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I came up with this addition to Will's Dictionary when thinking of a name for my trivia team last night. We had a great time and helped raise money for Springfield's Phoenix center.
High Fructose Cornholio: A state of hyperactivity triggered by consumption of high-fructose corn syrup. It replaces the term "sugar high" as high-fructose corn syrup has become an omnipresent substitute found in most processed foods.
I've had a few people disagree with me pretty strongly over some of the positive things I've written about high speed rail. Far more people have let me know that they disagree with 10th street corridor consolidation, which shatters the illusion that Springfield is "united" on the issue. The city's political and business establishment who you're likely to see at a Chamber of Commerce function are united. The public is not.
What bothers me is how over the top the criticism of high speed rail became as people advocated for 10th street consolidation. For example, one consolidation advocate wrote: "Our two main industries for future growth are tourism and health care, and both would be decimated by the current proposal."
This is ridiculous. High speed passenger rail will bring more tourist traffic to Springfield. In fact, the 3rd street corridor is closer to most downtown tourist destinations and retail businesses that will benefit from additional foot traffic. It's a much more pedestrian friendly location than the proposed 10th street multimodal facility, next to the rehab centers and homeless shelters. There are problems with the overpasses proposed by Union Pacific but Springfield has the right to present its own mitigation plan at any time.
It's still possible that the 3rd street corridor will be Springfield's only option if we want high speed passenger trains. What I've tried to do with my blog is bring some perspective to the debate and point out that there are benefits to high speed rail, no matter which corridor it's located on. The local press is starting to do a better job of bringing more balance to the issue, at least in small ways.
The State Journal-Register published an article about more Springfield area residents using buses and trains over the last several years. That's pretty impressive considering how limited our public transit options are.
The only disappointing part is the somewhat dismissive tone the regional planning director takes toward the trend, which is happening all over the nation. People with cars will use good public transportation if they're given the option and that trend is only going to increase over the next decade. Local leaders need to adjust to the reality that people no longer want cities designed exclusively for auto traffic.
A Chicago Sun-Times story covers a report that shows living near good public transportation reduces the chance of home foreclosure. This should be of special interest to Springfield's Enos Park neighborhood, which is closer to the 3rd street corridor, and is going through a revitalization effort.
Researchers looked at mortgage defaults in three cities and found something curious -- the chance of foreclosure is higher in neighborhoods more dependent on cars, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which included data from Chicago's Center for Neighborhood Technology. The report examined 40,000 mortgages in Chicago, Jacksonville and San Francisco.
Imagine living in Springfield, working a wage job, and having your car break down. Of course, you don't have the money for repairs right away. Maybe the bus routes don't go to your job, or they don't stop there for the night shift. Maybe you miss the bus once or twice and your ride doesn't show. Then you get fired for being late and missing shifts. Then you can't find a new job in walking or biking distance. Then you start falling behind on mortgage payments.
That's the real world for a lot of people. Good public transportation makes a big difference.
The coal industry loves to talk about China building new coal plants, but you don't often hear that they're ahead of us on high speed rail. A story I spotted today claims that China plans to have 42 high-speed rail routes online by 2012. Two new lines have had massive ridership since opening and are reducing congestion on roads. One new line, has had 2.32 million people ride since it opened two months ago on Dec. 26, 2009.
Finally, I'll copy a recent letter to the editor. Sorry for not linking to it but it's difficult when the SJ-R forces me to also link to their out-of-control comment section.
High-speed rail could jump-start local economyI disagree with the idea that the high-speed rail plan won’t help Illinois, as a letter writer wrote recently. Thousands of people will go to work on engineering, upgrading existing track and building new infrastructure along the line.
I think more tourists would come to Springfield if taking high-speed rail was an option. That’s great news for the Abraham Lincoln Museum, historic sites and the state fair. Plus, the more people there are who take the train, the fewer people there are causing congestion on our highways.
The writer argues that people in Washington aren’t in touch with what we need at the local level. That may be the case on some issues, but not on this one.
What we need is jobs to jump-start our economy, plain and simple. High-speed rail promises to create plenty of jobs right here in Springfield very quickly. That strikes me as cause to celebrate, not reason to complain.
Allan Lauher
President
Central Illinois Building
and Construction Trades Council
Jeff Biggers' latest column on Huffington Post mentions his stop in Springfield.
At a meeting in Springfield, Illinois last week, I stood and watched farmers weep, recounting the loss of their beloved lands and farms--and their health--to strip-mining and longwall mining, and the unregulated dumping of coal slurry and waste in their aquifers.This was the message I received from this crowd of Americans on the frontlines of the coalfields:
"We don't need no stinkin' coal mining jobs. We want our fair share of the clean energy investment funds and green jobs. We want a just transition for the small ranks of coal miners and our boarded-up coal mining communities, who continue to live in some of the poorest areas in the nation, despite the billions of dollars of wealth that has been mined and hauled away. And after 200 years of shouldering the burden of our country's boom-bust coal cycles, we'd like to develop a sustainable economy."
As some Midwestern Democrats turn their backs on the reality of climate destabilization and petitioning the EPA to lower greenhouse gases limits, their coalfield districts are literally burning--or sinking or getting stripped into despair.
Every time the local Sierra Club holds a meeting on coal mining or agriculture it attracts at least a few farmers or coal miners. I'm always encouraged to see people who don't fit the tree-hugger stereotype. It's pretty obvious that talk-radio conservatives play up cultural stereotypes about environmentalists just to keep people with common interests from working together. How sad that people feel like they have to say they aren't environmentalists just because they don't want anyone to think they're moving to California to live in a tree.
About two dozen people came to hear Jeff Biggers read from his new book in Springfield Thursday night. I'm happy with the good turnout considering the lack of press coverage. The crowd included Springfield residents along with people living in rural areas impacted by longwall mining.
Mountaintop removal mining is justifiably getting a lot of attention. It's an irreversible disaster that will shame the energy industry for generations. But, sometimes it's frustrating how little attention is focused on problems with modern mining in Illinois.
That's what makes Reckoning at Eagle Creek so refreshing and essential. It tells the ugly side of the Illinois coal industry's past and present that's talked about quietly now and then, but rarely breaks through the industry's dominance of politicians and press. It's exciting for people like me whose ancestors mined Illinois coalfields.
Besides being an entertaining writer, Biggers' is an exciting storyteller. He retold a story in his book about company executives taking young state Senator Barack Obama golfing in Southern Illinois to sell the myth of clean coal. He admits that mine employment peaked in the 1920's and only employs about 3,000 Illinois miners today. He doesn't hide the fact that mining rights are owned by Chicago investors who keep Southern Illinois as a poor vassal to Chicago's energy needs.
Biggers has been working on Appalachian coal issues for years. He told me after the reading that he's going to put more focus on his home state of Illinois. That's good news when even the owners of media outlets are joining the FutureGen alliance. We need more courageous truth-tellers.
If you missed him this time I'm sure you'll get another chance to hear Jeff Biggers in Springfield. He does a Peoria reading on February 21, and Carbondale on March 6. Check here for details. You can also follow his articles on Huffington Post.
I have to respect anyone with the guts to speak out about the coal industry in Kentucky. Jeff Biggers posted three videos on his blog of former Kentucky miners talking about the damage done by modern mining.
They're all worth watching but I liked that this video pointed out that mining has been going on in the region for many years. It's the new mining methods that threaten to destroy the landscape and the future of the region like never before. This isn't your grandfather's coal mine.
The coal industry is doing their best to convince us that proposed gasification and carbon capture plants will be clean. But their new mining methods do more damage and employ fewer workers than ever.
Kentucky is facing the same issues as Illinois. The promoters of area coal gasification plants brag that they'll use Illinois coal. But they don't mention the expansion of destructive longwall mining. What will rural central Illinois do when the coal companies leave town and they've destroyed the farmland that sustained the regional economy for over 100 years?
Springfield doesn't get many chances to hear straight talk about the coal industry, but that's what you'll get from author Jeff Biggers this Thursday, 2/18, 7:00pm, City Nights Theater at Capital City Bar & Grill, 3149 S. Dirksen Pkwy, Springfield. It's part of a tour to promote his new book, "Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland."
The Daily Iowan published a review today.
