LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

Mother Nature is tough

— Bumper sticker of the week: If we are what we eat, I’m cheap, fast, and easy.

— Quotes of the week: “We need a President who’s fluent in at least one language.” Buck Henry

“The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you’ve gotten the fish, you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?” Chuang Tzu

— Positive Peeverism of the week: Downtown is a mess, but we have to do improvements to our infrastructure if we are to make Galesburg an appealing town for the future.

— Tall tales:

• President Bush has asked me to advise him on spiritual matters.

• Being on the Reagan Trail means an additional million dollars in revenue for Galesburg.

• Gas will soon return to $1.59 per gallon.

• A huge business is scheduled to move into the new industrial park. I hear they make portapotties.

• North Seminary Street will one day have a Super Wal-Mart, a Menard’s, an Olive Garden, a Cracker Barrel, a service station, and a Border’s. And maybe a Big Al’s.

• Don’t be surprised if the Galesburg City Council is awarded the Council of the Year award, scheduled to be given out by the Galesburg Chamber of Commerce.

• It was just announced in Washington that everyone in this country will get free medical care, and a chicken in every pot.

— Bush refused to talk to Sheehan: A majority of Americans believe Mr. Bush should talk to Cindy Sheehan, protesting outside his Texas home due to her son's death in Iraq. The pro-Bush media stresses “slight” majority. In 2000, I didn’t hear them talking about him being “slightly” elected. Anyway, it should be an overwhelming majority. Any American worth a grain of salt should be supportive of a President talking to anyone about anything. Of course, Bush’s handlers are worried about letting him freelance without a teleprompter. Still, this is a democracy, where everyone’s voice should be heard. And the President should be the best example of this. Just because he doesn’t like what someone is saying is no reason to not listen. Bush once again demonstrates his autocracy ways. He only has eyes, and ears, for those who agree with him.

— New Orleans under water: As long as I’ve been alive, people have said that this would happen. New Orleans has been in denial about the inevitable for centuries, periodically just escaping disaster. Until the other day. When you edge up to the ocean, or gulf, or sea, or mountain, or forest, or river, you only have a limited time to enjoy it. Mother Nature makes no exceptions. She moves forward, treating everyone, and everything, alike. We should be smarter, but we figure, “It won’t happen to me.” I do the same on a smaller scale by not getting my business in order before I die, which on top of it, I’ve already tried once. We put it off, don’t want to deal with it, it won’t happen to me. We are fooled and lulled into complacency. Until wham!

— Poverty growing: The official poverty rate in America in 2004 stood at 37 million, up 1.1 million from 2003. That is the government calculation, which is likely to be way understated. They also state that 46 million people are without health insurance, another likely understatement. These figures continue to grow year after year, and all you hear from the Bush administration is how well things are going. It’s not going well. We need new leadership. Someone in touch with reality.