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A simple Question -- Curious, 21:35:48 06/18/04 Fri [1]
Here's a question, Why does City Council at this present time have authority when it comes to the budget, but last year their hands were tied? And, the question still hasn't been addressed yet of what exactly is the role of City Council, does anyone out there know exactly what they do and do they have set rules to follow, because honestly i really can't figure it out.
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Soon -- who want's what, 18:40:28 06/18/04 Fri [1]
The believe of many is that blame for the present situation lies with the "F" board. They are out of touch with what the membership want's.Whatever happened to majority rules? What we need is a all day vote to see if the majority wants 2 or 3 on a piece. Stay like it is now or go back to the way it was?
We also have a chance to replace the ineffective leadership that currently exists in a few months. Make your voice and vote count.
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Disappointed -- Take it from someone who was there, 17:06:52 06/18/04 Fri [1]
Mark, I think you might not know the whole story of the city council meeting, the hose dudes might have looked imtimidating on the news but it was probably a flim clip of after the fact of Tony Thomas and Tom Leighton scolding and yelling at the union reps like they were menacing two year olds. I really am not being one sided here, I just would like to tell you that the union reps approached council and the mayor with all respectfulness and they were not abrupt in the least bit in pleading their presentation. It was very disappointing to see when certain points came about that not only Tony Thomas being very abrupt but ALSO Tom Leighton, it was very, very uncalled for especially when they were not approached this way. I don't know if they video tape these meetings but if they do, try to get yourself a copy so you may see for yourself, that might explain the looks on their faces.
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Bring it on -- Go for it, 16:53:35 06/18/04 Fri [1]
Emails from the hoi polloi? Bring it on, what is this scare tactics now? Just goes to show when questioned how low these people stoop to.
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Contradiction -- Contradict, 22:06:57 06/17/04 Thu [1]
Send the horses to the glue factory? No way. Send Barrook packing? How dare we think that? Get rid of a few council members? My God we must be insane? Risk the general public's lives and homes? Hey ,that's the bottom line! Here's a good question, Why the f$ck do we need seven council members when all they could do is tell us their hands were tied when MCG was running amok? Can someone please tell me what the hell is the role of these people already except for giving high fives and patting each other on the backs at election time? And yes, What the F$ck kind of management wizards are they when every last one of them except for one was on council and let MCG do what he did. Let see what the explantion will be on this one , it ought to be interesting. LOFL
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Misinformed -- Inform me, 17:38:42 06/17/04 Thu [1]
This is regarding tonight's post, whoever gave you your info forgot to tell you that the reason the firemen were all standing in the back of the room was because they gave up their seats to the 10 or so senior citizens that came in for the 6pm meeting. Oh and by the way, the nazi comment was right on mark considering they were standing before someone who pretty much is acting like he's Hitler. Truth hurts doesn't it?
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"We're all in this Together" -- "Remember I'm on your side", 20:27:38 06/16/04 Wed [1]
email this print this
Posted on Thu, Apr. 15, 2004
W-B activist working to slash officials' perks
By KASIA KOPEC
kkopec@leader.net
WILKES-BARRE - Walter Griffith wants voters to have the opportunity to reduce or eliminate perks enjoyed by elected officials, including pensions and health-care benefits.
Griffith, a Republican who failed in his bid for a council seat in 2003, is behind an effort to place a trio of questions on the ballot in November to overhaul the city's benefits and pay policies.
He has retained attorney Harry Skene to draft the questions, which would ask voters to weigh in on several points:
Should part-time council members be entitled to health-care benefits?
Should the city's pension policies be changed to require longer terms of service?
Should elected officials' raises be set by ordinance with the stipulation they not take effect for a period of six months?
Griffith needs to collect signatures from 10 percent of city residents, roughly 4,000 people, for the questions to be placed on the ballot.
Griffith wants to eliminate health benefits for part-time council members, a perk he calls burdensome to taxpayers, many of whom contribute substantially to the cost of their own health care.
Mayor Tom Leighton's budget includes $14,600 for medical insurance for himself and former Mayor Lee Namey, plus $20,500 for medical insurance for council members.
Another $8,400 is also budgeted for medical insurance buyouts.
Then there's the matter of raises, which are based on the lowest negotiated pay increase for members of the city's four unions.
Griffith says that policy provides little motivation for the mayor, who negotiates union contracts on behalf of the taxpayers, to hold the line on raises.
"If the mayor knows he will get a 3 percent raise if the union he is negotiating with gets a 3 percent raise, what incentive is there for him to work to lower that?" asked Griffith.
Asked what would prevent council from enacting an ordinance granting elected officials a 10 percent raise under his plan, Griffith said he is optimistic the ballot question - its wording yet to be finalized - would include a cap on raises.
Council members and Mayor Tom Leighton are voluntarily forgoing raises this year.
Griffith is also determined to have voters decide whether the time has come to change or eliminate pensions for elected officials.
"Nowhere in the private sector are part-time employees' hours counted toward their pensions," Griffith said. "But it happens all the time in Wilkes-Barre.
"We have council members who put in 12 years of part-time service, then they leapfrog to mayor, where they only have to serve eight years, and at the end of it all they get a full pension."
Griffith outlines his concerns in a certified letter mailed to council members Friday. The letter was included in meeting packets provided to council members Wednesday.
The letter reads in part: "I am writing you this letter to let you know myself, other citizens of Wilkes-Barre and business people are very disgusted with your effort in office so far and we are not in the month of May and all you have done is raised our taxes up by 20 mills, raised and added new nuisance fees and basically cut services to the citizens of the City of Wilkes-Barre."
Councilman Jim McCarthy said he read the note but considers it nothing more than "another one of Mr. Griffith's tirades."
"Given the situation we're faced with, we are working harder than we ever have in the past and I think we earn every dime we are paid," McCarthy said.
Councilman Bill Barrett, who does not participate in the council pension program or take medical benefits or a buyout, said he feels sorry that Griffith begins his letter by expressing disgust with the job council has done to date.
"I do believe we are collectively working to make things better," Barrett said. "And if (Griffith) feels he has solutions we should consider, he should bring them to our attention."
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Chuckle -- Chuckles, 16:58:45 06/16/04 Wed [1]
I found it ironic for the mayor and council to sit in their lofty chairs and talk about sticking to a budget. I totally agree with that principal. However, I wonder how hard the administration looked at all areas when considering their cuts. I don't know Mr. Barrouk, he may very well be a capable person. Despite the fact that money was budgeted for his salary, is this position vital to the operation of the city? Which is another point to make. If it's not essential to the day to day operations of the city, get rid of it. When people look to buy a home or open a business, a main concern is for police and fire protection. Do we really need the added costs of a mounted patrol. Wake-up! Philly has disbanded their herd. Is that a sign of how backwards we really are in this town. Or shall I call this city a soon-to-be borough?
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A shot of reality -- We don't need seven, 16:13:26 06/16/04 Wed [1]
These council members need a good shot of reality already,what past experience do they have on public safety issues to make these decisions? And, if someone gets seriously injured or even worse are they going to take responsiblity for it OR put the blame on the fire dept. I do think it would be the latter of the two. What experience do any of those seven people have when it comes to saving people's lives? Lets see here, making hot dogs? NO. Teaching school? NO. Secretarial duties? NO. Mixing drinks? NO. Running a real estate business? NO. But they all seem to have all the answers because of following a budget. I have news for them, this was already budgeted for and they already have quite a savings from the men who already retired and were not replaced and all the concessions the firefighters just made. Lets see what half ass explanation will be given for this, lets face it they DO NOT care about anything but money, something they all should have cared about over the past eight years but now it has come full circle and they are scrambling, and the ONLY ones paying for it are the citizens and SOME employees. WE DO NOT NEED SEVEN CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, WE DO NOT NEED ASSISTANTS TO ASSISTANTS (if the saving lives business must go barebones so can the mayors office, remember people ("We are all in this together") WE DO NOT NEED THREE HORSES (this is not England) WHAT WE DO NEED FIRST AND FOREMOST IS PROTECTION, lets put the safety of the people first where it should be and then lets take it from there.
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The Bottom Line -- A. Walker, 09:42:39 06/16/04 Wed [1]
Last night's council meeting opened my eyes with disgust. It was apparent to me that public safety takes a back seat the bottom line.
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wondering.. -- about..., 18:33:32 06/15/04 Tue [3]
when the deal for the call center was being done....where was council? and who was council president at that time?
when the concrete was being poured in the hole...where was council? and who was council president at that time?
when the steam heat building needed demolition and no funds were recovered for that...where was council? and who was council president at that time?
Are we seeing something here?
So what's the excuse why the city is in the shape it is?
If council claims they didn't know about these deals,projects,etc...Then why even have a council?
Or if they couldn't do anything about it,then why even have a council?
The lease between the city and the tenant for the call center was so screwed up,is everyone saying nothing was able to be done to stop it from being signed or changed?
Was anyone doing their job?
What exactly is council's job?
Surely if someone on council(and let's suppose someone may dabble in real estate or asked someone in real estate)would have read that lease,they should of seen how bad of an agreement it was. Right? Shouldn't things like that be researched?
What is the call center costing the taxpayers now a year? around a MILLION DOLLARS or so?
How much was that concrete? FIVE MILLION OR SO?
Steam Heat demolition costs to the taxpayers...400,000.00 OR SO?
I'm somewhat sure that the cops,firefighters or dpw workers were not involved in those dealings,yet they are the ones taking it on the chin..
does anyone know,who was on council the last eight years? who was council president at that time? and what exactly is council's role?
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Replies:
[>
Re: wondering.. -- Yougothatright, 00:36:03 06/16/04 Wed [1]
>when the deal for the call center was being
>done....where was council? and who was council
>president at that time?
>
>when the concrete was being poured in the hole...where
>was council? and who was council president at that
>time?
>
>when the steam heat building needed demolition and no
>funds were recovered for that...where was council? and
>who was council president at that time?
>
>Are we seeing something here?
>
>So what's the excuse why the city is in the shape it
>is?
>
>If council claims they didn't know about these
>deals,projects,etc...Then why even have a council?
>
>Or if they couldn't do anything about it,then why even
>have a council?
>
>The lease between the city and the tenant for the call
>center was so screwed up,is everyone saying nothing
>was able to be done to stop it from being signed or
>changed?
>
>Was anyone doing their job?
>
>What exactly is council's job?
>
>Surely if someone on council(and let's suppose someone
>may dabble in real estate or asked someone in real
>estate)would have read that lease,they should of seen
>how bad of an agreement it was. Right? Shouldn't
>things like that be researched?
>
>What is the call center costing the taxpayers now a
>year? around a MILLION DOLLARS or so?
>
>How much was that concrete? FIVE MILLION OR SO?
>
>Steam Heat demolition costs to the
>taxpayers...400,000.00 OR SO?
>
>I'm somewhat sure that the cops,firefighters or dpw
>workers were not involved in those dealings,yet they
>are the ones taking it on the chin..
>
>does anyone know,who was on council the last eight
>years? who was council president at that time? and
>what exactly is council's role?
Yeah, what the hell is council's role already and why do we need seven of them to virtually do nothing but take up space and money, let's all remember this the next time,cuz if we put them in we could also take them out.
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[>
Re: wondering.. -- Citizens for a better WB, 08:22:52 06/16/04 Wed [1]
>when the deal for the call center was being
>done....where was council? and who was council
>president at that time?
>
>when the concrete was being poured in the hole...where
>was council? and who was council president at that
>time?
>
>when the steam heat building needed demolition and no
>funds were recovered for that...where was council? and
>who was council president at that time?
>
>Are we seeing something here?
>
>So what's the excuse why the city is in the shape it
>is?
>
>If council claims they didn't know about these
>deals,projects,etc...Then why even have a council?
>
>Or if they couldn't do anything about it,then why even
>have a council?
>
>The lease between the city and the tenant for the call
>center was so screwed up,is everyone saying nothing
>was able to be done to stop it from being signed or
>changed?
>
>Was anyone doing their job?
>
>What exactly is council's job?
>
>Surely if someone on council(and let's suppose someone
>may dabble in real estate or asked someone in real
>estate)would have read that lease,they should of seen
>how bad of an agreement it was. Right? Shouldn't
>things like that be researched?
>
>What is the call center costing the taxpayers now a
>year? around a MILLION DOLLARS or so?
>
>How much was that concrete? FIVE MILLION OR SO?
>
>Steam Heat demolition costs to the
>taxpayers...400,000.00 OR SO?
>
>I'm somewhat sure that the cops,firefighters or dpw
>workers were not involved in those dealings,yet they
>are the ones taking it on the chin..
>
>does anyone know,who was on council the last eight
>years? who was council president at that time? and
>what exactly is council's role?
I agree and possibly many, many more citizens do too. Let the Mayor take a cut in salary and benefits, council give up their health care benefits competely, and the fire chief give up his salary for the good of the city. After all, the fire chief already gets a pension from the city. Council members all have other jobs and are only part-time employees. LET THE HEADS START GIVING UP SOMETHING INSTEAD OF THE LITTLE GUY TAKING ALL THE HITS. Don't forget that these people were all in positions to do something about the way the city was run.
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sooner the better -- registered voter, 07:04:23 06/16/04 Wed [1]
The sooner the city is divided into districts to be represented the better.Then at least every council member will see to it to have a engine in it's territory.Five districts,five engines.
Whatever can be done to make sure that happens sooner rather then later is were we should concentrate our efforts.
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You got that Right! -- Disgusted, 23:15:34 06/15/04 Tue [1]
What a disappointment it is to see the true colors of this current administration at the city council meeting tonight. How horribly abrupt they all turned when approached on this issue and an even bigger disappointment is how they are using the fire department as a scapegoat to THEIR money mismanagement. Do they really think we are all that dumb that we do not realize that the only time they put reigns on MCG was when it was election time? Do they really think that we do not realize that they kept KEY PLAYERS from MCG's reign of terror because maybe, just maybe they themselves played a role in it? Why else in God's name would you keep John Koval, who was the finance honcho from MCG's administration in this current administration when you know how much financial damage these people were capable of. Its all starting to make perfect sense now isn't it. What concessions has city council made so far to contribute to this city? They all have full time jobs and benefits so what did they give up when it comes to their city salary? And as far as I know , saving lives is far more important than organizing city events so why doesn't the mayor cut back on his staff to help out the city? All this administration has proved so far is money is more important than lives, and the mayor has proved that MCG's shoes fit him very well. God bless us all.
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HMMMMMMMMMM............................................. -- HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, 22:19:53 06/14/04 Mon [1]
It was not mentioned at the work session and it wasn't even listed on the agenda for last night's meeting. I knew an engine was probably going to be put out of service, but I didn't expect it to be handled the way it was. I expected better from the administration as well as our council. Which is not to say that the decision was incorrect. I would have preferred to see our top guns explaining the necessity of certain things before they were implemented rather than having them doing damage control after the votes have been cast.
Sneaky? That's the way it came across.
On a side note, Virginia's Nord End sidekicks have simply got to settle on a new name. Sorry, but they've got to keep the new name of their watchdog group under 2,000 letters.
Now let's cut the elected officials in this city a bit of slack. It's an interesting juggling act they are currently trying to pull off. They are trying to improve the city's appearance, it's finances, it's morale and it's future prospects, all the while doing it with a frayed purse filled mostly with McG's dated I.O.U.s. It's a daunting task for sure. And it has to be tough for a new mayor who had the support of the fire department during the election season to have to start scaling back on their operations. But he did promise all of us financial responsibility and now we're seeing it manifest itself. It sucks. Years and years of financial irresponsibility have led us to this sorry point, so remember that when assigning blame.
Sneaky or otherwise, the gavel has come down and we now have one less fire engine in service. What does that mean to us? Let's sort it all out.
