The Villagers Voice

"Your Voice That Bridges The Area Communities Together."

Charlie’s Voice – The Value Of Elections

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton
You guys know me, or at least you used to. I’m the guy that used to try to be funny. I’m the guy that used to be sarcastic about politics and authority, in general.

I am getting with the program. I’m here today, and evermore, to tell you elections are important. Political candidates are important. Even if election judges fudge the election, they’re still important. Even if candidates lie, and steal elections, and take kickbacks, elections are important. [Read more...]

Charlie’s Voice – The Public Is Turning Against The Military

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton

The public perceptions of the military are on the decline. You heard it here first, and you need to pay attention.

Fox News (which used to be conservative) ran a poll on patriotism. The 91% of the public thinks that voting is a patriotic thing a citizen can do. Flying the flag is second at 83%. Serving in the military with the potential of losing your life for this country is only 3rd at 82%.. That is concerning. More people consider rolling out to vote more patriotic than getting blown up in a war.

In the 1960s, politicians, communists, and the media turned the public against the military. Military members were insulted, restricted from society, and verbally demeaned and marginalized. [Read more...]

Charlie’s Voice – If You Believe, Act Like It!

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton

Today I’m calling everyone out, myself included. We have sat idly by while the world is on fire. We are to blame for the condition of the community, the state, and the country…
*****
Pastor Jeff is a “Hard-Shell Baptist”. He was young, but when he preached you could smell the brimstone. You didn’t doze during Jeff’s sermons. He kept us fired up at church, and had us spending Saturdays beating on doors in “the hood”, to witness to the needy. We believed. [Read more...]

Charlie’s Voice – Air B-N Better

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton

It’s a pleasure to see our main streets come back to life. Not many years ago, every little town in our State was effectively dead. My (former) hometown of Carmi used to be so busy that it was almost impossible to get a parking place, especially on Friday night. That was in the 60s and early 70s, when I left the area. When I rolled back in to town in the 90s, it was like the zombie apocalypse had run out of prey and left Carmi, Fairfield, Norris City, and every other small town a bombed-out shell. Now, 30 years later, it seems we’ve had a renaissance of our villages.

For example, I got a call from my friend Trisha Coomer, in Fairfield. She thought I’d be interested in her and Jeremy’s business. They own what is known as an “Air BNB”, which I was clueless on. Long story short, they bought a building on Main Street and converted into a hotel, of sorts. It is what we Boomers call, “Far out and cool.” [Read more...]

DAR Collects Food for the Marion VA

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The Michael Hillegas Chapter of the NSDAR, assisted by the Norris City Library staff, Crouch's Accounting, and many others collect food for needy veterans in Southern Illinois.

Pictured are DAR members, as well as members of the community, along with some of the food collected. Sheila Albright is the Veterans Chairperson

Charlie’s Voice – AI Update

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton

I write frequently about Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Science fiction writers have used that as a topic for decades. The “Terminator” movie is one example. Star Trek shows have varying degrees of AI. “The Matrix” is a mind-bending venture into AI. My favorite TV series of all times, “Person of Interest” is all about AI enslaving humanity.

Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others on the forefront of technology have been issuing dire warnings about AI for years. I’ve been on the fence about the real danger. Firstly, we’ve all seen the arguably most significant advance in history, the internet (invented by Al Gore) reduced to a way to share porn and funny cat videos. Secondly, I’ve always thought that human intelligence is much too complex to imitate, as many humans can’t even approximate intelligence. Thirdly, surely there is an “Off” switch somewhere. [Read more...]

Charlie’s Voice – Illinois House Bill 1533: Cat-astrophic Legislation

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton

I quit commenting on our grate state because, frankly, I don’t care. I do not care what the elected idiots are doing. No matter how vigilant I am, they end up playing in traffic and they stuff the hamster down the garbage disposal. They’re like toddlers that get into the Drano under the sink while you’re napping on the couch.

Watching politicians is like watching a train wreck, and I’m not even in Ohio. Ultimately, I don’t have to watch them to know it’s going to be bad. In the hundreds of years I’ve cared, none of my caring made a bit of difference. [Read more...]

Charlie’s Voice: Indian Creek Deserves Better

by

Charlie Melton

By Charlie Melton

Indian Creek Township is composed of good, moral, loving citizens. Well, mostly. A few need a good spanking, but mostly people are pretty good. I’m here to testify they deserve better.

I’ve been running all around the internet virtual highways and byways screaming, “The sky is falling.” You might say I’ve been crying “wolf”. Unlike the fable about the geezer who cried wolf, there is really danger here. We have to eradicate the danger and prevent it from coming back. To put it another way, and in keeping with the wolf theme, our virtual house is made of straw, and we need to upgrade to brick. [Read more...]

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