Top Stories of 2005
The Quad City Times is running an online poll asking readers what they think was the top story of 2005 from among a list of 15.
Want to make a choice? Go here.
In a similar (well, identical) vein, what do you think was the most important or biggest story covered here on The Inside Dope since it's launch in mid February?
Some possibilities are:
-- Boland running, not running, running, not running, maybe running, not running, maybe running, maybe not, not running for trasurer/state senator, and the ripple effects on those eyeing his seat.
-- House speaker Mike Madigan coming to town to sit all Dem candidates down and issue an edict telling them who was going to do what, and essentially commanding that they all stay put, make nice, and make sure they win.
-- Senator Mike Jacobs. His frenetic effort to inject himself into every possible story or public event. The hundreds of bizzare comments here and on other blogs from either the senator himself or someone amazingly like him (and IF it wasn't, not a peep from Sen. Jacobs to disavow any of it.) His several unfortunate comments in the press, from his "Rosa Parks" moment to callously suggesting that property owners in the Barstow area should have expected a huge and noxious business to locate near them. And his proposal to fight Asian Carp by giving nearly a million dollars to a business in his district.
-- Essentially unknown Paul Rumler emerging to challenge Jacobs.
-- The Triumph hog slaughtering mega-plant proposal. The secrecy and lies by East Moline Mayor John Thodos and often conflicting public statements by both Thodos and Jacobs regarding the project.
Their keeping the entire plan secret for almost a year, the blatant attempt to box out opposition by rushing through approval after finally springing it on the public.
How the entire process highlighted in a stark way how politicians and business interests make decisions to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to benefit these same business interests behind the backs of the very people who's money they're taking.
And how blatantly these same politicians were active and willing participants in the effort to side-step caution, research, and public scrutiny, and rush the process, showing clearly that they put the interests of large companies and big money ahead of the people they represent. And though they supported the plant from the beginning, they've been unable to show any evidence at all that they'd done any research or investigation into the many serious issues involved.
-- any other issue, event, or story you feel was the "Story of the Year".
What's your pick for "Story of the Year"?
posted by The Inside Dope @ 12/27/2005
7 comments
7 Comments:
Mike Madigan sitting everyone down to tell em what to do and then Gianulas just doing whatever he wants in RI County...... try that one out.
Or did Gianlas miss the meeting and notes or something??
Your infatuation with Sen. Mike Jacobs. Seems to be some sort of man love, like the boy who pulls the little girl in front of his desks hair at school because he likes her. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
Come up with a better attack. That one's getting stale. Also, you might go accuse Rich Miller, John Beydler, and other's who've had the sheer gall to notice what a buffoon Jacobs often is that they too, must have some sort of homo-erotic thing about Sen. Jacobs.
Frankly, the fact that all you've got is to try to accuse someone of being gay speaks volumes.
As is typical for your ilk, it's the sort of thinking displayed by those whose mental and emotional development stopped dead sometime in their high-school years.
It's called arrested development, and no, it's not just a TV show. Look into it.
I find it interesting that you attack John Thodos for taking his time getting all the answers and getting the cities ducks in a row, calling this secretive. Then on the other hand accusing him of hurrying the pig plant through and not finding answers. You news guys are all alike always negative.
What "news guys"? Where? Who let them in here?
Please offer your evidence that leads you to believe that Thodos did all this supposed research into the negatives and possible consequences of this plant.
And even if he DID do the instensive study and homework you guess he did, please explain why he didn't see fit to share it with the public until a couple weeks before voting to approve the thing?
You think that's sufficient time to let residents educate themselves on this complicated project?
Point me to where Thodos helped educate his constituents as to why the plant was in their best interests. I don't remember hearing a peep from him other than his lies and obfuscations about whether he even KNEW about the project, let alone sharing all his supposed "research" with those who will have to live with the plant.
Everyone knows that this is a site owned by the Dispatch. Same negative attacks on Thodos that we see from your employer.
Anon, don't assume "everyone" shares your wacky idea.
This site is "owned" by no one other than myself, and I am not affiliated with, employed by, associated with, nor influenced by the Dispatch, or any other media outlet.
These often dim-witted attempts to invent conspiracy fantasies about anyone who prints negative, but true, stories about their "guy" is pretty childish.
It's kind of disappointing that this occurs so often in this area.
I might add that I've yet to see ANY evidence that Thodos either did extensive research into the way the Triumph plant would work, whether it's smell will be a problem, whether it will cause flood hazzards, what it will do to property values, what long term effects all the millions of dollars of hand outs from governments will be, or whether it will end up with a majority of it's workers imported from elsewhere.
I've yet to see a single bit of evidence that, IF Thodos supposedly did what any good mayor would do, that he bothered to share it with anyone in the community.
He hid this project, flat out lied about his knowledge of it, didn't do a thing to share details of what he knew with his consituents, and rubber stamped the program and aided and abetted the developers in springing it on the public and rushing through approval so fast that it was impossible for opposition to organize.
Those, my friend, are solid facts. If you have any evidence to the contrary, by all means, provide it.
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