Radar Love

I guess this is what they call scattered showers

Paying for the Party

The City of Springfield says the ALPLM dedication cost the city $60,000 in police overtime alone.

The figure is an initial estimate, [Springfield Mayor Tim
Davlin] said, and "some of that's going to change and go a little
higher."

"Whatever the cost was, we've got to absorb it, we've got to come up
with a way to pay for it because it was worth it, and we had to do it," Davlin
said.

There also could be some overtime costs for public works, fire
department and City Water, Light and Power employees, but police overtime will
be the most costly expense of the dedication, Davlin said, adding that the final
numbers could take several more weeks to compile.

That's really not too bad, I guess. We'll see when the final figures are in. Of course those only direct City expenditures. Disruption costs to business, etc. would also add to the overall bottom line. And I hate to think of what the federal government spent to get the president in and out of here. Then there's the State (there were a ton of State cops in town that day). I bet even Sangamon County incurred some expense.

I agree that the city needed to make an investment in the dedication. Its going to more than pay for itself in the long run. But how much could have been saved overall if the president had not been here?

Nickel Deposit

I really, really like this idea.

A long-dormant proposal to boost recycling with a five-cent deposit on
bottles and cans has resurfaced in Springfield.

Consumers would pay an extra nickel for every bottle or can made of
aluminum, glass, plastic or steel. Thus, a six-pack of soda or beer would cost
an extra 30 cents.

Milk jugs would be exempt.

Consumers could get their money back by returning bottles and cans to
grocery stores or other redemption centers.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Sunday he will push for a bottling bill during
the spring legislative session.

I've thought we should have this in Illinois for a long time now. Other states do it, just check the side of almost any aluminum can or bottle for the list of states and what their deposits are.

I think it's a great incentive not only for recycling but for getting rid of a lot of litter. Even if I'm too lazy to turn in the container, someone wanting the money will pick up the can or bottle and turn it in for me. That works out particularly well if I have discarded the container on a highway or park.

Of course the plan has it's critics.

But beverage industry trade groups argue that deposits would be a hassle
for consumers. Moreover, deposits would undermine curbside and blue bag
recycling programs, which would make less money from the sale of recyclables,
especially lucrative aluminum cans.

A bottle bill also would be a headache for grocers, which would have to
store, sort and handle dirty, returned containers. Trucks and warehouses would
have to make room for empty containers, and beverage trucks would make more
fuel-wasting trips.

Well, that used to be the norm back when I was a kid. My mother would return all out empty glass soda bottles to Kroger's on her next shopping trip. Later in life, I used to buy cases returnable beer bottles that I would turn in for the deposit. I think we can work through these details.

Pam-demonium

DownLeft isn't letting WMAY's Pamela Furr off the hook on the Durbin Joke "scandal":

The steps [David] Brock describes in his book are as follows:

1) Pretend to be offended by something and play up mock outrage.
2) Keep talking about the issue as if its a big story and get other
conservative media outlets to cover it, such as talk radio, blogs and Fox News,
until it actually is a big story.
3) Pressure legitimate media outlets who don't cover the story by accusing
them of having a liberal bias until they cave into the contrived hysteria.

This tactic out of the conservative media's playbook was closely followed
by WMAY conservative talk radio host, Pamela Furr. After she decided to be
offended by Durbin's joke on her show she sent it out to other talk radio shows
so they could keep the act going.

The SJ-R's Benard Schoenburg is all over it too.

DownLeft also brings up something that's of interest to me:

...Furr is allowed to have a talk show and at the same time deceptively
parade herself as an objective journalist on WMAY.

I'm not going to bash Furr over this for a couple of reasons. One, that's just what her employer requires of her, it's her job. Secondly, I did the same thing years ago as both the news director of a radio station and the host of its daily talk show.

Still, I think its wrong.

I understand the economics for the station. By utilizing the talk show personalities as part of the news team, it can afford more local voices. I understand that. I lived that.

The thing is, I wasn't comfortable doing it and I kind of hate hearing it. I know you can present the news objectively in newscasts while still being allowed to voice your opinion on your talk show. But, as a listener, when I hear Furr (or any dual-use personality) reading the news, I always wonder what they are thinking about the story (or guessing what they are thinking) and I find that distracting.

