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Not a great batting average
Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller “Good to see George Will has his pulse on IL politics again,” a friend cracked wise a moment ago. He was referring, of course, to the glowing bit of fluff that the national columnist penned about Governor Rod Blagojevich this week. My friend reminded me that Will also wrote an over-the-top piece about the ultimately disgraced US Senate candidate Jack Ryan in November of 2003. The following sentence fragment pretty much sums up the entire column: But he is, above all, a moralist… Heh.
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Factoid of the day
Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller From the Daily Herald. Tuition (at Illinois’ universities) has risen 40 percent since 2002 as the state’s support of higher education dropped 13 percent. Wow.
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The “New Way” that isn’t
Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller From Crain’s: A generous donor to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund has won a no-bid state contract to investigate insurance brokers in Illinois. Read the whole story, but it looks to me like the Dept. of Insurance is not only using an investigator of questionable qualifications, but is investigating something that ought to be handled by the Illinois Attorney General. Wonder why?
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HST checks out
Monday, Feb 21, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller May he rest in peace.
California, Labor Day weekend… early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levi’s roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur.
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Sunday night Robert Earl Keen blogging
Sunday, Feb 20, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller
REK is a Texas hero. His music isn’t the new Texas of shopping malls, Top 40 girl singers and extreme patriotism, nor is it about the old Texas of cowboys and horses. Keen’s music chronicles the lives of working class people. Their ups and, mostly, downs. He writes epic stories about not-so-epic people who find themselves in difficult situations. The fact that none of his songs have ever been made into a movie is a major surprise to me. His best known song is “The Road Goes on Forever,” about Sonny and Sherry, two casual acquaintances who have both reached dead ends, take a chance on each other and end up changing their lives… forever. Sherry was a waitress at the only joint in town
Keen got his start in Austin, playing local dives and frat parties. He’s not exactly the frat boy type, but, for whatever reason, they still flock to his shows. Keen eventually made a disastrous move to Nashville, after Steve Earle told him that he needed to suffer for his music. Suffer he did, finally retreating back to Texas where he managed to regroup and then began having fun again. Keen’s upcoming spring tour doesn’t include a stop in Chicago, where he always packs ‘em in. But if he gets close again, I’ll make sure to let you know. If I could live my life all over
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You can listen to some of REK’s songs |
Outsiders apparently call just one guy
Sunday, Feb 20, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller First, George Will writes a feel-good column about Rod Blagojevich’s political future without once mentioning the burgeoning scandal over the guv’s nauseating eagerness to raise big money from state contractors, commission members and agency honchos. He voted for Reagan twice, this son of a Serbian immigrant steelworker was the archetypal Reagan Democrat — and still picks his own political paths: He is at daggers drawn with Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, who wants casino gambling that the governor opposes. “It’s just too easy, all this found money,'’ Blagojevich says. When Daley asked him, “Don’t you want the money?'’ Blagojevich replied, “Frankly, no.'’ Then, the San Francisco Chronicle includes Blagojevich in a puff piece about future Democratic presidential contenders, using an issue that’s a no-brainer in Illinois: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (pronounced bla-GOYA-vich). Son of a World War II prisoner of war, this former Golden Gloves boxer who grew up on Chicago’s West Side has a compelling up-by-the-bootstraps life story, a Midwestern constituency and an attractive young family. And among the grass roots, he’s viewed positively for extending the moratorium on death row executions established by his Republican predecessor, Gov. George Ryan, in 2000. Giangreco certainly earned his pay last week.
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