– Quote of the week: "Some of our biggest challenges have less to do with race and more to do with the educational barriers that all poor people are experiencing." Barack Obama

– Goodbye to David Dellinger, a man who lived out his faith and made no separation between his beliefs and his deeds. He died in May at the age of 88. Read his autobiography, From Yale to Jail.

– It’s just about election time. The Peever’s picks:

• President of the USA: My pick is Kerry. I think the polls are fixed. I think he’ll win by over a million votes. Bush is arrogant, dumb, and a pathological liar. He’s on his way out, although he won’t go down without a fight. He’ll be kicking and screaming as we usher him out of the White House.

• U.S. Senate: Barack Obama by 50 percentage points. Keyes is an idiot. He makes a great right-wing Christian, although they’re generally white. This guy is a political misfit. Depending on how the cards fall, Obama could well be the first black President. That would be a major blessing.

• U.S. Congressman from the 17th District: Evans by 8-10 percentage points. Zinga is just another pretty TV face. The Republicans are starting to pick candidates like the Democrats usually do: poorly.

• Illinois House: Moffitt shouldn’t have any trouble. He has done a surprisingly good job. He seems to work at it really hard. I think a Democrat outside of Galesburg has an extra hard time of it.

• Knox County Clerk: This is going to be a close one. I hope Steve has a strong heart, cause I think it’s going to be another cliffhanger. The incumbent usually has an edge in county elections, unless they really screwed up. Scott is a good guy and comes from a well-known family. He is a good young Republican prospect. I think this one will again be decided by under 100 votes. A big Democratic year will favor Steve. Incumbency will favor Scott.

• Knox County Recorder: The incumbent has a huge advantage in this one. I don’t see McCune losing.

• Knox County Circuit Clerk: Another huge incumbent advantage. Cheesman is well known and I think unbeatable.

• Knox County Coroner: This should be a little more interesting, but I think Thomas is going to take it.

– The Bush team: Fear is their trump card, and they play it at every turn.

– The terrorist watch list is an Ashcroft dream come true.

– We need a ±60 percent turnout for the election to insure that Bush gets defeated. The more people that vote, the less likely he is to cheat us. Voter registration has been huge. Thank God.

– "A more contemplative, meditative aspect of Christianity may have been sidelined in the rush to create a mainstream faith." Elaine Pagels

– America can no longer expect its elections to be fair. We need some agreed upon group to decide whether an election is fair or fraudulent. It can’t be the Supreme Court. Or the Congress. If we have another result like 2000, we need to all head for Washington.