Dennis Kucinich's wife

You may have to be a political junkie to know who he is, but Dennis Kucinich is a Congressman from Cleveland who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. He doesn't have any chance of winning it because he's basically insane. Not only does he claim to have seen a UFO, but he wants to create a Peace Department. I'm not kidding.

My purpose here is not to bury him, but to praise him. I just found out that his wife can give Jeri Thompson a run for her money. Elizabeth is 31 years old and 6 feet tall. Here she is, with her little troll of a husband:

For the unitiated, here is Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri:

10/31/07 CTA and county news update

Now the city is going to take desk-duty cops and have them hang around schools that will be most affected by the elimination of certain bus routes. That's a good idea, in as much as it has the police actually working to reduce the influence of gangs in bad areas. Gee, Mr. Mayor, what a brilliant idea!

Meanwhile, the county government is up to its usual shenanigans in hiring. It's the usual wasteful patronage stuff that won't go away until voters realize that a Stroger may not be the best guy to run the county. I'm not holding my breath since blacks here vote so monolithically.

UPDATE: How could I miss this the first time around? Here's the usual extreme sob story of the day, courtesy of intrepid Sun-Times reportes Ben Goldberger. Apparently, someone who lives in THE SUBURBS is going to be affected my CTA cuts and fare increases. Gee, no kidding. Here's the good stuff:

By the time he returns home at the end of the day, Riggins, a married 20-year-old with no car and a full-time job, has transferred at least four times -- and spent nearly $10. And that's just when he's stationed at a West Side hospital. Some days he's assigned to jobs in Oak Park, Orland Park, Melrose Park, Tinley Park, Cicero or the Loop. Mass transit is the only way he has to get to any of them.

"It's costing me a pretty penny, costing me too much," Riggins said Tuesday. And as someone wholly dependent on the CTA, Riggins says the doomsday fare increases scheduled to take effect Sunday put a tight squeeze on an already limited budget.

"I'm going to have to stop doing everything I used to do for fun. If I want to eat, that's out of the question right now. It's costing me too much. Something's really got to change."

"This is a big part of my life," Riggins said of the CTA, "and I'm mad at the governor for not getting down there and signing that bill. He had plenty of time, and they say if he doesn't get it signed by January it's going to get even worse. And with winter coming, man."

Now what's not mentioned in the story? How about this: why doesn't he have a car? Has he had a bunch of DUI's or does he blow all his money on fancy stuff? Who knows? I'm guessing it's not because the car fairy hasn't yet left one under his pillow yet like she's done for everyone else.

So an extra $2 to $4 a day is going to cut out all of his fun money? This also isn't questioned, but rather it's taken for granted to be true. I don't believe it. Even granting that it would be true, this guy has clearly made some terrible life choices to even be in this position. I don't have a lot of sympathy for him.

The real problem is that he's allowed himself to become so dependent on cheap, publicly subsidized transportation. That's NOT a reason for forcing taxpayers all over the state to prop up a wasteful beaurocracy.

10/30/07 updates on county and city government

We've had a lull lately in our local governments and their budget battles, but it appears that each Cook County Commissioner gets a 27% increase for his office:

Commissioner Tim Schneider said he never asked for, nor will he take, the $90,000 in extra salaries Stroger is offering his office, saying the county's "in dire straits" and the board should "keep county government at the most efficient level we can" by giving back extra money.

Commissioner Joan Murphy said "maybe [Schneider] doesn't do the amount of work the rest of us do."

"Feel free, if you want, to give yours back, but I'm keeping mine," she said.

Murphy later apologized to Schneider for the verbal attack.

This perfectly sums up the attitude of these guys. Keep in mind this isn't an increase to actually provide more county services (such as they are). They are only to fund commissioner offices and staff. I realize that Murphy apologized (and thus it's not really fair to pick on her for her comments), but the idea that a fellow commissioner wants to save money for taxpayers means he's not doing as much work is infuriating. The only work I see any of them doing anyway is spending and taxing, so maybe a little less of that "work" would be good thing.

Meanwhile, it's not the city budget that's in the news, but the CTA. Yes, yes, the threatening cuts are on the way. Blah, blah. The vast majority of riders are completely unaffected. You know what bus routes are being cut? The goofy, circuitous routes that only run at rush hour or during special events for the benefit of a few people. The sob stories ring pretty hollow:

Daley used Mather High School, 5835 N. Lincoln Ave., as the backdrop for a news conference called to "put a face on" the 39 bus routes on the chopping block.

One of those routes, the No. 93 California, runs right past Mather. If the route is eliminated, junior Christina Correa and hundreds of her classmates will be forced to walk in the dark to Western four blocks away or to Kimball six blocks from their high school.

California and Western are exactly one-half mile from each other. I walk further than a half mile EVERY DAY I take the Blue Line from my house. So do a lot of people, and then think of those who walk even further. And yes, it gets dark and we all have to deal with it. Buck up, kids, and walk with friends. Geez, if there are hundreds of you who do it you won't have any trouble finding some people to walk with you!

Apparently there's also the issue of putting a casino downtown to help fund the city's budget. Anybody who thinks this is a good idea should walk around Las Vegas some time. I don't mean on the Strip, but off of it or downtown (off of Fremont). As much as I love Vegas, those casinos bring with them many problems. Think there's already too much crime and homelessness in Chicago now? Just wait until that thing opens up. It's not worth having easy, quick access to a blackjack table after work.

The riverboats tend to isolate themselves from it to an extent, but even those cities have problems from the boats.

Bar report - The Tap Room

After my date last night, it was only 1 AM. On my way home, I went to The Tap Room, located on Western at about 2250 North. It has an adjacent liquor store, just to give you an idea of its level of class.

Anyway, I'd always wanted to go there. Upon entering, every seat was full save for a few up front. Draft Miller Lites were $1.50, which is NICE. The crowd was entirely Mexican except for me.

Let me tell you about a Mexican bar: it's the only place I've ever been where an obese girl was the most popular one in the place. I mean, she had to be 3 bills, easy. At one time she had 4 guys talking to her (either that or they were orbiting her). It was quite the scene.

Anyway, the crowd sucked but it was very cheap and fairly close to my house.

McDonald's pizza

This has to be clicked on to see and believe, but all I can say is that I want to eat it. Here's the first stage:



Here's the end result:

Smoking in China and middle age

I found an interesting column by a guy who lives in China and just recently took up smoking in middle age:

After years of resisting, a friend in Shanghai gave me the perfect excuse to start smoking. China has become so polluted, he told me, that it's better to breathe through a cigarette filter than just take in the air on its own. And if your lungs are going to get shot to hell anyway, you might as well enjoy it. So, well into middle age, I figured that it was probably a good time to take up the smoking habit. The result? I enjoy it so much that I don't know why I didn't take it up earlier.

The rest of the column mentions how good some Chinese brands taste.

Indiana's ranked 9th in the preseason coach's poll

Oh my, I almost pooped myself. I've been waiting SO LONG for a good team again! Meaning, 15 years since the 1993 team that lost in the regional final due to their best big guy (Alan Henderson) getting hurt at the end of the season.

UPDATE: To answer A-How's question in the comments, I do not consider 2002 a great year. They were a 5-seed with double-digit losses that had a lucky run in the NCAA tournament. It was fun, but I want a stud team that pounds on the competition all year. Call me spoiled, I guess.

