Surprise! We’re taking a break from politics and health care reform and just chilling by Lake Michigan in Chicago. Enjoy! »
Energy conservation and aesthetics
This morning, as I was seeing all too well by the light of the new LEDs in our bathroom lighting fixture, the thick black hairs growing out of my chin (I’m a fair-haired woman) I was remembering a conversation I had yesterday about energy efficiency. I was suggesting the replacement of household-wide incandescent lighting... »
One year ago in Denver…so much hope
What a scene it was that night in Denver at the Mile High Stadium one year ago today. People stood in line in the hot sun for hours to get a seat…and then that evening inside the stadium, the feeling was electric. Supporters–black, white, young, old, gay, straight and every other stripe–hung on Obama’s... »
No shouting, just good sense on health care reform in Illinois' Congressional District 7
Health care reform has the whole country talking and not everybody’s shouting and making fools of themselves at town hall meetings. In Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, several hundred voters/taxpayers turned out last Saturday morning for our congressman’s “State of the District 2009″ meeting. The crowd was civil, orderly and respectful. Imagine that. Well, I... »
Speaking of guns…and mosqitoes
Speaking of guns… A neighbor last week, not one to gossip – she says – kept me standing in my front lawn while I was being eaten alive by terrorist mosquitoes, giving me the latest on all the neighbors. Among other complaints about the local village government, she was telling me how long it... »
The past is not the present
One thing that drives me batty is when historians talk, or write, about their subject matter in the present tense. And I go completely bonkers when they mix their tenses — especially when they do it in the same sentence. Then I become homicidal! Telling a historical narrative in the present tense is... »
Phony email chains now being passed around the Internet, trying to incite more fear among Americans
Just got the same email from three different people with the same phony story, word for word, sent to each of them supposedly from a friend of a friend, about “What really happened last week in Montana”. This is one of the disgraceful tactics being used by the political right to spread false rumors and misinformation, to... »
That's the U.S. for you: Fund wars but not health care
Can anyone explain why American taxpayers are more willing to fund wars in far-off places than spend their money on health care at home? And why Americans can tolerate so much death and destruction in Iraq and Afghanistan but show so little interest in saving thousands of citizens’ lives? This Christian nation’s priorities are terribly... »
Grow your own food
A Chicago friend delves into her urban garden and discovers the pleasures of growing her own salads… »
Do health insurance companies encourage abortion? Maybe so.
About 21 years ago, when my wife was thirty one, she gave birth to our second child by caesarian section. Both our first and second child required caesarians because of medical reasons. When our first was born, my wife was in labor for over 24 hours and developed toxemia and the doctor... »
In Chicago? Help out to have a rational Healthcare debate.
Hello, I was at a picnic Wednesday for the kids at my son’s summer camp and got into a discussion with one of the mothers there about health care reform. She was fearful that her health care would be withdrawn; she gets her care through Medicare and her children — both disabled — are on... »
Time to keep that Whole Paycheck from Whole Fools?
Whole Foods Market Inc. CEO John Mackey’s op-ed in The Wall Street Journal has ignited a movement, it seems. In the last several hours e-mails calling for a boycott of the high-priced retail food chain have been flooding in from ChicagolandforObama’s listserv. Also, a lot of Twitter users are calling for a boycott,... »
Somewhere in Kansas
A non-productive conversation I dreamed I had somewhere in Kansas: Kansan: I want my old America back A visitor: Which old America is that? Kansan: The one where there are no taxes and everything is cheap, of free, for real Americans, and where the government does not interfere with my life. Visitor: Well what about all the good things... »
Reality Check
Please send this link to everyone you know, no matter what side of the debate they are. And ask them to do the same. Thanks! This is the reality, the facts. If you have a web site, it does not matter what the regular content or subject of your site is, it’s time... »
What do economists know? Not enough apparently.
Holy Cash for Clunkers, Batman, economists were surprised that retail sales didn’t rise last month! What planet are they living on? What are they smoking? Just because Wall Street is on a roll doesn’t mean Americans are flocking to the malls once again. Even Wal-Mart, temple of Joe Six-Pack discounts, saw its revenues decline... »