Letters: Ill. Politicians, Singing Saw Draw Ire

Copyright © 2008 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And it's time once again for your comments.

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INSKEEP: We got a lot of mail this week about the scandal surrounding Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. Weekend Edition host and Chicago native Scott Simon told us about Illinois' grand history of corruption.

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SCOTT SIMON: In Chicago and in Illinois, I think a politician who is somewhat compromised is considered human and approachable. They might have larceny in their heart, but at least you know that they have a heartbeat.

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INSKEEP: Another Chicagoan, Jonathan Vanderberg(ph) responds, I found Mr. Simon's portrayal of our city and state highly inaccurate. True, we regularly struggle with corruption here, but we do not approach it with relish, as Mr. Simon seems to do.

Joanne Lee Frank(ph) writes, I, too, am originally from the Chicago land area and am embarrassed by the scandal. And yet, she adds, as I listened to Scott Simon inject a little humor into this serious situation, I finally lightened up a little bit, too.

Many of you were unimpressed by a holiday-music moment this week. We played selections from an album called "The Singing Saw at Christmastime."

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INSKEEP: Claire Calb(ph) of Louisville, Kentucky, writes, horror to my ears, like nails on a chalkboard, it was.

But our non-human friends were more appreciative. Lynn Standsvick(ph) of Minneapolis says the song, quote, "did stop both my dogs in their tracks and hypnotized them for the entire segment."

Many of you enjoyed Lynn Neary's story about the Kern family and their holiday reading traditions. Some of you even wrote in with your own favorite holiday books. For the Moss(ph) family in Greenville, Michigan, it's this one.

Mr. LARRY MOSS (Listener): "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas.

INSKEEP: Larry Moss says his 13 year old son has memorized nearly the entire story and likes to recite along quietly as his father reads aloud.

Mr. MOSS: (Reading) Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them, up the long, steadily falling night.

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Mr. MOSS: (Reading) I turned the gas down. I got into bed. I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept.

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INSKEEP: You can send us your stories, poetic or not, and your comments at npr.org. Just click on the button that says Contact Us.

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INSKEEP: It's Morning Edition from NPR News.

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