The People’s House

I think stories like this give the impression that the Executive Mansion in Springfield was shuttered during the Blagojevich administration because the governor didn’t live there. That simply isn’t true. I attended business function there last fall. I’m not sure if there were regular tours available to the public but the Mansion could be rented by the public for use. Still, I appreciate Governor Quinn’s meet-and-greet effort. It does show a new openness and certainly goes a long way toward mending hurt feelings among Springfieldians.

Springfield to Washington, A Path Well Traveled

I’m not easily moved by such things, but I felt a certain sense of pride and hope last night when I watched Air Force One fly over my house, turn east and to head back to Washington DC. On that plane was our new president. A president who was working here in Springfield as a state senator only a few years ago. And now he was winging his way to Washington to face problems that tower over issues he may have faced here. It was almost symbolic; Obama coming to town to honor Springfield’s favorite son, himself a president elected at a time of crisis, and flying off in the majestic bird to go help craft a future that without superb leadership will be grim. I wonder if leaving Springfield last night, Obama didn’t finally get the sense that this was really it, it’s all up to him now.

Happy Birthday A. Hussein Lincoln

You don’t look a day over 190. And look, while hiking out west I came across this strange rock formation that happens to look just like you!

All the Way From Memphis

Mott the Hoople from the early '70s doing All the Way From Memphis. The live 1973 version here.

Just a good song and a fun '70s jam. Love the piano but you can't hear as much of it in the live version.

They Day the Earth Almost Stood Still

So things almost got catastrophic a few months ago while we were busy going about our business. Via Ezra Klein, this from Rep. Paul Kanjorski is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets:

On Thursday (Sept 18), at 11am the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw-down of money market accounts in the U.S., to the tune of $550 billion was being drawn out in the matter of an hour or two. The Treasury opened up its window to help and pumped $105 billion in the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic out there.

If they had not done that, their estimation is that by 2pm that afternoon, $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out of the money market system of the U.S., would have collapsed the entire economy of the U.S., and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed. It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it.

Holy crap. At least Springfield would not have been affected out of sheer will and awesomeness (see my post immediately below).

Shorter Kev 2/11/09

Springfield is awesome! So awesome it is simply refusing to participate in the global recession. In fact, Springfield businesses are doing really great and surely have enough money and confidence in the future that they can buy tons of radio advertising. Just saying. Oh, and Pat Quinn and Barack Obama are awesome too because they know Springfield is awesome.

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

Always Good to Get a Slam in on Kentucky

Matthew Yglesias observes:

Just saw Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) on TV warning that the stimulus plan will “turn America into Western Europe.” Terrifying.
…
Western Europe has its pros and cons relative to the United States and since it represents a diversity of different policy environments it doesn’t even really make sense to talk about adopting “European” policies. Still, it strikes me as odd that conservatives seem so convinced that a set of countries whose populations are healthier and longer-lived, and where dramatically fewer children grow up in poverty, is somehow obviously a dystopian nightmare. Indeed, even at the time when living standards really were clearly higher in the United States and tons of Europeans were eager to move here, the people of old continent were hardly clamoring to get into the glamorous world of Kentucky.

Oh bluegrass snapitude!

Now if McConnell was truly worried that this country might be transformed into Somalia or even The Democratic Paradise of Iraq, then I could at least understand his alarm. But saying you fear becoming like Western Europe (!) just isn’t going to frighten anyone except the wingnut base-of-ignorance that routinely worries about the strangest (and often non-existent) things. But hey, that’s why they are coming increasingly irrelevant as more and more people see that these guys are just nuts.

Tax My Beer

I have no problem with the proposed 5% sales tax on packaged liquor in Springfield. Well, except that the idea comes from The Can-Man and that always gives me pause.

Look, the money is going to have to come from somewhere, and while this tax will not come close to filling the city’s entire budget deficit, it will help. And while some people may actually go out of their way to find there liquor outside the city to save 5 cents on the dollar, that’s going to be a very small group of people. I say go for it.

