Archive for April, 2008
April 30th, 2008
In case you’ve been led to believe the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is the only nut job clergyman who blamed Americans for carrying out policies and behaviors that led to the 9-11 attacks, I provide you with this transcript from 9-13-01, courtesy of Beliefnet.com.
It’s the Rev. Jerry Falwell talking to the Rev. Robertson, on Pat’s popular 700 Club TV show.
JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we’ve been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters - the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats–what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact–if, in fact–God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.
PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that’s my feeling. I think we’ve just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven’t even begun to see what they can do to the major population.
JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for this.
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes.
JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I’ll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way–all of them who have tried to secularize America–I point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen.”
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we’re responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.
JERRY FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang “God Bless America” and said “let the ACLU be hanged”? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time–calling upon God.
PAT ROBERTSON: Amen
April 29th, 2008
Just heard from Pat Hayes, Rockford’s legal director. Yes, loud motorcycles or loud vehicles of any kind are covered by both a city noise ordinance and a state law. Hayes concedes that
“motorcycles are more difficult to catch, but if our citizens have complaints about consistent activity, we’ll try to get people out there to interdict that. “
Sometimes the bikes have been altered so they make too much noise on purpose. Often, though, the bikes are street legal and make excessive noise when riders perform jackrabbit starts off the light.
Folks, the place for drag racing is the Byron Dragway. Not East State, not Perryville, not Riverside.
Here’s the city ordinance covering loud vehicles:
Sec. 17-3. Vehicular noise generally.
(a)Â No person shall sound any horn or audible signal device of any motor vehicle of any kind while not in motion, nor shall such horn or signal be sounded under any circumstances except as required by law, nor shall it be sounded for any unnecessary or unreasonable period of time.
(b)Â A person shall not operate a motor vehicle which is equipped with a muffler or exhaust system or sound muffling device which has been altered or changed to allow noise in violation of these regulations.
(c)Â A person shall not sell, transfer, install, or cause to be installed upon a motor vehicle a muffler or exhaust system or sound-muffling device, or a part, thereof, which will allow noise in violation of these regulations.
(d)Â No person shall operate, sell, or offer for sale any motor vehicle subject to registration that will, at any time or under any condition of grade, load, acceleration or deceleration, operate in such manner as to exceed the following noise limit based on a distance of not less than fifty (50) feet from a center line of travel for the category of motor vehicle indicated:
Any motor vehicle with a manufacturers GVW rating of 8,000 pounds or more, and any combination of vehicles towed by such motor vehicle:
35 MPH or less . . . 86dB (A)
Over 35 MPH . . . 90dB (A)
Any motorcycle:
35 MPH or less . . . 82dB (A)
Over 35 MPH . . . 86dB (A)
Any other motor vehicle and any combination of motor vehicles towed by such motor vehicle:
35 MPH or less . . . 76dB (A)
Over 35 MPH . . . 82dB (A)
(Ord. No. 1974-67-0, 4-15-74)
Â
April 29th, 2008
This is the weirdest Democratic presidential campaign I’ve ever seen. First, Hillary Clinton was the inevitable Democratic nominee, then she was toast because Barack Obama was the man with the “yes we can” plan.
Now, it’s Barack who’s on the ropes, and all Hillary had to do was sit back and watch.
Rather, it was Barack’s own pastor, the Rev. Jeramiah Wright, who threw Obama under the bus not once, not twice, but three times over the weekend , in a series of speeches that prove the guy is about three bricks short of a load.
Wright claims it’s the “black” church that’s under attack. What “black” church? Now, I’ve been to a fair number of services at black churches over the years, and I’ve heard some mighty dynamic sermons. There are a number of worship styles in so-called black churches, same as so-called white churches.
(Although 11 a.m. Sunday morning remains the most segregated hour in America, there are in Rockford at least a couple of churches that are multiracial, the chief among them being Faith Center, pastored by Don Lyon.)
