How Can This Idiot Possibly Say This?
Posted onJuly 2, 2009
Filed under Idiot talk radio hosts, People Are Jerks, Society woes | 6 Comments
I’m speechless. I knew the Neo-cons were nuts, but this…
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Osama bin Laden Needs to Attack America | ||||
| thedailyshow.com | ||||
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Al Franken Wins! Again! For the Eleventyninth Time!
Posted onJuly 1, 2009
Filed under Grand Old Party, Politics | 4 Comments
Al Franken, who won the Minnesota Senatorial election in November, again in February after a recount, again in April after another couple of challenges, and again in June after the Minnesota Supreme Court concurred with every single other ruling so far, is now the new junior Senator from Minnesota.
So the question is this…how can one concede “graciously” after dragging this out halfway into the next year? Yet if you google “coleman gracious concede” you will get all kinds of hits from commentors on various news stories around cyberspace. Not the stories themselves, mind you, but the citizen commentary following the stories.
Are people really this partisan as to think that Coleman is being “gracious” in any way after the crap he and his people have pulled for seven months? Wait, that answer is yes. How about this: are people really this stupid? Sadly, I fear I know the answer to that one, too.
More Guns And Looser Gun Laws = More Gun-related Deaths. And Conceal Carry Didn’t Help A Bit
Posted onJune 28, 2009
Filed under Guns | 3 Comments
Excuse me for taking a break in my life from Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and the Iranian situation, but does anybody remember ANY of our major news networks spending a lot of time on this story?
I mean, the report came out just last month, based on statistics from the CDC. From the story (emphasis added by me):
In Louisiana, 45.6 percent of households are gun-owners, leading to a gun-related death rate of 19.58 per 100,000, the highest in the nation.
But in Hawaii, only 9.7 percent of households own at least a gun, keeping the gun-related death rate there at 2.58 per 100,000 residents, the lowest among the 50 states.
The study, conducted by the Violence Policy Center, was based on just-released 2006 national data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Following Louisiana, other four states with the highest per-capita gun death rates were Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi and Nevada.
Each of these states had a per-capita gun death rate far exceeding the national per-capita gun death rate of 10.32 per 100,000 for 2006.
According to the Violence Policy Center, a Washington D.C.-based gun-control advocacy group, the states with the most gun deaths all have something in common: high rates of gun ownership and loose gun laws.
Click on this chart to see where the two states smart enough not to have conceal carry rank.
Minnesota’s Embarrassment Announces She’ll Be Breaking Law Willingly
Posted onJune 26, 2009
Filed under Bad government, Grand Old Party, Politics, liars | 5 Comments
Nutbag, er, Michele Bachmann, the absolutely moronic woman who somehow got elected to represent a district in Minnesota, has announced she will NOT be obeying federal law come census time.
This freakshow calls the census an “invasion of her privacy”, and says:
“We will give the number of people in our home, and that’s where we’re going to draw the line.”
Um, this does break Federal Law. Is it not kind of silly to go ahead and announce in advance when you’re going to break a law, or is it just me? Oh, by the way, this idiot’s political hero is George W. Bush. She’s apparently worried now about “invasion of privacy” but had no problem voting for the exponential expansion of wire-tapping and other freedom-threatening moves made by her hero’s administration for the previous eight years.
Just mark her down as yet another in a looooonnnnggggg line of Neo-Con hypocrites.
Take Down The Freakin’ W’s Already
Posted onJune 25, 2009
Filed under Cubs suck | 3 Comments
So this summer I’m seeing more of these white flags with a blue “W” on them, and I don’t know what they are. Some of my employees educated me to the “we put these out whenever the Cubs win the day before” reason for these flags. Only on wins? No wonder I haven’t often seen them before (rimshot).
Anyway, as lame and sickening as these are, there’s a guy in Kewanee who has had his flying all week. Um, dude, last I checked, the Flubbies have just been spanked 3 straight by the Tigers (part of the superior league, I might add). So wouldn’t that mean the freakin’ ugly flag would then be put away?
