Whatcha wanna talk about?

Except for the fact that I do not want to give this man any more attention...what the hell is this woman thinking who is engaged to Drew? This woman should get a psych eval herself! Lets see when she makes her pros & cons list for her Mr. Right having 2 wives dead and being under investigation for them is on her pro side? Unless of course she is there as a trap for him...hmmm not a bad idea!

Id like to suggest that a topic for discussion be "The lack of tolerance and civility in blog posts". The level of personal attacks and childish name calling is amazing.

The December 18 Sun posts two stories that exemplify our society's warped priorities. A man with a history of moving violations was given one month in jail for killing a father of two who was riding his bicycle near Wheaton. The Sun article suggested that the 21-year-old car driver was intoxicated at the time, but that fact is not made clear by reporter Bill Bird. Meanwhile, another fellow was sentenced to 4 years in prison for sharing "child pornography." It doesn't take much research to discover that, as with child abductions and school shootings, widespread paranoia about child porn is the result of overblown news stories designed to draw viewers and readers. We should be more concerned about people who continue to use their cars as weapons and then are ordered to perform "community service," or sit in jail for a few weeks and watch television, only to get back behind the wheel when they get out. It's time to get chronically bad drivers off the road.

I can't imagine why any woman on this planet would give this guy the time of day, but then it takes all kinds. Look at all the incarcerated men who have groupies or get fan mail in jail. What could possibly motivate these women? Desperation? Stupidity? A death wish?
One Who Values You's trap idea is the only situation which would make sense in my mind. But then, if I were that woman it would make my skin crawl just to be around him.

Ghost of Christmas future?

More California Towns Face Bankruptcy

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122954346309915189.html

Drew Peterson is a classic sociopath. It is also fairly telling that he consistently is interested in women in their late teens and early twenties. If they get too old, or too "disagreeable", he thinks he can quickly replace them with a similar model. After all, he's gotten away with it twice so far. How frightening.

Why not open a blog for each City Council want to be so that we can get to know them?

Sun Editors and bloggers can ask questions, and the candidates can answer. Allow the candidates to post their own opening statements.

I don't believe that this will cut into advertising revenue that the Sun receives from politicos and you might be able to sell more space with a lot of hits!

Perhaps the Sun could open with a list of questions, Taxes, growth of govt., keeping our primary businesses in town, parking decks, train station parking, pension plan reform, etc.... Lots of good stuff on the blogs.
Bubo

Home grown campaign finance reform. Bypass the king makers and the money men.

Bubo, I will mention it to the other editors, but if we did something like that it would probably be closer to the election. I'd guess that it would be hard to coordinate though, and many of the candidates might not want to participate.

Bubo,

I think that is an excellent idea. We need to deal with the upcoming election. Most of us can't even name any of the new candidates.

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Host Chris,

Do you know why there will not be a primary this year. I thought if the number of candidates exceeded the positions available by a multiple of more than 2, a primary would be held. I believe that is how it was in prior years. I thought I read somewhere in your newspaper an article in which a reporter stated there would be no primary.

I can't remember the exact rule for the primary but it was more complicated than just twice as many candidates as seats. I believe there was one fewer candidate than necessary for a primary. Our city reporter isn't here right now or I'd ask her.

Host Chris,

I believe a subject thread debating Darwin's Theory as opposed to Religious Theory would be a subject that would bring people out of the closet since they can debate anonymously.

Maybe it can also deal with Agnosticism and Atheism.

We will never solve the mystery of the universe on such a thread but at least we will experience the beliefs of others who may not believe as we do. Maybe tolerance for others beliefs can be achieved in our society.

As you know you can not have a debate about Agnosticism in a Mosque or Atheism in a Church. I suspect you will be escorted out of both instituions if you question their religions. And the CHOSEN PEOPLE will not even let you in the front door!

It does bother me that all religious institutions want you to believe everything they tell you based on FAITH even though they offer ZERO PROOF.

FAITH can be very dangerous. People put 50 billion dollars with some tycoon who told them he was making them 8% returns each and every year the last decade. They had FAITH in him without seeing any PROOF and he lost $49,700,000,000 of their money. He is out on 10 million bail and has ankle bracelets. He ran a ponzi scheme and defrauded charities but has FAITH he is going straight to HEAVEN.
Oh well, you can believe what you want!

If anyone is being told by their mutual fund or hedge fund they averaged 8% the last decade, I would ask for proof. Please don't have faith unless you want to be taken to the CLEANERS followed by a visit to the LAUNDROMAT. I would rather not be washed this clean based on strictly FAITH.

I'm supposed to keep the topics local, but this is the place to debate off topic things, so if someone wants to debate you, go ahead.

Our reporter said there would have had to have been 17 candidates for the 4 year term and 5 candidates for the 2 year term to have a primary in the council election.

By Naperville Sun editors on December 18, 2008 3:53 PM
I can't remember the exact rule for the primary but it was more complicated than just twice as many candidates as seats. I believe there was one fewer candidate than necessary for a primary. Our city reporter isn't here right now or I'd ask her.

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I hope you ask her. I would be curious to know.

City officials and council members made some drastic changes to the budget in the last few months.

It seems like they adopted all the changes the Napergatians were demanding on this blog site in the last couple of years.

It also appears they made the Napergatians happy and quieted them down. Since the Napergatians never cared for political office, it seems like they will spend this election on the sidelines.

If the city council kills this library deck as the Napergatians have been demanding, I suspect the Napergatians will elect the Establishment candidates and it will be an uncontested race to the finish.

It seems like the Napergatians are in complete disagreement with CM Dick Furstenau on the library deck.

As far as the Library Deck, I think it is an insane project. I can't believe 6 council members in their infinite wisdom voted for it. I believe someone BRAINWASHED them to BELIEVE it was needed. They had FAITH and voted to build this UNNECESSARY DECK.