North Station (Scott Street): Engine 9
Northeast station(Conyngham Avenue): Medic-5
Headquarters (Ross Street): Truck 6 and a pick-up truck
East Station (Northampton Street): Rescue 7 and "Quick Attack 4," a mini-pumper purchased because it can fit in our smallest alleys
South Station (High Street): Engine 3 and Medic-3.
The fact of the matter is, two engines have been put out of service with this move. Engine 5 at the Northeast station is now out of service, as well as Engine 4 from the East station in the Heights. Engine 4 will be relocated from the Heights to headquarters only to collect dust, while Rescue 7, previously stationed at headquarters will move to the Heights. Confused? Don't be. Just think of our fire department as being one threadbare enterprise.
Let's try a scenario. Ready? A call comes in for a working structure fire. There goes probably every engine except for one held in reserve. If the structure fire is of the nasty variety, there goes all available fire engines, Truck 6, Rescue 7, and a medic unit. That would leave us with a medic unit and nothing else until some off-duty firefighters are called in. Then the out-of-service vehicles will come on line again.
Since Rescue 7 responds to all motor vehicle accidents in this city, if an MVA occurs before the structure fire erupts, Rescue 7 will be spoken for and will not be responding to said structure fire.
If both of our ambulances (Remember, one automatically goes to a structure fire) are on calls and another ambulance call comes in, no engines would be available to babysit the sick or injured person, or persons, while waiting for an ambulance to "turn around" from a hospital. So...one of Kingston's, or Hanover's, or Plains' ambulances will just have to do. Do you see where we're going here?
The outstanding response times our fire department and paramedics have always been counted on to deliver are about to suffer greatly depending upon demand. Or in other words, public safety has been compromised in order to balance the budget in a city nearly overwhelmed with debt.
Scanner Land is sure to be much more interesting as a result of this latest move. Sadly, it might also prove to be much more frightening.
I know we're broke. I know about all of that. And I also know that we are training the average folks to call 9/11 if they stub their big toe. And while we're responding to the frivilous, the assinine calls, who the hell is going to be available to save the folks that really need saving?
Is this explanation enough?
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Council Meeting -- A. Walker, 17:25:20 06/14/04 Mon [1]
The council meeting should be real interesting. Pack the house and see how they react. I also understand there was a meeting for the Nordenders Taxpayers Association. Anyone know how that went?
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Differing Opinion -- Jim Ulrich, 13:18:03 06/14/04 Mon [1]
Normally I agree with Mark. However, I have to admit that I too have begun to question his knowledge of the city going's on. At one point you may have been very informed with regard to city matters, but I believe you need to do plenty of homework. Leighton claims to be at poverty level, yet we keep incurring more expenses. I read your response to the hiring of Barrouk. I don't think his qualifications are in question. I do think his need was questioned. You also stated your opposition to the mounted police. What has Leighton said? Assuming you have debated the need with him. Over the weekend you posted a letter from someone that explained his thoughts on the fire department. Your response was pretty telling that you are not properly informed on the matter. There are a host of articles that suggest that he isn't cutting costs, but only redistributing the current costs.
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City Council Meeting -- Rob Sudnick, 22:09:15 06/12/04 Sat [1]
I for one am worried about the future of our Fire Department and the safety of our citizens, not to mention the safety of my family and friends. My advice to everyone is to please attend the City Council Meeting, Tuesday June 15th, Work Session at 5pm and the Meeting will follow, it should be an eye opener for all. Thanks, Rob
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why the changes? -- read your own posts, 21:12:03 06/12/04 Sat [1]
mark,i find it hard to believe that you now are considering
eliminating this blog. That reek's of censorship. Who are you trying to protect? You say in your last post 6-11-2004 if we really (the city)can't afford the award which was given to us(fire dept),then we are basically barking up the wrong tree.Well I ask you to read your post from 4-25-03 as well as all the hosedudes also,look at the picture of everyone you put up in that post, all the hosedudes for leighton who posed for that ..and read your post carefully,and let me throw out a few of what you typed.(He has been actively working to reduce the staffing of the fire dept. and close a firehouse or two for years,all in the name of cutting costs). here's another from that same post.(Public safety is taken for granted until it's your little girl that lies unconscious on the floor of a second story bedroom.Should we downsize our fire dept. to save money,or should we elect a mayor who eliminates wasteful overtime and maintains the level of the outstanding emergency services that we have come to expect?)
hey mark,do you remember that? Why was it wrong then,but it's just fine now to do this to the dept? who's side are you on?
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Hosedude's for Leighton -- i'm gonna puke, 19:35:32 06/11/04 Fri [4]
Just wondering why anyone didn't have their Hosedude's for Leighton shirts on at the meeting..
and where are the female hosedudes supporters who marched at city hall a few months ago to make a stand...they are no where to be seen now...
oh one more thing,you can stick that softball thing where the sun don't shine...LOL
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Replies:
[>
Re: Hosedude's for Leighton -- Shelby, 21:19:11 06/11/04 Fri [1]
>Just wondering why anyone didn't have their Hosedude's
>for Leighton shirts on at the meeting..
>and where are the female hosedudes supporters who
>marched at city hall a few months ago to make a
>stand...they are no where to be seen now...
>oh one more thing,you can stick that softball thing
>where the sun don't shine...LOL
I am one of those female hosedude supporters who marched at city hall and just for the record, my husband and myself have been very vocal voicing our concern regarding the recent changes in the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department, just because I have chose not to shoot my mouth off here out of respect for the firemen does not mean I am in hiding. See you at the City Council meeting. Shelby
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[>
Re: Hosedude's for Leighton -- linda( ailas hosechick), 19:30:09 06/12/04 Sat [1]
>Just wondering why anyone didn't have their Hosedude's
>for Leighton shirts on at the meeting..
>and where are the female hosedudes supporters who
>marched at city hall a few months ago to make a
>stand...they are no where to be seen now...
>oh one more thing,you can stick that softball thing
>where the sun don't shine...LOL
I don't come online and read the posts that often but it seems to me when i do someone or somebody is always shooting their mouth off and don't even have the balls to put their real name on it.
Well i am and in case you don't know exactly who i am let me tell you i am the one that got the hosechicks to protest in front of city hall and it wasn't to support TOM LEIGHTON( even though i did in the election) it was to picket against TOM McGROARTY for making remarks about myself and my family. If you paid any attention you would have known that but i guess you only want to think you know it all!!!!!!!!! So from now on make sure you have the story right!!!!!!!!!!!As far as the hosedudes are concerned i'm sure they are very capable of speaking for themselves.
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[> [>
Re: Hosedude's for Leighton -- Linda, 19:32:53 06/12/04 Sat [1]
>>Just wondering why anyone didn't have their Hosedude's
>>for Leighton shirts on at the meeting..
>>and where are the female hosedudes supporters who
>>marched at city hall a few months ago to make a
>>stand...they are no where to be seen now...
>>oh one more thing,you can stick that softball thing
>>where the sun don't shine...LOL
>I don't come online and read the posts that often but
>it seems to me when i do someone or somebody is always
>shooting their mouth off and don't even have the balls
>to put their real name on it.
>Well i am and in case you don't know exactly who i am
>let me tell you i am the one that got the hosechicks
>to protest in front of city hall and it wasn't to
>support TOM LEIGHTON( even though i did in the
>election) it was to picket against TOM McGROARTY for
>making remarks about myself and my family. If you paid
>any attention you would have known that but i guess
>you only want to think you know it all!!!!!!!!! So
>from now on make sure you have the story
>right!!!!!!!!!!!As far as the hosedudes are concerned
>i'm sure they are very capable of speaking for
>themselves.
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Can't Wait For The Block Party -- Roger Carpenter, 18:09:37 06/12/04 Sat [1]
Dude, I'm in for the party. I just want to put in a request now. A summer party would not be complete without some Randy Newman. Nothing specific, just some great old songs.
Roger
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Guess who's back? -- Ethel's back, 09:07:07 06/12/04 Sat [1]
Ethel glad to see your back....looking forward to more of your posts...
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hey mark -- wondering?, 20:25:40 06/11/04 Fri [1]
I was just wondering,what do you think about the fact about leighton and council,eliminating two engines from service. one of them in your neighborhood.
just a friendly reminder to all for safety sake...please make sure your smoke detectors are in proper working order.. they do save lives...
cause,if im not mistaken,according to some published articles,response time could possibly or may be affected by these changes..
and that could be a horrible thing...
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Recent NewsMax Headline: Liberal Music Tastes Lead to Bad Breath -- Ethel Hozniak, 09:55:51 06/11/04 Fri [1]
Being a liberal pig-dog is a tough job. We're lower than low on the morality rung. But the one thing we'll always have on conservative wackos is that they'll never beat us when it comes to rocking out. Myself, I prefer granny rock, but my liberal, socialist grandkids have been turning me on to some great shit. I'll throw down my list.
All you Hannity loving degenerates feel free to add to the best of the summer list. And you firefighters need to throw a party and forget all the ills of the times. I bet you've never seen a 67-year-old pig-dog liberal grandma do a keg stand.
Throw a party, Liberal style:
Franz Ferdinand: Euro rock, not Clear Channel garbage
Loretta Lynn w/ Jack White: Could be the album of the year
Sondre Lerche: Must listen to Two Way Monologue
Forget Cassettes: Think White Stripes but could end up better
The Vines: Turn it up when you want the neighbors or police to take notice
Blur: Because they are from the UK and that is enough
Stereolab: Just about blew my hearing aid across the room
Coldplay: Makes me want to eat some Fish n' Chips
Bright Eyes: Big supporters of the Republican Party
Wilco: I hear they are alt-rock.
Grant Lee Phillips: Awarded story teller of the year by Chalabi
Sonic Youth: If there is a woman in the band that's enough, eh PSI.
Air: Throw some in if you want to get funky while watching Hannity
Radiohead: It's politcal season, time for some Hail to the Thief
And lastly,
Ween: Markie, you need to lighten up the mood around here.
Party on.
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Reply -- does it really matter, 23:45:09 06/10/04 Thu [1]
>I agree, the last minute agenda move is pathetic and
>is classic McG. Another thing that is interesting is
>every time he takes something away from the fire dept.
>he hires someone new, which no matter how is is
>explained it makes no sense. What kills me is isn't
>there any other options to look into instead of
>hammering the fire dept. every other week? Another
>thing, what is this I hear about a certain council
>member wanting a volunteer fire dept? They better
>watch what they wish for because some day it may come
>back and bite them in the ass.
Perhaps council better look into a volunteer fire department before settling. More city yards means less property tax for the city. This may be a good in some areas, but not in W-B. Say hello to an extended KOZ. Ah, what's the difference, council gave an entire city block to King's college. Heck the way this city is giving a prime land to non profit organizations, it's better off saying that the non profit organization that gathers the most land, we will change the city name to that institution. Thanks for playing land monoply.
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Q & A -- Taxpayer, 23:29:39 06/10/04 Thu [1]
I've read a post from someone suggesting a radio show or town meeting by Mayor T. Leighton. Mark has never brought this up in any of his daily rants. Considering some of the posts I've read to this point, I'd like to know what is fact and what is fiction. Like if the city is so broke, how can we afford to higher politically connected people while cutting services? Mark, I think a legitimate answer is in order. Or doesn't he respond to this forum?
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Open and Honest Government -- citypeople, 23:21:00 06/10/04 Thu [1]
Seeing the shenanigans that the mayor has pulled in the last couple of months, is it a good idea to slap your name on anything? No!!! He's been bangin on the firemen. I also hear he's making some changes to the city hall people. I don't think I've heard anything to the contrary, but I'm the firemen didn't hear anything either.
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reply to larry -- joe sh*tbird, 23:09:26 06/10/04 Thu [1]
This post is comical; calling on someone to post their
name and hiding behind the computer. You guys are
professionals, act like it already. Larry
What's more comical than you suddenly being quiet about things you were so vocal about in the past? You chasing the gold during an olympic year.
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I agree -- agree, 14:52:31 06/10/04 Thu [1]
I agree, the last minute agenda move is pathetic and is classic McG. Another thing that is interesting is every time he takes something away from the fire dept. he hires someone new, which no matter how is is explained it makes no sense. What kills me is isn't there any other options to look into instead of hammering the fire dept. every other week? Another thing, what is this I hear about a certain council member wanting a volunteer fire dept? They better watch what they wish for because some day it may come back and bite them in the ass.
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Puzzled -- ??, 12:29:11 06/10/04 Thu [1]
Mark often refers to misguided people as "having blinders on". Can I suggest that the Leighton faithful have blinders on. We are now 5 plus months into a new administration. I thought there were tenants lined up to move into the call center. What's going on with the shapiro land? Planter's Peanut was bought for a mere $1, surely we can sell that for some kind of profit. After the firemen agree to a contract, he hires an assistant to an assistant. He hires 8 dpw workers. Then in a McGroarty-like move, he gets on a council agenda at the last minute, to get council to agree on his restucturing plan for the firemen without any taxpayer input. From the sounds of it, it seems like he is trying to deceive the taxpayers with this restructuring plan. To put the icing on the cake, he raised taxes and fees throughout the city. I don't see open and honest government.
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HEARING YOUR MOUTH NOW -- Face up, 09:56:53 06/08/04 Tue [4]
Ok all you BIG MOUTHS with no b---- tonight is the night that you can really show you are a man and stand up in front of all the brothers and show them how you can sound off in front of them face to face and not hide behind a computer with a false name!!!!!!!!!!!Let's see how you can shoot your mouth off then since you have so much to say on the message board....
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[>
Re: HEARING YOUR MOUTH NOW -- Larry, 19:46:20 06/08/04 Tue [1]
>Ok all you BIG MOUTHS with no b---- tonight is the
>night that you can really show you are a man and stand
>up in front of all the brothers and show them how you
>can sound off in front of them face to face and not
>hide behind a computer with a false
>name!!!!!!!!!!!Let's see how you can shoot your mouth
>off then since you have so much to say on the message
>board....
This post is comical; calling on someone to post their name and hiding behind the computer. You guys are professionals, act like it already. Larry
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[> [>
Re: HEARING YOUR MOUTH NOW -- comical, 05:18:02 06/09/04 Wed [1]
This post is comical; calling on someone to post their
name and hiding behind the computer. You guys are
professionals, act like it already. Larry
What's more comical than you suddenly being quiet about things you were so vocal about in the past? You chasing the gold during an olympic year.
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[>
Re: HEARING YOUR MOUTH NOW -- It doesn't take a rocket scientist, 10:51:56 06/09/04 Wed [1]
>Ok all you BIG MOUTHS with no b---- tonight is the
>night that you can really show you are a man and stand
>up in front of all the brothers and show them how you
>can sound off in front of them face to face and not
>hide behind a computer with a false
>name!!!!!!!!!!!Let's see how you can shoot your mouth
>off then since you have so much to say on the message
>board....
It's not too hard to figure out the author of this post if you scroll down...................
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what ever happened? -- TO ETHEL, 10:36:47 06/09/04 Wed [1]
your wit is missed....
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no laughing matter -- madashell, 08:51:01 06/09/04 Wed [1]
this whole thing really has to be a bad practical joke...first we give up over 3 million dollars in concessions...let's say we didn't have much time to decide on that...(but that's a whole other issue)second..we get(and the public of which we are all part of) screwed on the number of engines only in service...third...being dispatched the way we do now is a total joke...fourth...
what's being done? It completly amazes me how we have gone from having the best,most professional dept.anywhere around,and being humiliated the way we are now. What happened? Someone made these decisions,who's actually responsible? Let the chips fly. When are we going to give the public the knowlegde so they understand the horrible events that are happening.
