5 Questions for Marty Wombacher, a can-do creator

If you tell Marty Wombacher he shouldn’t do something, he won’t hear of it – and it has nothing to do with his hearing.

“People have always told me I can’t do something. Then I do it,” he said., “I’ve never listened to anybody, and it’s not because my left ear can’t hear much.”

I recall Marty getting a field pass to Wrigley Field when a few of us were going to a Cubs game, and before the first pitch he loitered around the dugout and stunned us when he cornered Harry Caray, chatted up the future Hall of Fame broadcaster, and showed off the new issue of P.O.P. magazine.

“This could go bad,” said ICC journalism professor Mike Foster. “Anything could happen.”

But the hometown paparazzi got a picture of Harry holding P.O.P. (originally People of Peoria), Marty’s slick, 6,000-circulation color magazine sandwiched between the long-time Peorian’s initial claim to fame and a series of blogs including his current effort, “A Man Walks into 365 Bars … Again.”

Marty’s lived in Peoria for 57 years, growing up in Northmoor Hills and attending schools at Kellar, St. Vincent’s and Bergan before heading to college and swiftly dropping out. He worked at Fleming Potter, the downtown printing firm for 17 years, when he and buddy Greg Owens thought they’d spoof the popular Trivia Pursuit game with “Trivial Trivia: The Idiot’s Edition.” The rest is history:

* Mid-1980s: The satirical game was rejected by dozens of area retailers until local TV personality Vic Burnett, moonlighting at the Pere Marquette gift shop, encouraged him and recommended a radio interview. WIRL’s Gene Konrad put Marty on the air, newspapers and wires services picked up the story, and media ranging from Jane Pauley on “The Today Show” and Australia’s “Morning Show” to Spin magazine covered it. About 100,000 “Idiot Editions” were sold.

* In the late ‘80s he wrote parody books such as “How to Pick Up Women (Even Though You Are a Pencil-Necked Geek)” and an ersatz cookbook “Gone with the Burp,” thereby outpacing one-book wonders such as humorist John Kennedy Toole and novelist J.D. Salinger.

* Early ’90s: He edited and published P.O.P and wrote for the Pekin Daily Times (despite no training in writing).

* 1993: Marty moved to New York City in ’93, freelanced for Newsday, the Daily News and other publications and launched the quirky fishwrap magazine mocking periodicals and gaining national distribution and attention from USA Today, Men’s Journal and other media.

* Meanwhile; He penned a couple more books, a memoir, “The Boy Who Would be a Fire Truck,” and the travelogue “99 Beers off The Wall” and got more coverage for his 12-month blog “A Guy Walks into 365 Bars” in 2010-11.

* 2012: After short-lived web ventures (“Trippin’ with Marty” and “Marty After Dark”) and 19 years living in a tiny Manhattan apartment and working late shifts in Greenwich Village, Marty returned to Peoria and started the “Meanwhile Back In Peoria” blog, which this year started a feature, “A Guy Walks into 365 Bars… Again,” adding to his global audience of thousands, plus occasionally appears onstage with “Marty Monologues.”

Some snobs have dismissed Marty as “lowbrow” or “vulgar.” These elitists are like learned doctors who mistakenly diagnose mononucleosis, flu or fatigue until they notice a RED BULLSEYE from a tick bite and finally say, “Ah, ha! Lyme Disease!”

Such disdain for Marty probably would reject the equally unsophisticated humor of the Marx Brothers, Jim Carrey, and Bobcat Goldthwait as beneath the hoi palloi – but not most of us who laugh at goofiness. In fact, former teen sports editor at the Pekin Daily Times Dick Stolley – who went on to the Chicago Sun-Times, Life magazine (where he nabbed the Zapruder film of JFK’s assassination), and launching People magazine – became a New York friend, often taking Marty to lunch at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. Stolley once described Marty with admiration, “He is off the wall. He doesn’t just verge on bad taste. He wallows in it.”

Now, nursing a margarita in Peoria Heights and talking in a machine-gun banter at a “Spinal Tap” Number-11 volume, Wombacher answered some silly questions:

 

Budweiser or Pumpkin Spice?

Pumpkin Spice was my favorite Spice Girl. But I like Budweiser. People used to give me shit, but Budweiser actually called me to offer to sponsor my blog. They offered me thousands, but I would’ve had to have ads and all kinds of things and I didn’t feel like ‘selling out.’ Of course, I’m WILLING to sell out, but I want to be REALLY well paid.

 

Favorite comic?

Emo Phillips. I got to know him a little. He’s almost always in character, and he was in my magazine once [writing a zany autobiographical P.O.P. cover story, “Me, Myself and I”]. Years later, when I saw him backstage in New York, he thanked me – and talked in a regular tone of voice!

