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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.
GLAD FOR THE DISCUSSION I thoroughly enjoyed the article “Alone in a
crowd” by R.L. Nave [Jan. 4]. Not only did it give a voice to young
African-Americans who live in Springfield, but it also gave a voice to
those who are from Springfield and relocated to find a better life. I am
originally from Springfield, but nine years ago I relocated to Atlanta in
search of something better, something that I could not find in Springfield
and unfortunately (nine years later) still cannot be found. This article
definitely hit home for me. It is good know that the future of race
relations in Springfield is being discussed and solutions to some of the
problems are being made. I feel that this article and others like it will catch
the attention of Springfield residents and help force a change. My family
still resides in Springfield, and they echo my sentiments concerning this
article. Staci Baldwin FAA Special Agent ATL Hazardous Materials Division Atlanta
SAY NO TO BUS RADIO
I
join Jim Hightower in objecting to the idea of piping radio commercials
into school buses [“Busing ads to school kids,” Jan.
4]. Not only do our kids not need to be captive audiences to Madison
Avenue, but what about the kids who might want to do homework, read, or
just talk to their friends while riding? The noise of the radio would be an
unwelcome distraction, even the noncommercial portion of the broadcast. At least when reading a magazine, watching television,
or listening to regular radio one can always turn the page or switch the
station to avoid any unwanted portions, including commercials, but when
cooped up on a bus one has no alternative but to listen. Of course this captive audience is what the promoters
of this idea can’t wait to exploit. I suppose their next move will be
to try to do the same thing in school lunchrooms and cafeterias! Our school
administrators need to say no, loud and clear, to any attempt to push
forward this idea.
Dick McLane Springfield
TREMENDOUS COST, FOR WHAT?
Since the days of the late Ronald Reagan, I have heard politicians
insisting, year after year, that America must have a balanced budget in
order to survive for future generations. To achieve this goal, the
politicians, from Reagan to George W. Bush, have insisted that domestic
social programs must be cut, or eliminated, in order to reduce federal
spending and force Washington to live within its own budget. While insisting on domestic social-spending cuts to
balance the budget, it is historically proven that the late Mr. Reagan
spent an average of $34 million per hour on procurement of military
supplies. In the new century, the politicians still say that
domestic spending, on programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and so
on, must be severely cut or abolished completely to “balance the
budget” and save America from financial “ruin.” While Mr.
Bush stomps the trail for domestic-spending cuts, he is pumping up the
national deficit to record levels by selling up to $2 billion, every day,
since 2003, just to sustain the invasion of Iraq. Not only this, but it is easily proven that the
nations that are buying this new national debt are the very nations Mr.
Bush claims are the “axis of evil.” Why is Mr. Bush selling
this nation’s future to these allegedly evil nations? If winning the war on terror is so important, why
aren’t Mr. Bush’s daughters and Dick Cheney’s children
serving in front-line combat units in Iraq? Why are the children of the
ghetto the ones being pumped into Iraq? How should Americans explain the invasion when, on its
50th anniversary, America is still pumping troops into Iraq, long after the original
reason has been forgotten? So many questions and such tremendous cost — and
for what? Besides the O-I-L, why are we even in Iraq? If Osama bin Laden allegedly planned 9/11, with
the deaths of almost 3,000 people, then how will America be viewed when the
death toll of U.S. combat soldiers has passed the 4,000 mark? And what
about the Iraqi civilians? How many of them will die before this is over
with? On the basis of body count alone, who has killed more people since
2000? Sad questions, don’t you think?
Norman Hinderliter
Springfield
PELOSI SHOULD CHANGE HER POSITION I was not surprised at the vitriol expressed by your
reader Kevin Johnson of Chatham as he wrote about the insanity and hatred
of those he describes as “the left” [“Letters,”
Dec. 28]. He claims to be bored by all the “frothing liberals”
who keep blabbering about impeaching President George W. Bush. I’m
not surprised, because those folks to whom the blogs refer as
“wingnuts” are inundated with the “truth” as
offered by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly,
totally closed to even hearing diverging opinions. He further suggests that there are no real grounds for
impeachment because, according to him, if there were, the Democrats would
have already proceeded with such action. Wrong! Mr. Johnson certainly has the right to voice his
opinion, but he might first look around himself to determine who, along
with him, is quite so supportive of this miserably failed president. He is
one of a decided minority regarding his view of Mr. Bush. If the election
of this past November didn’t make that fact clear, how, then, would
he explain that fewer than 30 percent of Americans, according to all polls
I’ve seen, are in agreement with Bush in his handling of his job as
guardian of our republic and, when it comes to support for this ill-advised
and incredibly stupid and destructive war in Iraq, there are now fewer than
12 percent of Americans on board with Bush? There are numerous reasons to impeach this fool, among
them making the point to future emperor wannabes that America has survived
very nicely through many wars and other perils without tearing apart a
constitution that has served us admirably and was the envy of millions
around the world until this particular group of neoconservatives grabbed
power. There are more than enough reasons to hold this gang of fools
accountable. Ed Lazarus Springfield
WE AGREE ON ONE POINT Kevin Johnson, in stating that “Republicans
don’t rally around lawbreakers (Tom Delay),” to substantiate
why Bush has not been impeached by the Republicans, is like saying,
“My brother would never break the law.” Not exactly a
fact-based argument. Bush did violate international law and we are, in reality, billions
of dollars of debt due to tax cuts. But Johnson is right: We can’t
factually prove our entire country has been “raped of its
dignity.” It’s not something you can put in numbers. Perhaps we
can take a poll.
Anne Logue Springfield
RELEASE THE SUBPOENAS, GOVERNOR You work for me, Governor. You are my employee. How dare you thumb your nose at me and tell me I
do not have a right to know what you are doing with my government and my money [see Rich Miller,
“On the same page,” Jan. 11]. Release the subpoenas! The people
have a right to know what their employees are doing on the job with their
money. We should not have to file Freedom of Information Act requests; we
should not have to go to court; we should not have to demand from our
employees what should be given to us without question and without delay.
When you accepted your position and took your oath of office, you became
accountable to the taxpaying citizens of this state. I am a taxpaying citizen of this state, and I demand
to see all of the subpoenas without delay, without question, without
exceptions, and without excuses. This is a reasonable and justifiable
request from a taxpaying citizen to which you are accountable. Denying this
request is to deny any reasonable justifiable request from any citizen to
which you are accountable. We have sent citizens of this state to war to
oust leaders who thought they were not accountable to the citizens they
serve. Release the subpoenas or resign. You want to show me your integrity?
You want to show me your honesty? You want to show me your testicular
virility? Then show me the subpoenas or show me your resignation. I’m Joshua Nicholas Hue, and I am a very [angry]
taxpayer. Joshua Hue Springfield
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2007.