And by the way, SJ-R, Heineken sucks. Use a better beer (which would be almost any beer) for price comparison. Actually, why not just show us what the price difference would be for a 6 or 12 pack of Bud Light? That would be something more people could relate to. I say tax Heineken at 10%. And while we are at it, any beer with fruit in it should be taxed at 50%.

Not His Fault

Citizen Rod Blagojevich has just released a new version of his side of the story.

Shorter Kev 2/9/09

Abe Lincoln rocks! Springfieldians, embrace the man and the legacy! If not for him, you might not have your state job.

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

Schock the Hunkey

Our new rep. thanks the Huffington Post for voting him the “Hottest Freshman” of the 111th Congress.

I appreciate this honor, but my real goal is to have a "hot" legislative record on behalf of the people I serve.

What’s he have in mind, tax breaks for Victoria’s Secret? Legislation requiring TWO annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues? Have the FCC designate a special network adult swim prime time slot for shows like Californication?

Phone Pacing

This topic came up briefly last night within my inner circle of Facebook friends and I thought I’d bring it up here too. Apparently those of us who pace around while talking on the phone drive everyone else crazy with our pacing. I do this all the time while on the phone. I always have, even back in the days when I was tethered to the phone by a cord. I’m not sure why I do it but, hey, it’s good exercise and keeps the blood flowing so I can make even more stimulating conversation. The other consensus was that this behavior is mostly a guy thing. Is this an example of the hunter-gatherer vs. nesting instincts still embedded in us? Or is this just a character flaw in some men like leaving the toilet seat up?

Supreme Asshole

I think I’ve been paying attention for the last 35 years or so, and I don’t ever remember sitting Supreme Court justices writing books, going on book tours, making media appearances, shouting down 20 year-old college students…

The book promotion led Florida Atlantic University student Sarah Jeck to ask Scalia if the Supreme Court’s opposition to having its proceedings televised was “vitiated” by, among other things, “Supreme Court justices going out on book tours.”

Her question drew laughter and applause from the crowd of about 730, but Scalia wasn’t amused.

“That’s a nasty, impolite question,” Scalia said before moving on to another query.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I like Supreme Court justices to keep to themselves and not offer their opinions except in legal matters before the court. If Scalia wants to do this sort of stuff, he should step down.

Argumentative Stacking

While Republicans continue their attempt to block the jobs bill in congress, some of them are resorting to showing us just how much money a trillion dollars really is. One senator, John Thune, even told us teh other day how high that much money would go if stacked. Thanks, John, that’s very helpful to the debate! Not wanting to let that go unchallenged, Josh Marshall, has an equally useful graphic comparing the height of the money with the combined height of unemployed Americans.

Excellent! Our height is greater than yours, so we win!

Funny how the trillion dollar cost of the pointless war in Iraq never concerned some of these guys (to them wars and tax cuts are free). I wonder how close to the moon we would get if we stacked all the dead and wounded end to end. More charts!

Good Fences Make For Clever Neighbors

Speaking of wasteful government spending, remember that big, expensive wall we are putting up on the Mexican border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants? How’s that working out?

And all the while, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants continue to breach the fencing that is up, forcing Border Patrol agents and contractors to return again and again for repairs. The smugglers build ramps to drive over fencing, dig tunnels under it, or use blow torches to slice through. They cut down metal posts used as vehicle barriers and replace them with dummy posts, made from cardboard.
…
Where fencing is going up, the look varies from place to place. In high-traffic pedestrian areas, such as around ports of entry, the barriers include 10-foot-tall mesh fences, angled to deter climbers, and solid walls made from Army surplus steel originally used to create landing strips during the Vietnam War. There are about 300 miles of these pedestrian barriers up now, built at an average cost of $3.9 million per mile, including land acquisition, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In remote regions where drive-through smuggling is the top concern, the Border Patrol has built vehicular barriers, often steel posts driven into the desert ground at close intervals. The average cost is about $1 million per mile, according to the GAO.

Well, at least we aren’t wasting that money on birth control!

Perfect February

I would be remiss as an observational blogger not to point out that this month, February 2009, is perfectly symmetrical on the calendar:

Free Grand Slams

Yeah, but how do you tip 20% on $0? Maybe this wasn’t so good for servers.

