PeoriaStory

What's going on with Illinois Democrats?

PEORIA -- Am I the only person left in Illinois baffled by the Gov. Blago situation?

The governor, who has not even been indicted though he was arrested on a complaint, can sign bills, issue pardons, yet not appoint a US Senator?

What’s with the piling on of other Democrats?

Why do they take the word of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, when that’s the only evidence against the elected governor? His word. No tape recordings which would show the context of the remarks. No cashed checks.

Now Fitzgerald wants more time to indict -- until April! What’s that about?

This is the same Fitzgerald who refused to go after Karl Rove, Cheney and Bush on the CIA leak case. He perhaps could have brought them down but didn’t. Why not?

Now he’s intent on destroying the Democratic party in Illinois by going after Blago and prematurely at that. Apparently he doesn’t have enough evidence to indict.

And the other Demos, no surprise, fell into his trap and have formed a circular firing squad.

Some want a special election to fill Obama’s Senate seat. How stupid! The Republicans especially want that, for obvious reasons.

When Blago does the right thing and appoints Roland Burris, they attack like pitbulls.

No one asks questions Fitzgerald’s motives -- and what are they? Justice? Or to eliminate the Democratic party control of Illinois?

Think about what Fitzgerald has done, and how he can do it to anyone and affect the governance of the state and nation. Didn’t a similar version of this happen in Georgia, to an up and coming Democrat?

Look at this quote, about the Blago affair in the Los Angeles Times, as reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, from Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco and speaker of the California Assembly:

“In all my years of practicing law, I have never seen a U.S. attorney take to the podium to announce an arrest, then answer any and all questions while at the same time condemning the accused as if he’d already been convicted,” Brown snapped recently in his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle.
And he didn’t stop there. “The feds had better come up with something more solid than just a couple of guys sitting around and talking,” he wrote. “Otherwise, this case could go up in smoke.”
Willie watchers, and they are legion, look at the Blagojevich defense as vintage Brown— vigorously defending the art of politics and taunting federal agents who, according to his memoir, “were desperate, ruthless to get something on me.”

The Illinois Demos should consider the implications, long term, of what‘s going on with Fitzgerald‘s pursuit of Blago before they keep piling on.

Are people innocent until proved guilty?

Apparently not if you‘re an Illinois Democrat in the sights of a Republican-appointed US Attorney.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Poison honey? Read this!

PEORIA -- The Seattle newspaper contains a shocking story about adulterated honey imported into the US and sold to unsuspecting consumers!

This honey, mostly coming from China, contains pesticides and other compounds banned in the US, and may be watered down with other ingredients.

The article has complete details about how this occurs. The only omission: which brands to avoid.

Lax US regulation is to blame for this situation. It's an outrage, and another reason to buy food locally, from people who stand behind their products.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Enviro group responds to toxic air

PEORIA -- The environmental group that defeated the expansion proposal of a hazardous waste landfill on the west edge of Peoria has a new target: the Peoria area's toxic air.

Responding to a recent investigative report by USA Today about toxic air near schools (see Dec. 9 post below), the group, Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste, is organizing against the poor air quality and has released this letter:

Dear Representatives and Senators,

I would like to ask you to please attend the Mossville Elementary School's PTA meeting on January 12, 2009. The meeting is at the school itself (in the library I believe) at 7pm. This is a Monday, fyi.

I invite you because I will be there with Tracy Meints Fox, as representatives of Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste, to present to the PTA/school officials, the recent USA Today feature story The Smokestack Effect. Here is a link to the report:

http://content.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/smokestack/index

Please do take a look at the map of schools around the nation where, according to EPA models, the air quality is very likely poor and possibly hazardous/toxic/carcinogenic. Mossville Elementary is in the 6th percentile, only 5 ranks behind the 12 Peoria area schools in the 1st percentile, 12 schools that very likely have air quality/pollution levels the same as if not worse than that of the Addyston, OH school that was recently shut down because of high levels of toxins present in the air/environment at the school. (featured in the main story) The report is very informative, and you can click on or mouse over factory names and chemical terms to get further information and data.