I also find it repulsive that those who fought the last administration every step of the way,on everything,from
A-Z are now suddenly voiceless.
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and U R -- where's your's?, 10:10:34 06/08/04 Tue [1]
make sure everyone remembers who's watch this all happened under..
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at the meeting -- ears perked, 05:04:10 06/08/04 Tue [1]
see you all at the meeting tonight,don't forget your tape recorders and hip boots.
thank you sir may i have another....LOL
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Idea -- A. Walker, 05:48:28 06/04/04 Fri [1]
Mark,
While flipping through channels, I stumbled upon the PCN channel. Who do I see? Sue Henry interviewing the mayor from Kingston. Holy crap, I thought to myself! We should get our mayor on one of these radio shows. Naturally I would suggest your saturday show, but I'm sure you don't want to give your phone number out. So what's wrong with going on the radio? Or better yet, how about a town meeting?
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Ask me. -- Christopher Buchanan, 03:46:02 06/04/04 Fri [1]
Rob and Larry you are right about venting here.....to a point. I vented here b/c some of the people here don't have the nuts to stand up and be counted. All I have to say is ask me yourself then. Stand up at the next meeting and ask, but you won't. You'll hide behind your little computer, but you won't stand up and be recognized. I'll tell you flat out yes or no. I will tell you now that you will have the chance to vote me out next November if you think it appropriate and there will be no crying. As I have said before...the crying will start when one of our own gets severly injured or dies. It will start when I pull up to a fire with less yet again and someone dies.
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when asked? -- in the not so distant future, 18:29:22 06/03/04 Thu [1]
so your crying about having more of your free time.then you know what quit.you can have all your free time you want.but this question remains,when you are asked to resign,will you? or will you come up with another excuse?
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FIREMEN -- Tired of Reading, 13:28:44 06/02/04 Wed [1]
To all the firemen and the others who have posted their complaints about how the Fire Department is running, whose at fault and so on GO ATTEND THE MEETING and vent!!!!! Use your mouth there and not on here we're tired of reading.
The best thing that will come out of the meeting is to see who actually has the balls to say what really is on their mind and be heard.
Just remember half the Fire Department got aboard for Tom Leighton when he decide to run for Mayor and now you have egg all over your face speak up to him also!!!!
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WBFD -- Larry Schultz, 12:09:55 06/02/04 Wed [1]
Finally, the voice of reason. Kudos to Rob!!!!!!!!! Just hope people listen. The next Union meeting is next Tuesday, vent there if you need to vent. Have a great week. Larry
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W-B-F-D -- Rob Sudnick, 20:14:14 05/31/04 Mon [1]
W-B-F-D, after reading this blog from anonymous and those that gave their names,
if you know me and what I say W-B-F-D means when I joke about it, you are all proving that it is no joke.
It seems to me we have forgot, Always praise in public and bitch in house.
You cant get anymore public than this. If this, is the beginning of the end of our fire department, I for one want to go out with Honor.
Do me a favor and stop posting your bitch about our brothers on this blog. Remember the golden rule.
5/31/2004
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One Fact Stands Clear -- Truth, 22:16:37 05/30/04 Sun [1]
There is one Fact that stands perfectly clear, All of this that is going on is the fault of the Past and PRESENT Administration that is running this city. Shall we get giddy with glee because we are going to have a movie theater to sit in in a year and a half while our lives and homes are being put in grave danger? This adminstration needs a good dose of reality already and from what I hear it's coming rather soon, not one single resident I have talked to is happy about the changes that were made regarding their safety. From this present standpoint, good ol" Walt is about to become the Man of the Hour, if I were the mayor and council I'd make some changes for the better rather soon, I already hear the pens clicking.
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as the world turns -- sjar15, 16:31:48 05/30/04 Sun [1]
Here is why people are becoming monday morning quarterbacks.If this document is such a great thing,then why are we recieving memos after the fact to tell us to look into our plan to avoid sticker shock.Why weren't we presented with the true costs of sticker shock before hand? Either during the hundreds of hours spent preparing this document those facts were not known(but that can't be correct cause why would you agree to put something in you didn't know about)or the facts were known and they were deemed to be either not important enough to tell us or perhaps detrimental to to the signing of the document,or they actually did not know the facts about the costs(then that means that they didn't do a good job).
We deserved to have all the facts relating to this presented in a fair,objective manor.With time to consider all the possibilites.That's why the prosecution gets to present it's side as well as the defense.But that was not the case with us,granted we are not in a court of law,but from a common sense point of view that is the fairest way for everyone involved. Not in a 1/2 hour,one sided,here you go,sign on the dotted line.It astounds me about how we were treated.It has affected the lives of hundreds of people,the members,the members families,from a monetary stand point as well as a mental one.Was all of this taken into consideration? When the decisions you make affect hundreds of people across the board from all different social levels,you have to make sure that everyones base is covered and everyone gets the chance to make their own informed decision based on ALL the correct facts,not just a snipet from here and there,and the time to digest those facts to do whats right for them.
Personally with me and my situation,and everything I know as of now I would not of voted yes,if I had the chance again,but I can't turn back the clock now,and I think that's what's fustrating so many people.I think this is a very tough pill to swallow and I hope that this teaches us all a lesson about presenting to everyone involved all the facts with the time to digest.It would be much better if we were a people united,and maybe someday that will happen,as time heals all wounds,but it is a worthwhile goal we should strive for,cause when you think about it all we really have is each other,I guess that's why we are called brothers.God bless us all.
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Support of Officers of LOCAL # 104 -- Dave Roberts, 10:55:45 05/30/04 Sun [1]
Well, the monday morning quarterbacks have decided to open their mouths regarding our new contract. It's soooooooo easy to sit back and be critical when YOU are not willing to put forth the effort YOURSELF. I have to ask. How many union meetings did you attend to voice your concerns? Let's not forget. If someone is not happy with our contractual obligations for the next 7 years, DON"T LET THE DOORKNOB HIT YA WHERE THE GOOD LORD SPLIT YA. Start now. Fill out applications. See if you can do any better in the "private sector". I think the circus is even coming to town soon. Anyone who questions the effort put forth by any of our officers should remove their cranium from their rectum immediately. I'm obviously biased. I work on the same shift as 3 of the 5 officers. I consider myself good friends with them as well. Sometimes we agree, sometimes not. Unlike many within our department, I am able to formulate my own opinions based on the information available to me, no matter who I may work with. There are those amoung us who embrace the opinions of others and regurgitate them as their own. I don't think you could find anyone who is completely happy with our new conract. However, I feel it is the best of a very bad situation and in the years to come, we will all feel fortunate with what we have. No matter how you look at it, the Wilkes-Barre Fire Dept., as we all have come to know it, is gone. We are all embarking upon dangerous times. ACT 47 is designed to work in favor of the city which implements it. It is the politicians that benefit from it and the civil servants that suffer as a result of it. Pick up a phone and call one of your brothers from the Electric City if you have doubts.
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Crystal Clear -- Chris Buchanan, 10:01:03 05/30/04 Sun [1]
You ignorant little chicken shitted pussy. Stand up and be counted. This will be your notice...either put up or shut up. If you had the nuts to back your words, which you obviously don't, you would make your case openly. I may not agree with some of the other opinions that were offered here, but at least when they sign their name to their position I can respect that. We agree to disagree and we go on.
Now listen.....I'm typing this slow, b/c you apparently can't read very fast, but go back and and read the only thing that matters regarding this situation we are all in...the contract. Like it or not, that's it for the next seven years. I'll be damned if you think I will allow that document to be ignored, opened and changed at will by anyone. The time and effort to save and safeguard what little remains of the future of organized labor and your job was accomplished to the best of our ability. As Mike said, if you can do better stand up and have at it. Make my life a bit easier by giving me back my free time. This fire dept. and others in the state are faced with more pressing problems with Act 47 than you know. Please educate yourself to the plight of our own in Johnstown, Pittsburgh, and Scranton, before you go shooting your mouth off about something you don't understand. Today may look like heaven compared to the future and what MAY come our way. Mark my words.
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What in the hell are you talking about? -- Mike Bilski Treasurer Local 104, 21:17:15 05/29/04 Sat [1]
First of all, if the voices were truly loud and discontent you would not be ashamed to identify yourself , you would come to me, and demand my resignation like a man.
Second of all hundreds of combined hours were put into this contract to try to save this department from total destruction from act 47. If you would pull your head out of your ass and look farther away from the end of your nose and see what act 47 has done to cities in better shape than ours. If you truly understood the ramifications of this you would be glad you still had a job at the end of seven years.
Food for thought. Look this up and see how our brothers in Pittsburg are doing.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04149/323168.stm
If you really think you can do better, and spend a good portion of your life doing this job , have at it Brother.
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step down -- time for change, 14:35:48 05/29/04 Sat [1]
The voices are becoming louder as the picture becomes more clear.First the rush job,then the choices concerning manning.It's time for a change.Do the right thing and all five of you step down.
We deserve better....
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Benefits -- Doesn't sound like a Bad idea, 19:11:32 05/28/04 Fri [1]
All I could say is if a petition comes around about city council getting benefit cuts you could make damn sure there will be plenty of signatures on it.
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Who's crying now? -- observer, 05:50:03 05/27/04 Thu [1]
Well it can't be said you were not given any clue as to what might happen. Just read all the way back in the forum.
Back in Jan. from ditto,confused,rightisright and wondering .Also in Feb. from dissapointed,clear thinking and look and listen.Reading them you can surmise that they saw the writing on the wall.A good portion of you were so quick to jump on the bandwagon and lead the parade downtown that you lost sight.Did you not learn your lesson from the last time someone was endorsed? So now after having the blinders you had on ripped off the whole view comes into sight.And it's not pretty.So,Who's crying now?
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The state of our mentality -- Larry, 17:48:44 05/26/04 Wed [1]
LOFL
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MORE -- )linda, 10:21:35 05/26/04 Wed [1]
after i clicked the send button i thought to myself that maybe i shouldn't have sent it but it was to late it was gone. i just think that when some of you read my post your going to either have some sly remarks or comments to lar again and that was far from what i want.i just wanted to speak for myself and only me, i really feel that if you are going to write some comments about certain people then kindly have the balls to put your name on it they do!
i always thought this message board was to really talk not to make some rotten comments and about one of your fellow firefighters but it seems that it isn't it's just handing out bad comments and remarks about someone and getting them pissed so from now on if you have a problem with a certain someone then take it up with that person not with the whole internet.
thanks for your time
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VENTING -- LINDA, 10:05:31 05/26/04 Wed [1]
Once in awhile i'll come online and read the messages left well today when i came on and read what i saw i was PISSED!!
I cannot believe what i read and especially coming from what i assume are grown men of our FIRE DEPT.
Before i say what i want i want you all to know that Larry has no idea that i am writing and won't know until he comes to this site so i just want to say to him Lar i'm sorry for sending a message but i felt as being me i just had to.
To the person that made the statement that Lar was in bed with Jake and Tom, i hate to dissapoint you but last time i looked i didn't see them, are you in bed with them??? Jake and lar have been friends for a long time just like many of you firemen also and as far as Tom is concerned well i seem to recall half the fire dept. was all out to get him voted in so don't accuse just single guy.Someone wrote that LAR was the architect of this silly scheme?
I always thought that a architect had more than one person with him????
I think that if you people are so down on what's going on then why don't you go to your union or go face to face with the person you want to complain about stop hiding behind close doors sooner or later your name will come out your the one that has to live with the remarks that you made. Everybody seems to have so much to say to one another but yet when the time comes to say it you back away and let somebody else do it for you. So Larry speaks his mind and says it in the open or to whom he wants to make a comment about and for that he is the only one that gets the blame!!!!!!!!!I didn't have to say that about him because as you all know Lar speaks his mind!!!!!!!!!!
As far as people putting their name on here i think you should and to me if you don't then i think you should watch what you say.
At least i know i have the balls to say what i want and i am a women!!!!!! and for that i just want the person to know who is writing about Lar grow the frick up!!!!And if the comment made about the whacker was suppose to be for Lar well this is what i have to say he isn't he just tells it like it is always did and always will so learn to accept it. Some of you should have half the nerve Lar has.
I've been aware of the fire dept. for a long time and years ago there was never anything that couldn't be solved nor did they tear someone apart,they knew if they went into a burning building someone was right behind them and most of all they all got along....The way the dept. is now there are some men that act like babies when they don't get what they want so in my opinion i think it's time you all take a good look at yourself and see just where you fit in.
So since i said almost everything i wanted to say before i close i just want to say one more time i wrote this all on my own so if you have any comments about it then direct them to me LINDA just in case you didn't get my name not LARRY.
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Got Cojones? -- Afraid to tell my name, 06:39:03 05/26/04 Wed [3]
Got Cojones --- Online guy dont you have any common sense.
would you like to jepordize your livelihood if it was your
future managment(larry) in your place of imployment.It made
me laugh when i read your comments.
I have gone in burning buildings with no hoseline doing
search and rescue.i've put out car fires hoping the batery doesnt explode in my face.ive put out burning houses hoping watching so the structure above doesnt fall on my head.just because im not stupid enouph to give my name doesn't mean i have no balls. your a WACKER!
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Re: Got Cojones? -- spelling, 09:28:04 05/26/04 Wed [1]
>Got Cojones --- Online guy dont you have any common
>sense.
>would you like to jepordize your livelihood if it was
>your
>future managment(larry) in your place of imployment.It
>made
>me laugh when i read your comments.
>I have gone in burning buildings with no hoseline doing
>search and rescue.i've put out car fires hoping the
>batery doesnt explode in my face.ive put out burning
>houses hoping watching so the structure above doesnt
>fall on my head.just because im not stupid enouph to
>give my name doesn't mean i have no balls. your a
>WACKER!
i hope your a little more educated at fighting fires than you are at spelling!!!!!!!!!!! To me anybody that has the courage to write and complain on here and target one person because he has the BALLS to print his name are nothing but a bunch of wimps. I thought being in high school was bad but after reading these comments from here it's worse. Why don't you so called humans worry about your life rather than critizing everything and everyone!!!!
If anybody is a WHACKER it's the people that sit and write and complain about everything and can't even print their real name!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was always told "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"
GROW UP ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!
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[> [>
Re: Got Cojones? -- imployment, 09:52:30 05/26/04 Wed [1]
>i hope your a little more educated at fighting fires
>than you are at spelling!!!!!!!!!!! To me anybody that
>has the courage to write and complain on here and
>target one person because he has the BALLS to print
>his name are nothing but a bunch of wimps. I thought
>being in high school was bad but after reading these
>comments from here it's worse. Why don't you so called
>humans worry about your life rather than critizing
>everything and everyone!!!!
>If anybody is a WHACKER it's the people that sit and
>write and complain about everything and can't even
>print their real name!!!!!!!!!!!!
>I was always told "People who live in glass houses
>shouldn't throw stones"
>GROW UP ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!
I've changed my name from Afraid to give my name, to "imployment" to irritate you.You are obviously one of the new
regimes information gatherers,who just look out for their best interest and could give a damn for the people living in Wilkes-Barre.
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helping the city -- afraid to tell my name, 05:38:50 05/26/04 Wed [1]
Why would anyone want to help a city who could give a damn
about public safety.The way they have W-B-F-D set up now
has all our families and friends in wilkes-barre at unnecessary risk.It breaks my heart as a fire fighter.