Seriously though, good on Denny’s. Hopefully it will turn out to have been a good business decision (promotion) for them as well.

Why Blago Lives On

I find it kind of funny how some of the local and Illinois blog/talk show/pundit crowd continues to be so upset by citizen Blagojevich’s appearances in the major media. Really, these appearances are not “news” and aren’t meant to be. They’re entertainment. That’s why Blago will be on Letterman and Larry King tonight, because the guy is a freak show and people will tune in to see it. No one should get frustrated when Blago lies and the interviewer doesn’t bust him on it. That’s not why he’s there. And that’s actually part of his media appeal; everyone knows he’s a scoundrel but it’s entertaining to see him pretend he’s not. He's harmless now. Let him be stupid.

Back of Envelope Blogging

Republicans in Washington, in full obstructionist mode, have decided they are going to do everything they can to stop the economic stimulus plan floating around in congress from passing. They contend there is too much "waste" and they would rather no stimulus at all than have a bill with anything even remotely objectionable to them.

So what parts of the $900 billion package do they find so offensive they would hold up attempts at economic recovery? Well, they released a list of several dozen items o’ waste. I went ahead and added up all of the amounts on the list and it comes to about $24.5 billion. That’s a whopping 2.7% of the bill. These guys are willing to go to the mat over less than three percent of the total cost. And look at some of the things they deem wasteful:

$2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

$88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

$1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs

$1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs

$600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees

$160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

$75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

Yup, no stimulus there at all. Those things are all going to get done without hiring a single person. So let’s just stand in the way of whole thing.

Update: Ha, ha. The GOPers are now asking “Joe” the “Plumber” for assistance in formulating a proper stimulus package. I guess the war correspondent thing just wasn’t working out for him.

Copy Kats

Don’t plagiarize your plagiarism policy.

Members of a committee formed in response to plagiarism accusations levied against a former university administrator received word this week that they need to reconvene and examine documents they may have plagiarized.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the 10-member committee of Southern Illinois University academics and administrators commissioned to develop a plagiarism policy may have borrowed from Indiana University’s definition—without
citing IU.

SIU officials seemed surprised by the news and stressed the policy was still in draft form.It would be a near perfect example of irony: a definition of plagiarism created in the wake of plagiarism scandals may itself have been plagiarized.

Both policies open with similar sentences.

“Plagiarism is defined as presenting existing work as one’s own,” the SIU definition reads.

“Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own,” the IU definition begins.

SIU’s 139-word definition is nearly identical to the definition IU adopted in 2005 and currently publishes on its Web site under the heading, “How to recognize plagiarism.”

New Holiday

The day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. We could chuck Columbus Day in exchange (I mean, the guy was a bit of an asshole and how can you “discover” a place where people are already living?). The day after the Super Bowl is needed for clean up and sleeping in or sleeping it off.

President Obama, a hung-over nation looks to you for leadership through bloodshot eyes.

Shorter Kev 2/2/09

There is interesting stuff in my AARP magazine. Did you know that pre-paid funeral plans may be a rip-off? And Roland Burris may be partly to blame. This sis going to be a big story, mark my words!

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

The Mighty Quinn

A couple of decades (and a half) ago I had I goofy guy on my radio show promoting the new Citizens Utility Board here in Illinois. His name was Pat Quinn. It didn’t occur to me then that this guy would become governor someday. It probably didn’t occur to him either.

Shorter Kev 1/30/09

Sausage! Politics is like sausage! Impeachment is like sausage! And I still want a side order of Chicago vs. Springfield with that sausage!

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

Serious Insights: Liz Edition

And everyone thought I was crazy when I said Rod Blagojevich could easily work Elizabeth Taylor into his defense.

Blago’s Goodbye Tour Comes to Town

You know by now that Rod Blagojevich will be appearing today at his Senate impeachment trial. That, of course, means he will be here in Springfield, probably for the very last time given his aversion to our city.

