Reader comments closed for the weekend
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I recently watched the thoroughly enjoyable documentary “Lemmy” and was surprised when the man who basically invented heavy metal via his band Motorhead said he was really into the new crop of female country singers because of their sweet harmonies.
“Surprised” may not be the word. I spit out my drink when he said that.
But, hey, I agree with him. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve been so into country pop lately.
Country pop tends to live more in the real world. The songs are more about what average people experience day to day. And the new music isn’t just about getting drunk, or driving big rigs down the highway.
Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” for example, is one of the best-written songs about a breakup in years…
Leave it to me to be holding the matches
When the fire trucks show up and there’s nobody else to blame
Heh.
Lambert played at the Illinois State Fair last year and it was among the most enjoyable shows I’ve ever attended at the Grandstand.
* Tonight, Thompson Square is opening for Gary Allan. Maybe I’ll see you there. The group’s biggest hit is one of the better pop songs of the decade…
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Question of the day
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Tribune’s Republican Day coverage…
Only one candidate for treasurer showed up: DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan. DuPage’s former County Board chairman, Bob Schillerstrom, was absent but put out a statement that he is “continuing to explore a potential run for state treasurer but has not made a final determination.”
That fueled talk that House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego may be eyeing the treasurer post as he struggles to maintain control of a divided caucus. But Cross, a mainstay at past state fairs, did not attend Thursday. A spokeswoman said Cross was unavailable because he was helping to get his daughter ready to move back to college.
Subscribers have known for quite a while now about those Cross rumors. And Schillerstrom’s absence did, indeed, fuel those rumors.
* The Question: Should Tom Cross run for state treasurer? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Also, please notice that I’m asking “should,” not “will.”
survey solutions
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Illinois State Fair leftovers
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I can’t believe I forgot to post this. My niece Rosalee’s county 4-H project won her a trip to the big show last Saturday. She did really well…
* I don’t want to complain too much because I enjoy riding in the annual “celebrity” harness horse race, but my horse this year was not quite up to par. The first thing my driver said to me after we got onto the track was, “Oh, my God, look at that horse!” Huh? “Do you see all the snot coming out of its nose? He’s sick!”
Steve Brown, who won the race, somehow managed to “draw” a horse that was as big as a Clydesdale. So, I get a horse on his last legs and Brown gets a monster.
Anyway, here’s a quick video I took of my horse before the race…
* Click the pick for a larger image to see all the red cups on the track after the Toby Keith concert…
* One of Oscar the Puppy’s favorite things to do is ride in my truck. Every day when it was time to go to the fair, Oscar headed straight for the garage, believing he was going with me. He was bummed out when he had to go to his room instead. Here’s Oscar in his favorite spot, on the front truck seat…
* I gave Oscar some extra treats this week because he missed out on all the State Fair fun…
* If you haven’t made it to the State Fair yet, there’s still plenty of time and lots and lots of stuff to do.
…Adding… My brain may have been fried by too much State Fair, if that’s possible. Initially, the whole reason for this post was this Kankakee Daily Journal story…
Fourteen-year-old Dylan Hummel, of Cabery, sold his grand champion meat goat for $11,050 at the Illinois State Fair Governor’s Sale of Champions Tuesday, shattering the previous record price of $6,900 in 2009.
Seven records were broken and one tied, pushing the sale total to $222,750 — nearly $67,000 higher than the previous record, said Jeff Squibb, state fair spokesman.
The young exhibitors get 80 percent with 20 percent split by the 4-H and FFA organizations of Illinois.
Gov. Pat Quinn and Agriculture Director Bob Flider encouraged bidders from the floor and many others had worked behind the scenes to bring support for exhibitors of grand champion livestock in the junior show and Illinois bred and raised “Land of Lincoln” show.
Another local connection was the record price set for the Land of Lincoln grand champion meat goat shown by Carlee Critchelow, of Chanderville. It brought $3,750 — 50 percent above the previous record of $2,500. That goat was from the herd of Rodney and Lori Meyer’s Hillside Stock Farm, west of Chebanse.
Wow.
Glad to see the ag sector doing so well.
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Cook Dems slate Quinn
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Not unexpected…
* From the Tribune earlier today…
On Thursday, an aide to Daley said the campaign anticipates Quinn will win the backing of the 50 ward and 30 township committeemen who are scheduled to gather at a Loop hotel to consider statewide endorsements. As such, Daley doesn’t plan to show up to the slate-making session to ask for their support or try to persuade them not to endorse Quinn.
“In the last three slate-making sessions, the Cook County Democratic Party has backed Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn,” Daley spokesman Pete Giangreco said. “And when you look at the relationship that Joe Berrios and Frank Zuccarelli have with the governor, we don’t see any reason why that would change.”