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How Come? -- Just curious, 20:06:04 05/25/04 Tue [1]
There have been a lot of points on this forum page that totally have made sense but there doesn't seem to be an answer for it. For example, it certainly is the former administrations fault that we are in the mess that we are in, but what did happen to the state coming in and doing some checking? You cannot tell me that just because you are mayor that you have the complete power to do whatever you please with the taxpayers money and not be held responsible for it, that is why an audit in the eyes of a taxpayer would have been money very well spent, even though it probably would not have amounted to a hill of beans, it would sure show that this administration cared enough to show people where their hard earned money had gone. It just seemed too crazy that from day one of the new adminstration take over that it has been shoved down our throats to forget about the past when it was so important to remember about it during the election. I also think that someone should definetly send the "Hose Dudes for Leighton" picture right to him as a reminder of the enormous support they gave him, its just too bad he didn't mention what he had planned to do before he AND city council were elected.
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Bullsh$t -- Larry, 17:56:01 05/25/04 Tue [1]
For those of you who are not thinking straight. I will explain it this way. It is because of the previous administration that we are in this mess. The previous administration and the previous fire chief are the people who went after the 88 number in our contract. I did not say I supported it at all. All I said was that I tried to warn others that a negotiated settlement was the proper way to settle this. What we got was the attack mentality and lost. I would love to see the 9 engines and two trucks still in service as well as the 104 men who were working at the time I started. I really would. Many of the newer men have no clue how much we have sacrificed and given up over the years. If the Mayor and Council had the money to place all of our pieces in service, I am sure they would do the best they could. Instead of venting here, why not come and talk to me personally. Most people will remember I was the first person to place my name on this site last year. Mark can attest to that. Vent your anger where it belongs. Larry
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Larry -- Larry, 12:49:08 05/25/04 Tue [2]
I am here every day. Unlike most of you I will always post my name here. What I had to say about this situation, I said at our last union meeting. I tried to change the minds of the E-board and the men in the room who were all for this change. I also told some union officials that this decision they made would come to bite them in the ass. Guess what. It seems to me, they rolled the dice and lost. Now all the crying is going on. In the meantime, 16 men lost their jobs, 2 engines were put out of service, they got what they asked for, yet they still cry. Told you so!!!!!!!!!!! McG is gone. When you realize that, maybe you will not be so hard nosed and understand that what happened is horribly wrong. Larry
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Re: Larry -- promote me, 17:48:21 05/25/04 Tue [1]
Pipe down Larry....You're in bed with Leighton and Lisman. Let's not forget who was the architect of this silly scheme. When's the promotion?
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This is Bullsh$t -- Bullsh$t, 17:16:44 05/25/04 Tue [1]
Interesting. If the previous administration did this, would Larry still have supported it??? Hmmm....
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This is BULLS$$T -- BULLS$$T, 14:18:39 05/25/04 Tue [1]
Can I ask a question? Why is it so important now that we all put our names down on here? Last year it was a different story, now we want names for any thing posted to have any significance. Last year it was A OK to be anonymous to vent and give our points of view but now it's NOT ????
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Where's Larry? -- interesting, 09:49:23 05/25/04 Tue [1]
things that make you go HMMMM!
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One Big Mistake -- Used, 09:06:31 05/25/04 Tue [1]
I'm not going to try and say all i have to about what's going on with the firemen and the Mayor but i will state some of my opinions about it.
First of all what i can truly see that TOM LEIGHTON didn't keep his promises.Most of the firemen backed him up in the election and some even went beyond that thinking that life for them was going to change! Well it sure did they got screwed and big time i might add!!!!!!!!!!
He not only put the people of the city in constant worry now wondering if they have a fire in their house are the firemen going to get there on time but the families who put their trust in the Mayor that things were going to change.
I guess since the MAYOR appointed all his favorites now he isn't to much worried about the rest of us.What happened to the so called new appointed chiefs? I guess the men that went for the interviews for the job went just to waste time and the ones that raised stink about it wasted their time also. It was just all talk and no action. I guess us firemen just got burnt real bad by another MAYOR.
Disgusted
next election i'm not voting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Focus on the service -- Christopher Buchanan VP FF IAFF L104, 03:07:48 05/25/04 Tue [1]
There are many things in the works right now and rest assured only the opening salvos have been fired. People, remember one thing through all of this, it is bigger than the politics. This goes to the very heart of the way we as fire fighters are able to conduct the essential services that we provide to the community on a daily basis. I know that screams politics, and you are probably right that decisions were politically driven here from the mayor and all of council, BUT their actions have a much more grave consequence than just the politics involved here. They have seriously compromised the lives of the community called W-B, and they have seriously compromised the safety of every fire fighter that reports for duty from this point on. We will try our best to change this terrible situation. They need to see that their choice is the wrong choice. I will continue to make every effort to educate them, pressure them, and help them see that at some point something as simple as the number 17 does matter when it is a number that ensures that fire fighters operating as a company of three makes things safer for all. Remember, we asked for no increase in the minimum staffing beyond the 17 we were able to make work. For our sake and yours we need to focus on the service, more than the politics. It's about the people, not an elected office or job.
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Firefightersshorthanded -- madff, 23:59:42 05/24/04 Mon [1]
can the mayor expain to the taxpayers: The slower response time to any calls to the affected areas? Tommy Leighton may be able to justify the decrease in manpower only long enough to see his family and home burn to the ground. Your politics is going to do nothing short of get someone killed during a fire.
You need you be reminded that it wasn't that long after Engine 1 was taken out of service that 3 people parrished during a house fire. I hope you have a clear conscience after some other families die. Your rolling the dice, at some point it will come back to haunt you.
We are professionals and we will make every attempt to get the the life threatenting situation in a timely manner, but with the new policy that obviously can't be guaranteed!
By the way, the people in Northend thank you for leaving an ambulance in the Northeast fire station. They might be able to put out a fire with an extinguisher or two?
Thanks for your input Tom Leighton.
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Need an assistant. -- It is OK for me,but not for you!, 20:45:18 05/24/04 Mon [1]
I guess it is ok to have an assistant to help put flags together but not for the Fire Fighter who goes into a burning house.
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$$ Doesn't Make Much Sense$$ -- BEWILDERED, 19:18:58 05/24/04 Mon [1]
CAN Someone answer me this................ If the Fire Department must go Bare Bones due to the City's finances then why the hell doesn't the mayor's office go bare bones also? Hiring an assistant to an assistant to the Mayor does not have a fingernail's worth of importance compared to saving people's lives. I know, I know, the salary doesn't compare to the cost of running those engines, but HOLY S$$T let's at least set some kind of example. And THEY wonder why people are pissed????
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Here is my View -- Had enough already, 13:33:05 05/24/04 Mon [1]
Ok here is my view on why there should have been an audit, I think that it would have definetly been in the best interest of the taxpayers to have some kind of idea where some of the money has gone and who was responsible for it. If you are going to raise taxes and ask employees to give up certain benefits without doing so yourself, you should show some kind of concern of where all this money has gone and give some kind of reassurance that it won't happen again. It sure makes the people in charge look like they have something to hide, especially since they were a part of the last administration and kept a few of MCG's right hand employees on staff, including the head honcho of finances. What in the world happened to the state coming in and doing some checking, I personally heard this out of the mouths of a few council members after the primary. All and all it is politics as usual in Wilkes-Barre and the sad thing is I doubt it will change for the better, the very sad thing is the public's safety is now jeopardized and the firemen's morale has just gone down to about -100 especially from what they had to put up with eight years prior to this. I think a wise idea would be to have maybe a few council members or even the mayor himself maybe go on some ride alongs/calls with the fire department, maybe then when they have a first hand look to what they are subjected to day in and day out they will have a better understanding of what they go through and why they are feeling so betrayed be an administration they stuck their necks out for.
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Accoutability -- Answersnow, 20:31:43 05/23/04 Sun [1]
It seems as though it would be a good idea to audit the city's finances. I would like to know what happened to all that money we received from grants and normal taxpayer revenues. How in the heck are we supposed to simply forget the amount of debt this city is in? More importantly, the man who left us with this tremendous debt is only a few short years from collecting a sizeable pension. Instead of working for EMA, he should be aswering for years of mismanagement.
As far as the situation with the fire department, it seems as though the boys have been given the opportunity to save more homes. Which appears to be working considering that I can only remember the fire near Toppers really being covered by the media. Something that can't be said for the previous administration. Since there are only three water sources left in the city, does this mean residents can assume that there homes could be a future parking lot or extra yard space for their neighbors? Mayor Leighton campaigned with the promise of a more positive atmosphere in the city. This doesn't seem very positive from my point of view.
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Is this really worth saving a few bucks? -- Very disappointed, 19:29:23 05/23/04 Sun [1]
First off, there is absolutly no excuse to make sacrifices when it comes to the safety of the public and those who serve them, this should be something that is already budgeted for no matter what the financial scenario is. What is wrong with the big picture here? I would think that there may be plenty of other options to look into to save a few bucks before putting lives at risk, this is really sending a bad message especially to our citizens, these are the people that are paying the salaries of our leaders who are making these ridiculous decisions about serious sitiuations. Citizens of Wilkes-Barre, let your concern be known, please keep speaking out on this, this is your lives and homes that are being put at risk, we have been bullied and played a fool for eight years, lets not let it happen for the four years ahead of us.
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What a Joke! -- screwed, 05:23:26 05/23/04 Sun [1]
Screw the chill pill with the audit, the administration certainly hasn't taken a chill pill with their demands, I think we start making some demands to some very important unanswered questions ourselves.
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Backstabbed -- we'vebeenscrewed, 09:52:56 05/22/04 Sat [2]
Quote from press conference at the Ramada in February 2003 " The Department Heads will run their Departments" It sure does not seem that is the case in the WBFD these days. Why is it that the current administration thinks that the WBFD is going to financially cure the city's financial woes? If the taxpayers are first priority in the new administration's minds then why didn't our leader take a paycut or a benefit cut? Why was the internal audit cancelled? Who has what to hide? Exactly when will we find out what happened to the 53 million dollars that isn't accounted for? Or should we " Forget about the past and move forward". Here is a good question...........Who does the taxpayers hold responsible when someone is seriously hurt or killed when the response time is slowed due to these decisions that the adminstration just made? I can answer that it will be the Fire Department's fault, just as they are taking all the hits now. In this day and age we live in, is it really a wise move to give taxpayers less protection and hope on a wing and a prayer that it will work out? The "All Knowing" really need to take a step back and look at the big picture before making these clueless decisions.
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Re: Backstabbed -- I heard him, 17:32:16 05/22/04 Sat [1]
IF you ask me i think the Mayor just made you firemen look like fools!!! What happened to his promise? Now the people and families will pay for the backstabbing.............
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Update from "Who's responding to my house?" -- A. Walker, 12:55:05 05/22/04 Sat [1]
Since I am unable to edit my previous BLOG regarding the response time to my little street for a fire, I am simply typing a correction. After working today, I have found out that there is a plan for small streets. The "Quick Attack" will be manned by the extra person with the house captain, and the Rescue 7 driver will follow with Rescue 7 and park as close as is feasible. I'm happy to know this fact.
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Who's responding to my house? -- A. Walker, 20:23:52 05/21/04 Fri [1]
Speaking as a citizen of this fine city and not as an employee, I live on a pretty small alley. Rescue 7 is now assigned to respond to my street as the first due engine. Rescue 7 will barely fit down my alley for any structure fires. If the engine does have to respond, it's going to be slow go so as not to cause an accident for the cars that are frequently parked on the alley. I guess residents that opted to reside on any alleys were just discounted as valuable residents. There is also an alley that goes past my house from north to south. None of the current apparatus can make a tight turn of that nature without going through someone's property. Does this mean that individuals that live in alleys are not protected by fire coverage? Knowing full well the amount of time it will take to set up a system to provide water to a fire on a secluded alley, does this mean that if a house catches fire on this type of alley that you'll eventually create bigger yards for the bigger streets?
One last note to Mark. Perhaps you should recalculate you figures. There are now only three water producing vehicles in the city.
South
East
and North.
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Balls to The Wall -- The Promoter, 18:33:13 05/15/04 Sat [1]
Give me a break!!!
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Larry -- Larry, 18:15:03 05/15/04 Sat [1]
Mark, I couldn't resist answering this one. I love the way people sit on their butts all the time and criticize people and still do not have the balls to put their own name on it. Think maybe they are a little jealous of people or just plain lazy with nothing else to do. They are probably the same a**holes who criticize the City for it being a mess and probably throw their garbage out the windows of their vehicles and bitch that it isn't cleaned up. Get a life already people. Larry
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Just Call Larry -- 4metou, 10:35:24 05/14/04 Fri [1]
Gosh Mark the way you talk about this hosedude Larry he must be a Jack-of-all-trades......Does he ever spend time with his family if he has one...I need some yard work done maybe i can give him a call.
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Torture the prisoners some more -- Angry American, 19:38:17 05/11/04 Tue [1]
First they blow-up a vehicle with Americans aboard. Then they let them burn to death. To add insult to injury they drag the lifeless bodies around through the streets and ultimately hang them from a bridge. Now they hack a young guys head off and post it on the web?! People in this country have the nerve to sway that we tortured prisoners by making them walk around naked with leashes, or make a pyramid. Perhaps our Arab counterparts wouldn't be so quick to cause harm to our people if we shot first then asked questions later.
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Rummy and Paulie: Nominated for Employee of Year Awards -- Ethel Hozniak, 11:18:07 05/09/04 Sun [1]
All you non-liberals will need a password to enter such a left-wing crazied site as the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11227-2004May8.html
Dateline: Washington Post, May 9th, 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------
........A senior general at the Pentagon (news - web sites) said he believes the United States is already on the road to defeat. "It is doubtful we can go on much longer like this," he said. "The American people may not stand for it -- and they should not."
Asked who was to blame, this general pointed directly at Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. "I do not believe we had a clearly defined war strategy, end state and exit strategy before we commenced our invasion," he said. "Had someone like Colin Powell (news - web sites) been the chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff], he would not have agreed to send troops without a clear exit strategy. The current OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] refused to listen or adhere to military advice."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Don't Worry, There Aren't Many With Us -- Dean Howard, 09:10:23 05/08/04 Sat [1]
An illegal and immoral war, betrayed by images that reveal our racism
By Robert Fisk
The Independent
7 May 2004
First, our enemies created the suicide bomber. Now, we have our own digital suicide bomber, the camera. Just look at the way US army reservist Lynndie England holds the leash of the naked, bearded Iraqi. Take a close look at the leather strap, the pain on the prisoner's face. No sadistic movie could outdo the damage of this image. In September 2001, the planes smashed into the buildings; today, Lynndie smashes to pieces our entire morality with just one tug on the leash.
The Muslim suicide bomber cries Allahu Akbar, God is great. And what does Lynndie England's partner-in-crime do? Why, his home garden is plastered with a legend from the Book of Hosea, about sowing and righteousness and ploughing.
Could ever Islam have come so intimately into contact with the sexuality of the Old Testament? Could neo-conservative Christianity - Lynndie is also a churchgoer - have collided so violently, so revoltingly, so obscenely with Islam?
And who were the innocent in these vile photographs? The American torturers and humiliators? Or the Iraqi victims?
President Bush is fearful of Arab reaction to these pictures. Why? For a year now, Iraqis have been trying to tell journalists of the brutal treatment they are receiving at the hands of their occupiers. They don't need these incriminating photographs to prove to them what they already know to be true.
But, in the history of the Middle East, these pictures already have the status of those most damaging snapshots of the Vietnam war: the police chief in Saigon executing his Vietcong prisoner, the naked girl burned by napalm, the pile of bodies at My Lai. For Arabs, read Deir Yassin and the corpses piled in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Chatila in 1982.
Not long after the occupation of Baghdad by US troops in April of last year, we got our hands on videotape of the brutal whipping of Iraqi prisoners by Saddam's security police.
I'm not sure which circle of hell the victims were enduring in the 45 minutes of sadism which I still have on one tape. They are whipped, sticks are broken on their throats, they are kicked into sewers and they cower like dogs. And why were these war crimes filmed?