I have emailed with Lori Shirley, PTA president, and she is aware that Tracy and I will be there to begin the discussion of this distressing report. We have known for some time that air pollution levels in the Peoria area were high, but did not know conclusively that they are among the worst in the nation. Peoria Families, with this first public meeting, would like to get the action started towards cleaning up air pollution, if not other forms of pollution, in our very dirty county.

I ask that you please read the report - though we will have handouts available at the meeting as well. This is a very serious matter, particularly for all our children. We hope to begin to address what funding may be available for air quality testing/monitoring at schools around the county, to begin to protect our precious children (I have two myself, kindergarten and 2nd grade at Mossville) from toxins and carcinogens pumped daily into the air we breathe, by local industry.

Thank you very much, and I do hope to see you on January 12th.

Cara Rosson
Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste

The Peoria area, with heavy industry including several coal-fired power plants, looks very bad on the USA Today map. But don't take the newspaper's word for it. Just look at your window sills to see the fallout from the dirty air. Clean them, then watch as the soot quickly builds up.

This group is not to be trifled with, as it carries its causes door-to-door then to the ballot box.

-- Elaine Hopkins

UPDATE -- Jan. 7, 2009: If you want to read a story on toxic air in Peoria, it can be accessed through the Peoria Public Library's website which archives Journal Star stories. Find Study: Peoria County's air unclean - Rate of toxins higher in poorest areas
Peoria Journal Star, The (IL) - Friday, December 16, 2005.

Meanwhile here's a list of the schools in the most toxic areas, according to the USA Today story, thanks to a friend who researched this:

"Four Peoria schools are among the top 200 worst schools: Blaine-Sumner,
Valeska-Hinton, Kingman, and Peoria Alternative. Blaine-Sumner is ranked
as the worst, with only 102 schools across the nation ranked higher(ie. worse)."

Stroke symptoms: valuable information

PEORIA -- Here are three fast ways to determine whether someone is having a stroke:

* S -- Ask the individual to SMILE
* T -- Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK (coherently) A SIMPLE SENTENCE (E.g. "It is sunny out today.")
* R -- Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If he or she has trouble with any one of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

And to remember these three questions, try very hard to remember the letters STR, and remember that they stand for Smile, Talk, Raise. Maybe remember them as the first three letters of the word “stroke.”

Stroke kills and disables thousands of people yearly. Given the current political and economic situations, stroke may strike even more.

And many people HATE to go to a hospital needlessly. The cost, the hassle, the threat of infection, all deter hospital visits, even for the insured.

But a stroke can kill or disable. Here's the complete story from AlterNet.

-- Elaine Hopkins

LaHood linked to the Illinois "Combine" says Tribune's Kass

PEORIA -- Whoa! Our own lovable RayLaHood, R-Peoria, picked by president-elect Obama to become US Secretary of Transportation, has some sleazy links, according to the (right wing) columnist for the Chicago Tribune, John Kass.

Look at this quote: Obama selected outgoing Illinois U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Combine) for the post of secretary of transportation, putting LaHood in charge of Obama’s planned trillion-dollar public works bonanza being sold as a jobs bill.
“Every dollar that we spend, we want it spent on projects that are there, not because of politics, but because they’re good for the American people,” Obama said. “If we’re building a road, it better not be a road to nowhere.”
Not because of politics? What does the great reformer take us for, a bunch of chumbolones?
What Obama forgot to mention is that with LaHood in charge of the roads, they’ll lead to one place: Bill Cellini.
Cellini, the Republican boss of Springfield who has been indicted in the Blagojevich scandal for allegedly shaking down the producer of the movie “Million Dollar Baby,” is a strong LaHood ally. Cellini runs Sangamon County, and LaHood has enjoyed Cellini’s political support.
They also joined to help oust the last true reformer in Illinois politics, former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, the Republican who was denied an endorsement from his own state party after he brought federal prosecutors to Illinois with no connection to the bipartisan Combine that runs things here.
Republican money man Cellini is not only the Chicago political connection to machine Democrats and Mayor Richard Daley’s City Hall—and a Blagojevich fundraiser—he’s also the boss of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association.
They’re the guys behind the guys who pour that hot sticky stuff on the roads, but don’t get their cashmere sweaters dirty and drive black Escalades to the job site, before wheeling off for some osso bucco at Volare or other fine restaurants.

