Highway 55 Revisited

This seems like it might be pretty awesome. Yeah, both Dylan and Costello have seen better days musically, but the idea of having them booked for the same show is intriguing. I may just go.

Non-Stop!

Heard on my radio this morning that the new air service between Springfield and St. Louis will be “non-stop”. Wow. No more layovers in Litchfield? No changing planes in Staunton? Truly an air traveler's dream!

By the way, how long do you suppose this service will last? And does it really make any sense given that you can drive between the cities as quickly when you consider time spent at the airport?

Friday Beer Blogging: More Animals Edition

Nothing is funnier than pictures of animals pursuing human endeavors. Try putting a hat on a cat or dress your dog in clothes. Hilarious! And when it's a slow beer week, post pictures of animals with beer. Hilarious!

Dogs...love...beer


Every product must be tested before making it available to humans. Including beer. Especially Coors. The problem was getting beer cans small enough for rats to drink.

Goooood puppy...now give me back my six pack. Your owners ARE aware of leash laws, right?

Awwwww...kitties are so cute...until they're over-served.

Less exploitative beer blogging to return next week.

Have a happy Labor Day weekend and buy your laborer a beer!

Brothers in No Wi-Fi

Chicagoans feel our pain:

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- An ambitious plan to blanket the city with wireless broadband Internet will be shelved because it is too costly and too few residents would use it, Chicago officials said Tuesday.
…
Tuesday's announcement makes Chicago the latest in a string of municipalities to encounter troubles with their municipal broadband initiatives because of ballooning budgets and dwindling usage that's led to scant revenue generated by the projects. About 175 U.S. cities or regions have citywide or partial systems.

Hmmm. What are the odds that both Springfield and Chicago would have their ambitious Wi-Fi plans dashed the same week? BLA-GO-JE-VICH!

Bus-Ackward

Not to pick on the school bus driver too much, but based on the information in this story,doesn’t he or she have some responsibility here.

Dropped off in an unfamiliar neighborhood a mile from his home Friday afternoon, Davion Conley, a kindergartner at Hazel Dell Elementary School, had no idea where he was.

A mix-up at the school had placed him on the wrong bus, and at the end of the route, Davion, 5, apparently was told to get off with the rest of the remaining pupils.

Told to get off? If drivers have extra kids at the end, they have to dump them off at the end of the line?

I don’t know any more about the incident than what’s in the newspaper account, but it sounds like maybe the school bus driver dropped the ball here too. I know it’s early in the school year and the driver probably doesn’t know all the kids on their route yet, but telling a kid he has to get off just because it’s the end of that route seems odd to me. I suspect the kid didn’t speak up about it not being his stop, but still.

Hey, Mr. Wilson!

Dear Owen,

My four year-old son doesn’t want to know that his hero Lightning McQueen tried to kill himself. Please get well.

-Dave

Will Get Fooled Again

Why do media outlets, pundits, and other MSMers continually fall for fake stories on obvious parody sites on the internet? This latest incident is hilarious. MSNBC falls for a fake news story on the Michael Vick case which includes this:

But at the same time, [Rev. Al] Sharpton argued that the prosecution of Vick was overkill.

If the police caught Brett Favre (a white quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) running a dolphin-fighting unit out of his pool, where dolphins with spears attached to their foreheads fought each other, would they bust him? Of course not," Sharpton wrote Tuesday on his personal blog.

Now, even if you, as a reporter, could believe Sharpton would say something like that, isn’t it part of your job to verify it? Or at least be observant enough to see the fake news warning signs all around you. As Digby notes:

The editor of the site, terribly impressed with MSNBC's investigative skills as you might imagine, wonders which one of these clues finally tipped them off:

1. The words "fake parody blogs" in the titlebar of every page of our site
2. Our logo
3. Al Sharpton blogging on the same site as Lindsay Lohan, George Bush
and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
4. Our about page www.newsgroper.com/about/
5. Al Sharpton referring to himself in his bio as an "Emancipation Proclamation enthusiast"

…It's hard to imagine anyone sentient would believe Sharpton would come up with the "dolphins with spears on their heads" thing. He's colorful but he isn't retarded.

Well, blogs do continue to confound some journalists. But hey, who am I to criticize; I get all my news from The Daily Show, The Onion, and the Colbert Report.

