Monday, November 15, 2010

May the Goat Curse continue to work...

The Ricketts family is against “wasteful government spending” unless it helps make them rich


It's funny that Joe Ricketts is so passionate against “wasteful government spending” when his family, led by son, Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts, has just asked the people of Illinois to borrow $300 million in a bond offering so that it can rehab Wrigley Field. This request follows a vote in Mesa, AZ which guaranteed the Cubs $84 million in public funds to build a new spring training stadium and facility.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Fun things to remember about the Bush tax cuts

1. The Bush tax cuts, written by Congresses led by Denny Hastert and Trent Lott and Bill Frist and signed by George Bush, were set to expire at the end of 2010. Got a prollem wif dat? Talk to them.

2. Part of the rationale for passing "temporary" tax cuts is that we were running record phokking budget surpluses at the time. We are, if the misspelled rally signs of Tea Party activists are to be believed, no longer doing this.

3. The Class War is on, and the plutocrats are kicking your ass.

4. George W. Bush destroyed my country.

5. Sorry if this isn't really much fun after all.

6. George W. Bush is still a yooooge phokking asshole.

Knee Jerk Reactions (cont)

What's next, underwear?

U.S. to ban some toner, ink cartridges from flights | Chicago Breaking Business

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Senator-elect Mark Kirk is talking about fiscal responsibility. Be afraid.

What Senator-elect Mark Kirk said on election night:

"Tonight, the people of Illinois have spoken, and your vote was heard around the world. It was a vote for fiscal responsibility..."

What the Congressional Budget Office said in January 2001 when Congressman Mark Kirk and President George Bush took office:

"The outlook for the federal budget over the next decade continues to be bright. Assuming that current tax and spending policies are maintained, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that mounting federal revenues will continue to outstrip spending and produce growing budget surpluses for the next 10 years. The update of CBO's budget outlook that this chapter describes continues a trend, since 1997, of steady and sometimes dramatic improvement, reflecting the continuing impact of strong economic growth over the past few years ...

"Under current policies, total surpluses would accumulate to an estimated $2 trillion over the next five years and $5.6 trillion over the coming decade. Such large surpluses would be sufficient by 2006 to pay off all debt held by the public that will be available for redemption.

"Within those totals, on-budget surpluses would accumulate to nearly $1 trillion over the next five years and about $3.1 trillion over the 2002-2011 period. On-budget surpluses would range between just over 1 percent to more than 3 percent of GDP. Off-budget surpluses also would total about $1 trillion over the next five years and about $2.5 trillion through 2011. Off-budget surpluses alone would be sufficient to eliminate the debt available for redemption by the end of the 10-year period."
~

Union of Concerned* Scientists says "Welcome Your Freshman Class of Climate Deniers"

* But keep in mind that "concerned" is generally a euphemism for "commie."

The freshman class in their own words (from a UCS e-mail):

"With the possible exception of Tiger Woods, nothing has had a worse year than global warming. We have discovered that a good portion of the science used to justify 'climate change' was a hoax perpetrated by leftist ideologues with an agenda." —Todd Young, new congressperson from Indiana

"I absolutely do not believe that the science of man-caused climate change is proven. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I think it’s far more likely that it’s just sunspot activity or something just in the geologic eons of time where we have changes in the climate." —Ron Johnson, new senator from Wisconsin

"I think we ought to take a look at whatever the group is that measures all this, the IPCC, they don't even believe the crap." —Steve Pearce, new congressperson from New Mexico

"It's a bigger issue, we need to watch 'em. Not only because it may or may not be true, but they're making up their facts to fit their conclusions. They've already caught 'em doing this." —Rand Paul, new senator from Kentucky

"There isn't any real science to say we are altering the climate path of the earth." —Roy Blunt, new senator from Missouri

To which you could add:

Bobby Schilling, IL-17 - "He doesn’t believe in global warming, putting him at odds with almost every major climate change expert in the world but in good standing with his base." (But with a name like Schilling, what could possibly go wrong? Ed.)

