Just when you thought he was out…
Well I said I wouldn't do it anymore, but something in this Sunday's Gazette needs a little exposure both on its own sake and for what it says about the people running "your hometown paper."
The piece is a creepy commentary by an emeritus UI professor named Robert Weissberg, from the political science department. It's basically a compendium of all the nutty charges against Obama you hear from the likes of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh (daily on WDWS — hate radio for CU), under the thesis that Obama is an alien of some sort — not really an American (I'm not making this up). Even the mayor of Champaign doesn't go quite this far. By the end Obama is George III and Weissberg coyly and ambiguously asks "What's next." I'd say it's a hit.
The piece in question comes from an extremist right blog titled, with unintentional irony, "American Thinker." It's basically an angry white guy echo chamber, sort of along the Beck/Limbaugh axis, where writers try to outdo each other in explaining the disease of liberalism, or socialism or fascism or Marxism, or who knows what. They certainly don't. It's an incredibly ignorant, often downright demented, attempt to define the world. Thus we get the socialist plot being hatched by Woodrow Wilson (I am not making this up), or my favorite: that liberalism is simply a manifestation of innate depravity. It's pure craziness by people who have actually been to law school, business school, and yes, political science school. Which if you've been around some of the faculty in those disciplines, would not terribly surprise you, but that's for another day.
So I get to wondering who is this Robert Weissburg and soon I'm wandering in bizarro world. First there's the American Thinker stuff, nutty enough. Then it gets really weird. A letter from Weissberg to the Jewish Defense Organization (which is totally crazy, but that's yet another story): The gist of the letter is that Weissberg is asking JDO to not disrupt an American Renaissance meeting, and that he is a solid hard-line right-wing Jew and there is nothing wrong with AR, that he's written for its publications and even had AR founder and honcho Jared Taylor over for dinner.
And who is Jared Taylor, and what is American Renaissance you ask? Well you can see for yourself at the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Files, or the Antidefamation League's site. A little taste of this well-bred conservative intellectual: "Blacks and whites are different. When blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western civilization — any kind of civilization — disappears."
Among other things they do is put on conferences, which, as SPLC notes, "are usually a major hit in white nationalist circles and feature as speakers prominent white supremacists, academic racists and other extremists from around the world."
A while back when the radical right was (and still is) howling about Obama's former association with the ex-Weatherman bomber and current UIC professor Bill Ayers, News-Gazette publisher John Foreman opined that this was quite right, since one should be judged by their associations. OK then, fair's fair. Let me associate Foreman, Dey and Beck with Jared Taylor — not much of a stretch at all. They do seem to be trolling American Thinker and similar rightist web-sites for pieces they think they can publish to advance their views.
Weissberg's recent writings, along with other members of the racist right such as Charles Murray, are based in the idea that some people (and you know who they mean) are just not quite up to snuff intellectually and we should basically throw them on the trash heap. It's ironic that in the same section of the Gazette is a story about the Urban Prep High School in Chicago, which flatly contradicts, through the results of its work, all of the racist, "intellectual" swill dished up by the extremist right.
It's not all that surprising to see such vile stuff in the News-Gazette. It's long been known as a bastion of a covert genteel sort of White Supremacy. Foreman still pushes every chance he gets for the racist ex-mascot of the U of I. Recently he minimized what the Mayor of Champaign said about Obama, and dismissed any notion that race is one of the fuels for the tea party craze as just political name calling. Well, anyone with a smidgen of knowledge of the relationship between extreme conservatism and racism, or the history of the city of Champaign — and particularly its police department — finds Foreman's denial laughable. But it is of a part with the column by Weissberg, not to mention the bigoted rantings of Cal Thomas, and all the rest. And this is the face Champaign-Urbana portrays to the world. Aren't you proud?
30 comments
Brilliant and immediate, Mr. Tarr. This is what new media is all about. I’m sending the link for this to my friends who work for the News-Gazette.