What's This Guy Doing?

I’m really tired of asking that question about Rod Blagojevich. The SJ-R says it under the opinion piece headline, “Blagojevich making a joke of government”.

Sadly, while Blago bumbles and acts like fool, the Bush administration shreds the constitution, breaks laws, lies, manipulates, bankrupts the treasury and starts the occasional war (coming soon: Iran!). This is why I still can’t get too worked up about the silliness of Illinois politics. Yes, it’s goofy and we can do better but what’s going on in Washington is far more dangerous.

Chester the Molester Laws

Following up on the post below, I agree with the commenters that the sexual predator laws are generally too broad in coverage and too readily enacted. That latter point goes to what I was saying about teen driving laws and though-on-crime legislation in general. The “tougher” laws easily pass because no one wants to be seen opposing them. Never mind they may do little or no good, cost a fortune and often overcorrect minor infractions. In this case, no politician wants to be siding with “child molesters” so they go along with any and every measure that that comes along. It’s silly and wasteful, but that’s the reality.

Looking for the Cussing/Pedophile Connection.

I’ve been reading the series of stories in the SJ-R (here and here) on sex offenders and some of the crazy consequences of overly broad sex offender laws. The Peoria paper has this too. The bottom line seems to be that these laws are expensive, often ruin lives needlessly while not making much of a difference in crime rates. Some of the situations are just ridiculous. For example,

In Pennsylvania, a 13-year-old girl who took pictures of her naked self will be marked a sex offender for life.

Two Virginia girls in their teens who took topless photos of each other also must register for life.

In Florida, a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy made a video of themselves having sex and have to register – not for the legal sex acts, but for the tape, considered child porn.

A Georgia mother was convicted in 2002 of being party to a crime of child molestation because she allowed her pregnant 15-year-old daughter’s boyfriend, who was 17, to move in with the family. Though the couple eventually married, Allison’s label sticks.

And so on. But then I came across this bit:

Jane’s two daughters, ages 10 and 12, and son, 7, spent Saturdays at Glen Wheeler’s for seven years.

The eldest daughter testified at trial that Wheeler started touching her during the very first playdate. Then he videotaped her siblings.

“We thought they had the same moral standard we did,” Jane said of the Wheelers. “They didn’t swear. They didn’t have alcohol in the house. They cared about their kids.

Well, being that simple-minded I can understand how she never saw the signs of abuse. I wonder in what world is there a correlation between swearing and pedophilia? They better lock me up now because I swear AND I drink alcohol. Damn, lock down the schools, I’m on the loose! I have no proof, but I bet there’s a much stronger correlation between hiding behind being a self-righteous prude and pedophilia than there is between saying bad words and molesting kids. But what the fuck do I know; pour me another drink, kid.

Big Screen Blog

I see my movie is finally coming out. I wonder if this will help my sagging hit count so JP can rest easy.

SJ-R Calls for the U.S. Pullout of Iraq

In the paper’s main editorial today, the Springfield Journal-Register calls on the Bush administration to begin a military withdrawal from Iraq.

It was a catastrophic mistake to invade Iraq — we believe that mistake is compounded the longer we stay. That is not the opinion of wild-eyed liberal “cut and runners.” The majority of Americans no longer want us in Iraq. They can see what apparently Bush cannot — simply wanting something to be a certain way doesn’t make it that way — no matter what any general says.

I don’t remember, did the SJ-R call this a “catastrophic mistake” BEFORE the invasion? You know, when it might have mattered. Or was it on board with the popular and exciting war fever thing that so engrossed the media in 2002 and early 2003? I’m too lazy to do the research on what the paper’s stand was then, but I suspect that it was only us “wild-eye liberals” who thought this thing was a giant cluster-fuck in the making before we went all shock and awe in 2003. Either way, I’m glad the very serious SJ-R is finally agreeing with those of us with the wild eyes.

Friday Beer Blogging: Old Time Cheap Edition

I was talking to a friend the other day about cheap beers that were staples during or respective college years. You know, beers brewed for those on a budget. We had a number of low priced favorites during my college days in the late 70s and early 80s. These were almost always cases of returnable bottles that sold for $4.99 plus a buck deposit on the bottles.

Hands down the winner in terms of total volume consumed has to have been Wiedemann.

