LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

-Bumper sticker of the week: Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.

-Quote of the week: To be at peace and not in pieces.

-Quick fixes for Galesburg:

* Sell on e-bay.

* Turn the town into a museum of fundamental misfits.

* Put up concertina wire and declare Galesburg a prison town.

* I’m thinking of some kind of experiment that might make us famous. Maybe like what can happen to people when they are exposed to long-term city mismanagement?

* Build two more city owned golf courses and provide free golf to anyone who pays real estate taxes.

* Health-care from Cottage and St. Mary’s with the health insurance premiums paid for by real estate taxes.

* We could declare ourselves an independent nation where everything is illegal but gambling and prostitution.

* And if all else fails, why not tax half-trees?

-There sure are a lot of male enhancement products advertised on TV. So I figure, why not? If two of these little pills raises my locker room pride, four or six should really do the job. Who would have ever guessed. Now what?

-With any amount of luck, we’ll soon have a one-party system in the United States, although, Democrats being who they are, it probably won’t last long.

-Some “best countries in the word” categories:

* Most “green” countries: Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Austria. The United States is ranked 23^rd.

* Best universities: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden.

* Human development, as measured by life expectancy, literacy and standard of living: Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden. The United States is ranked 15^th.

* Most democratic, as measured by The Economist: Sweden, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland. The United States is ranked 17^th.

* Best health-care systems, as measured by the World Health Organization: France, Italy, San Marino, Andurra, Malta, Singapore. The United States is ranked 37^th.

* Freedom of the press, as measured by the Reporters Without Borders: Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Estonia, Finland, Sweden Canada, Denmark. The United States is ranked 36^th.

Using almost any category, the United States does not fair very well around the world. We don’t make many top ten rankings. “America, love it or leave it,” is getting to be a used up proclamation. “America, save it or pave it.” is rapidly becoming our new mantra.

-I’m firmly convinced that if you will abuse an animal, you will abuse a human. I guarantee you, I’ll win more bets with that thought than I’ll lose.

-Who requested our 2010 earmark funds for Galesburg and Knox County? They did an interesting and miserably poor job. Where does this stuff come from? A Bariatric Unit? How about a blind unit, a deaf unit, a dumb unit? How about just not eating so much? The 911 fund was always flush with money. Where did all that go? The BNSF should be paying for bridges and quite zones. They create the problems, they should fix them. I thought the Railroad Hall of Fame was not going to use taxpayer dollars? My mistake. I must have been out of town when they asked us for our input.