Saturday Ramblings

That's about right.

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This is a three-hankie love story:

Nine days later, Sabrina's grandparents knew the end was near. They called Matt. He held her hand through the night. Sabrina died in her sleep, with the boy who loved her with all his heart by her side.

Before her body was taken away, Matt kissed her gently on the head.

"Thank you for saving me," he told her.

If that doesn't get you, you have no heart.

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Sometimes Chicagoans have a funny definition of what makes up a "nice" neighborhood:

“It’s a quiet corner most of the time, other than the regular drug and gang activity,” said a worker at a nearby shop.

Sheesh.

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Text message blows up suicide bomber by accident

Karma -- it's a beautiful thing.

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It's bad enough I can play Mahjong on my laptop and waste hours at a time. I am NOT putting it on my Kindle, even if it is half price for a limited time...

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I swiped this from Amy Alkon, who freely swiped it from a regular commenter. I went to Spokeo, and by golly there was some very outdated information that I really would rather hadn't been out there. (And, thanks to Amy's timely posting, it's gone now.)

Go look yourself up. If you find yourself, click on the link, copy the URL, and then follow the steps outlined in Amy's post if you don't want your personal info out there on the interwebs for all to find.

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Belly Laugh of the Day:

I'll never hear the phrase, "I know what I'm doing" again without bursting into laughter without anyone within earshot having a clue why.

(A big ol' smooch to Matt G for that one!)

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Drive-Bys

Quotes of the Day:

[B]acon fat would make a doorknob taste good.... - Pat Bruno

... and...

The Internet does many wonderful things -- it lets you buy stuff, find stuff, send messages. It's here, and you can't fight technology. But it also puffs oxygen onto every cruel, nasty instinct that ever smoldered within a human heart, granting both the shield of anonymity and a chance to vent in public. - Neil Steinberg

Too right.
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That blaming the voters thing I was cheesed off about? Neo-Neocon and the folks at Pajamas Media think I'm right:

No doubt Obama sees himself akin to a coach at halftime when the team is down in the score, talking tough to the players to motivate them. But he is not a coach; he is actually the star player. And voters are not team members, they are observers who don’t like what they see.

But don’t take my word for it; listen to some voices on the left, including David Dayen, who writes:

"…I’ve never seen a politician run an election with the message “Don’t be stupid, quit your bitching and vote for me.”… There’s a reason that strategy has never been employed: because it’s so insane to think that open berating would inspire a voter to action."

President Tin-Ear's beginning to sound (and look) like a pissy, prissy old headmistress in a second rate girls school, and he's losing traction on both the right and the left.
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And that $150 million Bright Start loss I've been jumping up and down about forever and ever? Seems like folks are finally waking up and making it a campaign issue:

Candidates for Illinois treasurer sparred Thursday over losses in the office's $2 billion college savings program as political fallout drips down the ballot from the U.S. Senate race.

Republican state Sen. Dan Rutherford blamed Democrat Robin Kelly, the treasurer's chief of staff, for $150 million in losses in a Bright Start College Savings plan fund that was billed as conservative to parents.

"If you have a fund that is on the trend dramatically to lose … I (would) have my personal guy on the phone saying, 'What the heck is going on here,'" Rutherford told the Tribune editorial board.

But Kelly said "we were on top of it" and blamed a "rogue" investor who put money in mortgage-linked securities outside of the fund's parameters in 2008. The treasurer's office later recouped $77 million in a settlement.

The fund losses have dogged Kelly's boss, Democratic Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, in his campaign for U.S. Senate against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park.

It's about time. But I'd like to see Alexi answer the same questions, as he was the one ultimately responsible for this mess.

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Live in Chicago and don't have a water meter because you're afraid you'll be billed more? Think again:

For years, Mayor Daley has maintained that non-metered houses would get less-expensive water bills if they had meters. He's set up a program so they can volunteer to have meters put in their homes -- at city expense. He's even giving a seven-year guarantee that they won't pay more than they do now....

Those with meters pay $2.01 for every thousand gallons of water -- one of the lowest rates in the nation.

City officials say they can install up to 15,000 meters year. At that rate, though, it would take 20 years to put a meter in every home -- if everybody wanted one.

"If the answer is everybody get a meter,'' O'Connor said, "they don't have the capacity to get everybody a meter."

Go get one.
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Giggle of the Day: