On January 16, 2010, I posted an article on my blog, “Weekly Wilson” that detailed  my  firsthand experiences as a one-time candidate for 1^st Ward Alderman in East Moline, Illinois in 2005 who knew the vote totals announced in her race the next morning were false.  (*Read the first article to see how on Weekly Wilson to see why I was able to figure out that the sudden turn-around of an election night victory for Yours Truly to a neat “she lost by 10 votes” in the morning Quad City Times could not possibly be right.)

At the time, I promised my mother-in-law I would not write about the election. She feared it would come off  \as though I were a “sore loser,” which I was not. So, I did not write about it in 2005. I did not write about it until many years later, when a Letter to the Editor from Helen Heiland appeared, decrying the fact that she had been passed over to be Democratic County Chairman upon the retirement (and subsequent death) of John Gianulis.

Helen Heiland’s  Letter to the Editor about how she should be the Heir Apparent to the corrupt Democratic County Chairman throne  was the straw that broke the camel’s back, for me, in terms of sharing information. This was the same person who knew the truth about her own fraudulent election (went home in tears from her own victory party), even if nobody else did and even if it could not then be proven because of the corruption in the Good Old Boy network. Thanks to an informant who turned state’s evidence, it now can be proven.

Furthermore, Helen Heiland was a contemporary of Mr. Gianulis, which means that, if I was old at 50-something then, she was extremely old.  I realize that various Congressmen serve until they have to be carted off in an ambulance, but, really, is that desirable? If you are in good health and can at least walk under your own power  and are of sound mind and can stay awake at a Council meeting (or even be present in the first place) and, (hopefully), are  intelligent, shouldn’t those qualities count for something in picking a representative of  the people?

I did not run for office to become a perennial political candidate, as Mrs. Heiland has become. I ran because my former junior high school students at Silvis (IL) Junior High were present at an organizational meeting for then-Mayor Jose “Joe” Moreno  in 2005. They enthusiastically urged me to challenge long-time 1^st Ward Alderman Helen Heiland (who nearly always ran unopposed), as did then-Mayor Joe Moreno.  I was the only one in the room who lived in the 1^st Ward. Not exactly overwhelming qualifications for office, but, with a Master’s plus 30, good health, the time to spend, and a long history of being honest and outspoken (I was the Sylvan Learning Center founder, and I helped achieve recognition for the SEA in Silvis as four-term Co-Chairman of the group) . I had the time, my heart was in the right place, and I wasn’t planning on parking my elderly posterior in the seat until I was cremated.

Helen Heiland had been blocking many of the Mayor’s progressive ideas, supposedly at the urging of then-Democratic County Chairman John Gianulis, who dictated, from above, what would happen in Rock Island County. Later, I was told by a highly-placed Illinois politician when I was present at the DNC in Denver that I was merely “collateral damage” in an attempt to beat Joe Moreno.

The irony was that, unlike Helen Heiland, who allied herself with now-Mayor John Thodos and ran as a teammate, spending thousands of dollars (I heard $25,000), I spent $500, asked for no political contributions (although I got a few) and ran alone. Joe and I were not a political team. He was a friend. He knew the political ropes, but Joe ran on his own, and I ran on my own. He certainly offered advice about such things as poll watchers (too late, as it turned out; it was already the day of the election, and I had none. One election judge voted twice under 2 different names and 3 people entered a booth together in one precinct, I learned.)

Joe had (supposedly) somehow angered former Illinois State Representative Denny Jacobs and was to be “taken down a peg or two,” I was told. I never knew whether to believe that story or not, since Joe’s wife, Lorna, is a Jacobs herself, the daughter of Don Jacobs, Denny’s brother. Why would Joe’s wife’s uncle want him to lose his Mayoral bid, especially when Joe was such a good and popular Mayor who appealed to the large Hispanic population and frequently went to the police station to serve as a free translator, at all hours of the day and night? You couldn’t ask for a nicer or more popular guy or one with better ideas.  It made no sense to me then, and it makes no sense to me now, so it must be wrong. (“Yeah, sure, that’s the ticket,” to quote an old Saturday Night Live line).

The only reason I could come up with on my own—[and it is and was pure speculation]— was that Denny Jacobs might be afraid that the popular Democratic Mayor of East Moline would one day eclipse his own son in popularity and prove to be a threat to Mike Jacobs in future elections. But,— I repeat—that is pure speculation from a political rookie, so I’d ignore that, like everything else I have ever reported has been ignored.  Like the recount in a tiny room in Rock Island that showed that I finished ahead of Helen Heiland in actual ballot voting was ignored and never merited so much as a single line in either newspaper. Just go ahead and forgetaboutit. (I told my mother she should have named me Cassandra. In mythology, Cassandra always told the truth but was never believed, because of a curse that had been placed upon her.)

Elections in Rock Island County, Illinois were rigged, at least from 1988 on. I know this from my own firsthand experience. [I would venture to say that Al Gore knows this from his own firsthand experience in Florida.]

I didn’t care that I had not won the 1^st Ward Alderman’s seat. As Joe Moreno himself would tell you, I agreed to run once (and once only). I was not willing to serve more than one term. I had “promises to keep” to myself and others. My Bucket List included building a place in Chicago, spending more time with my twin grandchildren there, and writing many books, which I have been doing (8 since 2002). I was not going to become a career politician, and, quite frankly, it is too bad that more honest people don’t enter politics with the idea of serving their fellow citizens, without planning to become career politicians (“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”).

And certainly politicians should not be planning to gain office merely to line their own pockets through schemes like the Auto Poll scheme (Leibovitz’ company? American Elections Systems, Inc., incorporated May 9, 2009)  or by buying up primo land for development in sweetheart deals or any of a number of other questionable political pursuits.

But the American Elections Systems, Inc. scheme that former Democrat County Clerk Richard “Dick” Leibovitz was implicated in 14 months ago goes beyond self-serving and into criminal waters. That is why I wonder why nothing more has been said or written about those 14-month old charges against Richard “Dick” Leibovitz.

Until I did some more digging, that is.

Despite a  girlfriend’s defense of her former classmate Mr. Leibovitz (“Oh, it was just an accounting error!” —Right. And I have swampland for sale in Florida.), it seems fairly apparent from the newspaper stories of January, 2010, that there were many examples of malfeasance in office under Richard “Dick” Leibovitz.

According to the Quad City Times, state records list three officers and directors for American Election Systems, Inc.: Richard Leibovitz; his son Christopher of Lenox, Illinois (listed as director); and James Harmening of Orland Park, Illinois, company secretary.  Harmening is also president of a Chicago-based information technology company called Computer Bits, Inc., which has provided “consulting services” to the County Clerk’s office. Computer Bits, Mr. Harmening’s company, was paid $48,969 since 2008 by Rock Island County, including $35,280 in federal grant funds.

Is it a big stretch to imagine that the conspiracy within the Rock island County Office Building could reach further than Mr. Leibovitz?  Couldn’t others…perhaps even the District Attorney’s office…be involved? What other offices might be involved? (Make a list). Is it difficult to imagine that someone who might be guilty of the charges we already know about couldn’t see his way clear, (if asked by powerful others in authority), to sneak a few extra ballots into this or that ballot box, come election night, just to keep the status quo the way the Powers-That-Be wanted them to be kept and make sure an election came out “right” ? Isn’t this the American way? Stuff the absentee ballot box, fix the election, get rich on the public dollar, retain power any way you can, so that you can profit financially?