I thought at first that it was intended for the enjoyment of Saddam or his disgusting son Uday. But now I realise the videos were taken so that the prisoners could be humiliated. Their suffering, their pathetic pleas for mercy, their animal-like behaviour was to be recorded - to add the final layer of degradation to their fate.
And now I realise, too, that the pictures of the Iraqis so cruelly treated - so tortured -- by the Americans, were taken for precisely the same reason.
Someone decided that the photos would be the final straw, the breaking point, the moment of capitulation for these young men. Make them simulate oral sex. Make them look at the penis of their best friend. Get a girl to admire their attempted erection. This was truly Saddamite in its perversity.
So let's, as the Americans say, get real. Who taught Lynndie and her boyfriend and the other American sadists of Abu Ghraib prison to do this?
I used to ask who taught the Syrian and Iraqi secret police to do this. The answer to the latter question was simple: the East German secret police. But the answer to the first question? Well, we have been told that there were "contracted" interrogators at Abu Ghraib.
I have reason to believe General Janis Karpinski, the luckless prison commander who is going to be dumped out of the army for interrogations over which she had no control, knew "outsiders" were questioning her inmates. She was never allowed into the interrogation room. And I can see why. So, no doubt, can she.
So who were these mysterious "interrogators"? If they were not CIA or FBI staff, who were they? Several names are already doing the rounds - so far, journalists claim they have no final proof of them - and a number, I understand, hold more than one passport. Why were they brought in to Abu Ghraib? Who brought them in? How much are they paid? And who trained them?
Who taught them it was a good idea to get a girl to point at an Arab who was being forced to masturbate, to humiliate an Iraqi by hooding him with a girl's lingerie?
We are not just talking "sick" here. We're talking professionals. President Bush at last apologised yesterday to the Arab world for this filth - only, no doubt, because of the latest picture on the front of the Washington Post - but the constant, insistent refrain from US officers that these were a tiny group of unrepresentative Americans makes me very suspicious.
Lynndie and her boyfriend were not part of a "rogue" unit. They were told to do these despicable things. They were encouraged. This was an order from someone. Who? When can we see their pictures, their identity, their passports, their orders?
Yes, it's part of a culture, a long tradition that goes back to the Crusades; that the Muslim is dirty, lascivious, un-Christian, unworthy of humanity - which is pretty much what Osama bin Laden (now forgotten by Mr Bush, I notice) believes about us Westerners.
And our illegal, immoral, meretricious war has now brought forth the images that betray our racism.
The hooded man with the wires attached to his hands has now become an iconic portrait, every bit as memorable as the picture of the second aircraft flying into the World Trade Centre. No, of course, we haven't killed 3,000 Iraqis. We've killed many more. And the same goes for Afghanistan.
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You're Either With Us or Against Us -- Ethel Hozniak, 08:40:26 05/08/04 Sat [1]
Boy, I may be an old granny, but in all my years I don't remember seeing democracy working so well. We went to liburrrate those camel jockeys and they don't even take our jokes very well. Haven't they ever heard of the one 'You can't build a pyramid without a dozen naked terrorists.' Or how about, 'Panties on the head brings good luck with the ladies.'
All the cool kids did these pranks in my gym class.
Have to run kids, just got my mail. I hope my new toy arrived.
http://www.newsmaxstore.com/nms/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&User_ID=10070580&st=8726&st2=-73816595&st3=70199860&Product_ID=1618&CATID=13&GroupID=51
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Is this a joke? -- pvtff, 14:52:54 05/07/04 Fri [2]
There are serious issues with making concessions to TL. Now that a union has stepped up and offered to pay health care, will TL and council do the same? What about this health care buy-out? Should a man and wife both employed by the city be offered this benefit? Talk about double dipping! I was stunned with the fact that we are saving the city a good deal of money, and he hires someone on the heals of the contract announcement. Boy was that a slap in the face!
On another note: What ever happened to the audit to show where McG frivolously spent our hard earned tax dollars? Wasn't the state supposed to come in and do a full check of the books? I would suggest that we as taxpayers ask for accountablility in our government past and present. Let me guess there isn't a enough money for the audit since hiring a son of a chamber member. Call your council member or go to a council meeting to express your thoughts on our financial accountability.
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Re: Is this a joke? -- confused, 20:33:24 05/07/04 Fri [1]
> I totally agree, does anyone else think that not having was an audit was a good idea? It certainly paints a picture of those in power having something to hide. It was in such desperation that the FF's help the city save a measley 3 million when those in power haven't accounted for (what was it?) 50 some odd million dollars. Where was it that I heard we should "forget about the past and move on" ? I do think that was at a press conference in the winter, yes definetly "forget about the past and move on" but in the same breath lest not forget the major debt when we turn to the unions to help pay for it. It is great that the city has a future to become a booming business district but in the same breath what a shame it will be for those who serve to protect it will not be able to afford to enjoy it.
There are serious issues with making concessions to
>TL. Now that a union has stepped up and offered to
>pay health care, will TL and council do the same?
>What about this health care buy-out? Should a man and
>wife both employed by the city be offered this
>benefit? Talk about double dipping! I was stunned
>with the fact that we are saving the city a good deal
>of money, and he hires someone on the heals of the
>contract announcement. Boy was that a slap in the
>face!
>
>On another note: What ever happened to the audit to
>show where McG frivolously spent our hard earned tax
>dollars? Wasn't the state supposed to come in and do
>a full check of the books? I would suggest that we as
>taxpayers ask for accountablility in our government
>past and present. Let me guess there isn't a enough
>money for the audit since hiring a son of a chamber
>member. Call your council member or go to a council
>meeting to express your thoughts on our financial
>accountability.
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17 -- cw, 14:29:30 05/07/04 Fri [1]
17
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It's about time! -- Deb, 06:15:25 05/07/04 Fri [1]
Welcome back Mark, some of us have actually missed you!
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LET'S GO PENS -- pen fan, 16:43:02 05/06/04 Thu [1]
LET'S GO PENS
LET'S GO PENS
LET'S GO PENS
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enough already -- 200 billion, 16:40:12 05/06/04 Thu [1]
I see where Bush is asking congress for another 25 Billion dollars for Iraq. It was just several monthe ago that he got 87 billion of the taxpayers money and a year before 78 billion . Thats 200 Billion Dollars of our money going to IRAQ..enough already..how about the American people,when are we going to start taking care of our own...
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fustrated -- ffL104, 04:24:01 05/06/04 Thu [2]
It's just so darn fustrating,the city seems to be holding all the cards close to their vest and we only see a peek of them. What are the truths or half-truths? Why the last minute rush job? Now we have to live with it,and still the admin. is trying to stick it too us. Fair and honest? When are they going to start paying their share? If we don't open our eyes and be diligent,we still will be taking hits.
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Re: fustrated -- confused, 10:09:48 05/06/04 Thu [1]
I wholeheartly agree with you ffl104, this was a complete rush job and it seems to be a lot of confusion to go along with it, deductables start this June also, which a lot of people do not realize. The fire dept. is taking the brunt of all of this, now some of the other departments are angry, and rightfully so, because this opens a whole new can of worms for their contracts as well, so who could blame them for being angry. Its the same old, same old once again, but it surely sucks that the fire dept. is getting all the heat again. By the way, love the recent memo, it was classic McG style, and the reference to the healing field in the memo was a true contradiction to what just happened, they should practice what they preach, if they want to honor those who lost their lives serving the public, then they should really think about what they are doing to their own, the lack of respect for those who put their lives on the line day in day out is a joke in this city already.
>It's just so darn fustrating,the
city seems to be
>holding all the cards close to their vest and we only
>see a peek of them. What are the truths or
>half-truths? Why the last minute rush job? Now we have
>to live with it,and still the admin. is trying to
>stick it too us. Fair and honest? When are they going
>to start paying their share? If we don't open our eyes
>and be diligent,we still will be taking hits.
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LET'S GO PENS -- pen fan, 05:35:21 05/06/04 Thu [2]
LET'S GO PENS
LET'S GO PENS
LET'S GO PENS
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Re: LET'S GO PENS -- PENFAN, 05:36:32 05/06/04 Thu [1]
>LET'S GO PENS
>
>
>
>LET'S GO PENS
>
>
>
>LET'S GO PENS
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lied and fried -- ffL104, 19:44:49 05/05/04 Wed [1]
Well it happened,the brothers were fed one sided crap and fear prevailed,perhaps in a few months when everyone realizes what a cornhole we took,will we come to our senses and vote the self serving out.Can't wait to see
who gets the promotions.Time is on our side.
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What Gives? -- Foxtrot, 10:32:15 05/04/04 Tue [2]
What gives with this and the W-B Online site? Mark hasn't posted since 4-25? This thing hasn't seen any action since 4-15? Is something wrong somewhere?
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Re: What Gives? -- MarkK, 20:17:07 05/04/04 Tue [1]
I heard that Mark didn't pay his DSL bill and is now without an ISP. Really miss his post about Larry!!
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W-B city tax filing -- Mike McNarney, 11:01:57 04/15/04 Thu [2]
Sorry to bring up a non-political question, but I am seeking the wisdom of you longtime W-B residents. I am doing my Berkheimer city taxes today, and it comes out that I owe around $80 because my employer didn't withhold enough (ahem) from my paychecks.
The last three years I lived in Wilkes-Barre, my city taxes came out on the nose -- like within 10 cents.
Am I calculating something wrong? Or does this occasionally happen to everyone?
Thanks,
Mike McNarney
Former Times Leader Dude, now of the Scranton Times
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Re: W-B city tax filing -- chris, 19:04:36 04/16/04 Fri [1]
Mike,
This happened to me a few years ago. When I checked into why this happened, HR at my company informed me that they were not required by law to take out the percentage of taxes from where you reside. They are only required to take out the percentage from where the company is located. For example, I used to work in WB Twp. The taxes there are 1.5% and that is all that they were required to withhold. I live in the city where the taxes are 3%. Therefore every year I ended up paying the city. It sucked.
You may want to talk to your HR and ask them if they can withhold a greater percentage from your paycheck. This eventually worked for me.
Now I work in the city so I don't have to worry about this any longer. Hope this helped.
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The PNAC Presents, The Who: Who's Next -- Ethel Hozniak, 21:46:58 04/12/04 Mon [1]
Contrary to popular belief around these parts I do rock out every now and then. Mostly when I get my government check and have a glass of that boxed wine stuff the kids drink now days. I also got a six-pack of that Mark's Hard Lemonade.
So after hitting about half of that box I decided to continue my studies on world hegemony. I'm getting a little too old for studying with a buzz. But what I can take away from all of this is that The Chosen One is right. There, I said it. He is my Allah. My Thompson Street, Zappa, Allah-Dude. Praise Almighty.
It's world hegemony time. The only problem is that there is no end in sight, hence, who's next. The way I see it, Wolfy and Rummy would like to pull Iran into the game and go after a country that could complete the puzzle to the Middle East. Wolfy got those boys in Saudi Arabia under control for now and Kuwait is more Americanized than downtown Wilkes-Barre. There is always that joke of a country, Wild Turkey. Hell, the people vote to keep us off their land as a staging area and that causes a big stir. We'll have to get on those slackers at a later date.
It's just this little Iraq thing that concerns most sane people. It's like those little creatures don't want us there. Don't they know that democracy is the wave of the future.
What happens between now and the election is simple. Dodge, spin, remember the compassionate conservative mantra, round up some cattle on the ranch, throw out a couple of WMD jokes, keep the electorate scared with raised terror threats....of course during the RNC convention, and the greatest stunts of all, have Bush return to an aircraft carrier and say that the end of combat during Round 2 of the Iraq War has been finalized. Rove has this on his refrigerator next to his shopping list. Iran, Syria, North Korea.
As far as coffee with the Chosen One, aka Zappa Bush Dude, I must pass. However, if you like White Zin, I have half a box left. Bring your GWB mug and I'll use my Kerry stein and we'll race. I used to handle lead off in six man (Southern Baptist style) keg stand races so your pansy ass may not be able to keep up.
I leave you all with what the US imperialistic, world domination has brought upon us over the last year. Stand back to get a good view.
http://photomatt.net/archives/2004/04/07/mosaic/
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Wilkes U. Spring Semester: ECON 405. Prof. Chosen One -- Ethel Hozniak, 11:32:06 04/11/04 Sun [1]
"....it's a war to ensure that the U.S. dollar hegemony remains intact from the threat of the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency."
That is too deep, Zappa Dude.
I'd really like a link to the theory that the WMD's were shipped out on the last Greyhound out of Baghdad. Show us a link and not one to your reputable NewsMax source. At least give us a Washington Times link.
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Conservative????? -- Huh??, 23:41:45 04/07/04 Wed [2]
Mark,
Thanks for justifying the deaths of many Americans for nothing more than a vendetta from a decade ago. Perhaps you can come here and be our new Public Information Officer?
Siaire al crap
I'm astonished that any Republican can have the "Stay the course" attitude when there are armed forces and American Civilians being treated like Jewish Settlers in the middle of Palestine. Are you guys really serious? Why are we even there? Oh, that's right, for the ficticious WMD's!? How about this for a reality check, We've had more troops killed since the "Almighty" that conservatives know him as, declared an end of major combat ops. For what, "Dad, I got em for you!" At what cost? Only a couple hundred American boys and girls. Oh, that's right, they were only democratic supporters anyway. Let's face it, they may've gotten Saddam, but hey what about the reason for even going to the middle east in the first place? Hey Usama, how is life? I'm guessing that the Republican party still firmly believes that he was really killed in all the bombing runs after 9/11. How about the thought of finishing one war before starting another? Hmm...can you remember how the Germans were defeated? For anyone to blast a veteran who served combat takes balls. As for the voting history of the Patriot Act, how about the fact that we were dealing with an emotional time and more importantly, if one congressperson or senator would've voted against the norm it would've been anti-American to do so.
All that say our president was justified in sacrificing our men and women in Iraq, I would suggest that you travel to your local recruiter and take up arms. You make that long journey to Kuwait. You take a long ride from Kuwait to Iraq. More importantly, you have shots fired at or near you and say to yourself that we're here for a good purpose. My @ss, you would be wishing that you were home in your snug lifestyle.
I know a little about what the troops are going through. I fully support the men, and women in uniform deal with Iraq aggression on a daily basis.
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Re: Conservative????? -- Scott Pagodin, 10:49:36 04/09/04 Fri [1]
>Mark,
I'm game....here goes. Perhaps the only useful babble that came from "huh's" post was his first words. "Thank you."
I am suprised that any self proclaimed veteran can still be confused as to "why we are there." It takes nothing more than a politically ignorant baboon like myself to understand that we are in Iraq and other theaters for one main reason. AND WMD's IS NOT IT! It amazes me that we are still hooked on this debate of WMD and our decision to invade Iraq on the suspicion that Saddam had them, to me the whole conversation is petty. Perhaps, "huh" is watching the same TV that I am...too bad for us.
Let's not forget WE WERE ATTACKED, was it the doing of Iraq? Probably not, but when we set out to combat idiots with bombs on their backs we committed to hold anyone accountable for offering safe haven to these cowards. Hands down there is no one that will deny Saddam's regime had direct involvment with training, directing, and harboring terrorist activity. WMD would be a bonus in my book but I am sure that the Ace of Spades was not a depiction of enriched uranium, and I am sure that if we were "oil hungry" Iraq would not be a priority.