Randy Hultgren, IL-14 - "So, I don’t believe we have a significant impact on climate change. Now that said, I do think we have great responsibility as humans for stewardship of our world, and so there are things that we can do to make sure that our environment is well preserved for and I think that is really where we need to get to. So much of this effort dealing with climate change is literally billions and trillions of dollars that’s being spent to affect maybe tenths of a degree or hundredths of a degree of temperature. So we might be able, by spending trillions of dollars to lower our temperature by one one-hundreths of a degree, but that’s so minor and one blip of the sun could completely change it back by so much more. So, just a variation of a sun-spot or whatever that could have that kind of impact. So, again, I’m concerned with the amount of money and the impact on our productivity that we’re having focused on climate change when really I think we have very little direct impact on that." (Again with the sunspots? Ed.)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

FUNG'S HAND-PICKED CANDIDATE???

Illinois Candidate's Name Misspelled As 'Rich Whitey' On Electronic-Voting Machines

There are typos and then there are complete and utter catastrophes.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is misspelled "Rich Whitey" on electronic-voting machines in 23 wards -- "about half in predominantly African-American areas." The error only occurs on screens voters would see when they are reviewing their choices (Whitney's name appears correctly on the initial screens), but officials say the error cannot be corrected before election day.

Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections, told the Sun-Times he expects 90% of votes on election day to be cast on paper ballots -- minimizing the number of voters who would see the misspelling.

"I don't want to be identified as 'Whitey.' If this is happening in primarily African-American wards, that's an even bigger concern," Whitney told the Sun-Times. The paper says he's considering legal action. "I don't know if this is machine politics at play or why this happened."

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Whitney drawing just 2% of the vote.

~

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Has it really been a year?

Since this happened?

Hello,

Your blog at: http://latticeofcoincidence.blogspot.com/ has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at (link deleted).


Your blog will be deleted in 20 days if it isn't reviewed, and your readers will see a warning page during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. Once we have reviewed and determined your blog is not spam, the blog will be unlocked and the message in your Blogger dashboard will no longer be displayed. If this blog doesn't belong to you, you don't have to do anything, and any other blogs you may have won't be affected.

We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologize for this error. By using this kind of system, however, we can dedicate more storage, bandwidth, and engineering resources to bloggers like you instead of to spammers. For more information, please see Blogger Help: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577


Thank you for your understanding and for your help with our spam-fighting efforts.


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P.S. Just one more reminder: Unless you request a review, your blog will be deleted in 20 days.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Really, is anyone named Cheney entitled to an opinion on anything?

"Americans expect our president to do everything possible to defend the nation from attack ... We expect him to use every tool at his disposal to find, defeat, capture and kill terrorists. We expect him to deter attacks by making clear to our adversaries that an attack on the United States will carry devastating consequences."

Well, except for that one time. We all agreed to let that one pass, right?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Empty seats in Chicago this week

Sox vs. first-place Twins
Tuesday: 11,000 empty seats
Wednesday: 10,000 empty seats
Thursday: 13,000 empty seats

Blackhawks practice
(not exhibition game, just practice)
Saturday: sold out

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Blago's World: So Much Better Than Reality

ROSEMONT, Ill. (CBS) ― It sounds like the start to a bad joke; Captain Kirk, Batman, the Bionic Woman and Rod Blagojevich. They were among the stars at this year's Wizard World Chicago Comic Con.

I will leave learned comparisons between Chicago Comic Con (Da Comic Con Dat Works) and dat udder Comic-Con to others, but any situation in which Ian Ziering is the grown-up, and gets off the best line, is pretty phokked up.

"Chicago is not the most corrupt American city, it's the most theatrically corrupt."
-- Studs Terkel
~

Friday, August 20, 2010

Cubs blow annuder one today

Rev. Franklin Graham - born a jackass

Rev. Franklin Graham: President Obama 'born a Muslim'

His problem is that his father was a jackass, and the seed of jackassery is passed through the father. But he says he has renounced jackassery and become a Christian, so I guess we'll just have to accept it as that.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

YA THINK?!

Cubs Make Carlos Zambrano Available

Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, etc. and their AWFUL contracts are also probably very available. Call Jimbo at Pizza Hut...

~

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Movie night

Exactly half of the Lattice "staff" at opening night of Inception together last night. Turns out this blog is just a dream.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Jim "Anchovies" Hendry vote of confidence goes from puzzlingly obvious to eerily foreboding

"The fact is, right now, Jim is our general manager ... I support him, and I think he does a great job. After that, we'll take it one day at a time."

