The current emir, who was born in the early 1950s, overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1995 after the former emir siphoned off petroleum revenues and crippled the country’s economy in the late 1980s and early ’90s, according to the World Factbook Web site.I hope security checked his pockets before he left the museum.
STREATOR -- The state bird is the cardinal, the state fish is the bluegill, the state tree is the white oak. And, thanks to a former state senator from Streator, Illinois became known as the "Land of Lincoln" 50 years ago today.The next best use the slogan (or variation of it) has to be on Eric Zorn's blog where he occasionally posts kewl internet links under the heading Land Of Linkin'.
The late state Sen. Fred J. Hart led the effort that culminated with then-Gov. William Stratton signing a bill May 17, 1955, adopting those three words as the state's slogan.
The legislation had breezed through the General Assembly, and soon after former U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen of Pekin urged Congress to pass a law granting Illinois a copyright to the phrase for exclusive use as its insignia.
I can't wait for the right wing boycotts and the "10 out of 10 terrorists love George Lucus" bumper stickers. But maybe they shouldn't take it so personally. Apparently, the movie is not really directed at Dear Leader."This is how liberty dies -- to thunderous applause."
So observes Queen Amidala of Naboo as the galactic senate grants dictator-to-be Palpatine sweeping new powers in his crusade against the Jedi in the final "Star Wars" movie opening this week.
It's just one of several lines in "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," that reveal the movie to be more than just a sci-fi blockbuster and gargantuan cultural phenomenon."Revenge of the Sith," it turns out, can also be seen as a cautionary tale for our time -- a blistering critique of the war in Iraq, a reminder of how democracies can give up their freedoms too easily, and an admonition about the seduction of good people by absolute power.
Some film critics suggest it could be the biggest anti-Bush blockbuster since "Fahrenheit 9/11."
New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott gives "Sith" a rave, and notes that Lucas "grounds it in a cogent and (for the first time) comprehensible political context.
" 'Revenge of the Sith' is about how a republic dismantles its own democratic principles, about how politics becomes militarized, about how a Manichaean ideology undermines the rational exercise of power. Mr. Lucas is clearly jabbing his light saber in the direction of some real-world political leaders. At one point, Darth Vader, already deep in the thrall of the dark side and echoing the words of George W. Bush, hisses at Obi-Wan, 'If you're not with me, you're my enemy.' Obi-Wan's response is likely to surface as a bumper sticker during the next election campaign: 'Only a Sith thinks in absolutes.' "
David Germain writes for the Associated Press: "Lucas never
mentioned the president by name but was eager to speak his mind on U.S. policy
in Iraq, careful again to note that he created the story long before the
Bush-led occupation there.
" 'When I wrote it, Iraq didn't exist,' Lucas said, laughing.
[U.S. Senator Dick] Durbin acknowledged that the efforts to get the 183rd off the realignment list were a "long shot," adding, "But we think we have strong evidence to make that case."Then there's this news:
He said part of the effort could include asking other states with Air National Guard facilities facing closure or realignment to join Illinois in a court challenge.
Last Wednesday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a press release stating that she would sue the federal government if any Illinois Guard bases were scheduled for closure.
She contended that federal law requires gubernatorial permission to close a Guard base. But since Springfield's base would not be closed, Madigan backtracked on Friday and has decided to take some time to assess the situation.
Greaaaat.[Springfield Mayor Tim] Davlin said one of the most expensive impacts from losing the 183rd would be the need to create a fire department for Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. The Guard currently provides a civilian firefighting crew for the entire airport in lieu of any lease payments.
"The cost to replace that - it's something I don't even want to think about," Davlin
said.
No matter how much we concentrate on concentrating -- no matter how many times we try to remind ourselves to pay attention to the road -- it is nearly impossible to perform both tasks at optimum levels simultaneously. Either you'll lose focus on your driving, or the person on the other end of the line will notice you're not really paying attention to the conversation.
Multi-tasking is an overused term and a mislabeled concept. We don't really do several things at once; we take small, successive bites out of many different projects in rapid succession.
There's no such thing as 200 percent concentration. If you're driving AND you're on the phone, something's got to give.
In a landmark 2001 study, researchers at the University of Utah found hands-free and hand-held cell phone users were equally impaired, "missing more traffic signals and reacting to signals more slowly than motorists who do not use cell phones." (The same study found that talking to a passenger, listening to music or following along with a book on tape did NOT impair driving.)
"Even when [drivers] are directing their gaze at objects in the driving environment, they fail to 'see' them because attention is directed elsewhere," according to the study. "Phone conversations impair driving performance by withdrawing attention from a visual scene, yielding a form of inattention blindness."
Driving and using the phone IS dangerous but I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe the insurance companies will put the squeeze on with higher rates for frequent callers. I'm just not sure law enforcement can do much except maybe issue tickets after an accident involving a cell phone (but how would they know a phone was in use).
By the way, this new law is SO important that at least one state agency in Springfield issued an inter-office memo warning of the new law…200 miles away.
I've been a fan of Saturday Night Live almost since it hit the air in 1975. I say almost because WICS-TV here in Springfield refused to carry the show until 1978 (when I went away to SIU and could see it there no matter what Channel 20 did). Their public reason for not showing SNL earlier was the wrestling that they did air was MUCH more popular than a bunch of hippies who thought they were funny. Man I hated them for that. I could occasionally get the show out of Peoria (whose residents obviously didn't appreciate the value of wrestling) but for the most part, I had to just accept that everyone else in the country could get the best in cutting edge sketch comedy- just not me.
