Still A Ripoff

Hmm. Gas has jumped anywhere from 20-30 cents in the last week or two, but I see no reason for it.

Just because it isn’t four bucks a gallon doesn’t mean they still aren’t ripping us off.

Oh, and when did the “normal” price jump become 10 cents per gallon? What happened to a couple of cents here and there.

Oh #2, when did the standard difference between 87, 89, and 92 octane premium become 10 cents with each jump? You’ve seen the signs: “$1.69/$1.79/$1.89″. Up until a couple of years ago, there was a 4-6 cent difference gallon. When did these gas cheaters, these ripoff artists, decide it was cool to have 10 cent gaps between gas grades?

They’re all still crooks. All of ‘em. I am not big on generalizing, but in this case I will: All of ‘em. They’re all crooks. Every last one of ‘em. When I see a gas station buck the trend and offer fuel 20-30 cents cheaper than anyone within 50 miles of their station, when they are willing to make a fair profit and not gouge just because the guy down the road is, then I will say there’s a service station/c-store that is not run by a crook. But for now, they’re all crooks.

Senator Franken?

It’s looking more and more like Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota, as he’s taken a 225 vote lead after the exhausting recount up there.

225 votes out of more than 2.5 million cast. Wow. Some (most) people would call that really close, razor thin, a hairsbreadth margin.

Dick Cheney? He’d call it a mandate.

A Sports Pet Peeve

While listening to the BlackHawks radio pregame the other night, I heard the announcer say, “well, the ‘hawks head into tonight five games over .500…”

Chicago’s record at the time was 11-6-7. That is NOT “five games” over .500. Five games over .500 sounds like you’ve won five more than you’ve lost, right?

But the “7″ at the end of the record indicates “overtime/shootout losses”. Losses. That means the Blackhawks were only 11 wins against 13 LOSSES at the time I was listening, and that is NOT “five games over .500″.

It’s a big pet peeve of mine, but darn it, it’s wrong. What they should say, or could say without argument anyway, is that the BlackHawks are “five POINTS over .500″ In hockey you get 2 points for a win and one point for an “overtime/shootout loss”.

So, in 24 games, the BlackHawks had a chance to earn 48 points in the standings. By combining the 11 wins (22 points) with the 7 OT losses (7 points), you’d have 29 points in the standings…out of that 48. Half of 48, or .500, is 24. So that’s how you’d say “the team is 5 points over .500″, and that would then be correct.

Five wins over .500? Impossible. Again, just a pet peeve, but hockey writers/announcers/fans should call it right.

There, I feel better now.

Blago Arrested

Governor Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff have been arrested.

Another bright, shiny day in Illinois politics.

Do ya think Aaron Schock will change his mind and want THIS job? It’s a JOKE, son, I say, it’s a JOKE.

Wanna See Ugly?

Billy Dennis thinks the new proposed design for the hotel near the Civic Center is ugly.

I not only disagree with Billy on his assessment, I offer that he should embrace it, because it could just as easily look like this:

The Man I’ll Never Be

Cranking up some Boston on the way home from work today, and I’m about 15th in line on Route 78 behind a guy who decides 42 MPH is as fast as he can go on the now-perfectly-dry-and-free-of-snow-and-ice-roads. Just when I say to myself, “I hope I’ll never be THAT guy”, Boston starts to rip into “A Man I’ll Never Be”.

So it got me to thinking, and here is my list:

I’ll never be…

- The guy who drives with his high beams blaring at you from across the interstate and makes no effort to show a little decency.

- The guy who invades your personal space in line at the grocery store, as if standing 3 inches from your left ear and pushing your little rubber “divider bar” right up to your loaf of bread, and then starting his own pile within millimeters of said bread is going to get him through the line any faster.

