Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Meghan McCain Thinks Aaron Schock is Teh Awesome

What a dreamy politician! Oh…My…God!
The first time I ever heard of Congressman Aaron Schock, I was hanging out with some friends during a girls' night in, and one of my friends yelled to me from the other room: “Meghan, there’s a congressman on TMZ.” To which I answered: “Twenty bucks he’s a Democrat.” Well, I was wrong. Schock is not only a Republican, but currently fills the congressional district in Illinois that Abraham Lincoln once held. (This winter, Huffington Post readers elected him “Hottest Freshman,” garnering him an appearance on the Today show. A couple of weeks later, TMZ started stalking Schock.) In the era of President Obama pop-culture mania, how is one conservative young congressman becoming the Republican Party’s very own pop-culture politician—and someone even my most liberal friends in West Hollywood are asking me about?
And blah, blah, blah the post goes on. Assuming Schock swings that way, I'm thinking he can score this weekend, maybe at one of the many McCain homes!

Oh, and I had never seen this picture of Schock. I wonder if those boobs are on his staff now.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Are You Following Me Camera Guy?

ShamWow pitchman, Vince, arrested in Miami. Details.

Shorter Kev 03/30/09

New names rock! Springfield’s east side can be revitalized if we rename it North LaCrosse.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

John Shimkus: Science Genius!

The stupid here almost hurts. Our own Rep. John Shimkus (R-Not as Smart as a 5th Grader) speaking about man-made carbon dioxide:
SHIMKUS: It's plant food ... So if we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere? ... So all our good intentions could be for naught. In fact, we could be doing just the opposite of what the people who want to save the world are saying.
Yes! Why didn't I think about this before? Humans need water to live, right? Well, I'm going to go hold my head under water for a few hours and get really healthy! Be right back when I'm done.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Anything is Possible in Sangamon County

This story is very strange and also very troubling if this woman’s story of having been sexually assaulted by a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, while on duty no less, is true. However…

Sherry Janssen, 48, was truthful when she answered “yes” when asked if the deputy had sexual relations with her on Jan. 1, according to an Illinois State Police polygraph examiner who administered the test Feb. 27.

Janssen requested that the newspaper print her name, even though she considers herself a sexual-assault victim. She said she believes that speaking out without cloak of anonymity adds credibility to her case.

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Janssen said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m telling the truth.”The polygraph examiner qualified his opinion, saying that Janssen, who acknowledges being an alcoholic, had consumed alcohol and medication prior to the exam. Janssen said she might have considered the incident a fantasy if the accused deputy hadn’t sent her a text message and voice mail hours after the alleged incident.
WTF? I guess she likes her (alleged) rapes with no strings attached. This “might” have been a “fantasy” had the deputy not followed up with a phone call and text? Huh? And just how did he get her cell phone number? He either forced it out of her (troubling) or she willingly gave it to him (strange unless the sex was consensual).

And for what it’s worth, I think lie detector tests are worthless. Might as well use a magic 8 ball.

I'm sure there's a lot to this incident that isn't showing up in the newspaper so it's a little hard to judge at this point. Still, there's enough information to make one wonder what's really going on. Given the seriousness of the accusation, I hope this is resolved soon.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Meet the New Boss, Then Run Away

This picture accompanies a story in the Southern Illinoisian about a job fair. Would you go to work for this guy?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Serious Insights: Turn Edition

I'm the only person in Springfield who pays any attention to No Right Turn on Red signs.

Stipulated: Pete Roskam is a Scumbag

I reprint this post in full:

What a scumbag:

Rep. Pete Roskam (R-IL) paid tribute to the NRCC, which he credited with helping him beat Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and Iraq war veteran who lost both her legs in combat. He recounted how the media loved to tell Duckworth's personal story. "Even Al Jazeera came in and covered the candidate debate," he said. "I'm not making it up."

But he said "a funny thing happened." "The good guys have come over the hilltop for me," he added. "You know who came in and rescued me? You did."
This is the guy who accused Duckworth, a double-amputee, of "cutting and running" from Iraq during his 2006 campaign. And now he's making allusions to a military-style rescue saving his campaign? And what is he implying with the reference to Al Jazeera? That the so-called "terrorist network" is a Duckworth sympathizer and somehow in league with the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and nominee for the Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs?

