Thanks for the transmogrification

I am on vacation. The kids and grandkids from Tennessee are here. We had our big 1st annual non-block party party yesterday. Whatever the heck that was. And out of the blue, my trusty sidekick from the public housing project days, my once constant companion made an appearance.

I’ll not use his full name here, but at one time Mike and I were inseparable. And even though we had radically different skin colors, we were much the same in that we both lived in a public housing project, we had no father figures, our families were hamstrung by very limited financial resources and we were both being nudged in the right direction by our relentlessly watchful mothers. More accurately, we were being pushed and shoved in the right direction by those moms of ours.

Now here we are all grown up and whatnot, and he told me of his health issues and his many surgeries and how he thought it was all but over for him a while back. And he said something to the effect that he’s gonna live his life for him from here on out.

So I reminded him of the odds in favor of being killed or imprisoned, being where we started from and all. I pointed out how badly things frequently turn out for so many of us who started out in the subbasement just beneath the bottom rung of society’s ladder, just like we had. And being a retired law enforcement professional, he knows exactly what I was talking about.

And I told him that, as far as I’m concerned, coming from there to here, being relatively happy and content with our current lives as well as our lives since we made our escape from poverty, I’m good. For me, after that threadbare existence and the debilitating effects it can have on one‘s overall demeanor and one’s sense of self-worth, it’s been all gravy since then.

And with that, we shared a hug and promises to keep in touch.

Long may he run.

Nationwide, Cuba is about to run out of toilet paper in its state-run stores, but WILK’s Kevin Lynn still maintains that Cuba’s universal health care system is the model that we should copy.

Consider this proof that illicit, illegal drugs do in fact cripple the mind with long-lasting effects for decades on end.

The Democrats, progressives and mental incompetents can twist things any which way they like and still believe it to have an iota of truth attached to any of it.

But the fact that needs to be faced is that America does not want the health care reform package that Barack Oblahblah is pitching. The trillion, possibly jillion, gazillion dollar health care entitlement program that his congressmen are trying but failing to jam straight up our asses sans any scant trace of lubricant is basically dead on arrival for the folks that actually produce and provide for themselves.

What it all shakes down to is, the folks in favor of this surefire boondoggle want an entitlement. And they are playing politics in that, they are fighting vociferously in favor of a thoroughly flawed misstep. They are fighting for the team, and not the policy.

But, hey. What’s another misstep? Right? Bush did it. The Republicans did it. So now it’s our turn to make another huge misstep.

That’s seriously flawed, kiddies.

After I fired off the following peppering to P.J. Best, while it took a while, he did respond.

Why is it the GSC members seem so reluctant to include the general public en masse?

Why the resistance to transparency?

Is this how you envisioned this group going forward?

Without further adieu, from the e-mail inbox:

Sorry Mark, I was in court for the past two days and haven't been able to respond. I would respond to your questions as follows:

My general impression is that a majority of the GSC is scared of the public. There has been a lot of corruption in Luzerne County, especially in the past several months. The public is now keenly aware of government action which means the commission will be under a microscope at all times. My only guess is that if they make a decision that is unpopular, they don't want people to see it.

When I started this movement a year ago, I really anticipated a clean slate. I envisioned the GSC as the government body that could truly develop public trust. When I initially volunteered my services as web consultant, I told the public that we would establish a model of transparency. I never thought for a second that the GSC would attempt to prevent me from doing that. I have many ideas I'd like to implement that would involve the public and engage the demographics that are not typically involved in government affairs. But without the support of the commission, these ideas will simply remain ideas.

People asked me throughout the entire campaign why I didn't run for the GSC. At the time, I was primarily concerned with campaigning for the approval of the commission. I didn't want to be distracted with my own election. This movement was and still is way bigger than any one individual. I thought the voters would elect a commission that felt as strongly as I did about the issues concerning Luzerne County. However, I now regret my decision. It is abundantly clear that the commission needs the public to become involved more than ever.

I still believe the commission is capable of completing an effective Home Rule Charter. We must, however, remain vigilant and provide the same pressure that we would for any other elected office. Luzerne County needs a Home Rule Charter and Luzerne Home Rule will still work toward this goal. We won't allow the GSC to fail. We will always monitor their actions and inform the public.

Thanks for your support,

PJ BestChairman,

Luzerne Home Rule

Editor’s note: Since this e-mail was sent my way, the GSC did relent and allow the Web casts to go forward.

Thanks to David Yonki of The Snap Lac Political Letter fame for the shout out on the marriage anniversary and the now defunct block party. Thank goodness you didn’t use Wifey’s name on your site. As I previously alluded to, she’s tougher than she looks.

By the way, there were these rumblings last night. These newer, younger residents of the street were saying that the block party will be resumed come next year.

Stay tuned on that.

Anywho, I snagged the following rant from the reader’s comments at Dave site:

Anonymous said...

I heard someone, a lady, on Sue Henry today who was traveling and saying that everything the government touches gets screwed up. Does she have a safe highway to travel? Government. Did she have to worry about whether her drinking water was safe? Government. Did she have to worry about bacteria in her kid's happy meal as she stopped for a rest break? Government. Did she have to fret about mail service and packages being delivered to her home? Government. Ignorant people who spout off that government in this country stinks should move the hell out and go to another country. These loudmouths would last half a minute anywhere else.