Latino gangs targeting blacks in South Central

Where's Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for this? Oh right, it doesn't involve white people:

A south Los Angeles Latino street gang targeted African-American gang rivals and other blacks in a campaign of neighborhood "cleansing," federal prosecutors say. Alleged leaders and foot soldiers in the Hispanic gang Florencia 13, also called F13, are being arraigned this week on charges stemming from a pair of federal indictments that allege that the gang kept a tight grip on its turf by shooting members of a rival gang—and sometimes random black civilians. The "most disturbing aspect" of the federal charges was that "innocent citizens … ended up being shot simply because of the color of their skin," U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien told reporters in announcing the indictments.

For shame!

I guess my post mocking him wasn't enough, so in the upper-left corner of the page I've decided to put a reminder of how long it's been since Bryan has updated his blog. Hopefully this spurs some action.

Great clock for the math nerd in your life

This would be fantastic hanging in my office at work.

The DREAM Act was killed yesterday

It wasn't very heavily reported, but yesterday the Senate had a cloture vote on an illegal immigrant amnesty bill that didn't even go through the committee process. That's the same tactic used for the giant amnesty bill that was brought up earlier this year. For that earlier bill, huge public pressure, including call volume so great that the Senate switchboard broke down, helped kill it. It seems that that finally imprinted in the elites' minds that us regular people who see more of illegal immigrants than housekeepers and busboys (including the negatives that Senators in fancy neighborhoods never do) want it to end.

Anyway, 60 votes were needed in the cloture vote to move it to a final vote, where a simple majority would pass it and it would be up to the House to consider the issue (though there are no indications they would have). It only received 52 votes and failed in cloture.

(As an interesting aside, Sen. John McCain, who has been a huge amnesty supporter over the years, wasn't there for the vote. This despite being there earlier that day for the other huge Senate vote on the confirmation of Judge Leslie Southwick. He knows that if he wants to win the Republican presidential nomination for which he's running he can't be an amnesty supporter, so he didn't even stay for it. Fine with me.)

The result is that amnesty supporters are rueful. Their leader is our own Sen. Richard Durbin. He's up for re-election next year, and if there's any way to knock him off it's on this issue. I'm surprised he's not getting a challenge from the right on this issue in the Democratic primary, but maybe that's what our state's party has degenerated to:

“This issue has been so painful for so many people — they’re running scared,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the sponsor of the DREAM Act. When immigration is debated in Congress, Durbin said, “the switchboards light up and the hate starts spewing.”

It's always easy for liberals and the left to accuse those who disagree with them as racists (or sexists, or homophobes, or whatever). They tried really hard earlier this year on the big bill, and it failed. It's not easy to paint 75% of the country as racists, and the whole tactic is getting so tired that no one cowers from it any more (ask Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who have been reduced to jokes outside of liberal circles).

One last thing: don't believe the spin in the politico article about what the DREAM Act was supposed to do. This is the real scoop, and it's even more mild criticism than I'd give it. More info is here. Here's more roundup of the aftermath.

Memories of the 4 Queens

In fairness, I was neither naked nor sleepwalking. It's still familiar.

Bryan sucks

We can safely say that Bryan is a terrible blogger. Not only has his personal blog had no updates in 29 days, but the new flagship website of him and Sean, WhereIPeed.com, STILL has nothing. This a few weeks after being told that Sean's unemployment would have that thing up and running.

Just give it up, dude.

P.S. This is a warning to the rest of you: I'm watching!

If only this movie was really coming out

I haven't seen 300 yet, but this version called 1776 would be great.

Thoughts on Revenge of the Nerds

After The Biggest Loser last night, Encore was showing Revenge of the Nerds. Sure, it's a comedy classic, and mainly for the subtleties in the movie. However, watching it last night made me realize there a lot of silly plot devices that just don't make sense. For example:

How can a college football team have only about 20 players on it? Only if they had leather helmets, I say.

Also, all white guys on the team?

How can the football coach intimidate the dean the way he does? Any coach who even hinted at that kind of behavior to the dean of a college would be out on his ass and NEVER coach in college again.

Why does Louis' dad drop them off approximately a mile away from their dorm? They have to be able to get closer.

As a corollary, how do ALL of their possessions fit in that trunk, which they can also carry (and thus isn't packed very tightly)?

Biggest Loser poll

I don't care what you three people who say TBL is a girlie show think. I love it. Run fatty! Do those one-armed pushups, Jillian! Continue to make your team hate you, Kim! Keep on being the gayest straight dude around, Bob!

Plus, poker with cookies would rock.

UPDATE: Uh oh, there was just a promo for our fair hostess' show, Days of Our Lives. My confidence in the neutrality of the show is shaken. There ain't no Days commercials during Heroes.

UPDATE 2: Oh snap! Because Amy is so lazy, we may at last see what we've all been waiting for. That's right, Kim and Jillian in a fight to the death. Preferably in mud or jello.

UPDATE 3: Kim must be laughing her ass off now at Amy!

UPDATE 4: I'm not a fan of Allison's hair at the weigh-in. She's too naturally pretty to waste time with that elaborately curly hairstyle. Keep it straight, baby.

UPDATE 5: We have the first ever villian on the show. Congrats, Neil. Hopefully someone punches you in the baby maker next episode.

10/23/07 update on fiscal government stories (city only)

Nothing from the county since last week, but yesterday there was an interesting article about Mayor Daley's goofy proposal to raise taxes to pay for, of all things, libraries. What's most fascinating is its insights into the mind of someone who has spent her entire working life in a comfortable government job. I am tempted to paste the whole thing here with comments after each paragraph, but I'll try to hold back. It starts like this:

Opposing libraries is like taking a stand against Mom and apple pie. But that's the bind confronting Chicago aldermen.

Oh yeah, I'm sure they are going to lose an election by voting against new libraries (which no one cares about) and voting for lower property taxes (which everyone cares about). Anyway:

On Monday, Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey tried to salvage an increase that appears to be going nowhere in the City Council.

The city has a Library Commissioner? That alone is wasteful. How much money does she make? That's a budget cut for you right there.

She noted that $99 million of the increase was needed to support salaries of a library work force "stretched to the limit" by 434 vacancies. That leaves $9 million to retire the $130 million borrowing needed to build roughly a dozen new libraries.

That's a lot of money to waste on building new libraries. But of course, her first priority is to increase the unionized government workforce, which she no doubt was once a part of.

And Dempsey warned that, without the increase, Chicago would have no choice but to reduce weekend and evening hours. Most libraries are open until 8 or 9 p.m. to accommodate working families. Sunday is the busiest day at Chicago's three largest libraries.

So, don't reduce hours on Sunday. Also, why are "families" out until 9 PM? Those kids should be in bed! Finally, isn't it always about "working families"? I'm tired of them getting all the good stuff. As though parents who don't keep their kids out late at libraries don't work.

"We'd have to look at trimming hours and positions" and halt new construction, even in cases where land for new libraries has been donated to the city, the commissioner said.

Donating land is easy. How about them also donating money to run the libraries? The second-best part is yet to come, however:

Dempsey noted that the record property tax increase would amount to just $80 more each year for the owner of a $250,000 home.

"That's $6.67 a month. I don't think you can buy a new paperback book for $6.67. But with your library card, you can check out 30 books at a time," she said.