Of course it goes without saying that Roskam never served a day in his life. What an ass.

What huge fucking scumbag. Our modern GOP: bigots, cowards and liars.

Cee-Eff-Swell

This might be just another lame, not-well-thought-out idea from a local blogger but what if CWLP did something like this for Springfield residents:

Meanwhile, in Chile, a new governmental energy efficiency program focused upon increasing the use of compact fluorescents [light bulbs] has reduced residential
electricity consumption in Chile by more than 20%. That is not a typo-twenty percent. How did they do it-simple, they gave the bulbs away!! Consumers in lower income brackets received a free CFL for every incandescent bulb they turned in to their local utility, while those in higher brackets were able to purchase CFLs at cost.

The resulting decrease in use of electricity in Springfield would result in more electricity generating capacity that could be sold on the market. That, in turn, would mean more money for the city to either hold down taxes or implement more improvements that would benefit us all.

On a personal level, I have been using CFLs almost exclusively in my home for more than two years now. (My original blog post from that time on that subject is here and an update here.) Since then, I’ve been very pleased. I almost never have to change a burnt out bulb. I have four outdoor lights on the front of my house (two at the front door and two at the garage). When I was using old incandescents, I was changing one of these every month or two. In the last 2 years, I think I have changed just one of the four. Additionally, since I made the switch to CFLs in the house pretty much all it once, it was easy to attribute a serious drop in our electric bill the next month to the CFLs.

The other good news in CFLs is that over the last couple of years I’ve been able to find them in more shapes and sizes, allowing them to fit in most lamps and providing a more decorative look beyond the traditional “spiral” design.

The only downside to the CFLs has been their performance in really cold weather (outside only). If it gets down into the teens or lower, the CFLs can take a long time (several minutes) to warm up to full strength. And if it gets cold enough, say below zero, some of them won’t come on at all. But this is a minor and temporary annoyance, well worth the trade off of longer life and lower operating cost.

Shorter Kev 03/25/09

Dog poems rock! Let me read you one in its entirety. Note that this isn’t any worse radio than letting Rod Blagojevich have his own show.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Space Weather Can Kill

Just in case you don’t think there’s enough to worry about, add this to your list.
The good news is, we could minimize the effects and certainly have time to do it. The other bad news is, we won't.

Monday, March 23, 2009

I’m Roland Burris and Nobody Likes Me

Burris, the junior senator from Illinois, is trim and fit for a man of seventy-one, with a full head of hair barely flecked with gray. He beckoned a young aide to keep up as he bounded toward an elevator reserved for senators. There, Burris was joined by two Democratic colleagues, first Maria Cantwell, of Washington state, then Blanche Lincoln, of Arkansas. Burris had been a senator for less than two months—he was appointed by Rod Blagojevich, then the governor of Illinois, on December 30th, to fill the unexpired term of Barack Obama—and he had yet to learn the names of all of his colleagues. “Hello, Senator!” Burris said cheerfully to each woman. They nodded, smiled back at him, and, looking slightly embarrassed, stared down at the floor.

In the basement of the building, Burris raced to catch the subway to the Capitol, and when he arrived he met Ron Wyden, of Oregon, and Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, who, having already voted, were heading in the opposite direction. “Senators!” Burris said, and the two men made the same gestures as the pair in the elevator had: a friendly nod followed by an averted gaze.

AIG By Any Other Name

I wonder how much leeway the local AIG office here in Springfield has to do something like this:

The Nashville [Tennessee]-based subsidiary of insurer AIG is dropping those tarnished initials, a rebranding that separates it from its troubled parent and, officials say, highlights its individual identity.

In coming weeks, a new sign that emphasizes the initials of the unit, American General Life and Accident Insurance, will replace the one outside of its Brentwood-area headquarters that read "AIG American General" until the parent's name was covered up this week.

Shayna Schulz, a Houston-based spokeswoman for AIG, said the new AGLA logo will appear on employees' business cards, branch office signs and other materials.