If it isn’t put away when I drive home tonight, I’m gonna rip it down myself. They haven’t won a game all week. Take the flag down. Speaking of this week, why don’t you guys all fly white flags with a blue “L” on them when they get spanked…which is often? Only seems fair, doesn’t it?
Another Senseless Gun Death In A Senseless Country
Posted onJune 24, 2009
Filed under Guns, Society woes | 2 Comments
A sickening story.
Another g-damn loon with a g-damn gun who probably g-damn legally acquired it has killed a good man. Scratch that. A great man. A hero to a small town. A town that just went through the trauma of being leveled by a tornado. A town that saw it’s collective spirit picked up by this great man. Now he is lost. Brutality murdered in front of children. By a gun. The chickenshit who did this didn’t have the physical strength to kill this great man on his own, either, so don’t give me that “guns don’t kill people” bullshit. This loon NEEDED a gun to do what he did, and get a gun he did.
And also don’t give me your whiny “conceal carry” bullshit…because you will then need to remember and then justify how “conceal carry” - legal in the state of the murder - didn’t save this man’s life, and how “conceal carry” won’t help the thousands more traumatized by this senseless cowardly act.
F’en guns.
And before you NRA A’holes jump in, NO, I do not want to ban guns. If you want a rifle to hunt with, and you’re willing to go through a bunch of hoops to prove you can handle it responsibly and have the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong, then you should be able to have all the rifles and shotguns you want (there is no need for handguns on this planet, outside of law enforcement). But “conceal carry” is a g-damn joke and today’s so-called gun laws are an absolute g-damn joke, too.
I’m not trying to take YOUR guns away (if you’re not a g-damn murdering loon), but you can damn well bet I’m in favor of making it a helluva lot tougher to get one.
Wow, This Is Gonna Be A Riot!
Posted onJune 23, 2009
Filed under Bad government, Grand Old Party, Politics | Leave a Comment
Let’s see if I have this straight…about 6 months into the Obama presidency, which means about 18 months until the next campaign starts by the GOP, and here’s who the Repubs have for favorites, in no particular order:
- A Southern Governor (Sanford - S.C.) who goes AWOL to avoid his four kids on Father’s Day (that’s according to his wife, not me) and leaves the state AND his security detail without telling anybody.
UPDATE: Now comes word the dude was in Argentina and not on some Carolina hiking trail? Oh, this is just getting better. UPDATE #2: Yep! It’s an affair. What a shock! And his wife knew about it for five months! Another fine example for the morally bankrupt GOP. What GOP big wig ISN’T cheating on his wife? And when are the ones NOT cheating going to go ahead and come out of the closet? LOL,
- A Southern Governor (Jindal - Louisiana) who is so far away from being ready for the job that he looked like a nervous grade schooler in his response to Obama back in January, and has been non-existent in the national spotlight ever since.
- A Northeastern Governor (Romney - Mass) and a Southern Governor (Huckabee - Backwardsas) who were so unelectable the first time they lost to McCain. Romney will never earn the GOP nomination based on his religion alone, and Huckabee, even if named to the ticket by the GOP, is unelectable because his own religious beliefs are just TOO christian.
- A Western Senator (Ensign - Nevada) who was being highly talked about but has decided to grenade his chances early by banging a married woman…a married STAFFER no less.
- And a Western Governor (Palin - Alaska) who is a) a woman in a party of white men and b) simply a kook.
Good crew guys, and good luck!
Does Northwoods Pay For This I Hope?
Posted onJune 21, 2009
Filed under Religious Watchdogs, religion | 1 Comment
Heading out of Peoria on Alta Road around noon today, and I had to stop for the traffic control - two Peoria County Deputies being pulled out of serious duty to direct traffic (I’m assuming this is the much-discussed Northwoods Church post-service traffic jam).
