by Downtowner, posted on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 6:28 am
A guy I work with came in yesterday and said to me “I don’t know why, but I saw this very cool thing yesterday and immediately thought that if anyone I know would know the right person to do it, you would.”
And then he told me about this: the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is running a contest to find the right person to live at the museum for a month and blog about the experience.
I don’t want to dispute my friend’s conclusion that I would know someone who would be perfect for this, but that person is not coming immediately to mind, so I thought I’d throw it out here on the blog.
If you are chosen, and you make it through the month, you will receive $10,000, a packet of tech gadgets, and of course an experience you can tell your grandchildren about.
Deadline for entry is August 11, 2010.
Tags: Chicago IL, Illinois, Month at the Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, science
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by Downtowner, posted on Saturday, July 24th, 2010 at 7:34 am
I helped write a preservation ordinance once and discovered in my research that you really need to write a clause in there forbidding teardowns while the ordinance is being considered, otherwise there’s always some asshole who will invest a ton of money in destroying his building just to prove a point to the city council about what he thinks of the proposal of the measure.
So there may be many who will be surprised to discover insurers doing things like ceasing to write insurance policies on children in order to avoid a provision of the health insurance reform bill that will kick in later this year and force them to cover children who are already sick, and there may even be those, like the author of this AP piece, who call it an “unintended consequence,” but not me.
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Tags: health care, insurance, legislation, reform, sick jokes
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by Downtowner, posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 8:08 pm
but I am just so damned good at it. So one more time: Can you help?
Besides the author of the diary linked above promises free beer…of course the author of the diary linked above once invited me to a virtual spaghetti dinner fundraiser. Not too filling, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.
Tags: Netroots for the Troops, Netroots Nation
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by Downtowner, posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 8:44 am
This morning the Labor Department clued us in to something most of us living out here in the real world already know: no jobs for you.
New claims for unemployment insurance jumped by 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 464,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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Tags: economy, Great Depression, jobs, recession, unemployment, US Department of Labor
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by Downtowner, posted on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 6:27 am
I know this woman - let’s call her Sue, since both she and her company shall remain nameless, you know, to protect the innocent, and by innocent I mean Sue and definitely not her company - who works for a large corporation which provides a service that is actually doing well right now. Sue says that, as the corporation is well aware and loves to tout, their service is actually in demand in a down economy, so actual sales are up and business is booming. But this is not stopping them from maximizing profits at workers expenses. Because the down economy is providing them with the opportunity to do so, or as the managers put it: “because we can.”
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Tags: economy, Hump Day Jobs Report, jobs, recession, reduction in force, RIF, unemployment
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by Downtowner, posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Working at a library I see all sorts of books pass through that I want to read - way more than I am going to be able to read in a normal lifespan - but this doesn’t keep me from checking them out and taking them home with the best of intentions. Some I get to, some I renew them three times (renewal limit at my library) and am forced to return unread. I could pretend that I make a list of this stuff to get back to, because that would be the logical thing to do, no? But I honestly don’t even try, because I have a constant stack of 30-40 library books making me feel guilty at all times.
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Tags: agriculture, Blue Covenant, ecology, environment, hot stain, industrial farming, localism, Maude Barlow, Midwest, planning, sustainability, USDA
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by Downtowner, posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Right before my son got on the plane for his first deployment to Afghanistan at the beginning of May, he called me for one last quick conversation. I asked him if he had any concerns or regrets he wanted to talk about, and he, knowing full well I meant concerns about his deployment or regrets about joining the Army to begin with, said “Well, yes, I have one huge regret.” (long pause) “I deeply regret that I’ve been watching Lost for six damned years and will now miss the last few episodes.”
I recognized this remark as the brand of smart-assed black humor used as a coping mechanism in gravely serious situations that he learned at his parents’ knees, so being the last person who could complain about his use of it, I instead laughed dutifully, though I hardly felt like laughing. On the other hand, I realized there was a part of him that really meant it. The loss of Lost is a big deal to him, representative as it is of losing touch with the version of civilization that has been familiar to him his whole life and so much of that revolves around instant connectivity and constant communication with friends, loved ones, and the world in general.
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Tags: Afghanistan, Lost, Netroots for the Troops, Redbox
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by Downtowner, posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Yesterday, under the full glare of the sun and at the day’s peak of the heat we have been experiencing, I ended up standing on hot asphalt in a parking lot having a debate with a Democratic friend about the party’s prospects in November. When we encountered each other, she’d asked a general question about my opinion of party prospects this November, and I’d started my answer with a concern about where progressives stand in all of this - i.e. virtually no progressive position has been forwarded since the last congressional election.