Oh, wait.

No, that isn’t the American way that I believe in. That isn’t why  I spent $8,000 trying to show the rest of Rock Island County (and Scott County) what was going on over here across the “Joined-by-a-River” Quad Cities. Nelson, Keys & Keys tried to help me expose the corruption  in Rock Island County, Illinois.  Unfortunately, when the chips were down and the recount was going on, reporter Jenny Lee (Dispatch representative) who was present in the room, didn’t write a single word. And the Quad City Times guy must have been stuck on the bridge, because we didn’t see him at all.  And so it goes…and went. As a line from the new TV drama “The Chicago Code” put it, “There is corruption and then there is just the way things get done, and you gotta’ know the difference.”

I sense corruption, and lots of it, about to be exposed.

And, yes, it seems to have been “the way that things got done” in Rock Island County (at least since 1988).

District Attorney Jeff Terronez

District Attorney Jeff Terronez, a Democrat, prosecuted a United Township High School teacher, Jason Van Houtte, who was having sex with his underage students. One particular underage student, Julie W***, testified against Van Houtte, and he received a prison sentence.

Not long after that, additional charges surfaced that the current District Attorney, Jeff Terronez, (a Democrat) had taken the girl—his star witness— and a friend on trips and allegedly supplied alcohol to the underage pair. One story has the “trip” as a harmless trip to visit colleges in Iowa City and Springfield. Supposedly an adult associated with the attractive blonde cheerleader was present and shot film of Mr. Terronez (who is 40-ish and married) with the girls. One story alleges that the current charges against Mr. Terronez are simply a vendetta on the part of the underage girl, who really “loved” her former teacher and now wishes to get revenge, with the help of the camera footage shot by her Aunt, vengeance against the prosecuting attorney who put her former teacher love away. (If this is beginning to sound too much like a soap opera, I merely would say that you can’t make this stuff up.) All these charges were first aired on WQAD, Channel 8, by Anchor Chris Minor.

I am wondering why a District Attorney of any party would be escorting underaged teen-aged girls who were not his children on college visits. It is difficult to wrap one’s mind around the adjective “innocent,” (as in “innocent trip,”_ vendetta or no vendetta. If the trip was just a college visit, why was Mr. Terronez involved at all? Does the “She just wants to get even with him” story  hold together, realistically?

Quad City Times Sues

So, we have had 2 big political corruption stories in Rock Island County, Illinois in the past 14 months that seem(ed) unrelated and also seem to have been swept under the rug:

1)  Richard “Dick” Leibovitz’s alleged misdeeds involving the office he held for 22 years have not (yet) been punished. He has not been tried or fined or even mentioned in recent months, and it has been 14 months since the post I am repeating below this one appeared.

2)  The guilt or innocence of Rock Island District Attorney Jeff Leibovitz is also up in the air. The Quad City Times has been trying to find out what is happening regarding Mr. Leibovitz for months.

This is a timeline of the “Times” attempts to get to the bottom of the Terronez charges:

October 22, 2010: Jim Bohnsack, Rock Island County Board Chairman reported a telephone conversation wih Mr. Terronez during which District Attorney Terronez admitted that he was the subject of a police investigation. Illinois State Police declined to comment.

October 28, 2010:  QC Times filed a Freedom of Information Act with the Illinois State Police, asking for information.

November 10, 2010:  QC Times received a request from the Illinois State Police for a 5-day extension.

November 29, 2010:  A request for a FOIA review was submitted to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor, via e-mail.  The office was supposed to submit a response within 7 days and 30 days to answer the request.

January 21, 2011:  The Illinois State Police mailed a letter to the QC Times, denying the FOIA request of November 3. The request did acknowledge that there was an ongoing investigation involving Terronez. An attorney with the public access counselor’s office said he would contact Illinois State Police and ask for the documents the newspaper requested and for an explanation for why the request was denied.

February 18, 2011:  The QC Times received a letter from the Attorney General’s Office with a response from the Illinois State Police. It asked the public access counselor to uphold the original denial of the newspaper’s FOIA request.

March 8, 2011:  The QC times filed sit against the Illinois State Police, seeking the release of the information.

(*The timeline above appeared in the Quad City Times newspaper of March 9, 2011, on page A4. This is what is unofficially know as “the run-around.”)

So, what is going on here? We have two cases against two prominent elected Illinois officials, both Democrats. There is an acknowledgement that one case, at least (i.e., Terronez) is “ongoing.”

The other older case (i.e., Leibovitz) is a case where one might say the trail has gone cold. Or has it?

Are the authorities trying to sweep everything under the rug, or is there a concerted attempt to finally “out” the ballot-stuffing and rigged elections that I experienced, firsthand, and many others have suspected were the norm in Rock Island Country over the years. I know that the Quad City Times has had suspicions that something was “rotten in Denmark” for years, because I spoke with one of its editors who wanted me to cut down my Letter to the Editor to a ridiculously few words.

I said that what happened to me (and, I don’t doubt, to Joe Moreno and countless others) could not be explained in “ a few words” and my letter never appeared. I did not even write the letter after the election of 2005. I wrote  only after Helen Heiland, (still clinging to her 1^st Ward Alderperson position until the grave beckons) sent a letter to the Moline Dispatch whining about how she should have been given John Gianulis’ position as Chairman of the Democratic party in Rock Island County.

So, what gives with the above?

While we’re all waiting for the suit that Donald Craven, attorney for the Quad City Times has filed against Interim Director Patrick Keen of the Illinois State Police (filed in Sangamon County) to wend its way through the courts, how can the public can find out what is going on? It’s been over a year since the fact of Mr. Leibovitz’s wrongdoing was first revealed…and many months (6, at least) since Mr. Terronez’s endorsement was removed from the campaign literature of a fellow Democratic candidate for office, due to the potential embarrassment factor. And, during that time, Mr. Terronez has still been acting as the District Attorney for Rock Island County, Illinois, even though one fact that has been admitted by the Illinois State Police is that he was and is the ongoing subject of a police investigation.

True, the investigation seemed to be about whether or not Mr. Terronez supplied alcohol to underage girls but is that all that he might be charged with when the facts hit the fan?

Some say that the Terronez case and the Leibovitz case are not separate at all, but iner-related. The entire house of cards that is Rock Island County politics might be coming crashing down on the heads of those who have called the shots and stuffed the ballots (mostly the absentee ballots) and released the wrong vote counts for years and years. How could the officials discover this?
Well, one way might be to read www.WeeklyWilson.com on January 10, 2010, where I explained how I went door-to-door exposing the corruption that existed in what should be fair elections in this county. I did it not for me, but for anyone who might come after me. It cost me $8,000, and…trust me on this…a seat at the table as 1^st Ward Alderman is not worth $8,000, but preserving free and fair elections is, to me…[idealist and honest person that I am.]

