Dear Swami, What a disgrace to Gurnee residents the former mayor (Don Rudny) and his majority block trustee (Tom Chamberlain) have become. WKRS radio featured these two as fill-in … and their listeners certainly got filled full of beans by these two. … Don, the former mayor, is Tom's adult sitter and tag teams with Tom to provide a constant flow of partisan spun misinformation. Signed: Groggy in Gurnee
Dear Swami, We are shocked and dismayed – dismayed I tell you – that a 14-year-old girl brought knives to class in Gurnee to defend herself against bullying. What’s your take on this event, wise one? Signed: Gasping in Gurnee
Dear Swami, I’ve hear the state of Illinois is going to make bass fishing a regular high school sport, like basketball. Is this true? Will it come to pass? Is it too late for me to return to high school? Signed: Deerfield Dropout Who Wishes He’d Stayed in School.
Dear Swami, Now we hear that new Chicago Tribune owner Sam Zell may sell the Cubs to someone we don’t know yet, but he’s going to sell Wrigley Field to the state which will sell the naming rights. Is this right? Is this good? Guide us, oh Swami. Signed: Dumfounded in Deerfield
If State Sen. Terry Link did get someone to forge signatures on his election petition, shouldn’t they have picked people who weren’t dead? Won’t relatives know their friends are dead, and what is Link trying to pull?
Swami: And we wonder why Waukegan is the new "Mecca" for illegal immigrants. Not 1. Not 2. 20 soccer fields. TWENTY? Great googly moogly. What in the world is the park district thinking? A good portion of the folks that will be kicking around the soccer balls probably, I didn't say definitively, but probably don't pay taxes to begin with. All of their $$ is headed back across the border in the way of a Western Union money orders. Here's a plan. Why not open up an I.C.E. (immigration enforcement) office at the entrance to this new 20 soccer field Mecca and see how many people show up to play. Maybe we should change the name of our city to Mexakegan and just forget about it. Signed: CHIEF
Dear Swami : Americans, old and young alike, show little interest in soccer. For two decades, the great American consumer machine has tried to create a market for soccer with little success. Golf, basketball, baseball, and football dominate the sports pages. Yet, the park district, in its infinite wisdom, chooses to destroy a beautiful green space dedicated to a highly popular sport that's extremely popular with all age groups. It's a travesty, and I smell a rat. Who's getting rich off this? Signed: Rat Smeller in Zion
Swami, our home town Waukegan baseball hero Gary Bennett admits he used Human Growth Hormone in 2003, used it only once to take care of an injury, admits it was a mistake and didn’t use it again. Do you believe him? Weepy in Waukegan.
Swami: People are always saying we should put Christ back into Christmas, but instead of seeking to put Christ into Christmas, we must acknowledge that He was never there in the first place! Instead of borrowing from the world around us, we ought to take our religious customs and practices directly from the Bible. Then we will be worshiping our Creator in spirit and truth Signed: Ms. Black Ice.
Tell me if you believe in immortality. Are we all living lives that we’ve already lived before, and just trying to get better at the task of existence as we experience eternity in a series of short bursts? I think so. Signed: Don’t Call Me Shirley in Fox Lake
Dear Swami, I have heard the U.S. Rep Mark Kirk (R-10th) has said that destroying the video tapes of CIA agents using waterboarding on suspects is OK. Can that possibly be true and what is he thinking? Signed: Confused in the 10th
Dear Swami, Now that Mike Ditka has canceled his old charity trust and given all the money to charities, don’t you owe him an apology for piling on? Or are you against helpimg old time players who have been abandoned by the NFL? Signed - Irked in Ypsilanti
Dear Swami, Who would you nominate as the more tiresome, irritating blowhard in the Chicago area? Is there somebody you think talks a good game but never delivers the goods? Signed: Hiccupy in Highland Park
Dear Swami, Can you clear up a language problem for me? I know the Cubs want to sign Japanese star Kosuke Fukodome and he might be great player, but I’m having a problem pronouncing his name. It can’t be the way it looks, can it? My son walks around the house saying “the word” and I try to tell him that’s not what the player’s real name is. Signed: Loopy in Lake Villa.
Swami, what should we do about the Chinese selling us toys and other products that contain dangerous levels of lead which makes us all grow up to be like people from Albania or, worse, South Carolina? America doesn’t make many of these products anymore; so the Chinese are the only suppliers. What should we do? Signed: Zapped in Lake Zurich
Swami, You ignorant dolt. Obviously you are either very uneducated concerning your comment that flying squirrels do not live in Lake County or you are smoking something very illegal. Signed: Friend of Flying Squirrels.
Dear Swami, I live in Green Oaks and we have flying squirrels in our attic. My husband is always seeing them fly in and out of our attic. They are scary. What should I do, oh Wise Protector Against Flying Squirrels? Signed: Very Squirrelly in Green Oaks
Dear Swami,
Because we all know you are a great defender of integrity and thoughtfulness, I guess you are disgusted as I am they have let that awful Don Imus back on the air, aren’t you? He is exactly what we don’t need. Just another man with foul ideas and racism in his heart. Signed: Upset in Libertyville.
Swami, why should I listen to you? What makes what you say worth paying attention to? Why are you worth putting up with? And how can I write sentences without ending them in prepositions? Help me, Oh Wise One. Signed: Puzzled in Barrington.