99.99% of listeners do not have the insight I do into what its like for these on-air people and I suspect they aren't as convinced that one can keep his or her own biases largely out of the news. It's not hard to imagine the average listener occasionally dismissing what they hear, including the choice of stories presented and how they are presented, simply because they KNOW the news readers prejudices.

The Coming Mega-Blog

I have mixed feelings about multi-author blogs. While I've thought it might be fun to write for one (it takes some of the pressure off of me to post frequently), I find that I lose interest in a blog the more contributors it has. Usually.

Anyway, a new blog with a lot of high profile contributors is about to get off the ground:

Arianna Huffington, the columnist and onetime candidate for governor of
California, is about to move blogging from the realm of the anonymous individual
to the realm of the celebrity collective.

She has lined up more than 250 of what she calls "the most creative
minds" in the country to write a group blog that will range over topics from
politics and entertainment to sports and religion. It is essentially a nonstop
virtual talk show that will be part of a Web site that will also serve up
breaking news around the clock. It is to be introduced May 9.

Having prominent people join the blogosphere, Ms. Huffington said in an
interview, "is an affirmation of its success and will only enrich and strengthen
its impact on the national conversation." Among those signed up to contribute
are Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows,
Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane
Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman.

Well, we'll see. 250 (!) voices on one blog sounds like a mess to me. I think blogs need a focus, either by personality or by theme. For example, I'm all over the place on topics but it's all me. Think Progress has several voices but they all focus on lefty politics.

I've looked at other blogs with multiple posters covering a variety points of view, but I just can't sustain interest in them. I guess if I'm going to take the time to regularly check a blog i want to know what (or who) I'm in for. Maybe it's just me.

A Winning Idea?

This looks to be a good idea for squeezing out a few more dollars for the State:

State lawmakers, desperate to close another billion-dollar budget gap, are
eagerly eyeing the Illinois Lottery and all the money it might generate if
people could buy tickets on the Internet.

Sounds good. I mean, couldn't we get additional revenue from more out-of-staters or even foreigners? Well, maybe not:

It doesn't specify how players would pay for tickets or how officials could
control who buys them; Cullerton says that would be left to lottery officials.
He also acknowledges that the idea of an Internet lottery gets into a legal gray
area: The federal Wire Communications Act of 1961 prohibits the use of wire
communication facilities for interstate gambling purposes, but even experts say
it isn't clear how that would apply to a state-run lottery.

Oh. I guess if it were just that easy, everyone would already be selling lottery tickets online.

Dude, Where's My Inbox?

Funny article headlined with, Email destroys the mind faster than marijuana - study.

Modern technology depletes human cognitive abilities more rapidly than
drugs, according to a psychiatric study conducted at King's College, London. And
the curse of 'messaging' is to blame.

Email users suffered a 10 per cent drop in IQ scores, more than twice the
fall recorded by marijuana users, in a clinical trial of over a thousand
participants. Doziness, lethargy and an inability to focus are classic
characteristics of a spliffhead, but email users exhibited these particular
symptoms to a "startling" degree, according to Dr Glenn Wilson.

Har, har.

Of course, neither actually "destroys" the brain. The trouble comes when you spend too much time goofing on the computer or being high and not otherwise engaging your mind. Obsessive Beanie Baby collectors I imagine suffer similar mind wastage.

Thanks to Mrs. TEH who saw this in her latest High Times.

Kidding.

Weathering the Santorum

What a load of crap.

At least one Republican senator wants to get rid of free National Weather Service information so his buddies can make more money.

The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit
federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.

Supporters say the bill wouldn't hamper the weather service or the National
Hurricane Center from alerting the public to hazards - in fact, it exempts
forecasts meant to protect "life and property."

But critics say the bill's wording is so vague they can't tell exactly
what it would ban.

"I believe I've paid for that data once. ... I don't want to have to pay
for it again," said Scott Bradner, a technical consultant at Harvard
University.

He says that as he reads the bill, a vast amount of federal weather
data would be forced offline. "The National Weather Service Web site would
have to go away," Bradner said. "What would be permitted under this bill is not
clear - it doesn't say. Even including hurricanes."

And here's the self-serving comment of the day

But Barry Myers, AccuWeather's executive vice president, said the bill
would improve public safety by making the weather service devote its efforts to
hurricanes, tsunamis and other dangers, rather than duplicating products already
available from the private sector.

