Spreading positive doubt to the masses
— Bumper sticker of the week: My
only fear of death is reincarnation.
— Quotes of the week: ÒIf the phone
doesnÕt ring, itÕs me.Ó
—Jimmy Buffett
ÒNo matter what side on a argument you
are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the
other.Ó The Peever
— Spreading some positive doubt:
¥ I doubt the Chinese will ever do
anything in Galesburg, although would labor force is beginning to get use to
working for less and less. When we get to about $10 per day, we better start
teaching Chinese in our schools.
¥ I donÕt see that Super Wal-Mart is
going to help Galesburg. They should be paying quite a bit of sales tax, and
real-estate tax, but I doubt that will offset the lose of jobs created by their
grocery and huge floor space and ever expanding inventory. Ma and Pa Kettle
ainÕt got a prayer. Neither has EconoFoods and HyVee.
¥ GREDA, formerly the EDC, has not done
anything in the 20 years I have been keeping track. They take credit for things
that would have happened anyway, and some things that they have nothing to do
with. Since they like to keep everything secret, itÕs hard to tell exactly what
it is theyÕre not doing.
¥ If Galesburg ever becomes a Òno honkÓ
train town, IÕll quit writing this column. ThatÕs my promise to the city
council, which they can hardly afford to ignore. (This is commonly called
ÒbaitingÓ).
¥ LetÕs face the facts, Galesburg needs a
full-time mayor. We need someone in charge and responsible for our ongoing
failures.
¥ I doubt a Knox College education is
worth $35,478 per year. YouÕd be better off getting the $141,912 from your
parents, putting it in a CD at 5.5%, and continuing to live with them until
they throw you out, which my be never, if you can provoke enough guilt.
¥ The media is being bought up by large
corporate interests in the name of generating a huge marketing network designed
to push their products. Acquisitions and mergers have totaled in the billions
over the last several years. Journalists and reporters are reticent to write
anything that might rankle their corporate bosses. The upside is that this
corporate filtration of the news has spun off a whole new source of information
on the internet. Bloggers have taken up the cause. Now, anyone on the street
with a cell phone camera and a blog site on the internet can be a reporter. In
fact, most of the leading stories today originate from blog sites. We no longer
need the corporate news. ItÕs not worth a nickel anyway.
¥ From day one, I have doubted whether
the war in Iraq had anything to do with democracy and freedom. That doubt
continues, and is now approaching the fifth year. ThatÕs a lot of doubt.
¥ If the world had never heard of Karl
Rove, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Al Gonzales,
Condoleeza Rice, John Roberts, and Robert Gates, we would all be better off.
¥ The only thing I like about rich people
is their money.
¥ New Orleans would seem to be better off
way below sea level.
¥ Mitt Romney won the Iowa Republican
straw poll. Of course, Iowa is pretty close to Utah.
¥ Our government now practices stealing
from the poor and giving to the rich. This is Robin Hood in reverse. Apparently
his tights are too tight.
¥ I think registering with the legal
authorities is a good idea for gun owners, sex offenders, and ministers.
¥ They should start putting warning
labels in underwear. They all seem to shrink.
¥ My emails keep telling me that size
really matters. Crap, wouldnÕt you know it.
08/23/07