The curious things about Ryan Jackson’s recent column—which seemed to be carrying water for the Gazette and knocking Smile Politely—were the two conclusions to be drawn from what he wrote. One, he managed to direct attention to Smile Politely within the pages of the print newspaper, something the NG does not want to happen. Two, he inadvertantly or not characterized the NG as a “dead horse.”
I went to law school and I think Woodrow Wilson may be the worst-ever president.
He too thought blacks were inferior, in the most eugenic— i.e classically racist, or just “racist” if you appreciate what the word REALLY means—sense.
That’s why he re-introduced segregation in federal employment. Why do people still call him “progressive?”
Robert Knilands
“Let me associate Foreman, Dey and Beck with Jared Taylor <span>— </span>not much of a stretch at all. They do seem to be trolling American Thinker and similar rightist web-sites for pieces they think they can publish to advance their views.”
You give them credit where credit is not due. They wait for someone in the community to pass along those pieces, and then they run with them.
Make no mistake: Those three do not do research for anything. We are talking about people who still long for the days of Reaganomics.
Joseph Bauers
This is a letter to the editor I wrote in response to Weissberg:
One becomes accustomed to the usual suspects who camp out in the letters section of the <span style=“font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;”>News-Gazette</span>, daily villifying President Obama as everything from a socialist to a Nazi to the anti-Christ. But their vitriol cannot compare to the sheer hatefulness provided by Robert Weissberg in “Obama’s ‘outsider’ quality is alarming” (June 27, 2010).
Weissberg labels Obama an “outsider,” and likens his administration to a “foreign occupying force, a coterie of politically and culturally non-indigenous leaders whose rule contravenes local values rooted in our national tradition.”
Weissberg’s main argument appears to be this: Obama is not like me; therefore, he is an “outsider,” a “figure who doesn’t ‘get’ America.” He arrives at this conclusion via a labyrinthine structure of twisted non-logic, supported by cardboard trusses riddled with bird shot.
Just for the record: Obama won the presidency with a plurality of nearly 10 million votes. His electoral college margin was 192. Over 69 million Americans followed his campaign and voted for him. It is Weissberg who clearly does not get America. Or more precisely, the America of today does not conform to Weissberg’s narrow and pathetically ethnocentric view of it.
Joseph Bauers
I lost the last little bit of faith I had in the News Gazette after reading their endorsement for McCain in 2008. I fully expected them to endorse him, them being a conservative paper and all. But if I remember correctly(Can’t check because when NG re-did their website, that still looks like a website circa 1997, all the old links stopped working), not once, positively or negatively, did they mention Sarah Palin in the endorsement. To me that is lacking a lot of journalistic integrity and even responsibility. To me it said “We don’t really like her but theres no way we’re going to endorse Obama so lets pretend shes never even there.”
Being an extreme, no compromise, Leftist or Rightist is never good. But there is something to think about with this. Over the centuries, ESPECIALLY socially, to the point socially might be the only place you can solidly make this argument… The right and left both evolve towards the left. Liberals, of course, become more liberal, through time, but in a way so do Conservatives. With every passing decade we as a whole become at least a little more progressive and open minded in the way we think about others and society.
So I hope the people who are demonizing Liberalism keep in mind that a lot of the time when things are thought as liberal idealistic social views… Later are considered “common sense”. I think if you tally up all the social views that are universally accepted in this country, chances are they started out as some crazy liberal idea.
I went to law school and I think Woodrow Wilson may be the worst-ever president.
I’m not sure what Wilson has to do with your law school experience, but if you’re basing a claim of “worst-ever president” on his racism then you’ll need something else. He has a lot of company in that regard.
That’s why he re-introduced segregation in federal employment. Why do people still call him “progressive?“
Because progressivism rarely has much of anything to do with racial politics. Progressives are typically high educated people who believe they know what is best for everyone else, and work to put those beliefs into law. Seat belt laws are a perfect example of progressivism. Someone somewhere figured out that people have a better chance of surviving a car accident if they are wearing a seatbelt and *poof* now it’s the law. Occasionally progressives will dive into race, but typically racial change has come from the grass roots, not from the progressive folks on college campuses.
