Common Ground

Leaves Everywhere!

2008-11-18T06:07:00Z

Tonight the salters came out and I felt the all wheel drive kick in on my Subaru while heading to the Minooka Dog Park. Earlier Kanook and I were at Brookfield's Mitchell Park where the northwestern sky turned dark grey and soon a blizzard of snow pellets lashed down at us. People that I met muttered something about global warming.

Back home, there are still some leaves hanging on to the branches of my maple tree. Saturday I hauled a few trash cans of chopped leaves to the dump where I was chastised for not putting them against the wall. Sorry, I'm not a mind reader and all the leaves in the pile seemed like they would welcome some more.

I still have some leaves to contend with. I can probably mulch them with the lawn mower, but as I'm on vacation this week, I spent much of the afternoon looking for clear plastic bags and a mechanical partner to hold the bag open. Two hardware stores, a Home Depot and a Walmart later, none had anything that I wanted. There are plenty of large paper bags but sitting by the curb for the few weeks until pick-up will likely have them fall apart and looking worse than the neighbors who have raked leaves by the road thinking that they will still be picked up.

Driving around town I see a lot of leaves piled by the curb and often flowing into the street. Perhaps some are still scheduled to be picked up, but I know my ward is finished so that makes me wonder whats going to happen to all these leaves waiting for the pick-up that will not come. It seems to me that our communication of the pick-up schedule could have been better conveyed. Or perhaps some people just have not made the effort to search out the information. What I am pretty sure of is that come the first snowfall big enough to bring the plows out, an ugly, leafy mess will be overturned spoiling the small comfort of clean white snow.

Perhaps all of this can be corrected next fall. May I suggest that we take a step back to the colonial days and get the word out by via a Town Crier. Let the Aldermen wear a three cornered hat while walking the streets shouting out the ordinance and rules of leaf handling. Maybe they can include where to buy bags and holders too.

US Should Bail Out Automakers

2008-11-08T16:43:00Z

I'm what you could call a GM baby. Dad was an engineer for GM at the old AC Spark Plug turned Delco Electronics plants once in Milwaukee by North and Farwell and then in Oak Creek. As a child I remember Dad bringing home pamphlets. Some I would read, some were of no interest to a child. A child never thinks about it but now that I am a grandfather and my parents have passed on, I realize how well GM took care of their employees. Even after Dad passed away, GM continued to take care of Mom. And this is why GM and Ford are in the trouble that they are in now. Toyota, Subaru and others never had the long term relationship with employees or benefits negotiated by labor unions. Not strapped with pensions and US automaker level benefits, it was not a level playing field and we as a country have suffered for it while we drive these cars build by foreign owned companies.

GM and Ford did for their employees what the country has voted for the government to do for all. The same can be said of Chrysler though they have been sold twice. Bailing out the automakers is not without precedence! Republican President Nixon in effect bailed out Harley Davidson when he put a tarriff on foreign motorcycles that competed with Harley-Davidson. If not for that, The Motor Company would not be in existance and would be but another ghost of American industry.

The US automakers have some great electric powered cars near being ready for production. The government must see that they are helped along and see that the playing field for them is level.

Way To Go Barney!

2008-11-07T20:11:45Z

Being a dog lover, I don’t encourage or tolerate biting. That being said, Barney, President Bush’s Black Scottie Terrier nipped at a reporter when the reporter reached down to pet the dog. I’ve heard all sorts of things about the behavior of the dog and the approach of the reporter. Having seen a video of the incident, anybody that knows dogs can see that Barney didn’t want any part of the reporter. Obviously a refection of above average canine intelligence! However, the whole incident is a wonderful ending metaphor for the press relations that the eight years of the Bush administration has had to endure.

There is talk of President-elect Obama getting a puppy for his daughters. May I suggest something that reflects how his administration will be. Perhaps something along the breed of, say, a Neapolitan Mastiff?

Obama, fix the credit system!

2008-11-06T17:20:48Z

I like to read news from England via the BBC news feed. One article is about massive unemployment in China due to the credit crunch.

The time is past for pointing fingers on who is responsible for the recent financial disaster. The question is how fast can it be fixed and fixed fairly. We know about the mortgage mess. I've not seen anything about unsecured credit card problems. Just like too loose of mortgage requirements, people have been bombarded with credit card offers for years. One very unfair tactic that these credit card companies are allowed to do is to change the rules when they desire and it is usually right when it can hurt consumers the most!

