Le Drame Divin

If you haven't already heard, Tim Russert, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and host of "Meet the Press" collapsed at the network's office in Washington and died of a heart attack today. He was 58. In this day of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and Michael Savage, Tim Russert stood above them as a tough but fair interviewer who did not allow his personal political views to color his work. He will be missed.

Senator Edward Kennedy has a Malignant Tumor

After suffering a seizure Saturday and being airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, doctors today announced that the Senator has a malignant brain tumor, ABC News reports that this type of tumor can be treated if caught early enough , but is fatal in many cases.

I'm sure the right-wing fucktards are dancing for joy in light of this tragic news.

I like what Denis Leary said about Ted Kennedy - "Good Senator, but a bad date!" He has flaws, to be sure, and I am not one to deny that the whole Chapaquiddick incident was likely the fault of him driving drunk, and I wished he'd just admitted to it. As a Senator, he has carried the torch for his slain brothers, who have, IMO, impacted American society more for the positive than anyone else in the past 50 years. The Kennedys are not perfect, there is no doubt about that, but what JFK and RFK tried and Ted and the legacy Ted has carried on is undoubtedly the most impact any family has ever had in the nation's history.

I remember sitting atop the pergola in Dealey Plaza in Dallas - the same one where Abraham Zapruder stood to film that moment in history we have been affected by in one way or another - and crying. It was an emotional and moving experience to see that place. I first visited it in 1984, just short of 21 years after. My mom was overwhelmed - she talked about that day in 1963, where she was - she remembers it vividly. I have been there many times since, I always go there when I'm in Dallas - just to see and feel it. I often wonder what could have been.

This is probably the end of that generation of Kennedys in American government. The only thing that really saddens me, as it does the many children of Camelot, is that the vision spoke of in 1961 has never been fully realized. We got part of the way there, but we still have a long way to go.

"..the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans..." - President John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961.

May we pick it up and hold it aloft proudly.

So say the words spray-painted on what was once the base of the famous pop-art piece. Where I was working yesterday was only mere yards from it. Made famous by its appearance in "Wayne's World", even though the movie placed it out in Aurora, the "Spindle" in Berwyn is no more. In typical Chicago fashion, it was torn down after normal business hours on Friday, so as to keep the number of protesters to a minimum. That's the way things are done here - late at night and under the table - see no evil...

In credit to the city of Berwyn, they did try to sell the icon on eBay, but nobody bought it. I would have if I had the money - it would look great in my dad's backyard!

Sorry for the pixelation, it's my cell phone camera, but this is the site yesterday:



Trib article with WGN video

A Wake for the Spindle

I watched the latter happen, cars driving up and people taking photos.

Fuck Walgreen's.

I have to admit to it. Last night, as storms blew through the Chicago area, I decided to walk through one of the huge cemeteries on Des Plaines Ave. So here, clad in a black velvet coat, leather pants, and studded boots, and I am walking in a cemetery just after a rainfall. Is this not a fucking tableaux worthy of a Chris Kattan parody? But, I don't know, I just had to get out of the house and it seemed like an idea at the time.

I need to remind myself to take along a real camera - my phone camera just isn't any good in dim light. It was strangely quiet there, despite how close it was to Des Plaines Ave. and Roosevelt Rd. I looked at the names on the grave and one stopped me. Hallinger. That was Michelle's maiden name. I sat down on a bench and cried.

It was good, cleansing.

I picked myself up and got something for dinner, and retired to my bedroom.

There are no coincidences in life, just things that are meant to happen when they happen - even though they can be hard. Life can suck, but the feelings pass. Death is eternal - at that point it is over with, done, and what you did not accomplish will never come to pass. Or maybe not, maybe we do get another chance?

Thursday night, I shared my breakup with Laura with my friend Tracy. Her only words were "You are meant for better things." It was touching.

Indeed, it was the last thing tying me to Oklahoma City other than family. Since returning, my world has blossomed - regardless of daily diversions.

I walked the cemetery wondering what the names meant. Who were they? What did they do?

A fascinating trip.

Not from here. but from my physical world. One of the reasons I came back was to get a lot of my shit out of my Dad's house, where it's been ever since I vacated my condo. I can't believe some of the junk I have. Computer cables of dubious quality, a copy of Red Hat 7 (I guess that's still usable on my old, old, old, PC or Laptop from the last century), four copies of Windows 98 and one each of ME and 2000. Does anyone NEED four copies of 98? It gets worse...the four floppies that make up Windows 3.0. a copy of Windows 1.01 and CDs with the IBM OS/360 operating system - just in case anyone wants to emulate a 1960's-era mainframe on their PC.

I don't think much of this is usable, but if anyone wants it, it's free to a good home. Otherwise, it will just be relegated to the dustbin of history.

I also have several audio cassettes of indeterminate age or origin. I'm pretty sure it;s all board recordings of OKC bands circa the early 1990's, so I may keep those just for nostalgia. A bunch of VHS tapes, old landline phones, four printers, three monitors, a scanner, mice, keyboards (including a decent Kensington wireless set that's old, but I think still works).

