Hello, Lombard and Villa Park. This is in response to the person who called and said that  Barack Obama’s health care plan is what is going to make this country go broke. I would like to say that I have a correction to that: The country’s already broke, and it’s broke because of George Bush and an unnecessary war. So, would all the Republicans get off their high horse and realize that eight years of the Bush presidency has driven this country into ruins?

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I’m calling in response to what I put in about the “Sound of Music” put on by the Glenbard East theater department. It was wonderful and I really think our future is in the hands of our children and they’re all great, even if they all don’t have talent. I didn’t quite mean it the way it sounded.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I, too, like the new lighting on Main Street, but in a way it’s like putting lipstick on a pig when you look up and see all those electrical wires running in between the new lights. I do not know why we cannot bury those electrical wires to beautify our village. Many other towns, such as Bloomingdale, have already done that. With the taxes they charge here, Lord only knows why this hasn’t been done. Bury the wires like they do in the other towns surrounding us.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I’m quite confused. Barack Obama promised us change, and instead, we just get everyone left over from Bill Clinton’s administration. Also, I thought the whole world was supposed to get better just knowing that he was going to be president. That’s what we were told. After all, he is the second coming. I’m just confused, when are things going to get better? I thought it was supposed to be instantly, just by electing him. Well, hopefully the second coming comes true and everything gets better.

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I was in a fast food place and there was a child about 3 or 4 years old, running around in the aisle between the drink machines and the condiment area. He was a little noisy, too. But that wasn’t what bothered me. The mom started walking toward a booth against the wall and when she couldn’t get the boy to follow, commented, “OK, I’m going to tell Santa.” I just shook my head. That’s like saying, “Wait until your [parent] gets home.” Is that how you get a child to behave, by laying the job of discipline onto someone else who’s not even there? I say, deal with the behavior when it happens—you are there and that’s your job.

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This is in response to the person who wants to thank Bush. Are you nuts? Thank Bush for what? Am I supposed to thank him for destroying the housing market, or am I supposed to thank Bush for destroying my 401K program? Or, am I supposed to thank Bush for the rising unemployment rate? Or, am I supposed to thank Bush for destroying the economy? I will thank God when Bush is out of office; that’s who I will thank.

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Hello, Lombard. Comcast did it again. They raised my rate $3 and took away the Hallmark Channel. When’s the village going to have a meeting with these people and set them right? There should be some competition. This is crazy.

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I thought when you changed something, you changed the way you did business and you change the people you do business with or who help you make decisions. For instance, you go and fire all the managers, you bring in new, young talent, to help you turn that company around. That is change. I don’t understand what Barack Obama is doing. All these people he’s bringing into his cabinet are old-time politicians who don’t have a clue what they are doing. And, Hillary Clinton, she may be a great senator, but she voted for the war. She backed the war.

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Hi, this is in response to the person about Mike’s Hot Dogs. Mike’s Hot Dogs is run by a new person. His name is Mike and he’s a very good guy and a good friend of mine. He’s a very loyal Lombardian and if you get the chance, stop by and talk to him. It’s a good hot dog stand and he’s just trying to make a business there.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling, responding to the person who was complaining about the Christmas decorations being up before Halloween and staying up until after March. I, too, personally, think that’s kind of ridiculous when people decorate that early or when people want to keep their decorations up through the year. But, it’s not very Christian-like or in holiday spirit to judge people like that. Something for you to think about. I had a great-aunt whose son was shipped off to Korea right before Christmas, so they had a Christmas celebration—they decorated their house and put their tree up, and she told her son she would leave the tree up until he returned home. Unfortunately, he never did return home; he was killed in the Korean War, and she had her Christmas tree up every day, all year long, for about 20 or 30 years until she died.

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The bailout mentality continues, but in a different form. Sen. Durbin wants former Gov. Ryan out of prison, so Durbin has petitioned President Bush to pardon Ryan. That’s wrong, Sen. Durbin. Ryan held a position of trust and violated it.

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To the person who keeps calling about too many commercials, too many alerts when there is extreme weather or other news announcements, too much product endorsement on TV and at sporting events, enough is enough. You’ve made your point. You don’t like being interrupted when watching TV, nor do you like having to endure all the advertising from big corporations. Who does? But it’s OK for you to keep repeating yourself, right?

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Well, congratulations, Lombard, you made the Internet again, through Marketwatch.com. This came through the Wall Street Journal. There was an auction of the Prairie Path Villas on Main Street and you can read all about how they served wine and snacks and the luxury apartments started at $165,000. It doesn’t bode well for Lombard, does it, when this happens on Main Street? Too bad the trustees didn’t approve the senior affordable housing on St. Charles. That would have been up, running and filled and it would be paying taxes into our village and our county.

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Why should the American taxpayer bail out Wall Street? Why bail out bad business decisions and incompetent CEOs? Give the bailout dollars of $700 billion to the taxpayers. That dollar amount would equate to $60,000 per family. That figure comes from a Harvard economist. Say yes to a consumer bailout. Who buys the cars, the airline tickets, milk and bread? We do. We deserve a consumer bailout.

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To the staunch Democratic supporter out there who blames Bush for the banking mess, did you forget that it was a Democrat who was in charge of the banking commission? Did you forget that it was Democrats who said there was nothing wrong with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac in 2003, when the Republicans wanted to investigate? Did you forget all that? Bush had nothing to do with the mess of the banking industry. That goes back to Clinton and Carter. Get it straight.

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How is it that the CEOs were being paid so well and yet couldn’t do their jobs right? Obviously they didn’t, or the companies wouldn’t all be in this mess. I say, give the companies a chance, yes, but get rid of the incompetent CEOs and their outrageous salaries.

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Lombard calling. I was just watching “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” with my daughter, and I did notice that even though the Whos had lost everything at the hands of the Grinch, they still gathered around what used to be their tree, and did not lose the Christmas spirit. We are losing a lot this year as far as the material end of Christmas goes, so please, let’s not let Wall Street or our government fuel our Christmas spirit.

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This is Lombard calling. I’ve been reading the comments in SPEAK OUT about Barack Obama and they’re not good ones. I suggest that you get off his back, let him do his job and support our new president.

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To the person complaining about the lawn Christmas decorations, I’m glad to see Scrooge still lives.