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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.
LET’S IMPEACH BLAGOJEVICH After reading several letters arguing for the
impeachment of President George W. Bush, I think it’s time we started
considering that course of action here in our own Illinois-state back yard.
This budget crisis is shameless, and I think we need
to send a message loud and clear to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He’s
putting the livelihoods of about 4,900 state employees on the line, all for
the sake of political posturing. That information has been presented to
him, but does he care? No. He says they can get no-interest loans to tide
them over. Excuse me? If you were working for an employer and that employer
said, “I’m sorry, but we can’t pay you, so here’s
where you can get a loan,” would you stand for that? To me,
“Let them get loans” is about as inflammatory as “Let
them eat cake.” The governor says, “They can pass a 30-day
budget and spare the drama.”We’re talking temporary budgets in August?
This standoff has been record-breaking in terms of
length and cost. Blame for this has been thrown back and forth between the
governor and the lawmakers, but I don’t care. To me, if one signature
is holding this process up, I’m looking at the guy who’s
holding the pen. The governor’s been playing with our money long
enough. Time to cancel that next hair appointment and go to work.
I thought it remarkable that he won the last election
with 49 percent of the popular vote. It’s time for the other 51
percent to speak out. Our state is one of the few (if not only) states in
the Union who doesn’t have a process to recall their governor (much
like California did a few years ago), so our only course is impeachment on
the grounds of irresponsibility and mismanagement of state resources and
funds. Even if the budget crisis is averted by the time this goes to press,
we need to stop this. This is really a situation where “four more
years” could prove disastrous. Impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Steve
Marley
Springfield
TOBACCO TAX UNREASONABLY HIGH There is a new minority that includes all races,
nationalities, and genders. It is estimated that 20 percent of the
population uses tobacco. Tobacco users are truly discriminated against.
They have recently been banned from enjoying their vice in bars,
restaurants, and other public places. Now a new tax proposal essentially
doubles the cigarette tax to $1.83 per pack on cigarettes.
Tobacco taxes have been allocated for long-term
health care for years. I guess this substantiated the original tax to help
offset health-care expenses. These monies have not only supported tobacco
users in ill health but “all” long-term health patients. The new additional increased tax will go to other
programs besides long-term health care. It is time all taxpayers also start
supporting these programs! The fact is, nonsmokers will not (and have not)
not been taxed their fair share! The governor and Illinois legislators should revise
this tax proposal. Everyone should pay a 50-cent-per-day tax instead of
imposing $1.83 per day on a minority! Everyone pays instead of a minority
trying to support everyone else. Just think of the additional revenues the
politicians could spend on additional programs if everyone paid the same! Why are politicians supporting this truly unfair tax?
Oh yes, tobacco users are only a minority of the voting population. There
are not enough votes to have real influence in the political arena.
One thing that politicians do understand and desire
is tax revenues. If the proposed tax is imposed, the total taxed amount
(per carton) pays for a tank of gas to drive to another state for tobacco.
Maybe a modern-day Boston Tea Party — boycotting Illinois tobacco
products — would get their attention, since revenues will be lost!
Jeff Davis Dawson
SAVE A TREE, USE DOLLARCOINS I recently visited a food establishment. I tried to
pay with the new John Adams gold dollars. The lady said that she did not
like those coins as customers never want them in change. They did not even
like them as tips.
Here is why they are good for the economy. Check out
a dollar from your wallet. What date is on it — 1986, 1991, or 2004?
If they were not collectible, hard dollars from 1886 would still be usable.
The bills wear out and have to be replaced, whereas the coins last much
longer. In Canada they have $1 and $2 coins only — no bills for those
amounts. In Europe they have coins for the low euro amounts. Much of the
world manages to use coins for low denominations. In New York City, if you
put cash in to get a subway card you get hard dollars as change. Replacing
bills cost money that comes from taxes — money that could go to other
things. Are we that spoiled? Here is what you can do: Ask for a roll of coin
dollars at the bank, then spend them for small purchases, give them as
tips, put them in charity boxes, and donate them at church. This is something that costs you nothing to help the
environment.
Patrick Johnopolos Springfield
ADDS VALUE TO FILM EXPERIENCE I just read the Aug. 2 letter about Marc
Sigoloff’s movie column leaving. Is this true? I hope not. Sigoloff
gives us consumers (trying to appeal to your business sense) true insight,
movie history, and a definitive opinion and saves the standard
“storytelling review” to the mainstream. New releases are all
thumbs-upped or downed or star-rated; can’t we please have something
to read that adds value to our film-going experience without telling us the
whole plot?
Ned Hallowell
Essex
Junction, Vt.
WHERE IS MY GOOD OL’ GOP? The Republican Party today looks nothing like the
party of Ronald Reagan. Sean Hannity says he’s pro-life, pro-gun, and
anti-gay marriage, and yet he keeps speaking up for Rudy Giuliani, who is
pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, and for gun control. How more two-faced can you get, Hannity? If Hillary
Clinton runs with Barack Obama, it will be a landslide. Then Hannity will
have another Clinton to talk about for another eight years. The Republican Party lost the city, the state, and
Congress — and, soon, the White House.
Danny Faulkner Springfield
FIRST AFTER-HOURS GREEN SALON Next Tuesday, Aug. 14, Sustainable Springfield Inc.
will host its first-ever “After Hours Green Salon” at Bernie
& Betty’s Pizza, 1101 S. Spring St., at 5:30 p.m. This event will
be held bimonthly and is intended to be a social as well as an educational
event that will be held in conjunction with meetings at the Prairie Heart
Institute’s Dove Center on alternate months.
This salon will feature Bob Croteau of the CWLP
Energy Services Office, who will present a program about alternative energy
resources. Croteau has considerable experience with the production of
electrical energy for residential use utilizing solar photovoltaic panels.
Sustainable Springfield Inc. is a new
environmental-advocacy organization recently incorporated as an Illinois
not-for-profit corporation. For more information, visit the group’s
Web site at www.sustainablespringfield.org.
Jim Johnston Springfield
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATION Our story telling readers how they can use the
Environmental Working Group’s online database on federal farm
subsidies drew a protest from Barry Locher, editor of the State Journal-Register. Locher
says that we accused his newspaper of relying on, but not crediting, the
EWG as a source of information for its recent two-part series on farm
subsidies. In its reports, the SJ-R said that it relied on “federal databases,”
“federal records,” and “government databases.” Our
story [“True grit,” Aug. 2] said that the information the SJ-R used
“matched” the EWG’s, which, for some readers, implied
that this was its source. We regret the implication. Our story also said
that the SJ-R did
not respond to e-mails from our reporter asking which government databases
it relied on for its stories. Those e-mails from Illinois Times did not say that
we were seeking comment for publication, nor did they correctly identify
the intent of the query. We regret this journalistic lapse. Also last week, we combined a photo of a nun (not a
Dominican) with a photo of the Doe Run Peru lead smelter in La Oroya to
illustrate our cover story, “Sisters to the rescue.” We
neglected to tell readers that it was a photo illustration. We regret the
omission.
This article appears in Aug 2-8, 2007.