Energy: Top 100 Oil production
Country Description Amount
1. Saudi Arabia 8,680
2. United States 7,698
3. Russia 7,698
4. Mexico 3,585
5. China 3,387
6. Iran 3,366
7. Norway 3,330
8. Venezuela 2,942
9. Canada 2,880
10. United Kingdom 2,463
11. United Arab Emirates 2,270
12. Iraq 2030
13. Nigeria 2013
14. Kuwait 1871
15. Algeria 1659
16. Brazil 1500
17. Libya 1376
18. Indonesia 1278
19. Kazakhstan 989
20. Angola 905
21. Oman 902
22. Malaysia 833
23. Argentina 800
24. India 793
25. Qatar 755
It seems to me that the only viable reason "that we are there" remains relevant to the declaration of War on that day we somehow forget the pain we endured and the possibility that if not addressed could happen again. Let's even go as far as to form a commission to investigate whether we knew about an attack on 9/11...S**t its too bad we can't ask for Nostradamus to take the stand..
Further more I am disgusted by a challenge to "take up arms" at your local recruiter and march the "long trail" from Kuwait to Iraq. All I have to ask is "Huh?" You are seriously disillusioned if you think that are troops are over there saying "oh crap, what am I doing here." "I'd rather be sipping margaritas and holding hands with the girl next door." You were correct when you said "I know a little about..."
I am 26 years old and trust me you fool. I HAVE taken that trip to the recruiter, I committed 2 years of my friggin life BEGGING to be a Marine- I woke up every morning before school to go to PT with the local recruiter and had the privelage to meet some of the most driven individuals in my life. I was dissapointed with my trip to MEPS because they denied my eligibility for the Branch because of a knee operation I had had when I was 8, and borderline asthma. And you know what? Bill Clinton was in office, and if you want me to say that only democratic supporters enlist, well not from me!! I wanted to be a part of something PATRIOTIC, I grew up with people that took there hat off and were proud when they saw the flag. It stood for something to them, and they too had served. And to the best of my knowledge they raised their hand just as I did and ALL of our soldiers have that serve in Iraq. So, since I have already met your silly challenge, I give you one...Take a bus (comfy one if you like, "snug" is better)get off in New York city, and march your ass over to the "former" World Trade Center site. Then come back tell me how you felt and whether you think that we should be in Iraq?
So yes, "Thank you Mark" for reminding me how important a reason that we are in Iraq. Feel free to email me!
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Baseball Vs. Politics -- Ethel Hozniak, 13:18:54 04/04/04 Sun [1]
From April 4th edition of the 'Chosen Ones' column. Edited for Wilkes-Barre Online clarity. Ever play MadLibs. Here's my version.
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The (United States) have one thing that the (French) sorely lack. Namely, (George Bush). This guy has been the (United States) skipper for 13 seasons, and 12 of them have resulted in division titles. Others have been named (President) of the Year, while (Bush) continued to be snubbed by his peers. The thinking was that the (United States) were a rich ball club. Their payroll has always been near the top, but the turnover on that club has been steady, if not downright scary. Still, (Bush) and (Cheney) led the latest installment of the (United States) to the top of the (World) heap. 13 may be an unlucky number and all, but as our former mayor taught us: You can't count your theaters until they're built.
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Where are ya? -- Pink Floyd, 23:51:53 03/24/04 Wed [2]
Is anybody out there?
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Re: Where are ya? -- looker, 10:27:13 03/25/04 Thu [1]
>Is anybody out there?
mark is away for a little..be bak on thursday friday the latest
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Osama or Saddam -- Dean Howard, 20:14:11 03/17/04 Wed [1]
Since you are now on a Osama kick, I'm wondering if you have an opinion on these:
What is/was a higher priority? Taking out Saddam or Osama.
Who is/was a bigger threat to the free world? Saddam or Osama.
Who is/was more likely to organize a threat against the United States or its allies? Saddam or Osama.
Who has attempted/completed more attacks against the United States or its allies? Saddam or Osama.
Seems funny that a year after turning all the attention to Saddam there sits a man in a mountain range that is gleefully chearing his groups actions around the world.
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ST. PATTY'S DAY PARADE -- HOSECHICK, 08:24:41 03/15/04 Mon [1]
JUST WANTED TO SAY HOW NICE EVERYBODY LOOKED AT THE PARADE YESTERDAY. WHAT A GREAT TURNOUT FOR THE 1ST. PARADE UNDER THE NEW MAYOR!!!! WAY TO GO!!!!
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ST. PATTY'S DAY PARADE -- HOSECHICK, 08:22:39 03/15/04 Mon [1]
JUST WANTED TO SAY HOW NICE EVERYBODY LOOKED AT THE PARADE YESTERDAY. WHAT A GREAT TURNOUT FOR THE 1ST. PARADE UNDER THE NEW MAYOR!!!! WAY TO GO!!!!
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My Bone -- Markie, 09:18:16 03/14/04 Sun [1]
Ethel. I'm worried about you. Much like me, I suspect that you're spending too much time on the internet. My hat is off to you though. That was the longest post anyone ever bothered to post and you definately put some work into it. Can Dean Howard.com be far behind?
What is your point? That Republicans make all sorts of stupid and less than thought out statements? I think we already knew that. Both sides are guilty as charged. My fave has to be, "We need safer guns and safer bullets." Or when Bush I called a female political opponent a bitch. Ooops! Gotcha!
Are you equating stupid comments, even hurtful comments, with voting on whether to assassinate elected officials? You don't see a difference? I know many of you out there tend to see just about any comment as some sort of hate speech, but these guys were talking about murdering people. No biggie? Pat Robertson is way out there, so none of that should matter?
Identity crisis? Me? Not at all. I did vote for Mcg once, Steve Flood twice, Steve Urban once, and Tom Leighton. I'll vote for who I perceive to be the best candidate and quite frankly, Kerry ain't it. The coffee offer sounds doable, but you need to debate and tone down the name-calling. I suspect that you launched into the longer post after realizing just how completely pathetic the shorter one was that accused me of being a butt slammer.
And what's wrong with believing in Tom Leighton? Has he worn out his welcome after only 60 days? Were they late picking up your recyclables or something? You don't worship at the curb, do you? If you wanna fight, I look forward to it, but remember, I didn't speculate about your sexual preferences as you did mine.
You make reference to all sorts of ridiculous comments while you yourself make every effort to insult. I'm heading down to the parade and I'll be sure to make our mayor aware of the fact that you think he's my butt buddy.
Maybe we really should do the coffee thing before you attempt to "out" anyone else.
Ass-assinate Now!
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Take your pick Mr. Dali Llllama -- Ethel Hozniak, 22:20:26 03/12/04 Fri [1]
I'll even provide where the quotes come from, something you would never think of doing. There are so many favorites of mine. Let me know which you like. Maybe we can have a coffee and tofu donut and discuss, you dig.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." - George W. Bush, discussing Kosovo, Houston Chronicle, 04-09-99
"I said on my program, if, if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again." - Bill O'Reilly, on ABC's Good Morning America, 03-18-03
"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus—living fossils—so we will never forget what these people stood for." - Rush Limbaugh, Denver Post, 12-29-95
"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual gay sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. All of those things are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family and that's sort of where we are in today's world, unfortunately. It all comes from, I would argue, the right to privacy that doesn't exist, in my opinion, in the United States Constitution." - Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Associated Press, 04-22-03
"I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you. This is not a message of hate; this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor." - Pat Robertson, speaking of organizers putting rainbow flags up around Orlando to support sexual diversity, The Washington Post, 06-10-98. For the record, Orlando remains undestroyed by meteors.
"Environmentalists are a socialist group of individuals that are the tool of the Democrat Party. I'm proud to say that they are my enemy. They are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans." - Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Alaska Public Radio, 08-19-96
"When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he's being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks." - Rush (currently under investigation for drug use) Limbaugh, on the death of Jerry Garcia, 08-20-95.
"I don't understand how poor people think." - George W. Bush, confiding in the Rev. Jim Wallis, The New York Times, 08-26-03
"Get rid of the guy. Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him." - Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah), talking about President Clinton, as reported by journalist Steve Miner of KSUB radio who overheard his conversation, 11-01-98
"We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." - Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Mother Jones, 08-95
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to The New York Times building." - Ann Coulter, The New York Observer, 08-26-02
"Homosexuals want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers." - Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 01-18-95
"And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign." - Donald Rumsfeld, defenselink.mil, 04-09-03
"Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist." - Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), House Majority Whip, during a debate on increasing the minimum wage, Congressional Record, H3706, 04-23-96
"Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law, in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of the past—I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew how to deal with potential trouble—recognized that the families of objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a crime to be the wife or child of an 'enemy of the people.' The Nazis used the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, 'clan liability.' In Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished 'to the ninth degree': that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed and everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed." - John Derbyshire, National Review, 02-15-01
"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." - Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 01-08-92
"Probably nothing." - Jeb Bush, during his losing 1994 bid for Florida Governor, when asked what he would do for black people, quoted by Salon on 10-05-02
"The homosexual blitzkrieg has been better planned and executed than Hitler's." - Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-Calif.), The New Republic, 08-01-94
"When lawlessness is abroad in the land, the same thing will happen here that happened in Nazi Germany. Many of those people involved in Adolph Hitler were Satanists. Many of them were homosexuals. The two things seem to go together." - Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 01-21-93
"Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." - Lt. General William G. Boykin, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, The New York Times, 10-17-03
"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors." - Ann Coulter, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, 02-26-02
"I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." - Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, NPR Morning Edition, 05-25-01
"I don't agree that you need an enormous number of American troops. Saddam's army is down to one-third than it was before, and I think it would be a cakewalk." - Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board, to Wolf Blitzer on CNN, 12-06-01
"The fact of the matter is that this (increased American casualties) is a sign of the success of our operation, not its failure." - Ralph Reed, GOP strategist, on MSNBC's program 'Hardball,' 10-28-03
"There are some who feel that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation." - George W. Bush, The Chicago Tribune, 07-03-03
"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason." - Paul Wolfowitz, quoted by Tim Russert on 'Meet The Press, NBC, 06-01-03 (from a Vanity Fair acticle)
"Quit looking at the symbols. Get out and get a job. Quit shooting each other. Quit having illegitimate babies." - State Rep. John Graham Altman (R-SC), addressing African-American concerns about the 'symbol' of the Confederate Flag, The New York Times, 01-24-97
"Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity. The degree these two have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men." - State Rep. Don Davis (R-NC), e-mailed to every member of the North Carolina House and Senate, reported by The Fayetteville Observer, 08-22-01
"NOW is saying that in order to be a woman, you've got to be a lesbian." - Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 12-03-97
"My biggest fear is going to be going to the funeral of some young Iowa man or woman who dies in this conflict and having their mother or father come up to me and ask whether or not their son or daughter died for America, or died to save Bill Clinton's presidency. I don't know what I would say to those grieving parents. For that reason I believe the President must resign immediately." - Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA), Congressional Record, H11963, 12-18-98
"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's gonna happen? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" - Barbara Bush, said on 'Good Morning America' the day before the Iraq war started, The New York Times, 01-13-03
"I'm the commander—see, I don't need to explain—I don't need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation." - George W. Bush, Washington Post, 11-19-02
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Singular NutSack -- Ethel Hozniak, 21:54:26 03/12/04 Fri [1]
I thought you told us awhile back that you'd list yourself as an independent if you could. Sounds to Ethel like you are having an identity crisis. There isn't a bone in your body that isn't Republican. Only the bone that is attached to Tom Leighton's ass.
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HOW QUIET IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- watcher @ reader, 09:19:54 03/04/04 Thu [1]
i am so amazed at how this site was blasting the firemen, their chief and so on and now here it is a couple of weeks later and all is so quiet!!!! my opinion, i assume that since larry and chris spoke up front it shut you big mouths with no b----- up! all i have to say is way to go to larry and chris!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Stick a Sock In the Pie Hole -- Ethel Hozniak, 10:14:30 02/28/04 Sat [1]
(Limbaugh, Savage, Reagan, Hannity, etc. Rip-off Artist) His [Kerry] contention was that un-checked brutality and illegal killings were the norm. Sorry, but that's complete hogwash. Where did he see all of this horror? From his boat in the middle of a river?
You really must research before reaching with such comments. I'll give you just a small snippet. There is much more where this comes from.
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/12/brinkley.htm
From Douglas Brinkley's book:
About fifty yards down the path Kerry and Medeiros came upon the crumpled remains of Bac She De. "I never want to see anything like it again," Kerry wrote.
I remembered easily who he was—the loud, boisterous, fat, impish, man, who was something of a ring leader among the Nungs and who had endeared himself to everyone by his funny face. What was left was human and yet it wasn't—a person that had been only a few moments earlier and that now was a horrible mass of torn flesh and broken bones; bent and bloody, limbs contorted and distorted as they could never be alive. Most of his stomach was hollowed out and there was a huge hole that went through his mouth and nose and out the other side. I didn't really want to look and so I concentrated on working, avoiding contact with any personality.
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So I guess it was impossible for Kerry to see atrocities take place from the Swift that he commanded.
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I'll reveal my identity -- Ethel Hozniak, 08:24:16 02/28/04 Sat [1]
There it is. You got me. I'm Ethel.
By the way, you want to know why your boys are coming to the defense of Stern. Well.....they could be the next ones down the line. Rush's drug habit depends upon his ability to rail against anything a Dem does.
Also, did you know who is the Vice Chairman of Clear Channel? I just don't see a connection between Clear Channel and the White House. Do you?
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Zordork: Protector of the World, Savage Wannabe -- Dean Howard, 08:04:09 02/28/04 Sat [1]
(Kerry): I would like to talk, representing all those veterans (VVAW), and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command....
They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.
(Ego-Testicle One):To listen to him tell it, he's the only Vietnam Vet that didn't collect the eyeballs of toddlers and he's full of sh*t.
(Dean Howard): You're right, let's read the whole testimony. What you write is reckless. Re-read the first paragraph of his testimony. 150.....150 testified of these events taking place. Not the general population of GI's. He was representing a group of soldiers numbering in the thousands that wanted the country to know what was really going on in the jungles.
http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html
(Ego-Testicle One) "The guy was there for four months, received stitches three times, and quickly opted out."
So what. He did his time and got out. One more day in those jungles is one more day closer to death.
One more and I'm done.
(Zordork): "And what is Kerry's message? I'll do the exact opposite of Bush."
I want you to prove that statement.
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PSI-Take off your blinders -- Dean Howard, 07:20:16 02/27/04 Fri [2]
PSI,
I've given you this link before. Maybe you didn't read up but your boy is being told by states that his plan is not going to be possible. It's not just those crazy Dems. Your boys are down on his plans as well, or maybe the guys in this story just aren't true Republicans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A43173-2004Jan23¬Found=true
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And the beat goes on -- Dean Howard, 09:47:26 02/27/04 Fri [1]
Just found this one for you PSI.
If these were basketball scores it would be insane, but this is a state vote where those blood brothers of yours are voting against GDub.
Utah: 64-8
Virginia: 98-1
What was that again about Dems destroying the education of this country. Bush is only trying to strap these states with even worse money woes than they already have.
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1150544p-8016494c.html
Have at it....if you wish.
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Ultimate Challenge for the Ego-Testical One -- Dean Howard, 09:29:37 02/27/04 Fri [1]
Zordork: Maybe you could track down someone to claim $10,000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3514867.stm
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Tiger Force -- Dean Howard, 07:15:25 02/27/04 Fri [1]
Zorcong: Another nice cut and paste to support your argument against Kerry. Too bad there are cut and dry answers to the story. The cutting off ears did happen. Villages were ravaged. Innocent people were killed. War crimes did occur. It's just that our government never did anything about it. And to top all this off, one such gentleman who actually admits to murders, collects a pension from your tax dollars.
Read up. It may not hurt to know the story before railing against it.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SRTIGERFORCE
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Day 1 -- Private Sector Dude, 05:43:49 01/06/04 Tue [2]
Hey Mark,
Perhaps you could change your "# days until January 5th" line to "Day 1 of Progress". Happy New Year everyone, and what a year it is going to be.