These are the words of someone who has deified libraries beyond recognition. First, if everyone who had to pay the extra tax went to the library to get their books, the libraries would need a whole bunch more money for staffing and materials (like wasteful internet access for people to cheap to get it at home). Second, who wants to read some ratty book from the library when they can buy a new book for $20? Third, is it the job of the city to enforce some annual library use fee on millions of people who would never use them? Finally, and most absurdly, who would have any possible reason to check out 30 books at a time?

The best part is last. Bear with me and read the whole section:

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) went so far as to suggest alternative funding sources — like selling naming rights to branch libraries, providing "retail opportunities" in new libraries and getting a corporate sponsor for the library card itself.

"We're trying to look for every opportunity for revenue," Tunney said.

Dempsey said she has "never ruled anything out" to raise new money. But she also questioned whether such innovative ideas would "sustain" library operations.

"We keep people with us for 30-plus, 40 years because they see a career track in the library. They see advancement opportunities. We have a tuition reimbursement program. We send people to library school..It would be less attractive to people if we were running around every year trying to find corporate sponsorships to pay for basic city operations," she said.

Wow. The city pays to send people to library school. What the hell is library school? I think that even without a degree from library school I could figure out how to check out books for people and use the Dewey decimal system. What advantage is there to having people seeing working in a library as a career with "advancement opportunites"? They don't do anything! And the capper is that it would just be so awful to try to find ambitious, hard-working people who have to raise money rather than lazy, contented, career book filers.

I thought everyone would appreciate seeing the inner workings of the city library system. Hopefully you are as cranky about it as I am.

I found my guy...

...in the primaries. On the heels of today's endorsement from the spokeman of the We-Want-To-See-Your-Hot-Wife-For-Four-Years caucus (Fubar), I can say that after months of waffling Fred Thompson is my guy. Why?

It's all because he's the only major candidate (apologies to Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo) who is willing to do something about illegal immigration. Add in that he's primarily a small-government guy, and I'm willing to finally say that I've found my candidate.

That said, I'd still vote with some enthusiasm for Rudy or Romney in the general election. For McCain and Huckabee I'd probably show up and vote for them, but with little interest. Luckily, they are currently 4th and 5th in the race and don't have a lot money.

New poll question

Last night I met a girl out for drinks, and the discussion turned to TV. I mentioned that among other shows, I regularly watch The Biggest Loser. She seemed surprised and said that it was a girly show in a sea of guy shows in my lineup. I tried to tell her that I like it mainly for the freak-show aspect of it, but she was undeterred.

Thus the poll question.

One of my minor work pet peeves

The spreadsheet output of our valuation numbers comes in a stack of paper about 30 pages long. It's amazing how many people can't staple these together properly. People know I'm no Lou Ferrigno, but I am easily strong enough to perform a nice stapling job on these every time. The worst offender is this tiny little girl who without fail cannot do it. I am constantly pulling out her staples and re-doing them. It's becoming tiresome.

This leads to questions, such as:

Does she just have bad stapling technique?

Is she really not strong enough to get the job done correctly?

I don't know the answers to these questions.

10/19 updates on fiscal government stories

Yes, I know the record is broken and the dead horse has been beaten. If you want to skip these posts, go ahead. I think it's important to follow this stuff.

Not much today from the county except an announcement of public hearings on President Stroger's big plans for his tax grab. Feel free to show up and pester him with questions. I may take an afternoon off to do just that.

As for the city, the alternate "sources of revenue" are beginning to come out. Something about billboard fees for now. The last sentence is a real laugher, though, regarding staffing in the city government:

Johnson was unfamiliar with the water certification issue but promised to look into it. He also disclosed that 1,372 vacant positions created by the May hiring freeze that exempted police and fire could be eliminated from the budget, saving $9 million.

"Everything is on the table -- even that one. But people do have to understand that cutting vacancies is going to be limiting service. We're sort of cut to the bone already," Johnson said.

Napoleon Complex

What a surprise, it exists. Subheadline:

Shorter people 'have a chip on their shoulder which makes them unhealthy'

10/18 updates on fiscal government stories

I know I'm becoming a broken record here, but Cook County Board President Stroger's arrogance is breathtaking. Here's his new plan, which adds back in the 2% increase in sales tax (bringing the total to 11% in the city of Chicago):

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger admits he wants more of your tax dollars than he really needs to operate his government every year.

But, he argues, it's more fiscally responsible to ask for more now, so as not to have to keep coming back to ask you for more year after year.

I don't think he understands what fiscal responsibility is. It means being a good caretaker of taxpayers' money that he's been entrusted with, not taxing too high to pay for his bloated, corrupt government. But here's the kicker:

Besides, he adds, if he can get more from you now, he might even be willing to give back some of it later...

"There simply are not enough cuts left to fully close our budget gap while maintaining vital services," Stroger said, saying that the common practice of elected officials coming back each year to ask for taxpayer funds is too cumbersome and results in only "patchwork taxes."

He predicts he could repeal the gas and parking taxes in future years -- and simply rely on adding 2 percentage points to the sales tax to provide, year after year, necessary funds for county government. Because a sales tax wouldn't be approved until later in the year, the county wouldn't realize a full year of its benefits, leading to the need for other taxes in 2008, he said.

Anybody who thinks he's ever going to advocate cutting a tax doesn't pay attention to politics. He's a liberal Democrat whose appetite for spending is so great that he can never have enough tax money. The issue is that if the county is bringing in all this tax money, they are going to spend it on something. The best thing to do is starve the beast, not give it more money and make it fatter. Luckily, a majority of the county board is against his plan.

The news in the city government is also interesting, although less eventful. Apparently, some aldermen are finally going to represent their constituents rather than just rubber-stamp everything the mayor wants:

Now there's another sign that a City Council long known as a rubber stamp is preparing to flex its collective muscle: Daily meetings of the Progressive and Independent Caucus.

From six to 15 aldermen have been meeting privately this week to get expert briefings about city departments scheduled to testify during City Council budget hearings later the same day.

The more they learn from housing, health and environmental advocates, the more pointed their questions of the mayor's cabinet members.

That's good news, since they are the city's legislative branch. They don't represent the mayor, and hopefully this is a small step in the direction of breaking up the machine politics here.

Effects of the longest tailgate ever

OK, maybe not ever, but this is a pretty funny video (courtesy of With Leather). There's very nice scene of wrestling on top of a short bus.

A college football player who doesn't play video games?

Yep. And here I thought I was the only man under the age of 40 who doesn't like them

In a college generation of log-on, tune-out, what's-next, Malcolm Arrington is in a silent male minority: He doesn't play video games.

''I'm really not into it,'' the emerging Northwestern linebacker said. ''Of course it's a big thing among college students. I know some people who play them all day. I don't see why, but they do.''

10/17 updates to local fiscal government stories

You know, I really don't like biased editorializing masquerading as reporting in the news section of a paper, but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. That's what happened today in the Sun-Times regarding the Cook County hospital system, in a follow-up to yesterday's report that (surprise!) health experts could run the system better than politicians:

In one ear, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has health-care officials imploring him to relinquish control of the county hospital system to a panel of medical experts who can run it better than any group of politicians.

In the other ear are politicians and hangers-on urging him to think twice about giving up control of 7,000 jobs and millions of dollars in contracts at a hospital system long seen as ground zero of the county patronage dumping ground.

Now that's a reporter putting his opinions in a piece, but it's true. In anything the government controls, politics is going to trump all else. That's an immutable law, and anyone who doesn't think it's true is delusional. Anyway, the whole article is short and worth reading.