Investigative journalist Jeff Biggers is not a big fan of coal. Having his family’s ancestral home of Eagle Creek, Ill., razed to make way for coal production, Biggers found no other way to illustrate his frustration than to do what he does best — tell the story.Biggers has written three critically acclaimed books, and his latest memoir, Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Midwest, reveals not only the dirty past of coal mining but also the story of his family...
A mix of part-memoir, part-investigative history, Reckoning at Eagle Creek takes a look back at 200 years of exploitation, slavery, and economic devastation. Biggers concludes that the myth of clean coal as a renewable energy is just that, a myth.
“Essentially from the cradle to the grave, coal is dirty,” he said.
If you've known me for a while you may remember that I started this blog to promote my campaign for county board. I'm not running for county board again but there's still a need for balance in county government. Out of 29 county board representatives, only four are Democrats. We essentially have a one party system.
During my run, I realized that most people have no idea what the county board is up to. That's how the board likes it. With the exception of a few select issues they bring to public attention, they generally operate quietly under the radar. The local press doesn't watchdog county government with the same aggressiveness they have for city politics. That's a recipe for bad government, no matter who's in charge.
The example I raised in my race was the selection of the Populex voting machines, which failed to meet requirements for state certification. A committee of political insiders met for months with no news coverage and no input from the general public until after their decision was made. Republican leaders repeatedly showed condescending contempt for anyone who questioned their decisions. After wasting millions on Populex machines, and then spending more on leasing replacement machines we eventually had to buy, the county finally gave up on the Populex disaster.
Oddly enough, the owner of the Populex company and the head of the voting system selection committee were both political appointees in the Edgar administration. If we had more balance and oversight on the county board, then maybe you wouldn't have to read my blog to find out more about major scandals like this one. It's time to get more Democrats on the county board.
The fundraiser for Democratic County Board candidates is this Tuesday, February 16, at the Plumbers & Steamfitters Hall on 2880 East Cook Street from 5:30p - 7:00p. Any donation level will be accepted. You can make all checks payable to the West Side Democrat Club and bring them with you to the fundraiser. Or if you can't attend you can mail donations to the West Side Democratic Club @ 72 Archer Ave, Springfield, IL 62704.
After spending several days complaining that the only way to be informed is through the alternative press and going online, I got an email about former Springfield reporter R. L. Nave becoming editor of the revived FOCUS/Midwest. Cool!
The future of good reporting will come from outlets who remember that readers will follow quality content, not companies who see reporters as an expense to cut. Progress Illinois, CapitolFax, and Illinois Issues are how I stay informed about state politics. I'll add FOCUS/Midwest to the list, but hopefully Ryan can talk them into spicing up their homepage.
I've often said that someone should make a big-budget Hollywood drama about Bayard Rustin. I can hardly imagine what his life must have been like.
He was one of the most important leaders of the civil rights movement and the principle organizer of the march on Washington. There's a reason most people have never heard of him. His choice to live openly about his homosexuality in the 1950's and his past affiliation with the Young Communist League kept him in the background of the movement. He remained controversial throughout his life and was promoting the future of democratic elections in Haiti shortly before he died. There's no reason to keep him in the background any longer.
Until someone makes that Hollywood drama, there's an excellent documentary which will be shown for Black History Month at the next Liberty Brew & View. The free screening of Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin happens Tuesday, February 16, 7:00pm, at City Nights Theater in Capital City Bar & Grill. As always, you can order food or drinks while you see the movie.
I've seen fingers pointed at the other candidates in the Lt. Governor's race for not saying something about Scott Lee Cohen. Mark Brown includes it as an excuse in his column titled "Voters can't say they weren't warned."
Some hoped I would remind voters about Cohen's arrest, but I thought that if his opponents or the candidates for governor believed it was important, they should make it an issue themselves.
It's great that Brown wrote about Cohen twice. But, that's not an excuse for the rest of the press and it's not even an excuse for his own Sun-Times. Their regular news articles ignored Cohen's scandalous past. They also failed to mention it when explaining their endorsements in the election. I hate to be the one to tell Brown this, but not every primary voter in the state reads his column.
The press should apologize because Cohen's past is merely one of may issues they ignored in their half-assed coverage of the election. They wrote very little about any of the Lt. Governor candidates or the office's role overseeing the Illinois River Coordinating Council, the Rural Affairs Council and the initiatives Quinn advanced.