Through this whole impeachment thing, I’ve thought Springfield got short changed. How nice would have it been if Blago had been arrested at the Executive Mansion? Or have the national media staked out in front of same for weeks? But no, he chose, as always, to be in Chicago.

Now we get our due. We get the Grand Finale! Rod makes his last stand as governor right here in town and all eyes (and cable news networks) will be on him.

Longer Kev 1/28/09

Governor Rod Blagojevich is an idiot. That it! Isn’t that funny?


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

Blago Crazy

Watching Blago's press conference, I can't help but think this guy is really nuts. Why does he think he has to be afforded, in the impeachment, the same rights as someone in a criminal trial? He said if the impeachment trial goes through as planned, the same thing could happen to any citizen. WTF?

He's rambling wildly. Stupid cowboy analogies! Name dropping like crazy! Demanding Chicago newspapers write and publish editorials defending him! Blaming the whole episode on some tax increase conspiracy!

Is he making weird mouth noises?

Now it's over. Soon his governorship will be over.

Whaaaaaa!

I can't believe the temper tantrum some of the TV news folks are throwing over not having TV reporters in on the re-swearing in of the president last night. There were print reporters present, an audio tape and still photo of the event. But because TV wasn't there, it's not legit! It proves there is no transparancy in the Obama administration!

What a bunch of self-important asses these TV folks are sometimes.

Texts 4evuh

Yay! Obama gets to keep his Blackberry!
(no link but I'm watching the live White House briefing.)

Gooder

Watching the introduction of Hillery Clinton to State Department rank and file, I continue to be struck by how really hated George W Bush was just about everywhere.

It really is true that the inaugural celebration was two parts Obama and at least one part Bush leaving. I would have been happy seeing a president Clinton or even McCain if it meant the end of the Bush era.

Turn It Up to Eleven

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns thinks today was an 11on the 1-10 history scale. Can we expect a Burns project on Obama someday?

InaugBlog

As long as I'm laid up in front of my teevee I might as well live blog this inauguration thing. I'm still using the iPhone so expect plain text and typos.

7:45 - Why are the talking heads so obsessed with speculation on where Obama will be going to church as president? The righteous Ronald Reagan and George W Bush didn't regularly attend church at all.

8:00 - The pre-inaugural coverage is as tortured and inane as the Super Bowl pre-game show. Actually more so since it's on every news channel.

8:05 - Speaking of church, Obama and Biden are in church now. Lots of religion injected into this secular event.

8:15 - is it at the inauguration the Obama finally reveals himself as the Muslim Terrorist Antichrist? A million wingnuts can't be wrong.

8:25 - I feel for the huge crowd standing in the cold. I remember that February morning two years ago freezing on the lawn of the Old State Capitol to hear Senator Obama annouce his run for the White House.

8:27 - CNN just interviewed two women who found a way to avoid the security checkpoints and told us all how they did it. Great.

8:37 - MSNBC is reporting the crowds are overwhelming in the checkpoints.

8:45 - This is a picky point but I've now heard two former Clinton administration officials refer to memories of the Clinton inaugural in 1992. Except, of course, that first Clinton inauguration was in January 1993.

8:50 - Obama now leaving the church and heading for the White House to have coffee with Bush. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, George.

8:56 - The Bush's are greeting the Obamas and enter the White House.

9:00 - I get a little tired of the self-congradulatory "peaceful transfer of power" stuff from the talking heads. Sure it's a good thing, but it's hardly unique to this country.

9:10 - CBS assures me that there are plenty of port-a-potties for the crowd.

9:37 - The dignitaries are filing in along with the celebs. Spike Lee looks cute in a fur-lined hat.

9:45 - George W. Bush just left the White House for the last time. Awesome. He and Obama are on their way to the Capitol.

9:59 - To my favorite troll who keeps posting racist and threatening comments which I immediately delete: I've been collecting your comments and will be forewarding them to the Secret Service. That may seem extreme but you seem genuinely dangeous. It might also be fun...for me. So keep the comments coming asshole.

10:05 - I wonder if those Supreme Court justices are wearing layers under those robes.

10:08 - Ray LaHood just entered.