Note: I had not luck finding pictures of some of these beers -some don't even exist any more- so I have labels and such.

Another notorious favorite was Rhinelander.

Rhinelander was brewed in Monroe, Wisconsin, just across the border from where I later lived and continued to drink the stuff on my radio salary in the mid-80s.

This next stuff was real shit beer, Sterling. Ugh! Never a favorite of mine, but the price was always right.

Schmidt we usually bought in cans and the 12 packs had nature scenes. Schmidt wasn't too bad as I recall.

Top Hat beer was one we liked my freshman year at school. I even did one of my first FBB posts on it a couple of years ago.

And finally, Generic beer. This stuff appeared late in my college career but I remember buying it a few times cuz it was so damn cheap.

Have a happy (and cheap) weekend!

Springfield Bloggers: You're Invited

We're throwing a party for no particular reason late Saturday afternoon and evening. As a man, I am waiting until the last minute to invite my people. I was just going to ship off an invite to JP, but thought what the hell, why not invite any and all Springfield bloggers and regular commenters here on this blog.

We are providing all the food and drink (hard and soft). Bring a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse if you like (no kids as we already have enough adults showing up). We have a pool, so bring something to wear to swim if you like. We anticipate getting this thing started about 4:00 and go until whenever.

For more details, email me at the link above and I'll get back to you on directions to Stately TEH Manor.

More Teen Driving Law Consequences

The new law requiring teens to have a learner’s permit for nine months rather than three months is causing some problems. The idea is to give kids more time with supervised experience before letting them out on the road alone. The effect may actually be to have them start earlier.

For example, the Pleasant Plains school district, unlike Springfield, seems to be accommodating students in light of the new law. One of my daughters just started at the high school this week and, at 14 and a first semester freshman, she is enrolled in drivers ed. This will allow her to get the drivers ed in, and her 9 months of learner's permit time before she’s 16. So while she will be getting more experience before getting a real license, she’s getting that experience at an earlier age. I don’t know if that’s good or bad but it is one effect the new law is having.

The other, perhaps not entirely unintended, consequence will be that kids not able to get into divers ed earlier, lie those in Springfield public schools, will be getting their actual license at some point after their 16th birthday. Maybe months after. Again, I’m not sure this is good or bad (well, I’m sure it’s bad in the minds of the students) but the days of pretty much guaranteeing you can get your driver’s license on your 16th birthday may be over for awhile, at least until the school districts can adjust.

Bloggers Against Dialing and Driving

The governor has signed into law a bill that would ban 18 year-olds from using there cell phone behind the wheel. The only problem I have is that is it should apply to everyone. I think dialing, talking, texting, and emailing while driving is not a good idea. I’ll be the first to admit that I get too distracted doing those things on the road. I always vow to stop it, but NEXT time.

Fifteen or so years ago, not many people had cell phones, or “car phones” as they were probably more commonly known as back then and we all got along in life just fine. We had to stop at a pay phone to make a call and life was still good. Today, even if using your cell phone was banned while driving, you could still pull over and use it which is way better than what we had in the good ol’ days 15+ years ago. I would also have an exemption for obvious emergencies.

I’m also noticing a legislative trend here. Lawmakers like to get legislation passed and they sometimes find an easy mark that will satisfy their need to make laws with little to no political risk. The favorite, of course, is new and stricter punishment for law-breakers. More jail time! Stiffer fines! Take away rights! It’s politically profitable since no one wants to come out and be accused of being “soft on crime” even if the new, stricter penalties have no effect and just wind up costing money and further destroy lives. The law of diminishing returns, or even negative returns, starts to kick in at some point.

But lately, lawmakers here in Illinois seem to be piling on teenagers. Again, they’re an easy mark because they either can’t or won’t vote, and adults, who can and do vote more often, are always looking for ways to “control:” the wild and carefree teens. So we get ever more restrictions on teen driving. And to be honest, most teens have grown up multi-tasking and are probably more prepared to use a cell phone while driving than are their parents. If safety is the issue, we need to have the ban apply to everyone.

More Nakidity in the News

I’m just going to have to make this a regular feature (Wednesday Bare Blogging?). Hardly a week goes by without someone shedding their clothes for 15 minutes of fame. Now we have a naked woman attacking people with a hammer.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A woman who police say assaulted people with a hammer while she was naked was arrested on a variety of charges, including assault and obstruction of emergency communications.