Their uncritical endorsement of Art Turner suggests that neither the Sun-Times nor the Tribune bothered to look online at his spending in previous elections. I would think it's newsworthy when a candidate spends tens of thousands on himself and family members for "cash" and miscellaneous personal expenses.
What good are sunshine laws when the press ignore controversial spending? Maybe they were waiting for Republicans to bring it up in the general election.
This isn't about one candidate. It's one more example of a news business that would rather charge candidates for advertising than invest resources in decent election coverage.
I already wrote a little about the news media's failure to do their job covering the Lt. Governor's race, or any down-ballot race, for that matter. But the press' attempts at apology are just ticking me off even more.
Let's take the "mea culpa" from the Beacon News. First they start of with this spurious claim: "We here in the media -- in spite of all our crusading, editorializing and watchdog reporting -- blew it big time by letting a pretty important race fall through the cracks on Tuesday."
Watchdog reporting? I haven't seen the consolidated big-box press do much watchdog reporting since at least 9/10/01. We know they weren't on the job leading up to the Iraq War or for the first 7 1/2 years of the Bush administration. They also could have investigated and told us more about Blagojevich much sooner than they did instead of waiting for his arrest. Most of the investigative journalism I see is from blogs, non-profit news outlets, and the alternative press.
I did see plenty of coverage about who was leading in the polls for Governor and US Senate. Attention editors: Doing three days of stories on a poll you commissioned isn't real news. It's lazy crap.
The Beacon gets better.
Scott Lee Cohen, a pawnbroker with a GED who was arrested for allegedly beating up his prostitute girlfriend a few years ago, is now sitting in the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket.And his opponent on the Republican side? A kid from downstate who is named Jason because, of course, he's under the age of 30.
Plummer and Cohen spent huge sums to buy their victories, and the corporate media was more than happy to take their money. It's the result of a deteriorating press and a political system dominated by the need for expensive advertising. That's an excellent topic to write about without getting condescending over somebody's age.
But at least that attempt at an apology is better than the finger-pointing from Springfield's State Journal-Register. They took no responsibility for barely covering any of the candidates other than Art Turner. Their editorial blames the political system with a call to action: "Fix process for choosing lieutenant governor."
I have an idea for fixing the process. Why doesn't Gatehouse hire more than two political reporters at the SJR? Maybe they would have gotten around to covering the Lt. Governor's race and some serious issues in the 18th Congressional district Democratic primary that were swept under the rug. I like breaking a story on my blog but I'd rather see newspapers do their job.
This is a media scandal as much as a political upset because it isn't about just the Lt. Governor's race. It's a wake-up call that the political press is failing us due to budget cut after budget cut in the consolidated corporate media. Making a profit is more important than informing the public.
We officially reached the point when reading blogs and the alternative press is the only way for the average person to make an informed decision on election day.
I may write about Mark Brown's lame excuses later.
The Lt. Governor's office isn't the only bizarre Democratic primary result in Illinois this year. Republican leaders successfully stuck their nose into the three-way Democratic primary for State Representative in the 71st district.
The Republican leader in the Illinois House, Tom Cross, had robo-calls attacking one of the Democratic candidates, Porter McNeil. Cross refused to answer questions about why he interfered in a Democratic primary. The obvious implication is that Cross saw McNeil as the biggest threat in the general election.
Anyone who has worked with Porter, as I have, knows why he would frighten Republican leadership. He's a smart, well-respected, engaging person who will make a strong leader in the region.
It's also no wonder why Republicans would like the "Democrat" who very narrowly won the primary, Dennis Ahern. Check out these quotes from the district's new Democratic nominee.
“My family has been called the Republican wing of the Democratic Party for a long time.”“I’m pro-concealed carry and pro-life.”
"I am a social and fiscal conservative"
The real question is why the chair of the Illinois Democratic party backed Ahern. Mike Madigan sent Ahern at least $10,000 and ground troops to help. Tom Cross and Mike Madigan found something they agree on!
Let's not pretend that nominating a conservative is the only way to win this district. It has been held for years by Mike Boland, one of the most progressive Democrats in the legislature.
Besides being anti-choice and pro-guns-in-bars, Ahern's answer to the state financial crisis is legalizing fireworks. Wow...brilliant.