10:11 - Oh boy! CNN has ordered up a satellite picture of the event and the crowd. Can't wait for that.

10:15 - The former presidents are entering. Bush the Elder is barly able to walk. Jimmy Carter is still spry. Hillary walked in with Bill rather than with the other cabinet members.

10:20 - On ABC they discussing what happens if Obama takes the Oath late, after noon EST, since Bush officially stops being president right at noon. OMG, no president for the intervening minutes.

10:25 - The Obama girls are in the house.

10:30. - Jena and not-Jenna are there.

10:31 - The crowd is chanting for Obama.

10:35 - Cheney is in a wheelchair after hurting himself moving the other day.

10:40 - Biden enters.

10:41 - Obama looks nervous as he prepares to come onto the scene.

10:44 - Obama is announced and enters. The crowd chants "Obama!".

10:46 - Here we go.

10:49 - Ugh, Rick Warren. But an OK opening prayer even though I'd prefer this to be a stickly a secular event.

10:54 - Aretha sings!

10:59 - Biden being sworn in and blinded by the sun.

11:00 - Bush is no longer president! But niether is Obama! We have NO president!

11:02 - CNN says Obama IS president even though be hasn't yet been sworn in. Better tell ABC.

11:04 - I'm nearly blind from typing on this small screen.

11:05 - Obama is taking the oath of office! He kind of flubs it.

11:08 - Thank God the Bush years are over.

11:09 - Obama giving inaugural address.

11:18 - He's doing well with the restoring America's dignity and trust in the world bit.

11:25 - This really is an above average inaugural address. Obama puts a lot into his oratory no matter what the venue and that has carried him far.

11:26 - He's done speaking now.

11:29 - And now poetry. I'd also like this to be a non-poetic event.

11:32 - A lot of people don't stick aourd for the poem.

11:34 - Another prayer. I liked the ending.

11:39 - The National Anthem. I thought that was sung at the beginning of events.

11:40 - Malia Obama had Joe Biden take her picture with her camera (or maybe he volunteered). Either way, getting the VP to do you favors is kinds cool.

11:47 - I've now lived through some or all of the terms of 11 presidents. That's 1/4th of them.

11:52 - Dick Cheney looks like Mr. Potter in that wheelchair.

11:54 - Bush waving as he gets on the helecopter to leave Washington. Bye George. That's 8 years the country will never get back.

11:57 - Obama (and the nation) waves as the helecopter takes off. Ha, Ha . The crowd is chanting "Na, na, na, na...hey, hey, goodbye."

12:01 - OK, I'm done for now. I need a nap.

Unabandoned

No, this blog hasn't been forclosed on, I got back from Florida after a tiring trip over the weekend and then had minor surgery this morning. I'm enjoying the post-operatve narcotics back at home and watching the inaguration pre-game shows on the cable teevee. Did you know a black man won the election? I guess not may people do since the teevee people mention it every 15 seconds or so.

Update: I'm still using my iPhone to blog, this time from bed, so still no formatting, pictures or links. I also just knawed my hand off to get out of my hospital braclets.

Hard Bananas

Cold weather doesn't look so bad seen from afar. Floridians (I call them Florides) seem not to care much about what you all are going through. I think they figure if you're dumb enough to live in the Midwest, you get what you deserve.

The Midwest cold blast is getting lots of coverage on the media. One of the cable news channels even showed someone hammering nails into wood with a frozen banana.

Bare Bones Blogging

It sux not being able to post pictures or links. My Facebook stuff is better this week than my blog. Or maybe it always is.

The State of New Florida

They really need to build an additional Florida. This one is too full.

Right now I'm in a place called Sunrise. Unlike the fun costal areas of the state, this is the land of retail chain stores, malls and office complexes. Think of the far southwest side of Springfield times about 300. This is where Mrs. TEH is for business so we didnt have any say in location. Sure it's warm, but there isn't much reason to go outside.

Last night the local weatherman on TV said something about "struggling to get into the upper 60s" one day later this week. When he threw it back to the anchorman, the anchorman said "BRRRRR!". Seriously.

