Hi there, Republicans. If my presidential candidate was your presidential candidate who said Ted Nugent is a great guy, I’d be mighty worried. He might be out there trying to chop your head off.

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According to the Web site of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Alaska has the most state employees per 1,000 residents with 34.9 and Illinois has the fewest with 4.1. According to the Web site of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, Illinois consistently ranks among the lowest in the nation in state general fund spending as a share of its gross domestic product.  There is an angry contributor out there who regularly attempts to misdirect by mixing apples with oranges. The facts are out there for anyone who wants to research them.

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This is to the Village of Lombard. Your Web site needs work. I’m not sure if the entire site does, but the part that attempts to play video needs attention. It’s very difficult to view archived videos of the village board meetings on your site. You could not have used a more difficult and annoying platform than Silverlight. It’s slow and buggy. I’ve seen it crash three different Web browsers—Safari, Firefox and Chrome on multiple computers. Please make a change, Lombard.

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Villa Park here, laughing out loud at the usual Obama bashers spewing their hatred for the president of the United States. And being disproved. My father taught me two things about politics: One, there is no such thing as an honest politician; and two; even if it’s not the guy you voted for, the president deserves your respect. It’s not easy having the weight of the entire free world on your shoulders. That being said, and you being disproven—again, please have some respect, and be sure about your statement before you choose to put it in black and white, and make a fool of yourself—again. And by the way, if the Tea Party says that the sky is falling, will you even look up before you start blaming it on Obama?

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This is in regard to wasteful spending. What I’m talking about is monumental spending; billions and billions of dollars. Who is the smart salesman who sold our country on building a special jumbo jet to haul the space ship on top of it to take to Washington, D.C., for a museum? We can’t afford any of this stuff. We don’t need to be spending billions and billions of dollars with defense contractors to show off in a museum. What these other people are wasteful spending, is like grains of sand. This is almost like a mountain for the amount of money we spent on these programs and yet nobody ever talks about it.

The 747 jetliner to which you refer was not recently designed to be a space shuttle carrier aircraft (SCA). According to NASA, it obtained its first SCA jetliner, named NASA 905, in 1974, from American Airlines. NASA 911 was obtained from Japanese Airlines in 1989 and like NASA 905, was modified by the Boeing Corp. specifically to transport space shuttles. It was delivered to NASA in November 1990.—JAC

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OK, everyone. Here’s a good reason to get rid of President Obama: 39 months in office, $5 trillion in debt, just under President Obama. Now I know what you’re going to say—Bush spent more. He didn’t. Obama has spent more than President Bush did. That’s the problem. We are such a welfare state under this president. We owe more people than are willing to loan us money. We are going to become like slaves to China and Japan and everybody who gives us money. I don’t understand why anybody would re-elect this president. I had hoped when he came into office. Now, I’m just hoping he gets out of office.

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I find it laughable that a man who was raised by the vice president of the Bank of Hawaii, went to exclusive schools including Harvard and is a multi-millionaire is now trying to claim he’s just like me and comes from humble beginnings. It’s a joke. You know what, folks, at some point, whether you have $10 million or $100 million, you’re not like me. It doesn’t really matter. I can say one thing: The dude who has $100 million, at least he had real jobs. You can’t say that about the dude who’s only got $10 million who is just like me. Hypocrisies know no boundaries these days.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I just saw President Obama on Jimmy Fallon’s late night show. I guess I found out what he’s finally cut out to do; looks like he is a good TV comedian. Sure a lot better than a president.

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Hi, I’m calling about the general state of our economy and how people are hurting. I’ve got no problem with clubs asking for money at the lights, but if you’ve noticed here in Lombard, specifically at I-355 and North Avenue, and at Addison Road and North Avenue there’s a group also, I-355 and Butterfield by the Home Depot, they all say they’re homeless and want food. It’s the same group. I think they get dropped off. Ask one of the young men if you can use his iPhone. It’s nothing but a scam, people. I see it happening all day at Addison and North Avenue. People are throwing money at these people. They need to get out and find a job and quit begging like that. The police have got to do something about it. They’re going to cause an accident and then who’s fault is it going to be? The driver’s, I’m sure. Thanks a lot.

