A Good Year for the Outlaw

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. [...]

[Read more]

I recently sent my uncle, a hard-line Republican, and the other right-wingers on his email list, a link to a Washington Post opinion column penned by Billy Wharton, the editor of Socialist Magazine.
My original email said this:
“…Dislike the man and his policies all you want, I’m pretty frustrated with some of those policies [...]

[Read more]

While checking the Weather Channel one last time this morning before hitting the road, the computer generated voice told me we would have “abundant sunshine” today.
Huh? What happened to “sunny” or “mostly sunny”? Abundant? That sounded to me like the sun was going to be extra generous and send out more rays of itself [...]

[Read more]

So I’m traveling East on 74 Wednesday afternoon, heading to Bloomington for a hockey game, when I look in my mirror and see a battered red pickup (damaged grill, dented bumper) roaring up behind me. The dude gets so close behind me that two of his nose cilia brush against my coccyx. Needless to say, [...]

[Read more]

I made a semi-angry post last week about AIG and their “smug execs”. In doing so, I broke my own rule about “generalizing” and lumping all people or things into one bucket, regardless of subject. This morning, I read the letter of resignation from Jake DeSantis, AIG-F.P., to Mr. Liddy, the CEO of the company. [...]

[Read more]

While wishing winter was over the past few days, it got me to thinking about things that actually ARE already over. A partial list ensues…
1. NASCAR. After building and building popularity throughout the 70’s and 80’s that resulted in unprecedented interest in this once-great, once-exciting sport, NASCAR is over. And they have only themselves to [...]

[Read more]

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″ [...]

[Read more]

I saw a letter to the Journal Star bemoaning all of the road kill being allowed to rot on the sides of our Illinois highways last week. I agree, btw, it is sad to see that we have to do this. With the price of gas, the powers that be are making the pickup crews [...]

[Read more]

I have sworn off going inside fast food restaurants. I’m trying to swear them off altogether, but that’s another story for another time. Today’s story is about service.
It’s bad enough when they can’t get your order right…and it matters not where you go: Golden Arches, some guy with a crown, a freckled girl with pigtails, [...]

[Read more]

Let me first state I think Phil Luciano is a great columnist, and I am always entertained by his writing style, and “get it” when it comes to Phil’s sense of humor. He’s damn good at what he does in the paper.  But I take, shall we say, significant umbrage at yesterday’s baloney-filled column about speeding [...]

[Read more]

After not watching more than two laps of NAZICAR racing all year, I flipped away from NBA playoff action for a few minutes to see what indeed was up these days in the world of big league stock car racing, the once-great sport that has been ruined by a greedy, bigoted sanctioning body. Thought I’d [...]

[Read more]

So another teacher gets sent to the big house, this one for 48-years, for molesting two kids, ages 7 and 8. He got what he deserved. But I’m going to offer up a little career advice to him anyway:
If you wanted to be a perv and abuse defenseless kids and not go to jail, you [...]

[Read more]

Not the five dumbest, necessarily, and not in any particular order, but here are five things we do in this country that just don’t seem to make a lot of sense:
1. Put so-called “Deadbeat Dads” in jail. – Perfect. That’ll help ‘em support their kids. Lock them up so they CAN’T work and make payments. [...]

[Read more]

I heard Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stu Umholtz use “pled” in a soundbite on WMBD news the other morning, and to me it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I’ve talked about it before, but “pleaded”  is the proper term. “Pled” has now crept into “accepted” vernacular not because it’s correct, but simply because it’s used all [...]

[Read more]

Anyone who reads this knows what kind of drivers tick me off. But I just wonder aloud here…what possesses people to act like they do?
Case in point: I’m heading to Peoria Saturday afternoon, leaving Kewanee about 4:55pm. I get behind a large pickup with a topper and about a 1/2 ton of rusted metal at [...]

[Read more]

Why is it here in Illinois that people refuse to dim their lights until the last possible second, if at all? Is it that hard? Are the drivers that selfish?
Particularly maddening is as you approach a hill, you can see the glow from the oncoming car’s lights, and they’re bright. I ALWAYS dim my [...]

[Read more]

Making fun of bad punctuation has always been a pastime of mine, and apparently this blog’s owner as well.

[Read more]

Billy’s whining about the Civic Center again.
In my 11 years in the Peoria area, I’ve been to events at the Civic Center about 650 times…as best I can guess. That includes almost 400 Rivermen games, a few dozen concerts, 10 or 11 car shows, home and boat shows, state basketball tournaments, March Madness experience, a few [...]

[Read more]

So the WBC (World’s Biggest Cheater) finally hit number 755 Saturday night to tie the great Henry Aaron. And with that, I’ve officially given major league baseball my last dime, and my last minute of attention. Let me know how the season turns out. I told my friends this is what I’d do, and I’m [...]

[Read more]

We tried to attend a movie at Rave Motion Pictures last night. We love the theatre, have been big fans since it opened. But last night we had to walk out. Was it the fault of the theatre? Of course not, it was the fault of the inconsiderate, arrogant, asinine women (mother and daughter) behind [...]

[Read more]

Donchya just love the guys who drive 52 MPH on a lonely rural two lane highway (not to get specific, but let’s say, Illinois Route 78 between Kewanee and Canton), and then drive the same 52 MPH (or actually sometimes speed up) when going through little map dots where the posted limit is 45 (again, [...]

[Read more]

I see where the catholic church (or more correctly, the vatican) has released a “10 commandments” for driving, rules of the road, if you will.
I’ve got an idea…instead, how about if the church works harder to protect young alter boys from getting molested by pedophile priests and I’ll worry about my own driving. Sound fair?

[Read more]

Today on ESPN, I heard a reporter use the term “pled guilty”, and to me it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. It did not used to bother me, but then an editor – and he was a good one - at the newspaper I wrote for in Carson City, NV, explained to me why it should [...]

[Read more]

I like motorcycles. Don’t own one, not sure if I ever would, what with all my other interests, I don’t know when I’d find the time to ride. But I like ‘em.  I think they’re pretty cool.
That being said, when I saw a dad cruising the other day with what looked to be about a [...]

[Read more]

I’m grocery shopping today, checking out, and the guy behind me decides he’s going to try to share my clothes with me as I’m entering my PIN in the debit card pad.
You know the kind…as you’re getting ready to unload your cart, you try to move from behind to in front of your cart, and [...]

[Read more]