I understand that this was a cousin of Sue's which proves the old adage that you can pick your friends but not your family.
1:15 PM

My unsolicited response is as follows:

Safe highways? In PA? Ever crossed the border into another state and noticed the stark difference? Ever noticed the crumbling bridge decks necessitating the almost daily emergency repairs? Ever consider what would happen to you and your vehicle if you happened across one of these bridges immediately after both the top and bottom fell out?

Ever seen a highway closely monitored by the state police from one end to the other, a police unit not overwhelmed by having to police grossly mismanaged and scarcely populated Podunks that had to delete their police departments for lack of funds?

Safe water? Natural gas drilling contaminating wells and causes explosions? Ever heard of that? Ever heard of fracking and the voluminous amounts of water it requires?

The “safe” Happy Meal? A safe food supply? Ever hear of the little kid that died after eating at Jack in the Box? Salmonella, E-coli and god knows only what else being imported from Mexico?

The USPS? You’re effing serious? If the USPS was efficient and reliable, FEDEX and UPS would be acronyms for activist groups funded by George Soros! If the USPS was profitable…

Sure, you’ll get your letters, and perhaps your postcard sent from Belize by Uncle Jiggy in a timely manner (whatever that means). But if you honestly believe that the USPS is timely and trustworthy, it’s patently obvious that you have never managed a successful and profitable business. All I can say is, try it, you won’t like it.

"Government. Ignorant people who spout off that government in this country stinks should move the hell out and go to another country. These loudmouths would last half a minute anywhere else."

Spoken like a true unionized government employee, the well-compensated folks that wholeheartedly believe in big government the most fervent. An expanded and ever-expanding government, I might add, that we can suddenly ill-afford.

To D.B. Echo…Dude, I was not singling you out with that ‘busting their asses mowing the lawn’ comment. Do not take away the mistaken impression from any of that that I was trying to stand on your flesh-covered stones. I know you frequently write about your gardening skills and your lawn-mowing prowess and the like, but that term just flew off of the top of my pointy little head. No offense was intended.

It’s just that, “busting my ass” has to be the most overused phrase in this country, hands down. And an undeniable truth is, it’s almost always used by those who have done nothing of the sort. Trust me, taking, typing, filing, or answering a telephone does not qualify as busting one’s ass.

To those folks I would ask, have you ever trenched 1,500 linear feet when it was 109 degrees in the shade? Have you ever had to work outside all day long, even though the high temperature never once approached 0 degrees? Ever had to hang on to a hammer drill for 7 uninterrupted hours while being forced to drill through the world’s thickest and most insanely, ridiculously poured concrete slab? If so, we’ll share notes.

As far as looking backward at the G.W. Bush years is concerned, when does that come to an end? When the Democrats get thumped within an inch of their misspent and misbegotten lives come the mid-term elections next year? After they get spanked by the increasingly horrified electorate?
　
From the Saturday Times Leader:

WILKES-BARRE – One man was stabbed and another man was shot within a half hour in two sections of the city Friday night.

Police first responded around 8:45 p.m. to a home at 470 N. Pennsylvania Ave., where a man was stabbed with a kitchen knife by his girlfriend during an argument, according to Wilkes-Barre police Lt. Paul Middleton.

The stabbing victim, whose name was not released, suffered a wound to his arm and was taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township.

Hospital staff reported the victim was alert and conscious, Middleton said.

The victim’s girlfriend, Charlotte Pritchard, 40, of Wilkes-Barre, was later arrested on assault charges, Middleton said.

So, for a while there, it seemed as if we had replaced the block party with an F.O.P. convention. And after things quieted down and the police peeled off, Charlotte returned to the scene of her crime, the police rolled back in here in force and she was subsequently apprehended.

Time for the fun part.

She is a former resident of Ruth‘s Place, the homeless shelter that very recently relocated to my back yard and over my “dead body.”

And less than two hours later, over the police scanner came a dispatching for the police and medics for “a female threatening 10-43 over the theft of a purse” at 425 N. Penn Avenue, none other than Ruth’s Place. Yeah, a 10-43...a suicide.

At this point, you should be wondering how any woman, no matter how down on her luck, would consider suicide over the loss of her purse. What could be so dammed important to her that disappeared along with said purse?

Well, what experience has taught me is, every addict will predictably freak out when wither their fix or their money for a fix is taken from them. So my educated guess is that the purse contained either heroin, or money for heroin.

And I want to personally thank two members of the Wilkes-Barre Zoning Board (they fu>king know who they are) for thoughtlessly and mistakenly allowing this idiot magnet to drop roots just out back…in my neighborhood. These two guys were not elected to their positions, making them completely unaccountable.

Good move, guys! Appease the do-gooders and thereby enable the further spread of reverse-gentrification.

And I also wish to acknowledge the Oblahblah administration for making $25,000 in stimulus dollars available for the stimulation (?) of my local economy. Yes, $25,000 for the propping up of yet another idiot magnet really has this economy humming.

Er, the police scanner is starting to hum, that is.

Anyway, thanks for the transmogrification.

Later