One of the best ways to see Wilson’s pioneering progressivism is in the propaganda created for World War I. He employed the smartest ad men on the planet in the CPI to make completely compelling propaganda that helped to convince a skeptical public to support the war. And his efforts after the war to create the League of Nations are incredibly progressive, if ultimately for naught.
Progressivism is all about centralizing power in the hands of the government in order to create a more just and utopian society through the application of science and enlightened reason. That’s why so many people hate it so much. Somebody somewhere thinks she’s smarter than me and now I have to wear a seatbelt. Where’s my freedom?
But my Lord, please brush up on your presidential history. Wilson is far from the nadir of American presidents.
Local Yocal
It never fails to disappoint when U of I faculty parade their credentials and privilege to foist racist, elitist, bizarro “knowledge” in support of the landed gentry’s entitlement to rule the world. The U of I law school faculty’s group-signing of The Declaration of Privilege that supported the Catagory I admissions and denounced The Chicago Tribune for digging into the mess is a prime example. Between the faculty, administration, and the greek system, the future of corporate and political leadership scares the crap out of us little people. I guess getting a degree and promoting truth can be two different things. Hopefully, the weirdos employed at the U of I are only a loud minority.
Recently heard on WDWS talk radio was right-wing Christian activist Mark Thompson seriously asking Appellate Judge Robert Steigmann if he thought the U.S. military shouldn’t organize a coup against the Obama Administration. Steigmann didn’t bite on that one. Still, the judge later lectured northend activist Martel Miller that white people don’t shoot people like black people do, offering as evidence that there are more guns in Piatt County than Cook County and Piatt County doesn’t have the crime Chicago is experiencing. Are we intellectuals or what?
How serious a threat is this conservative backlash since the end of the worst president ever? It’s hard to tell how much traction these Neo-Neo conservatives will have in the voting booths. The News-Gazette editors seem to believe the Tea Party is going to take back the castle from “the Socialists” by storm in 2012- or at least the N-G is preparing the way. Did I just hear Newt Gingrich’s car pull up to the White House?
Local Yocal
Oh, and I disagree with Mr. Foley about the seat belt law being a form of progressivism. The seat belt law is an excuse for cops to commence a search of your car, and therefore, a form of fascism.
Wilson’s propaganda feat was suppressing criticism—by law, with the Sedition Act of 1918—you idiot.
Robert Knilands
“The News-Gazette editors seem to believe the Tea Party is going to take back the castle from “the Socialists” by storm in 2012- or at least the N-G is preparing the way.”
That’s why it’s great to start calling out the N-G now. Their tactics aren’t just neocon op-ed stuff. They include blatant disregard for the facts, combined with allowing the entrenched gentry to use the paper as their puppet.
Wilson’s propaganda feat was suppressing criticism—by law, with the Sedition Act of 1918—you idiot.
Yeah, but the Sedition Act wasn’t propaganda - it was a law. And Wilson’s hardly the first (or last) president to make sedition illegal during wartime. Anyway, I’m not sure what this has to do with your original point that he’s America’s worst president, and hardlyt a progressive.
Oh, and I disagree with Mr. Foley about the seat belt law being a form of progressivism. The seat belt law is an excuse for cops to commence a search of your car, and therefore, a form of fascism.
No doubt that the obscenely power American Legal Justice System is more than willing to use even good intentioned laws to expand it’s power. It’s an unfortunate result of the progressive attempts to make people take better care of themselves by expanding government control over our lives. Personally, I don’t have a problem with it. If the government tells me I have to drive a hybrid in order to save the planet I’ll be the first to sign up. But obviously a lot of people are pretty uncomfortable with the expansion of government power that has taken place since the end of World War II. It just took a black president to really bring their anger and nuttiness into full view.
Robert Knilands
Back to the N-G:
The attacks continue—someone posted “This is what passes for news?” after an item about Einstein Bagels.
Personally I think a business opening should get some coverage, but the N-G has poisoned its own well with all its biases. People are going to object to anything that smacks of the N-G’s usual kowtowing to the advertisers.
