Lombardian Speak Out–August 9

In the SPEAK OUT of July 26 there were two similar calls on abortion, both pro-life. The first equated the beginning of a human as a life. The second equated the fertilized egg as a person. This terminology is basically a religious position. Of course most think of abortion as a two-issue problem; religious or legal. But it can also be medical. The legal embryo becomes a person at birth! My religion says life begins at conception. But I do not want to impose my religious or medical beliefs on anybody. Or negate their reason for being pro-choice. Some believe abortion is murder yet believe execution is OK!

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Regarding the area near St. Charles and Elizabeth, how about some relief from the constant logjam of traffic that occurs when trains are crossing Elizabeth near the St. Charles Road intersection? The traffic light does not offer a left-hand turn for vehicles going south on Elizabeth in the event, which occurs frequently, when trains approach. Offering a left-hand turn arrow for these vehicles will lessen the bottleneck and at the same time, may allow for traffic flow through the St. Charles and Main Street business area, possibly creating additional business for these merchants. This possibility does not seem to require a rocket science approach to adjusting the traffic signals and surely won’t be out be out of the realm of possibility.

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Your concern was forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: “Thank you for the inquiry into the St. Charles Road/Elizabeth Street traffic signal. While this suggestion may seem simple, the traffic signal has geometric and interconnection constraints. The current two-lane configuration has a dedicated right turn lane to allow access for turning traffic. Adding or reallocating lanes would require geometric and signal modifications. Additionally, the signal is interconnected along St. Charles Road and with the railroad crossing that provides exclusive green time for northbound traffic to clear the intersection. Any timing changes would require Illinois Commerce Commission and Union Pacific Railroad involvement. Please contact Public Works at 630-620-5740 for any additional information.”—JAC

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A commenter in the July 26 SPEAK OUT section claimed President Trump “wants no brown people…Hispanics…no Muslims…in the United States of America.” Please. This is a typical leftist comment—juvenile, baseless and uninformed. The Trump Administration’s so-called travel ban, which was recently upheld by the Supreme Court, included five majority-Muslim nations—Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Neither India nor Pakistan, Islam’s two most populous countries, are included in the travel ban. The ban applies to countries that can’t or won’t help screen their own nationals who want to enter the United States.

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By executive order, Trump has changed the appointment of administrative law judges from being merit-based to being, essentially, political appointments. Previously, at minimum, an attorney would need seven years of relevant trial experience and would have gone through an extensive, competitive examination process to even be considered. Now, one merely needs to be an attorney in good standing with the bar. This is just wrong. Americans deserve to have the most qualified professionals possible in these roles. You wouldn’t want the kid who just passed his first aid class performing eye surgery on anyone.

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To the caller who said school residency verification “has to do with being divided up so each district can carry at least the same amount of children so schools don’t become overcrowded,” and that it has nothing to do with race, and then you point to Glenbard’s four high schools, a Google search of each school’s “report card” is enlightening when you look at the student population of each in terms of the percentages of white, black, Hispanic and Asian students. There is an apparent racial imbalance, and I would say boundaries are a key “factor” in dividing up who goes to which school. And, yes, parents should be required to provide residency proof, so the rest of us don’t have to pay for their kids to game the system, just like we shouldn’t be paying for illegal immigrants to live here.

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Just a word of caution for newer trees with red ribbons tied around them. Make sure the ribbons are not too tight around the trunks, as the trees are still growing and the ribbons might impede their growth.

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I’m a member of the American Association of University Women of the Lombard-Villa Park area. I would like to inform everybody that we will no longer hold our summer used book sale. We are all too old now to do this anymore. We thank all of our past customers for their support. And keep on reading.

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A recent article in last week’s Lombardian spoke of the sentencing of an individual from Plainfield, to a term of 12 life sentences for the sexual abuse of young children. This reminds me of an expression that nothing in life is always fair. Just remember, a neighbor of this convicted pedophile living in close proximity to Plainfield, that individual happens to be a retired U.S. congressman, teacher and educator, who admitted to similar offenses, only to be given a sentence of 13 months in prison for an unrelated offense. For reasons relating to statute of limitations on such offenses, but recently changed, this pedophile, Dennis Hastert, now sits in his home free to live his life unpunished for such despicable crimes. Yes, some things in life surely aren’t fair, are they?