I had Darren Leibovitz in school when he attended Silvis Junior High School, as I explained in the original article regarding the Leibovitz charges. I had nothing to do with the discovery of Mr. Leibovitz’ alleged misuse of federal funds to build a company that marketed voting software, which would, therefore, feather his own private nest. I did not cry a river at losing a 1^st Ward alderman position that I planned to hold for the minimum amount of time—possibly only for 2 years— despite the charges some will make that I am telling this story in a “sour grapes” fashion.  There have been elections since 2005, and I have not sought public office, political outsider that I was then and am now. As I told State Representative Mike Jacobs in Denver at the DNC, “I like politics as a spectator sport.” It is not nearly as much fun as a participant, especially when you can’t even expect the County Clerk’s office to fairly count the vote.

Darren Leibovitz, Richard “Dick” Leibovitz’s son, was brought in to be deputy clerk in his office by Mr. Leibovitz just before he retired, thereby placing him in a position over an employee with more seniority and more experience, Pat Randall. The rumor is that Randall has been granted immunity to tell where the skeletons are buried and how the ballot boxes got stuffed with absentee votes for whichever candidates the Powers-That-Be decreed should win this time around. Recently, an auditor (Diana Robinson) has announced she will not run for re-election. The rumor there is that she hopes, when the proverbial s*** hits the fan, that at least her pension will be secure.

What will the charges be? If the rumors turn out to be accurate, everything from vote fraud (which is what I told the Quad City Times back in 2005) to racketeering to RICO whatever. Who knows who all will be implicated and which powers on the throne will be toppled. Certainly not me. One source said, “Believe me…It’s gonna’ be far-reaching.”

Will any of the things I’ve said here turn out to be true? We’ll  have to wait and see. Just ignore me, as many did when I said Obama would carry Iowa. Just ignore me, as many did when I cried “Foul!” in a small election for 1^st Ward Alderman in Rock Island County in 2005. Just ignore me when I tell you that you should stay tuned for further developments, because, and I quote Quad City Times Executive Editor Jan Touney from March 9^th’s paper (front page):  “It is well past time that the public know what is happening with the investigation involving the Rock Island County State’s Attorney.”

To that, I say “Amen,” and I would like to add, “And it is also high time that the public know the disposition of the case against former Rock Island County Clerk Richard “Dick” Leibovitz.

Either there is a big s***-storm coming from on high, with charges that will make headlines, or there’s a large pile of dirty Democratic dealings that date back to at least 1988 piling up under the carpet in Springfield.

In a fascinating article entitled “Plutocracy Now”, by Kevin Drum, that appeared in the March and April (2011) issue of Mother Jones, there’s enough food for thought to sink the hopes of middle America.

Discussing the fact that income inequality has grown dramatically since the mid seventies (and, no, it’s not all due to the increase in college graduates), the article does what all good investigator do: follows the money. To quote, “If politicians care almost exclusively about the concerns of the rich, it makes sense that over the past decades they’ve enacted policies that have ended up benefiting the rich.” (p. 22)

Noting that the  bottom 80% of wage-earners now loses, collectively, $743 billion every year, it follows that that the top 1% gain $673 billion and…you guessed it…that money is coming from we poor slobs at the bottom of the totem pole. Here’s a sobering but all-too-true quote: “The odds of experiencing a 50% drop in family income have more than doubled since 1970.”  It seems pretty obvious, to me, as I read the unemployment figures. Pensions are a thing of the past. 401(k) plans…where workers bear all the risks of the volatile stock market…are underfunded. Home foreclosures are up. Likewise, personal bankruptcies have increased. All these gloom-and-doom statistics, from Jacob Hacker’s book The Great Risk Shift are, as Mick Jagger famously put it, “enough to make a grown man cry.”

Within the article are some remarks about unions, especially telling in the light of the Cheddar Rebellion now underway in Madison, Wisconsin and—according to a “prank” phone call to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker—merely part of much larger plan to strip unions of their power to bargain collectively or the little guy. Says the “Mother Jones” article, “Unions, for better or worse, are history.”  The article goes on to say that even if private-sector unions increased from 7% to 10%, it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough to restore the power of the working and middle classes, which are being systematically stripped from them, through actions such as those we are seeing on our television set nightly, from the Land of the Cheeseheads.

There’s way more depressing stuff within the “Mother Jones” article (pick it up at your local newsstand…if it still exists after the bankruptcy of the Borders near you), but the final thought of the article is that the infrastructure of economic populism that the old Stallone film “F.I.S.T.” (set in Dubuque, Iowa) filmed for the ages back in the ’70s needs to be rebuilt and that “figuring out how to do that is the central task of the new decade.”

Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem in Denver at Invesco Field during the DNC.

Ever since Jennifer Hudson rocketed to stardom as an Academy Award winner for the 2006 film “Dreamgirls” (after having been cut from “American Idol” in 2004), she has embarked on a life journey that is no less remarkable than that of the fictional women of “Dreamgirls.”

If you tried to write a play with a heroine who is multi-talented but scorned by a nationwide viewing audience, but then comes back loud and proud, to win an Oscar, only to have her personal life reach epically tragic proportions when her mother, brother and nephew are all killed in Chicago by her sister’s estranged husband….well, let’s just say that people would say it is too far out to be true.

WEIGHT LOSS

If that weren’t enough drama, the 5’ 9” singer then embarked on a weight loss program as the spokesperson for “Weight Watchers” that has seen her shed 80 pounds. Her television ads now feature a slinky, sensuous, sexy young woman (Hudson was born in 1981).

PERSONAL LIFE

her personal life, she is engaged to Harvard Law School graduate and WWE wrestler (another unlikely combination) David Otunga. The two have an 18-month-old son, David Jr., born ten months after her family was nearly completely wiped out, in August of 2009.
Even Hudson, herself, says, “It’s like, ‘What’s gonna’ happen to the girl now?  Will she come back again? It’s like a movie, even to me.”

NEW FILM ROLE AS WINNIE MANDELA

Hudson is coming back to the big screen, and that is one of the reasons she worked so hard to lose the weight. She is playing Winnie Mandela, the 74-year-old former wife of Nelson Mandela.  These days, Winnie Mandela goes by the last name Madikizela-Mandela and serves as a member of South Africa’s parliament.  Winnie was married to Nelson in 1958 when she was 22. She had 2 daughters before he was sent to prison in 1963. The couple divorced in 1996, but, during the 27 years that Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, she was involved in many controversial situations, including charges of being a thief, an adulteress and a murderer. She was convicted of theft and fraud and kidnapping, in connection with the death of a 14-year-old boy…which also sounds too far-fetched to be “real life.” Says Jennifer Hudson of the role, “Half the country think she’s Satan. The other half think she’s the world’s greatest hero.

THE GRAMMYS

Musically, Hudson appeared on the Grammys recently as part of a tribute to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and she says, “If I was born in the ‘60s, I’d be right there with them.  Every song I do or film role I get seems to fall right back in that era.”

And she marvels…as I did after seeing her sing at Invesco Field in Denver when Obama was to speak before the huge crowd at the Democratic National Convention:”Ten years ago I was singing in Chicago theaters and living in my mom’s house. That’s all vanished.”

And, one could say, not all “vanished” in a good way. But much, now, is good and getting better.

NEW CD “I REMEMBER ME”

Of her new CD, “I Remember Me,” Hudson says she has returned to her soul-inspired roots and remarks that she “used to sing Aretha songs at the top of my lungs and drive my music teacher crazy.”

