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.
PIZZA WITH TOPICAL TOPPINGS After reading the praise heaped upon the Lake Pointe
Grill, I just had to go there [see Julianne Glatz, “Burning
wood,” May 1]! Wow! I had not realized until my visit there just how
upscale it is! Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I hadn’t brought the clipping with me, instead
trusting my aging, pitiful memory to find the place. But for whatever
reason, perhaps the absence of a lake or a lake point anywhere within
shouting distance, the name just wouldn’t click. I searched Toronto
Road: No, I don’t think it was Antonio’s. Why couldn’t
the name be something obvious like Hot Wood Stove Pizza Place? Then I
remembered the address and found it. It was so busy! Cars were circling the lot like
sharks at a tuna fest, and we all ended up parking along the curb, no
legitimate places to be had. I checked out the bar upon entering and
couldn’t believe it was shoulder-to-shoulder on a Thursday evening.
After placing my to-go order, I returned to the bar to wait and actually
saw a vacant barstool partially hidden from view by a group of women. As I sat, my attention pingponging between the twin
TVs — basketball to my right, soccer to my left — a fellow came
up to my right shoulder so near that I thought maybe it was his seat I had
taken, still not believing my luck. But he just wanted to scream his order
at the bartender, then proceeded to loudly greet the fellow to my right.
They started discussing politics in a way that revealed at least one of
them to be from the Legislature. I wish I had a name I could drop. I could not believe
that guys in a bar would talk loudly and proudly, displaying their
affiliation with a Legislature that is cleaning the clocks of every
Illinois citizen, striking down the recall legislation (where’s a real Democrat when you
need one?), voting themselves pay raises (have they no sense, no shame, no
sense of shame?), and holding us hostage with special sessions while our
infrastructure collapses around us. Why wasn’t this guy somewhere
else, perhaps in church praying for divine guidance or out mending a road
or two? I cannot believe that it is within their power
to vote themselves a pay raise so they can whoop it up at a place I
can’t afford to go to but every other year. OK, I exaggerate. But, as
a worker, I sure as heck can’t grant my own pay raise! Not meaning to be too ugly about this, but, watching
Bush in office, it’s impossible for me to believe that anyone would
ever again have the gall to claim he or she was a Republican. But after
seeing the Democrats in action in Illinois, how on the blessed, black,
fertile earth of this state can anyone be proud to be a Democrat? That guy
at the bar needed to be home figuring out how to do more with less, just
like the rest of us now that they’re near sunk this state with their
version of the audacity of hype. As we have now learned, the recall initiative did not
pass. Not only did it not, but the governor is now punishing anyone who
voted for it and rewarding anyone who voted against. Why don’t we
just change the name of this state to Rodcockystan? And gee, maybe it’s up to the people to draft
legislation referring a recall initiative to a vote of the people, by the
people, and for the people lest we perish from this earth, sunk by the
decrepitude of endless legislative boondoggles and gubernatorial power
plays. Thanks for letting me rant. Oh yeah, the pizza was great! Pricey, but great. Chris Gilbert
Springfield
HAS MEDICINE REALLY ADVANCED? I thought the article on Civil War medical practices
[Tara McAndrew, “Cutting-edge,” May 13] was humorous, in a
strange sort of way. “Civil War medicine is notorious for being
gruesome.” Wow, we sure have advanced a long way since then. Or have
we? Back then they treated diarrhea with calomel, which
contained the toxic element mercury. How barbaric! Today we put mercury in
flu shots and highly encourage young children and the elderly to take them.
Some required childhood vaccinations and most dental fillings contain
mercury. Progress? Today we sometimes treat cancer with radiation.
Radiation causes cancer. Today we sometimes treat cancer with chemotherapy,
a known poison derived from World War II nerve gas. People’s hair
fall out and they feel worse. Today we sometimes treat problems by
surgically removing the damaged body part. Something like “Well,
we’re not really sure how to heal this part of you, so we’ll
just remove it. You didn’t really need that part anyway.”
Progress? It is ironic that we think we have advanced so far in
150 years, yet some of our medical practices are still a little barbaric. Bill Wellington Springfield
DEMAND FOR OIL OUTSTRIPS SUPPLY For those who still think that peak oil is just a
theory, the day of reckoning has come. The New
York Times recently reported that rising oil
prices have failed to bolster output. Why is that? It is because, as
Matthew Simmons and, more recently, T. Boone Pickens (both oilmen) have
said: Peak oil is here, and demand is outstripping supply. Yes, speculators
are also driving up the price in the oil markets, but that is possibly
because of the perception, at least, that peak oil is here or coming soon. Why has our head been literally in the sand for so
long — the sands of Saudi Arabia, to be exact — where we have
trusted that the supply of oil will just keep coming? Well, that is no
longer a sure thing. Simmons, for one, suspects that the Saudis are
overestimating their reserves. It is also the case that their exports to
the U.S. have declined since 2002, while their exports to China have
increased. The warning is coming from none other than the
International Energy Agency that “current investment will be
insufficient to replace declining oil production.” A crisis (that is,
an abrupt rise in oil prices) could come as soon as 2012 to 2015. Think:
apocalypse. Beni Kitching Springfield
MAKE ’08 THE YEAR OF THE BIKE Although it is nice that May is National Bike Month,
and we had one whole day devoted to promoting bicycling to work, why not
declare the rest of 2008 as National Bike Year? Yes, it is almost June, with only about seven months
left in the year, but just think of all the money the public could save,
even if we just stopped driving 25 to 50 percent of the time. For those who
are interested, high-quality rain suits cost only about $20 (or about 4.5
gallons of gas) at Big R, on North Dirksen Parkway, and these suits work
very well. As for what type of bike to use, let your riding
habits decide this question. If you just ride around the block, then Kmart
and Wal-Mart bikes are fine and will only cost as much as 1.5 fill-ups at a
gas station. If you want a bike for grocery shopping, running errands,
or paying bills, a good bicycle shop, such as R&M Cyclery, 832 W.
Washington St., would be my own choice. Ask yourself this question: Even if we replaced only
one-third of the private cars, trucks, and vans on the road today with
bikes, how much money could the public save, just over the next six months?
Why not give it a try? All we have to lose is excess
pounds, stress, and the annoyance of finding parking spaces. Norman Hinderliter Springfield
THE COST OF LIVING In case you missed it: Gas is more than $4 a gallon,
food prices are skyrocketing, CWLP electric just increased rates to build,
CWLP water wants a rate increase to rebuild, the sewer district just
increased rates to rebuild, District 186 wants $261 million to build and
rebuild, Ameren electric wants an 8 percent increase, Comcast just
increased rates — and ethanol is a boondoggle. The shell game that politicians are running has
diverted our attention from the real issues facing America today, such as
health care, Social Security, a crumbling infrastructure, and education
problems. Throw the bums out. Greg Kruger Springfield
This article appears in May 22-28, 2008.