My question…does Northwoods pay these deputies so the county doesn’t soak up the cost? If they do, good. If they don’t, they probably should. Just another thing about organized religion that irritates, I guess.
Stay Classy, Cubs Organization
Posted onJune 16, 2009
Filed under Cubs suck, Society woes, corporate greed | 3 Comments
I don’t pay much attention to baseball anymore, outside of checking the standings here and there. But what with Sosa’s name back in the news (one of the guys who made me feel the way I know feel about baseball), and the latest folly at Wrigley Dump this evening, I gotta comment.
I understand 40,000 people filed into Wrigley Landfill this evening, despite rain, fog, and chill, to prepare for the so-called Crosstown Classic with the White Sox. But wait, apparently the forecast and weather outlook for the evening made it pretty much a given as early as 3pm that there would be no game tonight. Too much rain, low ceiling fog, it would have been a bad idea to try and play tonight with an afternoon game (still stupid…playing midweek afternoon games that aren’t getaway days, but that’s Cubs baseball for you).
But instead of calling the game early and saving the folks interested enough to buy tickets a trip down to Wrigley Sewage Treatment Plant, the Cub brass decided to wait until the park was full, the radio and TV networks had spent the money to get on the air and get ready to do a game, and then they call the thing.
Why wait so long? Simple. Greed. Pure and simple greed. Because despite the fact each of those 40,000 folks gets a rain check, the Cubs also got something like this tonight between the time the gates opened and the park was later emptied:
35,000 beers at about 6 bucks
16,000 dogs at about 5 bucks
25,000 sodas at about 5 bucks
an assortment of other items sold - souvenirs, pretzels, brats, and whatever else they sell at an inflated price at Wrigley RatInfested Shithouse.
In other words, the Cubs took in about a million bucks…and didn’t spend nearly that much on materials and help…to have those duped people sit there for two hours and then not see a game.
Greed. It’s the baseball way. Stay Classy, Cubs.
Least Surprising Headline of The Day, Part Deux
Posted onJune 16, 2009
Filed under Cubs suck, Society woes, Sports, liars | Leave a Comment
Report: Sosa tested positive for steroids in 2003
Wow. Knock me over with a feather. Didn’t see that one comin’.
NOT!
It’s about time this jackass’ name finally got exposed. What a joke. What a freakin’ joke he was/is/and always will be. Eat it, f’en Cub fans in denial. Your boy was right in there with Bonds, McGwire, Giambi, Palmeiro, Clemens, A-Roid, the list goes on. All assholes. All should have their statistics forever stripped from the record books. And the biggest jerk of them all finally got exposed. Nailed five years ago, but finally exposed. Worth the wait.
Least Surprising Headline of The Day, Part 1
Posted onJune 16, 2009
Filed under Bad government, Grand Old Party, Politics, around peoria | Leave a Comment
Schock says closing Guantanamo poses risks to U.S.
Really? What a…pardon the pun…shock. Hint to PJS editorial desk. You could have saved a couple of words by just typing:
Schock Spouts Party Line
See? Much easier, plus you can reuse it on a regular basis. You’re welcome.
Oh, and to Aaron…you had to leave the country to say what everyone knew you were going to say anyway? Thanks for spending our money on that little junket.
There’s Lies, Damn Lies, And Then There’s Sean Hannity
Posted onJune 12, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
What color is the sky in Sean Hannity’s world? (I know, I know, it’s pretty much already been established that he’s f’en nuts.) I subscribed to his “newsletter” recently, for a couple of daily yuks while I’m getting ready for the day. And Sean doesn’t disappoint. But this week he has gone beyond simple yuks, this week he’s just full of out and out lies and opinions that he has that his own party and his own ilk don’t even share. He’s out-Levining Levin, he’s out Savaging Savage. He’s become the joke of ALL of the media, not just talk radio.