"The National Weather Service has not focused on what its core mission
should be, which is protecting other people's lives and property," said Myers,
whose company is based in State College, Pa. Instead, he said, "It spends
hundreds of millions of dollars a year, every day, producing forecasts of 'warm
and sunny.'"

I like weather. Always have. I have a ton of weather web sites bookmarked, including the NWS. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. The NWS has lots of archive data that private companies see no profit in. Dammit, does the value EVERYTHING have to be measured by profitability?

This reminds me of something that happened about ten years ago. A member of Congress, swept in during the 1994 Republican Revolution, proposed doing away with the NWS entirely because he could get good weather information from The Weather Channel. He backed off after he was informed The Weather Channel relies on the NWS for much of its information.

Just another example of what happens when you have zealots in charge.

Update: Josh Marshall nails it.

ALPLM on C-Span

FYI

AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES C-SPAN, 8pm ET Saturday, April 23

This week's American Perspectives features a look at the new Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum

8pm - Dedication Ceremony - took place Tuesday afternoon in
Springfield, Illinois. Speakers included President Bush, House Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
& Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL)

9:15pm - Museum Tour - Richard Norton Smith, the executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, guided us through some of
the exhibits and sections of the museum, and took calls from viewers. This
program also includes an interview with Louise Taper, a Lincoln collector.
Some of her items are on display at the museum - 159942 This 2-hour-30-minute program is compiled from segments of Monday's Washington Journal.

This block will run from 8pm to 11:45pm, then re-air from 11:45pm to 3:30am

Remember those are EASTERN times so subtract an hour.

Shirt Sense

What a queer thing to say...

If I ever get tired of beer blogging, t-shirts are next.

Slow News Day at the SJ-R?

Why is this newsworthy?

The test that future high school Latin teachers must take - and pass - before
getting certification from the state of Illinois is too hard, a group of Latin
instructors contends.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Hey, I even took two years of Latin in high school and I don't give shit.

Friday Beer Blogging: New Pope Edition

In honor of the newly elected German pope whom I know nothing about, I bring you a German beer I know nothing about. Ladies and gentleman, I present you with Kostritzer:

Since I don't know anything about Kostritzer, I'll reprint here what their web site has to say:

Eine kleine Brauerei in Thüringen braut seit über 460 Jahren ein einzigartiges Bier, das Köstritzer Schwarzbier. Seitdem ranken sich um das Köstritzer Schwarzbier die verschiedensten Mythen.

I report, you decide

Durbin "Joke" Appears to be True

Oh, the wailing over Senator Dick Durbin's little joke at the ALPLM dedication Tuesday.

Here's what he said:

Judge Marovitz used to say that his mother believed that President Lincoln was Jewish. After all, his first name was Abraham, and then, to confirm it, she learned that John Wilkes Booth shot him in the temple.

I was among the first (for once) to comment on Durbin's faux pas. I the thought "shot in the temple" joke was a bit tacky for the dedication of Lincoln's presidential museum.

But here's the thing, the story Durbin told appears to be true:

The fourth son of Lithuanian immigrants, Marovitz was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His mother chose his name, Abraham Lincoln, after attending a lecture about her adopted land. She heard about President Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves and was "shot in the temple." Marovitz explains, "She thought 'temple' meant synagogue. I don't think she ever was convinced that Lincoln wasn't a Jew."

What's really weird is a lot of right wingers are claiming Durbin's remarks were, of all things, anti-semitic. I'm not sure where they get that but I guess anything to tar a Democrat no matter how silly.

Other bloggers to weigh in thought the whole thing to be no big deal.

Eric Zorn says, yes it was tacky but not anti-semitic.

DownLeft, who was there, took no offense at all.

Predictably, talk radio was all abuzz about the incident. I didn't listen to any talk Wednesday, but I guess WMAY's Pamela Furr was quite upset (oh, those evil liberals!). Illini over at Democratic Underground posted this:

During his speech Senator Durbin told an old joke first coined by a judge named Abraham Lincoln (I forget the last name) something Jewish. The punchline of the joke is Lincoln was probably Jewish because "he was shot in the temple". OK, its bad joke that was funny when I was 13. Its not particularly funny at a dedication. But, a local shrub loving hack talk show host Pamela Furr took offense to the joke. She sent out a clip to other hacks such as Hannity, Limbaugh, and in particular Lars the liar Larson. Larson pick up the clip and jumped all over it and asked the question of whether the "liberal media" will pick up on like the Trent Lott story.