Having said that, I also have always hated the show. At the time, every cast ensemble seems like the worst. The writing always seems sub-par for most of each show and suddenly previous cast incarnations seem so much better.
Still I watch. And still it's usually worth it. Gawd, the musical guests alone are worthy snippets of time.
Anyway, the point of this post is to pass on the link to The SNL Archives which has just upgraded and is totally awesome. Anything you want to know about any SNL episode, host, skit, cast member or character is here.
So, Mike Wilson has a blog. Not fair!
Wilson has a local talk show on WMAY. Not fair!
He gets to spout off on the air for three hours each weekday AND have a blog. Not Fair!
Thanks to Marie, another Springfield blogger, who tipped me off to Wilson's deviousness. Marie's blog, Disarranging Mine, is here. It's definitely worth looking at even if she lacks focus as much as I do. The coolest part of her blog is the photography; check out the archives.
In other Illinois blog news, WLS radio newsguy Steve Scott also has a blog. (Unlike Mike Wilson, Scott is not a double dipper because, as far as I know, he does just straight news on the air.) It looks like Scott is using a format template similar to mine (it’s a Blogger stock template). Scott also happens to be the president of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association (again, no double dipping here). Hat tip to Peoria Pundit for the link.
I actually have a Steve Scott story. In December of 1997, I was in Chicago for week on business. I was done early one afternoon and was back at my downtown hotel when I heard on the radio that comedian Chris Farley had died a few blocks away at his John Hancock building apartment.
I headed over to the Hancock wanting to see what was going on. I eventually found a gaggle of reporters (and other gapers like myself) waiting outside a service entrance. Soon, one of the reporters next to me called in a live report on his cell phone (man those phones were big even as recently as then). I recognized the voice immediately, Steve Scott. I don’t think I talked to him but I remember thinking it was fun hanging around with a bunch of reporters again waiting for the news to pop. The conversation is always interesting. In this case, we were gruesomely waiting for the ambulance to come out carrying Farley’s body. When it did emerge and then leave, we all dispersed. The cameras got their pictures, the reporters their story and I witnessed another small but sad piece of history.
So, the 183rd stays but with fewer personnel? Does that mean fewer planes?The Pentagon has recommended the 183rd Fighter Wing at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, the Rock Island Army Arsenel and Great Lakes Naval Station be realigned with a net loss of jobs, while proposing to add jobs at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport Guard base and Scott Air Force Base in Belleville.
The Springfield base would lose 30 military and 133 civilian positions for a total loss of 163 positions.
UPDATE III: WMAY is reporting one of the reasons given for moving the 183rd is that Springfield is "militarily insignificant". I guess Ft. Wayne is significant because it has "Fort" in it's name?Springfield's Air National Guard unit is losing its planes and close to 270 jobs under the latest BRAC recommendations.
The report calls to move the planes to Ft. Wayne Indiana.
Mayor Time Davlin says it's not all bad, we could have been closed down. Springfield's Congressmen says it's bittersweet, but just the first step.
UPDATE V: Meanwhile at 1:43 pm WICS still has this as their lead item on their web site:The BRAC Comission says the base at Ft. Wayne has a better record of recruitment. It's still unclear what will stay at the 183rd base if the planes leave; the city and the Guard says they don't know yet. There are no changes expected before October.
[snip]
The guard unit in Springfield may become a repair station. [Mayor Tim Davlin] says it's still too soon to know how the changes will help or hurt the city, and our economy. Davlin hopes to know more in the next few weeks or months.
Only Hours Remain Before The List Of Military Base Closures Is AnnouncedLosers
Submitted for your approval...
Take a journey back in time to an parallel universe where George Bush is President during World War II. The year: 1945 The place: Yalta, just inside the Twilight Zone
FREEPORT - A local man who won the $37.5 million Illinois Lottery jackpot last month was arrested Thursday on federal gun trafficking and drug dealing charges, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.I’d say Wagner will have no problem raising bail but he was released Thursday on a personal recognizance bond. I’d call the guy a loser but…
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took defendant Eric Wagner, 32, of Freeport into custody. The charges resulted from a federal indictment returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Rockford. The indictment accuses Wagner of eight counts of selling a firearm to a felon and eight counts of illegally distributing marijuana, the release states.
Wagner reportedly purchased the winning Lotto ticket in April at Horizon Supermarkets Inc. in Freeport. Officials say there is no connection between Wagner winning the lottery and the federal investigation that led to his arrest.
[snip]
The Lottery cannot prevent a contestant from claiming his prize if he is convicted of a crime, [Illinois Lottery spokesperson Courtney Hill] said. Even so, there have been cases in which prisons have received some of a contestant's winnings to compensate for the cost of incarcerating that individual, Hill said.
He goes on to berate absolutists of all stripes (he really isn't picking on just in-your-face Christian tactics).The idea of heading south on Interstate Highway 57 evokes a comfortable monotony for millions of Midwestern motorists: hours of flat farmland rolling by at 65 m.p.h.
But there's a different kind of feeling as you approach the Effingham interchange, about 225 miles south of Chicago, when you first catch sight of the 198-foot white cross that scrapes the sky. You get a chill. It's a reaction to power, or what might also be called intimidation.