It does surprise me that the Napergatians were 2 years ahead of the city council on understanding the necessity or lack of necessity of this parking deck. Sometimes I wonder why we pay our city council members. I wish there was a way to hold them accountable for the "1,000,000" dollars in SUNK COSTS they lost in taxpayer funds on this elephant project.

It would be nice to see an Editorial by Sun Officials calling for the shelfing of this project permanently...not temporarily or for 5 years as the ESTABLISHMENT is calling for.

If in the future if we need more parking the city council must demand they build underground parking which is much less unsightly than overground parking. It is also a better utilization of limited adn scarce space. The reason we have not seen underground parking in this town is because it is expensive and the Estbalishment has the City Council in its rear pocket.

We have the Blagojevich situation here but it has not been uncovered yet. These developers do something for the city council and the city council builds and pays for their parking. It is SHAM!

I think when you have no Napergate Man watching and the the Sun does not have the resources to watch, CHAOS does develop. It eventually grows like a MALIGNANT CANCER.

Too bad US ATTORNEY Patrick Fitzgerald is so hung up on Blagojevich. It he came to Naperville he would discover every deceased being in the Naperville Cemetry is rolling in each and every grave. In the Blagojevich case only Abraham Lincoln is reported to be rolling in his grave!

By Naperville Sun editors on December 18, 2008 4:38 PM
Our reporter said there would have had to have been 17 candidates for the 4 year term and 5 candidates for the 2 year term to have a primary in the council election.

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I could be wrong. But in past elections we would have needed 9 candidates for the 4 year term and 3 candidates for the one 2 year term to have a primary in the city council.

Did the law change? Or could your reporter be wrong? Of course I could be wrong as I am depending on my memory which sometimes fails. I hope someone can double check for us!

Maybe CM Bob will pop up as he often does and set the record straight.

I believe the law did change, and you are right about 9 in the past. The reporter didn't remember the specifics without doing some research and I don't want to bother her since she's writing two stories, but you can probably find it on the city's web site somewhere.

First off, my apologies to everyone else and Host Chris who has to read this, but I couldn't let BHO get away with his comments on the Blago blog.

"I am glad you chose not to debate me. I think you realized very quickly we were not in the same league": Well now this is my opportunity to refute your statements.

"My middle name proves that I am part Muslim and Arab": That doesn't prove anything. The real BHO is part Kenyan, not Arab

"Islam treats women as second class citizens my dear Mary Poppins. They are brainwashed to believe they are lesser than men and most be obedient and subservient to them". I was not brainwashed by anyone to believe I was lesser than any man and Islam does not teach that either, if you were really Muslim and not some person that has done a few internet queries, you would have already known that. Arab culture and tradition are different than Islam. Don't give me commentary based on culture, every culture is different and interpretation of the Koran is used to justify cultural tradition. I have friends that are Christian Arabs and they have they same cultural rules that the Muslims do.

"If you are a Muslim can you recite Al-Fatiha": Yes I can

"Do you know what "Ash-hadu an la elaha el Allah wa anna Muhammad Rasool Allah" translates to?" Again, Yes and you should take a few spelling classes

"What did you do for Eid Al Adha my dear Muslim friend, Mary Poppins?" I visited my relatives, like you are supposed to, and celebrated together with them. We did not sacrafice a lamb this year, I'm going to be honest, but I did donate toys to needy children

"Do you know what line you are suppose to recite from Islam before you slaughter the sheep to make it Halal.": Again, yes

"All you did is go to an Enclyopedia or the Internet to find out what the remaining 1% of non-Muslims in Turkey are composed of." Not true, I have a BA in poli-sci

"Muslim girls are very obedient and don't use words like *** when writing" - You must not have any Muslim friends BHO, we swear too

"And if you do decide to vist a Muslim country make sure you buy a bar of soap and stick it in your mouth on the way there to wash out your filthy mouth. k** I***! If you know anything about Muslim or Arabic culture you will know what those 2 words mean! Hopefully, you don't!": Well, I do know what that means, and I'm sorry Host Chris let that vulgarity pass through to the blog, shame on you BHO(dirty talk in another language shouldn't be allowed, that is really very vulgar and should be removed). And Arabic is a language not a culture.

"I would LOVE to know who you really are." : That was a rhetorical statement, but you took it personally, so sorry about that. I don't want to meet you, I think we all agree on these blogs that we just want to know where you are coming from when you post some of your comments. You're all over the place and you're pretending to be the president elect.

I found this info. on the city's website:

Sixteen Residents File Packets for City Council Elections
No Primary Election Necessary in the City of Naperville

NAPERVILLE, Ill.— There will be no 2009 primary election in the City of Naperville. Residents will head to the polls on Tuesday, April 7 in the consolidated election to vote for the four open four-year City Council positions and the unexpired four-year seat left vacant upon the resignation of Darlene Senger.

A primary is necessary when the number of packets submitted is more than four times the vacant number of seats. In the case of Naperville, 17 candidates filing for the four-year term seats and 5 candidates filing for the unexpired four-year term seat would have triggered a primary. A total of 16 residents filed packets, 13 for the four-year seats and three for the unexpired four-year seat, making a primary unnecessary.

A lottery to determine ballot order of candidates who simultaneously filed petitions to run for the four-year positions will take place on Friday, December 19 at 9:30 a.m. in Meeting Room A of the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle St. The lottery is open to the public and candidates are not required to attend. No lottery will take place for the unexpired four-year seat, as no petitions were simultaneously filed.

Voter registration services for DuPage and Will County residents are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the City Clerk’s Office in the Naperville Municipal Center. To register to vote, you must produce two pieces of identification, a photo ID and one with your current address. A checkbook or utility bill is acceptable if you have not yet updated your driver’s license. The last day to register to vote for the consolidated election is March 10, 2009.

