LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

If I have to fight you, I'll fight you. But I'd rather work with you

– Bumper sticker of the week: Stupid should hurt

– Quotes of the week: "The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun." Buckminster Fuller

"Assault weapons and handguns play into our national paranoia, whereby we begin to believe someone, anyone, everyone, is out to get us. We must be prepared to strike back in order to protect ourselves and our own. The NRA plays upon this survival instinct and uses the paranoia and fear to promote its insane agenda. Even the Supreme Court falls victim to such illogical and fear based logic." The Peever

– I found some of these and added a few of my own:

• The greatest sin – fear.

• The biggest fool – high school dropouts.

• The greatest invention of the devil – war.

• The most expensive indulgence – hate and revenge.

• The greatest need – common sense.

• The worst bankruptcy – giving up.

• The greatest mystery – why?

• The common denominator – love.

• The best day – today.

– Life is tough. No one said it would be easy. What a mess we find ourselves in. This is where eight years of utter stupidity gets you. Combine that with a free market, non-regulated capitalism, and welcome to the horror show. In my sixty years, this is the most defining moment I have seen us approach. This is worse than having to duck under my desk in the early ‘fifties to protect myself from an A-bomb, which, admittedly, was a pretty stupid thing to have us do. Now we've got two wars to contend with, an environmental disaster, no jobs, pathetic health-care, and a rapidly developing second rate educational system. Trying to right Bush's wrongs will take a miracle. In the meantime, the same right-wingers who got us here are going to complain that Democrats, or progressives, or liberals, are only interested in helping the poor, and that we are wrongfully unwilling to allow their rich buddies to continue getting rich at the expense of the rest of us. Myself, I feel bad for them.

– GREDA: I took a look at GREDA' s web site, just to see what they are saying. A couple of first impressions: It's hard to get signed in. Maybe the site knew who I was. You have to sign on to look at the board members, so maybe it wasn't me. Second, the board chairman’s statement strikes me as odd: The use of the word confidential is troubling. GREDA has always liked secrets. It's as though someone thinking of moving a business to Galesburg really doesn't want anyone to know. I don't accept that premise. The public should know who intends on bringing a business to Galesburg. It is our town, not theirs. If GREDA intends to use public money, their business has to be open to public scrutiny. They like to call this scrutiny negativism. If you don't agree with us, you're against us. I call this positive doubt, or perhaps, keeping careful watch over how our tax dollars are used. The other problem I see is a board with forty members. That would be quite a few. No wonder they can't ever decide on anything. Aside from those three glaring problems, here's the deal: You think we are negative because we ask questions, I'm willing to bring those questions directly to you. I'll volunteer for the board. Only two conditions: That I am allowed to bring 20 other people with me of my choosing, and no more secrets. No more, as you say, confidentiality. Every thing is up-front and in the open. Now sign me up, I'm with you.