For instance, yesterday, he had Karl Rove on his show, and he (Hannity) was blasting away at President Obama regarding the pictures of our soldiers abusing terrorist detainees, saying “Obama wants these pictures released”. Even Rove…Karl Rove…tried to stop Sean in his tracks and said “it’s the Democratic congress that’s pushing for the release of these photos, which is a direct slap in the face of President Obama, who DOESN’T want to release the photos.” Here are two links to back up what Rove said.
But lo and behold, here’s a quote from Hannity’s email newsletter this morning, AFTER Rove tried to steer Hannity towards the truth:
President Obama wants to release the photos to “close the books” on the Bush-era interrogation practices that he doesn’t support (even though these same techniques prevented a 9/11 like attack in Los Angeles).
Um, hello? Sean, that’s a lie. A flat out lie. And let’s not even get into his little opinion (and that’s all it is) that these “techniques” saved Los Angeles. Has anybody ever heard anything about this? I know I haven’t.
Amazing.
Read more
Good Move By Area Schools
Posted onJune 8, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
I wish I had the link so I could add it to this post, but I recently saw where many area schools, specifically those Middle Schools in the Peoria School District, scaled back the “celebration” of “graduating” from the 8th grade.
Good move. Seriously. Absolutely the right call.
When I saw this story back in April, I was happy to see it, but doubted if any real changes would be made. Turns out they did, and I think it’s a huge forward step.
I had never even heard of such a thing as “8th Grade Graduation” until I came to Illinois. Graduating from the 8th grade is a celebratory moment? That’s like a football team celebrating a couple of first downs, or throwing a party for the contractor when he gets your house 2/3 finished. I always thought it was quite silly. And as the April story pointed out one educator saying, some kids treat it as if it’s the culmination of their education, and the next four years mean squat. I’m sure some parents felt that way, too. When I saw that limos were rented for these elaborate 8th Grade Graduation ceremonies, I did a spit take with my Dr. Pepper.
So, in a time when District 150 takes nothing but heat from parents who want to make a lot of noise (but not do anything about it, in many cases), I think the District should receive complimentary words about a decision that was a good one.
They now say, “good for you, you finished 8th grade” and don’t treat it much differently than any other completed grade level, and that’s a hugely positive move towards keeping more kids in school longer.
Good job to all schools who have or soon will eliminate one of the dumbest things outsiders see when they move to Illinois: 8th Grade “Graduation”. And if your school is not planning on getting rid of it, call them and tell them to.
A Big Fail For The Score, WSCR, In Chicago
Posted onMay 29, 2009
Filed under Radio, Sports | 4 Comments
It’s Thursday night, May 28, 9pm, and I’m driving home. I whip the dial to the sportstalk station in Chicago to hear what might be going on.
Keep in mind, I already know, and I’m wondering which of these topical stories they might be talking about. Could it be…
1. The Blackhawks were just eliminated from the playoffs the day before. It was the best Blackhawk season in years.
2. The Cubs are melting down. Carlos Zambrano just got suspended, Ted Lilly just got thrown out of a game he wasn’t even in, and Milton Bradley is…well, Milton Bradley.
3. The Bulls’ star rookie Derrick Rose’s name came up prominently Thursday in a possible scandal involving his one year at Memphis University.
4. White Sox infielder Alexei Ramirez just had a lawsuit filed against him by a couple of guys who claim they were his “handlers” and haven’t been paid.
So I wait for the commercial break to end to find out which of these juicy topics might be on the table, all things that I’d have enough interest in to want to hear discussion about, the station comes out to Zac Something (their worst host, btw), and the first thing out of this moron’s mouth is:
“Zac (something) with you for the next FIVE HOURS, and we’ve got a LOT of Bears talk coming your way tonight!” he breathlessly yells.
After yelling a couple of obscenities and a bout of incredulous laughter, I turn the dial. What a bunch of f’en idiots. The Bears. In May. Who f’ing cares? My god.
