National Debt Clock

Want to see something that will spoil your dinner?

Go to http://brillig.com/debt_clock/

On Tuesday, April 8, 2007, at 5:23PM CDT, the national debt of the United States of America was $9,442,906,233,733.03.

That's $31,085.39 for every citizen of the U.S.A.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $1.68 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

Why aren't we screaming at our Congressmen to get this under control?

Gotcha!

By now, many readers know I don't like tailgaters. And I don't like speeders. And I really don't like drivers who tailgate and speed and then pass me in a no-passing zone. Especially on Bull Valley Road!

Who was it this time? A female driver (no, not Danika what's-her-name) in a red Mazda SUV with Illinois license 741 4543. At least, I think that was the license. She was so close to the back end of my car that I had trouble seeing her front license plate beneath the spoiler on the back of my car.

So, what happened this morning? As I drove east on Country Club Road from Route 47, this young woman got right on my bumper in the 30MPH zone in Woodstock, traveling east from the Post Office. Now, I don't like the 30MPH zone here; it's unreasonably low. But the speed limit is the Speed Limit. It's not the "minimum recommended speed"; it's the limit - the Maximum.

She tried to get me to go faster by getting right on my tail. I hit the four-way flashers a couple of times, but she was brave and stuck right there. She did drop back a little when I increased my speed at the 40MPH sign, but then she crawled right up on the back end of my car again. Same at the 45MPH sign as you enter Bull Valley.

It looked like she was going to pass and, sure enough, she did - right at the entrance to The Sanctuary and right in the middle of a long No-Passing Zone. I estimated her speed at 60-65MPH, as she passed me in the 45 zone.

And then? She crawled right up on the back end of the car in front of her that was traveling at 45MPH. She stuck like glue to that car and then turned left to go east on Crystal Springs Road.

I reported her to the McHenry County Sheriff's Department as a "reckless driving" violator (tailgating, speeding, illegal passing); even offered to prosecute, if a deputy could get her stopped. But the S/O never called me back, so I guess no deputy could intercept her.

Also, I later reported her to the Bull Valley P.D. Maybe they'll keep an eye out for her. My guess is that she commutes on that roadway and is a regular just after 7:30AM. A driver like that is going to cause a b-a-d accident one of these days. If you see her coming at you, give her a wide berth. Expect her to pass you and just keep your fingers crossed that there is no one coming.

Hit-and-Run; Threaten the Owner?

Proposed legislation in the Illinois House of Representatives would tighten the noose around the necks of vehicle owners whose vehicles were thought to be involved in hit-and-run accidents.

Is it fair legislation? Is it even Constitutional?

House Bill 5049 "(p)rovides that the owner of any vehicle alleged to have been in a motor vehicle accident resulting in injury to or death of any person or damage to any vehicle or property, whether driven, attended, or unattended by any person, where the driver of the vehicle did not stop and report the accident, shall, upon appropriate demand by the State's Attorney or other designated person acting in response to a signed complaint, provide a written statement or deposition identifying the operator of the vehicle if such operator was not the owner at the time of the alleged violation. Provides for a 3-month suspension of the vehicle registration for failure to provide the written statement or deposition. Provides that, in the event the owner has assigned control for the use of the vehicle to another, the person to whom control was assigned shall provide a written statement or deposition identifying the operator of the vehicle."

On the face of it, it doesn't seem like such a bad bill. But is it a good bill?

First of all, just how many hit-and-run accidents have there been annually in the past five years where it was suspected that the owner knew who the driver was and refused to identify him? Hundred? One hundred? Fifty? Twenty-five? Even five or ten each year?

So, do our legislators need to be fooling around with this, or should they be solving the financial crisis in which the State of Illinois finds itself, fixing Education or fixing the roads? I can think of many more important issues. This is clearly "low-hanging fruit" and can be confirmed by a vote in the House that passed the bill unanimously.

The more important question is whether it is fair or constitutional. Should an owner of a vehicle not under his control at the time of a hit-and-run be subjected to a threat of loss of his driving privileges for three months?

