunno. Confidence is built upon repetition. And since Eli Manning has been consistently good for only one month, I’m not really sure what to expect.

If memory serves, The Pack hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record, save for the Jints in Week 2 when they were totally discombobulated by their new defensive scheme. They are a different team now. A team with 9 straight road wins under it’s belt. And 2 road wins in the playoffs, no less.

So, does the wily old veteran put the upstart in his place? Or, will there be a passing of the guard of sorts later today? You got me. If the Giants are to win this ice bowl, one name keeps jumping out at me: Ahmad Bradshaw. Could the little-known rookie propel his team to the big dance?

You never know.

‘Til next time.