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As I see it 11-12-00 There is much to be said about the way we govern ourselves. I won't spend much time on the political mess we're witnessing right now in Florida simply because everything that has needed to be said-has been said. My only comment pertains to the television networks and the idiots who run them and their news departments. I was in television news for a lot of years. I covered areas such as crime-city hall beats, state capitol beats and down and dirty politics in general. I have seen the under belly of this country-especially in the political arenas. I was even asked to run for public office in 2 states-in both parties-and was asked to go to Washington to work for a highly visible, nationally known political figure. I refused all offers, because unlike the popular TV show West Wing-I do not believe my involvement would have made a difference. But again, that's my opinion. Now-regarding the television networks- The bosses at these giant companies are so in love with their egos that they have been wearing blinders for a lot of years. What kind of nonsense is it when minutes after the voting places close their doors, some clown in a designer dress-or some overpaid, smiling yes man comes on the air and declares the winner of the election-all because of the networks hiring of political consultants who roll their bag of bones and twirl their ouija boards in every direction. The television network brass have lost touch with reality and the real people. If they really knew the score they wouldn't put the crap on the air every evening and call it sitcoms. The television news business on the national and local scenes is an absolute sham. Locally-we have newsreaders on the air that can't pronounce Chicago street names. We have people hired by the stations who got their jobs, not because they're any good-but because the stations needed to fill spots with trained seals who sit on chairs and stools and flash toothy grins while laughing through the newscasts. But it will all work out in the end-like it always does-unless a flight of ICBMs launched from some backwater country comes zooming in over the polar ice cap headed towards Washington D.C. Now-I want to touch on something more pressing in Illinois. Once more I appeal to the state legislature to empower the Illinois DNR and Tourism bureau to go hell bent for leather for the out of state bucks. We have some of the best overall fishing and deer hunting in the Midwest and we're not taking advantage of it. One individual in the DNR used to run a program that brought in out of state deer hunters from as far away as Maine and Vermont to hunt deer in some of our prime areas-and lo and behold-politics reigned supreme again. The program was scrapped because a handful of locals in the central and western part of the state complained to their state law makers that "their Deer" were being hunted by out of staters. Sounds to me those folks have been hanging around with too many northern Wisconsin locals who hate Chicagoans fishing and hunting their lands. It seems to me state lawmakers are more concerned about helping Rosemont mayor Don Stephens get his gambling boat. It seems to me that the governor thinks 14,000 dollars is too insignificant an amount for the taxpayers to worry about-when his prison system director wanted to spend the money for cd players and VCRs. It seems to me that we're either going to have the best outdoor recreational facilities or we're going to have a pile of crap. Is there anything right with the outdoors scene? You bet there is. Despite the efforts of the Fox Chain O Lakes Waterway agency to cater to drunks and speeders-we still have an outstanding muskie and walleye fishery on the Chain. Despite the fact certain state lawmakers would rather take money from commercial fishing interests and try and intimidate DNR biologists and officials, we still have some perch in Lake Michigan. Despite the fact there is a group calling itself the Illinois state legislative sportsman's caucus-made up of state senators and representatives-many in that group gladly accept lobbyists cash to vote against sport fishing. And then there's the poor schlep-Eddie Landmichael Sr., who has collected a garage full of data showing how the Great lakes have been infected with unwanted, exotic species of rough fish and organisms-and the feds sit back and plan meetings to generate paperwork and baloney. We are told the perch fishery in our part of the big lake is in trouble-apparently not enough food for newly hatched perch-and the feds sit on their thumbs while the freighters come steaming through the St. Lawrence Seaway with ballast tanks loaded with nightmares straight out of the X-Files. Fishermen and hunters in this state like to sit back and let someone else do the heavy lifting for them. Outdoor sportsmen apparently think the state legislature will respond to their wishes. That is a pipe dream. I ask you-when are you going to stand up and let the bosses in the state house and state senate know it's time to fish or cut bait-and get the hell out of there? Of course-the folks in Wisconsin still want your bucks if you find aggressive action not your liking.