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Tags: 2010 elections, abusive relationships, Democrats, November elections, progressives, strategy and tactics
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by Downtowner, posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 7:36 am
If you go to the Daily Herald’s website this morning you’ll find that their feature story is entitled “Trial Mystery: How did this guy ever get elected twice?” Said title being superimposed over a photo of Rod Blagojevich. Click through to the story and you will be treated to a scathing review of Blago’s character, intelligence and work habits, freshly revealed to the Daily Herald via wiretap tapes being played at the trial. You know the trial of which I speak? The one occurring years and years after the two elections they are talking about.
Early on in the story we are offered a solution to this mystery:
The answer is an only-in-Illinois mix of luck, skill, blind partisanship, scandal fatigue and the power of money.
Well, I’d like to offer up for the Daily Herald’s consideration a quarter with which to buy a clue as to another possible factor that might just have contributed to the mysterious behavior of voters in electing this guy twice:
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Tags: Daily Herald, Illinois, journalism, Rod Blagojevich, traditional media, voter behavior
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by Downtowner, posted on Saturday, July 17th, 2010 at 7:15 am
I’m well aware that people from throughout the area tend to view St Charles, and the Tri-Cities (Batavia, Geneva, St Charles) in general, as affluent and prosperous. And so they are, in general and comparatively to Elgin and Aurora, to our north and south, and to the more rural communities to our west, where the city services and infrastructure are not so built-up.
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Tags: economy, foreclosures, Fox Valley, Illinois, St Charles IL, Tri-Cities
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by Downtowner, posted on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 7:23 am
My son called the other day. Like most moms I was glad he called, but unlike most moms I am part of the few, the terrified, the band of sisters known as military moms, who are really, really, really glad when their sons call. There are no words to express the relief when you hear that familiar voice, even though you are hearing only every tenth word spoken over a terrible connection from a remote outpost in Afghanistan.
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Tags: Afghanistan, netroots, Netroots for the Troops
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by Downtowner, posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 8:08 am
The headline from this CNN story couldn’t fail to catch my attention:
Illinois: Our very own Greece?
Well, maybe it’s unfair to call it an attack, as things may be progressing to Greece-bad here. The story is worth a read, although not really new news to anyone in Illinois paying attention.
Here’s Dan Hynes responding to CNN for the article:
“We’re leveraging our future and that’s not the correct approach, but it was what was chosen out of a lot of bad options.”
One truly believable aspect of this quote is that there are no options you could technically define as good.
Tags: Dan Hynes, financial crisis, Illinois
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by Downtowner, posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I hear so much about jobs, and am so obsessed myself with the subject lately, that I decided to spend some time pondering who is working where and how that’s working out for them. And what better day to do that than hump day?
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Tags: economy, Hump Day Jobs Report, jobs
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by n0madic, posted on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Tags: Aurora IL, Batavia IL, economy, Elgin IL, environment, Found Objects for a Friday Afternoon, green jobs, history, Illinois, jobs, Kane County, Sandwich IL
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by Downtowner, posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Paul Krugman’s Sunday column about the Depression he believes we are experiencing the early stages of made me think about the state of affairs here in Obama’s home state of Illinois. The whole column is worth a read, but it was this part that caught my attention:
The Obama administration understands the dangers of premature fiscal austerity — but because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress won’t authorize additional aid to state governments, that austerity is coming anyway, in the form of budget cuts at the state and local levels.
As states go, I think I can make the case that Illinois is at the forefront in already having achieved “premature fiscal austerity” and the effects on actual individuals, particularly in the area of job loss, are worth looking at, for we are in the unique position of being the bellwether for the nation in this area.
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Tags: depression, economy, Illinois, jobs, Paul Krugman
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by Downtowner, posted on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
I just wanted to send a public thank you out to the Daily Herald, a right-leaning publication that is everywhere in the Chicago Burbs. Yesterday, the Herald published an (unsurprising for them) piece about the BP boycott. It was one of those human-interesty things that seemed designed to make us all rethink who we are really hurting by boycotting BP - “pity the little guy” (or do I mean small guy) type of thing. Along with a description of things these guys are thinking about doing to help with the clean up.
