Archive for February, 2008
February 15th, 2008
OSH KOSHÂ Wis. — Today I covered John McCain’s town hall meeting and press conference at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Eagle Hangar, part of its aviation museum.
McCain talked to about 500 friendly fans. Clearly McCain is running as the national security candidate, and he chose the right setting for it. Eagle Hangar celebrates the allies’ air war during World War II. The stunning displays of vintage aircraft, including an RAF Mosquito, a P-51 Mustang, an RAF Spitfire, and eye-popping interactive displays are worth a visit to Oshkosh, about a 2.5 hour drive from the Forest City.
Contrasting himself to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the Democrats vying for their party’s nomination, McCain, who has for all practical purposes won the GOP nomination, said we are in a “transcendent” battle against Islamic terrorism. It’s the first thing he talked about in his remarks, which he made while standing on a stage in front of the Mosquito bomber.
Obama and Clinton are vying for the anti-war vote; McCain thinks their priorities are wrong-headed.
McCain made a point also of talking about climate change, which he believes is real, and a threat. He says companies can make money developing green technology — the same message Obama delivered Wednesday at the Janesville GM assembly plant. Both also want to use green strategies to get the U.S. off foreign oil, but McCain said the U.S. also must reinvest in nuclear technology, something neither Obama nor Clinton bring up.
McCain noted that France gets 80- percent of its power from nuclear energy, and U.S. Navy nuclear submarines have been circling the globe for 60 years with no accidents.
Even though Democratic voters have outnumbered Republican voters in the primaries and caucuses, I wouldn’t count McCain out, by a long shot. He’s comfortable in his skin, he’s friendly and courteous, and he loves taking questions from the media.
By the way, polls show McCain about even with either Obama or Clinton in a general election matchup.
February 14th, 2008
With the Wisconsin primary coming up fast — it’s on Tuesday, Feb. 19 — Reggie Star has been tracking candidates for president who’ve been badgering the Badger State of late.
Wednesday, Reggie went to Janesville, where Barack Obama toured the GM assembly plant and gave the details of his extensive economic plan to plant workers.Friday, which just started five minutes ago, Reggie is heading to Oshkosh, b’ gosh, to catch a glimpse of the Straight Talk Express when Republican John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, speaks at a “town hall meeting” at the Experimental Aircraft Association hangar at Wittman Field. He’s also supposed to do a press conference. Reggie hopes to ask the former POW, who was tortured by the North Vietnamese, why he voted against the anti-water-boarding bill in the Senate.
February 14th, 2008
Another week, another mass shooting.
Last week it was the girl in Louisiana who shot up her college classroom. Before that it was the hold up man in Lane Bryant who shot five people dead in the Chicago burbs. He’s still on the loose. Remember the mass mayhem at the Omaha mall? Or the Virginia Tech mass murderer? Or that cop in Wisconsin last year who blasted former friends because he was upset over his girlfriend breaking up with him?
This week it’s a guy who took a shotgun and a couple of handguns to shoot up an NIU lecture hall, killing 5 (as I write this) and himself. More than a dozen are still in hospital in varying conditions of injury.
We used to be shocked by this stuff. I remember how all of us on the Editorial Board wrote sad, poignant commentaries after the Columbine High Sc hool shootings. Now, the shootings have become just another part of the banality of modern Americana.
My only comment now is one of disgust, for this is what the last days of a dying culture in a declining nation look like. This is the modern version of the Roman Empire’s demise. But in this case the barbarians are not at the gate, they are walking freely among us. They are your neighbor, your classmate, your workmate, your buddy on the bowling team.
Self government requires self control. As these random acts of mass murder continue, we will inevitably beg our leaders to create a police state to keep us safe. We won’t call it that, but the republic will be lost, just the same.
February 12th, 2008
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has sent a stern letter to the Union Pacific demanding that the railroad fix its deteriorating tracks and signals on the Chicago to St. Louis corridor. Amtrak trains frequently have to slow down because of problems that aren’t its fault. Riders, of course, blame Amtrak, not the UP.
Ridership is increasing dramatically on the route, and trains have been added by the state, but the service will only remain viable if the tracks and signals are in good working order.
The letter is a good thing, but what’s really needed is legislation to remind the privately owned, deregulated railroads that they still are common carriers and have a responsibility to the public. They are being paid to handle Amtrak trains, and those trains are supposed to operate on a fast schedule — not according to the whims of the freight-oriented UP maintenance department.
I’d like to see Durbin, a strong supporter of rail as an integral part of our transportation mix, take the lead on a comprehensive reappraisal of ground transportation in the United States and develop 5 and 10 year plans, and procede to fund the work.
How to fund it? Well, maybe if we weren’t spending trillions on Iraq, we’d have money to fix our own country.