Host Chris,

It is interesting that they would change the law. The benefit is it will save the taxpayers money as 2 elections cost more than 1.

Of course, the disadvantage is you will have a very crowded field and no one will get any decent attention.

In the past I would wait until the field got narrowed down to 8 and begin learning about the finalists from the Naperville Sun, Daily Herad and the Napergate ads. With the Daily Herald down to 1600 in circulation and the Napergate ads gone, a heavy burden will fall on the shoulders of the Naperville Sun. I hope they can deliver in these tough economic times with a thin staff and even a thinner newspaper.

In the past, when the Sun had a much larger page, I remember the Napergate Man rating the final 8 in a full page ad. With a much smaller page size and 16 candidates or whatever number I don't know how he could squeeze all those candidates on one small page if he ever decided to come out of retirement. With twice as many candidates and half the page size, it would cost him 4 times as much assuming rates at the Sun did not increase in 10 years....highly unlikely!

In the end my greatest fear is we will be voting for the candidates with best name recognition. That translates to the incumbents plus the candidates with the most money who can put the most illegal signs on all the easements in town.

My Dearest Mary Poppins,

Your great grandfather may have been Muslim and thus you consider yourself a Muslim. To be a true Muslim you must practice Islam.

5 RITUALS ARE REQUIRED

1. You must pray to Allah 5 times a day and wash up(in a Wathu manner) before each prayer. You can not wear your high heals during prayer. Do you pray 5 times a day Ms. Poppins? Now tell the truth!

2. You must fast 30 days a year from Sunrise to Sunset. You are not allowed to drink water, eat any kind of food or smoke. When Ramadan falls in the Summer this can be up to 16.5 hours of fasting. Have you ever fasted 30 consecutive days in any summer? Now tell the truth!

3. You must proclaim daily that there is no Allah but Allah, that the Rasool Muhammed is his only Prophet, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is not the Son of God. Do you believe that have you recited that to Allah to assure Him that the Christians are wrong when they say Jesus is his Son? Allah as you know is very upset with the Christians for daring to call the Lord Jesus Christ His Son. He makes it clear in the Holy and Noble Quran He has no children. Have you sworn to Him that you agree with Him on a daily basis? Now tell the truth!

4. You must donate 2.5% of your earnings and/or 5% of your wealth to the poor each year. Giving a few toys is not enough each year my darling to get you in the doors of the Ginna(Heaven). Have you donated 2.5% of your earnings and/or 5% of your wealth to the poor? You must do this to avoid the firey gates of Gihannem(Hell). Now tell the truth!

5. And finally you must save lots of money and allot time to make that Pilgrimmage to Mecca sometime before you die to ask Allah and the Prophet Muhammed for forgivness of all your sins. You must circle the Kabaa 7 times wearing only a white gown like every one else! You can not be wearing your Victoria Secret bra and underwear under your gown while circling. No fancy high heels either. And make sure your face is covered even if it is 139 degrees in that vicious desert. No exceptions! Are you capable, my Dear Mary Poppins?

Do you still believe you are a practicing and faithful Muslim? Yes, and I believe I will be the greatest President of the United States of America when I am done ruling this country in 8 years. Yes, I will be re-elected because I have fear of Allah and Faith that he will make it happen. And please don't question how I have this FAITH! Just BELIEVE, don't doubt me and don't dare ask any questions.

Thank you and may Allah Bless Your Golden Heart in this Holiday Season!

Thank You!

vomitous righteous stupid sexist bigotry

You know what the wonderful thing about Islam is? It's between my god and me. I can be as Islamic or as un-Islamic as I want to be. On the day of judgment god will know what I did and didn't do.

You made it obvious that you have taken a world religion class or have been reading other blogs on Islam, at least you're trying to understand Islam, even if you are sarcastic and cynical.

It's time to coexist BHO. In your own words "Oh well, you can believe what you want!" Sounds good to me.

My Dear Mary Poppins,

Thank you for your kind words. I have never taken a world religion class. My Mother was Christian and my Dad was Muslim so I had good exposure to both religions. I once prayed 5 times a day and fasted 30 days a month for 8 years before I gave up on the Muslim religion.

I gave up on the Muslim religion when I was listening to a sermon by a Sheik at a mosque in Kenya. When the Americans arrived on the moon in 1969, the numerous Sheiks at the mosque rose up and said that is not possible. The Americans are lying. Allah condemn the Americans. No one can land on the moon. They violated Allah's domain. That is Allah's province and not possible. The entire mosque yelled in approval and chanted Allahu Akbar....Allahu Akbar....Allahu Akbar!!!!

I went home and gave it some thought. I had a TV in my village in Kenya and they were showing real footage of 3 Amercian astronomers landing on the moon. The Sheiks said that footage was all altered and it is not possible man can land on the moon. That was it for me. I gave up on the Muslim religion. I believed it was man made from that point on. I believed I had been brainwashed for 8 years.

I then became a Christian for a few years. Attended church for a few years with my Christian Mom. I heard the preacher say God created the world in 6 days 6000 years ago. After taking science classes in both high school and college, I learned there was life on this earth millions if not billions of year ago. Fossils that were millions of years old proved that. I realized the preacher had been brainwashed. I gave up on Christianity as well as Islam and became an Agonstic.

I know little about Judaism except for the fact that they think they are the CHOSEN PEOPLE of God and that Palestinians are dogs. They even practice that by treating Palestinians like dogs. That is all I want to know about that religion.

As you said Mary Poppins it is now between "my God and me" You are Agnositic just like me without realizing it. You can not be as un-Islamic as you want and be a Muslim. You must be a believer in Islam to be a Muslim.

