Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. WHERE IS THE SACRED HONOR? It is time to reflect on the Declaration of Independence, which was motivated by the despotic…
IT Picks
Untitled Document Happy birthday! Light up a sparkler and help celebrate America’s birthday at Springfield Jaycees’ annual patriotic party, the Capital City Celebration. At the two-day shindig you can partake of such popular events as the Little Wagon Parade, an ice-cream social hosted by Secretary State Jesse White, and a bicycle rodeo, plus an entertainment…
A Beatles celebration
Untitled Document Yeah, yeah, yeah — it’s like nowhere, man, trying to get the word out across the universe that yesterday I’d needed some help! But, hey Jude, from me to you, I just want to drive my car and get back to where tomorrow never knows. Now that could be here, there, and everywhere,…
Hoping for a U-turn
Untitled Document Trevor Halfacre, who has severe scoliosis and a muscle condition known as arthrogryposis, uses a motorized wheelchair and has a personal assistant who shuttles him back and forth between his home and his job with the traffic-safety division of the Illinois Department of Transportation, just off South Dirksen Parkway. Even if he wanted…
Pipe scheme
Should a $10 billion Canadian oil and gas delivery company get the right to take a private nature preserve from a retired Illinois railroad conductor? Larry Jones, an administrative law judge with the Illinois Commerce Commission, is set to begin hearings in Springfield on July 8 to settle that question. Carlisle Kelly’s nature preserve isn’t…
Same song, second verse
Untitled Document For the second time in three years, the volunteer vocalists of the Illinois Symphony Chorus have lost their leader to an unhappy departure. Richard Robert Rossi, who joined the ISO in August 2005, shortly after the board terminated the employment of previous chorus conductor Marion van der Loo, surprised ISO executives by tendering…
Hancock soars then stumbles
Untitled Document Will Smith is obviously having great fun as John Hancock, a superhero who causes as much destruction on the streets of Los Angeles as he does good. An alcoholic with superpowers is a bad combination, and when Hancock’s latest escapade racks up $9 million in damage, citizens throughout the City of Angels have…
On the beach
Nearly 35 years ago, a young Frank Edwards stood watch over Springfield Beach. As one of the summertime spot’s lifeguards, he surveyed activity in the pool — an enclosed area about the size of two city blocks — and scrutinized action on the high dive and slides. He watched hungry beach-goers flock to the…
Barbecue ribs
Untitled Document Do you have any suggestions for making barbecued ribs? Every time I’ve tried, they end up tough, dry, or both. — Ted It’s all too easy to end up with dry, tough ribs. A couple of cooking principles, however, can make the difference between succulent, mouthwatering ribs and ones that are so chewy,…
Right-wing wardrobe silliness
Untitled Document Those goofy right-wing wardrobe police are at it again, getting goofier by the day. First came the flag-pin flap. The wardrobe cops insist that no politician should go out in public without sporting this mandatory piece of bejeweled patriotism. When U.S. Sen. Barack Obama had the integrity to say that his patriotism goes…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document farmerletter #3 (to Jackie from her father, 1948) july 4 we finally got rain about ten days ago good enough to start some of the corn that hadn’t sprouted some fields are good many only about two thirds of a stand nothing a complete failure although it makes me sick to think…
A blank check for war
Untitled Document President George W. Bush, who has never chosen to take responsibility for addressing the mess he created in Iraq, has now been given permission by Congress to finish his presidency without doing so. After the U.S. House voted 268-155 to provide $162 billion in additional “emergency” funding for the Iraq war on June…
Same song, second verse
For the second time in three years, the volunteer vocalists of the Illinois Symphony Chorus have lost their leader to an unhappy departure. Richard Robert Rossi, who joined the ISO in August 2005, shortly after the board terminated the employment of previous chorus conductor Marion van der Loo, surprised ISO executives by tendering his resignation…
Why mow electric
Untitled Document What’s available now in lawnmowers that’s easier on the environment — and runs on something more than human power? Traditional gas-powered lawnmowers are a public nuisance, to say the least. Using one of them for an hour generates as many volatile organic compounds — dangerous airborne pollutants known to exacerbate human respiratory and…
Celebrate the red, white, and blue
Untitled Document You can pretty much count on at least one version showing up in at least one cooking periodical every July: a white dessert decorated with blueberries and red raspberries, strawberries, or both. It’s not hard to figure out why. Blueberries are one of the few ways to have blue food that doesn’t involve…
What to cut
Untitled Document There are several important things to keep in mind when discussing the governor’s proposed budget cuts. The governor threatened to slash $1.5 billion from the state budget unless the House comes back to Springfield and passes some revenue-generating bills and the capital construction budget, all of which were approved by the Senate in…
Don’t just blame the uninsured
Untitled Document Retired coal miner Paul Perrine says he can’t get health insurance. Perrine, 52, who worked in the mines for 30 years and has hurt his back on several occasions, was recently turned down, he says, because of those old injuries. “Everything is a preexisting condition,” he says. Perrine belongs to the Champaign-based Campaign for…
Jacked
Jack Bishop, the former executive director of the Phoenix Center who left the AIDS service organization under a cloud of controversy, has again been accused of financial mismanagement. The Internal Revenue Service has notified Phoenix board members that Bishop failed to pay payroll taxes, and last month each board member was sent a bill for…
Cool beans!
Untitled Document The tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and green beans in my vegetable garden are in bloom, and I’m excited. It won’t be long before my family’s meals will consist primarily of garden-fresh produce. In recent weeks my children have enjoyed eating sugar snap peas fresh from the plant. Soon they will be just as excited…
The Bush farewell tour
Untitled Document Will Durst makes his living skewering politicians and showcasing the folly and hypocrisy that are rife in party politics. He does so prolifically through a wide variety of outlets: online, on the radio and television, in print, and in front of live audiences. Durst’s driving passion is not to further the agenda of…