 

Substack or digital contents?

Neither. I like print, big-time. I’ve always liked print. You don’t get that feeling online.

 

Best bar snacks?

Ice cubes.

 

What do you think is the bigger problem, housing or health care?

Housing! Regular people can’t afford it. I’d rather have a roof over my head and be sick than healthy and homeless.

Illinois Congressional candidate Paul Nolley weighs in on the issues

Democrat Paul Nolley is running for Congress from Illinois’ District 16, which runs from Peoria and Morton through Streator and Morris to Rockford and Galena. The 36-year-old Illinois State University graduate is married to a special-education teacher, and they have two children. From a working-class background, he’s now director of Project First Rate, a labor-management partnership that works in nine Illinois counties.

He took time away from his campaign to answer a few questions:

Despite little evidence of election fraud or non-citizen voting, President Trump wanted to restrict mail-in ballots and has supported the SAVE Act (which the House passed Feb. 11). That legislation would mandate that people supply evidence of their U.S. citizenship (such as a birth certificate) to vote. How do you feel about attempts to change elections?

Our electoral system faces more scrutiny today than perhaps any time in U.S. history. The process has been litigated in the courts for years, and members of Congress absolutely have the right and obligation to propose electoral changes that would increase transparency and security in our elections. However, with this scrutiny, we know our elections show few examples of voter fraud and are incredibly safe and secure. If elected, I would work with anyone who is attempting, in good faith, to ensure our electoral system is safe from credible threats. The SAVE Act is not a good-faith effort. I would oppose this legislation and the Republican attempts to scare the American people into supporting the weakening of their own voting rights. 

On Sept. 1, the House passed another Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government until Dec. 11. Are Continuing Resolutions the best way to authorize spending, or would you prefer another way?

I do not believe passing endless Continuing Resolutions is the best way to authorize spending, and I would support efforts to pass a full budget each year in Congress. Democrats and Republicans alike have utilized CRs to kick the responsibility down the road and play games with the American people. We must end this gamesmanship in Washington and do a key job representatives are elected to do: pass a budget. 

Polls say that Americans' top priorities are the economy, the war in Iran, better government transparency (esp. concerning the “Epstein files”), and improving immigration enforcement (specifically sharing arrest information, ICE agents not wearing masks, and citizens being able to record immigration officers). However, President Trump often talks about a new ballroom, a new arch outside Arlington National Cemetery, and taking over Greenland or Canada. How do you view this?

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress would rather talk about anything else; otherwise, they might have to explain to the American people why they are failing to keep the promises of their 2024 campaigns. They promised to lower prices and release the Epstein files. Since being elected, all they have done is raise prices, fight tooth and nail to prevent the release of the Epstein files, and sit by while the Trump administration launches a disastrous war of choice without congressional approval. It is a dereliction of duty, and a total failure of this administration and its rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress. 

A recent Gallup poll reports that 71% of the American public opposes the construction of Artificial Intelligence data centers in their communities, opposition that’s Republican and Democrat, rural and urban, and all regions of the country. What do you think?

I think Americans are rightfully worried about the rapid growth of data center construction in their communities and the proliferation of AI in their daily lives, including loss of privacy, job loss, harmful impacts on their children, and far worse. Meanwhile, data center executives have pushed for tax incentives and forced local leaders to sign NDAs, all while insisting this product has to be developed at a rapid pace. 

We have to rethink our relationship with the industry. If elected, I would support legislation that bans tax incentives for data centers, ensures American consumers don’t pay a dime more in energy costs from data centers, and prevents their construction on prime farmland and in residential areas. I would also fight to pass legislation that halts the rush to achieve AI superintelligence, which could destroy humanity as we know it.

The U.S. deficit recently reached $40 trillion. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman says that discussions often mix up different ways of measuring debt and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), making the fiscal picture look scarier than the underlying math suggests. Should people be concerned?

Americans are right to be concerned about our rising national debt, which hit a record high under the Trump administration. Taxpayers pay about 19% of the annual budget to service the interest on the debt, leaving less to invest in our schools, health care, and infrastructure.

We also need to be clear about why the national debt is where it is today. For decades, Republicans in Washington have given tax breaks to the wealthy, built in loopholes for huge corporations, and allowed the powerful few to dodge their fair share of the tax burden. At the same time, the ultrarich have seen their wealth grow to unimaginable levels and working people struggle to get by. This, paired with record military spending year after year, driven in part by inflated and corrupt contracts with defense companies, has placed a great burden on our nation’s finances.

We must ensure big corporations and the ultrarich pay their fair share in taxes, while also overhauling our government procurement and contracting system to add transparency and competition, and stop the endless cost overruns on major military projects and inflated defense contracts. We also need to end and prevent wars of choice like the Iraq and Iran wars, which have been devastating to our national finances. We should also pursue other cost-saving reforms, like allowing Medicare to negotiate all drug prices, which would save billions of dollars each year. 