- The guy who calls the sports talk station, and despite the fact he’s a 5-foot-4, 325 pound, beer swilling, brat devouring, heavy-weezing turd of a non-athlete, refers to the Bears/Bulls/White Sox/whomever he roots for as “we”. As in, “I think WE got away from the running game too quick and WE need to get some new receivers and WE got outcoached.” Oh, YOU did? Thanks, WannabeDitka.

- The guy sitting behind the backstop during a game involving 9-12 year old little boys learning how to play baseball and berates the umpire, cussing, screaming, and making a total ass of himself, while his embarrassed son refuses to come in from deep center field and admit that the biggest jerk in the stands is his dad.

Those are the guys I’ll never be…by choice.

There are a lot of guys, on the other hand, I will never be but wish I could. One of the guys on that list would be Brad Delp, the late lead singer of Boston. 30+ years after I first heard that band, and I still love that 1st album, and each time I hear it it’s like the first time.

Tales Of Racist Hate

Far-right wing Neo-con Fundamentalist hate mongers talk a lot these days about fear. The Bushies spent the last 7 years trying to scare us every day, to keep us living in fear of “the terrorists”.

Well, do you know what I fear? I fear what will happen if these freakin’ kooks and their followers ever get control of our country.

Check out today’s wonderful news.

For those too lazy to read, here’s a couple of my least-favorite excerpts from that harrowing, sickening, disgusting story:

- Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: “Let’s shoot that (N-word) in the head.” Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say.

_Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted “assassinate Obama,” a district official said.

I highlighted the locale in each instance, to show that is isn’t relagated to the Deep South. This racism is all over. And it’s sickening. But I bet those parents of those ignorant second and third graders in Idaho are proud. Morons. What do local GOP’ers have to say about these actions? I’d love to hear from you. And what, if anything, are you going to do about it?

The Pollsters Better Be Prepared To Ask Some Serious Questions

These pollsters hired to give everyone an idea of how the political races are going in this country take their jobs very, very seriously. With that in mind, if all goes according to the polls, if indeed states like Montana and Arizona are now in play (not a good thing if you are John McCain), then it’s going to be a big night for Barack Obama Tuesday.

But we all know what happened in 2004, when the pollsters were made to look bad.

We’ll see what happens Tuesday, but if Obama/Biden do not win handily, there should be some major investigations launched. The 2000 Presidential race was bad enough, but 2004 was an absolute screwing, imo, and if it happens again in 2008, there will be hell to pay.

Forgive me for being a little skeptical, but I have been ever since the guy who manufactured a majority of the electronic voting machines used in 2004 committed himself to bringing a victory in Ohio to George W. Bush, I’ve been a little iffy on the issue of fair elections. Not to mention that Diebold couldn’t produce a “paper trail” for their voting machines that year…despite the fact that they CAN produce paper trail anytime I withdraw money from my bank, no matter how far I am away from home.

Look at it realistically, people, 8 years of terrible leadership has just happened. On that subject, John McCain, in 2003, referenced in one of his own speeches about the fact he “supported Bush over 90% of the time”, and then Congressional Quarterly actually showed him voting with the Resident 95% of the time. Because of these truths…this Tuesday’s election should be an absolute WALK for the Democratic candidate, even if that candidate wasn’t a good one (like, for instance, John Kerry). But lo and behold, this year’s candidate IS a good one, and shouldn’t even have a worry in the world heading into Tuesday.

Let’s just hope that the race isn’t really as close as Faux News or CNN claims it to be. Let’s hope that the national news networks are keeping it falsely close so people will keep watching. Let’s hope that most Americans (there’s 25% or so we just can’t help, no matter what) are smart enough to know what’s better for them this time around.

And if it IS a close race, then we need to find out why, and more importantly in this case, how.

Senseless

What a sad state this country is in.

As I put on another blog, I suppose the “media” is to blame for sensationalizing this story about a 12-year old trick-or-treater killed Friday night by an AK-47.

Or how about the idiot who chooses another family’s funeral to gun down a preacher and a church deacon?

Yep. Guns, guns, guns, keep ‘em comin’, boys, we need more guns!