The only thing more tacky than Durbin's joke is someone trying to further their careers by faking outrage over it. I'll be nicer to Pamela here than I want to be because I didn't hear what she had to say first hand. But if Illini is right, shame on her.

Bribing Business

The Peoria Pundit has a good post today about communities giving the store away in an attempt to lure jobs. Even Springfield is currently vying for a SYSCO Corp facility.

Peoria, according to PP, is trying to snag some European aeronautics operation.

With 70 communities "lobbying" to be the site for this thing, you can be
sure there's a whole bunch of tax incentives and other freebies being offered.
The payoff would be all the jobs this thing would create.

As we all learned through the Diamond Star fiasco in
Bloomington/Normal, these companies are willing to take all the incentives the
taxpayers can offer, then will close the plant at a moment's notice if they get
a better deal elsewhere, or when some pencil pusher decides there's a great tax
break to be had by shuttering a factory and moving the jobs elsewhere.

I've completely given up hope that federal, state and local politicians
will ever realize that the best thing they can do to develop the economy is
provide a generally low tax rate, good schools for a well-trained work force and
a clean, safe and healthy environment into which business executives would want
to locate. Such things also tend to encourage entrepreneurial growth as well,
not just plant relocation.

That's absolutely right.

Well, I do have one minor quibble. I'm not sure what he means by "generally low taxes" but "good schools for a well-trained work force and a clean, safe and healthy environment" aren't cheap and a good deal of tax money is usually required. I don't mean outrageously high tax rates, but a significant public investment into a community's infrastructure is required to attain this job drawing nirvana.

I only make this point because taxes are so vilified that people often forget that there can be a real benefit to public investment in one's community. Yes, there is often waste (although from my experience, a lot of what is and isn't waste is somewhat subjective) but there are simply some things that are best done by the public sector.

Now, "generally low taxes" leaves a lot of wiggle room so I'm not sure what that means, but be sure there is no getting a top notch community for nothing.

Another Wand Goes Missing

This is getting serious. We learned a few days ago that the Director of Guest Relations at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is missing her magic wand. Now, it seems the problem has spread to Washington.

Yesterday, President Bush told an audience that he too is now wandless:

"I wish I could simply wave a magic wand and lower gas prices tomorrow," Bush
told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

I don't want to alarm anybody but didn't the president make this announcement just ONE DAY after appearing at the ALPLM, the site of the other missing wand.

Perhaps there is some cabal of wand stealers out there but I think not. Rather, I attribute this sudden wandlessness at all levels of government to a culture that no longer values wands. Oh, to return to the days where wands were treated with respect and not carelessly (or purposely!) misplaced by caretakers calloused by a culture of wand neglect.

Ann Thrax

I see the hateful Ann Coulter is gracing the cover of Time magazine this week. She's being promoted as some sort of cultural icon. Disgusting. Digby speaks fo me, too:

Seeing Ann Coulter feted on the cover of Time magazine as a mainstream
political figure instead of the deranged, murderous extremist she actually is
was quite a shock. And then a friend sent me the links to the Free Republic
thread discussing the death of Marla Ruzicka, which made me so nauseous that I had to shut down for a while.

[snip]

Ann Coulter is not, as Howie Kurtz asserts today, the equivalent of Michael Moore. Michael Moore is is not advocating the murder of conservatives. He just isn't. For instance, he doesn't say that Eric Rudolph should be killed so that other conservatives will learn that they can be killed too. He doesn't say that he wishes that Tim McVeigh had blown up the Washington Times Bldg. He doesn't say that conservatives routinely commit the capital offense of treason. He certainly doesn't put up pictures of the fucking snoopy dance because one of his political opponents was killed. He doesn't, in other words, issue calls for violence and repression against his political enemies. That is what Ann Coulter does, in the most coarse, vulgar,
reprehensible way possible.

[snip]

While Ann Coulter makes the cover of Time for writing that liberals have a
"preternatural gift for striking a position on the side of treason," her
followers actually side with Iraqi insurgents against an American charity
worker. At freeperland and elsewhere they laughed and clapped and enjoyed the
fruits of the enemy's labor. This is because if you listen to Ann and Rush and
Sean and Savage and all the rest of these people you know that there is no
greater enemy on the planet than the American liberal. That's what Ann Coulter
and her ilk are selling and that is what Time magazine celebrated with their
cover girl this week.