Of all the sermons I’ve heard in my life, I’ve never heard anything like the anti-American, paranoid rantings of the Rev. Wright. And I’m not talking about the 7-second sound bytes heard over and over on Sean Crapity.
To get the whole picture of the man, I listened to Wrights’ entire speech at the NAACP, and his entire presentation to the National Press Club. And, I watched the entire interview with Bill Moyers. Conclusion: Wright is so far out of the mainstream with his anti-American conspiracy views (the government created AIDS to kill black folk, we’re the United States of KKK America, his belief that God damned America) that if Obama does not strongly rebuke, reprimand, disown him and leave his church, his candidacy is effectively over. If it isn’t already.
April 29th, 2008
The city of Rockford has been ticketing and impounding cars that have stereos deemed to be too loud. I live about a block from a busy intersection and I’ve noticed that there are fewer, “thump-a-thump-thumpa” bass sounds coming from over yonder.
However, booming bass sounds are only part of the noise problem on city streets. What about the other end of the sound spectrum, the high pitched whine of noisy motorcycles? On spring, summer and fall weekends, they’re the real noise problem.
“I think that was brought up” on the City Council, said Ald. Frank Beach, R-10th. But he doesn’t think the stereo ordinance addressed other loud road sounds.
I checked with the city’s Legal Department. Someone was supposed to get back to me. That was 3 hours ago. I’ll let you know when they finally do. Clock is ticking.
April 28th, 2008
Ageria’s oil minister, who heads OPEC, forecasts that oil will hit $200 a barrel because of the weak dollar and the U.S. recession, not because OPEC is holding back oil. Besides, he says the U.S. has record supplies of gasoline.
Isn’t it funny that this isn’t the main topic of discussion on TV news, in the papers and on talk radio? If his forecast is true, it spells disaster for the U.S. economy.
But the media have convinced us that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermons and his latest publicity tour are more important. Frankly, I’d like the media to explore solutions to this gasoline problem, not Barack Obama’s gasbag pastor problem.
April 28th, 2008
The AP wire reports that United and US Airways are in serious merger talks. We already know that Delta is buying Northwest.
And those are not the end of the airline mergers.
Rising costs of fuel are forcing a new round of airline consolidation. These new, behemoth air carriers will mean customer-service nightmares for passengers as they find their choices are reduced or eliminated to one airline, which will be able to charge whatever the customers will pay.
Can you imagine flying in a couple of years as you’re landing at an airport served by one of the merged airlines, and the flight attendant says:
“Thanks for flying Humongous Airlines. Although, you know, we really don’t have to thank you because you have no choice. Buh-bye. “
The time is ripe for the second tier airlines, the Allegiants, the Southwests and others, to shine. That can only help Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD), which features quick check-in and TSA clearance, good service, free parking and convenience to west and northwest Chicagoland without the traffic.
April 25th, 2008
AirFest 2008, June 6, 7 and 8Â at ChicagoRockford International Airport will have three, honorary festival chairmen, or as I like to call them, “air marshals.”
They are: Jim Powers, colonel, US Army retired; Chuck Thomas, lawyer who was key to development of the Greater Rockford Airport Authority; and Bill Robertson, Rockford’s fire chief, who will retire in June.
AirFest this year features the return of the Air Force’s Thunderbirds.’
April 24th, 2008
The circle is closing in on Governor Rod Blagojevich, as songbirds are all the rage in the corruption trial of Tony Rezko. And I’ll tell you something: I always considered Patrick Quinn somewhat of a political curiousity and gadfly. Now my fervent hope is that he can become governor, and soon. As lieutenant governor, Mr. Quinn would assume the governor’s office if Blagojevich is impeached or otherwise forced to resign.
Pat Quinn. A voice of sanity for Illinois. Who’d a thunk it?
April 23rd, 2008
I’m an infrastructure fanatic, but the plans of the Tri State Alliance aren’t smart growth, they’re more of the tired, mega-developer driven development that, with $4 gasoline, we cannot afford.