And of course, don’t forget about the police shooting in Peoria Friday night.

When is it going to stop, people?

Better, But Still More To Go

Gas prices have come down drastically since late summer/early fall. Good. Are they were they should be yet? No. But $2.19 or so is a helluva lot better than $4.19.

While thinking about it this morning, though, I tried to think of how things have changed to make prices come down so much.

Must be all that drilling we’ve started since Sarah Palin started chanting her high schoolish “Drill baby, drill” baloney. Wait, nope, that’s not it. No drilling.

Ah, it must be because we’ve opened up ANWAR for more future drilling, it just hasn’t started yet. Wait, nope, that’s not it, either.

So, it must be how our wonderful president has won the “war” (no one has yet declared anything on anyone, but I guess it’s still a “war” in neo-con speak) in Iraq, and therefore completely secured the oil fields in that country from attack. Wait, no, that’s not it.

Well then, it must be some tough talk from our compassionate administration directed at the OPEC cartel telling them “or else”, or something to that effect. Wait, nope, that’s not it.

Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see…what about the oil industry has changed SO drastically in the last month that gas prices are 1/2 what they were in September?

Try nothing. Not a damn thing. Moral of the story: Palin’s full of shit. The adminstration is full of shit. The oil companies are full of shit. Oh, and the oil companies, with the help of the administration, robbed us blind all summer long. Period.

Palin: What Will They Say Next?

Not qualified.

Not ready.

Fatal cancer.

A problem. Out of her league. My cringe reflex is exhuasted.

Diva.

Whack job.

…and that’s just what REPUBLICANS are saying about her. I can hardly contain my glee.

Robbery In Kewanee!

Area gas prices I’ve seen today: $2.19 in Bartonville. $2.25 all over Peoria. $2.34 in Canton. $2.33 in Chillicothe.

Gas price in Kewanee? $2.68.

Somebody needs to go to jail. Robbery is a crime.

More Guns, We Really Need More Guns!

Unlike the previous two stories, this one focuses on an accidental shooting. But there still needs to be a bunch of people put away for life for the one they took in this incident…that of an EIGHT year old. And that makes this story easily the most tragic of all.

We don’t let kids vote until they’re 18. They can’t drive until 15 or 16. Heck, the sign outside the Halloween costume store in Peoria says “no one under 16 without a parent”. But it’s okay to let an 8-year old shoot an Uzi? And then he dies. Is this gun-soaked society sick or what? My god.

More Guns, We Still Need More Guns!

Apparently, these killers, unlike those that were targeting Senator Obama, didn’t have many plans, just wanted to make a few random killings using guns. Sick.

More Guns, We Need More Guns!

Two neo-Nazi, skinhead, neo-cons see their plot to kill Senator Obama foiled. Thankfully.

But these two clowns had even bigger plans than that. Again, thankfully, these a’holes were caught before lives were lost due to guns.

Defeating The Purpose

Many folks have purchased “flex fuel” vehicles in recent years, so they could use E85 - a viable alternative to regular or E10 fuel. The beauty in E85 is that it is always sold…or at least ALMOST always…cheaper than other fuels.

But to be really effective, E85 needs to be 20% or more less than the price of regular unleaded to pay off, as vehicles right now average 10-15% poorer gas mileage when running on the stuff.

So, when you see regular today at $2.50, to make it truly cost-efficient for a driver, E85 should be around $2.00 per gallon. That’s why it surprised me so much to see that a local (won’t say which local) E85 dealer, who had E85 priced at $2.59 when regular was $3.79, STILL has E85 at $2.59 even though his price for regular E10 has gone down to $2.49 today. Um, dude, that kinda takes away the incentive, eh?

His E85 should be about $1.99 right now. I’m wondering why it’s not. At another place I call “local” (won’t say where), E85 was a more reasonable $2.09 this morning, even though regular is way, way higher than the area average at $2.74 (I’ve called Lisa Madigan’s office on this, btw). In this case, E85 is certainly the bargain, although they’re gouging on the regular.

