LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

 

Sameness sells

 

-Bumper sticker of the week: McSame

 

-Quote of the week: ÒAnytime we see an adult who is homeless, we can think about the child they once were and what might have happened to them. Anytime we see somebody who is pushing a shopping cart and talking to themselves or apparently drunk on the sidewalk, we know they didnÕt start out that way. They were once every bit as adorable as any other child; there was every bit as much hope in their eyes, every bit as much beauty in them as in our own children. Something happened to them, probably something awful, probably more than once, that broke them and brought them to their sorry state. They were once children who didnÕt get a fair break. So letÕs honor who they were. LetÕs at least give them a fair break now.Ó John Records

 

 

-McCain: Nobody questions that John McCain served his country well and had to put up with enormous indignities while a POW. But to base a Presidential campaign on it: Old school.

 

-Welcome to Galesburg, where the homeowner comes in last:

 * If you fix up the exterior of your home, expect to pay more in real estate taxes. There is no incentive to keep a house up.

 * Most of our homes now have half-trees in front of them. AmerenIP and Tree Service should be charged with destruction of private property.

 * The city lays claim to the terrace. They are responsible for what happens there. When it creates problems for them, such as tree branches reaching over it, or when the terrace needs mowing, all of a sudden it is ours. ItÕs all of a sudden theirs when they want to widen the street. None of this is right, and all of this should be illegal. Only problem is, they make the rules to make their lives and the lives of companies like AmerenIP easier.

 * We lost our parking on North Seminary Street. I donÕt remember seeing any hearings. It was going to be temporary. Yeah, and I was going to be President.

 * If the sewer needs worked on outside, guess who owns it? I didnÕt have any say in how they put it in, or who put it in, or how well they did, but if it breaks, I own it, I pay for it. And if you donÕt, or canÕt, they will put a lien on your home. But hey, you got to be able to flush.

 * What do our real estate taxes pay for? Schools, whose budgets keep going up as the student population keeps going down; a poor library building; lousy streets; a mainly incompetent city council; an overcrowded city hall where the retirement deal, health-care, and salaries are for the most part better than most of us get; and a water, sewer, and trash pick-up bill that looks like a house payment.

 * The assessor says that our property values keep going up. As the town declines into oblivion, somehow we are to believe that our property keeps rising in value. And tomorrow Maytag is going to move back.

 * If I had it to do all over again, IÕd rent or lease and let someone else worry about all this crap.

 

-Suppose we were all the same: We worry about differences. Immigrants are unwanted in our communities. We donÕt trust Muslims, we get miffed at same-sex marriages, weÕre scared of people with mental illness, and different colors freak us out. So what if we were all the same? We all want the same jobs. We want to live in the same place, in the same houses, all painted the same color. We all eat the same food and dress the same way, drink the same beer and have the same hair-dos. We drive the same cars, vacation in the same places, play the same music, and watch the same movies. We laugh at the same jokes and cry at the same dramas. You canÕt tell one of us from the other. Now, isnÕt this fun?