Not exactly a boon to downtown Rockford

This video of a shooting incident in which two people were wounded early Sunday isn't going to do much to encourage patronage of bars and restaurants in downtown Rockford:

Don't be smug! I'm onto you bastards!

Some of you who regularly visit this site think you're pretty clever, don't you?

Some of you who submit seemingly friendly comments think you've gained my confidence, right? You're just waiting for the opportunity to turn against me, right?

You thought I didn't know about this, right? Well, think again, buckos!

I can smell an FBI informant even through the mists of the blogosphere. Accordingly, I've changed the codes I use for the texts of my blog posts. Right under your stupid noses, I can still play a role in the grand liberal conspiracy to sap so-called patriotic, conservative Americans of their precious bodily fluids, and there's a not a damn thing you can do about it.

You don't know my real name, and you don't even know where I am. Rockford? Don't make me laugh. I could call myself The Poughkeepsie Rascal, but that wouldn't mean that I'm in Poughkeepsie. But, hey, I'm not saying I'm not in Poughkeepsie. That's for you to find out.

Lots of luck, suckers!

Rockford-area GOPer joins Obama lovefest

First it was Illinois State Sen. Kirk Dillard who raised eyebrows among his fellow Republicans by appearing in a TV commercial for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Now we're getting comments from Republican State Sen. Todd Sieben, whose district lies just west of Rockford, about how Obama "has the intelligence, he has the passion, he has the legislative and now congressional experience as a senator to do the job" as president.

Sieben goes so far as to say that Obama has what it takes to rank historically with the other three presidents with connections to Illinois -- Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Ronald Reagan.

"I think he has that potential," says Sieben.

Oh, my!

Not everything is proportional

Speaking of Michael Bloomberg, as so many people are these days, there's an interesting (to me anyway) comparison to be made between his town and The Rascal's.

Bloomberg spent about $75 million in his successful campaign for re-election as mayor of New York City. Lest anyone figure that Larry Morrissey spent a proportional amount to become mayor of Rockford, I'm here to tell you otherwise.

The Big Apple is about 54 times larger in population than the Not So Big Rockford. Hence, if Morrissey had spent as much per capita as Bloomberg did to get elected, he would have doled out about $1.3 million. But, of course, he didn't. He spent less than one-third that much.

The moral of the story is that while Rockford has a lot of the same problems as New York City, but only in microcosm, it costs proportionately far less in our town to become the person chiefly responsible for tackling those problems.

Now you know.

POSTSCRIPT: While New York City, as noted, is 54 times larger than Rockford in population, it's only seven times larger in area. That means, of course, that population density in New York is nine times greater.

Where else are you gonna learn this stuff?

A different diploma controversy

Here in Rockford, a recent controversy involved the question of whether to posthumously award a high school diploma to a young man who was shot and killed a few weeks before graduation.

In downstate Galesburg, there's a flap over the School District's refusal to give diploma certificates to five students whose families and friends defied a rule against loud cheering at graduation ceremonies.

The Rascal, whose becoming increasingly cranky about rudeness in his old age, sides with the school officials in the Galesburg case.

Actually, I also side with Rockford School Superintendent Dennis Thompson in the local case.

Rockford historian Jon Lundin is dead

I received word a few minutes ago that Rockford historian Jon Lundin died suddenly last night.

Lundin, the author of "Rockford -- An Illustrated History," of which there were several editions, was president of the Abilities Center and a community activist.

The Register Star Web site at rrstar.com likely will have details of Lundin's passing later this morning.

UPDATE: The Register Star has a nice piece on Lundin here.

Too bad Harlem High won't do it again

The current Broadway revival of the play "Inherit the Wind" brings to mind the huge controversy of 44 years ago this spring when a teacher at Harlem High School in suburban Rockford staged a student production of the piece.

The play, the movie version of which starred Spencer Tracy and Frederic March (above), is based on the celebrated trial of John T. Scopes, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tenn., who was arrested in 1925 for teaching biological evolution in defiance of state law.

In 1963, Harlem High dramatics teacher Ruth Ann Johnston's plans to put on the play prompted objections from some folks on biblical grounds. School Principal Harold Moore and District Superintendent Carl Dannenfeldt bowed to the pressure and told Johnston to find another play.

When Johnston refused, the School Board told her she couldn't use the Harlem auditorium for such blasphemy, whereupon she and her students accepted an offer to stage the play in a local movie theater.

Johnston subsequently was fired. The flap drew national attention, and hundreds of Harlem district taxpayers signed a petition seeking Johnston's reinstatement, but to no avail.

Wouldn't another fuss like that be fun these days? And a rousing debate about evolution would do the community good.

Rockford's doofuses vs. Belvidere's

The big difference between the outcomes of important referendums (or referenda, for you Latin scholars) in Rockford and Belvidere in Tuesday's elections is that a greater percentage of Rockford's nitwits stayed home.

You see, political decisions are best left to people who know what they're doing. When too many morons get involved, the result is usually a disaster. The basic principle is that only about one in every four registered voters is qualified to make even a marginally intelligent decision at the polls.

Rockford needed a change in how it pays for street repairs, and Belvidere needed money to operate its public schools. Rockford got what it needed because only 26.6 percent of registered voters turned out. Belvidere did not get what it needed because 43.2 percent of its registered voters did turn out.

So, Rockford awoke Wednesday morning to a slightly brighter future, while Belvidere awoke to big problems.

The moral of the story is that we shouldn't encourage people to vote. Folks who know what they're doing generally don't need encouragement.

UPDATE: This guy is especially pissed about the result of the Rockford referendum.

Referendum outcome predicted here

There are still more than three hours before the polls close, but The Rascal, political seer extraordinaire, is ready to predict the outcome of the referendum on a sales-tax increase to pay for street repairs here in Rockford.

I've examined all the tea leaves, measured the prevailing political winds, taken into account the ideal weather, consulted certain people who have no idea what they're talking about, allowed for the various hidden factors, weighed the potential effect of astrological influences, counted customers at the Road Ranger gas station across the street from Chez Rascal and crunched all the numbers on our mainframe computers here at TRR world headquarters.

And now, before a single vote has been counted, I'm ready to give you the referendum result: The tax question will gain approval from 54.7 percent of voters. That's not exactly a landslide (which, according to tradition, requires at least 55 percent), but it's pretty damn close.

If the official tally is within one percentage point of my prediction, I will proudly lay claim to accuracy in this exercise. Any wider variance I will blame on a computer glitch.

UPDATE (6:07 p.m.): On the basis of this story, The Rascal can say with full confidence that most Rockford residents don't give a rat's ass whether the referendum passes or not. What a bunch of morons!

Why don't many blacks play baseball?

On this 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in baseball, only nine percent of big leaguers are blacks.

It occurs to The Rascal that too many African-American kids have dreams of playing in the National Basketball Association. They would do better to try baseball, where even relatively short or stocky players can make it if they have the abilities.

Community leaders in Rockford, which has a sizable black population (and which has rich baseball traditions dating back to the game's earliest days), would do well to promote this greatest of sports in the schools and at the neighborhood level.

Hooray for Chicago Olympics??

The conventional wisdom is that holding the 2016 Olympics in Chicago, which is possible now that the Windy City is the U.S. contender in the competition for host locale, would be good for the American heartland in general, including (as it says here) the Rockford area.

But this guy warns of a potential downside.