In other news, Mayor Daley has given up on his property tax hike:

By talking compromise, the mayor is simply facing reality: There is no way he can get the 26 votes he needs to approve the largest property tax increase in Chicago history.

What I don't understand is how residents can get so cranky about a property tax increase, but they don't seem to care about the multitude of other taxes that are going to be imposed. it's one of those mysteries, I guess:

Aldermen who have endured five days of heat from their fuming constituents made that perfectly clear during day one of City Council budget hearings. In fact, they tripped over themselves to propose property tax alternatives.

Then there is the Mayor's Quixotic (or so I hope!) quest for more libraries:

On Tuesday, Daley was asked point-blank what he would do if he can't get the 26 votes he needs to approve a separate property tax levy to maintain and build public libraries.

"I don't know. I don't know yet. It's very controversial. . . . How can we get that down to a smaller amount that you can basically fund libraries," he said.

I just don't understand. Why libraries? He must be losing it. I guess with no more expensive parks to build and with his insane 2016 Olympics dream thankfully going down the tubes (and thus, no huge projects to build with it), he needs something else big to piss away our money on. How about a legacy as a fiscal conservative who reigned in wasteful spending?

CTA cuts would affect some people!

Big news, right? Actually, it's just common sense. I guess not for intrepid Sun-Times reporters Annie Sweeney and Norman Parish, though, who apparently spent some time looking for another big sob story:

About 400 Steinmetz High School kids use the bus on Narragansett -- not even a block away -- to quickly get to and from the Northwest Side school every day.

But under the proposed CTA "doomsday" cuts on Nov. 4, they would have to scatter to new bus routes for longer commutes -- some crossing through gang turfs.

I am sympathetic to these kids who have to deal with gangs, as they are just trying to get to school. However, it's not the CTA's job to keep them safe from gangs. It's the city's job.

The real issue is that through years of misrule in the city, there are crappy neighborhoods infested with gangs in Chicago. That's not the CTA's fault (nor, arguably, the state of Illinois', who are being asked to bail out the CTA with a big infusion of cash). Are we to keep a whole bus line, with the attendant expensive unionized workforce keeping it running, for a few high school kids? It would be much easier and cost effective for the city to provide regular school buses for these kids.

One sentence recap of the 10/16 Biggest Loser episode

If you haven't watched it and plan to, skip this post:

Let's just say that if anyone has a good reason to start hating black people, it's Phil.

Steve & Barry's in the Loop?

Maybe:

Other possible tenants for Carson's include Whole Foods, Steve & Barry's and Canyon Ranch health resorts, sources said.

I'm excited about the possibility. I could use another pair of Starburys for ballin', as my old-school Michael Jordan Jumpmans are looking pretty lame.

Now it's the City's turn

After letting loose on the Cook County government, I don't have the energy to paste excerpts and comments about the City's budget battle. Suffice to say that residents (DESPITE voting for liberal Democrats every chance they get) and aldermen (despite BEING liberal Democrats) are holding the line on property taxes against the mayor. They've got a little 1994 House Republican in them. Also, I'd like to note that residents are cranky about the new taxes on booze. That reminds me of when Al Bundy became politically active to try to stop a 2 cent beer tax.

I'm sure they will just tax everything else, but I recommend reading the whole thing, especially if you're a resident.

No 11% sales tax, but...

...apparently there are no limits to Cook County Board President Stroger's imagination when it comes to new taxes. Here are some alternatives now that his 2% sales tax hike was shot down:

Property taxes would be hiked to pay for the Forest Preserve District. To pay for county government, Stroger is considering doubling the county gas tax to 12 cents a gallon, doubling the downtown parking tax to about $40 for monthly users and possibly renewing a push for an increased sales tax, just weeks after commissioners shot down a 2 percentage point hike.

Awesome. And what's this money going for?

There are likely to be hundreds more employees added to the county payroll to meet public safety needs. "It looks like we're off our diet," Commissioner Tim Schneider said.

No kidding! Anyway, how's that hospital system going (you know, the one that gives away drugs to anyone who shows up)?

Adding a wrinkle to the budget debate is a critical presentation today from the health community concluding that the county hospital system has been so mismanaged, control should be put in the hands of an independent, medical panel.

Good luck with that.

Dusty's back!

Oh dear, Dusty Baker is the new manager of the Reds. And here I thought this was just a hazy, drunken discussion Saturday night based on some lame rumor.

Next year's fantasy football team name

Courtesy of IASIP this week, it clearly should be either Electric Dream Machine or Chemical Toilet.

Or maybe I need to stop sniffing silver spray paint out of a sock like Charlie.

UPDATE: How could I forget The Pecan Sandies?

Just because you're at Ball State doesn't mean you have to re-create Hoosiers, Coach

New Ball State coach Billy Taylor has just kicked a couple of guys off the team. That's not a big surprise by itself, as a new coach often has to clean house to get his kind of guys on board.

No, the issue is that they are the fifth and sixth scholarship players to leave since he was hired in August. With only 13 or so players to begin with, the Cardinals are looking very thin right now. Unless they have one or two stud players I don't know about, they look now like they are going to finish last in the MAC. They may as well have some open tryouts to fill out the roster, as a big state school in Indiana is going to have some talent floating around.

Bacon Chocolate Bar

This place sells this. Clearly, I have to get myself one.

Screw you, hippie!

This is fantastic. You know how all those rich snobs go around in private jets and Ford Expeditions but buy "carbon credits" to supposedly "offset" their activities? Well here is a website that helps offset those. Not only is it funny, but it's actually true. Here's their info:

Carbon Debits - Increasing Your Carbon Footprint...

Making a carbon debit is a delicate matter taking both skill and time. Our carbon debiting process starts with our FECON spinning shredder and a driver who has vendetta against trees. Add any tree and about 20 seconds and a carbon debit is born!

On a Mission - Taking Away Al Gore's Carbon Credits...

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Do We Really Kill Trees?

The short answer is "Yes". We run a burgeoning business of clearing trees from grasslands so the Antelope won’t be scared. As silly as that previous sentence may sound it is actually true.

College basketball is getting warmed up

First, there is the launch of Basketball Prospectus from the creators of Baseball Prospectus. Their main contributors are Ken Pomeroy and John Gasaway, both of whom I started reading last year. It should be the best college buckets coverage on the web, so I recommend you check it out as the season goes along.

Then we got confirmation of our LU season tickets. Nice!

Finally, I just wanted to share this article from ESPN about the recent struggles of the three big NYC shools. I found it interesting. Andy Katz works overtime finding good stuff to cover in the offseason, that's for sure.

MLB League Championship Series

What's going to happen with these teams? I have no idea. Both series are quite even.

Cleveland is Boston's equal and no one is giving them a chance. So I'll go with the Indians. Plus, if they win it all, their drought of not having won since 1948 goes away and makes the Cubs look even more pathetic.

Colorado and Arizona are also close. Nate Silver on BP had an interesting post on their blog yesterday about how Arizona may be better than they think. The reason is that while their offense underperformed in the first five months of the season, since September 1 they have been on target for what was predicted before the season. With so many young players may now be shoing their true ability, it's possible that this is the real D-Backs team. That's what makes this matchup closer than at first glance. I'll go with them since they have a stud pitcher in Brandon Webb that the Rockies just can't match.

