Op/Ed: Some grumbles

Telephone courtesy is very important to me. I spend a lot of time on the phone at work — always have — and poor phone manners infuriate me.
Today, I was assaulted my several people who simply never learned that:
1. It’s rude in general to have a conversation with someone in the room with you while […]

Opinion: Gun control is very important


You really do need to control your weapon. And this young lady found the 50 Desert Eagle a bit more than she can control.

Opinion: Once again, firearms make our lives better

Peorians LOVE to debate crime. We debate what causes it. We debate how bad it is. We debate whether or not it’s worse of better than it was back in the good old days. We debate how to lower the crime rate.
Perhaps our neighbors to the north — Michigan — have a solution that ought […]

Opinion: Snow and swimsuits do not mix

CUTLINE: Anna Maxwell, 11, left, and Katie Ichikawa, 16, of Santa Cruz, run out of a sauna room through the snow to make the best of the winter storm pounding the Sierra Nevada mountains at Sorenson’s Resort in Hope Valley, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008. The system of storms is expected to impact the […]

Opinion: Cheap pot prices signal failure in the War on Drugs

If the War on Drugs was succeeding, wouldn’t the price be driven up by the shortage? Not in the Houston area, and not when it comes to marijuana.
A car, a home, a gallon of milk — most everything costs more now than a generation ago. Except a baggie of Mexican marijuana.
Give or take a few […]

Comment: There’s nothing gray about Honest Abe

Via The Associated Press:
WASHINGTON - Honest Abe will become Colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray livening up the $5 bill.
The government showed off the new bill Thursday in an Internet news conference — a high-tech unveiling that officials say is entirely appropriate for a 21st century redesign of the bill featuring the […]

Quote of the day

“All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.”
– H.L. Mencken

Quote of the day: Bagdikian’s observation

“Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s ‘St. Matthew’s Passion’ on a ukulele.”
– Ben Bagdikian, media critic and journalist.

Blog news: I make the pages of the PJS

I can write a thousand words of wisdom on important local, state, international and even world topics. But when the Peoria Journal Star decides to quote me in “Web Words” (Section C, Page 1, today’s issue), it’s this single sentence: “Two new locations for sucky food and mediocre service …” Essentially, this is the complete […]

Early A.M. quote of the day:

“Here’s a frightening thought. Dick Vitale has fewer tattoos and more hair than Britney Spears.” - Mike Patrick
Hat tip: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical.

Stupid, dumb redneck hunters know more about nature than smug cartoonists

Yuck, yuck, yuck.
That sure is funny. A big fat toothless slob pointing out all the cute fictional deer he’s shot. All that’s missing is Bambi’s Mother, along with the titular Disney character himself.
Feh.
The cartoonist, snug in his cocoon of smug self-importance and self-superiority, no doubt thinks he is of a much higher social and intellectual […]

Words of wisdom (answer)


Words of wisdom

Note: This is a new feature. I’m going to lift one or two winning lines from another blogger and ask readers to try to guess or find the quote themselves.
Who said this?
For a school district that wants to build a “community center” style school, they sure are doing their darndest to alienate the community.
P.S. No […]

A 2nd Amendment rant

Occasionally, Angie of Angie’s Drama turns the keyboard over to her hubby Rod to go on one of his rants. This is a good one.
-48 states have laws providing for the carry of concealed weapons by the public. Last time I counted there were only 50 in the Union, so that’s a pretty good chunk […]

TIFs for Dummies

Here’s three more very relevant paragraphs from the Reason magazine article about the futility of tax increment financing districts:
Local officials usually do not consider how much growth might occur without a TIF. In 2002 the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group (NCBG), a coalition of 200 Chicago organizations that studies local public investment, looked at 36 of […]