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Elizabeth Edwards Stops at Davenport Democratic Headquarters in Poorly-Planned Last-Minute Campaign Stop

(*This article originally ran on www.blogforiowa.com in 2004, when I covered that presidential election for that blog. I am reprinting it at this time because news reports have said that Elizabeth Edwards is near death from terminal liver cancer. To see a newer take on my memories, go to www.AssociatedContent.com and read what I have written about my own father’s death from liver cancer, coupled with memories of this campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, the day before the 2004 Presidential election. The day after that election, the couple announced that Elizabeth Edwards was suffering from breast cancer and, of course, we all know “the rest of the story.”

R.I.P., Elizabeth.

By Connie Wilson

The last stop.

Elizabeth Edwards is to “rally” the volunteers in Davenport at Democratic headquarters at 1416 West 16^th Street in Davenport the night before the most important election of my lifetime. Tempers are short. Nerves are frayed. Tension is high. These sentiments are probably shared by the candidates and their families. Lots of out-of-towners are here to work on election day, which is only hours away now. 

The “invitation” from Kerry headquarters in Des Moines to this event said, “Elizabeth Edwards will thank volunteers for building a surge of momentum for Kerry leading to Election Day.” I had visions of cup-cakes, pizza and beverages for hard-working volunteers. Guess again.

 I knew that the Democratic headquarters in Davenport was nearly unfindable. It has to be possibly the worst location for a Democratic headquarters in the nation. The Chicago volunteer I talked to on the phone, as I sought directions, agreed with me. I lived in Davenport for a year, and I could not find it, from Locust Street, during two previous daylight excursions. The Chicago native on the phone did tell me one thing that helped: “It’s an old school.”  Usually, when you call the place, trying to get directions, you get an answering machine that is full. Why? The Chicago volunteer said, “I don’t even know how you got through.” Me, either.

I remember the very accessible Howard Dean headquarters across from the Kahl Building fondly after seeing this place. And even the first Kerry headquarters, next to Major Art & Hobby was, at least, findable…. although not very large.

Twice before, I had tried to find the Democratic headquarters at 1416 West 16^th Street. Not easy. Tonight, Monday, November 1, 2004, it is dark, rainy and cold. As the Red Baron (in the Snoopy comic strip) would say, “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Still, I felt I should set off on my last adventure. I had high hopes that Elizabeth Edwards would sign the front-page photo of the daughter from the Sunday, October 24^th, Moline, Daily Dispatch. I especially hoped this, inasmuch as a Daily Dispatch reader from Geneseo had written a Letter to the Editor that appeared in Sunday, October 31’s paper, attacking all the students in the article, calling them all “dumb.”

I had dragged two copies of the front-page story to the last John Edwards rally at North High School in Davenport. Someone named Lisa, a Connecticut native here working for Kerry, offered to take the newspapers and try to see if she could get one of them autographed for my daughter and returned to me. I only had three. I gave her two. The papers disappeared, never to be seen again. Now I am down to one, which I have brought.

Tonight, as I arrive at the old schoolhouse and park a block and a half-away, walking towards the old school on the hill in a light downpour, it is obvious that having any opportunity to meet or greet Elizabeth Edwards is not going to be easy. The school does not lend itself to any sort of large group gathering. It is a long narrow corridor with small rooms off the corridor. (Think Catholic schools of old….rabbit warren….maze).

 Although, at one point, I caught a glimpse of Elizabeth Edwards, the Secret Service and local police are keeping everyone at bay. It does not appear that it is that “crowded,” but there are no risers, no room in which to gather. As a site for something like this, the place is, quite simply, a disaster. (“It was a dark and rainy night.”)

I did not bring my Press Pass credentials. I did not think this was a “formal” Press opportunity. I was wrong. The Channel 4, 6, and 8 people are taken back, separately, one at a time, as are a couple of print people.

I ask “Matt,” the advance man, if I can take ONE photo of Mrs. Edwards, for www.blogforiowa.com. He nervously ignores me, not even bothering to answer, busily taking a variety of other reporter types through the hallway, past me.

I ask again. And again. I have seen this guy at the last three to four rallies.  I know him on sight, now, as he does me. Perhaps he views me as a pest, at this point. I am not “important” enough. I am sure that Mrs. Edwards is “busy,” but I am also sure that this sort of treatment is what one would expect of the Republicans, not the Democrats. It is intrinsically unfair and “elitist,” and, also, out of touch with the times, since “blogs” are the wave of the future, according to a recent “New York Times” Sunday article.

My advanced degrees are in journalism and English. I have written for five papers over the span of 49 years. Why or how am I “less important” or “less skilled” than those being given access, while I am being told to “keep the aisle clear” and “make sure that this door closes”?

The obvious answer is “readership” or circulation, but, in some ways, OUR readership, at this point in time, is more important, as we are the Democratic “loyalists” that have helped bring this campaign this far, as Paul Eiger so eloquently put it in an e-mail I recently received. We may have started out in Howard Dean’s camp, (and we still believe in Howard Dean), but we have swallowed our pride and worked hard to help this ticket. None of that matters this night. (*Note: the less obvious answer was that Elizabeth Edwards was a very sick woman and had just found that out.)

Finally, desperately, I take pictures of the other people with me  who are standing in the hall without a prayer of laying eyes on Elizabeth Edwards, let alone being “thanked” or “greeted.” (“All of you keep this aisle open. Everyone away from the door. One line, only, please. Make sure that we can open that door.”).  I feel like I’m back at the Cheney rally on Saturday night, when they wouldn’t let us leave the building!

One of these no-luck individuals (pictured) is Samantha Pieczynski, of Davenport. I tell Samantha that I am going to label her smiling photo  as “Mrs. Edwards.” We laugh.

The other gentleman, Norm Bower by name, also of Davenport, asks if I want a quote. “Sure,” I say. His quote: “It is of paramount importance that George W. Bush not be re-elected so that he not be allowed to appoint Justices to the Supreme Court of the Land.” Good quote, Norm.

A young woman in corn rows (obviously an out-of-towner working for the campaign) passes, acting like she feels she is very important (they often do). I ask her if I can get a picture of Mrs. Edwards now. (All other press people have pretty much had their shot …pun intended…, so it would seem that perhaps, now, it is “my turn.” But no 

The oh-so-important volunteer says, airily, “Oh, she’s already left the building.” As soon as this campaign worker descends the staircase and is out of hearing range, the young man next to me says, “She’s not out of the building .She’s RIGHT THERE!” And he gestures towards a classroom or cubbyhole less than 10 feet from where we are all mashed against “the door that must be able to be opened and closed.” In other words, we have just been told an outright lie.

I finally see the writing on the wall. We are never going to get so much as a look at Elizabeth Edwards. We can all forget about the sentiment where it said, “Elizabeth Edwards will rally volunteers .. thank local supporters…Mrs. Edwards will greet local volunteers and speak about the importance of getting out the vote on Election Day.” (Ha!)

None of this is Elizabeth Edward’s fault, of course, but this is the least-well-planned event on the campaign trail, so far. As I leave, I see the corn-rowed worker, and I say, sarcastically, “Thanks for all your help.” She looks at me, puzzled. I add, “I didn’t think that the Democrats would take up where the Republicans left off , blatantly lying to us, quite so quickly.” She scurries for cover. I am angry.