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It’s Saturday, about noon, at Roosevelt Road and Main Street and guess what? There are people standing in the street, in the middle of the intersection, collecting money. Kind of a busy intersection; not a good idea to be standing in the street. Why is this allowed?

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Hello, this is Villa Park calling. I just wanted to take a minute out and address the comments made a few weeks ago from somebody who was chastising Willowbrook High School and how its test scores were so low in DuPage County and how its basketball and football teams had only won a few games during the year. I have to say that Willowbrook High School, after reading that same paper talking about all the thousands of dollars raised for Relay for Life, the music programs, the plays that are ongoing, and the other programs in sports that are state championship caliber; I think it’s a shame to chastise Willowbrook High School in particular. I see their students every year in the wintertime produce presents for people in need, children, and they volunteer their services throughout the community. I think the person who called in ought to congratulate the people at Willowbrook High School. They may not have the richest people in the area in DuPage County, but they certainly do a great job in making their students the best they can be. Thank you.

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I’m calling from Lombard. I’m a Lombard resident and continue to hear complaints regarding the downtown area not having enough business. Basically, I believe the solution would be to provide adequate parking. Even during the day there’s no place to park if people are shopping. I think there needs to be a solution to that.

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Hi, I’m responding to call about the late letter that was in SPEAK OUT. It probably got caught up in a letter machine. the mechanic usually unjams the machine, sends it to another table where you try to unbend it, tape it and put it back in an apology bag an send it to you. These machines run 365 days a year, 24/7. Sorry that you were inconvenienced. This is a Carol Stream PNDC employee.

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Villa Park calling. Having read the comments from the individual calling regarding the 45-minute wait at the Addison railroad tracks, this is a regular occurrence here in Villa Park. I’m glad he did not have to come back that way again. It can take an hour plus to cross the tracks just to go to the 7-Eleven.

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This is Lombard calling. I want to know if someone can tell me, if I see someone walking a dog without a leash on the sidewalk, if I can call the police and they will get a ticket? I see this a lot, and I see people walking without even a leash in their hand, so even if they had to leash up their dog, they couldn’t. When I asked a person about it, she just said, “You’re just jealous because you have to walk your dog on a leash.” For the record, my dog can walk without a leash but I follow the law and walk him on a leash. So my question is, should I call the police next time? Because I will if the police would actually do something. Thank you.

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Do you notice how crazy the weather’s been? I believe the liberals are manipulating the weather to make climate change look real.

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Gov. Quinn and the state legislators should conduct a file-by-file investigation of people who have been receiving Medicare benefits for decades. Surveys have shown that in many cases, entire families have been receiving Medicaid from generation to generation. This is why the cost continues to be outlandish and excessive.

One can only assume that you meant to say “Medicaid” instead of “Medicare in the first portion of your call. If not, please be informed that they are two different government programs.—JAC

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I have just as much Lombard Pride as the next person, but I think putting that many banners up and down Main Street was overkill. I mean, on every single light pole? How about every two or three? I know the village won’t say what those banners cost, but I bet it was not cheap. I’m sure Lilac Time has something to do with it, but in the economy, our village government has to make choices and the village could have looked just as nice with half the amount. It looks too extravagant for my taste.

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SPEAKING OUT FOR 25 YEARS

The following comments are reprinted from the August 16, 1998, SPEAK OUT column in celebration of SPEAK OUT’s 25th year.

I have been reading up on SPEAK OUT for the past few weeks from another area of the country. Now, here is my problem. The citizens who are complaining about the vampires games need to do their research and also think back to when they were adolescents. If any of you had ever played Dungeons and Dragons, Barbies, G.I. Joe, house or anything else like that, you have no right to complain about the vampires, but the only one who will be looking like an immature person is you.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling and I'm calling in response to the article about the Glenbard schools and how much the teachers make. I was wondering if that was Glenbard High Schools because, when I got the school report card for the high schools, I was very impressed by the scores and the graduation rate. So, if that is about the high schools, I would suggest you read your school report card.