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Good beautiful summer afternoon, Lombard. I’m calling in response to last week’s caller who said quoting scripture would not stop us, whoever “us” is, from having an abortion. These aren’t religious beliefs only, but humanitarian beliefs also. We are now in the dark days as you call it, with the legal abortion issue. I’m sure if you, yes you, were in your mother’s womb and someone was trying to suck you out or tear you apart, you would fight it. Thank goodness, whoever you are, made the light of day. Others won’t. Check out on YouTube a video called “The Silent Scream.” If you can watch that and come back to say the same thing about abortion, I will pray for you. God bless.

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Rahm Emanuel welcomes illegals to his sanctuary city where people are being shot and killed every weekend. I think they’d be safer in their homeland, Rahm.

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Hi, Lombard. I’m calling in response to the article about the new hotel on 22nd Street. I agree with the people who say we don’t need it. I also can sympathize with the man who said that if they build the hotel, he will not be able to see another sunset. I live right next to the Elan project and we once had a panoramic view of this whole area, looking out of our balcony and right now, the whole thing is blocked by a giant garage and apartment buildings. So, I can sympathize with your view being blocked. I don’t think we need to develop every single square inch of Lombard. We need to have some green space and some open space. We don’t have to be so compact like the city where everything’s jammed together. We should have some open space and some breathing room for some kind of sanity. So I agree with no hotel being built. We already have several hotels in the area. We don’t need another one. Thank you, bye.

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I voted for Trump and I definitely watch Fox News. Trump is a welcome relief to the childish, self-centered individuals who occupy our seats of government. As an example, one of many: Look at immigration. Nothing has been done for a lot of years. Legal immigration is good for our country; illegal immigration is bad for our country. We don’t know who’s coming in to our country. Some say they want asylum; people do lie. The problems at the border are the fault of our inept politicians and the illegal immigrants who would not know the scope of the problem without Trump and Fox News. Good job to both Trump and Fox News. If Trump wants to shut down the government because of Congress’s inactivity on the wall, go for it, Mr. President. I’m with you.

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What is it with the people who park right up against the entry/exit of the grocery store? What is their mentality? Very self-centered, I would say. What part of the “No Parking” signage do they fail to understand? I am guessing the people who park there would give us the same old song and dance; they are in a hurry; they or the person they are waiting for will just be a minute. Sure. You know who else could say that? Just about everyone who’s shopping at the store. If everyone who was in a hurry or was only making a quick visit ignored the rules, there would be dozens of cars parked near the door. But I suppose the ones who engage in this self-absorbed practice don’t care about anyone but themselves.

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I think a commenter in the Aug. 2 SPEAK OUT completely misread an entry in a previous issue. The point was that there are many instances in which people are required to show identification or proof of residence. Whenever something as simple as voter identification, however, is proposed, Democrats go berserk. They respond to simple voter ID proposals with cries of racism and bigotry. This is mainly because Democrats benefit from voter fraud, and they are against anything that might minimize such fraud. Democrats are the ones who constantly turn up the outrage level and compare anything and anyone they disagree with to Nazis, racists, etc. Democrats and their fake outrage deserve to be mocked.

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For the people who think Trump voters are ignorant, that’s what we thought about you when you voted for Obama.

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To the person or persons who keep putting down Fox News and calling those of us who watch it ignorant, speaking for myself, I look at a variety of news sources, and make up my own mind. But I guess there are a lot of ignorant folks out there because according to Adweek.com, Fox News trounced MSNBC and CNN in the prime time ratings: “Fox News’s 2.4 million total prime time viewer delivery beat MSNBC’s 1,663,000 and CNN’s 891,000 in July.” Fox also had 13 of the top 20 cable news programs. The difference is, from my observation, Fox talks about more than Trump, but MSNBC and CNN simply have tunnel vision and only negativity when it comes to their main topic of conversation: Trump. No wonder Fox calls itself “fair and balanced.”

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So I see that Jim Acosta was whining about getting booed when he was covering a Trump rally the other day. Aww, poor baby! Maybe you should bring a rattle and pacifier with you the next time CNN sends you to a Trump rally. It seems to me that Acosta shares a few personality traits with the president—he’s thin-skinned, rude and demeaning. I’ve seen how Acosta goes after Sarah Huckabee Sanders at White House press briefings. If Hillary were president and had a woman press secretary, imagine the outrage from the left if, let’s say, a male White House correspondent from Fox News showed the same disrespect that Acosta does to Sarah Huckabee Sanders on a regular basis.