The issues surrounding health care reform in America simplified.
It’s time, folks. It’s time.
Enjoy the video.
Les Paul Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Tip of the hat to Rich Miller for posting this video on The Capitol Fax Blog.
Watch, listen, enjoy.
Ricardo Marchan Shot Two Innocent People Because of Breakup, Police Said
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying there are people who deserve to get shot.
However, Chicago police say Ricardo Marchan shot “two innocent people,” because his girlfriend broke up with him.
Police said. You know.
A man upset over a breakup with his girlfriend decided to vent his rage by randomly shooting two innocent people in the back of the head before police arrested him in the middle of a separate robbery, Chicago Police said Saturday.
The connection between the two murders and the armed robbery Aug. 2 in Humboldt Park was revealed Saturday when Ricardo Marchan, 24, of the 4000 block of West Grand, was charged with two counts of murder. He previously was charged with armed robbery.
Police said Marchan’s deadly rampage began at 4:10 a.m. Aug. 2, when he allegedly shot Michael Hernandez in the 1500 block of North Western Avenue.
Hernandez, 18, who was planning to attend college this fall, was shot in the back of the head. He was driving to his mother’s home after a night with friends.
Police said Marchan then drove about four blocks west and, three minutes later, fatally shot Patrick Cregan, 35, in the 1400 block of North California Avenue. Cregan, who was delivering a pizza, also was shot in the back of the head in his car, police said.
Hernandez was planning to attend college this fall.
Cregan was a pizza delivery man, shot in the back of the head.
My son delivers pizza.
For God’s sake, my son delivers pizza. The Bush Economy has destroyed job prospects in the Chicagoland area, and the Obama Economy is still struggling to breathe.
Why do we work out our grievances in this country by shooting other people? Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?
Why shoot innocent people?
Park Forest to Add Gender Identity, Parental and Housing Status to Protected Classes
The Village of Park Forest will consider an item on Monday to add expand the definition of protected classes on its housing ordinance.
The second item [on the agenda] for action comes from Cook County. The Cook County Department of Planning and Development recently requested that the Village amend its fair housing ordinance to expand the list of protected classes to include parental status, gender identity, and housing status. The Village’s fair housing ordinance also must prohibit any activity that aids and/or abets housing discrimination, or retaliation against any person for the exercise of any rights under the Village’s fair housing ordinance, or the willful interference with the exercise of any rights under the Village’s fair housing ordinance.
Yes, I know Park Forest is making this move because Cook County wants it to happen. However, keep in mind that Park Forest added “sexual orientation” to its housing ordinance in the 1980s, long before any other suburb in the Chicagoland area, and certainly long before most communities in the United States. The measure passed publicly, without an bit of protest from the community or board members. Park Forest has always been ahead of the curve.
It’s worth keeping an eye on Park Forest.
Oy. Da Bears Lose.
Look, Bears fans, it’s only exhibition, and it’s not necessarily a sign of things to come.
Of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers won their first exhibition game last year against the Philadelphia Eagles, and then won the Super Bowl, but that means nothing to superstitious sports fans, right?
The news from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Those expecting Jay Cutler to immediately transform the Chicago Bears into a pass-happy offense had better be patient.
Cutler came out throwing against Buffalo in his Bears’ preseason debut Saturday night, but missed as many attempts as he completed — not including the one he had intercepted in a 27-20 loss. So much for the much-anticipated buzz — including all the No. 6 Bears jerseys sold — that centered on the Pro Bowl quarterback Chicago acquired in a blockbuster offseason trade with Denver.
The Bills’ offense, even minus Terrell Owens, out nursing a sprained toe, was much more efficient in 80-plus-degree and muggy conditions. And Buffalo got plenty of help from its defense, which generated four turnovers, including two interceptions by rookie Ellis Lankster.
Bills starter Trent Edwards finished 10 of 10 for 79 yards, and backup Ryan Fitzpatrick went 13 of 16 for 143 yards. The Bills broke open the game early in the fourth quarter by scoring twice in 34 seconds, both scores set up following Lankster’s interceptions of third-string quarterback Brett Basanez.
Bills third-stringer Gibran Hamdan hit rookie Shawn Nelson for a 3-yard touchdown to put Buffalo ahead 20-13. Then Bruce Hall scored on a 4-yard plunge. Combined, Buffalo’s four quarterbacks went 29 of 34 for 265 yards.
Buffalo defeated Chicago for only the second time in 14 preseason meetings (2-11-1), and bounced back from a 21-18 loss to Tennessee in the Hall of Fame game last weekend.
Look. It’s pre-season. A win would’ve been great, but Da Bears are a work in progress.
The Sun-Times called it an “uninspiring performance.”
This is Da Bears. They won the Super Bowl once, and can do it again.
Screw the Sun-Times.
Heraclitus said, “You can’t step in the same river twice.”
Chicago, there is still hope.
15-year-old Chicago Girl Takes Bullet for Younger Relative
Yet another sensless shooting on Chicago’s Far South Side. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
A 15-year-old Chicago girl who was shot in the head outside her Far South Side home Wednesday as she shielded a younger relative from gunfire has come through surgery, a relative said this morning.
Taccara Swain’s relatives said they are praying that the Julian High School student will recover from Wednesday night’s shooting.
“These are your friends, these are your neighbors, these are your classmates. Have some values,” Taccara Swain’s aunt, Vernetta Swain, said she’d tell whoever fired the shots.
The girl, who is entering her sophomore year at Julian, was in critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center after being shot around 8 p.m. in the 11000 block of South Normal Avenue.
Police said there was an argument between the occupants of two vehicles when shots were fired. The girl was not the intended target, according to the police.