Matt sees this. I have not been treated this poorly at any time during the past 9 months. Matt says, “Why don’t you go see Lisa?” He sees that I am mad enough to tear up, which I am.

Lisa is, apparently, the “smoother-over” person. At this point, I haven’t put a face with the name. It doesn’t really work, Matt. I am still pissed. I gave up my college teaching job to work long and hard as a volunteer for 9 months, only to be shoved aside as “not important enough” for ONE photo. And I have been lied to, both in the same night. I have already voted for Kerry/Edwards, but the “driving to the polls” duties I signed up for, months ago, seem like adding insult to injury, right about now.

Naively, I think that Lisa might be someone who can still assist me in getting  a picture of Mrs. Edwards. Or, maybe Lisa has one on HER digital  camera that she can send me?  Possibly she can help me get that elusive Edwards autograph, an autograph of the front-page picture of the daughter holding the “Hot Chicks Dig Edwards” button. I already lost two copies of these papers at the LAST Edwards appearance (North High School) when I gave it to a campaign worker

. When I find Lisa, I realize that SHE is the woman I gave the two Dispatch front pages to at Davenport North High School, who was “going to try to get it to the candidate”.  Obviously, that didn’t happen; so much for THAT plan!

I have also brought my book Both Sides Now, as a gift, for Elizabeth Edwards. I leave it with Lisa.  I might as well. It is obvious that I am never going to get within 100 yards of the woman. She is probably already speeding down the highway. This entire “event” has been so poorly-organized, planned in a poor location, and, as far as I am concerned, conducted very unfairly. I see a Happy Joe’s. I think, “Ice cream. That’s what I need. Ice cream.”
People like Linda Thieman (who has been working hard, 24/7, for 9 months, without a day off, 90 hou

rs a week, free and gratis, to put this blog together and keep it updated) and me, for that matter….who gave up her fall semester of college teaching to pursue the campaign with a vengeance (both of us on our own dime)…matter as much as Channel 4, 6, 8 or the “regular” newspaper(s). Have these people not read the articles (New York Times, most recently) that trumpet that “blogs” are the newspapers of the future? Are we not getting like 200,000 “hits” a month. Are we not telling it like it is, when mainstream media often has not? Is Iowa not an important “swing” state? I think we all know the answers to these questions.

But, Linda, tonight, www.blogforiowa.com is treated as a second-class citizen. As am I. And I am  upset about it.

Tonight, rather than being “thanked” or “rallied,” I leave almost in tears, feeling very, very disappointed in the entire evening. I am just glad that I didn’t make my daughter leave her homework to seek the long-sought-after elusive autograph of any member of the Edwards family on the front-page photo. Maybe I can get the cute kids, Jack or Mary Claire, (I think her name is)…the smallest Edwards children….to scribble something on this paper. You think? [Not likely, either, I’m thinking].

My entire evening is ruined. All the good vibe(s) of the previous ten rallies or so are crashing and burning..  I am NOT a happy camper. I probably feel about like Ralph Nader did when his poster fell down as he was speaking, in Ames. Disappointed. Dejected. Sad. Unfairly put upon.  It is good that, quoting the refrain in “Apocalypse Now,” “this is the end.”

It sure is.

Fifty-nine year old Jim Ridings has self-published a new book (342 pp.) about a corrupt governor of Illinois, which includes statements like these:

• “He is so unscrupulous that his lack of principle gives him the appearance of audacity.”
• “Insufferable”
• “Small-minded”
• “Unprincipled”
• “Maybe his bad record is a help to him…It is so bad, it is unbelievable.  When the truth is told, people say it cannot be so, and that there must be a vicious reason behind the telling of it.” (Chicago Tribune editorial about this governor.)
• “The great game of politics is played everywhere, but nowhere with greater zest than in the state of Illinois.” (“Time” magazine article about this governor).
• First Governor of Illinois to be arrested while in office.
• “Is the worst governor the state ever had.  We believe he is the worst governor any state ever had.  He has contaminated everything with which he has come in contact in politics.” (Editorial from the Chicago Tribune)

So, who are we talking about here?

The question is valid, because, at this point, the book begins to outline how the governor of Jim Ridings’ book “did wickedly, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously embezzle and fraudulently convert to his own use” more than a million dollars in state money when he was Illinois treasurer in 1904, prior to becoming Governor of Illinois, a post he held from 1921 to 1929.

When arrested, this Governor refused to surrender to authorities for nearly 3 weeks, claiming that the doctrine of separation of powers protected him from arrest. He threatened to use the National Guard to place Springfield under martial law to protect him.

Prosecutors said the accused Governor had deposited millions into a fictitious bank to defraud the state out of interest payments, and that he had operated a money-laundering scheme. The defense maintained that the governor didn’t really know what was being done in his name and was the victim of his mean-spirited political foes. This Governor considered the Chicago Tribune to be chief among his “political foes,” as a current website about the governor and his family says, “The Chicago Tribune championed a cause against the Governor which impressed upon him the importance of hometown newspaper(s).”

I know you have all been reading this and thinking that the scoundrel’s name was Rod Blagojevich.

In reality, Rod Blagojevich was the second Governor of Illinois to be arrested while in office. The first was Lennington Small, a Republican from Kankakee whose offspring went on to found the Small Newspaper Group, and the SNG website says, “He established the integrity of the business through personal example.”

[After the list of charges above, I’m almost afraid to consider what that might have meant.]

Lennington Small, when brought to trial, was acquitted, but a juror and two Chicago mobsters were later indicted on charges that the jury had been bribed. Small, upon his acquittal and subsequent re-election bid (!), commuted the sentences of two other mobsters who had been jailed for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury investigating the circumstances of Lennington Small’s acquittal. It should be noted that Lennington Small lost a civil lawsuit and was forced to repay the state of Illinois $650,000. But he wasn’t impeached and—will wonders never cease—even won that second term in office.

Lennington Small died in 1936. His name was largely forgotten until his great grandson, Stephen Small, then 40, died after being buried alive in a botched kidnapping attempt in 1987.

The Small Newspaper Group began in 1913 with “The Daily Republican” in Kankakee (one of three newspapers in the town) and went on to acquire The Daily Times in Ottawa (1955); the LaPorte Herald-Argus (LaPorte, Indiana, 1964); the Daily Dispatch in Moline (1969); The Leader (Iowa Quad Cities) in 1978, (which has now ceased operations, although the SMG website does not note this); Star Publication weeklies in the south Chicago suburbs (1975-1995); SNG group prints 80,000 to 105,000 copies of “USA Today” in Kankakee (1983 to the present); “Family Weekly” magazine, which later became “USA Weekend”,  was sold to CBS in 1980; Rochester “Post-Bulletin” (1977), the largest afternoon daily in the state of Minnesota; “Times-Press” in Streator, IL (1980; current Daily Dispatch publisher Roger Ruthhart came to Moline from Streator); Palisadian Post in California (1981); The Rock Island Argus from the Potter family, “one of the state’s oldest continuously published newspapers” in Rock Island, IL (1995), which also ceased operations in the recent past; and, in 1969, brothers Len and Burrell divided the family’s holdings in print and broadcast properties, with Len taking the newspapers and Burrell inheriting such properties as WKAN,  in existence since 1947.

