On Child safe after being left on Janesville school bus

Posted on February 9 at 9:39 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Oh I can’t let this one get by.

I drove school bus over the last 35 years on three different stints, with three different school bus outfits, for a couple years each, to bring in some extra funds for my family income cause. Instead of going on unemployment in crappy economies, which few of you even know existed…, I took a crappy job.

Good readers, I would live in a cardboard box by the Rock River before I would ever drive a school bus again. What an Orwellian nightmare – cameras on board; no-tolerance rules; the bus driver is an extension of the punitive law enforcement system; 110 kids ride the bus (and of course they are all well-behaved); if the driver is lucky they make ten bucks an hour; the driver works about three and a half hours a day, they work a couple hours in the morning and a couple hours in the afternoon; the whole work day is ruined for said three and a half hours; about 110 ten kids equals about 500 million dollars in liability; plus, the big bus equals about 10 million dollars in liability. Oh, and did I mention the driver gets ten bucks an hour.

“School bus driver” was a “new norm” benefitless part-time, no-dignity job, long before (decades before) this Great Recession came along that many of you anonymous posters spend a great deal of time apologizing for and claiming does not exist.

It is amazing these situations are not ubiquitous in our culture. Thank your drivers every time you see them that they go about their lousy jobs with no thanks and take all the aforementioned risk in stride.

Call me cynical, but how do bus companies get drivers to buy into that insanity at all?

I am sorry for the child's bad experience; although it sounds like said child slept through it. If it was my kid however, I would have had a chat with him/her and mention that it is part of life to maybe help the driver by staying alert if possible.

Bob Keith – It is obvious none of you anonymous comment posters have ever worked at what you are commenting about. I look forward to your fine anonymous literary skewering.

On Wis. loses 3,900 private sector jobs in December

Posted on January 19 at 6:38 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

The "Jobless Recovery" is right on schedule.

You citizens must embrace the "new norm."

Bob Keith - Humble and ever obedient worker in the “new economic order”

On Are crashes on wintry roads really accidents?

Posted on January 19 at 6:08 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

Sigma40 - Whether intentionally or inadvertently, Birdman interjects in this conversation one of the worst and most precarious countries on earth to drive a motor vehicle in - Vietnam. He will have to speak to driving there during the war; but I can attest to the last 20 years. As they have become more economic in nature their roads have become a nightmare on wheels. There are no rules to speak of except that the biggest vehicle has the right of way and wins any wreck or crash.

There is no concept of “insurance” in current Vietnam. If you get in a crash and survive, you simply block traffic and argue with the other driver until a monetary resolution is reached. I pulled the rough figures off a couple sites on the Internet which suggest 40 people die there every day on the road.

I was actually run over there by a woman driving the wrong way – I will be fine

Bob Keith – but then again, if there are no rules, who’s to say she was going the wrong way?

On Are crashes on wintry roads really accidents?

Posted on January 19 at 9:14 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Welcome home birdman -

There is a thing in academia called semiotics which basically studies communication type issues. Those darn fuzzy headed professors are such a nuisance.

But, getting more down to us blog posting rabble, I have noticed pop culture radio south of us, especially in Chicago, has abandoned the term “accident” long, long, ago. Listen to any Chicago radio station news and the term “crash” is used in lieu of the word “accident.” Apparently our Bear fan pals to the south of us relented on this particular argument a decade ago.

In colloquial terms, the Chicago media at large says, “Screw it, we ain’t arguing about it anymore. They will all be, “crashes,” now let’s drink beer.”

I like the word “crash.” And in regards to language as it relates to time and change, to our culture’s credit, the big dictionary folks (those holders and keepers of all things language) review the evolving meaning of words every so often.

So, it ain’t no accident I think this argument is a day late and a dollar short. Wisconsin of course still uses behind-the-times words in daily speech, because…, well, we can and we are so nifty. And it’s still a free county for now so if you choose to spew out-of-date terms like “accident,” it is so groovy, really a blast, keen, and maybe even hip.