Is anybody listening? Are we listening? This is not “their” problem on the South Side of Chicago. This is our problem. These are our children getting shot.
On the Passing of Guitar Legend Les Paul
First, the sad news from WTAE in Pittsburgh:
Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.
According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.
He had been hospitalized in February 2006 when he learned he won two Grammys for an album he released after his 90th birthday, “Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played.”
“I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole on it,” he joked.
As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock ‘n’ roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the “tracks” in the finished recording.
With Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including “Vaya Con Dios,” “How High the Moon,” “Nola” and “Lover.” Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.
“I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished,” he recalled. “This is quite an asset.” The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.
The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock the 1950s.
“Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music,” Paul once said. “To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn’t think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system.”
I play the guitar, but my Dad is the musician. I’m accompanying Mom and Dad today on their doctor appointments, and just shared the news with Dad that Les Paul had died.
Dad spoke about Les Paul many times when we were growing up. Inventor of the electric guitar, many young people probably don’t know who he is.
Born Lester Polfuss, Mr. Paul was an active musician from childhood. I don’t know if it’s legend or truth, but the story goes that after a the car crash that nearly cost him his right arm, Paul had his arm set so he could play the guitar.
A few years back Mom and Dad took a trip to New York City to see Mr. Paul perform, and Les signed my Dad’s classic Gibson six-string.
Here’s the genesis of that electric guitar you have in your hands, again from WTAE:
A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called “The Log,” a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.
“I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut.” He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.
In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.
Fascinating.
Sometime today, no doubt you will hear a song playing on the radio or on your MP3 player accompanied by an electric guitar. Stop for a moment, and thank the master of the six-string who made it all possible.
Revised Statement on Michael Scott Land Deal Because We Found Out?
The Chicago Sun-Times has the most recent from Chicago 2016:
Michael Scott’s role in helping West Side ministers develop city-owned land near a proposed Douglas Park Olympic venue raised the perception of a conflict of interest and should have been disclosed up-front, Chicago 2016 acknowledged Wednesday.
“In hindsight, given Mr. Scott’s role as agent for the group, it is understandable that a third party, without knowledge of the facts, might perceive a conflict of interest,” Chicago 2016 said in a prepared statement.
“It would have been preferable if Mr. Scott had disclosed this situation so the matter could have been vetted by the Chicago 2016 Audit Committee and any perception of conflict could have been avoided.”
The statement went on to say that Scott, who also serves as Chicago School Board president, “intends to submit a revised conflict of interest statement” outlining his role in the proposed development and “affirming that he has no financial gain from the project.” He also “intends to accelerate his separation as agent for the group,” officials said.
Scott could not be reached for comment.
We can only hope that there are enough members of the Press left in Chicago to keep an eye on all of this. Chicago has been plagued with political patronage for so long it must almost seem natural by now.
I really hope the Olympics come to Chicago. I hope even more the games can benefit all.
The pols must be kept under extreme scrutiny.
Advertisers Bailing on the Glenn Beck Show
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Keith Olbermann tallies the advertisers who are dumping Glenn Beck, refusing to advertise on his ugly show.
Recently, Beck joked about poisoning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And there’s more.
A list of Beck’s former advertisers:
- Procter & Gamble
- Progressive Insurance
- SC Johnson
- Lawyers.com
- Geico
- Men’s Warehouse
- Sargento
With a nod to ColorOfChange.org, I invite you to sign a petition that will go to Beck’s sponsors:
As you may know, right-wing talk show hosts have been bringing race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX’s Glenn Beck just took it to another level. On Tuesday, Beck said:
This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people… this guy is, I believe, a racist.
It’s part of a larger argument Beck has been making: that President Obama wants to serve the needs of Black communities at White people’s expense. This kind of talk stirs up fear, hate, and it can lead to violence.
I’ve joined ColorOfChange.org’s effort to stop Glenn Beck. ColorOfChange is already putting calls into Beck’s advertisers, asking them if they want to be associated with this kind of racist hate and fear-mongering. When the advertisers see that tens of thousands of us are behind that question, I believe they’ll move their advertising dollars elsewhere, and his show and platform will be history.
Will you take a stand and be counted, and invite your friends and family to do the same? It takes just a moment:
http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1835-468358
Glenn Beck is appealing to the worst in America. Of course, some Americans refuse to accept the fact that our president is Black or the idea that he could truly serve all Americans. But the only way these views fade away is if they’re not reinforced by mainstream society. Instead, folks like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh are exploiting racism and race-based fear to bump their ratings, stirring up racial discord in the process.
The dangers of these tactics are real. We saw the same dynamic during the presidential race: By the end, the McCain/Palin campaign was unable to control the violent energy whipped up by their race-baiting. It resulted in an unprecedented number of threats on Obama’s life, a rise in the number of hate groups, and an increase in the number of threats and crimes against immigrants and Black people.
FOX has a horrible track record on pushing racist propaganda, but Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard. He’s trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming together and talking about issues that really matter–like health care and the economy.
The good news is that we have the power to stop this. All major media is funded by advertising. And advertisers care more than anything what consumers think. If we want to change what’s happening and put an end to folks like Glenn Beck having a platform, we can do it.
It’s up to us, and it can start now. Please join me:
http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1835-468358
Thanks.
Here are some links to more info:
“Beck: Obama has ‘exposed himself as a guy’ with ‘a deep seated hatred for white people'”
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008
“Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by ‘reparations’ and desire to ‘settle old racial scores'”
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040
“MSNBC’s Deutsch encourages viewers to demand advertisers on Beck’s show spend money elsewhere”
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907290037
“On Television and Radio, Talk of Obama’s Citizenship”
http://tinyurl.com/mb467j