Troll Be Gone

To the jerk who keeps leaving racist comments related to Obama (usually), please stop commenting on this blog. I will delete all of your comments and have been for some time, usually within minutes of you posting them. No one sees them. It's a waste of your time and mine, so just stop. Thank you.

Blago Beach, FL

The people here in Florida seem happy. Maybe it's because it's warm. Or because they pay no income tax (thanks tourists!). But I bet it's because they don't have a guy named Blagojevich.

War = Death

I'm always amazed at how many war-loving conservatives think that there is no death or suffering in war caused by the "good" guys and showing or saying there is means that it's either fake or propaganda. Go ahead and support your favorite war(s), but at least be honest enough to recognize the negative side of the ledger.

And am I much better posting the picture above rather than real scenes of dead children, etc. because I didn't want to look at them?

On that happy note, I'm off on a vacation of sorts. Comments are off for now so I don't have to police the trolls.

There’s an Impeachment Going On

Good lord, are all of these reps going to talk? We want our impeachment and we want it now. Shut up and impeach him.

Update: Finally, the Illinois House votes 114-1 to impeach Governor Blagojevich. The debate actually lasted much shorter than I thought it would.

Update II: So what’s with Rep. Milton Patterson’s (D-Hit the Wrong Button)? He was the only member of the Illinois house to vote against impeachment. He’s from Chicago so I’m sure it has something to do with him hating Springfield.

Update III: On Patterson from the Chicago Tribune:

Rep. Milt Patterson (D-Chicago) was the lone vote against impeaching the governor. Patterson, from Chicago’s Southwest Side, said after the roll call that he didn’t feel it was his job to vote to impeach the governor. He declined comment on whether he approved of the job Blagojevich is doing.

And from Rich Miller:

Rep. Patterson, who has been quite ill, is still obviously bitter about being elbowed out of running for reelection by the political powers that be in his area last year.

And while we might find Patterson’s vote curious in its isolation, I really don’t think he now needs to be made a villain. What's the point?

The Wild Blog Yonder

In their effort to defend America and, well, justify their existence as a separate military branch, The United States Air Force has gone into the blogging business. To help USAF bloggers, it came up with this handy blogging chart for its bloggers.

Shorter Kev 1/09/09

Todd Renfrow sucks! He’s just like Rod Blagojevich. And I need to remind you that Blagojevich is being impeached for pulling crap.

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

Because Old Habits Die Hard

It's Friday.

The Only Factor

The problem I have with abstinence-only sex education is the “only” part. Making it clear that you will never get pregnant or contract an STD if you don’t have sex is an obvious point but one worth discussing, I suppose. However, it think that’s a little like having abstinence-only drivers education. If you never drive, you don’t have to worry about knowing the rules of the road or having an accident. I just don’t see a lot of people abstaining from sex or driving. And keep in mind, good sex education, like driver’s ed, can be useful for a lifetime not just during the teen years.

Serious Insights: "Springfield" not Springfield Edition

I’m not sure why some people who should understand this don’t, but when someone refers to “Springfield” in relation to state government and politicians they're talking about state government and politicians who meet and work here and not the good citizens that populate the city of Springfield. There is Springfield the city and then there is "Springfield" the state capital.

Cancerous Retail

Go here to watch Wal-Mart spread from a single cell, er, store to a massive growth on the United States. I’d like to see a similar map of Walgreen’s spread.

Career Opportunities

I see Vince from the ShamWow! commercials has moved on to hawking the SlapChop. I dunno, I think it’s a step down in his career as a fake carnival barker.

And Vince just doesn’t seem to be as into the SlapChop. That may be understandable as I doubt the SlapChop is made in Germany.

Shorter Kev 1/7/09

The Springfield City Council sucks! They (and I can name all the members of the council) bought a gravel pit that might be used to steal all of Riverton’s water. Water stealing isn’t neighborly. Good gravel pits make good neighbors. Did I mention my business is located in Riverton? No I didn’t, but this would still have pissed me off even if the radio station was in Rochester.

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

Teevee Land

Dammit, I wanted it to be Dr. Phil. And Judge Judy for Supreme Court.