Having been raised a Catholic, I don't usually find crosses scary. Their historic use for execution notwithstanding, crosses have connoted hope, compassion and the triumph of good over evil, or over vampires, at the least. You see lots of them poking unobtrusively above the neighborhoods as you drive the Dan Ryan and Kennedy Expressways and the feeling you get is a positive mix of reassurance and community.But the steel "Cross of the Crossroads" punctuating the junction of I-57 and Interstate Highway 70 in the center of Illinois, does not induce the same warm feelings. Rather than beckoning from the distance, it towers as close to the highway as the Illinois Department of Transportation would permit, hovering over passing motorists, its white sheet-metal panels reflecting the glare of sun in order to command attention, to shout and to bully with its message of Christian morals.
Its intent is starkly different from what used to be called debate in this country, when individuals and groups would profess and explain their views and beliefs. They'd show their earnestness by clinging to those beliefs and attempt to persuade through example.
PAWNEE - A bolt of lightning from Wednesday night's storms undid in a few hours what it had taken the Catholic community of Pawnee more than 100 years to build.Pawneeans (?) might want to look into that non-working hydrants thing.
St. Mary's Catholic Church burned to the ground after the bell tower was struck about 8:45 p.m.
Fire Chief Walter Funsch said firefighters arrived to find the steeple and roof in flames. High winds quickly spread the fire throughout the wood-frame structure.
No one was inside at the time.
Nearby fire hydrants weren't working, Funsch said, so tanker trucks from the Chatham Fire Department had to be called in. Assistance also was provided by the Auburn, Divernon and Taylorville fire departments. About 65 firefighters battled the blaze, Funsch said.
Dave Chappelle is in a psych ward in South Africa. Huh?
Comedian Dave Chappelle has checked himself into a mental health facility in South Africa and has remained there since late April, according to a source close to the situation. The same source denies rumors of drug abuse. Other sources have also told EW that the future of Chappelle's Show — the hit Comedy Central series that was entering its third season — is more uncertain than the network has suggested.
Comedy Central last week made a hasty announcement that the show's third season, already delayed from its planned February start, had been postponed again.
Chappelle had the best sketch comedy show on television. I read about the sudden cancellation of the third season a few days ago but figured it was a business thing. Sheesh, I hope he’s OK.
Oh, and ummmm…South Africa? What’s that about?
I'm skeptical this suit would be successful. I mean, why would any governor give his permission to close a base in his/her state? This has never come up before? It also seems to me, as much as I don't want the 183rd to go away, it should be up to the Pentagon where units are based.CHICAGO - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan threatened Tuesday to sue the federal government if Air National Guard units in Springfield or Peoria are on a final list of recommended military shutdowns later this year.
Madigan said her office has determined that federal law obligates the Defense Department to get permission from a governor when closing a National Guard base within that executive's state.Gov. Rod Blagojevich and members of the Illinois congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, raised the legal argument earlier this year. Madigan's office was asked to issue an opinion.
"Federal law is clear: no National Guard base closures without the consent of the governor," Madigan said in a news release. "As attorney general, I will seek to uphold this law and protect these bases should it become necessary."
The Pentagon is expected Friday to recommend several bases for closure as part of a national military reorganization.
Illinois officials have worried the Defense Department preferences could include shutting down the 183rd Fighter Wing at Springfield's Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport or the 182nd Airlift Wing at Greater Peoria Regional Airport.
Do you approve or disapprove of the job Rod Blagojevich is doing as governor?
36% Approve
54% Disapprove
10% Not Sure
One of the most seriously flawed statements ever uttered by President Bush was delivered in a speech over the weekend in the Baltic country of Latvia. Said the President:
V-E Day marked the end of fascism, but it did not end oppression. The agreement at Yalta followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable.Excuse me?! Talk about historical revisionism.
I think a lot of this belief comes from the movie Patton. Seriously. There is a scene in the movie, after the general has been built up as a military god for two hours, where George C. Scott’s Patton expresses a confident desire to continue the war and smash the Soviets.
I hear this all the time from people with, at best, a marginal knowledge of WWII. They will say something like “Oh, Patton could have driven the Russians all the way back to Moscow!” Well, all bluster aside by the controversial general, no he couldn’t.
There are a lot of military reasons for this not being possible but people like to believe the myth. I’ll leave the discussion about the real Patton for another time but for now I will warn you to take anything Patton had to say with a grain of salt. He was full of himself and very reckless on a number of levels.
For the President to revive the old “Yalta was a sell-out to the Soviets” meme is beneath even him.
Iraqi police hurled insults at US soldiers after two suicide car bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least seven people and left 19 wounded, including policemen.Courtesy of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. You won't likely see this story in the American press.
"It's all because you're here," a policeman shouted in Arabic at a group of US soldiers after the latest in a bloody wave of attacks that have rocked Baghdad this month.
"Get out of our country and there will be no more explosions," he told the uncomprehending Americans staring at the smouldering wreck of a car bomb.
Chicago-style pizza, not attitudeIt's a review of Coz's Pizza. A good review. But what's with the Chicago slam? I've eaten at dozen's of Chicago pizza places and never once noticed an "attitude". Seems to me the IT headline writer (who probably isn't the reviewer) has the attitude.
Read it all.Note to the news media--with an emphasis on the cable networks: Enough is enough.
Your continual focus on, and reporting of, missing, young, attractive white women not only demeans your profession but is a televised slap in the face to minority mothers and parents the nation over who search for their own missing children with little or no assistance or notice from anyone.