Or read the full column.

Let's hope the Tribune reveals more details on this interesting allegation.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Oh-Bama, we hardly knew ye

PEORIA -- Change we can believe in? Hardly.

Right wing preacher Rick Warren, anti-choice, anti-gay, to deliver the invocation at the Inauguration?

Tom Vilsack, pro-corporate biotech, in bed with Monsanto, to be Secretary of Agriculture?

Ken Salazar, pro-mining, anti-environment, for Secretary of the Interior?

And Peoria's own outgoing Congressman Ray LaHood, to be Secretary of Transportation?

How on earth is LaHood qualified for that post?

Did Obama just punch LaHood's ticket to become Illinois governor in 2010? He'll make lots of pals handing out the highway and other transportation pork as Trans-Sec.

We'll see highways that the public doesn't need or want -- the ring road, freeway along the Illinois River through fragile land to save a few minutes on the trip to Chicago, another freeway to Macomb destroying a scenic drive to replace a 2-lane blacktop through Fulton County.

Those who hate 2-lanes can take I-74 to Galesburg, then on to Macomb via 4-lanes all the way. Takes about 10 minutes longer.

We'll see expensive, expanded locks on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, further degrading those rivers. Barge transportation must be served.

What about mass transit? Others claim LaHood is anti-Amtrak.

What on earth is Obama thinking here? Does he want an anti-choice, anti-gay governor of Illinois? Maybe he does, given the awful Rick Warren pick.

Would Hillary Clinton make such appointments if she were the president-elect?

Just think about that -- the first female president would mean no Blago scandal or at least no preemptive arrest, no threat of a Republican takeover in Illinois, no unneeded highways or river locks.

So the real Obama has emerged: no change, more of the same.

How do you say "Jimmy Carter" as in one-term president?

How do you say "I told you so?"

-- Elaine Hopkins

Anti-fur protest

PEORIA -- How many police will show up to monitor the second anti-fur protest?

It takes place from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20 on on the public sidewalk at Broms Furs and Fashions in Metro Center. Oops, make that Dec. 27, due to the terrible weather now taking place.

Participants should not park in the Metro Parking area. Dogs with signs are welcome, organizers say.

The first protest of the season, on the day after Thanksgiving, brought eight police cars and a canine squad to observe but no one was arrested.

Guess criminals elsewhere had free rein to loot the city.

Meanwhile the recession is good news for fur bearing animnals. The price of pelts has dropped so low that trappers are discouraged.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Downstate Story 2008 issue now available

PEORIA -- Ten new short stories by Illinois writers, illustrated with original art, are featured in the 2008 edition of Downstate Story, Peoria's only literary magazine.

The magazine is now available from its website and at the Lakeview Museum Shop and Second Chance books in Peoria. It will be at other locations soon.

The downstate Illinois writers in this issue are Pepper Bauer of Mapleton; Jean Shrier of Goodfield; Jim Courter of Macomb; Kelli Landon of Hanna City; and M.W. King of Peoria Heights.

Other writers are John Harvey of Gurnee; Marie Anderson of LaGrange; Bridget Fallen of Chicago; Jim O’Loughlin of Cedar Falls, Iowa; and David C. Metz of Damascus, Maryland.

Illustrations are by Peoria area artists Ed Levene and Jessica Frasca, along with Bonnie Gahris of Glen Ellyn, IL.

Published by Downstate Story, Inc., an Illinois not-for-profit corporation and the parent of PeoriaStory.com. the magazine aims to present original fiction by Illinois writers and writers with ties to the Midwest as a quality alternative to today's mass-market publishing. It costs $8 and is available at bookstores and gift shops, or can be ordered from the publisher or website.

The stories in this issue are terrific, each one a work of art. The publication makes an interesting gift from the region, and is easily mailed.

-- Elaine Hopkins

The Blago mess -- what do we really know?

PEORIA -- "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
The supposed inscription at the entrance to Hell fron Dante's Divine Comedy.

That's the way I felt as I watched the Fitzgerald news conference on Dec. 9 outing Gov. Rod Blagojevich's darkest fantasies about profiting from the US senate appointment and ousting his detractors on the Chicago Tribune's editorial board.

Fantasies? Where is the proof for all this, aside from talk on the phone?

Have checks been written, cash exchanged? Apparently not.

There's no indictment, only a criminal complaint. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said he had to stop Blago now, before he could collect from the senate appointment. But who was going to pay?

So we have a preventive arrest? Like a preventive war?

This from the prosecutor who lacked the guts to go after the really big target, Karl Rove, on the CIA leak case. Fitzgerald could have brought Bush down, and saved lives and bank accounts. He didn't.

But a day after Blago stands up for workers against the Bank of America, he's arrested.

And the piling on begins. Everyone hates Blago, apparently. It's likely he'll be impeached or sent to prison over what may be only phone fantasies.

Be careful what you say -- words can be a crime of conspiracy in the US.

Words also will bring down a politician, even if no crime is committed. Blago is fatally ruined politically.

He's said what everyone knows but doesn't want to admit: that politics is about money for most politicians, though not all of them.

Some journalists say Illinois residents pay a hidden corruption tax. That's bad, of course, but can be balanced against the skill with which a state or city is run.

Are those lovely planters in Chicago worth the Daley machine's machinations? Which incidentally don't seem to bring indictments.

The best case scenario now is that Blago resigns quickly in exchange for a no-prison-time plea agreement, and is allowed to rat out others in the pay-to-play world of Illinois politics.

Then Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn can appoint the next Illinois Senator, a Democrat.

Sen. Dick Durbin's idea for a special election for Obama's seat is a terrible idea. Expensive, not enough time to organize, and likely to produce a Republican winner.

Voters who basically don't understand politics will punish the Democrats for Blago's fantasies.

So they also punish themselves.

Even worse would be a Republican governor. Good bye reproductive rights, gay rights, and perhaps even labor rights and pensions, all targets of typical modern Republican candidates.

So Illinois has even more unwanted babies among the poor, even more low income workers, and turns itself into the Latin American model: the rich and everyone else.

As I said, "abandon hope..."

-- Elaine Hopkins

UPDATE, Dec. 12, 2008: Blago has become the laughingstock of the nation, and must go, of course, sooner rather than later. Lisa Madigan has filed a motion with the Illinois Supreme Court to remove him as unable to govern.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn likely will become governor, and has promised to roll back all those irrational Blago moves, from closing state parks to shipping Department of Transportation employees to southern Illinois.

He also will appoint the next US Senator. That's a good move, given the delay and risks of a special election.

Will voters forgive the Democrats for this mess if Quinn steps in and governs competently?
That's the party's only hope now.

-- E.H.

UPDATE, Dec. 13,2008: Here's a great photo from the Chicago Sun-Times: Blago peeping out into the alley behind his home next to a sign warning about rats. The sign has now vanished.

Peoria's toxic environment

PEORIA -- USA TODAY has issued a startling story and map about toxic air pollution in the US and its impact on schools and children.

Peoria is one of the worst places in the US, according to the map and other information.

The report contains an interactive map where readers can find the air pollution levels in their communities, as well as an overall map of pollution levels in the US.

The page allows readers to find the pollution levels for individual schools. Peoria's south side has the worst levels -- no surprise given the location of ADM and other factories nearby.

For years as a reporter at the Journal Star I wrote about high pollution levels in the Peoria area as well as high cancer rates, based on government statistics. Few people seemed to care. I never heard this issue addressed by any local government officials.

The failed effort to expand the hazardous waste landfill at Pottstown drew public attention thanks to local activists, and air pollution was a small component of that fight. A majority of the Peoria County Board paid attention and defeated the expansion.

But that's it. Under President Bush, annual toxic reports from the US Environmental Protection Agency have been scaled back, to conceal the truth from the public.

Let's hope that changes under the Obama administration, and that environmental laws against toxic emissions are enforced and improved.

-- Elaine Hopkins