Op/Ed

Eight years ago, I woke up to the sound of some radio station DJ nervously taking about some plane crash out in Pennsylvania and how it wasn’t the only one that morning. Sad, but not big enough of a news item to get me to bolt out out of bed. I did eventually crawl...
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Feel free to comment on anything. Possible topics: Today’s Word on the Street, which speculates that Brent Lonteen is on the way out as the head of the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Reactions to Aaron Schock’s appearance on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” I cannot believe they asked a guy who was born in the 1980s...
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I came across these statistics and found them disturbing: According to Public Policy Polling (PPP), a North Carolina polling firm, only 24% of self-identified Republican voters in the state believe Barack Obama was born in the United States. 47% do not believe that Obama is American born, and 29% of Republicans aren’t sure. One part...
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There’s word for the president of the union that represents CityLink bus drivers that Northwoods Mall management is trying to severely restrict the number of buses allowed on the lot. Simon Properties didn’t comment on the news, so details are sketchy. But it smells suspiciously similar to what the owners of the Shoppes at Grand...
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The Peoria Police Vice Unit has not updated their pictures of prostitutes and johns since January. According to the PPD Vice site: All photos and information will automatically be removed 1 year from the date of arrest. This section will be updated on an as needed basis for as long as this information...
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Today was my day off, and the weather was sorta nice, so I made the trek downhill to have some pushcart fare for lunch. I managed to catch the tail end of the day’s “Arts in Education”  presentation at the Peoria County Courthouse plaza. I got to hear a gaggle of sixs and seven-year-olds students...
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Telephone courtesy is very important to me. I spend a lot of time on the phone at work — always have — and poor phone manners infuriate me. Today, I was assaulted my several people who simply never learned that: 1. It’s rude in general to have a conversation with someone in the room with you...
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You really do need to control your weapon. And this young lady found the 50 Desert Eagle a bit more than she can control.
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Peorians LOVE to debate crime. We debate what causes it. We debate how bad it is. We debate whether or not it’s worse of better than it was back in the good old days. We debate how to lower the crime rate. Perhaps our neighbors to the north — Michigan — have a solution that...
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CUTLINE: Anna Maxwell, 11, left, and Katie Ichikawa, 16, of Santa Cruz, run out of a sauna room through the snow to make the best of the winter storm pounding the Sierra Nevada mountains at Sorenson’s Resort in Hope Valley, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008. The system of storms is expected to impact...
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If the War on Drugs was succeeding, wouldn’t the price be driven up by the shortage? Not in the Houston area, and not when it comes to marijuana. A car, a home, a gallon of milk — most everything costs more now than a generation ago. Except a baggie of Mexican marijuana. Give or take a...
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Via The Associated Press: WASHINGTON – Honest Abe will become Colorful Abe with splashes of purple and gray livening up the $5 bill. The government showed off the new bill Thursday in an Internet news conference — a high-tech unveiling that officials say is entirely appropriate for a 21st century redesign of the bill featuring...
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“All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.” – H.L. Mencken
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“Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s ‘St. Matthew’s Passion’ on a ukulele.” – Ben Bagdikian, media critic and journalist.
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I can write a thousand words of wisdom on important local, state, international and even world topics. But when the Peoria Journal Star decides to quote me in “Web Words” (Section C, Page 1, today’s issue), it’s this single sentence: “Two new locations for sucky food and mediocre service …” Essentially, this is the...
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