Kayak Dude-I hope you are not out frozen in ice on some river somewhere. If so, don't worry, you'll be thawed out by the next block party. Only about 7 months until the next one.
Copper Dude-Amy still rocks, but only in a huge way. Can you say Grammy? Can you say multiple Grammys (5 nominations)? Already have 2 Billboard Awards. Can you say Goth chicks are just damned sexy?
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Re: Day 1 -- Kayak Dude, 16:09:10 02/20/04 Fri [1]
Kayak Dude is alive and well and ready for another great year on the River of the Year for 2004...the North branch of the Susquehanna. I couldn't find anyone to go kayaking these past few months, but then again...most of the streams in southeastern PA are still frozen. The first big event of this year is on 4/4/4. Later.
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Bravo to Chris -- Larry, 13:54:30 02/20/04 Fri [1]
Way to go Chris. I have said it in the past; if you post something on this site (that is paid for by someone else I might add,) you should have the guts to post your own name and not hide behind another goofy name. Chris pretty much said it like it is. Grow a set already folks. Put your name on your way out accusations.
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on the sidelines - look and listen -- Christopher Buchanan - Executive Board member, 10:36:59 02/20/04 Fri [1]
In response to a post: "on the sidelines", by someone calling themselves: Look and Listen, with the email Rightisright.rightisright.com:(?)
It has been some time since I have ventured into the blog....specifically since the fall of 2003 when the blog changed and became very hard to scroll through. So, when to my surprise, a good friend of mine mentioned that I should take a look b/c of a posting about the eboard and what we are doing regarding benefits and promotions, my interest was peaked.
With that said, I simply would like to state for the record that you sir/madam are sadly mistaken about the true intentions of this board. We have the ultimate responsibility to represent all of you, and I take great offense that you would hide behind your words, and assume such decisions are being made for personal gain. Let me state this very clear....FACT, we have done our best to represent all of you. FACT, we have worked for the betterment of this organizations members. FACT, we have not done anything that can be in anyway associated as deceptive or underhanded. When you insult my hard work to protect the jobs, interests and families of those we represent I take offense. YOU ARE WRONG!
As a fire fighter, civil servant, union member, taxpayer, and resident of this city, all considerations were given to discussions held and their impact to the current membership. At no time...repeat...no time was the word promotion mentioned by any board member during the past discussions with the administration or the past arbitration that was just held. You better think twice about judging the two togeher, b/c you are dead wrong to associate the two. I will stand behind my committment to the job, my education, and my training when it comes to any possible promotions in the future. I think any board member being considered for promotion could and would say the same. To insult all the hard work and time we have spent trying to come to an agreement with our members interests, and the city's concerns in check, proves to me that you don't understand the total picture of our professional employment, our union, our city, or the demands set forth by the current economic times we all are facing and the consequences and difficulties that are to follow in the coming months and years. If you had a pair you would tell me yourself about this concern face to face, at work, or during a meeting. I will, and this board will ALWAYS listen to the concerns of our fellow brothers and sisters. Come talk to us, or stand behind your words when you allow the entire world to see what you post. Instead of being a coward, come offer a possible solution. Instead of being ignorant to the facts, show me the committment that you can provide to this organization. Prove to me that you aren't as ignorant as your posting makes you out to be....prove me wrong.
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BOO HOO HOO -- Larry, 13:56:48 02/18/04 Wed [1]
Bottom line to all this bickering is this: THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE DOING ALL THE BICKERING ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ARE THE SAME PEOPLE THAT WERE ALIGNED WITH EITHER McGROARTY OR HIS CRONIES. THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH SAID, HOWEVER YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THOSE COMBINATIONS DID NOT WORK FOR THIS CITY OR ANY EMPLOYEES OF THE CITY. NOW THAT YOU HAVE LOST YOUR POSITIONS FOR WHATEVER REASON, YOU ARE ONCE AGAIN TRYING TO CAUSE TURMOIL IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. LET ME ASSURE YOU, YOU ARE VERY MUCH OUTNUMBERED THIS TIME. WE HAVE LEARNED A HARD LESSON FROM OUR MISTAKES OF THE PAST, WE WILL NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. AS FAR AS ANYONE ELSE WONDERING ABOUT THE BROTHERHOOD ON THE DEPARTMENT, YOU CAN BE ASSURED THE MEN ARE FOR THE MOST PART UNITED. IT IS LIKE A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE RECENTLY SAID, CANCER STRIKES MANY FAMILIES; THE FIRE DEPARTMENT HAS SOME MEMBERS WHO ARE A CANCER TO THE DEPARTMENT. THEY ARE ONCE AGAIN SHOWING THEIR UGLY HEAD AFTER SCREWING UP THE LAST THREE YEARS AND TRYING NOW TO DISCREDIT OTHER GOOD PEOPLE. GET A LIFE ALREADY. THE MEN ARE NOT BUYING IT THIS TIME.
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The Truth -- Tom B, 10:43:54 02/18/04 Wed [1]
If everyone would stop insulting each other about the recent demotions. Isn't it any new Mayor's right to demote anyone he pleases? Especially if they are detrimental to the dpeartment they are running. A Question, why would the new Mayor want to be saddled with McG's political flunkies who at best were inadequate at their jobs, when there are experienced people who are excellent at what they do? I mean the facts are the facts. One of the biggest fact is Mcg pushed and promoted the last fire chief who had a total of SEVEN year on the Wilkes-Barre Fire Dept. Date of hire Feb 1993. This is just one fact that the people whom are complaining should know there are alot of others, that can be named
Thanks for your time
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give it up already -- hosechick, 04:37:48 02/18/04 Wed [1]
i just read some of the postings here and all i have to say to those who are bashing lisman and leighton is GIVE IT UP!!!!!!!!! stop your whining and move on..life goes on whether you agree or not with the goings on. in my opinion i think you are just pissed that you either got demoted or you didn't get the job you wanted. no matter how you feel it isn't going to change a thing...are new chief is LISMAN and our new mayor is LEIGHTON two of who i know and think they are the best,but then that's my opinion....so no matter how you bash either one they are here and they aren't going anywhere so just adjust to it!!!!!!
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give it up already -- hosechick, 04:35:52 02/18/04 Wed [1]
i juts read some of the postings here and all i have to say to those who are bashing lisman and leighton is GIVE IT UP!!!!!!!!! stop your whining and move on..life goes on whether you agree or not with the goings on. in my opinion i think you are just pissed that you either got demoted or you didn't get the job you wanted. no matter how you feel it isn't going to change a thing...are new chief is LISMAN and our new mayor is LEIGHTON two of who i know and think they are the best,but then that's my opinion....so no matter how you bash either one they are here and they aren't going anywhere so just adjust to it!!!!!!
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Re.City Hall/Ziggy -- Resident, 09:43:41 02/17/04 Tue [3]
WHO HAS SOUR GRAPES??????? Where do you live next door to Lisman or Leighton??????Lisman is not the logical choice it was a political one and nothing more. Your so-called facts are your opinion to which you are entitled but they are not the true facts.
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Re: Re.City Hall/Ziggy -- ziggy, 18:13:07 02/17/04 Tue [1]
That's an awful lot of question marks after your questions. Are you angry? If you think Lisman was such a bad choice, then who would you think should have gotten the job? Who? I'm not a neighbor of Lisman, or Leighton. I stated the FACTS, and if you have anything to the contrary, I suggest you post them here. Try to keep your anger in check. You are making yourself sound very bitter. Remember, these were all politically appointed positions. All the people who are crying about losing their jobs jumped through their own as*holes for McG and stepped on alot of toes in doing it.
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Re: Re.City Hall/Ziggy -- zub, 19:08:20 02/17/04 Tue [1]
I think that you were asked a question. Were you interviewed? Were you fired/demoted? Ziggy answered all your questions, you should answer his. As for the "true facts", explain yourself. Tell us the facts.
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Can't say F*CK -- snake, 11:29:58 02/17/04 Tue [2]
I can't understand this....... Talking to DORKONG aka @sshole aka Roostersucker he tells me I can't write my true feelings and say curse words because of some user friendly SH!T. So anyway..........
Town has gone to the SH!THOUSE. Wilkes-Barre is a cess pool rumor has it that the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Athority is consdiring using PUBLIC Square as a treamant facility, Well at least new jobs are on the way
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Re: Can't say F***** -- Master Debater, 17:29:17 02/17/04 Tue [1]
Hold on there - Snakeman. Dorkong can't help himself. First it was the hoddogs, now it's a squished eclair in someone's shorts. Face it - the man has a problem. Don't vent your anger - show some compassion, Slitherpuss. Dorkong is in need of some real help. If he follows the patterns of past weinerphobes, he'll be stealing oversized cucumbers from his nice neighbors' garden across the street and/or stuffing monster zukkinis in someone's tailpipe. Or worse -hijacking the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile and racing clockwise around Publik Square. Forget about restricted profanity man, the real issue at hand is saving Dorkong before it's too late.
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Must Read -- Dean Howard, 12:11:47 02/17/04 Tue [1]
So if Kerry accused Americans of war crimes he would be wrong?
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SRTIGERFORCE
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on the sidelines -- look and listen, 11:18:30 02/17/04 Tue [1]
Here we go...hang on kids...the magical know it all board,will try to force their great work and concessions
upon their fellow brothers and sisters without any discussion about how and why? We know the real how and why however,it's time to take advantage of their positions and be promoted.
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Ziggy -- W-B Resident, 09:31:35 02/17/04 Tue [1]
WHO HAS SOUR GRAPES??????? You must live next door to Leighton!!!!!!!!!!!
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City Hall -- Clear Thinking, 10:24:21 02/16/04 Mon [2]
You didn't read Response correctly. It was stated just as you did. Being demoted is not better than being let go. There are emotional, financial and paychological impacts.
You must remember that Leighton was a member of City Council all the years of the previous administration and must bear some of the responsibility for the condition of the city.
If he were not looking to fatten his own pocket then why not lead by example and cut his $78,000+ expenses salary. Even 10,000 would benefit the city. Hell, he has another income.....
Make someone Fire Chief would isn't already taking a pension from the city along with a salary(plus adding to his future pension thru a new fund). Leighton also might look to someone who isn't afraid to fight a fire.
Take away Health Care benefits from council members who are
part-timer as well as the Medical Director who is never avaiable when needed. Dr Consalvo works full time in the hospital. Don't they offer Health Care?
It seems you lack facts ......... The witch hunt is being led by Leighton. His so called Transition Team is also a joke. Why were interviews only conducted in Departments that Leighton had issues with? He answers every question regarding appointments with"The Transition Team made that dicision." Lets see some hard facts.......
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Re: City Hall -- Ziggy, 09:08:22 02/17/04 Tue [1]
>You need to understand that all the people who were let go, or demoted, were given their jobs by the previous administration. Look at the facts. The Haywards didn't do a freakin thing to earn their inflated salaries, Jerry Ryan couldn't tie his own shoes and was a complete idiot to the public. The Fiorucci's were given patronage jobs to keep Don off comp. Kosciolek and Turinski were demoted because they never should have been promoted in the first place. One was promoted because of a hefty campaign contribution, and the other to spite the union. Delaney was demoted to the rank the last civil service rank he attained, captain. (he attained the rank of captain when McG made an opening by assigning another inspector) As far as Lisman goes, he was the next LOGICAL choice for the chiefs job before Delaney got promoted. He also took a $HEFTY$ pay cut when he found out he could not freeze his pension. The logical thing to do.I'm not defending Lisman, I'm just making the facts known. Sounds to me like there are some sour grapes in your post. Were you interviewed? Were you fired or demoted?
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response about 2 /14 -- Jerome, 14:53:41 02/15/04 Sun [1]
You seem to think that the hose dudes have no right to express there concerns over the tainted new adminstration .Maybe they feel like they were used or stabbed in the back or soon to be stabbed........ If that is the case then it would seem to me YOU only care about what you decide is fact ..Gee and i thought this was America.Wasn't it not to long ago when you were doing alot of bashing of the last adminstration ? Sometimes you printed half truths and misguided facts that you thought were ok to print . I would hope that you give all the "Hose Dudes" their chance,like you always had, to express what they feel...As far as the comment that Fiorucci made, you need to think about it ....James Hayward Gone, Shannon Hayward gone ,Jerry Ryan Gone, Jill Ryan off the board , Jerry Mcgroarty gone,Joyce Fiorucci gone, Chief Delaney Demoted ,Deputy Chief Fiorucci Demoted ,Assistant Chief Turiniski notified of demotion, Assisant Chief Koscielick Notified of Demotion ,16 people in local 1300 out of positions, with only 13 being offered to rebid .I'm sure others will follow .So you can check it out if you want or maybe you have a job promised ???? Dont forget to ck your city calender for events. Oh, I'm sorry I forgot, even tho this new guy put $13,000.00 for calenders this year in his perfect balanced budget {and a lot of other misaligned items] we dont have calenders...Have a great day
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Its hard to beleive my ears! -- Disappointed, 16:50:58 02/03/04 Tue [1]
If you work for a company and the boss squandered the company's money to the point they are broke usually yes the employees do have to take some kind of hit, BUT, at least there is almost all the time an INVESTIGATION of that boss AND the boss USUALLY DOES NOT walk away scott free,at least with an INVESTGATION it would give some kind of example that this would not be tolerated again. To not do so, would be ludicrious and that is how this all sounds lately.
Telling workers that have served this city many, many years and put their lives on the line most of their career to weigh their employment options is shameful, especially when nothing is currently being done to investigate why this city went so wrong. Coming from the private sector previously, you would almost never, ever hear of such a ludicrious sitiuation. How can anyone be assured that this will never happen again when it just has without anything being done or at least some kind of explanation?
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Wondering -- Wondering, 00:41:22 01/31/04 Sat [2]
I was just wondering, how do we justify giving city council a $500 raise, when we are asking unions to pay 30% of their healthcare?
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Re: Wondering -- McDick, 21:24:30 02/01/04 Sun [1]
I'm tired of you complainers. Shut up and pay up.
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Snow Removal -- Ethel Hozniak, 09:55:59 01/28/04 Wed [1]
I would just like to congratulate the road crew who had N. Main St. clear for me to make it to bingo this morning. Great job.
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lawsuit? -- ditto, 07:50:45 01/27/04 Tue [1]
how can elected officals and those placed in charged for eight years have no retraints on what they can and cannot spend on projects and equipment? how can they have no system of checks and balances placed on them? how can they squander millions of taxpayer dollars and not be held accountable? the taxpayers of wilkes-barre should file a class action lawsuit against those deemed responsible for the misuse of taxpayer monies.
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Totally right! -- Confused, 07:30:24 01/26/04 Mon [1]
I was thinking the same thing myself today right is right, about 9/11 and how quickly some forget. You are also exactly right about this is like asking military to also pay for their benefits. We hae been told we may have to take a bite of the "shit sandwich" but as far as I am concerned we ate the sandwich, hogie, and what ever else was thrown at us during the past eight years. How much more are we supposed to endure, this is certainly NOT your typical job scenario, we all know some people must contribute a part of their pay to their health care, but are do these same people deal with what being a public servant does? While we all want a better city to live in, some of us also do NOT want to lose our homes in the process. Also, I would like to know why it wasn't brought out in the open a few months ago this plan for our health care, it would have been nice to have a little fair warning to maybe start making some financial planning of our own.