"Moving to a brand that the company built its reputation on and that doesn't immediately bring to mind AIG certainly helps with new business sales," she said.
Remember, the AIG operation here used to be, going back a couple of owners, Franklin Life Insurance. Maybe a little re-rebranding might be good here too.


Update: Just saw on my teevee that an AIG office in New York is going for the rename too.

Shorter Kev 03/23/09

Residency requirements suck! Alderwoman Gail Simpson should know we already resolved this issue years ago and we always “change our underwear at the voting booth” anyway. Or something. Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

All Employees Should Live in Springfield!

Not just employees of the city of Springfield, but all workers who are employed within the city! How can a retail worker at Target be truly dedicated to serving Springfield customers if they don’t live in the city! The city provides the police and fire services that make their workplace safe, so these people need to live here and pay property taxes! And come to think of it, anyone who shops in Springfield needs to live here too! Again, if they don’t live here they aren’t paying property taxes and are sticking us with the bill for their crime and fire safety!

Springfield: Home of the Gail Simpsons!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Shorter Kev 03/20/09

Semis rock! They should be allowed to go 65 mph on Illinois highways. I’m evoking the Blago Opposite Effect and daring Governor Quinn to sign legislation raising the speed limit for semis because Rod Blagojevich previously vetoed similar measures three times.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Serious Insights: In Your Face(book) Edition

A blog is a much better place than Facebook to wear your politics and religion on your sleeve.

Furlough To Go

Governor Quinn wants to give state employees some extra time off, whether they want it or not and without pay. I would like to see the state allow employees to be able to trade furlough days with other state employees. That is, if Employee A doesn’t mind having even more paid time off, they could take some or all of Employee B’s furlough days from Employee B.

In my time working for the state, I knew a number of people who would gladly have taken more time off simply because they valued the time more than the money. They still needed the job, but had to work full time, all the time, when they really didn’t need to financially. Then there were those (like me at the time) who really couldn’t afford even four days off. I say get these folks together and do some tradin’.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Survivalist Beer Opener

Lest you think I've completely forgotten about beer, check out this instructional video on how to open a bottle of beer with a pen.

Could the AIG Office in Springfield Have Its Own Problems?

Through all this AIG mess, we’ve been assured that all the financial badness was confined to the company’s London-based operation that made all those bad insurance guarantees. We were told that the multitude of other AIG subsidiaries were in fine shape. But now it’s being reported that that might not be true.

Thomas Gober, a former Mississippi state insurance examiner who has tracked fraud in the industry for 23 years and served previously as a consultant to the FBI and the Department of Justice, says he believes AIG's supposedly solvent insurance business may be at least as troubled as its reckless financial-products unit. Far from being "healthy," as state insurance regulators, ratings agencies and other experts have repeatedly described the insurance side, Gober calls it "a house of cards." Citing numerous documents he has obtained from state insurance regulators and obscure data buried in AIG's own 300-page annual reports, Gober argues that AIG's 71 interlocking domestic U.S. insurance subsidiaries are in hock to each other to an astonishing degree.

Most of this as-yet-undiscovered problem, Gober says, lies in the area of reinsurance, whereby one insurance company insures the liabilities of another so that the latter doesn't have to carry all the risk on its books. Most major insurance companies use outside firms to reinsure, but the vast majority of AIG's reinsurance contracts are negotiated internally among its affiliates, Gober says, and these internal balance sheets don't add up.
However, AIG denies this:

AIG spokesman Mark Herr took strong exception: "We strongly disagree with Mr. Gober's analysis, which lacks a fundamental understanding of our commercial insurance operations' inter-company risk sharing agreements or even the basics of statutory accounting…[blah, blah, blah]
Well, who knows. I only bring this up because of the AIG operation here in Springfield that employs hundreds of people. I have no idea if or how any of this relates specifically to the AIG operation here, but it does raise some concerns in my mind.

Thank Rod!