The big tax increases are coming

Get ready. When your entire city government is run by the tax-and-spend party, this is what you get. People who complain can blame no one but themselves (except for me, because I don't vote for city Democrats).

Greatest website ever

True humanitarians. Like Ghandi and Mother Theresa rolled into one. It makes me want to cry, just thinking about all of the good they are doing in the world.

This is why comprehensive immigration reform won't work

A judge has blocked the administration's efforts to finally enforce laws against those committing fraud, a.k.a. illegal immigrants. This is precisely the reason why a "comprehensive" package of reform won't work.

We'd get one part amnesty and one part enforcement. The amnesty would work without a hitch, but the promised enforcement provisions would be challenged and tossed out thanks to our activist judiciary. What's left? Just amnesty.

"If people had known how close we came to world war three that day there’d have been mass panic."

Not much was made at the time of Israel bombing something in Syria, and even less has been discussed since then. Here is a recap of the whole thing. An excerpt:

According to American sources, Israeli intelligence tracked a North Korean vessel carrying a cargo of nuclear material labelled ‘cement’ as it travelled halfway across the world. On 3 September the ship docked at the Syrian port of Tartous and the Israelis continued following the cargo as it was transported to the small town of Dayr as Zawr, near the Turkish border in north-eastern Syria.

As the author goes on to detail, it had to have been a huge deal if no one since said a word about it, as has occurred.

Good for thee, but not for me

I know I've been current-events-heavy lately, but there's a lot going on. Today it's a relatively minor thing that reveals a lot of the mind-set of politicians, especially liberal ones.

Apparently, members of the Senate and their aides have for years been able to book tickets for multiple flights while only paying for the one they use. Based on provisions in the so-called ethics bill that passed earlier this year, they will now be unable to do so. As a result, the Senate passed (on a voice vote, no less) an exemption.

Most simply, this is a perfect example of the way Congress passes laws that everyone must live under but themselves. They just can't be bothered to either keep a schedule (God forbid) or change their flight plans and pay for it like us poor slugs they lord over. Lest you think this is just about perks for Congressmen, there are loads of other regulations that they have exempted themsleves from. These include (and I'm not kidding, they really are exempt) the Civil Rights Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act.

One of the things some members of the Republican caucus tried to do in the 1990's was to pass laws forcing Congress to have to live under the same regulations the rest of us do. Not surprisingly, they failed miserably. An unholy coalition of liberals who wouldn't dare subject themselves to their own creations and fat and happy Congressman without a strong ideological bearing killed it easily.

An Inconvenient Truth's untruths

Al Gore's fake documentary An Inconvenient Truth has been found in Britain to have at least eleven material falsehoods. And here I thought the science was overwhelming on the side of the environmentalists! Silly me.

Immigration news of the day

Via Drudge, the first story is the usual sob story from farmers who want to continue to break the law by having an endless supply of cheap (and just about slave) labor because they don't want to live in our normal labor market. I've been hearing these stories for months, but this one is only here because northern California has a later harvest season that other areas. Anyone else notice huge produce shortages and vastly more expensive vegetables? Me either.

The best line is the last one:

Grocery chains Zanotto's and Whole Foods said they have yet to see increased prices for produce because of farm labor shortages.

How's that for journalistic balance? A throwaway line from someone, anyone, challenging these ridiculous claims from the agricultural lobby. The open-borders crowd couldn't have done better is they wrote a press release and paid to have it in a newspaper.

Moving on, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who liked the idea of exporting all of Mexico's poor people here so he didn't have to deal with his country's corrupt political system and terrible economy, has a new book out. What's he got to say today? That we didn't pass amnesty for the 20-30 million illegals here because of the racists who were against it! He even brings up the specter of (you guessed it), the Nazis:

"The xenophobics, the racists, those who feel they are a superior race ... they are deciding the future of this nation," he said, without naming names, in an interview with The Associated Press.

That's odd, because a majority of the country was against it. Is the US a racist country? Apparently so, even though he's implying that we are racist against Hispanics, which we have huge numbers of, and many of whose cultural traditions this country has adopted (Taco Bell, anyone?).

The open-borders folks who accuse opponents of racism are trying to shut down debate, and that's all. They know they can't win on the facts, and they know most people are against them, so they attempt to shame people into supporting their side. Luckily, that just doesn't fly any more (as the grievance twins of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are beginning to find out), which is why that line of "reason" didn't work this time.

Look who's running for Congress

Dick Versace!

If I weren't so lazy, I'd do a little research into what the split in his district is by party. I do know that he's replacing a Republican, so it's probably at least nominally Republican.

Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur - LIVE

So I gots Reuter here, as Neyer is staying home and can't make it. That's life with a kid and an open house.

Anyway, the game is 1-1 at the half. I've been drinking Goose Island Harvest Ale, and it
s fantastic!

Cubs - D-Backs NLDS Game 3 liveblog

OK, the D-Backs just plated their second run in the first, and there are runners on the corners. Clearly, I need to liveblog the proceedings, all the while keeping my eye on the USF-FAU game in the corner.

5:19 - Some guy named Hart is now warming up in the Cubs bullpen. In the first inning. As I finish typing that, Rich Hill just beaned Augie Ojeda to load the bases. Now the Cubs total collapse in 2003 was pretty entertaining, but this potential 3-game demolition may be even better.

5:21 - After 31 pitches, the Cubs get out of the inning only down 2. This should lead to some funny bullpen usage today by Pinella, because, as Dan Fouts kept saying in The Waterboy, they can't hold anything back.

5:26 - Goodness gracious, Livan Hernandez is fat. I don't mean David Wells fat or CC Sabathia fat (or even Prince Fielder fat), but the guy is professional athlete. Your body is your livelihood, man, how can you shorten your career like that? He's from Cuba, so maybe since he defected he's gotten a little too used to eating good food instead of cattle-feed and unleavened bread.

5:30 - After Soriano led off the game with a walk (I think), Theriot just grounded into a DP. Just order another round of Old Styles, dudes, it's going to be a long day.

5:31 - CFB interlude: FAU just stoned USF on 4th down at the FAU 45 with 11:30 to go in the game with the score 21-17, USF. I only note this because as you may expect, the FAU cheerleaders are breathtaking.

5:35 - Ramirez just struck out looking (not even close to a ball) to strand 2 and end the first. I mean, we all know what's coming, people. It's the CUBS! Meanwhile, USF just flexed their muscles with a ridiculous TD run that will probably be on the higlight shows. They are not up 10 with 10 minutes left.

5:39 - Chris Young is up again in the second inning. He was traded from the Sox to the D-Backs for Javier Vazquez, which I thought at the time was a fair trade (and I still do) because Vazquez is a good pitcher. Young is going to be pretty good, though. However, if he uses his powers for good, like by pounding the Cubs pitching staff this series, I like to think that I'm OK with that.

And after all that, he watched a 3-2 yakker for strike 3. Stephen Drew just got his second hit of the day (already!) and stole second, though, so that goofball Eric Byrnes is now up with a chance to do more damage.

5:44 - No dice. Byrnes hit a flyout that even the decaying remains of Cliff Floyd could catch in RF to end the inning.

