Monday, September 15, 2008

Sarah Palin

Great Sarah Palin article in the weekend edition of USA Today.

I especially enjoyed one of the comments:
People removed from middle America just don't seem to be able to
understand. When they sit around in their own circles and discuss things
they are sure everyone must agree with them because all of our friends do.
They forget, people in the largest inner cities are very different from
the rest of the country, and we are the majority.

Palin appeals to people because she represents them. Not necessarily
agreeing with all her positions, but overall the person herself. She
represents a citizen politician.

When you read something ridiculous the government does and you say, "If I
could be in charge for just a week, I would fix that place quick". She is
that person. She is the one that said, I can do better than the idiot in
charge. Then she ran for Governor and proved it.

The American public is in love with her and her folksy way and raw
outdoors feel. They love her can do attitude and lack of fear. They love
her family, especially because it has its own problems. They see her as
REAL. They know what she stands for, because they do too. They also know
standing for something doesn't make it always occur, because no matter how
they all tried, they had failures too. They like it that she is still
trying with all the normal problems. And when people pick on her, like
this article, they rally around like someone just picked on their family,
because they think she is.

It's going to be a fast finish from here. The Palin love affair cannot
wear out in 7 weeks time, and attacking it wont do any good. The people
that have fallen for her, have adopted her, and when someone attacks her,
they are attacking them. The biggest worry the democratic party should
have now, is, do they lose the Senate and the Congress as well, as the
love affair is a real one.


Also see coverage in the Peoria Journal Star.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Aurora News: Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast Friday

Aurora has a lot of Hispanics, and there is a special event scheduled for Friday to honor them.

AURORA -- The annual Aurora Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast is scheduled for Friday at La Sierra Banquets. The breakfast, sponsored by 2nd Ward Alderman Juany ..


Read more at the Aurora Beacon News.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Waukegan News: Tot crushed in crash

What a terrible disaster. It's hearbreaking to read about stuff like this. You wonder was the child properly secured? Was anybody at fault, or was it really just an accident where nothing could have been done.

The child was was pronounced dead at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan. Booth said Friday that the collision remains under investigation.


Read more at the Waukegan News Sun.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Peoria News: Peoria County could see jump in number of lead poisonings

It's amazing that lead poisoning continues to be an issue. You'd have thought that after decades of knowing about this stuff it would have been eradicated by now, but it's still around, increasing even. Scary.

By CLARE HOWARD Peoria County cut its rate of childhood lead poisoning from nearly 15 percent of tested children in 2003 to just over 8 percent in 2006, .


Read more at the Peoria Journal Star.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Joe Biden - Plagiarism scandal

Joe Biden is a plagiarist. Is that surprise?

The only practical explanation for Biden's plagiarism is he guessed that being Kinnock on the stump would be more compelling for his audience than merely citing him. And he was probably right. Anecdotes about how a British politician made a success of himself thanks to Labor Party policies would hardly encourage an American voter to pull the lever for Joe Biden. Biden plagiarized because, like most plagiarists, he was unsatisfied with his own, honest material and decided that the payoff was worth the risk.

Another time-honored defense of plagiarists is that the incident was a one-off. But in Biden's case, we know that's not true. As E.J. Dionne Jr. reported in the previously mentioned Times article, he "plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school" at the Syracuse University College of Law. According to a Dec. 1, 1965, report by the law school, five pages of Biden's 15-page paper were copied without quotation or attribution.

Biden's defense? He told Dionne—and his professors at Syracuse at the time—that he misunderstood citation and footnoting rules. The Dionne piece is especially rich with other Bidenisms. The candidate accuses other presidential campaigns of digging up the Syracuse law school story, but he does not specify which campaigns engineered this smear.

If you give Biden the benefit of the doubt—and I don't—you'd expect that such a calamitous "mistake" from his youth would have seared into his mind the importance of keeping his mitts off of other people's words. That it didn't speaks terabytes about his character.


More from Slate magazine.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Aurora News: East Aurora School District overhauls Web site

It's really important that schools continue to invest in their websites, because school websites don't just save money for the school district they increase the amount of information that is available to parents, and makes it easier for parents to receive information that is critical to them for keeping tab on their children and so on, seeing what grades they have and more.

And during a virtual ribbon-cutting at East Aurora's Red and Black Pride Day last month, teachers were introduced to the interactive features that will ...

Read more at the Aurora Beacon News.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Aurora News: Oberweis sets three more energy forums

It's about time that Jim Oberweis starts campaigning for Congress because it really seems like he's not doing enough. He needs to get out there, say hello to voters and introduce himself and tell them about what he's going to do to improve their lives. Bill Foster is much more of a politician than Oberweis, meaning he knows how to pander and tell voters what they want to hear, while Oberweis says what he means and means what he says and is his own man. Unfortunately this is a campaign where the politician is likely to beat the real man.

Republican congressional candidate Jim Oberweis has scheduled three more town hall meetings on energy and gas prices -- and the first one is in Aurora.


More at the Aurora Beacon News.

Sarah Palin

Great stuff here. What an amazing vice president!