I can’t help but feel that the Blago Opposite Effect (BOE) is significantly paving the way for some drastic measures to be implemented regarding the state budget. BOE is simply the notion that whatever disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich did, it’s better to do the opposite. Blago was opposed to tax increases, we should raise taxes! Rod-man closed parks and historic sites, we should reopen them! Seriously, I remember the last state tax increase over 20 years ago. It was very contentious. And while it’s still early in the debate, the even larger state income tax hike being proposed by Governor Quinn has a pretty good chance of passing with only minor opposition. Why? Well, state government is in pretty dire financial straits for one thing. But Blago told us we should never raise taxes so that triggers the BOE in us all, making hiking taxes much easier. We’ll see how it goes, but the Blagojevich legacy just might make the hard decisions easier.

Update: I also think Blagojevich offers us a convenient object of blame, making it easier to implement measures that might not otherwise be politically feasible. “We don’t want to do all of these things to fix the state budget but Blago messed everything up so we have to!”

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Simple Simon

So Barnes & Noble is staying put, and not moving to White Oaks Mall. This is far from the most serious issue even here in Springfield, but someone is lying here:
Mall director of marketing and business development Christine Lahmann said she was not aware of any discussions between the mall and Barnes & Noble.

She added that there are no immediate plans for the former theater space.

Employees at Barnes & Noble said no one was available to discuss plans for remodeling the existing store.

Robbins said he believes Barnes & Noble was serious about moving to White Oaks Mall, adding that he was not sure if the economy played a role in the company’s decision to stay put.

I’m not claiming any inside knowledge, but it was my understanding that White Oaks management (Simon Property Group ) kicked the “cheap” theater out to make room for B&N. In other words, we would still have a nice $2 theater in town if not for Simon’s stupid decision. For the life of me, I can’t understand why that mall is still open. It may have been the core of all of the retail development on the cities southwest side years ago, but it now seems more like the rotten core.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Daily Stock Market Ups & Downs Aren’t Newsworthy

I’ve been beating this drum for some time and news outlets keep ignoring me. Imagine!

Anyway, check this out:

[36] percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday morning said unemployment is the most important economic issue facing the country today, almost three times higher than the 13 percent who felt the same way last April.

Inflation is second at 20 percent, followed by the mortgage crisis at 16 percent, the stock market at 14 percent and taxes at 11 percent.

Yes, a whopping 14 percent think the stock market is the most important economic issue. And that’s just economic news, not even news overall. Yet, just this morning, topping the news at a local radio station, was stock market news. I know it’s easy and understandable but it really isn’t important or useful.

It’s also interesting that only 11 percent thought taxes are the most important thing. You wouldn’t know that by listening to talk radio or reading the letters to the editor.

Shorter Kev 03/16/09

Governor Quinn rocks! New taxes are good if you can blame them on Rod Blagojevich’s legacy.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Shorter Kev 03/13/09

Willis sucks! We will never call it anything but the Sears Tower. It’s odd for me to care since I’ve traditionally shown the typical irrational contempt for Chicago that most Springfieldians embarrassingly display at every opportunity.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?

Sorry, but it’s always going to be the Sears Tower to me.

CHICAGO - The tallest building in America is getting a new name.

Chicago's Sears Tower will be renamed Willis Tower after London-based Willis Group Holdings. The insurance broker announced the name change and other details of its agreement with the building's owners Thursday.

Serious Insights: Guns or Bandages Edition

I find it odd that in this country owning a gun is considered a right but healthcare isn’t.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Shorter World War II

This may be the funniest (and way shortest) history of WWII that I’ve ever seen. Well worth clicking through to. Like I’ve said, I’m a big fan of histo-cartographic humor.


Sub-Ject

Ok, I'll admit this is pretty cool...

…but it’s a far cry from the incomparable Flying Sub of my youth.



Real Flying Sub fans need to go here.

Shorter Kev 02/11/09

Local businesses rock! Let my guest editorialist give you a bunch of fair and balanced reasons to love locally owned businesses and hate big chain stores. And since I get most of my ad revenue from local businesses, this is entirely predictable.


Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Grilled Cheese Grilled

I love a good grilled cheese sandwich, but I’ve never actually “grilled” one. You know, on a grill rather than a frying pan. Time to try it.

Trackin'

This story got me once again thinking about the disrespect rail travel gets in some (rightwing, of course) circles. Kill Amtrak, it can’t make a profit! Why should taxpayers subsidize rail travel?!
Well, what I don’t get about this “argument” of profitability is this: Since when did highways (other than tollways) ever make a profit or even one red cent? We heavily subsidize road travel and no one says a thing. The cost of driving doesn’t end at the boundary of your vehicle.