Again, I never took any world religion classes. I just have been thinking and wondering. I came to the conclusion since religions literally attack each other, they must be man made and not the word of God. As I said God would have never created these bigoted racist religions who think there religion is better than other religions and only there religiion is right. It is such obvious BRAINWASHING.

It is frightening that people could be brainwashed so easily in the 21st Century. It reminds of the times when people believed in Goddesses and worshipped them based on unquestioned FAITH! We are doing the exact same thing. Worshipping based on unquestioned FAITH!
We are no better than they were. We laugh at them. Future generations will laugh at us.

I am watching CNBC at this moment and watching a show about this Barnie guy who brainwashed thousands of very rich and intelligent investors. They believed him and he ponzied them out of 50 billion dollars.

That is what happens when you are unwilling to think. You get brainwashed and taken.

Yes, it is time to coexist, Mary Poppins! I think you are a very nice person who understands where I am coming from. You sound like a very honest person. You sound like you have an open mind.

I believe you will one day be a success in life. Yes, keep it directly between you and God. Don't let religious institutions get between you and God. You will be much happier. Be as un-Islamic as you want and have no fear. Believe in God! That is all you need!

Have a belated Eid Al Adha? Don't worry about not having sacrificed a lamb for the Eid. I only did it because a Muslim friend approached me and he needed to distribute 10 lambs to the poor at a local mosque. I did it to help the poor and not because I am religious or believe in Islam.

I think you will still make it to Heaven even if you just gave toys to kids as long as there is a Heaven. That is good enough. Not everyone can afford to donate a lamb in this bad economy. Plus one lamb is alive and enjoying life because you passed up on the ritual. Next year I am not sacrifing a lamb. I am donating 165 dollars of vegetables to the poor in lieu of a lamb. After that Anonymous guy described the gruesome slaughter of a lamb, I could never do that ever again. Never again! Never Again!

Please forgive me my dear God for slaughtering that lamb. I promise I will never fall for religion again and slaughter a lamb. Please send that lamb to Heaven and tell it I am so so sorry! I just was not thinking when I agreed to sacrifice a lamb on the occassion of Eid Al Adha. I was trying to be socially accepted. Wanted to fit in with some old friends. Never again! Never again!

Why are the editors continuing to allow the troll posing as "Barack Hussein Obama" to post his hateful nonsense? Hasn't this gone far enough? Maybe we should have a blog topic about the hate in this community, it's transparent enough to see just from reading the Potluck Blog what kind of people live in Naperville and how they conduct themselves under a veil of internet anonymity.

WHO BENEFITS FROM NO PRIMARY?

One benefits of a large number of candidates is that the machine candidates can always get the 3000-4000 votes from the organizations that endorse them, the king makers.

If it’s the top 8, then the supporters of the Mr. Smiths have an opportunity to concentrate their votes for a few outsiders.

At the national level, all of the conservatives burned each other up and we got liberal light McCain for the Republicans as the last man standing. If the Republicans required 51% it is unlikely McCain could have carried many states.

Only 33 shopping days left to buy a gun or ammunition, look for an avalanche of law suit enabling legislation designed to break the firearms industry and distribution chain. BHO is the best thing for gun sales since Billy Bob Clinton started talking about the Army doing gun round ups.

Same story for the state wide elections in Illinois, three conservatives will burn each other up splitting the votes and the machine candidates will win the primary with a 30% vote.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx

Host Chris,

Maybe one new thread could be:

"Have you exercised your second amendment rights before the January 20th expiration date"?

Bubo

I know gun sales are up since Obama's election, even among those who voted for him. I'm not going to start a new thread but you can debate it here.

I think that there should be a rule that you cannot post under the name of a real person unless you can verify that you are that person. Why is this Barak character allowed to continue posting???????

Kevin, I will think about it. I didn't want to have to start issuing more restrictions because I'd like to think I could count on responsible adults to behave themselves.

By Barack Hussein Obama on December 19, 2008 10:53 AM
You are all right, I have not handled my blogging well and promise to make a change and behave better.

Please forgive me my dear God for making a mockery of this Naperville blog and the bloggers that are trying to write with reason.

Please forgive me my dear God for slaughtering that lamb and distributing it through organized religion, which I have spoken against many times. Please forgive my hypocrisy.

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Host Chris,

This is not my post and from an IMITATOR. I do like to maintain my honor, credibility and reputation, so I would appreciate it if you would not let others use the handle I chose.

Please delete this post.

By checking IP numbers you would have noticed this was not me.

Again, I am not trying to upset anyone. I am simply expressing my unique views. People need to understand the First Amendment does allow every US Citizen free speech and expression. Are we not in America?

The bloggers also need to understand that no one is holding a knife to their throats and forcing them to read what I write.

First they wanted the Napergatians to be censured. Their message was not only heard but the city council has been implementing many of their proposals including halting the LIBRARY DECK! Now they want me censored for making proposals!

Please remain steadfast Host Chris in upholding the First Amendment. If these bloggers want a one way debate, where were they when Edtior Tim West offered them one way debate where all would agree with each other like in that Stepford Wives classic movie.

Thank you!

You are right, the IP addresses are different and I have removed it. But it might show you something on the posting pretending to be someone else. I have allowed you to post as Barack Obama against my better judgment but I think it has not benefited you or these blogs and I would like to urge you again to change to somethng that's not another person like everyone else uses. I'm considering making it a policy but it would be nice if I didn't have to. I'm pretty sure you were posting as "Gary" for awhile so why not go back to that, and people can debate your ideas and not your tactics like you keep asking them to.

BHO said:

"By Barack Hussein Obama on December 19, 2008 10:53 AM
You are all right, I have not handled my blogging well and promise to make a change and behave better.
Please forgive me my dear God for making a mockery of this Naperville blog and the bloggers that are trying to write with reason.
Please forgive me my dear God for slaughtering that lamb and distributing it through organized religion, which I have spoken against many times. Please forgive my hypocrisy.
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Host Chris,
This is not my post and from an IMITATOR. I do like to maintain my honor, credibility and reputation, so I would appreciate it if you would not let others use the handle I chose."

Whose the IMITATOR?

On another note: Why does't the media (including the Sun) put pressure on Gov. Baggy? I mean, the Feds have hit him with a very good "gut punch" and his subsequent reaction has NOT been to exhibit "testicular fortitude" but rather to stay out of jail as long as he can. What a whimp! Get after this guy like the Tribune did.

By Anonymous on December 19, 2008 9:15 AM
Why are the editors continuing to allow the troll posing as "Barack Hussein Obama" to post his hateful nonsense?

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Host Chris,

Where is the hateful nonsense? Mary Poppins and Barack HUSSEIN Obama had a very nice but heated debate. When the debate was over we pretty much agreed to agree while also agreeing to disagree. We now have respect for each other. At least I respect Mary Poppins.

One day Mary Poppins and I will probably have a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Nothing against Mary Poppins because I find her very likable, but I would like to make a point.

Mary Poppins is using the name of a real person that is not hers.
Not one blogger has objected to the choice of her name. Why?

This should be all the proof you need, Host Chris, to realize the bloggers are more disturbed by my opinions and views than they are by my choice of a handle.

Many of your bloggers are hypocrits. Most of the Napergatians actually used there real first names and yet your Establishment bloggers attacked them and wanted them censored. I am assuming it was not for using their FIRST NAMES!

You have a handful of losers on this blog site that blog under multiple names and are trying to take over your job as Moderator through pressuring you. We already know my imitator is blogging under multiple names. That should be banned if anything should be banned.

A blogger could pretend he is multiple people to lead you to believe that the majority agree with him. For all I know it could be one blogger that is against me trying to persuade you to censure me by pretending to be a dozen bloggers. Please check IP numbers and especially those of my IMITATOR. You may be surprised what you may learn.

Thank you!

Denny, The Sun is a Naperville paper covering this community and you can't really expect us to be going after the governor. As you may or may not know, we are owned by the Sun-Times and the Sun-Times has been reporting extensively on the governor. There's only so much the media can do though. We don't have the evidence that the feds do.

Barack, Mary Poppins is not a real person. It's a movie character. If you want to be Austin Powers, Napoleon Dynamite or Jack Sparrow no one would care. It's you pretending to be the president-elect that people object to. I'll tell you why I think people object to your posts. You write as if you are Barack Obama, so people feel that you are ascribing views to him that they don't think he holds or he would approve of. And then anytime you post on anything else, no one knows if you're serious or if it's just another character you have made up. Since half the time you pretend to be someone else, everything you say is suspect. No one is going to debate anything you say as long as you are pretending to be someone else because they don't think you're serious and you're posting here just to get people upset. I can tell you actually have a lot of knowledge on a lot of topics, and if you'd stop pretending to be Obama you could contribute to a meaningful discussion, but that's not going to happen as long as you keep assuming this role. That's my assessment as an impartial observer.

Host Chris,

I have admitted I am not the real Barack Hussein Obama on many occassions. It is obvious that I am not him.

I love the man's beautiful name and enjoy using it.

I admire my President and I am trying to get in his head. I think he is a very deep person that has another side to him that he does not show publicly. I am trying to explore this side of him.

I don't see the big deal.

I have to conclude that it is my message that is disturbing and not my choice of a handle.

While you may genuinely believe I am hurting your blog aite, I believe otherwise. I believe I am stimulating your blog site and pushing bloggers to think out of the box and stop acting like a herd of sheep who agree with each other.

If a blog site is meausured for success by number of views, I have contributed to making your blog site an instant success.

This herd of sheep had every opportunity to go to Editor Tim West's Blog site, All Points West, and agree with and rubber stamp each other. They did not! Very interesting!

They simply don't want a non-religious Establishment view spread on your blog site.

These same bloggers also did not want a non-political Establishment view spread on your blog site, either.

The difference between the Napergatians and myself is they had the power of hundreds of bloggers and thousands of residents living in Naperville.

I am no Napergate Man! He definately earned his ICONIC STATUS in this town. But let us not forget that he started as one person before he grew his following in Naperville to over 10,000 residents. That number can not be questioned. He had to send more than that number to elect his 4 unknown Napergatian endorsees against the 4 very well know Establishment endorsees in 1997. That is a fact! His petitions generated over 3500 residents before they were notarized and presented to the City of Naperville and various Federal and State Courts. That is also a fact!

To this day, your handful of rebellious bloggers don't believe this actually happened in 1997. They believe no Napergatians live Naperville. That they live on the Moon or on another planet! I have many Napergatian neighbors that I know very well.

If you do pass a rule, Host Chris, not allowing someone to be someone else, I will abide by your rule. I am a law and order guy.
If you do not pass a rule, I would like to continue using the handle Barack Hussein Obama which I like and I think most of your 100,000 views are not complaining about.

Considering how few are complaining against the huge audience that this blog site has, it is the MINORITY that has an issue with me. There are over 143,000 residents in Naperville. Maybe 5-10 complained about me and for all we know that 5-10 are one person. Apparently, you were not checking IP numbers. Please check them so we can get to the bottom of one or two whiners and move forward to focus on the real issues that concern Napervillians.

OK, new rule for this blog site: No one can post as a living famous person. It just causes too much trouble. Let the word go forth from this time and place. I will not approve any more posts from users with handles that are the names of living famous people. And I expect this rule to be obeyed in spirit as well as in fact. So no Hussein Barack Obamas or anything like that. Sorry I have to do this, but it's for the best.

I will post on these blogs if I do not see the fake BHO. If I do, I stop. I suggest the others follow. If there is just BHO blogging then Chris may get board or reassigned. How can he take the blogs and put them in the Sun if it's a guy calling himself Barack Hussein Obama, what would the readers think.

HelloOooOoOOoooo it is I, the ghost of deep throat... posting on this blog from beyond the grave! I encourage you all to go see Frost/Nixon this weekend. I saw an advance screening and it was spoOoOoooky how accurate the portrayal of Richard Nixon is.

Have a gOooOooood weekend everyone!

Ok, I just read your post.

If it meets with your approval, I will post from now on under Barack.

Barack is a very common Arabic first name in the Arab and Muslim world. As you know I was born half Muslim. I have said that in many of my earlier posts. There are many half Muslims in America as there are many bi-racial Americans.

Barack means lightning rod. I spent much time traveling in many Arab, African and Muslim countries in my life and met many Baracks especially in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. It is a very popular name as everyone wants to have the power of a lightning rod. Soccer stars love naming their newborns Barack in hopes that they will one day be lightning rod soccer style player who can score with the power of lightning and receive cheers as loud as thunder.

I did not want to choose the handle Hussein as I don't like King Hussein of Jordan and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, who both tarnished that once very well respected Arabic name.

To not allow a first name like Barack, is the same as not to allow a first name like George since we have 2 recent Presidents with that first name. I am sure you don't want to prevent a bloggers from using the name George. Many have already!

Should we prevent a blogger from using the name Bill. We have a President named Bill Clinton. I hope you see my point and rationale in accepting the new first name I have chosen.

Again, I was born half Muslim as I have stated on this blog site so many times in the past. That is obviously where my deep knowledge of Islam comes from. I never took a course in Islam as was alleged by Blogger Mary Poppins. I feel I have a right to use a Muslim/Arabic first name as it is part of my heritage. Do you have any objections, Host Chris?

I hope you will be fair and allow me to use the name Barack as you allow other bloggers to use the name George or Bill which are also the first names of well known Presidents.

What you will discover Host Chris over time, is that the bloggers will always be disturbed by my views as they are against anything that is anti-Establishment. They are very closed minded.

Once again, since you are much younger than I and were not here duing the Napergate Days, the Estabishment was once very bothered by the views of the Napergate Man and to a large extent they continue to be bothered by the views of the Napergatians.

Some of your bloggers have even called the Napergatians a cult in order to attempt to make their message and views irrelevant. Blogger Ken has been even allowed to call the Napergate Man a "criminal" over and over again. No respect for that fact that the Napergate Man is a real person with a real family and very well known and liked in Naperville. Obviously an ICONIC leader to many Napervillains who are long term residents and refer to themselves as Napergatians in honor of their leader and his politcal views and agendas.

I wish you the wisdom in making the right decisions and hopeful you will accept my new handle. You seem like a fair and unbiased Moderator as you have characterized yourself.

Thank you!

Barack is an acceptable name. Thank you.

Even Politicians get Frustrated.

The other evening I was watching a Naperville City meeting when the topic of "Recalling elected politicians by the voting public" came up. After much discussion regarding the issue and how it would pertain to our "fine outstanding governor", the vote was cast. All council members but one voted that they were in favor of further exploring the recall possibility. The hold out was Mr.Furstenau, which I thought a bit unusual.

The majority felt that something must be done with regard to situations (such as the governors mess). The concern by these council members along with the frustration regarding the state situation was palpable. What took me by surprise was a response by Mr. Furstenau which was short and to the point. His response was that the policies, rules, and laws in place were more than sufficient to take care of situations like these (note not a direct quote).

I am not a huge fan of some actions taken by Mr.Furstenau in the past. Most of these judgments are based on how he is portrayed in the press and the fact that he presently has a lawsuit with the city. I must admit however that after chatting with him from time to time and seeing how he reasons under pressure, I am more agreeable to his reasoning. I felt that he was correct in his lone dissenting vote with regard to the "recalling of politicians". Our government with the policies, procedures, and the law, do indeed have the proper tools to take care of situations that we presently face at the state level.

I only wish the situation between our "lone holdout" and the city could be settled as early as possible.

The Taxpayers Ticket is coming back this year for the school board election and we have a lot more money to spend this time around.

Here's one: How about the news that the Sun-Times News Group is closing/selling the Plainfield printing facility which prints this paper and others, likely putting 100+ people out of work by April? http://www.thesuntimesnewsgroup.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=355283

I'm also hearing that some of the smaller Sun publications may cease to exist in the coming months.

A great move by the Sun Times group. I thought the printing was moved to Ashland four years ago. I did not know about this Plainfield plant.

The Tribune (at their Freedom Center plant near Goose Island) prints the New York Times in addition to the Tribune. Beginning next year, they will print the Wall Street Journal after they shut their Naperville printing facility.

As a Sun Times shareholder, I only hope that Murdoch bids to buy the company and make it Fox News. We need a conservative newspaper in the United STates, particularly Chicago.

I would volunteer to work for nothing to expand the conservative print media.

Re BHO 12/18 @ 4:51p

Question: "[I]n past elections we would have needed 9 candidates for the 4 year term and 3 candidates for the one 2 year term to have a primary in the city council. Did the law change?"

Answer: Yes. The Illinois state law that applies to municipal elections was amended effective 11/9/07 and now reads:

Nonpartisan primary elections; uncontested office. A city incorporated under this Code that elects municipal officers at nonpartisan primary and general elections shall conduct the elections as provided in the Election Code, except that no office for which nomination is uncontested shall be included on the primary ballot and no primary shall be held for that office. For the purposes of this Section, an office is uncontested when not more than 4 persons to be nominated for each office have timely filed valid nominating papers seeking nomination for the election to that office.

Put more simply, there will be a primary when there are more candidates than 4 times the number of positions up for election.

Happy holidays to all, ~Councilman Bob.