[snip]
I have a number of friends at the cable networks (or at least I did), and I have spoken to some about this very subject. While all professed disgust with the underreporting of missing minority women and young adults, most were very uneasy with the thought of shining a spotlight on their own management to ascertain an answer. "Besides," one of them told me, "you've already figured it out. We showcase missing, young, white, attractive women because our research shows we get more viewers. It's about beating the competition and ad dollars."
Lawmakers and community leaders contend the state's bases pass the Pentagon's survival test, with guidelines heavy on military value that also weigh cost-saving potential against adverse economic impact on states and cities.
Even if one of the bases is targeted, they say Illinois has an ace in the hole on the nine-member commission that will review the Pentagon's recommendations and forward a final report to President Bush. Sam Skinner, a Chicago native who was chief of staff and transportation secretary under Bush's father, was among two panel members recommended by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
The federal government funds 36% of all U.S medical research. In fact, of the 21 most important drugs introduced between 1965 and 1992, 15 were developed using taxpayer research. A study done in 1990 looked at 32 drugs on the market and found that 60% wouldn't have been created without federally funded research.
So what we're seeing here are dual subsidies. When the NIH discovers a drug, as they did with the cancer drug Taxol, they license it to drug companies at an absurdly low cost. Bristol-Meyers Squibb is currently the proud owner of Taxol, they sell it for $20,000 when it only costs $1,000 to manufacture, and the NIH gets .5% of the royalties. So taxpayer research ends up enriching the drug companies. And then, because without shame you can do thing likes this, the drug companies demand that we don't switch to a Canadian system of bargaining in order to get lower prices. So we don't, and we keep getting robbed while Canada and all other countries with sane health care systems by their drugs for a fraction of our price. Brilliant.
Damn college kids, always looking to get bombed! The Daily Egyptian has the full story.
Wasn't "Hoot" Gibson the name of the owner of a TV store here in Springfield about 30 years ago? Or am I thinking of someone else? And if I'm right, how do two different guys in Illinois with the name Gibson wind up being called "Hoot"?
UPDATE: Here's how guys once got the "Hoot" nickname. It's nice to be too young to get a cultural reference for once.
The request came from a White House advance man not affiliated with the Secret ervice, Kent Gray of Springfield, and was made for aesthetic, not security reasons.
The city, under the impression that the changes were a Secret Service requirement, spent $17,000 to take down the poles and uproot the trees, many of which had been installed only days earlier for the dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum on April 19.
Gray said Thursday that he had made his request to Erik Nelson, the museum and library's chief of staff, on April 14, five days before Bush was to visit Springfield for the dedication.
"It was done to make the library and museum look good in the photo with the folks at the dedication," Gray said. "One of the saplings was directly behind the podium.
"I'm disappointed. I'm ticked," Davlin said Thursday. "I wish I had my money back."Well, not surprisingly, no one is taking the blame:
Gray said he had never made it seem as if his request was for security purposes.Whatever.
"I have no idea who started the false story that the Secret Service wanted these items moved, " Gray said. "But I don't think anyone really believed a terrorist would be able to hide behind a light pole within 50 feet of the president, the speaker of the House, two senators and the governor of Illinois. "
Gray added that as a White House advance man, "I certainly didn't order anyone to do it."
"They had the opportunity to say 'no,' " Gray said. "It was purely done out of an understanding that this would make a better event for the city of Springfield."
Congratulations to Tony Blair and his Labour Party. Even if they can't spell "Labor".
Courtesy of the folks at Bass.
In an interview this week, I asked Franks if Blagojevich deserves a second term as governor.
"At this time, I couldn't give him a high enough grade to support him for a second term," Franks said.
Franks is not a household name in Illinois, and he said he won't even think about what he'll do in the 2006 election until after the legislative session. But asked if he should be mentioned as a possible candidate for governor, he said, "I can tell you a lot of people are talking," and he is "getting a lot of solicitation" in that direction.
"I must have missed that day that we decided to move government out of Springfield and move it to Chicago," Franks said. "I mean, when there are session days and the governor decides to come down, I mean, what is the cost to the state when he's flying his entire staff back and forth twice a week, and the per diems we have to pay for the (staff) down here? It's a little crazy."
This is interesting coming from Franks, whose McHenry County home is part of the far Chicago suburbs. But Franks said he believes Illinois state government was set up to be based in Springfield.
Stephen Colbert, who plays a phony correspondent on the fake-news program "The Daily Show," is getting a real promotion.I will now have to choose between The Colbert Report and Nightline. Although, Nightline is probably doomed following Ted Koppel's impending departure from ABC.
Comedy Central said yesterday that it was giving Mr. Colbert his own show: a half-hour that is expected to follow "The Daily Show" on weeknights and will lampoon those cable-news shows that are dominated by the personality and sensibility of a single host. Think, he said, of Bill O'Reilly and Chris Matthews and Sean Hannity.
Where "The Daily Show" and its host, Jon Stewart, generally spoof the headlines of the day (and the anchors and reporters who deliver them), Mr. Colbert's program will send up those hosts who have become household names doing interviews and offering analyses each night on the 24-hour cable news channels. The program, which is expected to begin appearing on Comedy Central as soon as early fall, is being produced by Mr. Stewart's production company, Busboy Productions.
It will be called "The Colbert Report" - though, if Mr. Colbert has his way, the announcer will pronounce it with a faux-French accent: The co-BEAR ra-PORE.
The U.S. Army missed its April recruiting goal by a whopping 42 percent and the Army Reserve fell short by 37 percent, officials said on Tuesday, showing the depth of the military's wartime recruiting woes.