By the way, FAU has some nice players on offense, including a white fullback with the Chris Cooley haircut who has been shredding the USF D. Then they stopped giving him the ball and the offense sputtered. UNTIL the Owls (that's FAU) just ripped off a 45-yard pass for a TD. They got stopped going for 2, though, and are down 5 with 6:41 to go. This game is strangely entertaining. It must be the Howard Schnellenberger sightings. I have a feeling this is what it was like to be around New York in 1962 to see a really old and half-senile Casey Stengel manage the Mets.

5:55 - The Cubs get 2 baserunners AGAIN in the second and don't score, although part of it was Hill's sacrifice attempt that led to a force out at third. Still, Livan is not good. The D-Backs and Cubs both know it, and after his 5 innings and 10 baserunners allowed, Arizona's going to dive into the bullpen to shut down the Cubs.

5:57 - Conor Jackson just knocked a third-inning leadoff double off the ivy and Soriano, causing me to have flashbacks to Ron Kittle (Gary, Indiana born and bred, baby, and 1983 AL ROY!) lurching around LF in the mid-1980's for the Sox.

6:00 - Jeepers, Hill made a pickoff attempt to second and almost threw it into center field. I'm hoping he gets pulled just so we can see Jason Marquis come for mop-up work in and start spraying gasoline everywhere (metaphorically speaking).

6:02 - Just flipped over to the sound of the football game and heard some girl say, "Are you going to work tomorrow?" on the TV feed. Florida Atlantic ain't quite big-time football just yet, no sirree. On a mildly serious level, their stadium looks like it would be a great place to watch a game. It's about the size of a European soccer stadium and has no upper level, so every seat would be an excellent one. And as it turns out, it was also an MLS stadium, so there you go. By the way, that took me far too long to find out.

6:10 - Just so you know, FAU got stoped on 4th down with 2 minutes to go on their own 20-yard-line, and USF is running down the clock and about to win 35-23 on a TD with 0:29 left. Good game, boys!

6:13 - What a surprise, the Cubs have 2 on with 1 out in the third. I'm going to guess they don't score. By the way, Livan reminds me a lot of Freddie Garcia. They are both big, fat, sweaty guys who screw around too much on the mound, having lots of 6 inning outings with 116 pitches.

6:16 - Ramirez grounded into a DP. What a shock. After three, it's 2-0, Arizona.

6:17 - I just remembered the Purdue-Ohio State game in on in 45 minutes. My fingers hurt already, but I'm going to attempt to watch that, too, while doing this.

6:19 - To steal a comment from John Perotto at BP, I guess some impressionist is getting his own show on TBS. Hopefully it goes better than Tyler Perry's House Of Payne.

This brings up another topic: TBS is supposed to be a comedy-based network (not purely so like Comedy Central, but it's their focus). So why are so many of their shows not funny? I think it's because they generally show things that women think is funny, like Sex and the City, Friends, and lots of lame movies (I have no idea how Seinfeld and Family Guy snuck through their programmers). The problem, of course, is that women just don't have a good sense of humor. Come now, we all know that's true. Anyway, I think that's how TBS comes up with original shows that would have last been considered funny in 1985 or so, while Comedy Central just blows the doors off of them with South Park, Halfway Home, Sarah Silverman Program, et all.

6:25 - Back to the game, after Livan Hernandez, of all people, got a single to put two on with no outs in the 4th, the Cubs dipped into the bullpen. In comes Michael Wuertz. I had to rewind to spell his name correctly. I am setting the over/under on total Cubs pitchers in this game at 5.5.

6:31 - With the bases drunk and 1 out, Eric Byrnes hits into a 5-4-3 DP, or so everyone thinks (including those ever-classy Cubs fans who are chanting BULL SH*T), as Byrnes is called safe at first. It's now 3-0, D-Backs.

6:34 - You can just sense the mood shifting for the crowd. It's not really quiet; it's more like a cranky murmur, with outright booing after the third out. I may have to start drinking soon to celebrate.

6:36 - I have to give it to NutriSystem, their ads are tremendous. They always find absolutely gorgeous women to be in their commercials. It's sort of like a mini-Cinemax moment.

6:38 - So with their 40-20 thrashing of Minnesota today, Indiana is now 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference, and they have to be thinking about a bowl game. As if I don't have enough other TV distractions, I will now have to plan around Hoosiers football games. With the Big Ten Network, I'll be able to watch them all, too. The best thing is that if they and Purdue can both stay at least bowl-eligible, their game at the end of the season will be the most significant meeting between them in at least 15 years. That would be a good day to head to Durkin's.

6:41 - The Cubs have runner on 2nd and 3rd with one down in the fourth inning. That's too good of a situation for even them to not get a run. But if there is one thing I know, it's that you won't be a poor man betting against the Cubs.

6:46 - Anyway, they did get one and it's 3-1 going into the 5th.

6:48 - Holy smokes, I didn't know the Mellencamp Chevy commercials had invaded the MLB playoffs. You'd think that the way GM is bleeding money they couldn't afford to pay him. But really, how expensive would Mellencamp be nowadays? I bet Fubar's classes don't even know who he is.

6:51 - Anway, the Cubs' best reliever, Carlos Marmol, just entered the game. That makes for their THIRD pitcher of the game. He should shut them down for a few innings, calming this game down until he leaves. By the way, I'm going to keep highlighting new Cubs pitchers with BOLDED CAPS so it's easy to keep track.

6:55 - Of course, after getting the leadoff hitter Marmol walked the next two, prompting a visit from pitching coach Larry Rothschild. They just showed a fat father/son sombo in the stands looking melancholy. Needless to say, I'm delighted!

6:58 - Whenever I each a huge batch of chicken nuggets in one sitting, I spend a few hours afterwards sweating profusely. You'd think I'd learn from that, but what are you going to do?

7:00 - HA! We almost had a Bartman moment, and Dick Stockton immediately jumped on it. Way to bring back those great memories for all those Cub fans who are already about to set themselves on fire, based on the way this game is going. Anyway, Marmol gets out of the inning with no futher damage and it's time to put the Purdue-OSU game on PIP. I'll bet Lauren is pumped that West Lafayette is going to be prominently featured on national TV.

7:08 - HOLY SHIT! The crowd at Ross-Aide is going absolutely insane (all wearing black) and they drove the little locomotive on the field. Wicked cool. I can just imagine the a typical student's day today: After passing out at 4 AM, get up at 6:30 AM to go to breakfast club. Get completely bombed again until about 1 PM, at which point a huge nap is commenced until about 6 PM, when it's time to get ready for the game. The atypical student, however, did all that but replaced the nap with hanging out at a bar, drinking at someone's apartment, or tailgating. Ah, to be young...

7:14 - Livan just walked Ramirez to load the bases with 1 out in the 5th. I make no predictions, but I suspect a DP is coming.

7:18 - Like I say, you won't go poor betting against the Cubs. 6-4-3 d0uble play, and we go into the 6th inning with Arizona still up 3-1.

7:20 - We come back from the break with the camera showing a depressed Cubs fan. I'm not trying to be mean, but she is an unattractive, middle-aged woman. (Then show an even older, more unattractive woman.) But geez, I thought Wrigley Field was always full of hot chicks, while only ugly white trash goes to Sox games! At least, that's what snobby a-hole Cub fans would say.

Uh oh. Watching this game makes me remember why I hated the Cubs and their fans for so long.

