http://mopolitical.blogspot.com/2008/03/who-is-molly-williams.html

Bars and restaurants don’t have to enforce the Illinois smoking ban. Light up at your own risk.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/031908/REG_BG3IPNK3.033.php

Funny, I just posted a question on Jason Rosenbaum’s blog earlier today asking the same question. Does anyone know?

So even if 200 patrons are smoking at the slot machines, as long as the Casino Queen’s employees do not smoke inside, no ashtrays are out, and signs are posted, the Casino Queen will be in full compliance with the Illinois smoking ban. The Casino Queen does not even have to further inform smoking patrons about the smoking ban. I haven’t seen this story in the Post yet.

Bill,
I think what you are saying is a big leap. The ruling seems to say it is not upon the bar owners to enforce the law. It doesn’t say that the actual smoker won’t be charged.
I think this will not be an issue in the small corner bar. I think this will still be an issue in larger places that attract a more diverse crowd. After all, you only need one person to complain and bring in authorities to enfoce the ban. And, I don’t think the Queen wants to push the same state gov’t that regulates them.

I am a member of a local congregation of the United Church of Christ, the national denomination with which Obama’s church is affiliated, and I voted for Obama on Super Tuesday. But I am beginning to have a little “voter’s remorse” after his response to the brouhaha over his retired pastor’s comments. I have to think Obama was a bit disingenuous in claiming he wasn’t present for any of the sermon excerpts being “looped” in the media. The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 brought more Americans to church the following Sunday than any other recent Sunday (other than Christmas or Easter). That was the Sunday when Rev. Wright delivered his “GD America” sermon. Obama, then still in the state legislature, wasn’t busy running for president then. Wasn’t Obama, like so many other Americans, at church that Sunday? And if not, why not? I don’t pretend to hear every word of every sermon at my church, but weren’t those particular lines of Wright, so repetitive in nature and expressed in the forceful manner we have witnessed on the tapes, pretty hard to sleep through?

Oracle - A little disengenuius? You think? Oh, he was there and he knew all about it. I read the book “Obama” by David Mendell of the chicago tribune and Obama and Wright are as thick as thieves. I do applaud the PD today doing an expose on Black Liberation Theology which is rooted in Marixm which Obama studied as a young man in college.

As a white person, I was insulted that he used the term “typical white person.” Really? Just what is that? Is he racially profiling me? I thought we were supposed to judge individuals on their character and not the color of their skin. Apparently I have now been lumped in wth a bunch of clods.

I have one thing to say to Rev. Wright. Those who point the finger of blame at someone else have three fingers pointing back at them. After hearing what is being said at these “black” churches, I can’t help but wonder if that in itself might be part of the problem in the black community.

That’s just my opinion, so let the name calling begin by my associates on this blog.

The words of Thomas Sowell:

Best-selling author Shelby Steele’s recent book on Obama (”A Bound Man”) has valuable insights into both the man and the circumstances facing many other blacks — especially those who were never part of the black ghetto culture but who feel a need to identify with it for either personal, political or financial reasons.

Like religious converts who become more Catholic than the Pope, such people often become blacker-than-thou. For whatever reason, Obama chose a black extremist church decades ago — even though there was no shortage of very different churches, both black and white — in Chicago.

Some say that he was trying to earn credibility on the ghetto streets, to facilitate his work as a community activist or for his political career. We may never know why.

But now that Obama is running for a presidential nomination, he is doing so on a radically different basis, as a post-racial candidate uniquely prepared to bring us all together. Yet the past continues to follow him, despite his attempts to bury it and the mainstream media’s attempts to ignore it or apologize for it.

Steele depicts Obama as a man without real convictions, “an iconic figure who neglected to become himself.” Obama has been at his best as an icon, able with his command of words to meet other people’s psychic needs, including a need to dispel white guilt by supporting his candidacy.

But president of the United States, in a time of national danger, under a looming threat of nuclear terrorism? No.

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate, Inc

St Louis Oracle, the United Church of Christ is different than Obama’s Trinity Church of Christ.

No it’s not, Walker. There is a denomination called Church of Christ, but that’s not Obama’s church. Obama’s church is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It’s a rare predominantly black church in a predominantly white denomination. It’s also the UCC’s largest congregation. Check out the UCC’s national web site at ucc.org and also Obama’s church’s web site at tucc.org.

The blog of a CDC scientist Dr. Michael Siegel, whose many studies helped form the basis of Surgeon General Carmona’s report, mentions the St. Louis University Tobacco Prevention Center this morning:

http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/

suzyjax, I agree with you. Yet my #4 post is still accurate.

Bill, I wasn’t doubting the accuracy. I just don’t think it will be open season for smoking again in Illinois. The other thing I thought of is that if businesses don’t have out ashtrays, I doubt they want everyone just flicking their ashes everywhere. For cleanliness and safety (fire hazzard?), business owners might squash the smoking.

St Louis Oracle, et al… You really need to take a full look at the sermons given by Rev. Wright. The so called “God Damn America” sermon was in fact given on April 13, 2003, not the Sunday following 9/11. The sermon given following 9/11 was the “chickens coming home to roost” sermon in which he was quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force. Being an “Oracle” you probably already knew these things. For those of you who don’t rely on the news media to form your opinions you might want to spend a little time reading the full sermons in the context in which they were given by Reverend Wright rather than the context in which you are being force fed by the 24X7 media.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-wright%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cgod-damn-america%e2%80%9d-sermon/

Oracle,

How disappointing that you are being suckered in to these ridiculous “guilt by association” right-wing talking points. First of all, the “GD America” speech was not on the Sunday after 9/11; it was in 2003. So you might want to actually do a little research (google?) before claiming that Obama is “disingenuous.”

Second, the “chickens are coming home to roost” line from the post Sept. 11 speech is actually a quote of Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force. Wright never said anything in that speech about terrorists not being responsible for their actions or not being horrible people. He only made the point that anyone without their head in the sand would agree with; that the U.S.’s actions have consequences and that our continued intervention in the Middle East due to our “national interests” has played a role in the rise of terrorism around the world.

A lot has happened since last week. Obama gave a speech on the issue that 70 percent of Americans approved of. There have been a number of thoughtful analyses on the subject:
http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4727
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-rev-jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon/

Yet here we have Oracle and Centrist repeating the same silliness from last week, as if time had stood still and no-one had discussed the issue over the past 7 days.

There are analyses out there; so before you post another “Obama hangs out with scary black men” comment, you might want to actually look at the analyses and see what they have to say. Oh, and by the way, Open Thread is supposed to be about local issues so you might want to put your posts somewhere else.

CENTRIST (post #7)

You’re ugly! You smell bad, and your Mother dresses you funny!

(13 comments w/o an insult… I didn’t want you to think no one cared)

Oracle,

Your argument about Obama knowing about Writes GD sermon was that it happened the Sunday after 9-11-2001.

According to ABC the sermon was delivers in 2003

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4443788

The sermon delivered on 9-13-2001 was about America’s chickens coming home to roost. Put into context of the sermon the message was to not blame all Muslims or foreigners for what Al Queda did. That the best way to prevent terrorist attacks is to not support terrorist groups or dictators in other countries.

The words may be different but the message is not inconsistent with other UCC pastors.

Hey Centwisted! How come y’all right wing neocon Brown Shirt weblog echochambering yobbo yappers aren’t all over McCain for his knowingly seeking ang getting the support of Pastor John Hagee who has called the Roman Catholic Church; “The Great Whore…apostate church…anti-christ” and a “false cult system?”

I remember when you were cyberstalking me last year that you claimed you were Catholic. So, are you going to vote for a guy that the conservative Catholic League calls a “bigot?” It’ll be really interesting for you and Archbishop Burke to justify any vote for a guy like McCain who has sought out and received the support of anti-Catholic bigots like Hagee.

Timmy,

I swear, sometimes you come across like some rabid animal, staked to a post. Chill.

Hagee hasn’t been McCain’s pastor and mentor for twenty years. McCain never met Hagee until he was a candidate. There is no comparison. Hagee endorsed McCain. That’s it. By the way, Louis Farrakhan endorsed Obama.

I am Catholic.

Have Kirkwood’s voters finally figured out what counts as an “emergency” and what doesn’t? And exactly why we have laws relating to the conduct of elections?

Tim, you’re an idiot. In the case of McCain, he received an endorsement. In the case of Obama, he attended the church for 20 years, was married by the pastor, had his children baptized by him, and in 2006, gave him $22,500. If you can’t see the difference, you aren’t just blind, you’re as dumb as your posts sound.

Does anyone know who is running against Jason Crowell? I hear that Lloyd Smith is filing against him today but I can’t confirm it.

I posted this under another entry but at this time there is only a Dem running against Cromwell. That is Linda Sanders of Jackson.

tsquare - I hope that made you feel better.

Timmy - At least McCain has the sense to not be a member of the same religion as the nuts he seeks endorsements from. As a fellow Catholic, I am completely immune and impervious to hate comments towards my religion as evidenced by the regular bashing in the Post-Dispatch.
Just call me a duck. I don’t pay any attention to any of it. I strongly believe in freedom of speech.