Monday, July 5, 2010

Expect Delays

Also:

Exit the warrior
Today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the energy you trade
He gets right on to the friction of the day...

Giant four-lane hole closes southbound Lake Shore Drive

July 5, 2010
Sun-Times Media Wire

A hole has spread across four lanes on Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road, resulting in the closure of the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive around that area Monday night.

Police were notified about 6:15 p.m. Monday of a possible cave-in or some sort of structural damage on Lake Shore Drive, police News Affairs Officer Dan O’Brien said.

Southbound lanes on Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road were closed to traffic so the repair work could be done, O’Brien said.

According to unconfirmed dispatch reports, southbound Lake Shore Drive traffic was "at a standstill" as of about 7 p.m.

The hole is four-lanes wide, police said.

The incident could cause some headaches for people who were on their way to a concert by Canadian rock band Rush, at the Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island Monday night. The show was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., according to the Livenation website.

No one has been reported injured, O’Brien said.

~

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Nothing better to do?

Congress honors Blackhawks -- despite 5 'no' votes

What's even more shocking than whatever this was, was that good ol' Ronnie Paul wasn't one of the no votes. Unless they do this for every pro team that wins, they need to stick to the job of, I don't know, fixing all that ails this country.

Guns Part 2

Read most of the case and a bunch of lovely articles on the handgun ban overturned in Chicago. I have such mixed feelings. I don't think the case does much but I recognize the immense public outcry against more gun violence in Chicago. I so want to love the 2nd Amendment but it is so difficult at times.

And the whole thing to me has such an undercurrent of racism. Even the opinion talks about law abiding citizens wanting to protect themselves in their own homes against inner city criminals. While I acknowledge that the name plaintiff has dark skin, I think for the vast majority of Americans that when they think of law abiding citizens they think of whites and when they think of inner city criminals they think of blacks. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

And of course the statistics used are gun ownership in rural areas is high and violence is low. Gun ownership in the city is low and gun violence is high. More guns would just solve that problem right? Criminals (well known for completely rational cost-benefit analyses) will be less likely to be criminals if they know that they can die. Well, they've kind of been on to that for a while I think and it doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent. (What me worry?). Maybe the total lack of acess to education and jobs in several minority inner cities has something to do with the crime rate. But as a backstop, the some misguided individuals - patriots, gun owners, fearful (perhaps living outside of cities due to fear of black males) may suggest that even if more guns, leads to more violence, we just have more criminals than we thought. Dead criminals don't commit crime after all, and the noise from the right is that to solve inner city gun problems we don't need more jobs or schools, just more jails. We're good at jails! After all, the criminal justice system is disproportionately targeting minorities, why not just remove that pesky (and expensive) process and let the minorities fight it out (while feigning looks of shock and awe).

And then I realized it. Perhaps I can out flank the right wingers. I find the denial of voting rights to felons an intentional act to disenfranchise thousands of black men from their constitutional right to vote. As a correllary, I don't see how in good conscience that felons who have paid their debt to society can be denied such a fundamental right as the right to bear arms. Now I know what you're thinking - they are a danger to society. Well first of all some of them aren't and won't be again. But even for those who are - chances are they were going to carry again anyway and for sure they probably are returning to the highest crime ridden areas of our cities. Any attempt to deny them their right to defend themselves or their right to vote is essentially a cruel and unusal punishment. Likewise given the disproportionate effects of our legal system, it should not pass strict scrutiny. The system seems designed to create an underclass of disenfranchised, disarmed black males. This is wrong. It was wrong under slavery, wrong under Jim Crow laws and is wrong now.

For me the worst case scenario of such a decision is black on black violence. Status Quo Ante I say. For others the worst case scenario would be a violent minority insurrection. Like I said, I have such mixed feelings.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Guns!

Hooray. The City of Chicago and Oak Park can now form militias to prevent the Federal government from attacking us. Oh wait. No?