I’ve needed something to get me to quit listening to this station, which has gotten progressively more irrelevant. I now have it.
Separated At Birth, #2
Posted onMay 27, 2009
Filed under celebrities | 1 Comment
Boston Celtic Paul Pierce has what some would call an unfortunate resemblence to the late “Beetlejuice” from the Howard Stern Radio Show.
Separated At Birth
Posted onMay 24, 2009
Filed under Sports, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
John Cena from the WWE, Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins’ slugging first baseman.
NASCAR Has No Clue To Their Woes
Posted onMay 24, 2009
Filed under Society woes, Sports, TV | 5 Comments
So there was a nice, big, whiny-toned expose in the USA Today this week about how the economy is affecting NAZICAR attendance and TV ratings and sponsorship dollars. As I’ve said before, the economy is a convenient excuse for these guys, who refuse to look in the mirror and see the REAL reasons why NAZICAR is suffering. Here is a list of the real reasons NAZICAR is going through a down time, a slide that may be impossible to reverse. Listed in no particular order, all of these things add up to what’s really wrong with the sport.
1. Toyota. When they allowed Toyota bodies into the sport, like it or not, it turned off a lot of people. You don’t have to be jingoistic to not want Japanese cars in your sport. Jingoism comes into play later in this list but not here. Fact is, stock car racing is built on rear-wheel drive, American V8-powered cars. Antiquated thinking or not, the top level of stock car racing in this country equates to “the Big Three”. No matter what kind of trouble GM, Chrysler and Ford are in, no matter where their cars are ultimately built (Canada) or whether one of the Big Three is foreign owned (as Chrysler was by Mercedes in recent years), even no matter how close the cars are to street cars (for most of the 90’s, the Cup cars were based on front wheel drive GM, Ford and Chrysler counterparts), NAZICAR did fine. And while things like front wheel drive cars being bastardized to fit rear wheel drive chassis hurt NAZICAR to some extent, it was still nothing like the sting of having Toyota…f’ing Toyota…running around American ovals.
2. The obvious and nurtured right-wing slant of the sanctioning body. Look, NASCAR, a majority of it’s competitors and a majority of it’s fans have always leaned somewhat to the political right. But it was never so apparent as during the G.W. Bush years, when they blatantly went off the charts with their love and promotion of the far-right agenda. Many midwestern and West Coast fans, who began to follow the sport as it grew out of the south and became the major reason why it’s popularity soared in the 1980’s and 1990’s, went back away when we had to have religion - make that christianity - and jingoistic thinking regarding war shoved down our throats consistently by NAZICAR. NASCAR became NAZICAR to many of us during this time, not only for their amazingly dictatorial ways of running their shows, but for the jingoism that went with it. Too much “god”, too much “country” has driven millions away from the sport.
3. Template racing. It used to be “he who builds and brings the best car wins”. But then one make (Pontiac, in many cases) would show up with a better mouse trap and the other drivers (Ford and Chevy whiners) would cry about it until NAZICAR finally got fed up and built a template car. Stock car racing enjoyed a huge advantage over open wheel racing for many fans because of the ability to identify cars, and the loyalty that people have for certain makes of cars. They blew it when they went to the open-wheel style “templates”…cars all look EXACTLY the same save for a few lame graphics. NAZICAR thinks fans root for drivers, no matter what they drive. In the case of many young don’t-care-what-they-drive-we-only-cheer-for-the-cute-driver fans, they don’t care. But for the core of the audience, make and model was important. I personally always rooted for cars, not drivers. I was a Rusty Wallace fan in the late 80’s as he piloted his Pontiacs…I stopped rooting for him when he became a Ford man.
Put it this way, if you love the Chicago Bears and hate the Dallas Cowboys, do you become a Cowboys fan if Walter Payton gets traded there? I think not.
There are many more reasons, that will be discussed in future posts. That’s enough for now.