The proposed bill does not say that he must identify the owner "if he knows who the driver was." It says that the owner "...shall ... provide a written statement or deposition identifying the operator of the vehicle ..." What if the owner doesn't know who the driver was and, therefore, cannot identify the driver? He cannot meet the law, because the law will say that he must do so. If the owner wasn't in the car at the time of the hit-and-run, he cannot know who was driving!

Could there be circumstances where he might, knowingly or unknowingly, have allowed a person without a valid driver's license to use the vehicle? And, if he provides the statement, will the police then arrest him for allowing that unlicensed person to drive his car, even if the owner did not know that the driver did not hold a valid license?

Can you begin to get a feel for the unfairness of this legislation?

Who is going to write the statement that the owner will sign? Will the police officer or deputy provide a statement? "Sign here or else." Will he write his own statement? (If so, he should be sure to answer these questions - What color rope do you want around your neck? On what day do you prefer to be hanged?

Will he first pass it by his attorney (and at what expense?), in order to sure that he doesn't put the noose around his own neck?

Let the legislature spend its time solving real problems and not horsing around with this law any further.

This is Cop Work?

Did you see Sunday's article (Page 8C) in the Northwest Herald about the allegedly intoxicated McHenry venfor who was hit by a schoolbus at Cary-Grove High School on Friday? Cary Police say being an intoxicated pedestrian is a traffic offense. OK, so what's the big deal?

The Big Deal is that Cary Police charged the schoolbus driver for failure to exercise due caution to a pedestrian "only so police could legally test her for drugs and alcohol." The newspaper article said that, according to police, the schoolbus driver did not appear intoxicated.

This intrusive action by a police department is totally unacceptable. People (that's you and me, folks!) must object to this type of police work. Look! If they suspected she was intoxicated, okay, so charge her and test her.

But to cite the driver just so they could test her, this is wrong. Dead wrong!

I read a quote 12 years ago by a well-known Irish judge and politician who said, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." We cannot tolerate this type of intrusive police action. It must be stopped right at the curb. No, at the front door of the police station. No, right at the chief's desk.

The Cary Police owe the schoolbus driver an apology. And they owe her a dismissal of the charge. If an intoxicated person is hit by a school bus and there is no other indication that the school bus driver was at fault, only the intoxicated pedestrian gets a ticket.

Where did the accident happen? On school grounds? Is there a Vehicular Control Contract in place between the school district and the Village of Cary? The schoolbus driver needs a good lawyer who will fight and win a dismissal or Not Guilty verdict.

Has the Cary Police Department unfairly smeared the reputation of the schoolbus driver by insisting on testing for alcohol or drugs?

Does the school district have an administrative policy that any driver involved in any accident will be tested for drugs or alcohol? You know, like pilots and train engineers? OK, then that's an administrative issue, not a police issue!

Hey, you monkeys...

Be sure to read this morning's Northwest Herald article on Page 1C about the woman who spoke to children playing in a tree in front of their own house. Not her children, her neighbor's children. Not her tree; her neighbor's tree.

She apparently told the children to "quit playing in the tree like monkeys."

The neighbor and the children complained to Carpentersville Police that they were "alarmed or disturbed", and the woman was cited for disorderly conduct.

Well, I am alarmed and disturbed by reading this!

Should I have Tom Musick and the Northwest Herald cited for disorderly conduct this morning?

Should I have the Carpentersville Police Chief and his officer (s) cited for disorderly conduct for alarming and disturbing me?

Based on the information presented by Tom in the article, this has to be a gross miscarriage of justice and a gross misuse of police power. It serves to squelch free speech and threatens every resident in Carpentersville.

Should I be afraid to drive in Carpentersville because obeying the speed limit might alarm and disturb some idiot behind me who wants to go 60MPH in a 35MPH zone? Will I be arrested for disturbing her peace?

Now I can admit that there might be "some" circumstances when a "like monkeys" comment might be construed as a hate crime. Not very many circumstances, but there might be some. If so, then charge her with a hate crime.

Come to think of it, I get alarmed and disturbed a police car runs a red light at 25MPH. Should I have the driver charged with disorderly conduct? Of course not! He's not breaking the law, which permits him to go through a red light (carefully, which he was). But was I alarmed and disturbed? That would be a pretty stupid assertion, and I would expect the police department to have the guts to stand up and say so. And I believe they would.