People in the City of Chicago and Oak Park can now own handguns to protect themselves from criminals [read: negros]. Oh well. An exciting ruling on its face, but considering we could already own long guns, not half as nearly interesting as everyone would have us believe. And frankly, if the people braking into your house have handguns themselves (and as a pointer to would-be-theives - carry a handgun - idiot) and can get the drop on you (In my house I have my 7 year old on the watch from midnight to 4 a.m. - I've got to work after all) then how does it matter.

I love the reaction on the interwebs though. The victory won't be complete until we can all concealed carry and until we can all carry fully automatic weapons to political rallies. Frankly, I'm hoping for access to weapons of mass destruction and a repeal of the laws outlawing cold-blooded murder. Only then will the victory be complete.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Post # 5000!!

USA! USA! USA!

We suck

All we get are spam comments. We're no better than the Trib. I blame Smiff.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Having killed all of al-Qaida's number twos they can find, the drones are coming to write you a speeding ticket

Betcha Da Mare would love to get his hands on a couple-two-tree uh dese for da Departmenta Streets and San (and Skies?)...

FAA mulls domestic drone use

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure is on to allow them to roam U.S. skies.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to issue flying rights for a range of pilotless planes to carry out civilian and law-enforcement functions but has been hesitant to act. Officials are worried they might plow into airliners, cargo planes and corporate jets that zoom around at high altitudes or helicopters and hot air balloons that fly as low as a few hundred feet off the ground.

Scammers. Now on Facebook.

facebook
Ben sent you a message.
Ben Kabili
Ben KabiliJune 15, 2010 at 9:31pm
Subject: FROM BARISTER KABILI BEN (kabili law chambers lome,Togo Republic)
UNCLAIMED FAMILY ESTATE

How are you today,
This is Mr. Kabili ben, a solicitor at law. I am making this proposal to you in respect to the death of one Mr E. Matwawa (last name edited, Ben did use mine - ed),a native of your country who was my client until death leaving some huge amount of money in a security finance firm valued US$6.5million.

Am proposing that you be presented as the next of kin and beneficiary of the fund.
I shall detail you on the confirmation of your genuinity to work this out with me. Kindly use your personal email address and contact me directly through this my private email address : benkabili02@hotmail.fr for further discussions.

Regards,
KABILI BEN Esq.
Telephone +228 077 5264

This is probably nothing to worry about (cont'd)

Last seen in LA...

God is mad at... Jesus?

'Touchdown Jesus' destroyed by lightning

The 6-story-tall landmark that surprised and fascinated travelers on I-75 burns to the ground....

~

another baseball analogy gone horribly wrong

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Oh, Canada

They're trying, but this is not good enough. No way are they crazier than we are. Good attempt though.

Friday, June 4, 2010

I don't mean to seem like I care about my mom's feelings.

I just want bubbles and a dopey band for my church.

In case there was any lingering doubt that she's as bat-s#i+-crazy as her husband

"Today is a good day because today begins a process to correct a terrible injustice that’s been done to my husband, our family and the people of Illinois."

-- Patti Blagojevich

Thursday, May 27, 2010

SHAMEFUL McCAIL WEB BLASTED BY HAYWORTH CAMPAIGN


J.D. Hayworth is getting sick and tired of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) always reminding people of that time Radar magazine put him on that list of America's Dumbest Congresspersons...

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

SHOCKING!

Preckwinkle says 2012 earliest she'd cut back county sales tax

Vote for me and I'll cut your taxe....Now that I'm (a shoo in to be) in office I like the tax just fine, and will find any old excuse to keep it.

Is anyone surprised?

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Do you know who's to blame for this?

...WHITEY:

A source tells Mike Salk of 710 ESPN in Seattle that Milton Bradley left the team in the middle of Tuesday's game against the Rays.
Bradley was frustrated after striking out looking with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning. He yelled at the umpire from the bench until Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu warned him to settle down. Just minutes later Bradley reportedly told Wakamatsu, "I'm packing my stuff. I'm out of here." Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik didn't address the matter specifically on Wednesday, other than to say something that happens between the manager and his players should be handled internally. We're guessing that Wakamatsu might not have to worry about Bradley much longer.
Source:
MYNorthwest.com
~

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Monday, May 3, 2010

Expect Delays

Literally.