With the Iraq war straining the U.S. military, the active-duty Army has now missed its recruiting goals in three straight months, with April being by far the worst of the three, and officials are forecasting that it will fall short again in May.
[snip]
The Army Reserve, a force of part-time soldiers who train regularly and can be called to active duty in times of need, signed up 849 recruits in April, short of the monthly goal of 1,355, Smith said. That left the Army Reserve 21 percent behind its year-to-date goal.
[snip]
The Army National Guard said it did not yet have its April numbers, but has missed its recruiting goal in every month of the current fiscal year through March and was 23 percent behind its year-to-date goal at that time. It missed its fiscal 2004 annual goal.
[snip]
The Marine Corps said on Monday it that in April, for the fourth straight month, it missed its goal for signing up new recruits, and was now 2 percent behind its year-to-date goal.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- It could have gone all terribly wrong. Jack Bruce could ave passed out during his bass solo. Ginger Baker could have expired amid a flurry of rumsticks. Or the two could have just beaten each other silly right there on stage. All the while guitarist Eric Clapton would be gently weeping in the wings.
None of this would have surprised Cream fans in the 1960s -- the acrimony and excesses within the supergroup being as well known as their musical riffs.
But that was then, this is now.
Thirty-seven years ago after the group performed its final concert at Royal Albert Hall, the trio returned to the same venue on Monday, much changed but still very much revered."Thanks for waiting all these years," Clapton admonished the crowd during the first of four sold-out concerts in London. "We're going to play every song we know."
Well, not quite. In just over two hours, Cream ripped through 18 songs -- beginning with "I'm So Glad" and then on to "Spoonful," "Badge," "Born Under a Bad Sign," "Sitting On Top of the World" and "White Room."
`We don't look as old as they do, do we?" muttered my old college friend. It was reunion weekend and we were walking toward a group of alumni gathered on a lawn.I still hate large reunions and probably always will but Schmich puts a pretty good spin on them. Maybe I'll reconsider the next one.
"Let's hope not," I muttered back, squinting at the class year scribbled on their name tags. "They're 20 years older than we are."
This is the kind of conversation heard all across America in the spring, the nation's official reunion season, a time when former classmates return to the alma mater seeking to answer life's deepest questions: How old do I look? How old do they look? We're not really this old, are we?
[snip]
But something funny happens after the shock of the initial reunion sightings and assessments. Once you match your youthful classmates with these middle-age relations, once you get used to the fact that time has robbed every single one of you of something--or added it in the wrong places--you stop noticing the thinning hair and padded waists, the doubled chins and rutted foreheads.
What you notice is the voice. The eyes. The hand gestures and the laugh. They're eerily unchanged. And though it's not visible to the current college kids who drift past thinking, "Geezers," before long, among yourselves, the younger selves are shining through.
[snip]
And you stop hearing the question that nagged before you came, "Why would I go to a reunion?" You know why now. It's not mostly to revisit memories. It's to share trip notes with your fellow travelers through time. It's to allow your fully alive but often hidden younger self back out on parade. That self can never be fully seen by people who know your past only through your stories.
We often measure our lives in events--the accumulation of things we do and things that happen to us. Reunions remind us that though events may polish us, dent us, turn us upside down or dress us up in different clothes, we are in some basic easure simply who we are. We still are who we were.
So when some reunion shutterbug says, "Smile," you do, with pleasure. And even though later when you see the pictures you'll see that, yeah, you all do look older, you'll also notice something really funny--those smiles have hardly changed at all.
I’ve never been asked to deliver a graduation speech --- hmm, I wonder why? -- but should some institution ever turn to me in a desperate hour, one of the things I would say is that, a long, long time from now, today will still feel like yesterday.Zorn includes a photo of himself on the day of his graduation from college in 1980. Look at all the hair. That's what I say when I look at photos my graduation day too. That and the old cliche, "where did the time go?"
You have no idea when you’re young how short a time a quarter of a century can be, how quickly it will all go, how you will still feel like very much the same person inside, yet others will see your face, your body and your circumstances and think of you as old, settled, declining.
[snip]
...savor the moments as much as possible, [make] the most of the time you’ve got.
Because before you know it you’ll be looking back over the decades at a photograph of your own fresh face and wondering if you even came close to living up to the promise that you had then and to following your ideals and your dreams.
You’ll reach these milestones of reckoning – if you’re lucky. You will hold yourself to account -- if you’re smart.
What will you say?
In Illinois, officials fear that Scott Air Force Base, near St. Louis, and the Rock Island Arsenal could be on the chopping block. These officials have also expressed concern that two Air National Guard bases, one in Springfield and another in Peoria, are considered vulnerable as the Air Force looks to merge many of its active-duty and reservist units.And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ETK who continues to work tirelessly while continuing his advance toward old age.
In late March, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and two other senior Illinois lawmakers wrote Mr. Rumsfeld to warn him that closing any National Guard base would, by law, require the state governor's approval.
The Pentagon's top acquisition official, Michael W. Wynne, wrote back to the lawmakers last month to inform them politely that they were wrong.
The state of Illinois has awarded several construction firms contracts worth a total of $10.3 million to renovate Union Station at Sixth and Madison streets. The former Illinois Central Railroad depot, built in 1898, once included a 110-foot clock tower, which will be rebuilt. The train station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was most recently an office for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
The 19,000-square-foot building will be used as a visitor center for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and other area historic sites. State offices will occupy the second floor. Construction is scheduled to end bythe winter of 2007.