Satin Delfrano, 32, of Des Moines was arrested on Sunday after police were called to a complaint of a woman armed with a hammer assaulting three other women.

This wouldn’t be an AP story had her hammer attack occurred while she was clothed. It probably wouldn’t have gone national even if she had killed one of those people (more than one, maybe). Naked = News.

Blago Bans Computer Hunters

I suppose if even the National Rife Association opposes this kind of hunting, it must really be bad.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a new law Monday banning so-called remote-control hunting, in which a computer user maneuvers a camera-equipped rifle, tracks an animal on-screen, and fires the weapon with the click of a mouse.

The ban, which takes effect immediately, makes Illinois one of more than 30 states that have outlawed the practice, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

"The main purpose of this (measure) is gamesmanship and maintaining hunting for what it is," Gerardo Cardenas, a Blagojevich spokesman, said Tuesday. "Remote-control hunting - people sitting in their living rooms, basements and bedrooms controlling weapons and firing at animals from their computer - does not seem to fit into what the sport of hunting is about."

Still more concept than trend, such "ready, aim, click" kills - or the prospect of them - push the ethical envelope and violate the spirit of "fair chase" hunts, opponents say.
…
The issue emerged in early 2005, when Texas entrepreneur John Lockwood set up a Web site that allowed subscribing hunters with a high-speed Web connection to shoot antelope, wild pigs and other game on his 220-acre San Antonio spread via remote control - from anywhere. Lockwood offered to send the animals' heads to subscribers.

Lockwood's venture barely got started before Texas lawmakers caught wind of it, swooped in and shot it down. Since then, other states have hustled to get something on their books barring the practice.

Sheesh, only in Texas.

I’m not opposed to hunters or hunting I guess, but to suggest that blowing away an animal with a gun is somehow “fair” if it’s done in person as opposed to remotely seems odd to me. No, it’s still not “fair”. Hunters are in little danger of being hurt or killed unless it’s at the hands of another hunter. Using all kinds of camouflage, lures, scopes, high-powered arms, etc. only makes it more unfair. But whatever, at least the hunters still have to get out of bed. Thanks, Governor B.

Uniform Thinking

So Springfield public schools may adopt uniforms for students. I’ve long thought the there is nothing particularly wrong with school uniforms even if their impact is minimal. They certainly save money for parents and remove one layer (but only one layer) of social competition among the kids. Opponents, on the other hand, decry the loss of individuality. I think both sides overstate their case, however.

There is nothing magical about uniforms that tears down social class or instills any significant amount of greater discipline in students. Social groups and cliques and, yes, gangs, will continue exist even if everyone is forced to wear similar clothing. Discipline problems will continue and the clothes don’t help you learn. Still, it does probably save teachers and administrators time they would otherwise use to be judge and jury in dress code enforcement duty.

As for the loss of individuality, I actually have the radical notion that, in a small way, uniforms can increase individuality. Kids –well, maybe all of us- use close not to stand out as different, but to identify with a group. That’s hardly being “individual”.

When I was in high school, every student, I mean EVERYONE, wore blue jeans. It was a cultural uniform. I remember being struck by this in a vivid way once when I was walking to the end of the line in front of the Armory to see a concert in the late 70s. As I walked past the other concertgoers, it really seemed odd that all of us free thinkers were in jeans and wouldn’t dare be seen in such a setting in anything else.

So kids already have “uniforms” that associate them with this or that group. Once that group uniform is removed and replaced with the clothes all the other kids are wearing in the school, you have no choice but to look beyond the clothes to see who this person is. That, to me, makes someone more of an individual because they now need to rely on things like personality and achievement (good or bad) to express their individuality.

I wouldn’t look for great things to happen if District 186 does go uniform. But it’s not the end of the world either.

Viva Viagra

God I hate erectile dysfunction drug ads. They're everything that's wrong with our culture, medical system and mass media rolled into one. When these ads come on my TV, I usually just grit my teeth and endure them. Today at lunch, this shit came on my TV and I nearly lost my lunch. These people are shameless.

Look, I'm a middle-aged guy and I really, really don't want this kind of PR. Hell, they've almost convinced me that we're a generation of hapless limp dicks. Someone make it stop!