A good day for Illinois

To the Editor:

It was a good day, a very good day!

Dec. 9, the day charges of corruption were filed against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was not a 'sad day' for the state of Illinois, as is being claimed on the news. When evil is exposed and, hopefully justice will follow, it is a good day, a good day, indeed!

What is a sad day is when corruption or evil of any kind is allowed to exist, grow and get deeper and deeper in the very fabric of lives. All too often, dirty politics is not only winked at, ignored, excused and even justified, but also used as a stepping stone to higher office.

As a resident of Illinois, I am proud and thankful for those in law enforcement who have carefully, diligently and lawfully worked to expose one who has had the arrogance and audacity to use his elected office to deceive, cheat and hurt the very public who elected him, and all those of Illinois for whom he has been entrusted to serve.

Nancy J. Burlison

Herrin

Nason thanks Waltonville

To the Editor:

Your news story about the argument at the Rend Lake Conservancy District concerning the past Waltonville mayor and the district needs further explanation.

In the story, you stated that board member Keith Ward asked Mr. Gifford if Waltonville provides water to Nason and marks the price up. By asking the question, Mr. Ward would have us believe Waltonville is doing the same thing Mount Vernon is doing. Not true!

I am the mayor of the little village of Nason, and I can tell you the real story.

1. Yes, Nason is a part of the district.

2. Yes, Nason pays taxes to the district.

3. Yes, Waltonville sells water to Nason, and at a 20 percent markup.

4. No, Waltonville is not taking advantage of Nason.

5. Yes, Waltonville, at their own expense, built their water line to us, not the other way around.

6. Yes, Waltonville has even helped us repair water line leaks when we couldn't handle them.

7. Yes, Waltonville is helping us get water because RLCD would not provide water service, even though they have a pipe running nearby.

8. Yes, I believe Waltonville would be glad to let us out of the contract at any time if we asked.

9. Yes, we are getting gouged for water, not by Waltonville, but by that larger city to the north.

So you see, things may not be exactly as some may lead us to believe. All of us Nason folks thank George Gifford and the village of Waltonville, who helped us get water when others wouldn't.

Jack Dent

Mayor of Nason

Afghanistan occupation is foolish

To the Editor:

Barack Obama reportedly plans to add 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan. These will doubtless have to be protected by an increase in bombing raids, such as the one in mid-July that killed 47 Afghan civilians, including 39 women and children, as they traveled to a wedding.

I was once taught that murder was wrong, but apparently, the mass murder by one's government is OK, especially if the victims are darker-skinned.

But even aside from the moral issue, our occupation of Afghanistan is foolish. The British tried it three different times in the 1800s, and each time they were driven out. Russia tried it in the 1980s, with twice as many troops as the U.N. has there now, and they were famously driven out.

The U.S.'s lone success there has been to re-establish Afghanistan as the world's leading narco-state. It now produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium supply for heroin. Before the U.S. intervened in 2001, the evil Taliban had reduced opium production to nearly zero.

But was that the U.S.'s fault? Yes. Hamid Karzai was installed as president because he was extremely friendly with western oil and gas interests. In turn, Karzai's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was appointed to a high-level government post. And Ahmed, it turns out, is a well-known international drug trafficker. Even a U.S. military document reported in 2006 that Ahmed "receives money from drug lords as bribe to facilitate their work and movement."

When will we learn?

Jim Glover

Carbondale