On April 13, Blagojevich announced a $1.5 million state grant to the city
of Springfield to design, plan and secure rights of way for the Capitol Avenue
redevelopment. Spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said Thursday that the planning phase should be complete by mid-2006.
“We have some ideas that we’ll announce shortly to build on the success
of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum,” Blagojevich said.
“We may contemplate more resources from the state, but we’d also like
to get some more money here from Washington as well.”
Central Illinois needs to build on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum by connecting the places where the 16th president spent his formative
years, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin told representatives from the region at the library
Monday.
Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, wants communities in 42 counties to brainstorm ideas for how to link central Illinois’ Lincoln sites.
“We have momentum,” the senator said. “We can help our region of the stateThe House Bill sponsored by Lahood and co-sponsored by several from the Illinois Congressional deligation can be viewed here.
economically, create jobs, bring a greater source of pride about our heritage.
One dream I have as a part of this is to tell the whole Lincoln story. People
have told pieces. The story, a big part of it, is in Springfield. But a big part
of it is in your communities.”
Durbin and U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, have introduced legislation in the Senate and the House that would create the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area.
Durbin hopes to secure $10 million that would be spent over a 10-year period.
Why not, indeed. Maybe Ditka will like doing movies and forget about politics. I hope. We really don't need him filling out the Jesse/Ah-nuld/Dik-a trifecta of idiots.The Will Ferrell soccer comedy "Kicking and Screaming" opens on May 13, and
you'll have to wait for the official review from "Ebert & Roeper" this weekend -- but I can tell you that if Ditka doesn't exactly steal the movie from Ferrell and Robert Duvall (who plays Ferrell's father), he at least borrows the spotlight. The coach is hilarious.
Ditka plays a slightly cartooned-up version of himself, but he does so with more comedic flair than Ashton Kutcher does playing anybody. The movie version of Ditka -- often clad in Bears sweaters straight from the 1985 catalog -- spends his days sneaking cigars in his trophy-laden den, kibitzing with the neighborhood butcher and engaging in a nonstop feud with his hyper-competitive neighbor, played by Duvall.
When Duvall dumps his grandson to the last-place team, Ferrell takes over the
coaching reins of that loser team and enlists the help of Duvall's nemesis: Ditka.
That's right. Da Coach plays the assistant coach of a youth league soccer team.
This isn't a glorified cameo. Ditka has the third lead in the movie, and he's a lot funnier and more natural than he is in those Majestic Star Casino spots.
Come awards season, here's hoping Universal takes out at least one of those "For Your Consideration" ads touting Ditka for best supporting actor. He ain't gettin' no Oscar nod, but considering that the Hollywood Foreign Press is a little wacky and has handed out nominations to Patrick Swayze, Pia Zadora, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bjork, Chris O'Donnell, Billy Crystal and Rob Lowe, I ask you: why not Ditka?
The State Journal-Register is looking for families on the go 24/7.Uhhh...wouldn't that be EVERY family with kids? Me thinks they really aren't that hard to find.
If you're up at the crack of dawn, sending children off to school, heading
to work, chauffeuring your children to their numerous after-school activities,
zipping back home to fix dinner/do homework/wash laundry - you name it - we want to know how you make it all work.
I've been blogging here for just over four months now and I haven't given up yet. In fact I'm more motivated now than when I started. I wasn't sure if I would retain the interest but so far, so good.
Since it's a slow blogging day, here are a few random thoughts and points of interest regarding TEH:
I really wish I had more time to blog. I can seriously see myself sitting down for hours scouring the net for things to post about. I'm looking for a way to become fabulously wealthy without too much effort so I can devote more time to blogging. That or become a college student again since I had time for all kinds of time wasting activities back then (and that's time wasting not mind wasting, got that).
Before starting this blog, I had no idea how many bloggers there were in Illinois. Apparently, some people in Peoria even have computers. Who knew? There also seems to be a isproportional number of bloggers in Champaign-Urbana. There are a lot of college students there too. I make a connection.
It always interests me when some one gets to TEH via one of the search engines. I like checking out what search criteria got them here (see Site Meter link at left, below teh archives). Sometimes it frightens me. I'm keeping a log of some of the stranger search strings and I'll post them when a get enough good ones.
Speaking of search criteria, the search string that has gotten net surfers here most often is some version of "Pamela Furr". For some reason there are a lot of people looking for the WMAY talker. I've beat up on her a few times here but she seems to be bringing in a lot of traffic so maybe I'll be nicer. Maybe.
No, I will never run out of beers for Friday Beer Blogging.
Teenage drivers are not the only ones who can be distracted by talking on a
cell phone while behind the wheel. But their relative inexperience as drivers
makes it more risky. They might not as readily anticipate a situation that could
lead to an accident.
Therefore, a proposal to prohibit 16- and 17-year-olds from using cell
phones while driving should be enacted into law.
Senate Bill 210 was approved 38-19 and is awaiting action in the House.
State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, and Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, were among
opponents. Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, voted in favor.
[snip]
In 2003, the state Department of Transportation blamed cell phones as the
primary cause in 622 traffic accidents and a secondary factor in 619 crashes.
Although we don't know the ages involved, undoubtedly not all were teen
drivers.
You know, I really wanted to post some angry comments on the whole missing woman from Georgia thing yesterday. I just didn’t have the time and now I wish I had because today I would be writing a big I TOLD YOU SO post. But I didn’t so I can’t.