Berrios, the county assessor who doubles as county Democratic chairman, has been criticized for hiring relatives. Zuccarelli, the Democratic committeeman and supervisor in Thornton Township, runs a potent vote-gathering operation. This week, Zuccarelli gave up his recent appointment by Quinn to the CTA board amid pointed criticisms from Daley about political patronage and double-dipping.
In forgoing slate-making, Daley, the son and brother of former Chicago mayors, is once again seeking to separate himself from his family history. His father, political boss Richard J. Daley, tightly controlled the endorsement process while serving as mayor, personally dictating the Democratic tickets at the state and local level.
At the same time, the slate-making session will mark the second consecutive appearance by Quinn before top county and city Democrats. In his earlier years as a political outsider, Quinn abhorred the slate-making process as an insiders’ game.
Dan Hynes tried to use Quinn’s slating against him in the 2010 cycle and it didn’t work.
…Adding… I’m told the vote was unanimous. ADDING: John Daley and two others didn’t vote for Quinn.
…Adding More… NBC5…
Quinn predictably showed up to the session and gave the crowd of fellow Democrats his “land of Lincoln” stump speech, touching on his Illinois Jobs Now program and emphasizing the importance of “working every day for everyday people.”
“I need your support,” he told the group. “It’s going to be a tough campaign.
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Pension art
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I received an e-mail from our very own pension expert “RNUG” last night entitled Pension Art at State Fair…
Thought you would be amused by this if you missed it at the State Fair. The artist did a good job of summarizing the debate visually.
It was on exhibit in the Artisans (Poultry) Building. Photo quality is so-so since I took it with my phone. Enjoy.
* The label…
* Click the pic for a larger version of the wide angle shot…
* A closeup…
Discuss.
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Sen. Kirk returns to the State Fair
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sen. Mark Kirk was a featured speaker at yesterday’s Republican Day festivities…
Seven months after returning to Congress following a debilitating stroke, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk encouraged fellow Illinois Republicans Thursday to look to his example and “never give up” the quest to rebuild their party and recapture the governor’s mansion despite public embarrassments and setbacks.
“I will not ever give up on Illinois,” Kirk said, puncturing the air with his right index finger during a brief speech at Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair.
It is clear that both Kirk and the state’s minority party have a difficult road ahead of them. Kirk is tasked with continued rehabilitation efforts as he makes his own re-election bid in 2016, and the Illinois GOP with projecting unity and offering an attractive alternative to Democrats at a time when the state is in dire financial straits. […]
Kirk, who is declining to make an endorsement in the governor’s race, told the Associated Press that he would be encouraging party members to “adhere to the eleventh commandment of Ronald Reagan.”
“Thou shalt,” Kirk said, “not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”
* More…
In a nod to the difficult road ahead, Republicans waved signs and chanted: “Never Give Up.”
They saved their loudest applause for the man who inspired the mantra, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who won cheers as the congressman, who is recovering from a stroke, walked across the stage with the aid of a cane.
“We are the ones who are going to rescue Illinois,” Kirk said.
* More…
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., called his first trip to Springfield since his January 2012 stroke “great,” and said he’s working on legislation to improve post-stroke treatment for low-income people through government programs.
“Every time I’m below I-80, I feel like I’m in the right place on earth, talking to the people I work for,” Kirk, 53, of Highland Park, told The State Journal-Register in an interview Thursday at the Illinois State Fair.
He said his condition is “excellent.” He walks with a cane and said “fatigue is an issue,” and he is still getting rehabilitation about three times a week.
Kirk said he is planning to offer legislation for what he calls “the stroke agenda.”
“The problem is, if you have no insurance and you’re low-income and you’re on Medicaid in Illinois, if you suffer a stroke, you only go to a rehab specialist four times,” the senator said. “That means you’re not going to really improve very much. I want to set a national standard that moves the country on the way to the opportunities that I had to recover.”
* I had a chance to chat with Sen. Kirk for a few minutes later in the day. He seemed very clear in the head, spoke well and was quite cheerful. He also said he plans to run for reelection. A photo…
Caption?
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Another caption contest!
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* No “Republican Day” coverage would be complete without a photo of Kirk Dillard and Jim Edgar…
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Republicans pile on Rauner over Rahm
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yesterday’s Republican Day speeches were all about unity and positivity. Not so much during the media availabilities afterwards, however…
The two Republicans who dueled for the governorship in the photo-finish 2010 primary used Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair Thursday to deliver a one-two punch against 2014 rival Bruce Rauner, zeroing in on the billionaire venture capitalist’s close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. […]
[Sen. Bill Brady] called that association a “non-starter” for Republican primary voters and, in a dig at the state Senate colleague he defeated by 193 votes in 2010, likened it to Dillard’s decision to film a 2008 campaign commercial for Barack Obama when the Democrat was running for president.
“People are tired of this one-city, one-party rule and the connections to Rahm,” Brady told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s a huge liability for a Republican, just as the Obama connection to Dillard is a huge liability.”
Dillard, who defended himself by noting he spoke out against Obama’s push for universal health care in Illinois when the president was a state senator, jumped on Rauner, as well.
“It’s incredibly troubling that a man who is constantly referred to as a member of Rahm Emanuel’s inner circle, who vacations with the mayor, according to the Chicago Sun Times columnist Mike Sneed, and [who] also is another city of Chicago resident is running for governor,” Dillard said.
* Rauner refused to apologize for his association with Emanuel in his response…
“For somebody to try to say, ‘Well, you touched Rahm or worked with them. … Y ou know what? If we’re going to get stuff done, if the Democrats control [things], we’ve got to do something to work with them. I won’t apologize, and I won’t back down,” he said.
Rauner, who has pledged to spend millions of dollars from his fortune on his campaign, also chalked up the criticism to “desperate” rivals.
“You know what? In politics, when you’re desperate to win, you say stuff,” he said.
* Jon Zahm, who is no Rauner fan, also piled on…
Rahner sponsored the hot dog lunches for all the attendees. But this became a real “fail” for the campaign. Just over a half hour into the event the hot dogs ran out leaving hungry folks to have a hot dog bun only with their beans and Oberweis ice cream. Poor planning and hiring the wrong people to estimate the food needed are two errors that need rectifying.
The other three serious candidates for Governor landed good zings on Rauner:
Brady: “People are tired of this one-city, one-party rule and the connections to Rahm,”
Dillard: “I have experience that money can’t buy.”
Rutherford: “I don’t have to go on a ‘listening tour.’ I have been to all 102 counties and received important feedback and support.”
* A brief video of a little Rauner rally around his motorcycle before the speeches…
* Related…
* Illinois GOP’s governor candidates make pitches at state fair: “I’d like to put them all in a blender, and we’d have a great recipe for success,” said Jack Dorgan, the Illinois Republican Party’s new chairman.
* Time for change, GOP speakers at Illinois State Fair say
* Four governor candidates test their messages at state fair
* Republicans Show Unity at State Fair
* Gubernatorial candidates talk politics on “Republican Day” at the state fair
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Caption Contest!
Friday, Aug 16, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This will be the first of a few Illinois State Fair photos that we’ll do captions for today. Hey, it’s Friday, so I’m gonna try to keep it light today.
From a press release…
Governor Quinn Declares August 14 as “Toby Keith Day”
Keith presented with a proclamation
WHEREAS, Illinois is a leader in supporting the arts, and has always been an important component of the artistic fabric of our state; and,
WHEREAS, there are few forms of music more purely American than the country music genre; and,
WHEREAS, country music, with its themes of rural life, family, hard work, and love for country speaks to Midwestern ideals and Illinois residents can relate to its message; and,
WHEREAS, a country musician who has experienced great success in this genre is Toby Keith; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith was born in Clinton, Oklahoma to parents Joan and Hubert; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith began playing music at a young age after being inspired by musicians who worked at his grandmother’s supper club; and,
WHEREAS, prior to starting a career in music, Toby Keith worked in the oil industry and played in the USFL football league. His debut album, “Toby Keith,” produced the most played country song of the 1990s, “Should’ve Been A Cowboy”; and,
WHEREAS, his follow up records, Boomtown and Blue Moon, were equally successful due to hits “Who’s That Man” and “Me Too”; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith’s 2002 album, Unleashed, sold 3 million copies and included a duet with Willie Nelson, “Beer For My Horses”; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith’s albums have sold more than 36 million copies, ranking him among the top-selling genre artists on Billboard’s Top 200 artists of the Decade; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith, aside from enormous commercial success, has received critical acclaim and industry awards including the Songwriter/Artist of the Decade distinction from the Nashville Songwriters Association International as well as the American Country Awards’ Artist of the Decade distinction; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith is strongly committed to our nation’s veterans and in 2008 played 18 shows for U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf as a part of a U.S.O. Tour; and,
WHEREAS, Toby Keith will perform at the Grandstand of the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday, August 14th at 8:00 pm; and,
THEREFORE, I, Pat Quinn, Governor of the State of Illinois, do hereby proclaim August 14, 2013 as TOBY KEITH DAY in Illinois in recognition of his tremendous musical success and contributions to the country music genre and industry.
* Keith thanked the governor for the honor during his concert the other night. He seemed genuinely touched. Quinn presented the proclamation to him backstage before the show. The photo…
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