Bob Keith - far be it from me to act as the word Fuzz.

On Do roadside memorials go too far?

Posted on January 17 at 4:50 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

There is something deeper going on here. I hear traffic wrecks and crash deaths are down in America compared to the 1960s. But, memorials for said crashes seem to have sprung up since the 1980s.

“It creeps me out a bit,” is the best way to describe the trend. I notice the article keeps it local and does not quote any social-psychology shrink or some other academic types. There is some school of thought out there regarding our collective tolerance of “acceptable losses” in the course of our banal daily toils. Leave it to academia to remind us we are after all…, just little people going about our colloquial rituals; but, I digress.

Also, it seems in a way, third-world-esque to see a memorial along a road. It is like a dusty wreath marking a murder on a sidewalk in a perennial war zone. Perhaps our roads are a war zone of sorts. If 40,000 Americans died per year in Afghanistan, I submit most of us would be calling for the heads of our many leaders.

As it stands for now, the memorials appear victim-specific in lieu of some sort of broader statement. I might however, defer the good readers and fine blog commenters to the Highway 26 issue back a couple decades ago. Help me with my memory, but did not local groups place crosses along the stretch between Janesville and Milton in a protest of sorts for all the crashes there over the years?

In answer to your question Greg, there has been a huge display for years over off of Highway 69/92 and the corner of County PB in Green County west of Belleville.

As far as my thoughts on the trend go…,

Bob Keith - Existentially speaking..., does it really matter what I think about said issue Greg?

On Giants stun Packers, advance to NFC championship game

Posted on January 16 at 5:48 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

It looks like the Packers that played the Kansas City Chiefs showed up.

I would defer the good readers and fine posters to the 2009 Indianapolis Colts who sat down starters to try to get them rested for the playoffs, and also sat them down in lieu of trying to go undefeated; then, eventually lost the Super Bowl.

Hard however no matter what, to go undefeated; and, hard to repeat a run at the Super Bowl.

The players will no doubt be demoted to only used car and shampoo commercials for the next year.

And, it looks like that paperwork to change Lombardi Avenue into McCarthy Boulevard will go to the bottom of the pile for a couple more years.

Two things one must never speak ill of in Wisconsin: Friday fish fry and..., the Packers.

Bob Keith - I will take my literary beating now like a man, anonymous posters.

On Amish "scofflaws" say they won't budge in buggy fight

Posted on January 12 at 8:22 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Always nice to see an unauthored Associated Press State Media article calling someone a “scofflaw.” I trust the nuance of the poorly written sentence is that the writer is suggesting the greater banal citizenry considers the Amish in question, "scofflaws." But I digress.

Some Amish sects are quite orthodox - no "Exit" signs in their one-room schools - no automation what so ever – exempt from contributing to Social Security – exempt from military service – paying limited or completely exempt from all sorts of taxes, et cetera. I have come to respect their juxtaposed Libertarianism – heavy on the religious over-lord gig; yet, heavy on telling Uncle Sugar to…, “Screw off.”

Say what you want, but they buy up hopelessly failing family farms and save them – refer to Steve Knox’s piece, "Why are all the barns wrecked?" Be careful what you wish for to save the family farm; I, am just thinking.

When I lived in New Glarus for a time, the Amish sect that brought their buggies to the grocery store there, did indeed have reflective triangles.

But, more important to my theme in life of appreciating the absurd, and even more hyper absurd society we try to survive in, I always enjoyed seeing the big piles of horse crap in that grocery parking lot and then reading all the perennial complaints in the weekly paper about said horse crap.

Priceless.

Bob Keith - that darn First Amendment is such a nuisance aint it?

On Few seek Rock County Board positions

Posted on January 11 at 12:49 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Take away representation at your own peril; good luck getting it back once it is gone.

Also, don't we see this same type article every local election time?

Bob keith - we deserve the gov we have

On "Why are all the barns wrecked?"