JJ
The need and necessity of the NG will always be here in C-U. Do you REALLY think smilepolitely.com, with 1,000 views will cut it? However, a liberal voice (or voice of reason) to keep the NG in check, is great for this community and in that respect, I wish you well! I agree that Mr. Jackson’s column probably did more good for your site than harm just by mentioning it. I believe the problem is more with the people reading the paper than the actual editors themselves. Howard Stern has had his audience of people who hated him, but listened to get riled up. I don’t think that’s the issue here, I think the editors write for the people paying for the paper and the people are the problem. The NG didn’t put our jackass mayor into his position. The voters elected the mayor. Keep at it Tarr, but drop the personal attacks on the NG because you might be surprised by how many liberals actually work there that have NOTHING to do with editorial…
Robert Knilands
JJ, everything you say may be true, but the N-G still allows itself to be used as a puppet by the people you say are the problem.
Gregg Gordon
What gets me is that the N-G’s political philosophy is basically “we’re pro-business because the free market and profit motive ensure that things get done best that way.” But do they ever look in a mirror? Sure, there are obviously plenty of rednecks around here. But there’s also a huge university employing and serving thousands of educated liberals and moderates who are inclined to be newspaper readers and even have high demographic appeal to advertisers. But I know more than a few such people who refuse to take the N-G just because they don’t need the daily dose of ignorance. Wouldn’t it just make business sense to provide a paper that was not necessarily liberal, but just even-handed, serving the entire community. Well, so much for the N-G’s philosophy. They’d rather brainwash with their right-wing pap than actually live it.
JJ Wilmette
Robert, When you said “People are going to object to anything that smacks of the N-G’s usual kowtowing to the advertisers.”
I was just thinking the same thing about the Art theater banner ad on SP & the SP “article” about their movie!
A couple things, JJ (#13):
<ul>
<li>Stuart’s digging at the editorial board primarily and, secondarily, the reporting that serves the interests of that board; no one’s saying that everyone at the N-G is a conservative hack. Stuart’s been pretty specific throughout on what he’s criticizing, and it’s not the liberals that work there. Hi, nice and competent people that work at the Gazette! Keep fighting the good fight!</li>
<li>While our site traffic certainly doesn’t “cut it”, Mr. Jackson understated it by about a factor of 30. </li>
<li>That’s a neat bit of jujitsu to blame the quality of a newspaper’s content on its readers. </li>
</ul>
I just gotta state — for what it’s worth — we’ve been reviewing movies that run at The Art since before the website even sold advertising. We’ve always made it our mission to report on what is happening IN C-U.
But, by no means do we review every movie that they show.
That the new owner of the Art has taken advantage of our extremely affordable and wildly visible advertising (seriously, we will show anyone who wants to see our Analytics — just ask), only proves the notion that our little online daily has more of an effect than some would like to believe.
Carry on, carry on…
Robert Knilands
“Wouldn’t it just make business sense to provide a paper that was not necessarily liberal, but just even-handed, serving the entire community.”
The N-G wants the ad dollars from the big businesses. The paper seems to be OK with the demographic it has. Open, public opposition would send a message.
Jason Pankoke
It’s really tough to NOT blame the N-G’s “regular readers” (whomever they are) to a certain extent if they A. remain silent and/or oblivious to the flaws or B. contribute their narrow-minded 2 cents, however putrid, for all the public to see. Immediate case in point - after reading Stuart’s recent string of critiques and other SmilePolitelyness, I go to the N-G today to read an article about an interesting classroom tactic to teach kids to respect diversity (however one feels about the methodology behind the lesson or the writing quality of the article) and it ends with 1 user comment so asinine and unintellectual I wanted to just throw up. I know everyone’s allowed their opinion, but when it’s put forth in the form of ignorance and racism instead of actual thought, I could only think of one thing left to do - sell a tich of my soul and log on as a N-G user for the first time: http://www.news-gazette.com/news/education/2010-06-29/urbana-social-justice-class-takes-look-isms.html
R T Lampyrowitz
The N/G editorial pages have always been ridiculously mossback conservative from the Neanderthal wing. Anybody remember the guy *before* Foreman? He wrote his editorials by banging rocks together. He makes Foreman look like ACLU in comparision.