The SNG (Small Newspaper Group) website says of Governor Lennington Small, “The Governor is best-known for the 7,000 miles of hard roads he built in Illinois and for his support of the State Fair.”

Perhaps author Jim Ridings, who has written Len Small- Governors and Gangsters, a 342-page book about the “worst governor ever” would suggest other things for which Governor Small might be remembered, such as setting the bar so low that it took 90 years for someone (Rod Blagojevich) to lower it further.

SOURCES:  SNG (Small Newspaper Group) official website; “The Worst Illinois Governor?” by Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune, Wed., July 21, p. 21; “Len Small: Governors and Gangsters,” self-published by Jim Ridings (342 pp., 2009).

In the wake of the “Rolling Stone” magazine article entitled “Runaway General” (by Michael Hastings, p. 91 in July 8-22 issue), I decided to read it for myself to see what kind of “fly on the wall” journalistic report—the first by this reporter for the magazine—could topple an active General 

What I learned is that General Stanley McChrystal was probably doomed from the get-go. For one thing, he was much admired by the Bush regime, who liked the fact that he cut corners to get things done. For another thing, he had been in trouble before. “By some accounts, McChrystal’s career should have been over at least two times by now.” (p. 96) 

McChrystal took part in the Pat Tillman cover-up, trying to pass off the death of the football player in April 2004 as being a death from enemy fire, rather than an accidental death. He signed off on a Silver Star, suggesting Tillman was killed by Taliban fighters. However, later, McChrystal sent a memo specifically warning President Bush to avoid any mention of the cause of Corporal Tillman’s death saying, “If the circumstances of Corporal Tillman’s death become public, it could cause public embarrassment” for the president. Mrs. Tillman (Pat Tillman’s mother, Mary) wrote in her book Boots on the Ground by Dusk, “McChrystal got away with it because he was the golden boy of Rumsfeld and Bush, who loved his willingness to get things done, even if it included bending the rules or skipping the chain of command.” (p. 96)

There was also a scandal at Camp Mana in Iraq that echoed the prisoner abuses in Abu Ghraib, which occurred two years later, in 2006.

When comparing McChrystal to General Petraeus, who has now replaced him (and is 1 for 1 in having completed Iraq and gotten us through it), “Where General Petraeus is kind of a dweeb, a teacher’s pet with a Ranger’s tab, McChrystal is a snake-eating rebel, a Jedi commander…He speaks his mind with a candor rare for a high-ranking official.” (p. 96) Either McChrystal or Team McChrystal talked s*** about Obama’s top people, including Jim Jones, who was called ‘a clown stuck in 1985, and the U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, as well as Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban. Quote: “The Boss (McChrystal) says he’s like a wounded animal. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he’s going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He’s a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN, and you can’t just have someone yanking on s***.”

He is also a Jedi commander (a term Newsweek coined) who vigorously supported the COIN counterinsurgency strategy, a doctrine attempting to square the military’s preference for high-tech violence with the demands of fighting long, drawn-out wars in failed states. With cultish zeal, the “COINdinistas believe that this strategy would be the solution for Afghanistan if they could just get a general with enough charisma and political savvy to implement it. 

It does not appear that McChrystal is going to be that general. He got off to a notoriously weak start with Obama, complaining that Obama didn’t have a clue about what his credentials for the job were, and, as he put it, “I found that time painful. I was selling an unsellable position,” to Beltway Insiders like VP Joe Biden. 

Biden, who does like to talk, is said to have taken the position that “a prolonged counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan would plunge America into a military quagmire without weakening international terrorist networks.” In other words, Biden, who is demeaned by McChrystal’s men as “Joe Bite Me!” just might be on to something. As, too, might Douglas Macgregor, who attended West Point with McChrystal and said, “The entire COIN strategy is a fraud perpetuated on the American people.  The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense.” This from a man who went to West Point with McChrystal where he graduated 298^th out of 855 and was once found passed out in the shower, drunk. Even McChrystal’s own wife of 33 years said, in the story, “Even as a young officer he seemed to know what he wanted to do.  I don’t think his personality has changed in all these years.” And his personality, as described in the magazine, is that of a highly intelligent badass who wanted to transform systems he considered outdated and was “open to new ways of killing.” A former Special Forces operative who disliked McChrystal’s directives about “courageous restraint” in not killing innocent civilians said, “I would love to kick McChrystal in the nuts.  His rules of engagement put soldiers’ lives in even greater danger. Every real soldier will tell you the same thing, bottom line.” (p. 97) A three-tour man named Hicks says, “F***! When I came over here and heard that McChrystal was in charge, I thought we would get our f****** guns on. I get COIN. I Get all that. But we’re losing this thing.”

A senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation who served as a political adviser to U.S. commanders in Iraq in 2006, “They (the administration) are trying to manipulate perceptions because there is no definition of victory—because victory is not even defined or recognizable. That’s the game we’re in right now. What we need, for strategic purposes, is to create the perception that we didn’t get run off.  The facts on the ground are not great, and are not going to become great in the near future.” (p. 121) The article quotes those closest to McChrystal as saying that ‘the rising anti-war sentiment at home doesn’t begin to reflect how deeply f***** up things are in Afghanistan If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular.” (p. 121) 

Then there is a mention of how, “There’s a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer if we see success here,” from a senior military officer in Kabul. (p. 121). Yet, in its closing paragraphs, the controversial article on General McChrystal that caused Obama to show him the door and send him to Tampa, Florida says, “Whatever the nature of the new plan, the delay underscores the fundamental flaws of counterinsurgency.  After 9 years of war, the Taliban simply remains too strongly entrenched for the U.S. military to openly attack.  The very people that COIN seeks to win over, the Afghan people, do not want us there.  Our supposed ally, President Karzai, used his influence to delay the offensive, and the massive influx of aid championed by McChrystal is likely only to make things worse.” (p. 121) Not encouraging. Not encouraging at all.

And, in one of the article’s final paragraphs on page 121, Andrew Wilder, an expert at Tufts University who has studied the effect of aid in southern Afghanistan says, “Throwing money at the problem exacerbates the problem…So far, counterinsurgency has succeeded only in creating a never-ending demand for the primary product supplied by the military: perpetual war.” 

Last line? 

“Winning, it would seem, is not really possible. Not even with Stanley McChrystal in charge.” 

And, for my final line, not even with General Petraeus (now) in charge.

President Barack Obama traveled to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today (April 15, 2010) and addressed the scientists, engineers, astronauts and others gathered at NASA about his goals for the space program of the future.

Noted Obama,”It was here that NASA lunched Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the Hubbell Telescope.” Obama, reminisced about being held on his grandfather’s shoulders in 1961 in Hawaii to observe the return of astronauts from space. He said, “I have been part of that generation inspired by the space program…As president, I believe that space exploration is an essential part of our nation.  So, today, I’d like to talk about a new chapter in space exploration.”

BACKGROUND OF SPACE RACE
Recapping history and the space race we ran with Russia back in the day, Obama tried to explain that we are no longer in the position that our cold war with Russia put us in back in 1957 and beyond.  He did not, however, repudiate the space program, but, instead, repeated his commitment to NASA, pointing out that it was Bush the younger, 8 years ago, who decreed that the next 3 launches of the Challenger will be its last, due to cost constraints. That was not Obama’s decision, but George W. Bush’s.

