Hey how 'bout them Illinois politicians?
You know Illinois politics. It is the state where 5 out of every 4 vote Democratic. It is not just a joke that they vote early and often down there.
So what about their Good Guvn'r? He who comes in like a White Knight after Gov Ryan with his free driver's license scandal (among others). Is he arrogant, ignorant or just an idiot?
Check it out and you make the call. http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2008-12/43789468.pdf
1 comment:
Dear Mr. McCloud: I am not responding to this post, but, rather, to something you posted in July on a blog called wisconsinology, in which you accuse me of borrowing from that author. I found it today when I was looking for blog postings with my name and my newspaper's. I wish I'd done it sooner.
You suggest I pilfered the blog twice for a story on alcohol in Wisconsin we published in July.
There's no question I used other people's work in the story, but as far as I can recall I'd never visited wisconsinology until today.
I suppose I can understand why you might suspect plagiarism, but the fact is that blogger and I both drew from widely-available resources. My source for the federal revenue agent's report (and I imagine his) was a public document posted on the Wisconsin Historical Society Website. Because I gave the revenue agent credit for his own words, I didn't think it necessary to also credit the Wisconsin Historical Society, which is simply the repository. (http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=9949&REC=15).
The blogger and I also drew from Lewis Black's bit about alcohol in Wisconsin. Mr. Black's routine (which is hilarious, by the way) is available in print, audio and video formats. It is also posted on youtube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WlwumGkSec)It was my colleague Maureen Wallenfang who pointed me toward it.
I used those two sources to show how outsiders perceive Wisconsinites and alcohol. That's how the two ideas came together in my story, and not because I saw them posted separately on wisconology and thought, gee, I think I'll lift this guy's work and hope I won't get caught. I won't tell you I don't have a dishonest bone in my body, but I'm terrified of humiliation, and there's nothing more humiliating to a writer than the suggestion they lack the talent or imagination to do their own work.
Again, I can understand why you may have drawn the conclusion that I lifted from wisconsinology, but while the conclusion might appear logical to someone who visits that blog, you are mistaken. I have a really smart dog. She knows that before we go to the dog park, I get a can of mineral water out of the basement refrigerator. She now assumes that every time I get a can of water out of the fridge, we must be going to the dog park. It's a logical conclusion, but it's wrong.
Thank you,
Susan Squires
Post a Comment