Except for this link to a story about essay contest winners, there’s real news posted on the Journal Star Website. So, I’m gonna take this as a sign I’m not supposed to blog today.
Except for this: There is no way in Hell that the City of Peoria is going to violate federal law and rip [...]

Today’s news links via the Journal Star, unless noted:

One of the biggest lessons one learns from school is how to deal with the arbitrary application of power. They kicked kicked her of school because she broke a vaguely defined rule whole value to the educational process cannot be explained. That so many people are fine [...]

From the inbox:
Republican John Morris, candidate for the 18th District Congressional seat, filed his petitions today to place his name on the ballot to succeed retiring Congressman Ray LaHood. “This is one of the first steps in taking our conservative message to Congress” Morris said. “I am running to represent our conservative values of lower [...]

Meryl Yourish has a few words for the president of Lebanon and the people of Lebanon:
All those of you who danced last year, waving cedar tree flags around… the so-called democracy hotties salivated over by the Blogosphere and the press… where are you now? Has your facepaint faded along with your spirit, or has it [...]

For months, I’ve been been in a slow burn about Peoria media giving U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood a free ride on the issue of lobbyist-paid travel. They’ve let LaHood dodge the issue by focusing only on a trip paid for by the Aspen Group, which doesn’t lobby Congress.
None of then have demanded LaHood explain a [...]

Talk about rooting for the home team:
Peorian Ray LaHood should seek the U.S. House of Representative’s No. 3 Republican leadership post - majority whip. If ever there was a time when Congress needed to be more unified, it is now. And LaHood has had a reputation for reaching out within his own party and across [...]

Pay very close attention, Polly Peoria and Willy Nilly: It’s now annoy anyone anonymously over the Internet:

Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called “Preventing Cyberstalking.” It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet “without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy.”
To grease [...]

The only thing that surprised me about this article on the GOP dumping DeLay as majority leader was how the news agency described Peoria’s very own “Congressman Ray.”
“I would not support him for majority leader,” Rep. Ray LaHood told Reuters in a telephone interview from his central Illinois district.
LaHood, a conservative Republican with close ties [...]

Yeah, that was me calling in to the Markley and Luciano Show on WMBD 1470 suggesting “March of the Elephants” as their “theme song” for Ray LaHood.
I intended to remain anonymous, although I did manage to get in a dig at Marley and Luciano for the softball questions they are tossing at Lahood, Mayor Jim [...]

Bernard Schoenburg’s column in the State Journal Register includes an interview with U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood. He predicts a primary victory for Judy Baar Topinka and Joe Birkett, despite a massive smear campaign by conservatives. But it’s this passage about LaHood’s son that I found most interesting:
SAM LaHOOD, who turns 31 on Wednesday, has a [...]

U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood spoke to Dave Dahl about his son Darin’s bid to become the new U.S. attorney for Central Illinois“
Says Congressman/Dad La Hood: “I’m not really going to be involved in that process, for obvious reasons, but I think his background and his eight years of experience in prosecuting cases obviously means he’s [...]

I do not count as pork the new $9.6 million
training center for the 182nd Air Guard in Bartonville. A strong military is certainly a legitimate uses of federal tax dollars:
The money will be used to construct a 37,700-square-foot building that would house administrative offices, operations, communications training and equipment maintenance, said Rep. Ray LaHood, [...]

I’ve criticized the Journal Star and Peoria news media for not getting LaHood’s position on whether retiring state senator Rick Winkel should be named the new U.S. Attorney for Central Illinois.
Today,
the JS’s Molly Parker delved into the issue and found that Darin LaHood the congressman’s son — is returning to Peoria and has tossed his [...]

In addition to voting to deny private citizens the right to discuss politics on the Internet, Peoria’s Congressman, Ray LaHood, is hard at work screwing over Katrina Victims by diverting precious funds for local pork:
Rep. LaHood has teamed up with other lawmakers to procure farm assistance money for Midwestern states, claiming that farmers should be [...]

Congressman Ray LaHood voted to let the government fine bloggers who engage in political reporting. The Chinese government shuts down a blog that does the same thing:
Chinese authorities have blocked a pro-democracy Web log after it was nominated for a freedom of expression award by a German radio station, a press freedom group said Thursday.
The [...]