Vote early – and embrace Americans’ common goals

The midterm election is scheduled Nov. 3, and if the year’s primaries are an indication, there could be changes ahead.

However, unprecedented fundraising and spending, unusual and selective redistricting, an attempted crackdown on mail-in ballots, and various unproven allegations of corrupt voting together pose a challenge, if not discouragement – or even intimidation.

“Many scholars of global history note that such repressive actions follow the authoritarian playbook,” wrote Na Eng, author of “The Art of Saving Democracy” and chief creative officer at People for the American Way. “For authoritarians, elections aren’t a healthy competition of ideas and candidates, and voting rights aren’t constitutionally protected rights that our ancestors marched and fought hard to expand. They are merely inconvenient barriers that prevent the consolidation of power. To control the outcome of elections, authoritarians specifically target the historically marginalized and groups that resist their agenda.”

There are ways to overcome this contrived sabotage, and two stand out:

First, vote early. In Illinois, it started 40 days before Election Day, so it’s underway. And easy.

Next – and maybe more importantly – cast ballots to candidates you feel will honor their oaths of office and seek to enact changes that most of us want.

Sure, there are divisions in the country, but there’s also an enormous amount of common ground.

Here are examples of where U.S. citizens agree on issues – and these aren’t positions I want from a representative government. These are what WE want, according to polls.

* 70% believe that no one is above the law. (USA Today/Ipsos)

* Between 58% and 63% favor raising taxes on the rich and corporations. (Pew Research)

* Some 60% of us oppose the War in Iran. (Quinnipiac University)

* 61% support Ukraine defending itself against Russia’s invasion. (YouGov and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs)

* 52% favor a ban on military-style rifles (Gallup) and 87% support background checks for all gun sales. (USpollingdata)

* About 80% favor reforming and strengthening foreign aid a year after the U.S. Agency for International development (USAID) was dismantled. (Rockefeller Foundation)

* 67% support providing some relief to student loans, and 64% back cancelling student debt in exchange for public service. (Bipartisan Policy Center)

* 74% want reforms to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Navigator Research)

* 71% approve of labor unions, and a substantial minority, 47%, want unions to have MORE influence. (Gallup)

* 56% support raising the federal minimum wage – which has been $7.25/hour since 2009 – to $30/hour by the year 2030. (YouGov)

* 66% say the government must make sure everyone has affordable medical coverage. (Pew) and 86% of Americans support allowing the federal government to set maximum prescription-drug prices based on what drugs cost in other developed countries. (University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation)

* 83% support a law combining mandatory immigration’s E-Verify mandates for employers with an expansion of legal work visas when employers need workers. (University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation)

Also, continuing with findings from Maryland’s survey program, most Americans want:

* Social Security reforms through actions such as subjecting income over $400,000 to the payroll tax and reducing benefits for top lifetime earners;

* more federal funding to establish free universal preschools;

* tax incentives for builders to construct or repair homes affordable to working families;

* a national paid-leave program to let workers take 12 weeks off to care for a new child, an ill family member, or themselves;

* prohibiting Members of Congress from trading stocks in individual companies;

* subsidized child care for low- and middle-income parents so families spend no more than 7% of their income on it; and

* guardrails on Artificial Intelligence, especially for systems making decisions about hiring, loans or health coverage.

 

Personally, it’s difficult to accept that most everyday Americans hate others who are different races, religions, genders, ages, national origins and so on, but the bottom line, expressed by Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League is that “Americans deserve better. They deserve leaders who place affordability ahead of ideology. They deserve policies that reward work, not simply wealth. They deserve a government focused on expanding opportunity rather than manufacturing outrage.”

Some will cry that these public-opinion results are radical. But isn’t supporting Americans’ preferences anything BUT extremist?

A September labor remembrance: Upton Sinclair

The author of “The Jungle,” the 1906 landmark novel about brutal, unsanitary working conditions in Chicago’s meatpacking plants, was Upton Sinclair, born 148 years ago this month.

A devoted labor supporter and activist and a muckraking journalist and novelist, Sinclair frequently organized protests, like a demonstration at John D. Rockefeller’s New York City headquarters nine days after the “Ludlow Massacre” at Rockefeller’s Colorado mines. He wrote “King Coal” in 1917 and 20 years later penned “The Flivver King,” a critique of the auto industry.

Among almost 100 books he wrote was “The Brass Check,” a 1919 expose of the corporate press and how it ignored or slanted labor coverage. In 1923, he joined a San Pedro, Calif., strike by the Industrial Workers of the World (the “Wobblies”) and was arrested when he tried to read the First Amendment to striking port workers. Soon after he helped start the California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Sinclair also ran for California governor three times, losing big in his first two efforts running as a Socialist, but got 879,000 ballots running an “End Poverty in California” campaign as a Democrat.

