Election Musings

We're well into the 2006 election season and the political commercials are in heavy rotation. Just a few observations and amplifications:

Aaron Schock - Please, the next time you film a television campaign commercial, please shave with a sharper razor. The faint, 5 o'clock shadow you have in current ads do not make you look more older and distinguished. It make you look more like a slob.

Blagojevich vs. Topinka - The mudslinging is heaviest here. Blago started last spring from the get go. Most politicians start mudslinging when they feel threatened.

In one of the Blagojevich ads, it claims that Topinka wants to cut health care spending to somewhere around $2.5 billion (if I remember correctly) and would hurt nursing homes and children. Huh?! Gov. Blagojevich has already held up payments to various Illinois health care outlets for several months. Still, children, nursing homes and other health care providers are not being paid; what's the difference?

In another Blago ad, he talks about how bad the deficits of the George Ryan administration was and how Topinka as treasurer "did not speak up or raise a finger." But the past few years she has been critical of Gov. Blagojevich. As Blago goes on, he ends the ad by saying that "we cannot go back to that." Hold on a minute. There were also deficits during the Blagojevich years. Topinka is speaking up about it. It doesn't sound like she's "going back to that." She's speaking up like Blago said she should have, or is it the other way now?

Judy Barr Topinka is finally firing back with ads against Blago, stating "Had Enough". One particular 15-second ad compares Gov. Blagojevich alleged wrongdoings, which is currently being investigated, to former governor Ryan. This is a bit odd as she is casting her opponent with a fellow Republican.

Ads from both campaigns don't flat out lie, but can be woefully misleading and do not give adequate details. For example, Blago's ad calls Topinka "George Ryan's treasurer." She is also the current treasurer under Gov. Blagojevich; so isn't she also Rod Blagojevich's treasurer?

Topinka's campaign is luke warm compared to Blagojevich's. But then again, Chicago Rod has a few more bucks in the campaign warchest.

Mike Smith - I think these are the most positive and redeeming ads currently out there. Is there even anyone running against Mr. Smith?

Ernie Russell - Mostly positive and no mudslinging, but not as well produced as the ads for Mike Smith. I used to think Dave Koelher had this election wrapped up, but now I'm starting to wonder. I've seen far more ads for Mr. Russell than for Mr. Koelher. Time will tell.

Common Sense of it All: Politics is one dirty business.

Target Peoria A Bust?

I didn't have a chance to see the broadcast of "Target Peoria" the other night, but from the comments of bloggers and others I've talked to, it sounds like it turned out to be what I expected: a lot of talk and nothing new. It almost looks like it was organized to, in some way, show that Mayor Ardis and others are doing something about the crime problem in Peoria. I sincerely hope that this event was to educate people and get momentum going to combat crime in Peoria.

I have to give credit to some for the effort. LaVetta Ricca for standing up for her own, and Peoria's other neighborhoods and Peoria's television stations for sacrificing prime time television for the event (it would be interesting to see if this took place a week or two later when season premieres would air).

And while on the topic of crime, Jennifer Davis has a story in today's Peoria Journal Star regarding a parental responsibility law. This law would make parents of juveniles responsible in some capacity for any crimes they commit. Many of the details would need to be worked out on this type of law, but Ms. Davis reports that many of Peoria's City Council approve of the idea in one form or another.

The one councilman who opposed the idea was Eric Turner, who himself was raised by a struggling single mother in subsidized housing. Turner fears that punishing struggling, working poor parents will only exacerbate the problem. Makes you wonder what trouble Mr. Turner was getting into in his youth. If the kids don't commit crimes and stay out of trouble, these parents shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Common Sense of it All: I hope we are turning the corner against crime in Peoria, though it may be a slow turn. The parental responsibility law I think has a lot of merit, provided it is for real crimes committed by minors and not simple mischief that kids will always get into. A lot of the problems with crimes, and more and more from grade school kids, start in the home. If parents would do their job and instill honest values and teach the difference of right from wrong, a lot of these crimes can be prevented.

Proposed Museum Still Without A Name

As reported in today's Peoria Journal Star by Angela Green, the proposed regional museum to be built on the former Sears block remains without of name, despite hundreds, maybe thousands of votes. Public voting on a name ended Wednesday, September 13th, in which the 4 choices to choose from were incredibly bad. The voting process supplied even more sarcastic name ideas:

Those choices spurred the public to submit more than 150 alternatives, names that ranged from the "Not Sears Museum" to "Pelican Flyaway," "Lincolnland Learning Center," "People's Palace" and "Kaleidoscope," said Kathleen Woith, vice president of communications for Lakeview, one of the partners in the proposed $65 million regional riverfront museum.

Whether they loved them or hated them, the public's passionate response to the original names was "very gratifying," she said.

Common Sense of it All: Good grief! This goes to show you that, along with the lack of donation of funds, not many people care about the construction of this museum. Kathleen Woith goes on about the "public's passionate response" about whether they loved the names or hated them. I'm guessing about 95% of the public hated them.

See How You Like It

This is *so* typical between liberals and conservatives.

Remember a couple of years back, a TV-movie was to air on CBS about the Reagan administration? It starred James Brolin, who is well known as a political liberal, as Ronald Reagan. Supposedly, this film detailed many accounts to which the Reagan administration and other conservatives claim never happened.

According to a post I read at MSNBC by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, details an upcoming TV-movie to be aired on ABC called "The Path to 9/11." It is to be a "docu-drama" that shows the Clinton administration in a bad light and underminding attempts in trying to capture and/or kill Osama bin Laden. It reports that the Clinton administration is taking preemptive measures against the film and ABC, stating that many of the scenes are made up. The movie is to run disclaimers that the film is based upon events leading up to 9/11 and that it is a "dramatization and not a documentary."

Actually, I think both films are deplorable. Even though disclaimers are ran, it will still confuse many to the real truths of the story, which is essentially our history. In this latest spin from the liberals and Democrats, it shows that it is ok to distort the history of Ronald Reagan's time in office, but it's not ok to degrade Bill Clinton's time in office. Either way, a reflection of US History is getting distorted. And our history and facts are the innocent bystanders between the battle between liberals and conservatives.

In hindsight, Clinton probably could have done more to capture bin Laden. He has even publicly stated after 9/11 that he wished he had done more to capture him. But if the opportunity was really there, I think they would have taken it.

Remember in October of 2000 when the USS Cole was attacked. Instead of staying at the White House and planning a response to the attack, Clinton was out travelling the country saying goodbye to his constituants. I believe he sincerely now thinks he should have done things differently because no one at the time probably thought bin Laden was capable of pulling off 9/11.

Common Sense of it All: Most movies coming out of Hollywood today that have a story of our our history books are not accurate, factual films. It's no wonder our kids today don't know any of our history.