The alliance, a group of road officials and local leaders from northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa, want to build a 50-mile, $1 billion freeway across sparsely-populated Stephenson and Jo Daviess counties to Dubuque. I commented on that in an earlier post.
But this region’s future isn’t tied to Iowa. It’s tied to Chicago, same as it’s always been.
As Chicago goes, so goes us. But the Tri-State Alliance does not address the problem of road and rail congestion in the Windy City. And the more congested Chicago gets — some 1,200 passenger and freight trains a day — the less competitve our region will be.
So, how congested is it? Well, a container train takes roughly 48 hours to get from the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to Chicago. It then takes the containers another two days to get switched around by an inefficient combination of trucks and trains, and headed to the east.
There’s a plan to alleviate this congestion, called CREATE.
CREATE is a $1.5 billion plan to get trains and trucks moving faster. But it’s seriously underfunded. Tri-State Alliance ought to make completion of CREATE a top priority because without it, Chicagoland’s future as a transport hub is in serious jeapordy as other cities such as Memphis step into the breech. Read more about CREATE here
and here.
I also have a serious disagreement with Tri State Alliance over the wisdom of building a “Beloit bypass” freeway through western Winnebago County to connect with U.S. 20. This would encourage sprawl development that only a mega-developer could love. When are we going to stop subsidizing these multi-millionaire strip-mallers? When gas hits $5 a gallon? $6?
What does make sense is to encourage a new kind of development along the corridor from Madison to Janesville, Beloit, Rockford, Belvidere and into Chicago. The cities are connected economically, culturally, educationally. But we can’t just do what we’ve been doing, not with $4 gas that won’t get cheaper.
Rather, we need to have public policies that encourage transit-oriented developments, then build the transit systems to serve them. You can see examples of this kind of development by taking a Metra train on any of its 12 lines. Retail-commercial-leisure and residential developments are mushrooming around train stations from Tinley Park to Cyrstal Lake.
This is not so far-fetched as a typical Rockfordian might think. Commuter rail projects are all the rage, as are light-rail projects. Cities like Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, Salt Lake City, Denver, Alberquerque, Houston, Phoenix, Charlotte, Minneapolis are developing light rail and commuter rail systems. And existing systems are being expanded. Leaders in those places realize that the America of the future is going to have to look and feel more like the America of the pre-auto age than the current, unsustainable mall-sprawl.
Finally, when we talk about Amtrak service, let’s be real. The proposed travel times of over 2 hours from Chicago to Rockford s are too slow to be competitive with cars.
What we need to do is go back to the future: In the 1950s and 1960s, the Illinois Central’s Land O’ Corn and Hawkeye trains ran the route from downtown Rockford to downtown Chicago in 90 minutes flat. Top speed was somewhere in the 90s, although engineers were known to full-throttle the engines to keep to the schedule, and some of those GM diesel-electrics had a top speed of 109 mph.
By contrast, when Amtrak took over the route in 1973, it’s “Black Hawk” train took 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to Chicago. The IC required Amtrak to crawl from Elmhurst to Chicago, a distance of 20 miles, at 20 miles an hour. Even a deer can run easily at 30 mph.
Congestion on Chicago’s rails has only gotten worse. And railroad traffic is only going to increase. So, if Rockford wants passenger or commuter trains, groups like Tri State Alliance will have to prioritize CREATE.
April 22nd, 2008
AS I predicted here Monday night, Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary. But it doesn’t bode well for Democrats, because to win she had to sound like a neo-conservative, vowing to “obliterate” Iran if it attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. Hmmm. Hill would nuke 64 million Iranians because one, goofy dictator decided to attack Israel? Wonder what the press would say if Bush said something like that? Come to think of it, I think he has.
I’ve said it to friends, and I’ll say it here: Bush I, Clinton I, Bush II, Clinton II. Can we do better? John McCain says, Yes, we can.
Previous Posts
