Amtrak blogging
Tuesday, Feb 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller On the train to Spfld, the (mostly) civilized way to travel. Sick of that drive already and it’s only February. unless I get a lot more comfy with this mini keyboard, you can expect a fairly light blogging morning. Not a lot happening anyway. Just bills in committee.#
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Fear mongering or reality?
Tuesday, Feb 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller You never really know whether a bureaucracy threatens shutdown to scare lawmakers into action, but this could really hurt if it’s true. The Chicago Transit Authority’s staff will recommend a standby plan for deep service cuts and possible fare increases next month, and the CTA board will adopt a final plan in April in case the General Assembly fails to provide more funding, officials said Monday. 40 percent? That seems excessive, but I see so many empty CTA buses roaming the streets in search of passengers that much of the cuts could be accomplished without a huge amount of pain. But not all. Definitely not all.
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New concert venue for Chicago
Tuesday, Feb 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller An outdoor concert venue on Lake Michigan is a good idea for Chicago, especially if it helps pay for a new park. But I still kinda miss the airport. The Chicago Park District is likely to approve a deal Wednesday that will allow concert promoter Clear Channel Entertainment to build a new 10,000-seat music venue on Northerly Island, the former site of Meigs Field. I’m going to see these guys with these guys tonight, and even though the venue will be super-intimate, an outdoor show right on the lake might be even cooler - especially since I could walk home. There’s also a little-known but great little public beach right next door to the proposed site, so concert goers could party there before heading to the shows. The possibilities are endless.
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Conspiracy theory
Tuesday, Feb 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller As promised in today’s Capitol Fax, here is the link to the Illinois Civil Justice League’s contention that the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform is a trial lawyer front group. As a result of an intensive investigative study by the Illinois Civil Justice League, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform and its partners – the Justice at Stake campaign and Illinois Citizen Action – have been exposed for what they are: a concealed campaign to restrict judicial election education to only one voice – the voice of the Trial Lawyers. And here’s the ICPR’s response: The Illinois Civil Justice League wants the public to believe we were part of an elaborate and diabolical plot to help the campaign of the judicial candidate opposed by the Illinois Civil Justice League. That plot exists only in the fertile imagination of the conspiracy theorists at the Illinois Civil Justice League. Finally, here’s a list of articles and info on the “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” game, referenced in the same story.
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His way
Tuesday, Feb 8, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller My dad went to Sen. Denny Jacobs’ retirement party last night and filed this brief report. Dad was supposed to send photos, but they haven’t shown up yet. I’ll post them if they arrive. With Frank Sinatra singing “My Way” as background music, Denny said goodbye. Man, I’m gonna miss Denny Jacobs. UPDATE: A friend of mine from the area sent me this e-mail: We had fun tonight and your dad took about 50 pics with his digital!
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Much better
Monday, Feb 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Eric Zorn has moved to a new, much bloggier format. The new site has an RSS feed, permalinks and comments may be addedsoon. Plus, it looks so much cleaner than his old site. The link is updated on the right.
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Rod, Rod, He’s our man….
Monday, Feb 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller The first media report about the governor’s southern Illinois trip is positive. Governor Rod Blagojevich (bluh-GOY’-uh-vitch) toured southern Illinois today to publicize economic success stories. Cheerleaders? I wonder what their cheers were. OK, let’s keep the comments clean on this one, please. We’re starting to get a bad reputation, although I stuck up for y’all in comments. UPDATE: That new trucking terminal looks like a big win for Illinois and a loss for that allegedly pro-business state of Missouri (from a press release): USF Holland Inc., an operating company of USF Corporation (Nasdaq: USFC - News), announced that it has broken ground on a new terminal in Edwardsville, Illinois which will serve the southern Illinois and St. Louis Metro area. The terminal will replace an older, smaller terminal in the USF Holland system. […] The taxpayers had to pony up, though. “USF Corporation wishes to acknowledge Gov. Blagojevich for the financial assistance provided by the Opportunity Returns program,” said Thomas E. Bergmann, Chief Executive Officer of USF Corporation.
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Top Ten List
Monday, Feb 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller Attorney General Lisa Madigan released her annual top ten list of consumer complaints. (From a press release) For the fourth year in a row, telecommunication complaints involving wireless phone service, Internet service, Internet auctions and other related problems topped the list of Illinoisans’ consumer gripes, logging 3,538 complaints, or 15 percent, of the state’s 24,050 consumer complaints. Credit issues ranked second on the list with 3,325 complaints, or 14 percent, and home improvement issues ranked third with 2,895 complaints, or 12 percent of all complaints lodged with Madigan’s office in 2004.
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Quinn the Green
Monday, Feb 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Back south
Monday, Feb 7, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller The governor is in southern Illinois again visiting his new bestest friends (From a press release): **Governor’s Public Schedule** Expect more glowing coverage here.
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Another DNR political hire
Sunday, Feb 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller DNR can’t afford to keep workers on at state parks, but the hiring at the central office continues. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources - you remember, the agency with more than 100 recent layoffs - has a new legislative liaison with a familiar last name.
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Pearson makes a funny
Sunday, Feb 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller From today’s Chicago Tribune comes irony as rich as Bill Gates: On Thursday, the Blagojevich administration sent out a news release headlined, “Four State Agency Directors to Visit Springfield.” That would be Springfield as in the state capital.
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Gay rights stuff
Sunday, Feb 6, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller My newspaper column this week is about the state’s new gay rights law and the right wing’s false objection that it infringes on the rights of religious institutions. This is a legitimate question because religious liberty is specifically spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. And it’s also legitimate because if the General Assembly just passed, and the governor signed, an unconstitutional bill on behalf of such a controversial minority, there could be hell to pay at the polls next year. Even though several Republicans voted for the bill, the GOP could use the issue to pound even the Democrats who didn’t vote for it, arguing their party is too radical to be trusted with the reins of government. This will happen anyway, but toss in an outrageous infringement on the freedom of churches and religious institutions, and … oy. Meanwhile, the Southern Illinoisan’s Jim Muir writes about the controversy over a PBS episode of “Buster the Rabbit,” wherein Buster and his friends visit a Vermont family that’s headed by two moms (who are never, by the way, identified as lesbians). What once was considered perverse and bizarre is now considered the norm. And what once was looked at as outlandish, unheard of and over-the-top is now considered to merely be routine. Google “Buster the Rabbit” and Muir’s column is the sixth most popular result, so it definitely got some play on the Internets. Understandably, Muir received several letters about his column, including one from a woman who described herself as a “soon-to-be mother in a same-sex household.” Muir responded to her complaints thusly: This comment is simply another tired ploy by the gay community to liken its cause to the civil rights movement, which is insulting at best and absurd at worst. And let me also say her allegation that individuals have been denied equal rights concerning marriage is unequivocally wrong. […]
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