What ticked me off yesterday was the news coverage I was seeing and hearing. I kept thinking that we have come to a point where there always has to be a missing person story in the news. And not just any missing person. No, they have to be either a young woman or a girl, attractive and white. Because if they aren’t all these things, who gives a shit, right? Hell, I could disappear and I’d be lucky to get a 10 second mention on WICS’s news right after Gus Gordon’s weather. All because I have a face for blogging and no vagina (but hey, I’m white!). Seriously, you mean to tell me there aren’t thousands of missing people in this country at any given moment? Never any men? No African-Americans? No old people? No one with a complexion problem? Give me a break.
So it turns out the woman just got cold feet about her upcoming wedding and took off to New Mexico. Well, well. The fiancée didn’t kill her. How ‘bout that. The guy was really being set up as a murderer in the media. My God, he wanted to protect himself from being railroaded so he sets some (very reasonable) conditions on taking otherwise unreliable lie detector tests. Good for him. Too bad that results in a guilty verdict in the media.
Sheesh.
Well, that was a fun 24 hours.
I started last night by going to the Air Rendezvous Hanger Party but weather prevented the scheduled night air show from taking place (they postponed it until tonight and I’m not there). While the bands went on and played anyway, ite was just too cold in the hanger and after a couple hours we left for a warmer establishment to play darts until 1:00 AM. I haven’t done that in a while. Staying out to 1:00 that is. Married, children, yada, yada. I also apparently still have my darts mojo.
Slightly hung over, it was off to the main air show this morning. The weather was pretty good except for a northwest wind that could cut right through you during gusts.
I got there too late to see Springfield’s own 183rd Fighter Wing open the show but I caught everything else.
Let me say that this was one of the best attended shows I’ve seen in years. I mean, there were long lines at some of the food vendors and many booths sold out of much of their merchandise and food items.
The corporate tent I was in was jammed and even ran out of some amenities. There wasn’t a chair to be had by the time the show climaxed with the Blue Angels who, as expected, performed flawlessly.
The rest of the show was pretty good too. A demonstration of the Harrier Jump Jet and an F-15 Eagle were crowd pleasers as well.
My favorite part of the show was the US Air Force Heritage Flight. This year it featured a World War two era P-51 fighter and a Vietnam era F-4 fighter. They, along with the F-15, did a series of spectacular close-formation fly-bys. It was really cool to see three generations of some of America’s best military aircraft flying together like that. The U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight program is an annual feature at Air Rendezvous (and other air shows) that teams various vintage Air Force plane with their modern successors. I think it’s a great thing. And kind of moving to watch.
Also, a special shout-out to Team Red. It’s easy for the older prop driven planes to be greatly overshadowed by the powerful and speedy jets, but this group of old Chinese and Soviet prop trainers was really cool. They flew no less than 15 aircraft simultaneously. Very cool to see.
The lowlight of the show was the stupid Air Force Reserve Jet Car. Why does the Air Force Reserve need a jet car? I speculated maybe they use it to get to and from Baghdad Airport on that very deadly highway so many people have died on in Iraq. Otherwise, what a waste of money. And it’s a car, it doesn’t belong at an air show (even if the little kids do love it).
I’m sunburned and a bit burned-out otherwise. But was a great 24 hours.
MARION - Williamson County State's Attorney Charles Garnati is taking a tougher stance with parents who fail to follow established curriculum guidelines when home schooling their children.I'm not a big fan of home schooling for a lot of reasons. I'm not for banning it, I just don't like it for the most part. I think it's limiting both academically and socially. And the problem of parents who just don't care to even bother actually teaching their "home schooled" kids doesn't help.
On Thursday, he announced at a press conference that he has charged Marion resident Kim Harris with permitting truancy, a Class C misdemeanor punishable up
to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. Harris is said to have willingly and knowingly allowed her 15-year-old son to be truant.
Garnati stressed that he supports home-schooling in general, just not for parents who abuse the privilege.
Some parents have allowed their children to be truant from public schools, and when threatened with legal action, have pulled their children from that school to avoid prosecution, Garnati said.
"It's what I call an end around," Garnati said. "These are parents who have no intention of home-schooling their child. Unfortunately, there is no law on the books that criminalizes improper home schooling. What concerns me are those children who are chronically truant from school."
[snip]
Mickey Sullivan, truant officer with the regional superintendent of schools office in Herrin, said the number of truancy cases has dwindled in the county under Garnati's watch. But she believes the number of children who are home-schooled who are not receiving proper instruction has increased."
People don't have to register with our office if they decide to home-school their kids," Sullivan said. "The only way we know the student is being home-schooled is if the parent pulls the student from the school for whatever reason or if we get a report that the student has been seen out on the streets. Otherwise, it's hard to track."
Dick Cheney (July 2002): "Ultimately, of course, the peak power period this
summer will exceed any capacity the state has and you'll end up in those rolling
brownouts. There's no magic wand that Washington can wave."
Ari Fleischer (May 2001): "If any politician has a magic wand that they can wave
over gas prices to lower them, the president...would like to listen to them."
Presidential candidate George W. Bush, on healthcare reform (February
2000): "I'm sorry. I wish I could wave a wand."
STUDENTS have names for certain days. Tuesday is Boozeday, Thursday isBut all ends well...
Thirstday.
At 9 p.m. on a Boozeday last fall, Robin Bhalla and friends are downing
shots of vodka at his off-campus apartment. "We save money that way," he
explains to a reporter watching the ritual. "Get a buzz on at home, then go
bar-hopping." Sufficiently buzzed, the students who are of drinking age drive to
a popular bar near campus, where they chug beer and do more shots. "I like to
get drunk, not blackout drunk, but I like to get drunk," Mr. Bhalla says.