Red, Orange line delays expected this week :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Transportation

It can't happen here

German man 'marries' his dying cat

A German man has unofficially married his cat after the animal fell ill and vets told him it might not live much longer, Bild newspaper reports.

It says Uwe Mitzscherlich, 39, paid an actress 300 euros (£260,$395) to officiate at the ceremony, as marrying an animal is illegal in Germany.

Mr Mitzscherlich said he had wanted to tie the knot before his asthmatic cat Cecilia died.

The cat and groom have lived together for 10 years.

"Cecilia is such a trusting creature. We cuddle all the time and she has always slept in my bed," Mr Mitzscherlich, a postman from the eastern town of Possendorf, told Bild.

Actress Christin-Maria Lohri, who officiated the ceremony, was quoted as saying: "At first I thought it was a joke. But for Mr Mitzscherlich it's a dream come true".

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Almost a whole month without a post?

I blame Sarge. He's the one ranting on the twitterz with his like 8 different screen names while the LoC wastes away. Yep, all Sarge's fault.

Fung, about to get unhinged..

Apparently this counts as sports "journalism"...

Thursday, March 18, 2010

let me think about that a sec...


No.

More proof that majority rule in the hands of a really stupid populace is a toxic mix

Which day would you rather see become a national sports holiday?

Monday after Super Bowl 57%
Friday of NCAA tournament first round 43%
Total votes 193,353
Results not scientific, but profoundly idiotic

Today's Factoid
Fun facts about the profoundly idiotic culture we live in...
Games broadcast on Friday of NCAA tournament first round: 16
Games broadcast on Monday after Super Bowl: 0
~

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Cubs / fiery crash nexuses in the news (cont'd)

News item: The Chicago Cubs are in discussions with Toyota on a multi-year deal to have the car maker’s emblem adorn a lighted sign in the left-field bleachers at Wrigley Field.

When editing goes hilariously wrong

This made me laugh when I saw (well, heard) this on TV - I'm glad someone cut it out...

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Doggie, or Kitteh?

Clearly they say doggie, but you decide...

Also note the use of what I assume to be Chinglish in the description, though it is much better on dis one - starts right in the title...

Monday, March 15, 2010

They should try this with bacon, or, those wacky Germans (cont'd)

Only moderately popular at sea level, tomato juice is almost irresistibly delicious at an altitude of 32,000 feet, German researchers have confirmed.
~

Thursday, March 4, 2010

It's Da City Dat Ruins Petulant Athletes

Milton Bradley blamed the city of Chicago for his poor 2009 season.
"Two years ago, I played, and I was good," said Bradley. "I go to Chicago, not good. I’ve been good my whole career. So, obviously, it was something with Chicago, not me." The distractions -- many self-inflicted -- surely didn't help, but he should at least take some responsibility for his poor production. Bradley said that there was "no communication" in Chicago, and that was expected to hit 30 home runs. That won't happen in Seattle, so at least he has that going for him.
Source:
New York Times
~

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Is this a joke?

The White Sox plan to use Mark Kotsay as their designated hitter against right-handers, and Andruw Jones against lefties.
~

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Haiti and health-care reform

For the past year or two, the American left and its cheerleaders on the MSNBC primetime block have beaten a steady drum for “health-care reform.” And yet, in the past month, a different news story has dominated headlines and chatter: the disaster in Haiti.

In hindsight, the scope of the Haitian disaster could have been reduced. Attention could have been called to the threat of earthquakes in the area and that so very many cement buildings would collapse and crush their occupants. Plans could have been formulated, debated, and put in motion. Potentially thousands of lives could have been saved had this course been taken.

Haitians’ vulnerability to earthquakes was, it goes without saying, not once discussed by Rachel Maddow in the months leading up to the deaths of 200,000 people. Keith Olbermann did not comment, specially or otherwise, on the failure of Congress or whoever else to act in the matter. Yet all along, as it turned out, a massive time-bomb was ticking away a few hundred miles from Miami. Americans were talking about the wrong issues and trying to solve the wrong problems, and we have paid a terrible price for those errors.