A couple of things: I regret the gratuitous slur of calling WDWS hate radio and apologize to the I’m sure decent people there. Since I haven’t listened to the station since before the Contessa gave Larry Stewart the heave-ho, I really don’t know what they air. I do, however consider Liar Limbaugh a kingpin of hate radio, and as long as WDWS airs him, I’ll consider it a large stain on the station’s character.
As to attacking the Gazette, I’m loathe to put it into liberal/conservative terms, as some have done here, for a couple of reasons. One is that I am *not* a liberal. Two is that I’m not opposed to conservative commentary, although I think it’s almost always wrong-headed. The key word there is almost. However, when the editors start paling around with avowed white supremacists and publishing commentary that basically calls for the extermination of a civilization, then they deserve savaging. I would like to see a better balance with some liberal commentary, although I find much of that pretty tepid stuff, Republican lite, much like the Democratic party. I’d recommend Alex Cockburn or Robert Scheer for example, or even some of the Libertarians at Anti-War.com. Three, what is most annoying about the paper is the poor quality, and sometimes the downright stupidity that it displays, for which the Publisher and the editors are mostly to blame. No need to rehash that here. As I’ve said before, I think there are some good reporters at the Gazette (and some not so good ones), who are badly used. But this is hardly unique to the Gazette. It’s more the state of mainstream journalism in general.
I found the discussion about progressives interesting in that it somewhat reflects the problem the “American Thinkers” have in trying to define liberal, socialist, Marxist, etc. There is no one definition. The words change meaning over time and in context and amongst different adherents. The right in particular seems to have a fetish about typification. Thus all the comments that start “liberals believe….” etc. As to progressive itself, it encompasses people from Robert LaFollete to Wilson, to LIppman, to Lippman’s nemesis John Dewey, to the socialists at the Progressive magazine. Lately it seems to have become a euphemism for liberals who are ashamed of calling themselves liberals after the long right-wing assault on the term and what they think it means. As to Wilson himself, that scion of old Redeemed Virginny and fine old Princeton before it was polluted with women, jews and negroes, it is hard to consider him, as Rob points out, progressive in a left leaning since, particularly given the war propaganda effort of George Creel, the sedition act, and the red scare of Creel. Mark Foley’s comments might be seen as reiterating the right wing criticism of progressivism, but it might just as well as come from the left (and did, from Dewey). And as this quote from Walter Lippman’s wiki entry shows, Foley is pretty much on the mark (although I don’t find the seat belt example all that convincing). “Early on Lippmann said the herd of citizens must be governed by “a specialized class whose interests reach beyond the locality.” This class is composed of experts, specialists and bureaucrats. The experts, who often are referred to as “elites,” were to be a machinery of knowledge that circumvents the primary defect of democracy, the impossible ideal of the “omnicompetent citizen”.
As to why the crazy right sees Wilson in conspiratorial terms, I’m guessing it has to do with the Federal Reserve Act. Although as Gabriel Kolko shows in his book about early 20th century Progressivism, this and other progressive legislation was, as the title puts it, “The Triumph of Conservatism.”
And what all that has to do with the Gazoo, I don’t know, but I’m sure it has something to do with it. Finally, RT Lamprowitz, your comment about the previous editor writing editorials by banging two rocks together was hilarious, and all too accurate.
JP
Most of the people I know only read the NG for its sports coverage, classifieds, and Sunday sale ads. I think that people who really care about particular issues look to more than one source for their information (even if its Fox News), which the NG will either confirm or refute. Even if the NG stopped printing today, those who want to think in that vein will have plenty of other fodder. I’d guess that the people who’ve taken the time to formulate their thoughts and post them here pay a lot more attention to what is being printed than most of the NG’s regular readers. Anyway, good debate is always fun!