So much crap, so little time...

This is what happens when infrastructure is ignored and you have to make do with what you have. Fortunately, nobody died in this incident, but it does reveal the difficulties the Chicago Transit Authority has in improving rolling stock while still offering affordable public transportation.

We strive for a lower reliance on fossil fuels - i.e., efficient cars and opportunities to leave our cars parked at home - but at the same time, we don't want to pay for alternatives. Does anyone of my liberal brethern think that this kind of thing comes for free? That if you just ask, it will come?

It won't.

It comes from continued support and holding those in charge accountable for their actions. The train that failed today was a 2200 Series, built in 1969. Why is such an old train still running the routes? And, for that matter, why is the CTA utilizing trackage that dates from the early 20th Century?

The Chicago Sun-Times decided to run a contest to see who could come up with the best video attacking Chicago Tribune and Chicago Cubs owner Sam Zell about his floating the idea of selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field. This has been a big controversy here, and I am firmly on the anti-Zell side - renaming Wrigley to baseball purists like myself is like renaming St. Patrick's Cathedral "Pepsi Cathedral" would be to Catholics. You just don't do it. You just don't even bring it up.

But, to the irony...the winners of the contest? Chicago Tribune staffers!

Yeah, it's a bad rip-off of Twisted Sister (is that an oxymoron?), but I think it's kind of funny, and the first line says it all - "It's where we do our boozin', where our team does it's losin'" - that sums up a summer at the Friendly Confines. Change the name? Hell no, hell fucking no! We love the Cubs and Wrigley, don't mess with it!

"Don't give our name to Hoosiers, or products made for hemmoroids!"

Sorry, I just have to laugh at that.

So says Belmont District Captain Mike Ryan, giving a statement to the media about the Chicago Police Department's fatal shooting of a cougar in the Roscoe Village neighborhood this evening. Um, did the word "tranquilzer" ever enter your mind before your officers opened a large volume of fire that threatened surrounding people? Bullets hit an air-conditioning unit of a family's home, where the father was bathing their 10-month-old child when the CPD opened up.

Full story here.

I do wonder how the hell a cougar got that far into the city, I know they are in the Forest Preserve Districts out near where I live - roughly 10 miles west of the Loop. But to get to Roscoe Village? It had to have been really crafty or someone's pet that escaped.

He was a bad actor and espouser of right-wing causes. To see him sit unflinchingly while Michael Moore discussed the handgun murder of a child was revolting, and he made matters worse by trying to defend gun ownership in light of that. You know, I grew up with guns, I own two of them - both of which are locked in a safe at my dad's house in Oklahoma City - I've had to carry one in the time I was working in law enforcement. I have no desire to keep one with me - having to carry one means you have to deal with the prospect of using it, and I just could not think about that. I liked "plinking" - shooting soda cans and such - but to actually defend myself with one? It's a troubling idea. It is easy for someone who isn't threatened to brandish a gun and cry about their "rights", but when a revolver is placed before you and you're urged to arm yourself because you have been threatened? It's not that easy, as the very real possibility that you may have to use it is right in front of you. It's easy to sit back and "defend" yourself against the unknown, it's entirely different when the threat has a name and a face. My guns are locked up a thousand miles away, and I don't feel unsafe without them. And, for those like Heston who claim that gun laws have no effect on crime and that gun ownership deters crime, I ask these questions - why does this nation have the highest rate of gun violence in the civilized world and the highest rate of gun ownership? It seems to me that the idea that gun ownership as a deterrent to crime should be displayed in a REDUCTION of gun crime, but it's not. And, why is it that, if gun restrictions do not reduce crime, has Chicago's rate of gun crime DECREASED since the banning of sales and restrictions on ownership have come to pass? Oak Park has not had a gun-related murder in several years, and it has an outright ban on ownership - should it not be the opposite, if we are to believe people like Heston? It's right next door to one of the roughest areas of Chicago and the gang-infested city of Cicero, yet there is no gun crime. Maybe it's because Oak Park as a vigilant police force and the city is markedly liberal, with a high population of educated and successful people? It should be a bastion of crime, with all its liberalism. Good riddance, Moses, your ideas were fucked-up and lacked any level of proof. Rhetoric only got you this far because some fools believe you really did part the Red Sea.

A "5-11" is the final, maximum standard alarm called by the Chicago Fire Department - it refers to the dispatch of 16 extra engines above a "still" (initial) alarm that sends two engines, two trucks, and a Battalion Chief. Essentially, a 5-11 calls out everyone and their dog, and then "Specials" are called if further equipment is needed. I don't agree with the authoritarian tone of these videos, but they provide great insight into the "Days of Rage", as the '68 riots were called. The sad fact of it all is that one can go through this area today and nothing has improved - it's often worse or just abandoned, crime is rampant - you see the "Blue Light Specials" (Chicago Police surveillance cameras) all over, a sign of a bad area. Madison from Western to Pulaski is still a DMZ.



EDIT - embedding has now been enabled: