10 Comments - Reddbyrd - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 8:26 am: Looks like a yawner of a day. GOPs(as in MOPEs) can head for Swellville to hear Cheney raise some cash for the national GOP. Dems can relax, hit the beach or the links. Wonder if the AccordiOnGal or Brickhead The Executioner will make it to Lake Forest? - Cassandra - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 8:44 am: I hate to say anything positive about him, but Tusk is absolutely right about the feasibility of reducing the number of state employees. He should look first to the state’s management ranks, which are grossly overstaffed in many agencies such as DCFS, DHS, IDOT and so on. In some agencies, duplication of management structures is rampant, especially in Chicago, where most Blago patronage workers live and work. If we believe in the competence of our state direct service employees, we should agree that they don’t require huge management staffs to oversee their work. If the direct service employees cannot work indepndently, it would be far cheaper for the taxpayer to outsource their work to the private sector or even oversease. Since the alleged revision of hiring practices under Blago would reduce the real number of patronage jobs, there is no longer an advantage for Blago to have lots of state jobs available for patronage. We can thank the feds, not Blago, for that. But the confluence of state money woes and damping down of the Blago patronage machine could actually be, gasp, a win for the beleagured Illinois taxpayer. I hope they go for it. - Leroy - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 9:02 am: >Is Bethany trying to buy its way to a deal on closing its West Side emergency room? Perhaps patronage jobs are far more in demand in those neighborhoods than health care facilities, and Bethany is merely responding to market forces? - leigh - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 9:18 am: I have a friend who used laser accupuncture and quit smoking cold turkey with no side affects. Might be worth looking into. - bored now - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 9:33 am: rich, if the world is ending tomorrow (6-6-06), why would you choose yesterday to try to kick the habit? couldn’t you wait three whole days? - Rich Miller - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 9:36 am: lol - Vargus - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 9:39 am: Bethany is becoming the first specialty hospital to address chronic illnesses and diseases on Chicago’s west side; the Emergency room is staying open; a new Access Community Health Clinic is opening on campus; a $14 million community health fund; a underutilized OB unit and psych ward in an overbeded market is closing. Not much of a payoff by Illinois Political standards. - Yawn - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 10:09 am: GOP = MOPES, wow, that is SOOOOOOOO clever. - Just Observing - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 10:19 am: Rich, I’ve been nicotine free for 2.5 years — after quiting 100 times before that. You can never, ever have a cigarette again. Good luck. - B Hicks - Monday, Jun 5, 06 @ 12:52 pm: Hang in there, you’ll kick it. I quit about 8 years ago–hardest thing I ever did. Just remember, if it gets too bad, there is always that gas station around the corner. You can buy a pack at any time. That’s what helped me. Never again, is a long time. Just focus on getting through the day. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.