babbling blue

Can you tell the difference between Bush and McCain? I only got 2 out of 5 right. See if you can do better by taking the Bush-McCain Challenge.

When you’re done, see if you can tell the difference between McCain and the carrot below.

If you are in Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa (they can vote?), Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee or Utah then tomorrow is Primary (or caucus) day for you. Please be sure to vote. This is one of the most important (and, in my humble opinion, interesting) elections of our time.

I’d prefer if you voted for Obama, but even if you vote for someone else the important thing is voting. I think it’s a responsibility as well as a right.

There are a couple reasons, actually. One is that I think that McCain may be easier for a Democrat to beat in the general election. Why do I think this? He doesn’t really have the support of the conservative base of the Republican party. Witness these emails posted on a conservative blog, with people saying that if McCain is the nominee they will abstain (or possibly do a write-in). This can only help us Democrats, and it’s wonderful news. As the author of the blog post points out, some of these people will probably change their mind. . . but not all of them. Unless the Republicans can think of another way of increasing conservative voter turnout, like they did with anti-gay ballot measures in the past, they may be in trouble.

Another reason I’m pulling for McCain is that he is far less odious than Romney. He seems like more of a straight-shooter. Has he ever changed his position on something? Sure he has. And I think any politician that’s never changed their mind should be tossed out on their ass. No one has the right answer the first time every time. Admitting you were wrong and changing your position–when it’s warranted–is worthy of admiration, not derision.

Now Romney, on the other hand . . . I don’t trust him or his hair as far as I can throw either of them. Someone once said that you didn’t know Romney’s position on an issue until you saw the crowd he was speaking to. (If I find the source of the quote later, I’ll add it.) Flip flop. Flip flop. Flip . . . you get the point. Either this poor guy just can’t make up his mind about anything, or he’s an opportunist that tries to have it both ways. I’m betting it’s the latter. Frankly it mystifies me a bit why Republicans are buying into Romney’s purported conservative credentials, when most of them seem to be forged.

McCain, though misguided in many of his positions, seems like the more honorable and trustworthy person.

It’s been awhile, but I decided it’s time to make a return to political blogging. That is to say, blogging at least a little about real politics, not CTA foolishness and the bumbling idiots in Springfield.

I don’t normally watch many debates, but for some reason I felt compelled to watch both the Democratic and Republican debates this past week. They could not have been more different. The Democratic debate was first, on Monday. It aired on CNN and was moderated (if you can call it that) by Wolf Blitzer. The only participants were Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. It was clear that the two front-runners are Hillary and Obama. They didn’t really view Edwards as much of a threat. For much of the debate, Hillary and Obama were at each others’ throats, flinging accusations back and forth like they were playing catch. At one point Edwards commented that there were three people in the debate, not two. The debate was in two parts. The first hour was supposed to be a traditional format with the moderator asking questions and the candidates having a certain amount of time to answer and rebut, if applicable. It turned out to be more of a barely controlled near-free-for-all. Edwards mostly stayed out of it at first, then ganged up with Hillary against Obama. Could he be looking for a ride on her ticket as VP? Maybe, but then later in the debate he turned on Hillary for a bit too. The second half of the debate the candidates were allowed to sit down and were supposed to basically just discuss issues amongst themselves, prodded along by Wolf. The main difference between the first and second halves were that the candidates were standing up in the first and seated in the second. The bickering was pretty unbecoming. The main issues discussed seemed to be health care and Iraq. And how the other candidates eat babies.
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Well the transit funding measure passed yesterday, so Doomsday III has been averted.

“All’s well that ends well,” Blagojevich said. “I think the wait was well worth it because the result is very, I think, significant for the people in the Chicagoland area as well as for our senior citizens all across Illinois who are going to see an improvement in their quality of life.”

Oh, shut the fuck up, you horse’s ass! You are truly a first class shit head. It was not worth the wait. This should have been settled months ago.

Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) compared Blagojevich to Cuban leader Fidel Castro and other “dictators.”

“Today democracy is dead in Illinois,” said Sandoval, who voted for the plan. “There is no give and take. There is no compromise.”

Ha! And this is a fellow Democrat. While I personally wouldn’t go so far as to call Blago a dictator, he is clearly an impediment to progress rather than a driver behind it. And the state legislators are far from being blameless in this whole fiasco.

So does this mean everything is now wonderful, and transit is going to improve drastically for us? Hardly.

Transit officials warned the job is only half done. RTA Chairman Jim Reilly said lawmakers now must turn their attention to finding money to repair the system’s crumbling tracks, aging buses and rusting equipment, needs that could tally as much as $10 billion.

The funding measure passed this week will simply keep the CTA, Metra and Pace systems up and running as they are now–poorly. But at least they will be running.

(Chicago Tribune article)

I have been a little busier than anticipated so I haven’t blogged about my vacation, or anything else that I intended to. I hope that stuff will be coming up once I get a chance to download my pictures from my camera. In the meantime, I think it’s time for another little CTA rant. But this one isn’t directed at the CTA.

So we in the Chicagoland area are staring down our third “Doomsday” in the past six months. This means that the CTA is threatening to massively slash bus services (eliminating 81 of 154 bus routes) and raise fares (train fares would go up by as much as $1.25, more than a 50% increase). In the previous two Doomsdays, the Governor has offered temporary solutions to bail out the local transit agencies (CTA, Metra, Pace). The first was a pay day loan (resulting in this Doomsday being worse than the last two) and the second was a grant of money that he apparently “appropriated” from Federal highway funds. At the time of the 2nd, in early November, the Governor said he and the legislature just needed a couple more weeks to come up with a permanent solution. They haven’t.

The Governor and the Legislature have continued their petty bickering, acting like children on a playground rather than grown-up, elected officials. The Governor has been the worst offender of all. He has continuously vowed to veto any tax increases, instead preferring some half-baked plan to increase gambling (’cause that’s healthy) in Illinois.

That’s what has come before. What’s happening now? Well the Legislature finally managed to pass a measure to increase sales tax in Chicago and the collar counties by 0.25% (that’s an extra penny on a $5 purchase) and to allow Chicago to increase their real estate transfer tax (I think that’s a bit of a scam, but what can you do?). It passed by the exact number of votes required. So what does the Governor do? In a blatantly transparent move of political theatrics, he refuses to sign the measure unless all senior citizens are given free rides on all buses and train operated by the three transit agencies. Huh? This came out of nowhere! For one thing, seniors already pay reduced fares. For another, the Chicago Tribune reports that seniors as a group are no more or less poor than those in other age brackets, but they do vote in higher percentages. The transit agencies now say they will need to raise fares to compensate for the lack of money coming from seniors. And there is no guarantee that the measure will pass the Legislature.

House Speaker Michael Madigan said Monday he expects lawmakers to go along with Blagojevich but warned of “weakness” among some who voted for it last week.

“The governor would be well-advised to get to work, stop causing conflict, stop causing confrontation, get on the phone, talk to people who are a little weak on their support for his position,” Madigan said on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.”

Madigan should probably take his own advice a little more, but he’s right on this one. (quote link)

This whole situation is simply infuriating. Illinois is a national embarrassment. There are probably tens of thousands of people wondering if they’ll be able to get to work next week. And Blagojevich plays games. He should really stick to Candy Land, as that seems to be about all he can handle.

RedEye Blog Doomsday News

… that all managers of white collar workers get 1 day off a week, so their employees get one day free of interruptions for stupid questions, requests for status reports, and the need to stop whatever they are working on to do this thing the manager has had on their desk for three weeks which is now due tomorrow.

… that any man 5′6″ or under be required to use the shorty urinals if there are any.

… that all Illinois lawmakers and the Governor be forced to commute on the CTA every day for a week.

… that charging a dollar or more for a bottle of filtered tap water be considered price gouging.

… that the former smoking sections in restaurants be converted into family sections; anyone who has children with them will have to sit in those sections.

… that we “fall back” a day later so I can actually get an extra hour of sleep when I need it.

… that if Americans actually got enough sleep we wouldn’t be so dependent on coffee & Coke.

… that you should play World of Warcraft.

… that you really shouldn’t buy Britney’s album.

I hope I’m not related to Dick Cheney. I mean, if he and Barack Obama can be cousins, anyone can be related to him. I’m trying not to hold this against Obama, but it’s hard. Family ties can be strong ones, even for eighth cousins.

This makes you wonder (well it makes me wonder, and it should make you wonder too) what other famous people could be related. Maybe Mel Gibson is a distant cousin of Mel Brooks. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump have some common ancestors. Getting back to presidential candidates, wouldn’t it be fun to discover that Hilary Clinton and Rush Limbaugh are related? Yes, it would.

This all gives me hope that I might have a distant celebrity relative. Now all I have to do is find out who it is and get in their good graces. Or at least in their will. Of course with my luck, I’ll probably find out I’m related to Karl Rove.

In case you haven’t heard, Congress has finally rallied together to address a major problem facing this country right now. Iraq? No. Health care? No. The economy? No. Immigration? No sir. Oil? No no no. Give up? It’s a newspaper ad.

MoveOn.org published an ad in the New York Times criticizing Gen. Petraeus for being a shill for the White House, presenting misleading information to Congress and the American people. Apparently the thing that really has our illustrious legislators burning bright with the fire of righteous indignation was the heading “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” How dare they?! I’ll defer to MoveOn’s justifications rather than getting into them myself. They make sense to me.

To put this in perspective, I defer to the eloquence and knowledge of President Bill Clinton:

I sure do miss him sometimes! Sadly, it’s not just the Republicans involved in this nonsense. Many Democrats are jumping on the bandwagon as well, perhaps in fear of being left behind. My own Congressman voted for the House resolution condemning the ad. Way to go, Rahm!

Well, I hope now that Congress has dealt with this absolutely critical issue of a newspaper ad they’ll be able to move on to some of the lesser problems facing us. Like those I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

For the last couple years, the CTA has had to beg, plead, threaten and cajole to get the money it needs. It is very annoying. They always come up with these horrible contingency plans that will result in both massive fare hikes and service cutbacks if they don’t get the money they need from the state.

Normally our illustrious mayor is fairly quiet on the subject of the CTA. He seems to take a fairly hands-off approach, at least publicly. So you know if he’s getting personally involved the situation is serious. The deadline for funding is quickly approaching (Sept. 15). And he’s getting involved.

“If Springfield doesn’t act, every resident will suffer through more traffic congestion, more air pollution, more absenteeism and less productivity, slower transit service and more money out of our pockets for higher fares and car travel,” Daley told about 200 sign-carrying transit advocates, union workers and others at a rally organized by the Regional Transportation Authority at the James R. Thompson Center.

I’m not a huge fan of Daley these days, but he rather nicely sums up why the CTA needs the money from the state. Mass transit is an issue that effects everyone, whether you take it yourself or not.

Our useless state government is being even more obnoxious than usual.

The RTA [Regional Transit Authority] and other transit agencies have been calling for approval of the legislation for months, but the General Assembly has been stymied by budget negotiations and personal differences between the governor and legislative leaders.

Come on, guys. Get your heads out of your asses for a minute and figure this out! I can’t decide who makes me more angry, the idiots in Springfield or the CTA itself.

Though to be fair (and I know I’m jinxing myself here) my commute was uncharacteristically quick and smooth this morning.