In the past several months credit card companies have increase the minimum payments, frequently breaking the budget of struggling consumers yielding to the glitter and glamor of marketing products that we don't need and replacing items still good but no longer fashionable. These changes in the rules frequently cause late payments which in turn can change reasonable interest rates to loan shark levels approaching 30% interest or more! Now a difficult payment becomes impossible to make and it results in phone calls to the many bankruptcy lawyers that hawk themselves on television.

Not too long ago people never heard about a credit score. Now many worry about it. Why? Because of unfair credit practices!

Consumer protection is one area where I do have a spark of hope that the now dominated Democratic government will review and make right. After all, it is affecting more of their supporters than the rich Republicans who allegedly created this unfairness. Or those that appear to be rich.

Chilling Observations

2008-11-04T03:09:47Z

By this time Tuesday I'll know whether to worry or not. Monday's Journal has several things that I must comment on.

Page One, the undecideds. I consider myself very informed on the presidential politics and it really baffles me how anyone can continue to be undecided. Now, I don't know this fine young family and I do remember when Pat and I were that age with a couple small children, we were too busy trying to survive to worry about politics. However, thirty years later there is a wealth of information out there. The only difficulty is sifting through all the snippets, incomplete stories and outright lies. Forget what they say. Look at their records. Oh, some don't have a record? Well, then look at their character and acquaintances. Perhaps look at the money raised by the candidates. Which party has the money? Where does the money come from?

Politics of personal destruction. Have a presidential candidate wander by your house and you ask a question. It isn't the softball that is generally allowed to be asked. So the media proceeds to tear you apart. Make a statement at a rally that many people agree with and Daniel Bice of the Journal gives you a colonoscopy that has nothing to do with the statement. We are permitted to only ask "the right questions". Please preapprove them with "The Media".

Campaigning and lies. Politicians can say anything they want and get away with it. I never liked it. I wish it wasn't that way. However, the Journal's vendetta against Michael Gableman and the Democrats unprecedented court action against The Coalition For American Families smacks of political heavy handedness and judicial bias. Normally I would applaud any action to shine the light on lies but when it is only used against one political philosophy while anything goes for the other, I cannot help but to be appalled by it.

Wednesday we shall see if the process of checks and balances goes unchecked and out of balance.

LED Flashlight For The Dog Park

2008-10-31T21:48:16Z

My Dad was a collector of pocket knives. I have an eye for flashlights. Being a daily dog park visitor with Kanook, it is the time of the year when the visits are after dark on the weekdays. While there are more visitors to Minooka's dog park, it seems to be empty after the sun sets. Mitchell Park still has some people that enjoy the stillness of the night. We often adorn our dogs with flashing LED lights that clip on the collar. One visitor is using a dog "headlight" that she bought at Cabela's. It straps under the chin and makes the dog very visible and if it's night vision isn't too good, will help it from running into trees, fences and potholes. I bought another blinky light for Kanook. They come with batteries and sell for about $9. When the batteries die out, new batteries will cost about $11. So, I have lots of good blinkies laying around in need of batteries.

For my use, I long gave up the big "D" cell flashlight. For the last few years I've had various LED flashlights. The batteries last forever, it seems. However, the light that they give off isn't much, until recently. The last few years have seen high output LED flashlights that pack a pretty good light. While at Batteries Plus on Grandview and Silvernail buying a new Blinky for Kanook, I was looking over the wide selection of flashlights that they have. I noticed on the counter one that looked like a cylinder of stainless steel that fit in the hand nicely. It measures about one inch in diameter and about four inches long. I pressed the button and the light it gave off was amazing. Three small AAA batteries power it for over 100 hours and produces 72 lumens. What that means is it floods the area in front of you as you walk around the dog park. I thought that it'd make a great bicycle headlight.

It isn't cheap. It cost $29.95 but I gave up smoking years ago so I treat myself with good stuff once in a while. The associate at Batteries Plus said they have a hard time keeping them in stock. I can see why. If I still fixed furnaces it would be my flashlight of choice because of the bright flood of light it gives. It's name is LED LENSER. The numbers 0089596 are on it but looking at LED LENSER's catalog, I believe it is model 7732.

See you at the dog parks, even at night!

Crash!

2008-10-25T17:37:01Z

While my old Windows 98 computer whirs happily along in Pat's room, my fairly new dual one gig processor multimedia computer had the hard drive crash. This after recently running my frequent system protections and checks, including the "Smart Drive" check with supposedly can warn of immenent failure of the hard drive. I couldn't see how that could work all the time and I was right! So in the mind of the computer savy, did I have back-ups? Yes, but not as recent as I should. What troubles me is that this computer, a Sony, did not come with program disks. It was all on a partition of the HD.

I had bought the machine from Computer City on Bluemound. They have closed so I took it to Milwaukee PC on Moreland.They're a good sized business started in Milwaukee and also have a computer talk show on WISN Saturday morning. Right now I'm using an old laptop that I bought at a ham radio swapfest. I bought two of them for $10 each to make a point to some of my dealers moaning that computers are needed for many of the heating and cooling building controls. These old door stops still work and run the necessary software to adjust modern digital controlled building management systems.

I am using my super duper LCD superfast game quality computer monitor. the screen on the laptop is adequate but very grainy.

What I'd like to share with you from my experience is the necessity of backing up your hard drive. Windows has a back-up program that comes with it but it is junk in my opinion. Also, backing up your computer usually means only saving data that is in the "My Documents" folders. It does not save your programs! For that you will need an "Image" saving program. You should also have an external hard drive capable of holding everything on your computer. If you can, set it up to automatically save stuff as you use it. I have disaster recovery disks but in my case they did not work.

So if you are looking for a Christmas gift for yourself or someone, look for a good external hard drive and Back-up/Image software. Milwaukee PC, Inet or most Computer retailers can help you out with what you need.

Spread The Wealth #1

2008-10-20T04:10:23Z

Hey Barack! How about sharing your wealth with John McCain so he can have equal time? No better time to start spreading the wealth!

We're All Joe Plumber

2008-10-18T02:27:42Z

My trade of heating and cooling is greatly related to plumbing and electrical. It is thus that I have an affinity to the concerns of Joe and also am disturbed but not surprised by the trashing that the great institution of the news media is giving him. It is a sign of the direction the nation is going and it isn't the right way.

I've been in the trade for 37 years. I've trained many men and worked with more. One dream that many of them have had is to own their own business and reap the rewards. It's part of the American dream. I've had it myself. Sometimes it comes to light. Sometimes it doesn't. Recently I invested in one of those dreams but it was shattered in part due to others with similar dreams but having a head start and more money, partly due to the cost of energy and partly due to government.

Many small business owners struggle to begin and nurture their business. They say if you make it the first year, you're probably doing OK. Not all the time. They say if you are willing to work long hours at low pay, you may reap the rewards. Then again, you may only reap failure and losses.

A very wise man whom I have great respect for says that government needs to get out of the way of business. That can be interpreted several ways. Indeed, government regulations are necessary otherwise some businesses could do bad things. However, one of the obstacles that government imposes are taxes. Should a new business such as a national big box store be exempt from taxes for a while? No! But how about the classic small business person? Grant a elimination of taxes for a time and then gradually begin ramping up from reduced taxes to allow small business to get solid footing. Allow money that would be spent on taxes be spent on business building necessities such as marketing to get the customer base created.

Too much now business is getting treated as being a bad thing but in the next breath politicians talk about jobs. No business, no jobs. Oh, they meant creating GOVERNMENT jobs? Even Russia and China realized that doesn't work.

Regional Rail Should Be Derailed

2008-10-15T04:57:00Z

From our financial crisis of late, everybody should grab their wallets when so-called experts preach about this or that. Yes, I'm sure that there are true experts, but it is to the point that when Congress want to go one way, we should run the other way.

In Sunday's Crossroads section of the newspaper Jerry Resler makes a very lopsided argument for spending more money on something that people don't want, regional high speed rail. I would be a person that such a system is targeted for. In my business travels, I travel to many of the destinations shown on the map that accompanies the article. This week I am in Nashville for a conference. I drove there. A coworker flew even after spending thirteen hours at a terminal in his last travel. Had I gone to the same one, I'd have beat him home driving rather than flying.

Both the rail system and flying present the same problem when you get to the last stop. You have to get to your destination from the terminal. Take a bus? Never! Besides, I usually have a computer, projector and other stuff that you just can't take on a bus and then walk several blocks because the bus doesn't stop near where I'm going.

Cars are going to be the primary people mover for many years to come. Fantastic traffic control systems are being developed that will lead to automobile trains operated by communicating computer systems from car to car. Even today, we have communicating GPS navigation systems being introduced that can reroute other so equipped cars around slowdowns.

Railroads have a place for the future. Rail can move freight better over long distances than trucks. Lets not waste money on passenger trains when personal transportation is where the money should be spent!

Intersection Is A Metaphor For Politics

2008-10-12T17:56:34Z

I've passed by the crumbling median divider in front of the Super America gas station on Delafield well over a thousand times through the years. Today while waiting for the traffic light that always is red, it made me think about the crumbling economy and who is responsible for it.

If it weren't for this computer of mine, I'd have a wastepaper basket full of crumpled paper from how many times I've erased what I've written. I've just going to make a few points that I think we all should consider.

Having been elected to office does not mean one is an expert on anything
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This is referring to sub-prime mortgages and housing prices before both crashed.
There used to be a guide that you should only spend 25% of your income on housing
If you can't pay for a car in three years, you can't afford it.
If you want something not necessary for daily survival, put the money in a jar and if after two weeks you still want it, then buy it.
If you buy it on credit, pay it off before using the card again.
Cash is king
Gold and silver are worth more than ink
It takes money to make money
In economics, if an ordinary educated person can't understand it, it probably is only going to benefit somebody rich.
Debt is expensive and talk is cheap
Birds of a feather, flock together. You may have heard that from your parents while in school or from a teacher. It's true for adults too.
Beware and learn to recognize Confidence Men
Pelosi, Frank and Dodd should resign
Keep the system of checks and balances intact this election.

Enough said.

Alex Herbst - In Memory Of A Friend

2008-10-02T03:51:47Z

In the 1960's I had unforgettable years of working as a teenager at Capital Drive Airport. One of the early memories that I had was helping to disassemble a WWII trainer, an AT6 that a co-owner of it had hit the engine of a Cessna 140 with it's prop damaging the Cessna and the engine of the AT6. What stays with me is that I had to hold up a wing tip as it was unbolted from the fuselage and that it was very heavy.

I had shortly before met Alex Herbst, the other owner of it. In my mind, I recall that Alex always and I emphasize always, had a wide friendly smile and seem happy as can be to make the acquaintance of anyone who loved flying as he does. Even as we took his airplane apart, that smile was quick to appear. Alex was frequently at the airport and I learned that he was one of the pioneers of Waukesha aviation. His name was in the list of those that were part of the "in-crowd". Even though I was a teenager, I was a fellow pilot and Alex always had time to talk with me, usually something about aviation or my motorcycle and sometimes about his family. Perhaps because he had a son named Steven, he mentioned him to me. Once when Steven enjoyed his Chevy Nova with a big engine a bit too much and lost his drivers license for a while, Alex would drive it to the airport and once let me drive it around. That was the most powerful car that I ever drove and I was honored to be trusted with it.

Alex didn't talk about his daytime job to me at all. It wasn't until a few years later when I was in the heating and cooling trade that I saw a head pop out of a hole in the floor of a garage and the famous smile glowed when we saw each other. It was then I found out that he was a plumber, a trade in kinship to fixing furnaces and boilers that I had ended up doing.

Raising a family and paying for a house drifted me from the airport and that was the last time I remember seeing Alex. I had heard that he went to California, something that I never confirmed. Soon crime in Milwaukee forced me to sell my house and I moved my family to Waukesha. I always kept an eye open for Alex. I remember him mentioning Barstow St hill for some reason once. Every time I drive on it, which is almost daily, it reminds me of Alex.

Tonight, while reading the newspaper, a picture of an AT6 caught my eye. The name above the plane hit me as it an electrical shock would have. A little piece of my youth died. I hope after orientation and Alex meets with family, that he and the likes of the Breechers, Crites, Bob Huggins and many others can meet together in a flight office along side of some grass runway each Saturday morning. Keep an ear on the unicom radio, Alex. Someday Aeronca 2081 Echo will be asking for winds and active. Come out to the gas pump and surprise me with your smile.

Softening the Water Load?

2008-09-29T20:25:00Z

Check out Darryl's Article about Waukesha testing out a new method of removing radium from the water. I noticed that the process removes calcium which in turn contains the radium. We've long been told that a conventional water softener will remove the radium.

When I bought my house it had an old manual water softener. No timer. I had to turn a lever to different positions every so many minutes. Soon I replaced it with a Sears softener. After a while it failed and to make a long story short, I've contended with hard water, not missing the frequent purchase of eighty pound bags of salt pellets and hauling them down the stairs to the softener. It also reduces the sodium in the water. We all know sodium is to be avoided, especially if you are a conservative stuck with a liberal congress! So this process has health benefits to many of us middle aged people who have been ordered to toss the salt shaker.

If this new process takes care of the radium in the water and softens the water, I'm for it. It would cut business for those selling salt pellets and water softeners, but that's progress. Few people remember the Ice Man delivering blocks of ice for the predecessor to the refrigerator, the ice box. So eliminating the water softener business is just another casualty of progress.

Will it increase our taxes if it is successful? Does the sun rise in the east everyday? If it is cost effective, that is, cost competive with replacing the water softener and dozens of bags of salt and perhaps a little bit thrown in for visits to the chiropractor for a sore back, then let's do it!

It'll help to increase the supply of salt for the roads.

City Needs To Provide The Egg

2008-09-27T04:59:00Z

It's another chicken and the egg situation. T.Boone Pickens is promoting CNG (compressed natural gas) powered transportation. Honda is currently the only company making a car running on natural gas. Natural gas is cheap, but a car can't carry much because it is not currently possible to store it in a liquid state. It can only be compressed. So to store enough gas to get around yet have some space for people and luggage, the range of the car isn't much over 200 miles before refueling is needed. The nice part is you can buy your own refueling station for your garage and connect it to your gas meter. The bad part is that it takes sixteen hours to refill and empty tank! Oh, it costs about $8,000 too. There are, however, commercial refueling stations that can refill your tank, actually it's recompressing it, and it doesn't take too much longer than putting $75 worth of gasoline into the the old Ford Explorer. The problem is, where are they?

They can be found at www.cngprices.com . You will see that WE Energies has a station over on West Avenue! It's mainly for thier use but they sell to the occasional consumer that wanders in. The biggest surprise is that the last price for it was $1.46 GGE. What's GGE? It's comparing apples and oranges. It stands for GAS GALLON EQUIVELANCY. So yes, you guessed right. Running your car on natural gas would be like paying $1.46 a gallon for gasoline.

Unfortunately, most CNG refueling stations have limited hours and are not in enough locations that a trip to the cabin in Up North Wisconsin can be done. So it is a chicken and the egg situation. Oil companies won't put in CNG pumps until cars line up for it. Nobody wants a CNG car if they can't get gas for it. What's the solution? I propose that the city, all cities for that matter, should step up and provide a refueling station open at reasonable hours and begin using CNG for government vehicles. If there is a market for the CNG fueled Honda, they will make more and I'm sure Wilde Honda will be happy to sell them. Other car makers will get into the act too. Soon Mega Oil will think about putting in a CNG facility at their local station and the ball will be rolling on it's own.

Lets provide the egg and the chickens will soon hatch!

Ten to the One-hundredth

2008-09-26T04:59:00Z

Ten to the One-hundredth equals a Google. Besides being an actual number, anybody who has an acquaintance with a computer knows it to be the search engine of choice. I’m proud to say that before it was well known and people were using such things as WebCrawler or Dogpile, I heard of these two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, scrounging up computers and connecting them to create a new, faster internet search engine called Back Rub.

Knowledge is power and I know of nothing that makes so much information so easily available to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. Even “smart phones” have Google access. All of this technology has reaped great rewards for the creators of Google. That is the American way.

Google is celebrating its tenth anniversary. As part of it, they created the 10 to the One-Hundredth Project. While celebrating their success and fame, they are keenly aware of the people around the planet who face each waking moment as a challenge to contend with. So they have created the project to gather ideas that will improve the world. They show an example called the Hippo Roller. Many of the poor carry five-gallon containers to sources of water and then having to carry them home, usually on the top of their heads causing an accumulation of painful damage. A simple, inexpensive device, the Hippo Roller allows a person to push along five times the water with not too much more effort than one of us mowing the lawn. It is but an example of a step to make some lives better.

