Peculiarities

The QU sports information department apparently doesn't think its women's basketball players are athletes . . . the Whig's mugshots have them all in street clothes.

When the team wins by 23, it's hard to make an interesting story, so one resorts to all kinds of pseudo-literary devices, like transcribng the comments of an elderly fan and noting that the coach's pen scooted out onto the floor. Didn't work.

The Prevailing Wage

Congratulations to the Quincy School Board for pursuing answers on the prevailing wage question. It's pretty clear to all that the "prevailing wage" is a fiction designed to keep wages high on public projects. The Illinois Department of Labor's complicity in maintaining this fiction needs to be challenged.

If ever there was a court fight that deserved to be undertaken using taxpayers' money, this is it. It's unfortunate that the school boards' association and the NFIB were too chicken-hearted to put their money where their mouth was and back the school board in challenging the procedure.

The Freedom of Information request should be pursued. And if that request doesn't provide the answers the board needs, then it's time for Adams County to opt out of the Department of Labor's prevailing wage and set its own, as the law allows.

Rod, Roland, and the Rest

A few thoughts:

1. Rod's got a good lawyer. Every couple of days he throws up a new line of attack to confuse everyone, and as soon as the dust settles and people get back to remembering Rod's egregious behavior he throws up a new one. The best defense is a good offense.

2. Why wouldn't Roland accept the appointment? It's his only remaining chance to be a senator, and God knows he's tried often enough. Besides, he left some room on his tombstone for another couple of lines of chiseling.

3. If public opinion mattered, the appointment of Roland would be a terrific p.r. stunt on Rod's part. Shows he's still on the job, puts everybody on the defensive, etc. But unfortunately, the only people that matter right now are the Illinois legislators, and they've already got the tar hot and the feathers fluffed. So playing to the grandstand is beside the point.

An exception

My general policy is to go to local retailers whenever possible and avoid chain establishments. But I found myself at Ruby Tuesday on New Year's Eve, and I have to say . . . if there's a better salad bar in town, I've not seen it.

Jack the Ripper? What the hell?

What was that weird stuff about the origin of "carol" in the Christmas Eve story? Doesn't anybody down there have a dictionary? All it takes is a glance in our dictionary friend to see that "carol" meaning "Christmas hymn" dates back to 1502 and probably earlier and first appeared as a musical term in English in the 1300s or earlier. OK, so it was identified as an "urban legend" in the story, but do we print urban legends as fact these days?

Wondering

. . . . how the stock market meltdown is going to affect -- or not affect -- the building of the big Salvation Army community center downtown.

Seeing as how the Danforth Foundation recently announced that it wasn't going to be able to make the $50 million it had pledged for work around the St. Louis Arch. I'm sure a lot of foundations are having to reassess the amount and rate of their giving.

Nice work all around....

...Ebbing to act quickly on the stadium seat deal.

...The OLC Board to say, "wait a minute, we can't afford that."

...Local businesses to step up and pledge.

Good work by all.