Editor's Blog File

A couple of posters at Open Line Online want more “clicks” to remove a comment. I’ve been keeping it at a minimum, because I want the truly inappropriate comments removed quickly. I can restore the ones that are OK, if not truly appropriate, and I do so a half dozen times a day or more.

All this will be moot in a short time. By the end of April we are scheduled to go to a log-in system, where you put in your screen name (which will be registered to you), an e-mail address and the like. The e-mail addresses will stay with us. We’ve never sold our circulation list and we have no interest in selling the e-mail addresses to spammers.

Then we’ll see how it goes. If the comments get more civil, I’ll up the number of people required to remove a comment.

Sorry, but I think it’s better to quickly remove the stuff that is profane, hurtful or excessive than keep intact the latest whine about police, farmers, immigrants, Open Line and so on.

Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday put in perspective the ugly and outrageous comments by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The ideas and sentiments the Rev. Wright expressed aren’t terribly new; we’ve heard them all before. And most of them aren’t terribly out of line as opinion: The United States has been rough on blacks; it doesn’t deserve black support; the country brought Sept. 11 upon itself.

There are less inflammatory ways of and even logical arguments for saying those same things, and many others have done so. It’s more the way he said them and the excessive, hateful language he used.

In this time and place, it won’t do Sen. Obama much good to say, “I didn’t say those things; I don’t believe them, but the Rev. Wright was kind to me in other areas.” His long-time pastor could well cost him the nomination for president, and if nominated, it is even more likely to cost him the presidency.

I’ll develop this idea more fully in my Sunday column. Let me know where I’m wrong, and I’ll try to address it either here or in the column.

Jacksonville has a fire bug — someone mentally unhinged who likes to set fires.

So far, the fires have been at places where no one lives or at businesses where no one is about. That doesn’t make the person any less unhinged.

Arson like this is a tough crime to solve, because finding the criminal has little to do with police work. Most crimes have a motive of some sort that police can use to help them narrow down the suspects.

Instead, the two dozen suspicious fires going back about two years have presumably been for the fun of it by a mentally unstable thrill-seeker. The motive is all inside the person’s addled brain. There’s no investigating that.

Most likely, this string of arsons will only be solved by chance. Some random citizen — maybe you — will see something and tell police. Almost everyone has a cell phone now, so we can tip off police pretty quickly.

It could happen sooner or it could happen later, at any time, and each of us should have this in the back of our minds when we are out and about after dark.

Who knows? You might be the one who sees something odd on the way home from picking up a gallon of milk or after a dinner party at a friend’s house or some other late-night excursion.

Someone will probably see something, or the arsonist will make a mistake. All we can hope is that it happens before a firefighter is hurt trying to save an empty building or someone is actually in a building the arsonist thinks is empty.

Then we’re talking about something very, very different than a little excitement.

The cost of gasoline is getting me thinking about where and when I drive. Unless I must, I don’t get into my car until I have a couple of things to do.

And Springfield? At $10 or more a round trip, there’s got to be a pretty good reason.

This is exactly as it should be. Until the United States has a dictatorship, the price of gasoline will cause people to change their behavior and drive less often. And it’s apparently already starting to have an impact. Gasoline use has started to drop.

People who want the United States to cut back on its use of oil and gas must be thrilled. A couple quarters on the cost of a gallon of gas has accomplished what decades of legislation and attempted legislation has failed to do: make Americans drive less.

But I doubt if they’ll learn the lesson. It’s much more satisfying to make others to what we want then let them decide for themselves.

The big, bad Wal-Mart Supercenter is in town, opening today near you.

Wal-Mart is one of the most vilified companies anywhere these days, right up there with big oil and the local newspaper. The criticism is unrelenting and often irrational.

Most people in this area realize that — at least according to an online poll last week when 60 percent of the respondents said the arrival of a supercenter will be beneficial to the area.

They are right. In fact, I don’t see much of a downside at all.

What do you think? I’ll expand on this topic in Sunday’s Editor’s File.

The abortion wars might resume in Illinois with a proposed state law that would spell out a woman’s rights on this most contentious of issues. The idea is to codify the law in Illinois and, according to supporters, address any U.S. Supreme Court rulings that might restrict abortion.

With Democrats controlling the levers of state government, pro-choice supporters likely see this as a chance to solidify their beliefs in the law. Pro-life groups vow to fight any such effort.

Roe vs. Wade was the worst thing that could have happened in this country. Instead of letting people work out some sort of compromise, the Supreme Court removed all chance of a political settlement.

With that decision, it became an either/or proposition, with no chance for citizens to work out something most of us could live with. Perhaps a compromise isn’t possible, but we never had the chance.

I sure hope Tuesday’s presidential primaries decide the Democratic nomination. As the voting gets farther and farther away from Illinois, I’d just as soon it was over with.

I’m not a citizen of the Obamanation, like so many other journalists. The “Saturday Night Live” spoofs on my colleagues in the national press have been dead on.

That said, I sure don’t want another Clinton in the White House. The Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton(?) cycle looks entirely too much like a Second World dictatorship.

Scott County Commissioner Elmer Witwer voted against a liquor license because “I don’t vote for anything pertaining to alcohol,” he said. “It’s my personal belief — I’m opposed to (alcohol).”

This raises the question: Are elected officials supposed to follow the wishes of their constituents or are they supposed to vote their conscience?

I’ll talk about that more in my Sunday column (posted sometime that day), but what do you think about his vote and the general question?

So, what do you want to talk about? Downtown? Police Departments? Roodhouse? Something at the paper? (To name a few evergreen topics).

It’s your call. You’ll have to register to make comments, and I’ll have to OK them. I’ll try to check at least once a day (although some days …).

You’ll have to register to comment (although you can read to your heart’s content without registering). That will take an e-mail address. No one else will see the e-mail.