President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Don't forget, we wound up with Neil Williamson as Sheriff of Sangamon County largely on the basis of his TV apperances years ago on, what was it, the local Crime Stoppers ads?

Laughing Stock

Why they are laughing at Illinois, in pictures…

A Tool…



A Fool…


And the so Uncool…

Plate of the Times

Making the rounds on the internets:

If you can't readi it, the plate says Where Our Governors Make Our License Plates.

Shorter Kev 01/05/09

As Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood should not forget the transportation needs of central Illinois. He should also take down those Rod Blagojevich Welcomes You to Illinois signs because it’s scaring away visitors. Thank you, I’ll be at the Funny Bone all week!

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

Serious Insights: Windy Edition

This hasn’t been the coldest or snowiest winter ever, but it may well be the windiest.

Happy 4th Blogday

The Eleventh Hour is four years old today!

A few notes on the State of the Blog…

For some reason, each year I’ve posted fewer posts than the year before:

2005 – 1071 posts
2006 – 852
2007 – 809
2008 – 738

2008 would have been close to 2007 except I took a break from blogging for several weeks last spring. I don’t know what this year will bring, but I suspect the quantity of posts may continue to erode. For one thing, I’ll be away for a week later in the month (I’m following Mrs. TEH who’ll be on a business trip to a much warmer place). The week after that I have some minor surgery that may keep me away from blogging for another week while I recuperate. Both of those things would probably not interfere too much with posting if I could ever figure out how to post from my iPhone without having to resort to using HTML.

I also think I will be taking breaks like I did once last year. That did me a world of good and reinvigorated my desire to blog again.

The other thing that I’m letting go of, for now, is Friday Beer Blogging. It’s been fun for most of the last four years, but it’s really, really become a chore that I don’t enjoy that much. Maybe that will change with some time off, but for now FBB will no longer appear on these pages. That’s not to say I’ll never blog about beer, it just isn’t going to be a regular feature until or unless I feel the desire to do it again.

Over the last four years this blog has become far less political as I’ve become more and more disgusted with humanity in general. And rather that raving about it three or four times a day like I used to years ago, I’m letting most (but not all) of it go by. I’ve become less and less interested in trying change anyone’s mind. Besides, I thinking we’re entering a new era where a lot of the lunacy of the last 25 or so years is going to be swept aside. At least I can hope.

Anyway, the blog rolls on into year five. Now all I have to do is think of something to say.

More Ego from the Trail Blazer

Roland Burris named his kids Roland and Rolanda. This guy is really full of himself.

And in case you care, here are some of the Trail Blazer’s favorites:

Color: Blue
Food: Fruit and Vegetables
Quote: “Only the best
is good enough”
Time of Year: Spring
Vacation Spot: Africa

That last one is kind of odd since Africa is a continent not a “spot”. Where in Africa? One of my favorite vacation spots is North America.

Still, just seat the guy. We can vote him out (or not) in less than two years. Let’s focus on getting to the root of the problem and impeach Blagojevich..

iFart, uFart, we-all-Fart

If you own an iPhone and are a guy (and therefore by definition somewhat juvenile) be sure to download the iFart application.

Shorter Kev 01/02/09

There is no recession. The notion that there is one was made up by pundits and people in ivory towers. I know there is no recession because I see people shopping in stores and eating in restaurants here in Springfield. I’m not making this silly claim because I really believe it, but because I want potential radio advertisers to believe it.

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

Trail Blazer

Does it strike anyone else that Roland Burris seems WAY too eager to get his Senate spot?

(AP) — U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris has asked a court to force Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment to Barack Obama's old Senate seat.

An attorney for Burris said they filed paperwork Wednesday with the Illinois Supreme Court.

It's the start of legal wrangling over the seat that embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich filled by naming Burris.

The move comes after White rejected Blagojevich's proclamation naming Burris to the Senate.

Under the circumstances, it seems to me that it would be more appropriate to have some humility in this matter. Burris is really coming off as a power-grabber here. This whole thing is so strange.

Happy Nude Year

Clothing is optional in 2009. Although Snuggies are always appropriate.