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right on -- right is right, 06:52:22 01/26/04 Mon [1]
I totally agree with confusion and ditto.The elected officals have NO RIGHT asking the employees to even consider paying for the benefits.Especially when they sat idle for all those years and watched what was happening.It
has only been in the past year or so that they even attemped to put the reins on McG. Why did not they do that several years ago? It only started happening as it was getting closer to election and so much writing was on the wall about McG. and the problems that they had to to save their own political necks. Another thing is have we all forgotten 9-11? How many firefighters and police officers died that day? How many more will suffer and their families from the stress,clean up,toxins,etc..that was exacted upon them? Asking the firefighters and police officers to pay for benefits is like asking the military members to pay for their benefits.We forget that they are our first line of defense here at home.
I have a real problem with fire and police members not having their benefits afforded to them as part of their job pay.Hell,look at the teachers,all politicians,elected officals,county workers,they all make sure they have theirs,when they don't,they either strike or raise taxes to make sure they have theirs.Firefighters and Police officers don't strike,they keep working,with or without a contract to provide their upmost professional services.Have we also forgotten that it was the "vote for me" politicans that caused the problems in the first place? Straighten out the mess by doing everything else possible first before even one should even consider taking away from these men and women(fire and police)who definitly deserve those benefits for themselevs and their families.Their working enviorment in the first place places them at risk for so many things,especially the one biggie everyone forgets about.STRESS..How much stress where they under not only from the everyday duties they face,but the stressful work enviorment they had to deal with for the last 8-12 years under those administrations? Leave them alone.
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Well put ditto! -- Confused, 13:56:46 01/25/04 Sun [1]
Well put ditto! The employees benefits are NOT the real problem here, this is no surprise to anyone that the benefits are paid for, and why shouldn't they be when you are subjected everyday to death and disease or how about when it is carried home to your family and watching your young child almost die in the hospital from one of those great job perks that was carried home.
The blame does not lie with the employees benefits, the blame lies with an administration that ran amok for eight years and should be held accountable for millions and millons of dollars. As a community are we that blind that we are to forget about the past eight years, and be so quick to begrudge the people who are saving our lives, patrolling our crime ridden streets, and putting their own lives day in day out on the line their benefits? Can we do this and then forget the past eight years of being lied to, stolen from, and watching where we live fall apart to nothing because of an administration that we were told nothing could be done about? This does not make any sense at all, and to the comment about the buy-outs, yes it does save the city money with buy-outs, but wouldn't it save even more money if by-outs were stopped all together? There are plenty places of employment in this area that do NOT offer buy outs to their employees. How can employees that are not fortunate enough to participate in a buy-out be asked to pay almost $300 a month toward their family plan, when the buy-outs have just been raised $150 more then what they were.
After eight years of sheer torture, I would love nothing more than to see the negativity end and the city prosper once again, but with so many unanswered questions I just can't see how this is going to happen. How could anyone expect employees to be happy about contributing to health care when we are letting an adminstration basically walk away without accounting for millions and millions of dollars of debt? If that's the case why play the lottery, just run for office!
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Confusion -- Confused, 17:13:38 01/24/04 Sat [4]
I am confused. As I see it, the benefits employees were and are receiving were never a big issue before, but now with all the debt the city has, this is the big issue. First off the big question in my mind as a taxpayer is why was the audit cancelled, this question seems to be falling on deaf ears. Lets start investigating this debt from where it started and maybe there won't be such negative employee feedback with chipping in to help out. Also, another question in my mind is why offer more money to the people who are taking the insurance buyouts, it is currently being offered to employees that are being paid $100.00 a month to an increase of $250.00 a month that are currently taking the buyout if the city can get 15 more employees to participate in this. I think there should be a stop put to the buyouts all together, the more I hear, the more it doesn't make much sense. Can someone elaborate on this?
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Re: Confusion -- Blue Cross, 22:38:38 01/24/04 Sat [1]
Confused,
The reason the city is able to offer a buy out to employees opting out of health insurance coverage is because of the saving to the city. The average plan cost around $12,000 a year. Giving the employee $250 a month comes out to $3,000 for the year. That is a savings of $9,000 on the yearly policy. Hope this clears up some of your confusion.
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Re: Confusion -- ditto, 08:51:21 01/25/04 Sun [1]
ditto
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Re: Confusion -- ditto, 09:20:22 01/25/04 Sun [1]
This is the part that has me crazy.Why is it that it is always the workers/employees that have to bear the burden and feel the financial pain? The workers/employees were not the ones who screwed up the call center deal(over TWO MILLION and counting),the workers/employees were not the ones who screwed up the steam heat demolition fiasco(over $430,000.00 not collected),the employees were not the ones who screwed up the hole in the ground theater project(millions of dollars wasted),the employees were not the ones buying broke down surplus vehicles and equipment,throwing money away on "proud to be" signs,etc.etc....It was the ADMINISTRATION,the elected officals,who all had the opportunity(and in my opinion the moral and professional obligation to do so)to step in and correct things way back when.So don't be bringing all of YOUR(elected officals)mistakes and screw ups on US(workers/employees.You all had the responsibilty way back when to correct this,eight years now,but you choose not to.So do not expect the workers to bear the burden for you now.Especially when the majority of those workers have for many years negotiated contracts with the city(that was benificial to the city),and the majority of the workers have a REAL CONCERN about their everyday duties they preform for the public,everyday they stand the REAL RISK of being killed,shot,stabbed,burned,falls,building collapse,spit on,contracting any number of diseases (HIV,AIDS,HEPATITIS,TB,)from the people who they constantly come in contact with over the course of the work day.And then they also run the risk of bringing it home to their family.So no,please do not expect these workers who clearly deserve the benefits,to pay for the screw up of others.
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Crack Houses in Wilkes-Barre -- Jay, 21:45:02 01/13/04 Tue [2]
154 Northampton Street, 245-247 S.Grant Street, Jades Fashions on Carey Avenue near Jerrys Pizza shop.... From a concerned citizen!
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Re: Crack Houses in Wilkes-Barre -- Jamie, 08:34:40 01/25/04 Sun [1]
You call yourself a concerned citizen. How concerned are you really?????? Sounds like you're a HATER to me!!!! Jade's Fashion is a Clothing Store and it is LEGAL Business!!!! Maybe you can't afford to shop there! If you're that concerned like you say you are then you should name the PLACE you're really talking about----Because IT'S NOT JADES FASHION!!!!!!!! DON'T GET IT CONFUSED!!!!!
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regarding crack houses in wilkes barre -- Jamarr, 08:20:53 01/24/04 Sat [1]
Question to jay, Have you ever purchased crack at jades fashion?
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Virginia: Get with the program -- Dean Howard, 08:16:01 01/24/04 Sat [1]
*Disclaimer: This post comes from the liberal Washington Post. If you don't read such slime, try finding a link from the Rupert Murdoch chain stores like NY Post or Fox News Channel.*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43173-2004Jan23.html?nav=hptop_tb
RICHMOND, Jan. 23 -- The Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates sharply criticized President Bush's signature education program Friday, calling the No Child Left Behind Act an unfunded mandate that threatens to undermine the state's own efforts to improve students' performance.
From the same story, a Republican just ended his career:
No Republicans voted against the resolution, a fact that House Education Committee Chairman James H. Dillard II (R-Fairfax) said is proof that "the damn law is ludicrous."
I just can't believe these kooky Republicans saying such things right after Bush made such a deal about this act in his speech. Maybe Dillard went to Yale or he is just a hillbilly from western Virginia.
PSG, come on brother. Where you at?
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WMD: David Kay Idiot of the Month -- Dean Howard, 07:41:38 01/24/04 Sat [1]
PSG: I assume you don't have a NY Times online account so you'll have to catch the spin of this story on the NY Post or whatever Republican-based site you frequent. Maybe Ann Coulter can spin this one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/24/politics/24WEAP.html?hp
Let me know in your next column if you come across any evidence. I'm guessing if David Kay had a Yale education he might be able to find them.
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PSG: Need a question answered. -- Dean Howard, 07:16:31 01/24/04 Sat [1]
"Yet his Yale education could not give him clairvoyance enough to actually answer callers that would take him to task about his factless opinions."
So what are you saying about a Yale education?
Also, thanks for jumping to conclusions that I don't have a clue as to why people join the military. I wanted you to compare the Washington Post link with the propaganda of the Centcom site. Instead you go and make references to 9/11.
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Name -- Jay, 04:45:26 01/24/04 Sat [1]
The name is there and the email is there..... If you have a problem with what I said then email me!
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Gatherings -- Markie, 13:52:01 01/23/04 Fri [1]
Lar, count me in as long as your wife remains my beer slave for life. And tell her I'm gonna need some pistachios and Bugels too. To Pat Reid I would suggest that you ignore the folks that still cling to their anonimity. When I put this new and improved thingy here I asked everyone to come clean and provide a valid name and e-mail address. Some of us have testies, some of us apparently do not. Ignore the folks that have not risen above the SAYSO pages, because if they can't stand behind their comments their comments don't amount to jack squat. Later
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crack houses in wilkes Barre -- Pat Reid, 06:23:22 01/23/04 Fri [1]
To Jay or the concerned citizens who wrote that Jade's Fashion is a crack house. First of all it shows what type of person you really are by not even posting your name to say who you really are. I quess it is easy to point your finger and make accusations in private, hiding. If you or others believe that, then you need to open up your narrow minds to see that it is a store that caters to the urban fashion world, which is popular among young people. It is time that the city of Wilkes Barre get used to the change without saying that everyone is doing something wrong and spend their time going after the real bad guys.
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Get-togethers -- Shelby, 21:10:38 01/18/04 Sun [1]
Hey Larry, Count us in!!!!
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The Inaugural Ball -- Larry, 11:38:07 01/18/04 Sun [2]
I would just like to congratulate Mayor Leighton for a really nice evening at the ball last night. Everyone I spoke to had a wonderful time. It was nice to once again see people laughing, talking to one another again, and just generally having a good time. How do people feel about getting together monthly, every two months, whatever. We all could pay whatever it costs individually and have a pay bar. Just to get together occasionally would be really nice. Post your thoughts here or contact me via e-mail. If we get a lot of interest, maybe we can keep getting together and not let this momentum drop off. Let me know. I will try to keep track of the responses and let Tom know how you feel about it. Larry schlar5200@msn.com
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Re: The Inaugural Ball -- Larry, 11:39:46 01/18/04 Sun [1]
>I would just like to congratulate Mayor Leighton for a
>really nice evening at the ball last night. Everyone I
>spoke to had a wonderful time. It was nice to once
>again see people laughing, talking to one another
>again, and just generally having a good time. How do
>people feel about getting together monthly, every two
>months, whatever. We all could pay whatever it costs
>individually and have a pay bar. Just to get together
>occasionally would be really nice. Post your thoughts
>here or contact me via e-mail. If we get a lot of
>interest, maybe we can keep getting together and not
>let this momentum drop off. Let me know. I will try to
>keep track of the responses and let Tom know how you
>feel about it. Larry schlar5200@msn.com
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Private Sector Genius -- Dean Howard, 11:36:09 01/17/04 Sat [2]
PSG:
I want you to take a long look at this website. Guess what that Centcom site will never show...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/casualties/facesofthefallen.htm
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Re: Private Sector Genius -- Dean Howard, 12:02:18 01/17/04 Sat [1]
From your last column:
"Yet his Yale education could not give him clairvoyance enough to actually answer callers that would take him to task about his factless opinions."
So what are you saying about a Yale education?
Thought I'd leave you with this dreamy photo.
http://www.anncoulter.org/images/webimages/grave_bg.jpg
P.S.
Can't wait for the next column.
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Banner on N. Main St. -- Ethel Hozniak, 08:07:56 01/15/04 Thu [1]
I'm wondering when Mr. Leighton is going to have his men remove that nasty banner that is still hanging by Oh Yes on N. Main St. My husband and I are big supporters of this city and would like to see it return to the golden days.
Thank you.
Ethel
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ERROR -- Jay, 11:11:11 01/14/04 Wed [2]
Excuse me I made a mistake on the address for Northampton St. INstead of 154 it should be 254... Very Sorry! 254 is where major activity is taking place..
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Re: ERROR -- Jay, 11:12:41 01/14/04 Wed [1]
>Excuse me I made a mistake on the address for
>Northampton St. INstead of 154 it should be 254...
>Very Sorry! 254 is where major activity is taking
>place..
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all is quiet -- linda, 08:35:34 01/13/04 Tue [2]
i guess since you have to sign your name now not to many people want to sound off anymore or cry like a baby!!! oh well at least some people still have the nerve.No one has anything more to say about the new chief or the mayor or about the interviews???? wow maybe then you did grow up but i doubt it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: all is quiet -- linda, 08:36:49 01/13/04 Tue [1]
>i guess since you have to sign your name now not to
>many people want to sound off anymore or cry like a
>baby!!! oh well at least some people still have the
>nerve.No one has anything more to say about the new
>chief or the mayor or about the interviews???? wow
>maybe then you did grow up but i doubt it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hey Private Sector Dude -- Copper Dude, 20:23:30 01/12/04 Mon [1]
Yo PSD,,,Amy AMEN!!! Santa goofed up this year. All I wanted for Christmas was that Evanesence poster in the window at Gallery of Sound in downtown. DAMN!!! I've never seen her looking better. Yeah, that Goth chick is very damned sexy.
Happy New Year PSD!!!
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Private Sector Idiot -- Dean Howard, 08:26:54 01/06/04 Tue [1]
PSI, I hear the 109th could use another soldier. If everything is so good over there join up and give us a full report from inside the country. You know we can't trust the media to give us a true representation.
You are just the guy for the mission.
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CV Story 1/4/03 -- Babs, 00:11:51 01/04/04 Sun [1]
Hey, if you want a good cry, read todays story about McG in the CV paper. What a hoot!!!! I think I will send McG a copy of the song "Don't Cry out Loud" he and the rest of his crew could take turns twirling each other around the room to the tune of it.
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Happy Holidays!!! -- Tom, 09:53:55 12/27/03 Sat [1]
Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!
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Christmas -- Larry, 10:56:38 12/24/03 Wed [1]
Linda and I would just like to wish everyone out there a very happy holiday. We are looking forward to the new year with great anticipation of the City coming back to a vibrant and great place to live like it used to be. Merry Christmas. Larry
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bye bye cupcake! -- jimmy, 01:40:20 12/23/03 Tue [1]
FOR SALE: 3 ancient wreckers to the highest bidder will trade 4 john holmes blow up doll. serious inquiries only.
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This is a nice change -- Joe Citizen, 06:04:16 12/16/03 Tue [1]
Now that things can progress in order I will tune back in.
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'I could have dug a better hole.' -- McDick, 16:53:17 12/14/03 Sun [1]
At least I was able to dig a hole a block wide and put some footers in with the money I stole from Wilkes-Barre. That Saddam idiot couldn't even get his own hole without rats. Sad.
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test -- mark, 17:43:50 12/12/03 Fri [2]
test
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Replies:
[>
Re: test -- Mark, 15:33:04 12/13/03 Sat [1]
Apparently, the pathetic asswipes among us just can't help themselves. A "test?" Some E-tards will do almost anything to protect their identities, while they cast anonymous and baseless assaults upon others. Whatever. Some of us actually possess testicles, while some others among us occasionally enjoy a mouthful of hairy testicle. You know who you are. It must suck to be you.
Mark
P.S. This is only a test of the Emergency Pussy Network
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About time -- Larry, 20:44:21 12/11/03 Thu [1]
Hey folks, its about time we start putting our own names on here. If you are going to accuse or go after someone on this site, you should also have the guts to let everyone know who you are. Grow a set already. Thanks Mark
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New format -- mark, 19:40:46 12/11/03 Thu [1]
I know that very many of you were annoyed by Tripod's newest version of the Blog, so...how's this? Sorry kiddies. No more anonymity. A name and a valid e-mail address is required to post your thoughts here. That should remove the asswipes from the debate.
Mark
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