respublica

Ease History

History buffs and political campaign addicts will love this interactive web site, Ease History.  Students and anyone else can learn American history through the "prism of U.S. presidential campaign ads.  Or, just enjoy seeing the ads again, there are videos dating back to 1952.  After looking at several of them, I got a rush of nostalgia, although its painful to see Al Gore again.  And there is even a clip of Illinois Senator Percy from 1968!  Here is one of the Goldwater 64 jingles:

In   your    heart    you  know  he's  right....

So..Go Goldwater Go Goldwater Go Goldwater all the way!

Just make a note to cast your vote

For Mr. U. S. A

Remember this?

Do schools or colleges still hand out book covers the first day of school?  Anyone else remember those plastic covers?  You needed to be ambidextrous or an origamy expert to get the darn things on books and then all your textbooks looked alike. Mostly they were white and were doodled on constantly.  I read somewhere they make these covers out of spandex now.  Soft and stretchy, but do they pass the doodle test?

Questions

Why is it Illinois highway medians and interstate exit land looks so much worse than in other states?  Grassy areas seem to be mowed maybe 3 times a year which makes everything look shaggy and unkempt.  On the rare occasion grass (and I use the word grass lightly) is cut, high stalks of weed-like growth is left untrimmed.  Drive in most other nearby states and you see a huge grass maintenance difference.  And Iowa!  They get the prize for the most immaculate highway lawn care. 

I know the official answer to this question, cutbacks in the 90's forced IDOT to put a 3 cut per season rule in effect, but traveling around the state, it appears as though some parts of the state are allowed more and better cutting and trimming than others.  The Collinsville interstate exit grassy areas are horribly maintained and have been for years.  This is a state responsibility not the city's.  I was told 5 years ago that there are employees who drive around the state to make sure cities aren't getting more grass cutting than they are due.  Enough.  If there are Illinois cities and towns who want to take care of their own interstate access land, let them.  Wouldn't it be better than what we have now?  You don't need a welcome sign to know when you enter Illinois...or enter another state from Illinois...the grass tells the tale.

"I hope no one on that list is running for president"

So says Ann Althouse in a post on the confirmation of John Roberts by a vote of 78-22.  As to those who voted against, Ann has this to say:  "As to those 22 Democrats who voted no, they have openly embraced an ideological view of the Court from which they can never credibly step back. For them, appointing Supreme Court Justices is a processes of trying to lock outcomes in place, and we shouldn't believe them if in the future they try to say otherwise."

No more needs to be said...except for the fact that the two senators from Illinois were among the no votes...as expected. 

Huh?

Sometimes bills introduced before congress are sensible, but often they are incomprehensible to the average citizen taking a peek at what's on the floor...so to speak. 

Rep Ron Kind, D-Wisconsin, has introduced a bill (H.R. 3930 not yet on the Thomas website) to establish the Universal Education Account and the Universal Education Corporation in order to promote global education reform.  So I ask...What?

No questions? About Katrina?

I was busy yesterday and then our cable internet connection went out so I missed this part of Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco's appearance before the Senate finance committee to request relief money.  She was not asked any questions about her preparation and response to Katrina unlike the grilling former FEMA head, Michael Brown received before a House select committe the day before.  Weird, is all I can say. 

An opportunity

Good news out of East St. Louis:  The Financial Advisory Authority once again will be overseeing city finances after a three-month hiatus period.  The authority regained control of the city's finances because the city did not meet certain requirements, most especially the submitting an audit.

City manager, Charles Means said, "I look at it as an opportunity. I look forward to working with the FAA."  Taxpayers should rest easier knowing someone is looking out for their money.

St Clair county GOP blog

Bill Zychlewicz, interim chairman of the St. Clair County GOP, has created a blog so that timely party information can be disseminated.  One of the calendar events listed on the site is a meeting on October 11 to discuss the importance of precinct committeemen.  According to Zychlewicz, St. Clair has too many precincts without republican committeemen and if the present hope of gaining more county wide seats is to become reality, more of these posts need to be filled.  This looks like a good start, here's hoping he will keep his blog current and fresh. 

Illinois destinations

Oops, in making a list of places to see in Illinois I learned that Gov. Blagojevich designated September as Illinois Wine Month.  What's the date today?  The 28th?  Well I bet you could still find a state winery in October.

Or you could head up to Rockford to the Burbee Museum of National History and check out Jane the dinosaur.  Jane was discovered by a 14-person team from the Burpee Museum, who noticed her toe and leg bones sticking up from a dry creek bank during an expedition in Hell Creek, Montana.  I have always been just a little skeptical about whether dinosaurs ever really existed, but I guess this might convince me.  Or not.

Foodies

Wednesday is food section day in most metro newspapers so I thought I would continue the theme, which in contemporary slang, happens to be "foodie".  Foodie, a relatively user friendly word, signifies someone wrapped up in the buying, preparation and eating of food.  Not so much an expert chef as one who loves food, even the work that goes into fixing it. 

Foodieview.com is a site which allows you to do a recipe search without having to look at umpteen websites.  It's plain jane, but come Christmas season when you want that elusive cookie recipe, this may just be the place to look.  Nothing but a recipe search and the results are pretty much confined to what you want.  I tried "meatball sandwiches" just for fun and that's what came up.  Sweet.

And, MSN has a 'foodie' quiz today.  If you can get MSN.com, you can get this quiz.  See what kind of foodie you are.  I should consider culinary school.  heh. 

And, and, if you live in the St. Louis metro area, Missouri or Illinois, there is a great newspaper that is similar in style to the Riverfront Times in that it is free and available many places.  'Sauce' calls itself a magazine, but it's really a newspaper and has loads of great area restaurant talk as well as local wine discussions and food gossip.  Find a copy, it's worth it, a fine publication that I would actually pay for.