* Sarah Palin was to walk out to the singing of Angels, but convention organizers thought it might come off as showing off.
* Sarah Palin’s suit is made from 100% dead liberal skin.
* Sarah Palin prepped for this speech with a ritual sacrifice of Susan Estrich.
* Sarah Palin has actually travelled backwards in time from after the roll call to accept the nomination retroactively.
* Sarah Palin doesn’t actually have an accent, it’s distortion from her telepathic broadcast directly into your brain.
* In 2003, the US considered deploying Sarah Palin to Iraq as a 1-woman commando squad, but wanted to make it a fair fight.
* As head of Alaska’s Nat’l Guard, Sarah Palin taught troops in a training exercise to scare a grenade into not exploding.
* Sarah Palin drives herself to work everyday - in an M1A1 tank
* Sarah Palin believes in change, too. She takes it from your pockets after striking you dead.
* Sarah Palin wears three quarter length sleeves to keep from getting blood on her clothes when she kills liberals.


More about Sarah Palin.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Aurora News: Aurora blotter

Not so good news here. Read more about how a loud stereo lead to a felony conviction. Full coverage on the Aurora Beacon News:

Frank Ayala, 20, of the 2300 block of Candleberry Lane, Aurora, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of ..

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Waukegan News: Waukegan vs. Grayslake

Will Waukegan beat Grayslake? Who has the better football team? How about basketball? I don't really follow sports but you can get full coverage from the Waukegan News Sun.

Last year, when Maine South's football team came to play at Waukegan, the financial gap between these programs could be plainly seen on the goal posts,

Friday, September 5, 2008

Peoria News: Bakers Square closes!

Peoria's Bakers Square closed after bankruptcy
1 hour ago
By NO DATA The Bakers Square Restaurant at The Shoppes of Grand Prairie is one of more than 50 of the chain's restaurants to close because of financial


Wow this is really sad that the Peoria Bakers Square has gone bankrupt. See the full coverage at the Peoria Journal Star.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Peoria News: Peoria football

How about some Peoria football?

This is Pekin's first season opener against a Peoria-area team since facing Woodruff in 1992. KEY PLAYERS: DUN: RB-LB-P Joe Cloud, QB Luke Sensabaugh. ...


Great way to start the football season watching local Peoria football team. See full coverage on the Peoria Journal Star.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Aurora News: Rush Copley

The Aurora Beacon News covers an interesting story about practicing for having babies at the hospital in Aurora.

BY CHRISTIME S. MOYER cmoyer@scn1.com AURORA -- An alarm rang out on the Labor and Delivery floor at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora Tuesday. ...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Aurora News: Aurora swimmers vs. IMSA

Iillinois Math and Science Academy Swimmers will compete against Aurora, the Aurora Beacon News reports:

IMSA will battle perennial rival West Aurora twice this year and looks forward to three new teams on its schedule. Talbot holds the school record in the 200

Monday, September 1, 2008

Aurora man sex assault conviction

This guy is really despicable:

BY BEACON NEWS STAFF An Aurora man was convicted Wednesday in a 2002 sexual assault where he showed the victim a gun. A jury deliberated for less than three ...


This was reported in the Aurora Beacon News.

GOP Convention Stage


The Republican National Convention stage in St. Paul is a stark contrast to the lavish opulence of the two stages the Democrats set up in Denver.

From AOL:

By contrast, the Republican stage is a study in minimalism. It consists of a simple podium, only four feet above the convention floor, backed by a 50 ft. by 30 ft. video board. Asked about the contrast between the Republicans' set and the Democrats', Matt Burns, Director of Communications for the 2008 Republican National Convention, said that the simple design was not a deliberate attempt to contrast the Democrats. Burns said that the stage was designed to fit the personality of the party's nominee, Sen. John McCain.

"The stage reflects the humble nature of our nominee and puts him where he is most comfortable, close to the people."


Mr. Burns said that the stage is meant to evoke Sen. McCain's town hall meetings...


And National Journal:
If the Democrats' whiz-bang stage in Denver screamed American Idol, the Republicans' streamlined set in Minneapolis-St. Paul whispers American Bandstand. From a simple black platform just four feet off the ground, convention speakers will look out on a sea of delegates in red folding chairs that sit squarely on the arena's concrete floor. A single television screen behind the speakers will carry their faces to the nosebleed seats above, while black drapes behind the screen conceal the backstage area.

The sedate, almost plain $1 million podium was conceived of long before the Democrats unveiled their bells and whistles in Denver. Built in just six weeks atop the Xcel Energy Center's hockey rink, the podium is designed to focus attention on the candidate's message, said David Nash, the convention's executive producer. "With the economy the way it is, we thought it should be simple," said Nash. "It's not the time to be lavish, not when people are losing their homes."

The low, unencumbered platform will also bring John McCain closer to the crowd in a structure reminiscent of the town-hall meetings he has used, to general acclaim, on his campaign stops. Much as the in-the-round stage on the final night of the 2004 GOP convention made Bush's speech a relatively intimate affair, the 2008 stage gives McCain and the delegates a direct sense of each other. "You're just not going to have a lot of distractions," said Maria Cino, the president and CEO of the convention. "What you see is what you get."