Go read his whole rant.

Also, be sure to revisit this clip of Ann showing just how stupid and arrogant she reall is.

Pig Plot

Not surprisingly, I ran into ETK at the ALPLM dedication yesterday. We took the opportunity of an unusual face to face visit to conspire further against pig trucks that stink up the central part of the city.

We both realized this blog OWNS this issue and we're going to make even more of it in the future. Let's just say ETK will soon be on the loose with a camera.

By the way, with traffic being rerouted yesterday, just how did the pigs get through? Here at TEH we have been told that any disruption of the flow of porkers through the city will mean no bacon. Will we soon be told, "Sorry, were out of bacon for a couple of days" when ordering our bacon cheeseburgers? Is this what Lincoln would have wanted?

Jealous Again

Chicagoans, in an obvious attempt to steal the limelight away from the ALPLM and Springfield, have found the image of the Virgin Mary in an underpass.

Tom Terrific

Hey, Tom Snyder fans. Tom has a blog of sorts.

Tom Snyder was always such a goof but he had a great one-on-one interview show on late night TV back in the day. I miss him. Reading his blog you hear his voice. He writes just like he used to speak on his show.

Abe-a-palooza Post Game

Well, no ex-presidents. My second hand source was a dud. That's what I get for putting any credence into a member of the local Republican cadre. I’ve been “disinformed”.

For one thing, Bill Clinton was in Oklahoma City for the memorial in honor of the tenth anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by Anglo Christian extremists. It was more appropriate that he be there than here.

I did however see two potential future presidents, Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama.

Overall, the day went well.

The crowds inside the Springfield Green Zone were not overwhelming and polite to all the speakers. Security was tight but not overbearing.

All the speeches were kept appropriately short, if a bit predictable.

I did have a problem with Dick Durbin’s Dead Lincoln joke. I don’t have the transcript in front of me but it was something along the lines of why did the Jewish woman think Lincoln was Jewish. A: because his name was Abraham and he was shot in the temple. He didn’t actually present it as a joke but as part of an antidotal story. The effect was the same and I thought it a bit tasteless. Dick you’re better than that.

Speaking of tasteless, I actually saw one man in the audience walking around with a Confederate flag t-shirt. I don’t know if it was a political statement or, given the way hew looked, it was the least smelly shirt on his floor this morning.

It was interesting to me that Brian Lamb of C-SPAN fame was one of the speakers. Now, he was there to introduce the winner of a C-SPAN sponsored essay contest (the winner, Mihan Lee, read her essay later). Still, it was all politicians and one media outlet. They seem to be blending into one organism more and more these days.

President Bush was the final speaker of the morning. He started out very slow and soft-spoken. From where we were standing the sound wasn’t all that good but I could hear everyone. But not Bush, for some reason. We relocated and I could hear him better. There just wasn’t much energy in his voice at first. It did get stronger the longer he spoke, however.

Naturally, Bush couldn’t resist comparing himself to Lincoln.

In a small way, I can relate to the rail splitter from out West, because he has
a way of speaking that was not always appreciated by the newspapers back East.

Yes, you clear brush on your fake Texas ranch for the cameras but you are not a rail splitter or the modern equivalent. And damn those well-spoken Eastern (read, Liberal Elite) newspaper fellas.

After standing for hours we came home at and rested before going back out to tour the Museum itself.

We didn’t have time to take it all in this afternoon but I generally liked what I saw. I agree with Dr. John Simon’s assessment that it has a touch of Disney to it. But so what. It seems to work as a medium for engaging the general public and perhaps imparting some historical information to those who might not care to seek it out otherwise.

I most liked the historical artifacts. I think its long over due to have a central place for viewing Lincoln memorabilia. It’s good to know, too, that the museum will include temporary exhibits from time to time allowing for everyone to see Lincoln items that belong to other collections.

The thing I liked least was the mock TV control room showing a fake news show hosted by real news guy Tim Russert. Russert was, not very convincingly, trying to portray the 1860 election on modern television terms. It was complete with modern looking TV political ads. I just wasn’t buying it. Introducing television in to the past like that just doesn’t feel right. We have Russert speaking and dressed for 2005 with pictures of Lincoln as he was in 1860. It just doesn’t work. Lose it and use the space for something else.

That said, it was a good day, all told.

UPDATE: The Chicago Tribune's Ellen Warren blogs about today better than me. Damn.