In 1943 he won the Pulitzer Prize for the third of 11 “Lanny Budd” novels, “Dragon’s Teeth.”

 

Pictured: Sinclair (right) getting arrested outside John D. Rockefeller's New York headquarters after the Ludlow Massacre, where striking workers were killed at one of Rockefeller's coal mines.

 

Column: data centers -- it's not simple

I’m not going to criticize union workers on data-center job sites.

It may seem contradictory for an opinion column to fail to weigh in on a controversial matter, but when it comes to those who are building data centers, I can’t judge those workers. Accepting a job lasting months and paying union wages is not like distinguishing right from wrong.

It’s not that simple.

It’s not like commenting on an employer breaking the law or politicians maneuvering to keep voters from casting ballots, or crossing a picket line.

Unionists can (and often do) disagree on issues ranging from strategies to structures. But what we have in common is far stronger – and more important – than making some mark in the sand on what type of product or service is OK. It’s almost impossible to meet everyone’s approval.

Further, if a new car is a lemon, the appropriate response is not to attack the UAW, but to demand manufacturers and their engineers address the problem.

Also, of course, there’s the Gospel lesson where Luke reports Jesus’ warning (6:37), “…Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.”

The current needless, maybe contrived, division was summarized in a Politico headline: “Voters fear AI. Unions want the jobs.”

North America's Building Trades Unions reasonably protect good jobs building data centers, and the Census Bureau estimates that data centers account of 2.3% of all construction spending (which means that 97.7% is in other projects – and it’s not like they’re erecting concentration camps for union organizers.)

True, other unions, including the American Association of University Professors, leaders of CWA’s Association of Flight Attendants, and National Nurses United,, advocate a pause in the rapid buildout, as do  some union Locals, such as UNITE HERE Locals in Philadelphia and Seattle, CWA Locals in New Jersey, and UAW Local 4121 in Seattle. Also, SAG-AFTRA and the NewsGuild, have grave concerns about Artificial Intelligence generally.

In June, AFL-CIO convention delegates adopted a resolution calling for additional guardrails for AI in the workplace, including intellectual property protections and transparency initiatives for when the technology was used in hiring, but also demanding that data-center construction be built with union labor and that tech companies pay their share of energy and water costs.

Maybe more importantly, 71% of the American public opposes the construction of AI data centers in their communities, according to a Gallup poll. That opposition is Republican and Democrat, rural and urban, and all regions of the country – although most data centers are in the South (about 750) and the Midwest (some 400), according to Pew Research.

Americans are worried about the effects on utility bills, water consumption, noise, tax subsidies, property-rights issues, Non-Disclosure Agreements some developers require, and the fear that AI eventually will eliminate jobs. (Dario Amodel, CEO of the AI giant Anthropic, has said AI will probably eliminate half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs in the next five years and cause unemployment to rise – up to 20%.

Unions share such concerns.

“This should not be framed as one group of unions against another,” said Dan McConnell, business manager of the Minneapolis Building & Construction Trades Council, who favors enforceable standards. He told “Obey in Advance” author Ginny Hogan of the Labor Politics Substack site, “Strong rules do not block good projects. They help us identify which projects are actually good.”

Politically, hundreds of proposed data centers have been paused or rejected beforehand.

In Illinois – which has attracted billions of dollars in data-center investments in the last five years and already has about 200 data centers – Gov. Pritzker says he opposes “hyperscale” data centers and wants all data centers to pay their fair share, and this summer he took away their tax-credit incentives. On the opposite end of the political spectrum, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to pause new data center approvals and halt connection studies until thorough audits are done.

Another 71% figure should be considered: That’s the percentage of Americans who approve of labor unions, Gallup reported last month (when a record-high 47% said they wanted unions to have more influence). Could unions building something people oppose alienate our friends and supporters in our communities?

The real dispute may be not who could lose, but who’s winning in the long term, and it’s not well-paid skilled union labor. In Florida, generations of residents are in “an uproar over data centers,” according to the Orlando Sentinel, which editorialized  that “the data center industry is only one face of an arrogant oligarchy that people believe now runs Congress, the courts, the White House, state legislatures and local governments. The oligarchy prospers even when the people don’t.”

For me, it’s far better to stress worker solidarity despite temporary, if conflicting, priorities. Any “schism” will hurt all working people, once more victims of a divide-and-conquer tactic. Unionists eventually need each other, and I won’t scorn union workers building data centers.

Returning to the Gospels, Luke (6:41) records another colorful caution from Jesus: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?”