United 93 is a wonderful portrait of courage. But in the context of America’s current foreign policy, it comes off as a familiar bit of wound-licking. 
Her name was Lovana, but everyone called her Lou.

There haven’t been many politicians like state Representative Lou Jones in this world. The Chicago Democrat was completely out front about whatever she was doing, and I don’t think she ever minced a single word in her entire career. She took on issues that almost nobody else would touch, and she used every ounce of her being to force the rest of us to see some harsh truths that we preferred to ignore. 
I recently found myself in Atlanta. Most conventioneers take the taxi from the airport to downtown, but since I was traveling on the largess of the Company, a buck-75 MARTA train ride felt more responsible than a $20 cab fare.

And so it was that I emerged from the caverns beneath Peachtree Plaza, squinting into the afternoon sun, searching among the canyons of steel and cement for my hotel.

“Where ya headed?”

He was five-foot-nothin’ and dressed in the somewhat ragged attire we used to discourage the kids from wearing in public. 
My article that ran in this publication three weeks ago about how the city of Davenport was marketing itself has led to a significant response, and it’s running about six-to-one in support of what was said (23 positive and four negative). (See “Davenport Marketing Can’t Overcome City’s Deficiencies, River Cities’ Reader Issue 577, April 19-25, 2006.)

Interestingly enough, during one telephone call from a rather prominent Quad Citian providing me with feedback, I learned of an effort to develop a comprehensive “commerce” effort for the Quad Cities. This effort would involve private enterprise funds, and would combine the efforts of all of the cities’ major chambers, including DavenportOne. This was confirmed by a second person.


The smoking bans put in place last week at Genesis and Trinity hospitals are the first signs of what is almost certainly an inevitable end: smoking being forbidden in all enclosed public spaces in the Quad Cities.


State Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago) has continually brushed aside notions that he wouldn’t run for governor on a third-party ticket, saying last week, for instance, that he is very encouraged by the results of a new poll he commissioned that shows him right in the race.

The Meeks poll has some more bad news for Governor Rod Blagojevich, but also a rare spot of good news. 
In reference to the commentary that was published on April 12, 2006, entitled “You Can Leave Your Hat on (and Your Shoes, Too!)”:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as part of the Aviation & Transportation Security Act signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 19, 2001. TSA’s mission is to protect the nation’s transportation systems by ensuring the freedom of movement for people and commerce. There are 43,000 Transportation Security Officers ensuring the safety of the traveling public at 450 commercial airports nationwide.


Kevin Krause showed last week that he knows how to orchestrate good drama, and that he has a decent sense of humor. Not since Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein made his escape in a gorilla suit last Halloween has a simian played such a major role in baseball shenanigans.

When Krause, president and general manager of the Swing of the Quad Cities, sent in the team’s mascot to deliver a check for $367,000 to Mayor Ed Winborn, he knew that the absurdity of the situation would make people forget some of the serious issues that had been raised recently.

Major changes start with small steps, and big ideas need to be tested and tweaked before they become reality. For the past few months, the staff of the River Cities' Reader has been throwing around big ideas and developing major changes.
Whenever there's a big story, a calamity of some sort, an outrage, or some type of disaster, you can bet that a lobbyist or special-interest group will try to take advantage of the situation to push its own legislation in Springfield.

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