I want to cripe about this miserable, disgusting, super cold weather.
We have been more than 30 degrees below normal averages this weekend. It's been winter-like since about November 1.
Bah humbug.
PS
And I am tired of all this snow. And I know it is going to start snowing AGAIN any minute.

Jack,

I believe Mark Twain put it best: "Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." ;-)

-JQP

Councilman Bob,

Many thanks for the translation.

When reading statutes like the above, I often wonder if the writers are paid by the word?

I applaud your ability to condense many into a few words.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Councilman Bob,

I concur with Anon and also thank you for the simplicity.

Even though the old system is more expensive, I think it was more practical.

Having so many candidates in the field at one time makes it impossible to get to know them.

Eliminating some candidates in a primary helps the residents who have little time to concentrate on a few quality ones in the finals.

This upcoming elections really frightens me as I know nothing about any candidate.

In the old days the Daily Herald would introduce us to the candidates. Now their penetration in Naperville is very low, they are basically ineffective.....almost useless.

The Naperville Sun still has good circulation but does not appear to have the resources to help us get to know the candidates. They seem to be more interested in laying employees off and watching the bottom line to survive than reporting. Maybe they can ask for some TARP money from that 700 billion dollar BUSH FUND. Everyone else is asking so what would be wrong with that. They are struggling and no one wants them to go bankrupt. Even the Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy. I wonder why Sam Zell did not ask for help. I guess it is known he has other money and they would have demanded he use his own money first. I guess he took the easy way out to reduce his debt and get from underneath it.

And then there is the Napergate Man who helped us get through 4 elections with his unusual commentary and analysis but is nowhere to be found these days.

It seems to me that the Naperville Sun should contact the Napergate Man and offer him a page to educate us about our candidates. At least they would not have the expense of a reporter but only the expense of coughing up the cost of a page which I assume is irrelevant and an insignificant marginal cost since the Sun is printing away anyway. How much could a page really cost if the Sun was trying to break even? Personally, I think it would increase readership and help the Sun increase circulation at a time when circulation is down everywhere. I think it is no secret that the Sun had the best circulations when those Napergate ads were running. Of course they were controversial but controversy does sell newspapers as one blogger noted somewhere on this blog site. It would also help neutralize the Sun print edition which is much more establishment as opposed to the Blog Site which is much more fair and neutral.

Who knows maybe in these tough economic times, the Napergate Man may simply not have the budget he had of past years. Plus, it seems unrealistic to expect a private citizen to spend all his money educating us about candidates. He did it in the past when the stock market was bubbling in the 1990s. Money was growing on trees in that era for all of us. Buying an ad in the Naperville Sun may have been chump change in those times. I doubt that buying an ad in the Naperville Sun is chump change in these trying economic times that resemble the 1929 depression. 93% of Americans according to CNN believe the economy is in poor shape. Just saw it on the news seconds ago while keyboarding away.

Or maybe the Naperville Sun should consider heavily discounted political ads to everyone to get candidates and their supporters to spend some money so we can learn about them as we did in years past. Otherwise we will be voting for the candidate who can clutter our city with the most with signs on our lawns and easements. Let us try to avoid that if at all possible. There has to be another and better way.

Here's an idea, McFarland; do your own research instead of expecting everyone else to do it for you.

Ken,

You never fail to be the smartalic you are.

Individuals do not have the resources or expertize of a newspaper.

Most newspapers understand part of their duties is to be a Watchdog on the community.

Yes, the Napergate Man was an exception and did it all himself.

But he was talented, was well educated, had resources, had money, had a grass roots movement, had right-hand organizers assisting him, had a team of lawyers and was running a newspaper within a newspaper thus enabling himself to ride the coat tails of the Sun as far as circulation which I believe was around 22,500 at the time. Expecting others to duplicate his remarkable work is simply not a realistic expectation of me or anyone else. He had 8 cyclinders going for him and they were operating at full thrust. He was in the right place at the right time and caught the city with their pants down. The City of Naperville is not going to be caught with their pants down a second time. It is going to take a top notch investigative reporter to crack the corruption at City Hall this time.

Instead of being a smartalic, you should be encouraging your local newspaper to do more investigative reporting.

You really amaze me, Ken. I can take a month off and when I come back one thing never changes....you are still on this blog site like a mosquito who is trying to bite but does not know how to...maybe you are more like a parasite latching on instead of a mosquito. Take you pick!

Take a break, Ken. Go to Mexico or the Bahamas. Get over your addiciton of wanting to be the moderator of this blog site. A moderator has every right to comment after each post...not a blogger acting like a wanna be moderator.

The Naperville Sun rejected you. They did not even want your services for FREE. That should tell you what you are worth. NOTHING! ZERO! Get over yourself.

They chose to pay Host Chris a competitive wage rather than take you up on your offer to WORK FOR FREE. They must have realized you are worthless as we Napergatians realized 2 and a half years ago.

Smell the coffee, Ken. No one wants you even for FREE! Go to Mexico.
Good-bye and good riddens..............

@McFarland on December 24, 2008 1:40 AM - "Individuals do not have the resources or expertize of a newspaper."

What.

Do you seriously believe this? Do you have any idea how influential blogs on the internet have become, often run by a single person or a very small team of people in their spare time? Here's a run down of some reporting bloggers on the internet have done, all without the "resources or expertize[sic] of a newspaper". This is just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's even more-

Remember Senator George Allen? He referred to a volunteer of his rival while campaigning as "Macaca", pointing him out in the crowd at one of his rallies and welcoming him to America. The video made it to YouTube, got picked up by blogs, and Allen's campaign pretty much came to an end. The noise generated on the blogosphere eventually lead to the national media picking up the story and probing even deeper in to his background revealing several other racist incidents. Needless to say, Allen lost the election.

