Take a look at this interview of Sen. Burris by State Journal-Register reporter Bernard Schoenburg, and see if his protestation that he didn’t lie under oath reminds you of former President Clinton making a distinction in the definition of “is.”
Category Archives: General News
Attention Tea Party participants: Change happens at ballot box
From the Journal Star:
A crowd estimated at more than 500 gathered outside the Peoria County Courthouse during the noon hour Wednesday to protest what they believe to be out-of-control government spending during a tax day “TEA (taxed enough already) party,” designed to echo the rebellion of the Boston Tea Party.
I don’t disagree with these wandering fiscal conservatives in principle. And I certainly don’t deny their freedom to assemble and petition the government in this way. But there’s a big difference between the colonists in Boston and the American population today. The colonists couldn’t vote. They were taxed without representation. We, on the other hand, can vote, but most of us don’t. Not only do our representatives raise our taxes, we raise our own taxes when given the ability to decide directly.
Consider this little pie chart I whipped up based on the last election:
It doesn’t look like many people (in Peoria, anyway) are interested in reining in “out-of-control government spending,” does it? And if anyone feels taxed without representation, there’s a greater than 75% chance it’s their own fault.
The TEA Party participants would see greater results if they could just convince more people to participate at the ballot box rather than downtown marches.
Easter marred by racist literature
While my parents were attending church in Peoria on Easter, someone was putting racist literature on cars in the parking lot. The 5.5″ x 8.5″ multi-page paper booklets expressed opposition to interracial marriage and gave a number of Bible passages taken out of context to support this view. White supremacy was assumed throughout the booklet, which indicates it was published by an out-of-state organization.
Sickening.
Berean Bookstore closing its doors for good
A local Christian bookstore that has been serving Peoria for over 60 years has announced it will be closing its doors for good. Berean Bookstore in Evergreen Square next to Office Depot and Kroger sent this letter to those on their mailing list last week. It says, in part:
Dear Loyal Customer and Friend,
A HUGE STORE CLOSING SALE will begin immediately to LIQUIDATE EVERY SINGLE ITEM of merchandise in our store to include all Bibles, Books, Church Supplies, Children’s Books & Toys, Spanish Products, All Music, Gifts, Home Decor, Framed Art, Audio & Video, Greeting Cards, Educational Supplies, Demdaco Figurines, Candles, Seasonal Lines, T-Shirts and much more.
We are CLOSING OUR DOORS FOREVER. All of our merchandise, selected store fixtures, furniture, and equipment must be sold . . . .
After 63 years of serving the community this [invitation-only] sale is initiated only after careful consideration. It is our way of thanking you for your business and friendship while at the same time accomplishing our goals.
I remember when Berean was on Knoxville just south of McClure. The place was packed with product — records, tapes, bibles, books, curriculum, and sheet music. There wasn’t very much tacky Christian gift product back then. Since then, Berean has moved to Sheridan Village, and then to its current location in Evergreen Square. And with each successive move, their stock of books and music got smaller, and their selection of tacky Christian gift product got bigger.
You see, gift product has a big markup, whereas books and music don’t. So in order to stay profitable, the “bookstore” became more of a “gift store.” I would have thought they had it made after most other Christian bookstores in the area closed (All That Matters in the Metro Centre, Hidden Treasure in Washington, JC’s in Morton, Mustard Seed in Pekin). But I guess they just couldn’t compete with the huge stock, easy ordering, and quick shipping of internet bookshops such as Christian Book Distributors.
Berean also has bookstores Bloomington, Champaign, and Decatur. No word on whether they are closing as well, or if this only affects Peoria.
Meanwhile, two other area businesses are closing: Tilley’s in the River Station (which lasted just six months) and the Golden Corral in Washington (which left its employees high and dry, closing without notice or explanation).
Time is right on newspapers; but will “younger generation” buy it?
A recent Time Magazine article has some advice for newspapers: sell your on-line content instead of giving it away free. Ironically, this very same Time article is available for free on the web.
Nevertheless, it’s not a bad idea. Specifically, the author (Walter Isaacson) suggests coming up with a system similar to iTunes where readers can easily purchase an article for a small amount of money that gets charged to their credit card. Assuming there were such a system in place, the question is, will people pay for online news content like they do for online music downloads?
The 19-year-old college student who sat next to me on the train ride home from Chicago today says no. She’s a journalism major at Lincoln College. She said the “younger generation” (as opposed to my “older” generation, evidently) won’t pay for this kind of content because they’re “not really into reading that much.”
Not really into reading? Lord help us. If she’s right, then the economics of journalism is the least of our worries.
Soda pop and zombies
I’m sharing these merely because I found them amusing:
- The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy — What do you call carbonated beverages? Soda? Pop? Coke? If you live in Peoria County, odds are you call it “soda,” even though most of northern Illinois calls it “pop.” How do I know? Because someone has taken the time to put together a map of Generic Soft Drink Names by County. It’s just part of a website created by Alan McConchie devoted to the topic.
