Wilkes-Barre Council Chair (and head of the Luzerne County Democratic party) Kathy Kane has decided that rambling imbeciles at council meetings should be limited to her side of the bench.

After one too many run-ins with entertaining curmudgeon and council meeting regular  Bob Kadluboski, Kane told the Times-Leader that she wants to address the "behavior, demeanor and attitude" of those who brave her icy stares and dare to speak up at the weekly meetings.

"Kane said she couldn’t offer specific information on the planned changes, but she said she has become increasingly concerned about the way some people conduct themselves at meetings." - Times-Leader July 15, 2012

Not surprisingly, Mary Catherine Roper of the Pennsylvania A.C.L.U. took a dim view of council's attempt to restrain the taxpayer's right to bitch and moan, telling the Times-Leader:

“You can’t require people to act with decorum,” Roper said of Kane’s idea. “Adversarial conditions are never productive, but people – including those holding elective office – are protected by the First Amendment.” - Times-Leader July 20, 2012

Let's face it: most local newspaper websites are a mess. They tend to be driven by automated software that extracts whatever content happens to be in the print pipeline and slaps together a klutzy and awkward assemblage of poorly formatted pages. These sites are not the work of the genius-bar crowd, they are the result of nervous corporate memos and consultants who shlep the same crappy ideas from market to market.

That makes the Citizens' Voice new Wilkes-Barre-centric venture "City Watch" even more surprising.

"CityWatch, a real-time look at the news and events affecting life in Wilkes-Barre City, from potholes and politics to crime and corruption. Check in multiple times a day and join the conversation. Share your concerns and we'll help find solutions. This is our city. This is our blog." - Blurb for the Citizens' Voice "City Watch" blog.

"City Watch" is a dedicated look at the wacky and disturbing world of Wilkes-Barre politics by Andrew Staub. It's a great read and fills in the space between the paper's regular coverage and the unchecked and unhinged kind of stuff you read on the various blogs that cover the city.

Strangely, the blog is hard to find on the C.V.'s website. A search on citizensvoice.com for "Andrew Staub" missed it entirely.

It's worth searching for.

City Watch Blog

Don't count on Wilkes-Barre city attorney Bill Vinsko to play nice with others. Vinsko's been telling anyone with a pulse about his grandiose plans to grab the Congressional brass-ring in 2012. Vinsko's eyeballing the 11^th District Congressional District seat formerly held by Chris Carney and now home to bronzed xenophobe, Lou “Luis” Barletta.

 'Congressional wanna-be Bill Vinsko would happily demonize Obama's healthcare plan to appease voters...'

 A major obstacle in Vinsko's path to glory is Carney's (still unofficial) desire to reclaim his throne and the Democrats who want to see that happen.

Book Review:
THE SECRET KNOWLEDGE
On the Dismantling of American Culture
By David Mamet
241 pp. Sentinel. $27.95.
(Read an excerpt HERE)

 Everybody's getting all crazy because David Mamet has suddenly decided to come out of the closet as a full-blown conservative. Mamet has always been a pretty serious provocateur, so why is this latest turn such a big surprise? Was there a coded message endorsing collectivism in “Glen Gary Glen Ross”?

Just because Mamet's a Jew with his name in lights on Broadway doesn't mean he should be expected to follow in the footsteps of the (very) radical leftists⁽¹⁾ who preceded him.

 Mamet's hardline stance on all things Israel isn't much of a shocker either. Plenty of otherwise liberal Democrats and politicians have followed that path without any problem.⁽²⁾ Leftist, Jewish protestors waving the Palestinian flag was a '60s cliché that went out with Abbie Hoffman.

 So where does Mamet's new found faith derail in spectacular fashion?