IMHO: Bibo is a Bimbo

I know I'm behind the times on this one, but as mentioned in the previous post, I've been on vacation. I have been stupid enough to check out the Peoria Journal Star web site, and caught Terry Bibo's gossip column on Michael Levan a week ago. I just can't let it go without comment.

There are some people with positions in life that really make you wonder... If Terry Bibo can be a columnist at the Journal Star, why haven't I written the great American novel? If Dan Lietch can be a State Representative, why am I not at least in the Senate? If George Bush can be President of the most powerful nation on earth, why am I not the Supreme Ruler of the known universe? All fair and relevant questions.

I admit, I rarely read Bibo. I find her columns fluffy and, well, ditzy. "Ditzy" is an adjective I really dislike using to describe a fellow female, so I prefer to side step her rants all together. A friend called me and told me I simply "HAD to read her one sided, totally unfair, gossip column about Michael Levan." So, I made the mistake of logging on.

What a column of crap. Why did the editors of the Journal Star allow it to be printed? Stupid question. Last Sunday, Bibo felt the need to publish the criminal history of Michael Levan. Levan, who would readily admit he isn't an angel, has a long arrest record. Apparently, he has been arrested about forty times mostly during his troubled youth. Levan is about forty years old.

Bibo points out Levan's arrest record and not much else. When I read about the troubled history of an individual, I want to know the full story. That is, I want the journalist to her job. How and why does one get arrested 40 times? What in his past caused him to behave so poorly? Was he beaten as a child? Victimized by a cruel step parent? Were his bones broken? Was he put in and pulled out of countless foster homes? Was he so abused and neglected that he was forced to eat from garbage cans as a kid? What is Levan doing now? Does he own property? Does he pay taxes? Did he suffer terrible brain injuries due to a recent car accident and made a miraculous recovery? Does he have a healthy and promising relationship with a lovely fiancee? Does he care for his aging mother? Has he turned his life around? Is he trying? Levan is well known to those that grew up on the East Bluff. Levan is well known period. The answers to such questions can be easily and readily found by a journalist willing to do a semi-thorough job. Bibo doesn't qualify.

I think Bibo is doing the dirty work of the Teplitz's. You see, Levan has been working hard to expose the alleged dirty dealings of the Roanoke Neighborhood Association, formerly headed by former City Councilwoman Marcella Teplitz and her attorney husband, Jack. Serious questions such as, "What the feck happened to all the money?" have been asked regarding the Roanoke Fund, which was recently revoked by City Council. It doesn't look good for the Roanoke Association, and it looks really, really bad for the Teplitz's.

Apparently it's politics (i.e., The recently ousted "Progressives") and journalism (i.e., The Journal Star) as usual in Peoria.

The two have a more incestuous relationship than fruit flies.

S.O.P.P. Save Our Peoria Pundit!

Okay, I was enjoying a nice vacation browning myself on the beach. I wasn't going to resume any responsibilities -or blogging- until I had attained the same lovely dark roasted espresso hue as our beloved Mayor, Jim Ardis. Hard to achieve when I still feel compelled to slather myself with SPF 4. Or baby oil. Or Crisco. But that's another completely irrelevant story.

What shocked me into dragging my lap top onto the beach is that Bill Dennis, blogger extraordinaire, of The Peoria Pundit HAS GONE OFF THE AIR. OR INTERNET. OR WHATEVER. I wouldn't know what the feck a blog was without Bill. Because of him, I still hold out hope that some day I maybe able to link properly or even post a picture. Okay, the later is reaching, I admit. Nonetheless, we must get this man some money. NOW. I am willing to contribute, but Bill, I gotta be able to do so anonymously! You can post "Polly Peoria" on your friends' list, but that Pay Pal button requires that I reveal my identity and my ass would be so FIRED if my bosses knew what I really thought of them. How about providing a snail mail address?

Some how, some way, I'm going to get this hard worker/blogger/journalist/purveyor of eye candy/disher of Peoria dirt/ some of the funds he desperately needs and is really entitled too. Most of us bloggers do this as a hobby, to vent and spew our profound and superior intellects *snicker* into cyberspace in order to keep those who love and live with us from beating us mercilessly -but deservedly- over the head with a heavy shovel. Bill Dennis is a professional, and runs a professional blog. Yeah, even with the eye candy. You ever notice how much eye candy is in the New York Times? Washington Post? Wall Street Journal?

The Peoria Pundit is NEEDED. Notice how often local politicians post on his blog? The Peoria Pundit allows us to get the real scoop, not the tainted synopsis provided by the Journal Star editorial page.

A donation to Bill falls slightly behind a donation for hurricane relief in priority. Bill is THAT good. He is that IMPORTANT.

I'm even gonna send him my beer money for the week. Now that's sacrifice.