Dan Rather tried to slam George W. Bush on 60 minutes, claiming to have all these documents about how Bush asked to be excused from the national guard, was unfit for flight status, and a bunch of other negative junk. Bloggers went wild doing everything they could to confirm the authenticity of these documents. CBS eventually was forced to admit they could not prove the documents were real and Dan Rather was forced in to early retirement for the fiasco.

Trent Lott, senate republican majority leader was forced to step down because of bloggers. He made an off the cuff remark regarding how all the republicans voted for Strom Thurmond when he ran for it, and if I recall correctly, even expanded on that comment to say that we wouldn't be having the problems we are today if he had won. Seems innocent enough, right? Problem was, Thurmond ran on a platform of racial segregation. The outrage on the blogosphere again eventually lead to mainstream media picking up the story and Lott being forced to resign.

Engadget and other tech related blog sites have been proven countless time to have a direct effect on the stock market. Companies like Apple operate with a high level of secrecy, forcing investors looking to play the market to follow rumors on the internet instead of corporate press releases. There have been multiple instances where news stories of secret Apple products being released or existing ones being delayed have caused Apple's stock price to nearly instantly fluctuate 5%. With the market cap of Apple, a 5% drop because of a negative news story on a blog costs Apple and their investors close to $5 billion.

But the best of all? Matt Drudge, a blogger that no one took seriously because the term "blog" wouldn't even be coined until years after this story broke, completely blew the roof off the Monica Lewinsky scandal as the first to break the story.

So there you have it. Bloggers, not newspapers or news television, often working for free in their spare time are responsible for the outcome of elections, forcing long-standing pillars of journalism and senate majority leaders to resign, billions of dollas of stock value being created and/or evaporating from thin air, and nearly the impeachment of a president... So really, McFarland, to say your comments about not having the power of a newspaper are laughable is the understatement of 2008.

Believe it or not, you have more power than a newspaper. You aren't limited by any code of ethics, pressures from advertisers, and can choose to remain completely anonymous.

So really, what's the real excuse why you Napergate fanatics haven't been able to accomplish anything?

McFarland, if you had any intelligence at all, you would realize that the fluff pieces they put in the paper about all the candidates are just that...fluff. You learn a little from that, but find other sources to learn more about the candidates. If you are to lazy to do that, you cry that your local paper with a limited budget can't do your work for you.

I have to address the moderator thing that you and your fellow cult members keep bringing up. Once again, anyone with any small bit of intelligence knows that a newspaper web site is not going to let a non-employee moderate their web site. So while my offer was sincere, I fully realized that it would be graciously turned down, as it was. However, it did and still is giving me a great deal of pleasure to watch the cult idiots that were too stupid to realize that I made my offer mostly in jest whine and cry about it.

If you want to give me the money to go to Mexico or the Bahamas, I sure we can find a way to make that happen. Otherwise, I will remain that mosquito that you are not quick enough to slap.

Merry Christmas to you and yours, McFarland. I hope your family has the Christmas spirit you obviously can't find.

By $0.02 on December 24, 2008 10:36 AM
@McFarland on December 24, 2008 1:40 AM - "Individuals do not have the resources or expertize of a newspaper."

What.

------------------------------------------------------------------

What is up with u buddy! Of course Individuals do not have the resources or expertize of a newpaper.

Yes, there are exceptions like the Napergate Man and Matt Drudge.

But as u said the Main Media has to want to pick it up for it to become a story. Sometimes the media does not want to pick it up.
Sometimes the story may be upsetting to the conservative advertisers.

The Napergate Man forced the media to pick up his discoveries because he literally paid to be inserted in the newspapers. And with a catchy title like Napergate XX or Napergate XXXIV who is not going to be curious. Matt Drudge needed the media to pick up his story or it was not going anywhere.

As far as Blogosphere of course it works and it is becoming more effective by the day. The Napergatians have used this Blog Site to make recommedations to the City of Naperville. The city council gradually adpots many of their recommedations without giving them any credit. The council members read this Blog Site each night while pretending to read the Bible before they go to sleep.

For example, the Napergatians recommended that the 10th Fire Station be staffed from the other nice fire stations and no new fire fighters be hired. Low and behold, the City Council did exactly that while pretending it never saw it on Blogoshere...lol...

The Napergatians also recommended on blogoshere that the Library Parking Deck be shelved. The city council appears ready to shelve it after approving it 6-3 and having sunk 1,000,000 in the project along with obtaining the financing. There is no doubt that the city council was influenced by the thread on the parking deck in which Napergatians and others were almost 100-1 against it. Many Napergatians wrote very articulate posts explaining the rational for their decisions to be against the library deck.

So I agree and disagree with you $.02. I don't agree that an individual is as powerful as a newspaper even though the Napergate Man proved it can be done and in fact did it....but again that is an exception as McFarland stated.

I do agree with you however that Blogosheres are very influential. But I disagree with you that the Napergatians have not been influential on this blog site. The evidence indicates they have been very influential in influencing the city.

We have to see if the Napergatians can influence the elections through this Blogoshpere as the Napergate Man influenced the elections through his Web Site and Napergate Ads. Of course they will be able to influence the elections especially if this blog site continues to pick up steam. But I think the question is to what extent they can influence elections? That is the $.02 cent question????

I seriously doubt the Napergatians will have the influence of the Napergate Man in this upcoming election. But in 2013 and 2017 when newspapers finally die and blogospheres finally become the King of the Media, yes I feel they can have a serious impact on Naperville Elections.

The comment section is missing on the article on understanding your pets. How about that as a blog topic.

Even though there's not a comment tag you can still comment on the story. All of our stories have the comment feature.

How about a free for all friday? Maybe once or twice a month ,Chris could declare free friday where all comments,subjects,etc are welcomed. Happy New Year to All bloggers-napergatians,napervillians,establishment,city boys,independents,People party,everyone is INCLUDED!!