7:23 - Since we have a bit of an interlude here, I'd like to commend the announcing team for this game. On play-by-play, we have Dick Stockton, who is once again showing that he may be the best in the business. On color commentary we have Ron Darling, who is one of Dave Sachs' brothers from the islands. He's also an alumnus of the 1986 Mets, who partied so much they probably had Motley Crue saying back then, "Dang, those guys really party!" Anyway, they are very understated and are just describing the action on the field. I posted about TBS's coverage before, but it's still accurate. I feel like writing them an e-mail to them, CC'ing Fox so they know how much they suck.

7:25 - Oops. HR by Byrnes, and it's now 4-1. They show that old ugly woman again. Ha! You're going to die and never see a World Series title and I won't! I admit that I'm not a good person.

7:28 - The Boilers just gave up a TD. I hope it's not a long night for them, as it's always fun to bring OSU down a peg or two.

7:32 - Livan just had an easy 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. Most impressive of all, he is doing this in 85-degree heat. I'm sweating just sitting here; I can only imagine what he's going through.

7:35 - Entering the game in the top of the 7th for the Cubs, Bobby Howry. This is notable for two reasons. First, I have a Howry game-worn Sox jersey. Second it's the Cubs' FOURTH pitcher of the game.

7:38 - My jersey buddy induces a double play to get out the 7th with no damage. Meanwhile, OSU just went up 14-0 only 10 minutes into the game. Yikes.

7:43 - Soriano leads off the bottom of the 7th with a 6-4 groundout, and the fans BOO HIM! What a bunch of jerks. The guy has a legitimately big year (.299/.337/.560 BA/OBP/SLG) and they crap all over him for not getting a hit in one at bat.

7:48 - After Theriot singles up the middle, Lee grounds into a 4-6-3 double play, and the fans boo HIM. Watching animals eat their own can be fun.

7:50 - Pretty boy Kirk Herbstreit was just talking about the OSU QB being "greyshirted" his first year in school. I have no idea what that is. Anybody? In other news, the Boiler faithful are still really jacked up. Either that of they snuck in flasks of Jack Daniels.

8:03 - Not much going on, so let's start a countdown. Ramirez just made the second out of the 8th with a groudout to Drew at shortstop, so the Cubs are now down to FOUR outs. And the boos start up again. With DeRosa about to make the 3rd out, I should turn down the sound on the TV because I'll probably be able to hear the booing from here.

8:08 - After a DeRosa single, Jacque Jones flies out to Young. THREE outs to go. The highlight wasn't even the booing, but a fantastic commerical right afterwards for Holiday Inn. Some guy sees Cal Ripken now and mentions they went to high school together. The guy has no idea what Ripken's done since high school, so he asks him what he does. After telling him he was a baseball player, the guy responds with, "Where was that, Jamaica?" His friends tell him that Ripken's pretty famous, and the last thing we hear is that guy asking Ripken, "Oh, so that was your vocation?"

8:11 - We come back from the break with, of all people, Kerry Wood pitching for the Cubs. That's number FIVE. Anyway, as the Cubs' season fizzles out it's nice to see shell of a formerly great player mopping up a loss in the clinching game of a playoff sweep. Of course, he coughs up a home run by Drew on to Sheffield. 5-1, D-Backs. The Byrnes singles and steals second, causing MORE boos. Something tells me Wood doesn't send Christmas cards to Dusty Baker.

8:16 - The fans are still there, but they are pretty quiet, save for the occasional yells like, "Throw the ball!" As Simmons would write, good times.

8:20 - OK, this Frank fella who is getting the new show is pretty good at impressions, but I can't imagine I want to watch his show. This leads me to something I've been thinking about: these new comedies I'm watching aren't that great. Back To You, which I REALLY wanted to like because of Kelsey Grammar, just isn't doing anything for me. The Big Bang Theory is better, but it's nothing special. I think I've become really jaded about comedies after watching IASIP, South Park, Halfway Home, King of the Hill, Futurama, and shows like that that have such sharp writing. The only sitcoms on non-Fox network TV that I watch are 30 Rock and My Name is Earl, which are similarly unique. I know you Office and How I Met Your Mother fans keep hassling me to check those out, but I'm just too skeptical. Sorry, I'm just not trusting you guys on this.

8:25 - Jason Kendall just watched strike 3 leading off the ninth, and the Cubbies are down to TWO outs. Speaking of guys who got wrecked from overuse, Kendall caught a ton of innings when he was younger. I suspect that's why he can't either play defense or hit any more. Just because Pudge Rodriguez is a frak of nature who could take the pounding doesn't mean everyone can.

8:26 - Ward just whiffed, and the Cubs are down to ONE out.

8:27 - Soriano walked to the plate as their last hope and heard some pre-emptive boos. Now that's dedication, Cubs fans. Phillies fans would be proud.

8:28 - F9, game over. The crowd is basically taking a big dump all over their team. This is fantastic, and clearly a drubbing that Cubs fans probably never felt like they were in. Not just this game, but the series. I'd compare it to the 2000 NLDS where the Mariners swept the Sox, and none of the games felt close. In other news, OSU is up 17-0 on the Boilers with 2 minutes to go in the first half.

And with that, I'm done! Have a great night. I know I will. Let the chants of ONE HUN DRED begin...

Walk Of Shame - Saturday, October 6

This morning I made the walk of shame after meeting a girl out for drinks after work. This was a bit unusual, though, since I did it from around 6300 N. LSD. Luckily, it was only a few blocks from the Granville Red Line stop. Since I have nothing but time today, I took the train and then the Fullerton bus, and I made the whole trip in 45 minutes. Not too shabby!

When I got home I went to the store, then ate for lunch a frozen pizza and over a pound of chicken nuggets. Needless to say this made me want to sleep.

After a nap, I'm just getting ready for baseball in a few minutes. In the meantime, who knew that the best game on TV by far is the USF-FAU game on ESPNU. FAU just rolled down the field on the #6 team in the country, and it's not 14-14 with 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. I'm so tired of Florida, Florida State, and Miami that I hope USF becomes a great program and counterweight to them all, too, so I'm rooting for them pull this one out.

Oops! It's 5 PM, time for the Cubs brutal end to their season. Go D-Backs! I know I should be better person about the Cubs, but I'm trying. Old habits die hard, right?

UPDATE: F the D-Backs game. I'm staying with this USF-FAU game. USF's up 7 but FAU is plowing over the USF defense AGAIN. 1:34 left in the 3rd.

UPDATE 2: Chris Young just gave the D-Backs a quick 1-0 on a HR. OK, I'm going picture in picture, baby!

The Sarah Silverman Program - season premiere

Wow, what a great episode! It's the best yet. It's also pretty balanced regarding abortion, which is what it's about. Also, Steve's rant against D&D is hilarious.

Buzzer bars

I've only heard the legends of these types of places, but someone at the Sun-Times actually went around to them. Yes, you need to be buzzed in to enter.

Relax is close to my house, and they have something called the Malort Challenge. Clearly, I have to go and win that challenge!

A word about TBS's coverage of the playoffs

After years of enduring Fox's awful coverage, it's nice to have a network that cares about the game broadcasting the playoffs. What's bad about Fox:

YANKEES YANKEES YANKEES
Always in primetime, the rest of the schedule be damned. Yesterday we would have had the Philly-Colorado game at 1 PM EST, the Cubs-Arizona game at 4:30 PM EST, and then the Yankees-Cleveland game at 8:30 EST. No question about it. Everyone else was forced to play day games to accomodate Fox's network schedule and their love of having the Yankees in primetime. And since Fox paid the most money, they jerked around the entire playoff schedule just to have it.