More NASCAR Woes
Posted onMay 24, 2009
Filed under Society woes, Sports, TV | Leave a Comment
Continuing my other post (I’ve edited the timestamp on this one to put it below the first one) on what is REALLY wrong with NASCAR.
We’ve already discussed Toyota, right-wing jingoism, and the dreaded “Car of Tomorrow” as reasons NASCAR is down. Here are more:
4. Track duplication. In their continued efforts to break free from Southern-only tracks, NASCAR encouraged construction of new tracks throughout the 90’s and early 00’s. But they screwed up. First, they wanted every one of them near a “major market” to draw fans from. Unnecessary, as old-time NASCAR fans will travel as far is it requires to get to the show, but understandable. The real problem is not location, but track DESIGN. People are sick to death of 1.5 mile length tracks, which for some reason NASCAR has deemed “the perfect size”. You’ve got the disgusting tri-oval shape (Las Vegas and Chicagoland) which results in cars never really going straight, but in some kind of continuous circle, and then you’ve got the myriad quad-ovals (Lowe’s, Atlanta, Texas) all 1.5 miles per lap, all with the same shape. Gone from the modern schedule are legendary short tracks like North Wilkesboro and Nashville, replaced by longer (i.e. “more boring”), bigger tracks. People love short tracks (See: attendance at Bristol, Richmond and Martinsville), but we continue to get fed a steady diet of bigger, similar, more boring facilities.
5. The “Playoff System”. What a joke. For some reason, Brian France (AKA The France Family Member Not Blessed With Common Sense) decided that NASCAR needed a “playoff” to inject more excitement into the series, like hockey or football or basketball. Result? Same boring end-of-season-decided-before-the-last-race championships (there really has been NO improvement in making the late-season any more exciting than the first part), plus you alienate the first 26 races on the schedule, making them “less important” (perceived or otherwise) and therefore ticket sales and TV ratings go down, and it’s “welcome to the NBA, NASCAR”. Idiotic. Add to that the fact that a couple of your more important venues (Daytona, Darlington, to name two) are NOT included in the playoff events while borefest tracks like Homestead (Miami) and California ARE included, it makes no sense. Not having “Daytona” as part of a “playoff package” is like having the Red Sox play their playoff games in Washington, D.C. instead of Fenway. That would be stupid, wouldn’t it?
6. Night races. NASCAR is the first to tell you that “Saturday Night short track racing is the heart-and-soul of stock car racing.” All drivers come from these venues. All fans start by going to these venues. Around here, it’s Peoria Speedway, Spoon River Raceway, Macomb Speedway, Lincoln, Fairbury, Farmer City, etc. Those are the local tracks. Most of them race on Saturday night. So what does NASCAR do? They schedule more and more Cup events on Saturday night every year. Now drivers and crew members of local tracks all have to decide…do I go racin’ or do stay home and watch it on TV? Fans say “do I spend 9 bucks and go to the local track and miss seeing the big boys that I have stickers all over my truck supporting, or do I stay home, watch TV, and help my local track suffer?”
Turns out, it’s leading to the suffering of both short track racing AND NASCAR racing. Too many people who would watch NASCAR every Sunday now have to make a decision, and too many of them have a) stopped watching NASCAR (hurting NASCAR) and too many of them have also b) stopped going to local tracks so they CAN watch NASCAR, thus hurting the roots of the sport.
If NASCAR needs short track racing to be strong (it does) than it needs to stop racing on nights when short track racing needs the spotlight. But they won’t. They’ll just keep blindly adding more Saturday night races (even though the ratings keep sinking) and more and more mom-and-pop short tracks - paved AND dirt - will keep suffering and eventually closing.
Again, to use a baseball analogy, how would MLB do if it completely shut down it’s farm system? As it is, because of expansion and TV, there are about 1/4 the minor league teams now than there were in baseball’s “golden age” of the 50’s and 60’s. In the meantime, football (ugh) has passed baseball in popularity. Does NASCAR want to follow that path to destruction? Do they want to kill the lead they’ve built and give the audience back to open wheel? They’re on that path.