Even air travel is directly and indirectly subsidized.

If all rail service had to make a profit, there would be a number of profitable trains in the Northeast part of the country and that’s about it. There’s nothing wrong with public subsidization for rail. In fact, it’s a pretty efficient means of transportation that should be encouraged.

But back to the story. I think it would be great to have high(er) speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis with a stop here in Springfield. When going to Chicago (downtown, anyway), my preferred method is by train. In the process, I’m keeping one more car off the road, don’t have to worry about parking, and can relax on the trip.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Serious Insights: More Guns Edition

If clergy were required to carry guns, church shooting would not happen.


Shorter Kev 02/09/09

Springfield rocks! We have Daylight Savings Time! Our tornado sirens work! Our economy is good! People here still give to charity! We are buying cars! Be optimistic and buy radio air time!

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

I Hate Springfield Nazis

I was in Sam's today and saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said in big letters:

Don't Blame Me
I Voted for the
White Guy


Friday, March 06, 2009

Let Me Tell You Again How Brilliant I Am

One year and one month ago today, I wrote this:
OK, I know we're all distracted by the strobe light of the primaries, but let’s take note of the fact that the recession we are all going to be living thorough, perhaps for years, actually started now and not under the next president who will have to deal with it. Something tells me this fact will be forgotten just months (or sooner) after the next president is sworn in.
And as I predicted, the latest wingnut talking point is blaming the current president for all our economic woes even though he has only been in office a few weeks. And it really wasn’t hard to see this coming, even a year away.


In that same post, I said this which is as applicable today as it was then:
Speaking of economic downturn, I’m really tired of the pundit class on my TV (and elsewhere) telling me that I am most concerned about the stock market when it comes to economic issues. They point to the fact that many, many Americans now have investments in the market through their 401k plans. And while that's true, 401ks for most people are neither all that large (in terms of dollars) nor a day-to-day money concern. These well-paid-for-nothing pundits and their social and professional cohorts probably DO have lots invested in the market, so it is a concern for them. But the rest of us don’t really have a big stake in the market, at least not one we need to worry about today.

Anyway, I don’t live for the stock market and most other people don’t either. But the bobble heads on the TV don’t get that. They don’t have to worry about the next house payment or have to make a decision between filling the tank and stocking the
pantry.
I really don’t get why the stock market gets so much media attention and joblessness gets an occasional mention whenever the new unemployment rate comes out (like it did today). If I’m unemployed, my 401k is the least of my worries. Not that this is a new phenomenon, it just seem particularly misguided now.

Shorter Kev 03/06/09

Sexual orientation bigots suck! Stop believing in Teh Stupid and let Teh Gay have the same rights everyone else has.


Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Cutting the Wrong Things?

Matthew Yglesias points out something I’ve thought about in regards to the (in some places) failing newspaper business. Writing about a newspaper review of Watchmen with which he disagrees…
…the really interesting thing about his argument… is that it appears in The Washington Post written by a “Washington Post staff writer.” As newspapers vanish, there’s some stuff that it’s not clear we can replace. But I think we can be very confident that if the internet can provide anything, it’s arguments about the merits of comic books and their movie adaptations. And I think it’s somewhat strange to see news organizations holding on to this kind of professionally-produced content at the same time as they’re offering buyouts to people who do the kind of reporting that it’s not clear blogs can replace.


I don’t pretend to know anything much about the business of newspaper management but this sounds right (“truthy”, perhaps). If papers need to make cuts, shouldn’t it be in the area of opinion and other features that the internet handles better? Who needs the Op-Ed page and letters to the editor and movie reviews and travel tips when the internet is so full of that stuff already for free? I say this in the context of having to make choices between actual reporters and this other stuff. On the other hand, it may be the other stuff is what actually moves the papers, in which case there really is no economically viable market for newspaper reporting anyway and we’re all screwed.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

More Rush to Judgment

Gotta love those internets. Now there is a site available for cowardly Republicans/conservatives who may accidentally offend Rush Limbaugh to compose a simple, yet sufficiently groveling, apology letter to Rush. I think a follow-up on-air mea culpa on Rush’s show would still be appropriate (i.e. required) as well.

Shorter Kev 02/04/09

Blago still sucks! I strongly suspect that since our former governor has no credibility, he is writing his book…get this…FOR THE MONEY! Fortunately, I don’t make any money off of any on-air personalities with no credibility.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Rush to Judgment

I’ve never seen anything like it. One of the country’s major political parties is now entirely beholden to a radio talk show host. The chairman of the Republican National Committee bows down and kisses Rush Limbaugh’s ring after “accidently” criticizing” him. A week or two ago a Republican congressman felt the need to do the same thing. A party like that deserves to be out of power. And they will be for a long time if they become Rushian Party.

Update: More Rush ass-kissing from a prominent Republican (Jindal this time). The guy is a talk radio gas-bag, for goodness sake! Maybe Bobby can use this as a pre-apology in case he ever “accidentally” says something Rush doesn’t like. Might as well be ahead of the game.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Silly Kids Redux

Having been active on Facebook now for several months, I was amused to reread this old post of mine. It still applies, but now I have the Facebook chops to back it up.

And aside from a few harmless comments from Daughter #2, most of the kids I’ve come into contact with who also have Facebook pages, are OK with frighteningly old people like myself being there. Unless they're just being nice to a kindly old gentelman.

Burris Really Does Have Blago Syndrome

Good luck with that Roland. Story here.


This Decade is Almost Over and We Haven’t Named It Yet!

C’mon, it’s 2009 and in a year or so we are going to have to be able to refer to this decade as something. Is it the 00’s? We had the 90s, the 80s, the 70s, etc. In twenty years, thirtysomethings are going to need to be able to look at high school pictures and say, “Can you believe how stupid we looked in those [00’s] clothes?” Someone make a decision before it’s too late.

Kiku is a Giant Clusterf#(k

Wow, I’ve never been to a more poorly run restaurant in my life than Springfield’s new Kiku restaurant. And I’m not exaggerating. It really is number one on my list. On Valentine’s Day, Mrs. TEH and I went there without reservations and were turned away. They told us we needed reservations. OK, fair enough, we went elsewhere.

This past week, we tried to make reservations there for a group of us who often go out together and were told they no longer take reservations. OK, fair enough. So we get there Saturday night and put our name in. We were told by the manager that he can’t figure out how to do reservations right and he really has no idea how long the wait is, but he says expect to wait 90 minutes.

We head into the “bar” only to find out that the bartender had called in sick and there was no one to serve drinks. So the place is a giant waiting area where the restaurant is losing a fortune on people who would otherwise be buying drinks. Due to the long wait time, several in our party headed next door to Mariah’s to drink at their bar. Apparently, a lot of people were doing this that night.

I ran into one person who was told there was a 90 minute wait, put his family’s name in and then left for half an hour. When he came back, he was told his name had already been called and he was put on the bottom of the list again.

Several of us stayed in the non-serving bar to hold our spot on the list. I noticed on the walls of the bar were the old cables that once ran to TVs when the place was a sports bar. Not only had the new management not replaced the TVs, but they had left the wiring just randomly coming out of the wall. Soon I noticed that every once in a while someone could actually talk one of the waitresses into getting them a drink, but those opportunities were few and far between. I felt like I was in some third world bar where service and product were only intermittently available.



After about 90 minutes, we noticed that people who came in after us (and farther down on the seating list) were getting seated. Apparently, the same genius manager decided he would continue to seat the parties of two or three or even five and not mess with us because there were ten of us. So we all walked out and went elsewhere. (Well, some of us were already elsewhere - Mariah’s). I don’t expect to be back anytime soon.

Serious Insights: Pulaski Edition

I’m showing my holiday spirit by wearing my favorite Casimir sweater.

Shorter Kev 03/02/09

The Stimulus Plan rules! I know I’ve previously said that Springfield is not part of the global recession because we are so awesome (and have a positive attitude!), but I really think the tax credit for first-time home buyers will help Springfield recover from the recession we are not part of.

Kevan Kavanaugh’s commentaries can be heard regularly on AM 970 WMAY.