Obama said, “I am 100% committed to the mission of NASA and its future. Because, if we fail to press forward we are ceding our imperative to press forward, and that’s part of our national character.”

Obama also went on to say, “People, for years, have neglected NASA’s mission.” He cited a reluctance to set objectives and to allocate funds and said, “All that has to change.” Therefore, Obama announced that, at a time when budgetary constraints are causing most programs to be cut or frozen, the budget for space exploration would increase by $6 billion dollars over the next 5 years. He went on to say, “NASA’s budget has risen and fallen with the political winds,” a practice which he decried.

NEW INITIATIVES

Some of the initiatives that Obama announced for NASA included ramping up robotic exploration of space, going to Mars, launching a successor to the Hubbell Telescope and extending the life of the International Space Station.  The president announced that, at a time of freezes, NASA must work hand-in-hand with an array of private sector corporations and said, “NASA has always worked well with the private sector.” Obama said that, with new companies competing, the pace could be accelerated and that “we must build on the good work already done on the Orion endeavor.  Orion will be readied for flight right here in this room.”

Another pledge was $3 billion for research to develop a new vehicle to reach deep space.  He announced the plan to “finalize a rocket design no later than 2015 and then begin to build it.” This is at least 2 years earlier than previous plans, Obama noted. He announced that research should be made into ways to live and work in space for longer periods of time.

Said the president, “These are the questions that we can and will answer. We will not just continue on the same path, but leap into the future.”  He referred to these goals as “transformative strategies.” Noting that the Constellation program was not fulfilling its goals, he declared that the administration would take a look at it and try to improve it, but repeated, “Nobody is more committed to manned space flight, to human exploration of space, than I am.” He pledged, “We will actually reach space sooner and more often,” with the partnership between NASA and the private sector. “We will send many more astronauts into space over the next decade.”

Obama pledged to invest in groundbreaking research, to set a course with achievable milestones.  “By 2025, the first ever missions beyond the moon and into deep space” will take place. He mentioned potentially visiting an asteroid.  By the mid 2030’s he said that the United States will journey to Mars and back and noted, “And I expect to be around to see it.”

Been There/Done That:

Obama downplayed the idea of going back to the moon, saying, “Some say, moon first. We’ve been there before.” He pledged, instead, that the development of deep-space propulsion systems would be critical to the space program he supports. In poo-poohing a return to the moon, he said, “I believe it’s much more important to ramp up, and that’s how we’ll insure that our exploration will be much more in the next century than it was in the last.”

Jobs Creation for Space Exploration:

Obama pledged, 2,500 jobs along the space coast, more than under his predecessor, George W. Bush. He furthermore pledged to modernize the Kennedy Space Center. Third on his list was the promise of (potentially) 10,000 more jobs in the private sector that would be allied with the government’s space program. He did note, “Some will see their jobs end (a decision made 8 years ago) when the Constellation program comes to an end, but I have directed a $40 million initiative to develop a plan for regular job growth to be on my desk by August 15^th of this year.”

THE NEXT CHAPTER IN SPACE EXPLORATION

Said Obama, “So this is the next chapter that we can reach together, right here at NASA.” He encouraged a “step-by-step push of the boundaries.” He urged a push for ways for people to live in space, calling it “humanity’s role in space.”

To the rhetorical question, “Why spend money on NASA, on space exploration, at all?” Obama answered:  “You and I know this is a false choice.  For pennies on the dollar, space exploration has inspired generations of Americans, creating jobs, etc….I want to say clearly that is exactly why it is important that we push limits,” but he urged “clear aims” and “a larger purpose.”

Obama called the moon landing achieved under President John F. Kennedy in 1969 “one of the greatest achievements in human history.”

BEGINNING OR ENDING?

He added, “Is this a beginning or an ending of the space program? I choose to believe that this is the beginning of something, not the end of something.” He repeated that the race into space helped define the United States and  that the decision to retire the space shuttle after 3 more missions was made by “W” some time ago.

I watched the live speech on the Fox news channel, and I expected to hear derision and nay saying after the inspiring speech. The paid talking head was remarkably positive towards the president’s message. However, the  “expert” that Fox hired to be interviewed (Homer Hickam, supposedly a former NASA engineer),  upheld Fox’s anti-Obama bias almost to the point of being ludicrous and laughable. Hickam said, “If you want to talk about dinosaur bones, I’m your man” as the segment wound down, which had little or nothing to do with the issue of Obama’s speech on space exploration.

Hickam’s comments included these: “I just hope the people in charge don’t mess it up so bad that we can’t fix it.” (Oh. You mean like Bush did for 8 years? We’re all familiar with that strategy.)

He claimed that Obama has “a bad team” in John Holderin, his space expert. (I was tempted to ask, “There are worse team than those assembled by “W” when in office, including Brownie and Rumsfeld?) Hickam added, “They don’t have the ability to organize a Boy Scouts’ Jamboree,” which seemed, even for Fox, to be  hyperbole. After the additional comment that, “I think the people he’s got in charge don’t have a clue,” the Hickam person held up his handheld GPS, his cell phone ( he would have held up a microwave and a flat screen televison, if he had been given more time and ones that were small enough), claiming that all of these developments came to us courtesy of NASA.

Hickam  said, “That GPS saved my life when I was out there in the desert looking for dinosaur bones” (?) and went off on a conversational tangent about dinosaur bones. I am unsure where this so-called “expert” came from or under what conditions he left NASA, but the Obama speech was really inspiring and, in direct contradiction of Hickam’s later accusation that it was “so vague,” the speech set actual deadlines for many of these space initiatives, which is something I do not remember hearing from any president since JFK. Four of them are mentioned in the paragraphs above. The speech was interrupted  by spontaneous applause by the NASA scientists and engineers on several occasions.

I spent 3 weeks in Florida in January and February. NASA workers there were understandably concerned about their futures.  This speech went a long way towards reassuring top-notch current NASA workers (Homer Hickam is not among that group).  After this speech, they should feel more reassured that their jobs are not going away. This will help prevent a brain drain of our top researchers.  Obama’s commitment to the cause of space exploration, just as his commitment to passing a health care bill, seemed real and genuine during today’s speech.

Don Blackford,, Federal Government Employee from Omaha (originally from Logan, Iowa): “I’m just here for the Constitution…what is right…what is wrong…” The protester below stood outside the University of Iowa Fieldhouse with his sign, which correlates with the fact that 13 states are attempting to sue to stop the new Health Care bill.

Judy Holle of Davenport, Iowa, an Obama supporter, wears a shirt that says, “I voted for Obama and all I got was this historic victory on health care.” On the back of the shirt was a message supportive of cancer survivors.

President Barack Obama addressed the National Prayer Breakfast at the Hilton in Washington, D.C. today, February 4, 2010. His remarks on civility are worth repeating, although I am only sharing excerpts, with commentary. . The entire transcript appeared in the Washington Post under the title “Politics and Policy in Washington” in an online posting made at 10:55 a.m. on Thursday (Feb. 4, 2010).