More to come.
One Trump Card for C.J.
Posted onMay 22, 2009
Filed under Cubs suck | 1 Comment
For fans of a real franchise, every time Billy gives you this, I will respond with this:
Explains a lot about the man and the team he cheers for, doesn’t it?
Mancow Submitting Self To Turture
Posted onMay 22, 2009
Filed under Radio | 3 Comments
Eric “Mancow” Muller is being tortured this morning on WLS. They have a marine in the studio to waterboard him. He doesn’t currently think it’s torture, but he’s about to find out otherwise, according to the ex-marine in the studio with him.
Updates to come.
It’s actually pretty compelling radio, and I sit here and wait for Mancow to prove what I already think: Dick Cheney is an evil, torture-approving prick.
Mancow is now laying on the table (10:18 AM). He says he suddenly feels amazingly nervous.
10:19 - Marine says he’ll probably puke up his recently consumed sandwich.
10:20 - Marine says the average person will only last 14 seconds.
UPDATE:
10:21 - Wet cloth being put over Mancow’s face, Mancow is laying on board. Pat Cassidy (co-host) calling “play by play”.
10:22 - countdown being given…water being poured…Mancow lasts maybe 3 seconds.
10:23 - Asking if he wants EMT…he says “no”, but he says it’s “way worse than I thought, I never considered this torture….it was instantaneous…I don’t want to say this, but it’s absolutely torture. I absolutely felt like I was drowning.”
10:24 “If I knew it was going to be this bad, I wouldn’t have done it. No way in hell would I have done that if I’d have known it was this bad. It’s torture.” Cassidy sends it to break, says EMT will be checking Mancow out.
More proof, this time from a guy who WANTED it NOT to be torture to continue to back Cheney.
Ripped Off…Again
Posted onMay 22, 2009
Filed under Gas ripoff | Leave a Comment
Here we go again. Highest gas prices in the country are in Chicago.
Illinois’ state average are at the top. Weirdest thing?
Folks in the Quad Cities can get gas for $2.11 on one side of the river (in Davenport) and can SEE signs that say “$2.49″ on the other side of the river (the Illinois side).
Crooks. F’en crooks. Period.
Things That Defy Logic, #38
Posted onMay 18, 2009
Filed under Pet peeves | 2 Comments
The following defy logic to me:
1. School buses don’t have seat belts. I know, I know, they’ve got all sorts of reasons why they don’t, the so-called experts tell us, but really, they’ve forced seat belt usage down our throats for 20 years…and we still don’t have ‘em on school buses.
2. Helmet-free motorcycle riding. Don’t give me all your “freedom of choice” crap, when my insurance rates go up because of the helmetless riders the insurance company has had to cover, it’s a tad annoying. If I’ve got to wear the silly seat belt, then they should have to put on a helmet. But even deeper than that…why would you WANT to ride a motorcycle without a helmet?
3. Cell phone bills. ’nuff said.
When Are They Gonna Take Their Turn At Accepting Responsibility?
Posted onMay 17, 2009
Filed under Print media | 2 Comments
I’ve watched the demise of a major part of the American auto industry with equal part sadness and anger these past few months.
Without getting too much into politics, who’s to blame, who’s not to blame, and how to fix it, I just want to add one segment to the list of folks who should shoulder some of the blame here, and to my knowledge none has been accepted: The new auto magazine industry in this country.
Specifically Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Road & Track, and to a lesser extent the new kid on the block, Automobile Magazine.
These magazines played no small part in the current situation facing General Motors, Chrysler and Ford.
How? Well, for years, the above mentioned “journalists” have lived high off the hog with Japanese manufacturer money, all in the interest of ensuring that Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Mazda, and even the wicked stepchild of Japanese car makers, Mitsubishi, get glowing reviews in their mags, winning side-by-side comparisons with American-designed counterparts, and receiving false claims of superiority.
