Drive-Bys

Giggle of the Day:

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Quote of the Day:

"China has produced a number of other elderly horny folks in recent years."

I can't believe this one slipped by a news editor!
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Yay!

The loudest noises heard in the lead car of Metra's Rock Island District train No. 416 this morning were from the train whistle.

Annoying phone conversations and loud chatter from passengers? Not any more, if all goes according to plan.

Today marked the inaugural run for Metra's "quiet cars," where cell phones, noisy electronic devices and loud conversations are off-limits in the first and last cars on trains during morning and evening rush hours.

Faster, please! Lately there's been a blowhard sitting at the far end of my usual train car. He pontificates loudly to his seat mate all the way in to the city, and he's never got one good thing to say about anything or anyone. Bleah.
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Oh, sure! Now use Rep. Giffords' attack as an excuse to make yourself better than the rest of us peons, will ya?

A top House Democrat said the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) should change how members of Congress are screened at airports.

“We’ve had some incidents where TSA authorities think that congresspeople should be treated like everybody else,” he said. “Well, the fact of the matter is, we are held to a higher standard in so many other areas, and I think we need to take a hard look at exactly how the TSA interact with members of Congress.”

Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) Remember that name and vote the bum out next time he's up for reelection!
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You sure wouldn't hear this coming out of the black community here in Chicago!

Sure, immigration is an important issue to Latinos nationally, but it comes in well behind the economy, education and health care. In Chicago, it is at the bottom of a list that includes extreme poverty, gun violence and troubled schools.

Silly conversations about ethnic solidarity have distracted us enough.

Smart Chicagoans of all walks of life should look past skin color to elect the person best poised to lead this city out of the economic doldrums.

Well said, Ms. Cepeda.
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Fear of being a “bag lady” is the secret worry of every older woman. I’ve written and talked about this before, and the subject always gets a nod or a grimace of recognition.

No woman wants to be a burden on her children – or grow old alone, worry about money.

But the latest reports show we aren’t doing enough to deal with this fear — or the reality of the growing number of elderly women living in poverty. A new report by the Society of Actuaries states the case clearly: 92 percent of female retirees are not planning long-term for retirement.

The statistics are grim.

Cut this out and share it with every woman you know, regardless of her age or marital status.
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Ear Worm of the Day:



Yes. I do miss Ireland. Why do you ask?

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: