Today marks a new era for Illinois

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's recent conviction and removal from office brings justice to the taxpayers of Illinois who deserve true leadership, not someone who abuses the power of office for their own political and financial gain.

For a man who campaigned on the premise of reform, he obviously thought he was above the law. Instead he abused the power of the governor's office at the expense of Illinois residents.

Blagojevich was taped by the FBI stating all of his decisions were based on his legal, personal and political situation. His decisions were not based on what would benefit the people of Illinois, but instead on how much he could gain.

I fully support the Senate's vote to remove Blagojevich from the governor's office. Through the years his actions hurt the very people who elected him. The residents of Illinois deserve better.

Today starts a new era in Illinois history. It's time to restore the faith that has been lost by the people of Illinois and immediately start tackling the serious issues of the state such as ethics reform, creating jobs and paying our bills on time.

Dennis Reboletti

State Representative, 46th District

Elmhurst

Obama bill-signing smacks of secrecy

My compliments to the Daily Herald for covering President Obama's signing of an executive order funding and promoting international abortions with our tax dollars.

Contrary to campaign promises of transparency and openness, the president signed the bill secretly in the late hours on a Friday at a time without the news media present. Such an eleventh-hour action leading into the weekend seems deliberately orchestrated to avoid media attention and avoid critical reaction. There is no doubt that Obama is adept at controlling media response. Because of the late hour, most newspapers had to fit a limited story in somewhere other than page 1.

Obama's actions remind me of a secretive meeting cloaked in darkness of Brutus and the other conspirators in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" as they plotted to kill an innocent man. The resemblance to the eleventh-hour meeting where the fates of countless innocents would be signed away without witnesses present is equally chilling.

Once again, thanks to the Daily Herald for finding a place for the story. It allows us to echo the words of the creator to Cain in Genesis: "What have you done?"

Thomas A. Smith

Naperville

Obama inauguration was 'overwhelming'

The awesome pageantry and sheer magnitude of the inauguration of our 44th President was overwhelming for me. Only time is capable of sorting it all out and bringing into clear focus exactly what happened on that 20th day of January, 2009. Our finite minds work feverishly to coalesce the knows of the past with the unknowns of the future in order to bring reassurance and calm out of turmoil. We are drowning in words. In attempting to put the finest of points to an ultimate definition of elevating a man of color to the level of the United States presidency, we can only diminish the inconceivable magnitude of the event. It has raised an entire race to a level of equivalence only cautiously dreamed of and fervently hoped for generation after generation.

Marianne Avery

Wheaton

Here's a better gift for the troops

How nice of Lou Malnati's and Schlitz to send their products to the troops for the Super Bowl. Pizza and two beers for about 6,000 soldiers; I have a better idea: How about bringing all of our troops back to the United States where they belong, and let them enjoy all the pizza and beer they want.

Dan Carlson

Wood Dale

Quit pouting over stimulus package

One of the Republican leaders in Congress has appeared on several TV news programs crying crocodile tears over the $850 billion economic recovery bill and lamenting that "it's the taxpayers' money." The man should bite his tongue in shame and go stand in the corner.

Republicans love to point righteous fingers at their Democratic counterparts and repeat the mantra of "tax and spend liberals." Yet, during the Bush presidency, a spendthrift Republican Congress managed to transform a seldom seen budget surplus into a trillion-dollar-plus deficit.

President Obama has reached out to Republicans and invited their input on the plans to stimulate a turnaround in our economy. Their response has been mostly a rote chant of the call for more tax cuts. In the midst of a scary recession, many Americans would use such dollars only to pay off bills or stash away for emergencies.

The Obama team is going to do some stumbling and fumbling in their efforts to give our economy a jump-start. But if not every shot is a bull's-eye, at least they are aiming in the right direction. Republicans in Congress owe it their constituents to quite pouting, put party pettiness aside and seek to help rather than hinder this crucial process.

Dan McGuire

Bensenville

Why hold Wheaton event elsewhere?

A recent news story concerned Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk's annual State of the City address to the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce. He noted that a downturn in the city's sales tax is adding to Wheaton's fiscal problems.

I noted that the luncheon meeting of 200 people took place at the Holiday Inn in Carol Stream. Wouldn't it be more appropriate, especially for a group like the chamber of commerce, to hold the meeting in Wheaton? Arrowhead Golf Course and Le Jardin at Cantigny both have accommodations for 200 people. Perhaps some of our restaurants could also accommodate this group. That way, the sales tax would stay in the city. Let's all support our city by shopping here. The chamber of commerce should set the example.

Sharon Huck

Wheaton

Existing human versus potential

In her Jan. 23 letter, Mary Ann Cronauer, commenting on the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, says that the U.S. Supreme Court "gave women the right to legally kill their offspring." Perhaps that is not the proper characterization of abortion. The right to have an abortion involves balancing the interests of a living, pregnant woman against the "rights" of a fetus inside that woman's womb and not yet born. The pregnant woman is an existing, independent human person who makes her way in this world every day on her own, while the fetus has not yet come into this world and has only the potential of being born and at that time becoming an independent human being. The right to an abortion involves balancing the actuality of an existing being versus the potential of a fetus not yet born - actuality versus potential. I myself favor the rights of an actual existing person over the so-called "rights" of a potential being still in the womb, and, accordingly, I support a woman's right to have an abortion if she so chooses. That right will continue now that our president, who will appoint future supreme court justices, is Barack Obama.

Theodore M. Utchen Wheaton