Some may argue that these were not in fact errors. We are Americans, it could be said, not Haitians, so it was not our problem. It could be claimed that we could never have seen this coming, or that even had we seen it coming, there was nothing to be done. But none of these arguments can be accepted without some sort of major concession on the part of liberal thinkers. For a liberal to say “I am not Haitian, thus I have no concern for this matter,” would be to admit of a grossly unbecoming nationalism. For a liberal to say, “We could not have seen this coming,” would be to hold that the American scientific apparatus suffers debilitating incapacities, unable to figure out where a quarter million lives might be at risk. For a liberal to say, “There was nothing we could have done,” would be to argue that government action can do little to improve matters abroad.

None of these concessions could be forthcoming: Liberals obviously are concerned for the well-being of Haitians, American scientists could have estimated (and some probably did estimate) the risk of an earthquake and the extent of devastation that would result, and liberals will not soon favor the writings of Bill Easterly to those of Jeffrey Sachs. And yet, liberal thought leaders spent 2009 obsessing not over the paralyzing poverty and terrifying earthquake risk faced by Haitians but instead over the details of a health-care bill that, in the best-case scenario, will mean slightly more medical treatment for some members of one of the most medicalized societies the world has ever seen.

Is the conclusion, then, that we have been talking about the wrong things? When we gathered around watercoolers last year to talk American health-care reform, should we have been pondering Haitian vulnerability to earthquakes? I think that a compassionate, cosmopolitan liberal would have to say yes, in hindsight, that is exactly what we should have been doing. But consider that, as I write today, the main thrust of liberal chatter is already refocused on health-care reform and the partisan composition of the United States Senate.

The MSNBC primetime writers have not performed a systematic post-disaster scan of the scientific landscape in a desperate humanitarian effort to find the next great vulnerability; instead, they have unapologetically reverted to their pre-disaster ways. Viewers are still, apparently, supposed to believe that American health-care reform is the greatest crusade of our time, with a Democratic supermajority being the vital means to that end. Somehow, Maddow’s sense of moral superiority survived the quake.

The Haitian disaster makes clear that the manifest agenda of the political left in the United States is not driven by thorough science or by altruistic compassion. The thought leaders and Democratic politicians are doing exactly what one would expect if their goals were to increase the material means and the social status of their consumer-constituents: the politicians propose policies that materially benefit those constituents, and the thought leaders shroud those policies in the holy cloth of morality. If and when these get their way, blue-collar Americans may enjoy a few extra medical procedures and left-leaning news consumers will get their righteousness fix, vulnerable populations around the globe be damned.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

He also has a cure for cancer...

Scott Boras, the agent for outfielder Johnny Damon, said Thursday that he thinks there's still a "quality market" for his client. "I still feel there is a quality market for Johnny Damon," Boras said, "and I'm negotiating with a number of teams. There are three teams out there that if they don't have Johnny Damon, they're not winning the division. He's the difference in these teams making the playoffs or not contending."
~

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Meanwhile, LoC enjoys the peace dividend

Salon's Glenn Greenwald:
Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose "a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests." They're entitled to no charges, no trial, no ability to contest the accusations. Amazingly, the Bush administration's policy of merely imprisoning foreign nationals (along with a couple of American citizens) without charges -- based solely on the President's claim that they were Terrorists -- produced intense controversy for years. That, one will recall, was a grave assault on the Constitution.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

whitey still can't jump - but maybe that's the point, or, whitey/two-handed set shot nexus in the news

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Friday, January 8, 2010

News item: Wisconsin still without official state ice fishing lure

Bills currently before the Wisconsin legislature:

A bill to make Harley-Davidson the official state motorcycle,

A bill to make cheese the official state snack,

A bill to make Lactococcus lactis, used in the conversion of milk to cheese, the official state microbe.

Wisconsin already has an official state song, which is not to be confused with its state waltz or state ballad, and an official state animal, which is not to be confused with its state domestic animal, wildlife animal, or dog. And the state beverage, milk, is just factually incorrect, on a rather obvious level.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

New Opening Day tradition at Wrigley?

