2008: Goodbye, farewell, good riddance

Here it is the last day of 2008. I almost feel obligated to reflect on the past year.Then again, I’d rather not.There’s not a lot to look back on and smile. The economy went down the proverbial toilet and took a lot of truckers with it. While the brain trusts had to wait until almost year’s end to call it a full-blown recession, we knew it months before.Scandal on Wall Street. Mortgage meltdown.

2008’s Top 10 Truckin’ Headlines

With the end of the year comes a natural impulse to reflect on the past 52 weeks, on the highs and lows that flickered by like yardsticks, and ask “How did I make it through all that?”What follows is my totally arbitrary list, in no hard-and-fast order of importance:The Rise and Fall of Diesel Prices: As Land Line Senior Technical Editor Paul Abelson sometimes says, “I’m doing fine, but I’ll get

Blog: 'Illinois: Where our governors make our license plates'

I read last night in The New York Times that Gov. Rod Blagojevich plans to ask that he be permitted to use campaign funds to defend himself against federal corruption charges. The governor’s campaign fund – chaired by Blago’s brother Robert – is known as the Friends of Blagojevich.This developed after the Illinois state attorney general rejected a request by the governor to use state funds to

Heroes in the flesh

Cartoon heroes are as much a part of childhood as grilled cheese sandwiches and crayons. But real, live heroes in this day and age seem to be hard to come by. Unless you look at life through the eyes of a child.It wasn’t that long ago I was on yet another road trip with my kids. They are hardy travelers; 400-500 miles hardly fazes them. On stops for gas and such, they mobilize like a military

Thanks a billion (five actually)

Land Line subscribers have been reading about California’s proposed on-road in-use rule for more than a year and, believe it or not, the proposed rule’s time is approaching.The first public vote is scheduled for this Thursday, Dec. 11.The rule would essentially require trucks to meet 2007 and 2010 emissions standards between 2012 and 2022, though it allows for a series of compliance options. The

EPA to tax farm animal ‘exhaust’

It is most likely a sign of noxious things to come: The Environmental Protection Agency is moving toward taxing cows, hogs and possibly other gas-emitting barnyard critters.The EPA is proposing to impose levies on farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs at the rate of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef, and $20 per hog.It’s a plan farmers say

Eye in the sky

After the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, investigators said the assailants used Google Earth maps to plot and carry out their attack. Here’s a link to an article on the terrorists’ use of technology.You can read Land Line’s previous reporting on intelligence vehicle systems – and the concerns truckers have about the technology – here.As you can tell from the article, many truckers are

Back pain? Need a ‘walletectomy’?

The average guy’s wallet is thicker than the armor on one of the military’s new bomb-proof fighting vehicles. Cash (though not usually very much, and less these days), photos, credit cards, driver’s license, receipts, business cards, ID cards of various kinds, stamps, tiny keepsakes and mementos – we guys make fun of a woman’s purse, but it’s amazing the amount of stuff pressed like a paper