It's almost enough to make you think that Madigan doesn't want strong Democratic leaders coming out of downstate. Conservative Democrats rarely stand a chance in statewide elections. Hmmm...
I hate to write the obvious but the conservative talk-radio crowd has a habit of sticking to their talking points in the face of reality. And the corporate press has a habit of adopting their narratives.
In the US Senate primary, Patrick Hughes was the darling of conservatives and the reactionary tea-bagger crowd. He ran against Mark Kirk, who became a talk-radio target after voting for Obama's climate change bill. Limbaugh and Beck commanded their forces to flood Kirk's office with angry calls after the cap-and-trade vote.
Their poutrage didn't amount to much in the Republican primary. Hughes' campaign never gained momentum and Kirk won resoundingly with 57% of the vote against five challengers.
Running for Governor, Adam Andrzejewski actively sought support from tea party groups and was mentioned by Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. On Limbaugh's show he was referred to as the "Scott Brown of Illinois." He finished fifth behind three establishment moderates and an incumbent legislator. Poor Rush. Illinois Republicans don't seem to care who he supports.
It's easy for a small group to make a scene if they're loud and disruptive. That doesn't equal a majority of voters, even in the GOP primary. It's time for the press to stop giving this storm in a teacup more coverage than it deserves.
I spotted the CapitolFax link to this post from the Tribune blog...
Cohen, a little-known candidate who financed much of the campaign with his own fortune, will have to answer questions during the general election race as more is learned about him. He was charged with a 2005 misdemeanor domestic battery charge.
I seriously doubt that Democratic primary voters would have supported Scott Lee Cohen if the press had done their job of informing the public. News companies probably didn't mind Cohen's massive media buys as a substitute to articles. They'll be happy to run controversial stories now that it's too late for Democrats to choose anyone else.
I can't blame individual reporters when news outlets devote more resources to sports and crime stories than political coverage. It's not about media bias or lousy reporters. It's a business decision and a bad one. The corporate press is doing a good job of making themselves obsolete by forcing voters to search blogs for meaningful political coverage.
On another note, I'm surprised that Thomas Castillo did as well as he did with 13% of the vote. I thought he'd get around 5%. I've never seen a statewide race use social media as aggressively as Castillo. It was obvious that he invested significant personal time and effort, way beyond setting up a website and email list. It reminded me of Mike Quigley's online campaign.
Castillo finished ahead of Terry Link who was endorsed by Illinois AFL-CIO, many newspapers, a number of State Senators, and others. That's a wake-up call to anyone who doesn't realize that a campaign's online strategy needs to be as well planned and executed as media buys, press strategy, field organizing and so on. Getting your college-age nephew to set up a neglected facebook page doesn't cut it anymore.
Did you know that most Illinois coal plants import their coal from Wyoming and other western states? Springfield's CWLP is one of the few exceptions.
This picture of a new and improved "clean coal" shipment was taken in Wyoming.
Found at trainorders.com.
Award-winning journalist and cultural historian Jeff Biggers will stop in Springfield to read from his new book, Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland.
Thursday, February 18, 7:00pm. City Nights Theater at Capital City Bar & Grill, 3149 S. Dirksen Pkwy, Springfield. It's a free event is hosted by the Sierra Club Sangamon Valley Group. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
I'm excited to have this reading in Springfield because Biggers is an Illinois native who focuses on the past and present of Illinois coal.
The Chicago Reader did an article about Biggers' new book and his take on clean coal.
Politicians tend to support initiatives that would create jobs back home, but opponents argue that Illinois would get more economic stimulus from so-called green jobs—at new plants to build wind turbines and solar panels in Illinois—than from reopening Illinois mines. Biggers thinks Obama and other coal backers are caught up in "nostalgia" for the proud days of union mining in Illinois, and points out that in reality modern mechanized mining techniques require minimal manpower. Most remaining Illinois mines are nonunion, and Biggers expects the owners of new or reopened mines to fight union organizers tooth and nail. He advocates a kind of "GI bill for coal miners," with government subsidies to help them find jobs in clean energy sectors.
One day to go.
Anyone else see this song in the new documentary It Might Get Loud? Great movie. It's not just a concert video.