Untitled Document Just when you hoped that extremist Christian political leaders might have learned a lesson from November’s elections, here they come again — nuttier than a pecan forest. What’s got them jumping out of their shells is all the fuss about global warming. In particular, they’re upset that so many evangelical ministers and churches […]
Editor’s Note
Posted inOpinion
Garbled translations
Untitled Document The only D grade I got in college was in my French class. I should have received an F, but the professor probably feared that if he failed me I might take his class again. So I’m in no position to criticize anyone who’s trying to grapple with foreign-language translations. Therefore […]
Posted inOpinion
Dan Walker tells his story
Untitled Document Not long after Dan Walker took office as governor, in 1973, I interviewed him in his office in the Capitol. I was finishing a journalism degree at Northwestern while beginning a job with Lindsay-Schaub News-papers, in Decatur, that involved covering the Statehouse. He began by telling me that his office was rather small […]
Posted inOpinion
George in fantasyland
Untitled Document President George W. Bush has so many fantasies that they’re even affecting the first lady’s grasp of reality. Laura Bush recently castigated the media for not reporting that “many parts of Iraq are stable now,” then added, “but, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages […]
Posted inOpinion
Whatever it takes
Untitled Document I thought she had star quality, like Reese Witherspoon, maybe, the way she got up to speak before the audience of some 200 people at the PORA fundraising dinner March 3. She was poised, funny, like when she told about almost getting kicked out of PORA, a little embarrassed by a few details […]
Posted inOpinion
Bush’s sneak attack
Untitled Document In 2004, President George W. Bush spoke an unintentional truth: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” In October, Bush quietly signed a provision into law that does real damage to our […]
Posted inOpinion
Ad nauseam
Untitled Document Corporate advertisers used to put their ads on television, radio, in publications, and on billboards. But ads today are everywhere, with corporations fighting each other to shove their promotions in our face. Most Americans already encounter 5,000 ads a day, and the race is on to cram more corporate messages into our eyes, […]
Posted inOpinion
Why the blood bank never has enough
Untitled Document Lying with a needle in his arm and parts of his blood streaming into three separate bags, David Parsons is donating platelets, which takes longer than donating whole blood, so he has plenty of time to get philosophical. He says in his line of work he’s rejected by 95 percent of […]
Posted inOpinion
Wal-Mart women fight back
Untitled Document Get ready for another touchy-feely Wal-Mart ad to saturate the airwaves soon. Whenever this retailing behemoth gets caught in one of its many abusive practices, it races to cover up the damage with a PR blitz. This time, though, Wal-Mart’s image has hit not merely a pothole on the road of greed but […]
Posted inOpinion
Bush’s rhetoric on renewables
Untitled Document Just before George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech in January, a top administration official gushed that the president would announce new policies for energy independence that “will knock your socks off.” Well, my socks are still tightly attached. Bush basically mouthed the same words he’s used before: Stop America’s addiction to […]
Posted inOpinion
Lincoln, Stevenson, and Obama
Untitled Document One reason Barack Obama chose the Old State Capitol as the site where he would launch his presidential campaign is the reason it was built there in the first place: It is at the center of the state, in a town of good, honest people. In 1837, soon after Springfield was chosen as […]
Posted inOpinion
Bush’s healthcare tax
Untitled Document Look out, everyone — George W. Bush has had another idea! The guy who told us that occupying Iraq would be a really smart thing to do has now focused both of his brain cells on healthcare in America. Here’s his plan: (1) The 47 million Americans who have no health coverage will […]