Robert Knilands
“As I’ve said before, I think there are some good reporters at the Gazette (and some not so good ones), who are badly used. But this is hardly unique to the Gazette. It’s more the state of mainstream journalism in general.”
Newsrooms in general have been overrun by morons. The people with talent either get worn down and stop producing quality work or they leave altogether.
“Most of the people I know only read the NG for its sports coverage, classifieds, and Sunday sale ads.”
I’m probably one of those people. The N-G sports coverage is better than the news/opinion stuff, although that is not saying much. There are tons of flaws in sports, too. For one thing, the paper blows preps coverage way out of proportion and wastes space on a lot of silly stuff like favorite meals, dream dates, etc. I’m sure those questions are meant to be harmless, but I think if I were a teen athlete and a much older person of the opposite gender were asking me those questions*, I’d have to pass. Recent answers have been clever, though.
Paul Klee grinds on me like sandpaper on a blackboard. He’d be great if the Illini basketball team were 37-2 every year, but those days are long gone. Mark my words: The team will open at home against some pathetic opponent, win in an unimpressive fashion, and he will write about how great the team will be this season. He’s done that at least twice already, and neither time have the results proved him right at the end of the year.
The amateur comedy stuff is beyond annoying. There are days when more than half the section is filled with pointless, useless crap.
* Clarification: That criticism is not aimed at a specific writer but at the concept in general.
Robert Knilands
Wow—I left out the biggest criticism of the N-G sports section. They keep beating the drum, year after year, about how the Big Ten is “down.” They never really explain what “down” means, though. Down in relation to 1976 when two Big Ten teams played for the title? Or down in some other way?
Their recent justification for this was only one Big Ten player being chosen in the NBA draft. On the surface, this would appear to be a valid point. But Kentucky’s five draft picks did not get that team as far as Michigan State’s zero draft picks. Also, just on sheer numbers, the Big East has several more teams. More teams = more picks.
But any fool can wait until the title games have been played and then claim the conference was “down” if it didn’t win a title. The N-G writers prove themselves to be buffoons when they go down this path again and again.
JJ
Well since we’re making declarations of ideologies, or rather declaring what we’re not, let me add to the debate that I’m not a partisan liberal. I may be a liberal in general, to the point of progressive perhaps, but definitely not a partisan puppet. However, I am miles away from being a conservative (though I do respect financial conservatism to an extent…obviously not now when we need to be spending though). Anyway, the point of the debate is not who’s a con or lib, it’s whether or not smilepolitely.com intends to take up some independent journalistic mantle in the CU area? If the case is that you guys intend on filling some journalistic vacuum, then I think you should be held to the same “expected” standards of any journalistic organization. This means original content and not re-spun pieces from the NG. I also think you should establish some identity by taking a stand on some issues before biting the hand that feeds you your news. The Daily Show and Colbert Report have the blueprints to exist as a counter-news organization, but then again they’re only critiquing the conservative spin Fox News puts on traditional journalistic news gathering (aka newspapers). I see that as the same case here, except that Fox News is no better than any other corporate-owned news entity and therefore flawed by their principal interest: to make money. The NG is independently owned (1 of very few in the country), their financial contributions to the community are vast and transparent. Flawed as their world view may be, their contribution as a community watchdog are unequaled and invaluable. To get to the short and curly’s about it, CU would be MUCH worse off if the NG didn’t exist…and come on guys, I HIGHLY doubt Jackson’s numbers were off by a factor of 30! Google Analytics has the info, so no need to ask…
Robert Knilands
“The NG is independently owned ...”
That’s an argument that gets weaker with time. The N-G does the same things the chains are doing. It makes cuts in the editorial department to cover for huge mistakes, like building a printing plant right before losing the contract to print the Chicago Tribune.
Also, how “transparent” are these contributions? I’ve looked at the tax reports available to the public, and there could be more “transparency.”