Bottom line: E85 should be around $2.00 right now. Hopefully, it will continue to drop - although reports from a greedy OPEC today suggest otherwise.

I have a bet with an employee over here that gas will be under $2.00 per gallon for E10 regular by the end of January (ie new president, one who doesn’t dry hump oil companies for a living). We made that bet the day it was $4.09 in Canton. I’m holding out hope.

But back to the point about E85…the LAST thing we fans of alternative fuels need right now is somebody gouging on the alternative. That needs to be fixed right away. Gotta go…another call to Madigan’s office is forthcoming.

EDIT: call made.

The Choice Will Be Tough

Well, far righties that won’t ever vote for Obama, you’ve got a choice to make here.

You have two candidates who don’t agree on much of anything…be it abortion, gay marriage, letting states decide vs. amending the constitution…they have differences on almost every issue.

So…who ARE you voting for…McCain or Palin?

Here It Is…

…THE #1 reason this woman CANNOT get close to the White House.

Palin Says Election Results Rests In god’s Hands

Read the whole story, it talks about her 20 minute interview with James Dobson in which her true zealotry and lunacy came out.

F’ing yikes.

Least Surprising Story Placement of the Weekend

I fired up my computer Sunday morning to see on CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, Comcast, the Minneapolis StarTribune, and virtually every other website I visited yesterday that Colin Powell had earlier in the day endorsed Barack Obama for President. Obviously, a big, big story. One of the key figures in the Bush administration endorsing “the other guy”. Now that’s news. And it was, everywhere except one place. Care to guess where?

I wish I could do screen captures, because it was hilarious. On every site listed in that first sentence above, they had a large headline and picture of Powell with the story.

Meanwhile…on FoxNews.com, the Powell story was “just another line”, small print, about fourth of fifth down, below the headline “McCain Picks Apart Obama’s Tax Plan”, with a picture of Sen. McCain.

It was just a matter of time, then, as I turned on FoxNews TV throughout the evening last night, before someone at Fox made the connection I knew I’d hear, and this morning I got it: “Colin Powell, as you remember, was the guy who sold the war in Iraq to the Bush Administration”.

Notice right after Iraq the word “to”. In reality, that word should have been “for”. But the kings of revisionist history at Fox aren’t going to let a little bit of truth stop them now, are they? Get ready for the anti-Powell onslaught from FixedFauxFoxNews all day long.

Quickie Poll: Minnesota Vikings

Should Vikings Coach Brad Childress be fired today?

[] Yes.

[] Hell yes.

[] He hasn’t been fired yet, what the hell is the holdup?

[] The Bears suck no matter what the Vikings do.

[] All of the above.

McCain Goes Green

…by recycling speeches.

But that wasn’t the unbelievable part. The unbelievable part is the McCain staffers on Morning Joe, CNN, and Fox this very morning talking about this “wonderful new stump speech”.

Dare I say…amazing.

The Face Of The Far Right

Check out this disgusting idiot: Overt Racism At Palin Rally

Does this make the GOP proud? I don’t see many of you in here condemning the other stuff I’ve posted…will you condemn this one or do you feel the same?

Perspective

Late on a Saturday night, I’m thinking about the way the GOP has been acting for the past two weeks, and I just want to make sure I have this right:

1. Barack Obama’s connection to Saddam Hussien is the fact his middle name is the same as Saddam’s surname.
Donald Rumsfeld’s connection to Saddam is that he shook his hand…at the behest of Ronald Reagan…when we were BACKING Iraq against Iran. Rumsfeld, you may remember, later worked for G.W. Bush.

Obviously, Obama’s connection is the scary one. (sarcasm alert for the intellectually stunted)

2. Obama’s connection to Osama bin Laden is, from what I can tell,the fact their names sound so much alike. Again with the names.
Meanwhile, the GOP’s connection is that Ronald Reagan armed the Mujahideen, later to become the Taliban, led, of course, by Osama bin Laden.