"You're able to talk to girls a lot more. And I like girls." By 1 a.m. he is
"fubar," which politely translates as "fouled up beyond all recognition," and is
asked to leave the bar. He spots a student who he is sure insulted him earlier
that evening and rushes him, intent on fighting. His friends pull him away, and
Mr. Bhalla reels around the parking lot, cursing.
Late the next morning, Mr. Bhalla wakes up on the floor of a vacant
building, a shuttered fraternity house. "I was so depressed, and I looked at my
face and my hands," he recalls, now sitting in a dormitory lounge for an
interview. "I was just like, 'What am I doing with my life?' " But that moment
of reflection soon passes. "If I sat there for days like that, what good's going
to come out of it?" he says. Mr. Bhalla professes not to remember the
altercation the night before.
About the purpose of college, he says: "You go so you can get a job and
make money when you're older. But at the same time you get life experiences that
are priceless, like networking." He expects that to pay off: "I've made so many
connections I never would have been able to make without it, and these are all
my friends and people that I know from the bars and from classes and, you know,
people that I've hung out with that later in life I'm going to be able to call
on and be like: 'I know you have a job with this company. Do you know if they're
hiring, or can you get me an application? Can I use you as a reference?' "
Mr. Bhalla, 22, a psychology major with a minor in business (grade point
average 3.0, on a 4.0 scale), says he stopped going to most of his classes after
sophomore year and drank excessively four nights a week: usually Tuesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Nonetheless, he made the dean's list last spring. He
says he has rarely given more than an hour a night for all his courses.
"Teachers say, 'For every class you should do a certain amount of reading,' but
I never do that," he says. His routine: toward the end of the semester, scan the
readings, review notes to see what the teacher said was important, get the
teacher's study guide. He believes he is not alone. "A lot of people just try
and coast by, and don't do the readings. They try and cheat off the homework,
copy their friends'.
[snip]
At the end of a three-hour interview, Mr. Bhalla is asked if he regrets
anything he has done at Arizona. "These are the years that I'm not going to have
back," he says. "And I don't want to be 30, 50, looking back and wishing I'd
partied then because I can't do it now."
A month after the interview, in December, Mr. Bhalla graduated after four and a half years in college. He moved to Miami to room with a college friend. He hasDamn, he's making more than I did right out of college (even after adjusting for all those years of inflation) and I think I tried a little harder in school. Slacking pays!
just started working for a pharmaceutical sales company (base salary: $30,000).
For the most part, he says, he goes out only on Friday and Saturday nights. "I
definitely miss my college days," he says. "They were the best four years of my
life!"
Normally, I defend Governor Blagojevich's decision to reside in Chicago. I think that's his choice and he can conduct State business there as well as here for the most part. But when you start getting down to the agency level I think a presence is required. If for no other reason than to instill confidence and a sense of leadership in the agency workforce.At the risk of sounding a little Springfield-centric, I found the geography
quite interesting as events unfolded this week concerning that damning state
audit of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.
Longtime Springfield resident BILL HOLLAND, the state's auditor
general, issued the audit. He also felt compelled to hold the first news
conference of his 12-year career as auditor to reinforce the audit findings and
defend his office against an aggressive attack from CMS. He did it in the
Statehouse pressroom.
Three CMS honchos later had their own news conference on their own turf
in the Stratton Building. They included PAUL CAMPBELL, who has been named by
Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH to replace MICHAEL RUMMAN as director; ED WYNN, CMS general counsel; and BRIAN CHAPMAN, CMS chief operating officer.
They live, respectively, in Arlington Heights, Lake Bluff and Chicago.
Rumman, who also lives in Chicago, didn't make it down to the meeting.
All four of the CMS officials came into state government after the 2002
election of Blagojevich.CMS has 1,605 employees, said BECKY CARROLL, a spokeswoman for the governor's budget office who was dispatched to help with inquiries about CMS this week. Of them, 1,179 are based in Springfield, and 258 in Chicago.
Interesting, isn't it, how the people trying to explain their way around the audit’s allegations of sloppy, or worse, contracting practices are among the state’s commuting leaders. And, just asking, but might some problems outlined in the audit might not have been so severe had there been a little more direct oversight of the bulk of the work force in Springfield, which used to be known as the state capital?
If the government wants to do something to reduce our oil usage, start by
slapping a serious feebate on auto purchases. Heavy cars and gas guzzlers get a
$3,000 tax tacked onto the price, and hybrids and economy cars get a $3,000
rebate on theirs. Detroit gets a fat sack of money to move quickly and smoothly
into the hybrid business, folks see the savings up front and thus make more
energy conscious car decisions, and we use way less fuel. No one, save those who
need huge cars for their business, is hurt by circumstances outside their
control. But even they'll only be temporarily penalized as the market will beg
for fuel efficient trucks and SUVs (like the Ford Hybrid), and automakers will
race to place them in showrooms.
The figure is an initial estimate, [Springfield Mayor Tim
Davlin] said, and "some of that's going to change and go a little
higher."
"Whatever the cost was, we've got to absorb it, we've got to come up
with a way to pay for it because it was worth it, and we had to do it," Davlin
said.
There also could be some overtime costs for public works, fire
department and City Water, Light and Power employees, but police overtime will
be the most costly expense of the dedication, Davlin said, adding that the final
numbers could take several more weeks to compile.
