The reaction by the religious right to the passage of a gay-rights law in Illinois has been predictably loud and aggrieved. But the law’s critics have universally zeroed in on one key argument: a claim that churches and religious institutions will now be forced by the government to hire gays and lesbians. They’re wrong. Their […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
letters 2-10-05
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com DON’T PIN DNR CUTS ON BLAGOJEVICH I am a Republican election judge […]
Posted inOpinion
common sense 2-10-05
President George W. Bush, inhaling the fumes of his own hubris, has been claiming that he not only won the election but also won a mandate for his policies, including his war in Iraq and his plan to undo our Social Security program. “We had an accountability moment, and that’s called the 2004 elections,” Bush […]
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Bring back Mom & Pop
Ralph Laughery’s eyes light up when he remembers his neighborhood the way it used to be. “Everybody knew everybody,” he says. “It was an extremely friendly place.” After he was born, in 1932, his parents brought him home from the hospital to the house at 800 N. Seventh St., at the corner of Seventh and […]
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Trouble at DNR
Red Burchyett is getting his wheelchair and his job back. That’s good news for Burchyett, who was laid off several weeks ago from his mechanic’s job at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Ten years ago, the state bought him a customized wheelchair that helped him do his job by raising him to a standing […]
Posted inOpinion
common sense 2-3-05
Credit-card giants such as Citibank, Chase Manhattan, and MBNA fill our mailboxes with little love letters, wooing us to accept their cards. But — as in so many love affairs — once you’ve signed up, the companies suddenly show an ugly, grasping, selfish side. They actually seem to enjoy penalizing their customers. For example, I […]
Posted inOpinion
letters 2-5-04
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com WHAT’S WRONG WITH KANSAS? I am writing in response to your “Reporter […]
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Final chapter
Imagine for a moment that you can’t breathe. You have asthma, but it’s been more than a year since your last real attack, so you’ve left your inhaler at home. You’re at the police academy, running a drill, learning all about discipline, integrity, teamwork, brotherhood in blue, yadda yadda, and, sure enough, when you suddenly […]
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What has happened to our country?
With each passing day, the Bush administration gives us new reasons to be ashamed. But nothing these people have done has damaged America as much as the torture and murder of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. With Alberto Gonzales as the attorney general of the United States, what until now has been treated […]
Posted inOpinion
letters 1-27-05
Letters policy We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity. Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois 62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com LINCOLN AND THE HOLY GRAIL Todd Spivak’s recent article on Michael Scully’s […]
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When will Obama find his voice on Iraq?
When U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was in Springfield last weekend for a town meeting with military veterans about the sorry state of veterans’ benefits, he missed a good chance to talk to the vets about the war in Iraq. He had passed up an earlier chance to address the issue when Newsweek interviewed him for […]
Posted inOpinion
common sense 1-27-05
At President George W. Bush’s recent “National Economic Conference,” an entire session was devoted to bashing trial lawyers — and what a rollicking good time it was! A panel of corporate interests wowed the handpicked audience of Bush partisans with jabs at the lawyers who try to hold wrongdoing corporations accountable. Bush nodded and chuckled […]