When I was in grade school, our family called everything “coke.” It was like calling all tissues “Kleenex” or all copiers “Xerox machines.” We didn’t mean the brand, but the type of product. “Do you want a coke?” “Sure.” “What kind?” “7-Up.” According to the map, that’s a southern thing.
And then there are the variations. A former co-worker of mine used to call it “sodee.” She was the assistant team leader of our work group, and a couple of us in the group teased her about her pronunciation. “How do you get ‘sodee’ out of a word spelled s-o-d-a?” we’d ask. Irritated with us, she said, “Everyone I know pronounces it that way,” and then, to prove her point, turned to another team member and asked, “How do you pronounce soda? Sodee?”
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — Yes, that’s the real title of a real book that is due to be released later this year, written by Seth Grahame-Smith and co-author Jane Austen. According to the publisher, Quirk Books, it’s “The Classic Regency Romance—Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!”
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.
That’s one way to get teenage boys to read Austen. I can’t wait for the movie.
Koehler, Gordon town meeting outside their districts
From Peoria County GOP Chairman Rudy Lewis:
Koehler and Gordon so out of touch they don’t even know where their districts are located
Sen. Koehler leads Jehan Gordon off on the wrong foot as she begins her term
(PEORIA) State Representative Jehan Gordon may be getting off on the wrong foot by holding a town hall meeting with State Senator Dave Koehler outside of both of their districts.
“How can you accurately represent citizens if you invite people to a town hall meeting to voice their opinions but that location is outside of your district?” said Peoria County GOP chairman Rudy Lewis. “I wonder if Koehler and Gordon are just taking people on the South Side, the East Bluff, West Bluff and West Peoria for granted by holding their town hall outside their own districts. In any case spending tax dollars to invite people to a town hall meeting outside of their districts is a slap in the face of those they are paid to represent.”
“Imagine a U.S. Senator from Illinois holding a town hall meeting in Indiana or Missouri,” furthered Lewis. “It defies logic.”
“If these two public officials care not where they hold their town hall meeting, it calls into question their judgment when voting to spend billions of state tax dollars,” concluded Lewis.
Gordon and Koehler recently announced they would be holding a Town Hall Meeting on January 22nd at the Lakeview Branch Library (1137 W. Lake Ave., Peoria). However, the Lakeview Branch Library is not located in either Gordon or Koehler’s legislative districts. The Library is located in the 37th Senate District and the 73rd legislative districts, represented by Sen. Dale Risinger and Rep. David Leitch.
Chairman Lewis confirmed that the Lakeview Branch Library is located in the 73rd legislative district (37th Senate district) and not the 92nd legislative district (46th Senate District) with both the Illinois State Board of Elections and the City of Peoria Election Commission.
For their part, Risinger and Leitch hold a series of more than 10 town hall meetings each summer throughout the four counties in the 73rd District—but each one is inside the district they both represent.
Circuit City chain closing down
If you have gift cards to Circuit City, use them now. The whole chain is liquidating their assets and going out of business. Over 30,000 employees will be losing their jobs. Not sure how many people work at the Peoria store in Westlake Shopping Center. A customer service rep I talked to guessed that they employed 80 people, which seems high to me.
Estimated closing date is March 31, but could be sooner if they sell all their merchandise.
A friendly holiday reminder
Reading the story about the Wal-Mart worker who was killed in a stampede yesterday reminded me to check up on WakeUpWalMart.com. Our family stopped shopping at Wal-Mart several years ago now. In fact, it’s become a little joke among our friends that whenever they say they bought something at Wal-Mart, they immediately turn to us and say, “Sorry; I know you guys don’t like Wal-Mart.” So, maybe we talked a little too much about it back when we first stopped going there. 🙂
But now it’s been a while, so I thought a friendly holiday reminder on why you shouldn’t shop at Wal-Mart would be in order:
Black Friday: Consumerism über alles
The other night as I watched the news, there was a story about some people who decided they were going to skip Thanksgiving — not to show symbolic solidarity with the homeless, or to work for charity, or for any noble cause. They were skipping Thanksgiving so they could be first in line at Best Buy on Friday morning.
Hansen, his friend Jared, and a few others will bear the cold weather just to be the first ones to get inside Best Buy on Friday…They’re thankful to be the first ones in line…thankful enough that they’re not even going home this turkey day. “I’m not going home for thanksgiving my mom’s bringing me out some left over turkey and a miniature grill to cook hot dogs on.
That’s right. These conspicuous consumers got in line Wednesday and stayed there two nights and all of Thanksgiving day. They had tents to sleep in and snacks to eat, and Lord knows where they relieved themselves during all that time. And for their sacrifice they got the dubious distinction of being the first ones allowed to spend their money at Best Buy on Friday morning.
A sad tale of misplaced priorities, but not as sad as the one I heard about today:
NEW YORK — A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when “out-of-control” shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.
The Wal-Mart worker was only 34 years old. What I find most appalling is the callous attitude of the people when told the store was closing because of the person’s death — no sympathy or remorse, but rather anger and complaining about how long they had waited to shop that morning. How selfish and heartless can you get? Who thinks to themselves, “Who cares if somebody died? I want my ‘Incredible Hulk’ DVD for $9!”
Black Friday, indeed.