Hi JJ,
Mr. Jackson stated in his column that we get “over a thousand hits [a] month.” While that’s technically true, it’s more accurate to state that we get 1,000 hits a day, on average, or 30,000 a month (per Google Analytics) give or take a little depending on whether we’ve been linked to by any larger sites (in April, at the height of Mayor Schweighart’s traffic-generating powers, we nearly topped 35,000). I sent a report for the past month to the email address you entered for commenting; please feel free to fire any questions my way. Happy to share data with anyone else who asks. We’re no powerhouse in the traffic department, but we have nothing to hide, either.
This means original content and not re-spun pieces from the NG. I also think you should establish some identity by taking a stand on some issues before biting the hand that feeds you your news.
Thanks for joining the debate about independent media in C-U. This has come up several times before, and it’s an interesting discussion.
I’m not sure whether you’re a longtime reader or not, so I’m not exactly sure how to respond, but we’re proud of the amount of original content that we generate, given our financial limitations.
Stuart’s pieces on the Sunday News-Gazette, as well as our SPews entry on Fridays, are things we’ve worked into the mix recently, and the vast majority of our content remains original and disconnected from the N-G. Here are some issues that we’ve had solid original reporting on: Safe Haven community, Olympian Drive discussion, Kiwane Carrington shooting, local recycling, high-speed rail, and so on. I find it hard to believe that you could have read SP for any length of time and accuse us of not “taking a stand on some issues.”
Since we’re volunteers, we have to pick our spots and focus on issues that our writers are passionate about pursuing. Many of those writers become more passionate about particular issues because of the way they’re reported in the dominant local media. We clearly can’t replace the volume of information that the N-G generates, and that’s been confirmed over and over. But we’re doing the best we can, and every time that this issue comes up, I’m more convinced that there are a lot of folks in this area that appreciate the need, if not always our attempts to fill it.
JP
@Joel - you guys do a great job. Frankly, I rarely agree with anything that any of your regular writers have to say, but I thoroughly enjoy reading their work, and I usually learn something. Just keep doing what you do, as you do it well.
Talk about a mis-informed blogster (does he drink PBR or expensive and/or unpronounceable beers when he drinks at the Pig) Ryan “Reluctant Townie” Jackson: “50 cents”? How could TRT not know that the Daily N-G is “still a bargain at 75 cents”? The N-G website is free, but hideously cumbersome to navigate. Of course if you want the Sunday help wanted ads on Sunday, you still have to shell out $1.50 since they won’t be posted online until Monday. “What’s the world coming to when a family can’t even afford a local newspaper”- The Candyman
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Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.
And that, my friend, is love. Bob, I think I still owe you for my wedding cake, served in 1998. But nevermind.
I believe the kiss between Rob and I was documented on low-quality videotape in the mid-ninties porn classic, Dirty Harry…and Sticky.
“Do I have to sign some forms, or am I just considered ‘in.’” You’re in!
Got damn, Coulter. You are the greatest.
I have no specific memory of it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d kissed Mike, too—once we’d both drunk ourselves gay. And earlier this week I gave Clarence Shelley a back rub. Do I have to sign some forms, or am I just considered “in.”
FWIW, I got a copy of the letter in question. It was written in a way that would be plausible to a casual reader who didn’t scrutinize it too carefully. It announced the formation of an organization called G.L.A.B.A. (which actually exists), and had discussion about typical…
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Oh nice! I’d totally vote for Matt Campbell!
“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
I also got to visit Big Grove Tavern during the soft open and definitely enjoyed the pork belly the most of all the dishes I sampled. The cheesy grits and the vinegary pickled vegetables were a perfect compliment to the rich pork belly.
The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.
This makes me so sad. (Happy to live in Urbana, though!) Crave Truck has been a GREAT addition to the food choices in C-U, and it’d be a travesty to chase them away. This town should be supporting small businesses. I’m glad to hear that they’ll still…
*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…
Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet. John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…
What? Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?
This weekend will mark the first appearance of Kayla Brown’s Fire Doll Candle booth at the Market. Check it: http://www.facebook.com/firedollcandles
And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?
hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Excellent. I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
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hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.