Power and influence

As presidential appointments go, the pick didn’t make many national headlines.On Aug. 20, it was announced that President Obama had selected Christopher Hart to serve a term as vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.“Vice Chairman Hart comes to the Board after a long career in transportation safety, including a previous term as a member of the NTSB during the 1990s,” the

Stop me if you've heard this one

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign/
Blocking out the scenery/ breaking my mind/
Do this, don’t do that/ can’t you read the sign?”If your senses are becoming increasingly overloaded, perhaps it’s time to adopt this 1971 hit by the Five Man Electrical Band as your ringtone. Just don’t answer any calls or text messages while driving.The very devices that make our business and personal lives easier can

Road work

The doctor’s words hit him hard.At the age of 46, Jeff Clark’s doctor told him he had serious heart disease.Within days, he began exercising, and long walks turned into light jogs. Jogs turned into runs, and one year later he’d completed his first marathon.Few things will wake a person up and clear your head for the day quite like those steps down the road.Whether it’s a gentle walk down the

Bon voyage to the double nickel

OOIDA and its Illinois members have spent years trying to get rid of the state’s split-speed limit for trucks. Those efforts were repeatedly stymied by a corrupt former governor who vetoed legislation that would have eliminated split-speed limits. After all our collective efforts, who would have thought all it took was getting a governor impeached?Ah, but that is the story of Illinois politics.

What is efficiency worth?

Ralph Nader, now more famous for his role in the 2000 Presidential election, made his bones by being a consumer advocate.Among other things, Nader called out the Ford Motor Co. during the 1970s after dozens of U.S. citizens lost their lives because of the Pinto’s tendency to explode during rear-end collisions.Ford didn’t correct the problem for eight years, reportedly because its internal “

‘Cash for Clunkers’ cheated some who really needed it

I’ve heard enough about the “Cash for Clunkers” law to give it a “C-minus.”The only reason it did not fail completely on the report card was because some consumers and companies used it to trade in a real clunker in the name of efficiency.In this economy, who could blame someone for trading in a 1999 Jeep with 150,000 miles on it for the $4,500 rebate.This law gets a C-minus because of what

Homo multitaskus?

Distracted driving – is this evolution in action, leading eventually to a new kind of human being, maybe called homo multitaskus? In the long run, will distracted driving become the norm?Faced with a seemingly unending series of wrecks and fatalities involving motorists, truckers, bus drivers and train operators who were distracted by texting or talking on a cell phone, the U.S. Department of

A rose to the National Enquirer

In late July, a story about an OOIDA member shared headlines with Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Paula Abdul and other celebrities.I got a tip from a friend in the know that the Goodyear Highway Hero and our OOIDA member Jorge Orozco Sanchez might be featured in the July 20 edition of the National Enquirer. I picked up a copy while cruising my grocery store and flipped through. There it was on