Google is looking for ideas to make life better for the poor of the planet. It may be big or it may be small. It may be a product or it may be an idea. Google will narrow the entries down to 100 and then the users of Google will vote on their choices. Google will make substantial venture capital to get those winning ideas moving along.

I’ve submitted an idea of my own. How about you?

Chicken Or Egg For Hybrid Cars?

2008-09-24T19:07:44Z

Ever since my dad took our 1964 Dodge 880, a huge car with a big V8 engine, to a diagnostic center, I’ve wondered why the need for big engines.

You see, they put it on a dynamometer to do some tests. One of them was a measure of the horsepower at the wheels while maintaining 60 miles per hour. Forty-three horses were all it took to keep the car rolling along. All the extra power was for wind resistance, extra loads, towing a boat and getting up to speed in a hurry.

Soon to be introduced electric hybrids by GM (Volt) and just announce by Chrysler, work along this concept. An electric motor is much more efficient than a combustion motor to propel a car. But when the batteries die down, it doesn’t take too big of a gasoline-powered generator to keep the power coming back to the batteries and then to the motor.

Refueling your electric car by plugging it in at your garage will get you from here to there cheaper than the same amount of gasoline. If it is done in the evening only, this is when the big electric company generators are loafing along. Most businesses are closed and the load of cars recharging overnight will be welcomed and won’t require much, if any, addition of power generators.

So it goes without saying that I’m anxiously anticipating the introduction of the Chevrolet Volt. However, my spirits were largely deflated when I read that the possible price for one will be between $30,000 to $40,000 dollars. I had expected that it would be in line with the Toyota Prius.

From what I read of the Volt, it is probably similar in size to a Cobalt or Malibu, each not getting too bad of fuel economy with a gasoline engine and selling for $20,000 and less. No doubt GM has spent a bundle on developing the Volt technology and wants to recover that investment. How often do we hear that the price of something new will come down as more are sold?

It has been said that the Toyota Prius isn’t cost effective for many people. However it is priced such that most people can afford the novelty of one and fuel savings are just a bonus. In the case of the Volt, that extra $15,000 or so will buy a whole lot of gasoline even at $4.00 a gallon! Spend a lot of money to save a little?

GM had an all-electric car, the EV1, but it failed to catch on due to various reasons. Some say GM discontinued it for no good reason. Perhaps it was before its time. But vehicles such as the Volt are needed this very day. That they sell will depend on cost effectiveness. I can only see that happening if the government gives huge tax credits for purchasing such a vehicle. With the Wall Street mess we have these past few days, the timing for more government subsidies could not have come at a worse time. However, if it helps me and the Joneses next-door move into the next stage of transportation and keeps the American carmakers in business, it will be money better spent.

The DOT Gets F In Education

2008-09-21T16:58:00Z

PSA stands for Public Service Announcement. All levels of government could do a whole lot better in continuing education for the masses. Case in point are the roundabouts that are being mandated by the DOT and meeting heavy resistance from many of the people. I'm finding more of them in the Chicago suburban area and theirs differ from most in that they have a stop sign at the entrance to give people a moment to observe traffic and plan their route. While one of the reasons for a roundabout is to eliminate stop signs, it is a worthwhile consideration and the stop sign can be removed and replaced with a Yield sign in due time.

Colorado has heavy use of them especially along Interstate 70 through the mountains and into ski resorts. Once I encountered three roundabouts connecting each other while exiting the interstate and looking to take a break. See them here. They do work. However, they are not intuitive and there is a learning curve. Stop signs at the entrance is part of that but a public education program is needed across the state to teach people both the history of roundabouts, why they are being incorporated within the state and how to maneuver through them. I got my first encounter with them in Colorado. It was a bit unnerving but I quickly got the idea.

The DOT needs to get the message out about how to handle yourself in a roundabout. Newspapers, radio and especially television must cooperate with the DOT for the benefit of everyone.

Time To Up The Ante For Drinking?

2008-09-15T01:27:22Z

News article about cost of prison and drunk drivers. If you didn't read the news article in the preceding link, please do. It affects every taxpayer in the city and the county.

I cannot express the grief that my son, our family and Jenn and Sophia and Courtney's friends and students have suffered since their death at the hand of a drunk that should never have been driving a vehicle that horrible day. Would it surprise you to know that upon reading that news article that I felt a twinge of shame? It is a double edged legacy that the Bukosky family name will be remembered for. The good edge is that lives of people will likely be saved. One of those lives could be you or someone you know. The bad edge is the cost of dealing with those refusing to drink responsibly.

I've written several blogs about being proactive. In one I expressed my frustration about people not picking up the cause of pro-activeness. So be it. However, I do not feel that you or I or any taxpayer should have to pay for more jail space or people to deal with the irresponsible drinkers. We've already created a precedent of dealing with smokers and the source of their addiction. Heavy taxes on cigarettes. Is the answer to further tax beer and alcohol? Perhaps, but it needs to be looked at further.

We read articles and news reports about drunk drivers. How often do we learn "the rest of the story"? Where did these criminal do their drinking? At home? At a tavern? At a restaurant? I challenge news reporters to ferret out that information. It will help formulate a tax relief policy of who should pay for dealing with drunk drivers. Where does the source of the problem begin? Taverns? Gas stations? Liquor stores? Restaurants? Should the offending type of establishments pay a much higher license fee? A special tax? Should they be shut down entirely if they sold product to a drunk?

I will begin the ante by suggesting a $1 per ounce tax increase on distilled liquors, 25 cents per ounce of wine and 5 cents per ounce of beer and ale products. The proceeds go for paying for increased jail space, enforcement officers and courts.

Never forget.

Waukesha Safe From Pharmacuticals?

2008-09-12T14:12:00Z

News item, Drugs found in drinking water. So it has been found that when drinking water is retrieved from the same source that sewage is discharge into, prescription drug traces are being detected. I don't find that fact too surprising. I also don't find it surprising that Milwaukee water only tests for traces of nicotine. Probably from bubba's cigarette that fell into the treatment containers while he was overseeing the processes.

I'm not going to do an analysis of large bodies of water versus smaller reservoirs and rivers, but I do believe that this report has special meaning to us in Waukesha. It is said that our water has been traveling underground for many years. That's one of the reasons that it picks up radium. I have to question now, if this is actually a good thing? It has been argued that the trace amounts of radium have not translated into any increased cancer cases, though so called experts say otherwise, even though there's no evidence showing that to be the case. This might have to be reexamined based on this new information.

I suspect that our water, due to it source and age, would test free of these traces of drugs. That would be a good thing. It would also be cause to reconsider any influx of water from sources that may have contamination in it. This would be any ground water source, shallow wells or Lake Michigan water.

We citizens need to know this as soon as possible before more money is spent that could result in worsening the quality of our water supply!

Weekend In Waukesha Review

2008-09-01T21:37:25Z

I am a motorcyclist. So I enjoyed the weekend. The question is, how did the people in the downtown area who are not motorcycle enthusiasts feel about it?

I rode my Gold Wing downtown several times to get a feel for things. I eyed up the bikes parked along the road, looking for non-Harley brands. I'd say it was around 1%. Some of the custom motorcycles are hard to tell. There are so many replica engines available to the custom market that to the untrained eye, what appears to be a Harley may not have so much as a single item from them.

What has changed through the years and I appreciate it, is there was not a single snide comment about my Honda among the crowd. Granted it is made in the USA in Ohio by red blooded Americans, it can stand out like someone walking the halls of the Miller Brewery while drinking a bottle of Budweiser. The only comment I did receive was from a woman sitting on the back of a non-touring model Harley. She blerted out, "That looks comfortable!", refering to the large passenger seat, backrest and armrests on my Gold Wing.

Saturday night my wife, Pat, jumped on back and we rode around downtown. Finding a parking spot, we walked around checking out the people and motorcycles. Certain businesses appeared to be doing very well. I did notice that the trash cans were overflowing, but at least garbage was deposited there rather than scattered about. Cutler Park was loaded with people. It was also very dark away from the food booths. I stumbled a few times on uneven surfaces and I didn't have a beer in me. At home on the northwest side of town, I probably heard less motorcycles than most weekends even though many flooded the parking lots around the Best Western on Grandview by I94. Our weekend activity was not impacted by it. We still got our breakfasts at Christina's.

So what do you think about it? Do it again in five years for the 110th birthday?