Second Thoughts

 The State Journal-Register today offers a useful retrospective on the evolution of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site by Tara McClellan McAndrew. (“Protecting Lincoln’s legacy in his neighborhood has evolved with the times.”)   More might be said on that subject – indeed more has been said. In “A new old street”  which appeared in […]

I am obliged to Steve Benen for pointing out the results of the newest Washington Post/ABC News poll. While Hillary Clinton has only a  modest advantage over Donald Trump — 46% to 43% — Clinton has a 26-point advantage among college graduates, while Americans who do not have a degree prefer Trump by nine points.  

Reuters confirms what began to look inevitable some years go: According to official data from both states, Houston’s growing population is expected to exceed that of Chicago within 8 to 10 years, making the Texas city that nation’s third largest after New York and Los Angeles.  Houston is projected to have a population of 2.54 […]

 This caught my eye the other day. ““The conspirators against our liberties who have been admitted from abroad through the liberality of our institutions, are now organized in every part of the country.” Another well-known author on the same topic, I learned, believed that these conspirators religious doctrines demanded compliance, with the result that they […]

 I am on a Bruce Rauner fast, during which I have foresworn insulting our new governor. So I will instead refer you to Guardian columnist Jeb Lund’s recent appreciation of Mr. Rauner’s role model, “When you’re as bad at campaigns as Scott Walker, you should just give up.” Referring to the Wisconsinan’s faltering Presidential campaign, […]

 As I noted in my previous post – yes, this is a blog, not a column, in spite of what our menu says – I considered the demise of the American diner in my column to be published on September 10. Springfield might have lost most of its diners and coffee shops, but they are […]

 This week I take up the subject of the demise of the American diner. There are lots of reasons why this is happening, which I didn’t have space to examine in my column. In the big cities the problem is rents. from big-city rents — Chicago’s fondly remembered Cambridge Inn at Ohio and St. Clair […]

 Downtown parking was in the news for about five minutes the other day, as it usually is this time of year when the annual Central Area Parking Survey is released by the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission. As has been the case for the past several years, the survey found that greater downtown boasts 27,489 […]

I have occasionally used my space in this paper to remark on the dearth of the scenic in most of central Illinois. In “Living in three dimensions” I observed in a helpful tone that whatever good the glaciers did for the central Illinois farmer, “they did no favors at all for the central Illinois sightseer. […]

 In “The needle and the records won“ I tried to make a case that doping in sports in inevitable and unavoidable, and that only cure is, in effect, to make it legal.   We don’t have rules in politics or business or war in this country, why be squeamish about playing our games that way? […]

 No loyal son or daughter of Illinois can ignore this pleas from Tara Winter, the Director of Development for the Illinois State Historical Society. The Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) was founded in 1899.  Our mission is to foster awareness, understanding, research, preservation, and recognition of history in Illinois. In order to meet our mission and provide services in our communities, […]

Words are to a writer what nails are to carpenter or lies to a diplomat. To do your job well you must choose just the right one for the job. I was chagrined today to learn, some 60 years late, that the standard plural of “octopus” is not “octopi,” as I always assumed. The Oxford […]