True, DH stopped short of apologizing to the CEO of BP, but they did characterize the ongoing environmental disaster to our south as an incident that “has added to the corporation’s woes” as “President Obama and environmental groups” are being so mean as to pressure them to stop the leak and stuff.
Eh, but the piece soon gets back on track in asking us to consider the woes of the poor franchisees who really own those BP stations. Now I normally consider myself a fan of the small business owner - I’ve known many a Mom and Pop who pour their time, love and soul into their business. But it’s a little harder to feel sorry for these franchise owners, since the story details how many of these things each owns - hint, in no case is the answer “one.”
Anyway the real value of the piece to me was the quote from Bob Juckniess, president of RWJ Management (10 BP stations) who wanted us all to know that we don’t know what we’re doing.
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Tags: boycott, BP
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by Downtowner, posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 6:00 am
Don’t you just hate unsubstantiated rumors on the Internet? I know I do.
But you know what I hate even more? When you’ve been hearing the same unsubstantiated rumor in the real world for months on end from several “insiders” who should know (or should know better), when you are told flat-out by elected officials (not to be quoted, to be sure), that the rumors in question are “an open secret,” when you are even aware of newspaper columnists who have been hinting around the periphery of the story for quite some time and suspect strongly that they can not go on record because none of their sources will, and then you are told that the culmination of the series of rumors is “imminent.”
I’ve come to the conclusion that this is how unsubstantiated rumors on the Internet get started: By people like me who are sick of all the dithering around from individuals who either have the dirt and are so afraid of the powers-that-be that they refuse to go public, or are bound by some journalistic standard, or are just not able to name a source themselves, due to the excellent record of the powers-that-be in question for doing nothing that is strictly illegal, or for that matter written down. Which none of this really is.
Well, screw all that, here’s the rumor.
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Tags: Cathy Hurlbut, ethics, Illinois, Kane County, Kane County Board, Karen McConnaughay, Ken Shepro, Mike Kenyon, Phil Bus, Republicans
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by n0madic, posted on Saturday, May 8th, 2010 at 6:00 am
In Red to Blue: Congressman Chris Van Hollen and Grassroots Politics
, author Sanford Gottlieb tells the story of Chris Van Hollen’s successful grassroots campaign for Congress in 2002, and the lessons Van Hollen, and others, took away from that campaign in subsequent election cycles.
Van Hollen’s district
is MD-08, located in Washington DC’s Maryland suburbs. In the primary he beat frontrunner Mark Shriver, a Kennedy cousin with a lot of money to spend and a consultant by the name of David Axelrod on his team. He then went on to unseat longtime incumbent Connie Morella in the general election that fall. Morella was a well-liked, liberal Republican who had been long thought to be unbeatable, having enjoyed more than a little bit of support from local Democrats through the years on election day. And Van Hollen pulled this off in a Republican year. This was the first congressional election to be held after 9/11. The Republicans won back control of the Senate in 2002 and added to their majority in the House. Only two Democrats unseated incumbent Republicans that year. Chris Van Hollen was one of them.
Van Hollen has brought this experience to bear in his subsequent work at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). And he was not the only one to go to school on that 2002 campaign. As Gottlieb puts it:
David Axelrod told Van Hollen in 2008 that he had learned some lessons from being on the other side of the 2002 primary. It was a really good grassroots campaign, Axelrod said, with the passion on Van Hollen’s side. Van Hollen carried the lessons learned in 2002 into the successful effort to build a House Democratic majority in 2006. Axelrod and David Plouffe may have applied those lessons in the 2008 50-state race for the White House. (Gottlieb, Red to Blue, 32)
Last week Van Hollen appeared with Gottlieb at a book event in Washington, DC and talked about his attempt to apply those lessons learned to his work with the DCCC. Van Hollen’s introductory remarks, plus the question and answer session that followed, are presented below.
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Tags: 2002 elections, 2006 elections, 2008 elections, 2010 elections, Bill Foster, Bill Owens, Chris Van Hollen, Citizens United, climate change, Connie Morella, David Axelrod, DCCC, Democrats, grassroots, IL-14, James Hansen, Johanna Berkson, legislation, Mark Shriver, Maryland, MD-08, ME-SEN, Montgomery County, Murray Hill, NY-20, NY-23, PA-12, Republicans, Scott Murphy, Special election, strategy and tactics, Tom Allen, U. S. House, U. S. Senate, volunteers, Wall Street
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