After the normal “welcomes” and reference to how “prayer can bring sustenance to our lives” Obama said, “But there is a sense that something is different now; that something is broken; that those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should. At times, it seems like we’re unable to listen to one another, to have at once a serious and civil debate.  And this erosion of civility in the public square sows division and distrust among our citizens.  It poisons the well of public opinion.  It leaves each side little room to negotiate with the other.  It makes politics an all-or-nothing sport, where one side is either always right or always wrong when, in reality, neither side has a monopoly on truth…Empowered by faith, consistently, prayerfully, we need to find our way back to civility.”

Obama went on, “Civility also requires relearning how to disagree without being disagreeable…We forget that we share at some deep level the same dreams—even when we don’t share the same plans on how to fulfill them.”  The president urged a way “to make an impact in a way that’s civil and respectful of difference and focused on what matters most.

Obama quoted three great leaders in making his point(s) on civility:

1)      Abraham Lincoln, who said, on the eve of the Civil War, “We are not enemies, but friends.  Though passions may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”

2)      Martin Luther King:  “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

3)      President John F. Kennedy: “Civility is not a sign of weakness.”

Obama said, “But progress doesn’t come when we demonize opponents.  It’s not born in righteous spite.” He added, “It seems like the very idea (of civility) is a relic of some bygone era.  The word itself seems quaint—civility.”

All of the above excerpts from our president’s February 4^th speech are so true and so sad. I have bold-faced the last line, because I think that President Obama may not realize how true it is: civility and politeness are, indeed, values no longer abroad in the land. Civility is a quaint word and a quaint concept in 2010.

It seems that only the older generation—those who grew up in the age of Truman and Eisenhower or before— have even a dim memory of how it used to be in society.  Children were taught to be polite; rudeness towards one’s parents, peers or teachers was not tolerated. The longshoreman language we hear spouted by even first-grade students in schools was non-existent in those “happy days.”

In today’s schools at every level, teachers are lucky if they are merely called profane names. Educators are fortunate if they are only assaulted with idle threats and profane insults when things don’t go the students’ way.  The teacher is no longer always right. Mom and Dad—if there is one— (and, often, the administration of the school) will very often side with Junior and undercut attempts at enforcing standards of civility and polite discourse. In some noteworthy cases, Junior may become violent, a threat to himself, his teachers, and his classmates. These outbursts, this impolite, dangerous behavior did not happen in the days of civility and polite discourse.

Not just schools and government, but all of our institutions are under attack; none of our institutions are totally trusted any longer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fireman, a policeman, a teacher or a politician. Whatever form of authority you represent, even if it is simply the owner of a store, handling customer complaints is a nightmare in this age of out-of-control anger and uncivil behavior.

What was most telling, for me, about President Obama’s eloquent words, were the three quotes he selected to illustrate his very valid points about civility in 2010. Obama quoted John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the martyred president of Camelot lost; Martin Luther King, Jr., the murdered Civil Rights leader who preached nonviolence to his followers; and Abraham Lincoln, whose enemies chose to still that Illinois president’s voice of reason with a bullet to the brain

I found the words of President Obama’s speech true and moving.

However, I fear that he is pleading for something that is perhaps gone forever, like the dinosaur, or, if not gone, in very short supply.  Quoting three murdered leaders only makes me fear more for our president and for our country, which so badly needs polite and civil discourse and both sides working together in civil harmony, rather than radical rants and unreasonable stone-walling.

Something is broken, Mr. President, not just in Washington, D.C., but also in the United States of America. Can chaos give way to order? Can the bell of rude behavior be unrung when it’s been pealing for decades?

Many things are definitely broken in America. I wonder if they can be fixed?

Today’s big gaffe by the Obama administration was made by Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood—-coincidentally, my former neighbor in East Moline, Illinois, and a great guy (also, a Republican, most recently residing in Peoria, Illinois and representing that district in Illinois before his decision to retire.)

Ray was testifying before Congress about the sticking pedal on certain Toyota models, a number of which have been recalled by the company for fixing. The problem seemed to be that Ray was not speaking officially…or he didn’t think that he was, at the time he was testifying…but the man-in-the-street heard Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation, telling them to quit driving their Toyotas and drive immediately to the nearest Toyota dealership for a fix of the problem. (Oh, oh.)

In Ray’s defense, he corrected himself within 2 hours and admitted he had “misspoken,” but the harm was done. In Florida, where I am now, various channels had Floridians from all walks of life saying things like, “How will I get home from work?” (I’m not making this up, Folks. One of the interview subjects actually told the reporter this, with a very worried look.)

I am the proud owner of 2 Toyota Prius vehicles (I’ve written on this subject on AC before). I also owned a third, which is now in my son’s possession in Chicago. Of course, currently I’m not in Illinois, where my green Prius (the grasshopper) is sitting in the garage, waiting for me to make the final five payments to say that I own it. But I can assure you that I would not be panicking at the thought of driving that car home from work (if I had work to drive home from, that is.)

I read, elsewhere, that the co-founder of Apple says that his Prius will automatically escalate up to 97 mph when he uses his cruise control. [My answer to that would be, “Don’t use the cruise control.”]

Where has common sense gone in all the hoopla over the really unfortunate, although isolated, incidents involving (some) Toyota vehicles? The Lexus accident that precipitated the recall (of floor mats, initially) was truly horrifying, and it did take an inordinate amount of time for Toyota to own up to the fact that there was something going on with their vehicles, but things seem to be getting out of hand.

As I type this, I’m watching a satirical take-off on “American Idol’s” auditions on Jimmy Kimmel.  I watched the young man talk about how his father was eaten by an alligator (leg shown sticking out of alligator’s mouth) and, on the way home from the funeral service, someone threw a bucket at his mother from a bridge overpass as she drove underneath in a convertible. She had to be buried with the bucket on her head. (Okay…questionable taste and graphic there, but it was Jimmy Kimmel, not me.)

Given the panic that a simple misstatement by our current Secretary of Transportation (Ray LaHood) caused on February 3^rd after his inadvertent remark before Congress, the Toyota Tempest caused by Ray’s remark today (not the need for a fix for a real problem, but the foot-in-mouth comment) is ripe for a “Saturday Night Live” skit. I can see it now:

First, a shot of LaHood telling people not to drive their Toyota vehicles, but to take them immediately to dealerships.

Next, a shot of hordes of screaming villagers jamming the entrances to Toyota dealerships, nationwide, demanding the chip or floor mat or whatever it is that is supposed to end this madness, and demanding it RIGHT NOW! Maybe some of them could be carrying torches. Or, failing that, discarded rubber floor mats.

Next, a scene depicting those wusses who are still at work as the hour grows late, sitting there staring timidly at their parked Toyota vehicles but too afraid to climb in and drive 3 blocks home.

I’m obviously watching too much television while on vacation in the Sunshine State, where a shark ate a surfer today. (New Smyrna Beach is “the shark bite capital of the United States.”) To quote David Letterman, “Hep me! Hep me! I been hip-no-tized!”  watching this Toyota Tempest play out on television.

 And, Ray: I mean no disrespect. You’re doing a great job. Just get us that railroad paralleling I-80 (Chicago to the Quad Cities to Des Moines) and all is forgiven. I’ll even ask “Saturday Night Live” to call off the skit.