The fact is American cars, specifically Ford, have been world class in quality and workmanship and relability for many years now, and Chrysler’s years spent as part of the Mercedes Benz umbrella served them well, as they now build high quality rides. GM has been more of a mess, but in the past few years had made significant improvements in quality and reliability to the extent that Buick and Cadillac are among the highest rated cars for reliability.
The fact is, American cars generally blow away their Japanese competition in side-by-side performance tests (when the dollars are equal), and fact is the American cars are significantly closer to their predicted gas mileage figures and cost to repair figures than their Japanese counterparts, sometimes embarrassingly so. I’ve YET to see a Japanese car tested by ANY of these magazines meet their expected mileage figures, but they don’t mention that in their reviews. They consistently print the cost-for-service figures for Japanese cars, and they’re disgustingly high, but they put it in the fine print specs, and never mention it in the body of the review.
I’ll bet you’ve not heard hear about this, have you? You continued to hear about (and subsequently buy) overrated Toyotas and Hondas and then are shocked at the cost of a simple oil change, but afraid to be “uncool” and say something bad about these two vaunted (why, I don’t know, but they are) automakers.
I know many folks who haven’t even ATTEMPTED to test drive an American car in 25-30 years. Some will say, “they made their beds”, but I say bullshit. 25 years is a long time. Things change. Hell, even the Cubs have had a few winning seasons lately.
But, back on point. When are the Motor Trends of the world going to stand up and take blame? Forget Road & Track, they’ve been Euro- and Japanese-centric for years now, they’re beyond hope. They’re the snobby, pipe-smoking, stuffy, GOP-loving CEO-types of the car mag world, and Car And Driver has been creeping that way for years. But C and D, Motor Trend, Automobile, and all the rest need to take a long look at how they’ve been part of the problem for the past quite a few years.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for any apologies, though.
I Might Have Been Wrong Again (!)
Posted onMay 15, 2009
Filed under Hockey | 4 Comments
Last month I said the Chicago Blackhawks would be the next major sports team from Chicago to win a championship. Shaddup, Chicago Fire fans, I said major sport.
I stand by that statement, they WILL be the next Chicago team to win it all in a major sport. Where I might have have wrong, however, is when I said it wouldn’t be this year or next. It seems it might indeed be this year, should they upset the Red Wings, winners in Game 7 Thursday night against Anaheim. I still think both Pittsburgh and Boston in the East are flawed, and whichever team wins the West should win it all, so long as they don’t bloody each other too badly in the process.
Here you go, ‘hawks, here’s who you wanted. No show ‘em what you’ve got.
This is going to be one helluva series. And if the Blackhawks do pull it out, MUCH credit will need to be given to Scottie Bowman, the hall of fame coach who built the current Detroit team, and is now a consultant to the Blackhawks. Don’t think Joel Quenneville and Mike Haviland haven’t been soaking up as much knowledge about the Wings as they can from Scotty the Great.
I can’t wait for this one to start. Playoff hockey. There’s NOTHING like it.
Jesse Still Tells It Like It Is
Posted onMay 14, 2009
Filed under TV media, Worst administration ever | Leave a Comment
I know it’s old news by now, but it’s still fun to watch Larry King ask Jesse Ventura about Dick Cheney and hear Cheney called exactly what he is: a coward.
Jesse was also 100% dead nuts correct when he called Norm Coleman a hypocrite (Coleman called for Al Franken to concede and not do a recount back on the first Wednesday in November, the recount has shown Franken to be the clear winner…over…and over…and over…)
And Jesse pretty much put an end to any remaining shred of debate the right has about waterboarding…because he’s BEEN waterboarded:
“[Water-boarding] is torture… It’s drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you — I’ll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.”
Jesse, you are still the man, sir.
bjstone