Pompous, egotistical, pretentious announcers
Joe Buck is of course the king of it all. I actively avoid NFL games that he does play-by-play for, and he's going to drive me away from MLB games this fall. The thing is, the entire network is made up of those guys. Thom Brennaman is just as bad, except he's not jammed down our throats during the World Series so we don't hate him as much. These guys take any storyline and hammer it until it's not just dead, it's taken another physical form. Why? Because everyone cares more about what they think about some topic than what's going on on the field, or so they think.

Production
To be fair, Fox some very nice things. For example, they have tons of cameras so we get replays from every angle. However, the negatives are just too much to overcome. From their stupid graphics that make noise like Transformers, to that baseball (named Spitball or whatever) who is supposed to teach kids about the game (and, as an aside, I knew more about the game when I was 8 than that stupid little ball knows), to their insane habit of showing close-ups of everyone's face between plays, I can't take it any more. Just show the damn game!

Which is exactly what TBS does.

Rather than be slave to primetime, they basically turn over their whole programming day to games, making them as good for the fan as possible. Not having noon games is a great start, and their schedule every day is 3 PM EST, 6:30 PM EST, 10 PM EST. Perfect. I can imagine New Yorkers complaining about not getting hom from work in time to watch first pitch. To that I say, try being a fan of every other team! I'm glad they are being brought down a notch.

When I watched the Padres-Rockies game Monday night, I had no idea who the announcers were, and it was GREAT. They just called the game. Even their A-team (or so I presume) of Chip Caray, Bob Brenly, and Tony Gwynn is good compared to Fox. I guess the only way I would ever appreciate Caray and his Roger Radio impression is compare him to Buck, and it worked! Nobody was blathering on about the Cubs' "curse" or any of that garbage.

The production is similarly understated. I really like the graphic they show of each hitter's plate appearances in the game. It's in the style of a scorebook, by inning.

Overall, it's almost as if TBS made a conscious decision to have their broadcasts do none of the things everyone hates about Fox's. Keep it up, guys!

MLB wrap-up for Thursday, October 4

The Cubs are on the brink of losing their series. What a surprise. After giving up 8 runs last night, now the media can start ripping on the pitching staff. ONE HUN DRED!

The Indians pounded the Yankees last night, 12-3, in the first game of their series. The Yankees didn't have much working, clearly, but what does the anchor on ESPN News mention this morning? Of course, he says that A-Rod went 0-2 with 2 walks (as if he could have stopped the pitching staff from coughing up a dozen runs). He mentioned nothing about the Messiah (Jeter), who did even worse, going 0-4. Wait a second, I thought Jeter was one of the best players in playoff history. How could he go 0-4? You'd think the way the media gets down to suck his popsicle that he'd have gone 4-4 with 4 HR's and even pitched 5 scoreless innings to carry them to victory. That's what separates winners like him from chokers like A-Rod, right?

The Phillies-Rockies series is also about to end, with the Rox up 2-0. I would have liked to see those poor slobs in Philly do well, but I have no animous towards Colorado, either. It's a fun series to watch.

If Justice Scalia could be Jack Bauer

You'll have to be a big Supreme Court and plotics nerd, along with being a fan of 24, to really like this. Needless to say, I loved it.

Good stories

Some interesting Chicago history. It's not too long, you lazy bastards! Just read it.

From the man who wants to raise the sales tax by 2 percentage points

We must have a sales tax increase right, Commissioner Stroger? I'm sure there's no more wasteful spending or corruption to root out.

MLB playoff mini-preview and Cubs comments

After reading Baseball Prospectus' playoff coverage so far, one thing is clear:

NL : AL as
NFC : AFC or
NBA East : NBA West

For you logic-syntax-deficient folks out there, I'm trying to say that the NL is significantly weaker overall than the AL. It's been like this for a few years, but this year it's more obvious than ever. Why? Even last year (which I assumed would be the nadir of the NL in comparison to the AL), a case could be plausibly made that the Mets were even with the top AL teams. This year, no NL team is close.

Let's look at the NL playoff teams. The Diamondbacks were actually outscored this year, but had the best record in the league. That is very fluky, and it means they just aren't that good. The Phillies have a great core offensively, but then they lack depth in their lineup. Also, their pitching staff isn't too hot outside of Hamels. The Rockies have a nice overall team, but they lack impact players (Francis and Holliday notwithstanding). The Cubs actually are the best team, but even they don't have the great depth all over their roster the way the AL teams do.

Every playoff team in the American League is fairly even, with stud players all over their rosters and a lack of big weaknesses. On BP yesterday someone wrote (I can't remember who or where) thatthe next 4 AL teams are roughly comparable to the NL playoff teams, and I think that's about right. The Tigers would have had the best record in the NL, and the Mariners, Blue Jays, and Twins are about even with the Cubs, et all.

That said, the NL side is going to be more fun for me to watch because each team is so flawed.

As an aside, I love how the local media is hammering on Sweet Lou for pulling Zambrano last night and bringing in the bullpen. The mainstream sports media is about as stupid as the mainstream news media, as there are two things wrong with this reasoning. First, the Cubs scored 1 run. Yet after only giving up 3 in the whole game, it's the bullpen's fault they lost the game? They only scored 1 run! You aren't going to win many games when that happens, so blame the offense first.

Second, Marmol has been one of the best relievers in baseball this year, and he's the one who gave up the 2 runs. What would Joe Beatwriter have done, not used the Cubs best reliever? Of course not.

Anyway, it was still thoroughly enjoyable watching the Cubs lose, and I am confident they will lose this series. Let the chants of ONE HUN DRED! begin.

Probably fake...

...but if not, it's fantastic. Even if it is, it's still interesting.

Mayor Daley is a true visionary

And by visionary, I mean buffoon.

He'd like to raise property taxes by a fairly significant amount to build LIBRARIES? That sounds like a joke. In the age of darn-near universal internet access, public libraries are dying for a good reason:

Daley noted that Chicago has built 59 new libraries in the 18 years since he took office at a time when other cities have been forced to close existing libraries and stop building new ones.

Um, yeah, because they are a waste of money. You know who really wants libraries? People who love to read but are too cheap and weird to just buy books like a normal person. There's no need to jack up everyone's property taxes to give these nutjobs their goofy version of welfare.

Are public libraries needed for research by students? No, since they either have school libraries or internet access at home.

Are public libraries needed to read books while avoiding the high prices of books at retail outlets? No, since buying books over the internet has generally led to a huge decrease in prices compared to what one would pay in a brick-and-mortar store, even now.

So who's left that can't be placated? I guess old people with nothing better to do than walk to the library every week to read Reader's Digest and Prevention. Well I say TS to them; they suck up enough tax money with their Social Security, Medicare, and other tax breaks they get because they vote in huge numbers.

Sunday - Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur

So the next Liverpool game on TV is Sunday, October 7 at 9 AM. It's against the thoroughly crappy Spurs on FSC. We'll see if Neyer is having people over; if not, I'm willing to host.

Heroes, Week 2

I just can't do a summary better than Scott Keith has done, so here it is.

I just assumed...

...that the headline of this article meant it was talking about My Boys.

Hanson - still kicking?

Yes, and apparently still rocking. They just played here at the House of Blues, and the only upset is that Bryan didn't attend.