Not again! Giant Swedish Christmas goat statue gets torched

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Arsonists set fire early on Wednesday to a giant straw statue of the Swedish Yule goat, a forerunner to Santa Claus in Sweden, defying security measures for a third year in a row.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Alexi the boy-genius

April 22, 2208: Morningstar, Inc. named Illinois’ Bright Start College Savings Program on April 16 one of the top five college savings plans in the nation... After taking office, Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, above, overhauled Bright Start, selecting OppenheimerFunds Inc., through a competitive bid, to manage the program, starting last July. Oppenheimer made it among the lowest-cost programs in the nation, and offered investment options that gained a higher return rate.

Woops!

Decemeber 22, 2009: The state of Illinois has reached a settlement in its lawsuit over losses in the Bright Start college savings program under which parents will get back $77.23 million — slightly more than half of what they lost in investments handled by Oppenheimer Funds Inc.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

It's phokking cold here

Smiff was complaining about 32 degrees. Well it's 0 here. 0 F, not 0 C that you're whining about. We've also got snow n $#!+. With more of both to come. So la di frickin da Smiff, your weather is positively balmy compared to da city of da Daleys. We know how to run winter up here.

Fung has his knit hat on in da office. Dat's how cold it is up in here. I knew I shouldn't have cut my hair...

Which reminds me, perhaps I should take a pic for Briggs to add to his knit hats collection. Where's the phone?

Ineptitude

So we're on pace for what, under a quarter of the number of posts in 2008? Yet we have more authors now than we did then? Wha happen? I know W is gone n all, but, was he really that instrumental to the content on this blog? No healthcare debate? No wars debate? Maybe more stats from K-Mad would inspire us, but somehow I don't think they've changed much from the last time he ran them. No Tweets? No Facebook page updates? Is everyone, like, getting a life or something? How many questions can I ask in a row?

Birthers? Palin selling a book? Blago selling a book? Daley selling annudder part of da city? Bearzzzzzzzzzz........

That's a spicy zettabyte



A report published Wednesday by the University of California, San Diego (Smiff's people? ed), calculates that American households collectively consumed 3.6 zettabytes of information in 2008.

Clearly, this chart is inaccurate. There should be a large slice of the pie going to the Lattice of Coincidence. No word as to whether we need to cut down TV or computer in order for us to lose weight.

News item: It gets cold in Chicago

News item: City parking meters freeze up

(Crain’s) — The city’s newly privatized parking meters weren’t prepared for Chicago’s first cold snap.

Some of the new parking meter kiosks operated by LAZ Parking (Ok, was that really a good choice for the name of the company? Was that the first decision they made at their first meeting around the conference table, and it all went downhill from there? Just askin... Ed.) under a controversial lease deal that has already experienced operating difficulties froze up overnight as temperatures plunged into the single digits.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Brain-Dead Americans (cont)

So I got this joke in my inbox of my emails on the Internets...

What do baby seals and Tiger Woods have in common?

They are both in danger of being beaten to death by a Norwegian with a club !

'Course, she's a SWEDE, but you know, don't let FACTS get in the way of a lame joke. Besides, who even knows the difference between Norway and Sweden? Aren't they, like, in Finland or something? No, that's Denmark...

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

How does that saying go?

Acorn doesn't fall far from the tree? Like father like son? Dollar dollar bill y'all? If it's not one thing it's another?

Wirtz lawsuit over booze tax hike holds up CTA capital dollars

Monday, November 30, 2009

LoC=Spam? (cont)

Apparently the new big thing is to post a spam comment in a post we made last year. That way if you just go to the blog you don't see it (Briggs & I saw them coz we subscribe to the RSS feed for comments), but we then become one of them spamming blogs that Google hates sooo much. So I's made a coupla changes unilateral style - no more anonymous commenting (sorry brain dead bob et al) and comments on older posts will have to be approved before posting. If anyone thinks I've overstepped my authoritah, you suck, if anyone has (a) better idea(s), you suck, and if you are a spammer, you especially suck.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Even A Caveman Can Do It

Newly signed Chargers OT Jon Runyan plans to retire after the season.
Runyan will run for Congress in New Jersey's 3rd district in 2010. "I look forward to a successful end to my career on the field," he said, "and a spirited campaign against Congressman (John) Adler." He will run as a Republican.
~

Could dis be Da Berz fate?

School Northwestern is often confused with shuts down American Football program

Monday, November 23, 2009

My new intern

Not quite ready for primetime...