Posted on December 31 at 10:18 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Steve, here is an idea if you really want to belabor the search for the answer for, “Why are all the barns wrecked?” Remind your kid and yourself to hang on to the question until next Labor Day. Make an effort to get yourself and your kid or kids out to the Rock River Thresheree. There, over a three or four day event, you should find a host of folks and gonzo historians that can offer some clues that start to answer your question.

I do not know if you have ever been there, but there is a bunch of people that keep that thing going every year. One of the themes, among several themes of the event, is how people farmed and lived on farms over the last 150 years.

One thing I always take away from the Thresheree’s presentation of all the old farm and industrial equipment is all the back breaking labor and time it took to operate a farm.

Also, one thing I just noticed from your reader postings is the absence of mention of milk pricing. Remember, most dairy farmers since World War II only relied on the, “The milk check,” for their income. If milk pricing took a dump, well…, you put two and two together.

And, because kids were not too keen on taking over a job that requires a 14 hour per day, seven days per week, 365 day per year operation with no benefits, the old folks often sold the farm to survive in their old age. Like my own folks, they sold the farm and moved to a decent and more manageable property and house in town. Selling farm land became a retirement fund of sorts.

I did not make these unwritten rules I just watched people deal with it.

There are many reasons why family farms have been vanishing for the last 50 years. As you seem to already realize, there is not just one simple answer.

Bob Keith – always hard to stay out of a “farm’n” discussion

On "Why are all the barns wrecked?"

Posted on December 31 at 3:49 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

These barns you speak of are what is left of a farming culture ranging from the Civil War to around 1970. A family could make a go of it on a 160 acre dairy farm during this era…, if lucky. They raised horses (that often did the work load), pigs, dairy cows, chickens, goats, beef cows, and maybe sheep. Some time after World War II, farmers around these parts cut back on all the animals except dairy cows. It has to do with time, physical beating, cultural chance (the industrial boom after the war lured people off the farm with 40 hours per week work hours with benefits), and…, kids. Lots of kids to do lots of work. Some neighbors of mine had 15 kids. But by 2000, the average family size was, say, 1.5 kid per family. Good luck farming for 45 years with no time off and with one and a half kid to help out.

Also, if dad died, one of the kids in the old big family could take over. Remember these barns were built before our miracle medication options of today. Remember also, that farming rubric required a 14 hour per day, seven day per week, 356 day per year drudgery of blue-collar hell. Usually with no health insurance, no benefits, no vacation, and no days off.

The whole operation usually hinged on “Dad” surviving for 45 years with no time off.

Hey, the recent “New Norm” economy apologists should love those good old days, but I digress. Try that old work template for 45 years all you “new norm” Yuppies; but even more condescending on my part…, you “new norm” anonymous blog posting mooks that live in mom’s basement; but I digress again.

The University of Wisconsin has sold a Degree for years called Rural Sociology which studies your very rural observations Steve. Not sure what job you can get with said degree, but I digress yet a third time.

The barns, or what is left of them, are just symbols of a once robust agricultural economic niche in Wisconsin. The “Wisconsin gambrel-roofed barn” is just a distant falling down sign, a bit of anthropological evidence if you please, of a mysterious past. It is quandary for the aforementioned, Mom’s-basement-living-day-care-video-game-playing-unemployed-new-norm-clueless-generation; the dilapidated barns are just a deck chair left floating after the dairy farm Titanic long ago sank.

The next time a kid asks you, “What is the deal with the falling down Wisconsin barns?” try a simple answer deferring them to their smart phone culture. Just say, “Well Dear, it is hard for you to understand if you have only lived a dozen years on earth, but you could scratch the surface to your query by doing a Google on your phone for, "buggy whip," "Eight Track player," "silent movies," "black and white television," "rear wheel drive cars," "ice boxes," cheap cigarettes," "military daft," "Cold War," "Soviet Union," and, "obsolescence."

Bob Keith – way too long ago tired of apologizing for life’s increasingly rapid changes