But life is different in Carpentersville.

And why would there even be any mention that the woman cited was a Carpentersville Village Trustee? What does that have to do with anything, unless she ran out to the tree and said, "Look! I am a Carpentersville Trustee, and I'm telling you to quit playing in the tree like monkeys."

Is the article correct that this incident occurred last Saturday and she was already fined $75.00? I doubt it. She might have been cited on Saturday. Unless she coughed up the $75.00 and pled guilty or no-contest by signing the ticket and forfeiting any $75.00, she is entitled to a hearing.

I urge her to fight it. When she is found Not Guilty, I hope the Northwest Herald will grant the same amount of space to this "news."

And, the next time the monk - - , errr, children, are playing in the tree, just look the other way when they fall and get hurt. If the mom happens to wonder why the kid is lying on the ground, not moving, not crying, then she can get around to going outside and checking on the kid. Hopefully, the child will only be stunned and will still be breathing.

And then she'll probably charge the (Trustee) neighbor with disorderly conduct for being alarmed and disturbed that the ought-to-be-concerned neighbor wasn't minding the kids up in the tree. And since the neighbor is a Trustee, maybe she'll also charge the Village. After all, there must be a deep pocket somewhere.

By the way, why wasn't the complaining neighbor's name in the article?

To Burn or Not to Burn

That is the question. And I guess it depends whom you ask or which day you call, as to whether it is legal to burn in McHenry County.

On April 3rd there was a controlled burn at The Sanctuary in Bull Valley. A trained fire crew was managing the fire; the foreman said they had a permit and said they had picked a day when the wind was blowing north, away from the expensive homes in The Sanctuary. They had even put out small, temporary warning signs on Country Club Road.

Of course, the heavy, white smoke was blowing across Country Club Road, creating a health hazard for anyone with respiratory disorder who happened to drive by.

When I called the McHenry County Health Department, I was told that burning was not illegal if it was more than 500' from a dwelling. (Is the correct distance 100'?)

And then yesterday the McHenry County Conservation Department had a huge - I mean, HUGE - fire going in a fen on the west side of Pyott Road south of Lake in the Hills Airport, which produced heavy smoke that blew east across Pyott Road. The smoke was so heavy that an MCCD patrol vehicle was stopped on the southbound shoulder of Pyott Road, presumably to halt traffic if smoke became so heavy that drivers could not see the car ahead!

I again called the County Health Department. Although I explained the fire was well off the road and a police officer, which I misidentified as a Lake in the Hills officer, was on the scene, I was met with questions about safety and welfare and the suggestion to call 9-1-1. Why would I call 9-1-1 to report a fire, if law enforcement is already on the scene? I was told the Department has "processes". Man, we'll all be dead if we wait for their "processes!"

And then in this morning's Northwest Herald, reporter Regan Foster wrote a fine article about how there had been no reports of open burning made to the Health Department last week-end. Regan wrote that "Burning is allowed on week-ends between dawn and dusk, during April, May, October and November."

This restricts residents and their burning of landscape waste. What about MCCD and its "controlled" burn in its fen? Is it permissible for a governmental entity to produce health-impairing smoke when it wants to clear out the weeds?

Should MCCD be fined big-time? You bet!

Will there even be an investigation? Not likely, based on my complaint yesterday.

Stay the Course?

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicans say, 'Stay the course.'

"Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!"

If you haven't read Lee Iacocca's book Where Have All the Leaders Gone? (Scribner, New York 2007), be sure to pick up a copy. The two paragraphs above are straight from Chapter 1. It's worth the $25.00. Read it. Then read it again. Then carry it around with you, everywhere you go. Put it down right in front of you. When you catch someone's eye, say, "Have you read this book yet?"

Iacocca asks some hard questions. Questions that should be on the lips of every American. It won't take many pages of reading to get his candid impression of the President. Iacocca admits that he voted for him in 2000, because he had known his mother and father.

My thanks to a friend in Georgia for sharing this book with me!

Call your House Representative and your U.S. Senator. Ask if s/he has read this book. If the answer is No, tell them to get it and read it - every page.