February 12th, 2008
The Wisconsin primary is Tuesday, and Barack Obama is barnstorming the state today and Wednesday. We’re planning to cover an Obama event Wednesday morning in Janesville. Only problem is, as of 3 p.m. Tuesday the campaign still didn’t know where the event will take place. “We’re looking for a venue,” said a campaign press aide at the senator’s Chicago campaign headquarters.
We had heard O would go to the GM assembly plant, but the campaign wouldn’t confirm it.
Wisconsin’s primary also features campaigning by Chelsea and Bill Clinton, but so far, no Hillary sightings.
The state — and all states yet to hold primaries or caucuses — is crucial to both Hillary’s and Barack’s campaigns as the battle for the Democratic nomination continues with no front-runner.
February 8th, 2008
My column in Thursday’s paper talked about the exciting plans moving along at Chicago Rockford International Airport to create an aeronautical education center — in English, that’s a school.
The airport is the catalyst for this venture among industries, government and academia. The airport, says Mike Dunn, board chairman, will build a 70,000 to 90,000 square foot building to house the venture.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, with 35,000 students worldwide, will be a vital part of this school. Initially it will offer two bachelor of science degrees and a master of science degree. However, the university offers a wide variety of courses in aviation that are taught at other locations — Embry-Riddle is based in Daytona Beach, Fla., and in Prescott, Ariz.. Students here at RFD could easily, via closed circuit TV and the Internet, be part of those classes.
Embry-Riddle board member Ken Dufour, who lives in Rockford, has been working to convince the school — known as the Harvard of the sky — to establish a presence in Chicagoland for years. RFD is ideal because it has room to grow, the city has sophisticated aviation technology industries, and we’re on the doorstep of the nation’s third largest metropolitan area.
The plan being worked out by the various partners in this project would also increase Rock Valley College’s aviation mechanic program from the current 20 graduates each year. RVC’s program is a good one, but its equipment is old, it’s in cramped quarters in the Register Star’s old hangar, (we had a DC-3 once upon a time) and it needs to be upgraded to work on jets. Besides, the hangar sits smack-dab in the middle of what one day will be RFD’s third runway.
Establishing a first class aviation technology school at the airport,  gives the Rock River Valley a powerful economic development engine, to create high paying, career jobs here in our community, to give aviation companies like Hamilton Sundstrand, Woodward and others, an educational resource, and to attract new companies to the airport and the region.
February 5th, 2008
Rochelle is the region’s most progressive community, with municipal electricity, forward-thinking economic development people and the courage to build its own railroad to attract Fortune 500 companies, bring the mighty Union Pacific to town with a $180 million intermodal hub.
But home rule was a bridge too far, and voters rejected a referendum requesting Home Rule powers, 56 to 44 percent. Judging from Rochelle’s success in recent years, voters probably figured city government wasn’t broke, so why fix it?
Can’t say I blame them.
February 5th, 2008
I think when Super Tuesday is all counted, Hillary Clinton will have bested Barack Obama in the number of states won. However, because Democrats apportion their delegates, the battle will continue into the remaining primaries. I suspect it may end up at the Democratic Convention in Denver. If the nominee is brokered by un-elected Super Delegates, who are old time party bosses and elected officials, democracy will be the loser.
The Republicans, because they feature winner-take-all primaries, have decided John McCain is their leading candidate with the momentum to win the nomination in St. Paul. The big question for McCain is, can he win back the party’s right-wing base? And what will the conservative radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Hugh Hewitt do now? If they continue to bash McCain, they risk alienating enough Republican voters from McCain to tip a close election to the Democrats.
February 4th, 2008
So I’m watching Jay Leno’s “Headlines” feature and up pops a story from the Reggie Star. Headline: “Governor, legislators disagree about when they might agree.”
Hmmmm.
February 4th, 2008
Super Tuesday beckons just a few hours away. Voters in the Rock River Valley should be able to escape the snowstorm, which, according to our WREX-TV partners, could give us as much as 13 inches of snow. But they said it won’t start until evening.
So, vote early and often if you can.
I predict that because of the way the Democrats apportion delegates — they don’t do a lot of winner take all — should mean that the Hillary vs. Barack race will go on, and on, and on, PERHAPS all the way to the Democratic Convention in Denver. If it gets that far, the Dems have these unelected “Super Delegates,” party leaders and fundraisers, who have more say than average, elected delegates, and they will decide the outcome. Not very democratic for a party that calls itself Democratic.
Clearly Obama has the momentum, the question is, did he get it in time? Remember, early voting in states like California — where 1 million have already voted — has been heavy. That will give Clinton reserve of votes, because her popularity has been coming down while his has been going up. That’s why for Obama it’s been all hands on deck in a massive voter turnout effort.
he opinion that John McCain will win Super Tuesday running away. The angry right wing has been pummelling McCain constantly, and I think that has done some damage to the Arizonan. This will benefit Mitt Romney. McCain will win the night, and maybe the nomination, but I’m not convinced the race will be over tomorrow night.
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