Lies, damned lies and politics

Reality is the issue in the presidential campaigns

Perhaps you have read about, if not seen, Mitt Romney’s latest TV campaign ad. Mr. Romney, keep in mind, is the responsible GOP contender, the grown-up in the room, the calm voice on platforms o

A house in a day

Will the future of affordable new family housing be the 1950s?

“Go east young man,” a neighbor advised my father, and in 1949 he and the rest of us did just that. For a veteran, it was cheaper in those days to buy than to rent, so we said goodbye to o

Asphalt somethingness

Springfield parking lots are looking (a little) better

Returning to Springfield after a trip, even a local patriot sees as if for the first time what catches the eye of so many visitors. Pretend that the gaudy billboards do not exist. Look the other way w

Three strikes and you’re in

Immigrants as the solution, not the problem

I have no idea what the American Dream means to the 63 persons from 25 nations who were welcomed into the fraternity of the free and the brave in October ceremonies at the Old Capitol. In my version o

Poor housing

Will tougher enforcement improve shabby housing on the east side?

If its aldermen were running Springfield’s fire stations, the city would have burned down years ago. On Oct. 18 the Springfield City Council passed a complex new ordinance that stiffened the pen

Gizmo-maker as god

The death of Steve Jobs and the Anerican need to believe

Steve Jobs is dead, and the world talked about little else for a week. By now we have arrived at the transitional moment that was neatly described by columnist Rick Polito in the Pacific Sun – t

The Durbin Fee

Is it really possible – even in a nation whose congresspeople believe that laying off people creates jobs and whose wealthy believe that helping to pay to run the country that made them rich is

Boomerangers

Enticing trained brains back to Springfield

The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce is talking industrial parks as the way to make Greater Springfield – which I prefer to think of as Bigger Springfield – a Great Place to Do Busi

Wise guys

In which a mere opinion-monger sets out on the path toward Truth

Life is full of mysteries. Why would a beneficent god allow humans to invent ceramic cooktops? Why didn’t the Pyschedelic Furs sell more records? The public’s confusion is rich soil for th

The college game

I know only two lawyer jokes. One is Rod Blagojevich. The other one is this: In a nation that already has more lawyers per capita than any other nation on earth, U.S. law schools are churning out many