Obviously, Obama’s connection is the scary one. (that would be more sarcasm…hey, you can never announce that enough considering the level of understanding of ANYthing by a neo-con)

3. Obama’s connection to William Ayers, depending on who you believe, was either a couple of meetings attended together while serving on the same board some 40 years after Ayers’ troubles with the law, or at worst a dinner at Ayers house in which politics and Obama’s career may have been discussed. I know I’ve never discussed my career EVER at ANY dinner or meeting ANYWHERE with ANYBODY. (sarcasm meter moves again)

Meanwhile, John McCain has a connection to G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy has donated directly to McCain’s campaign, and has had McCain on his radio show discussing his run for the presidency. Liddy describes McCain as “an old friend”. McCain echoes the flowery sentiment. Oh, by the way, G. Gordon Liddy, in his heyday, spent 4 1/2 years in prison called for the murder of federal agents, served time in jail, plotted murder - and after that, John McCain applauded him and took his money.

Here’s a little more about Liddy: He has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in “if necessary”; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a “gangland figure” to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap “leftist guerillas” at the 1972 Republican National Convention — a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his shooting targets after Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Obviously, Obama’s connection is the scary one. (and the sarcasm needle jumps once again)

Jeezus. Have we really come down to this? How dumb are people, both in Sarah Palin’s camp and in the audiences that cheer her on? How sickening is it that John McCain gets booed by his own “supporters” for trying to tone down this reckless, ridiculous, hate-filled, un-American crap?

Lots Of Empty Seats…From What I Can Tell

I started to give up on NASCAR, or more appropriately NAZICAR, a couple of seasons back, and haven’t watched more than 100 laps of racing all year to this point. Out of about 12,000 or so.

Tonight, I’m whipping through the dial looking for more college football and I see they’re running at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. In front of what looks like a pretty sparse crowd, by NAZICAR standards. But it’s hard to tell. Because the ABC/ESPN crew is keeping the shots down so tight, you barely get a look at the stands.

However, at the end of the straights and into the corners, there appears to be a whole bunch of fans disguised as empty blue seats. I love it. NAZICAR has been driving more fans away than bringing new ones in over the last few years, and I’m glad to see this trend. I looked for stories online about this, and I see NAZICAR blaming “fuel prices” for keeping fans away. Wouldn’t be the actual ticket prices, or the terrible racing, or the favoritism of certain teams and car makes over others, now would it? Nah.

Well, with gas a dollar lower this month than last, that argument doesn’t wash tonight. So why all the empty seats at Lowe’s? I know. But I bet they won’t listen to me.

One more thing about the tight camera shots: NO professional sports organization is more heavy-handed and dictatorial over the media than NAZICAR. Not even the NFL. And what NAZICAR wants from the media that covers them, they get. First, they FORCE the networks (it’s in the contracts) to carry the “invocation” (read: christian bully pulpit) before the start of the race live, and then they force the networks to avoid anything that might be “controversial” or anti-NAZICAR in their coverage. Hence, the extra-tight camera shots that don’t show the grandstands.

Believe me, if the stands were full, you’d be seeing pictures of those packed bleachers about every 12 laps.

Is Lee County, FL Sheriff Mike Scott Still On The Job? Why? UPDATED

View Sheriff Mike Scott in action

It’s been five days now since a Florida Sheriff appeared onstage, while in uniform and on duty, and violated U.S. Law (The Hatch Act) in publicly endorsing a political candidate.

Is he still on the job? Has he been properly suspended while under investigation? Inquiring minds, and people who aren’t un-American and abusers of their power want to know.

UPDATE: A teacher in Kansas City has was suspended this week due to violation of the Hatch Act, in this case being pro-Obama. BTW, I must have watched 30-40 HOURS of CNN/MSNBC/Fox this week, and I never heard this story mentioned once. So, again, when does Sheriff Scott get sent home?