let's learn!

Hey, remember when Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics?

Yeah, I don't like learning either...

will we even listen?

Excellent op-ed piece from Thomas Friedman today. They all are really, but this one especially

Who Will Tell the People?

you're really gonna go there?

This is nice.

According to the Clinton campaign:

ABC News reported this morning that "Clinton has pulled ahead of Obama" in the popular vote.

What ABC News' Rick Klein actually reported in today's edition of "The Note" is this:

By one (rightly disputed) metric -- the popular vote, including Florida and Michigan -- Clinton has pulled ahead of Obama. But without the rogue states, Obama is still up by 500,000 -- and if you can find another objective measurement by which she’s in the lead, let us know.

Conveniently enough, whoever posted the page on the Hillpub site neglected to post a link to the original ABC article. Oops.

But seriously. Be real. Even with a stretch of the imagination the likes of which hasn't been attempted since da Vinci, this is not what this article was saying. At all. It's just banking on the fact that (largely) the only people reading her campaign's site are supporters, and supporters likely will have little to no intention of verifying what the campaign says. So why tell the truth when you can lie and have people believe you and consequently give you more money?

Anybody to whom that question needs even be asked should not be running my country damnit.

I'm so scared this will generate outrage for a week .. then disappear.

Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

in case you forgot

Because this won't add an unfair slant to those doing the prosecuting at all...

This is fucking appalling

U.S. to televise Guantanamo trials to 9-11 families

any takers?

This truly is just downright disheartening. Really.

I just got a call on my cell phone from a local number I didn't recognize, and because my cell phone is my only phone I do occasionally get marketing calls, so I ignored it. Upon receiving a voicemail, I promptly checked it out.

The somewhat downtrodden voice with which I was presented belonged to one PFC Richard Boris from the United States Army. He was calling because he had received information that I may be interested in joining the U.S. Army or the U.S. Army Reserve, and if it was true I should give him a call back (at a number at odds with the one on which he was calling me).

Is this really what we've come to? Is the United States Armed Forces really cold-calling cell phones looking for people to sign up for a war the majority of the country (to say nothing about the rest of the world) disagrees with?

Yes (if you hadn't yet guessed). Yes they are. How do I know this? Because nowhere does there exist information – credible or otherwise – indicating any level of interest on my part in joining the U.S. Army or the U.S. Army Reserve.

let's go babies!!

It's spring!!!!

Know how I know? Do ya? DO YA?!? It's beautiful and sunny out today, but that's not how I know. It's the second day of April, and people are wearing lighter and lighter outerwear, but that's not how I know either. It's not that the water taxi has started it's daily trips back and forth up and down the Chicago River, nor is it the increasing numbers of people running, walking, blading and cycling along the lakeshore trail at all hours of the day. No no my friends. On the bus this morning, on my way downtown..

..city workers were taking down the winter beach fences along the lake, transforming it from this to THIS. YEAH BABIES!! That means they're getting ready for sandy, warm weathery good times at the beach! And surely you know what THAT means…? I'll be expecting visits from all you wayward friends who seem to think there are places to live that are superior to Chicago. Because now that it is no longer the unofficial North American Siberia, we can go rollerblading, cycling, swimming, play water frisbee, lay in the sun, go dancing*, drink beer at a blues house or whiskey at a jazz joint, walk the streets at night without fear of being mugged by Jack Frost (that wanker), eat good food and drink great beer on the back patio of the supremely Scottish Duke of Perth (aka the Duke, hands down the best pub in my neighborhood with one of the best Scotch selections in the city), have cheap picnics near North Pond near that really expensive restaurant called .. North Pond, go kayaking up and down the Chicago River, take 3 hour long walks around the city because we can … ok, I really have to finish prepping for my event today. I need to leave in an hour.

For those of you with whom I've been out of touch, apologies. Really. Seriously. Lately my talents for keeping in touch with those I hold in high esteem (probably you if you're reading this) have run right along the same lines as those of a mollusk. Not a cool one. A bitchy one. Thanks all for putting up with me and staying my friend. I like you.



*I realize not all of these are exclusively Spring/Summer activities, but I'm in a good mood for once, and I finally feel like doing them. So eat it

cast out

Cast out - It's tough being different
in a homogeneous world
Originally uploaded by normalityrelief

Recently I've been spending more time taking pictures and coming up with witty titles and captions for them on flickr. And I gotta say, it's been pretty fun. I love hiking around Lakeview in my trenchcoat, badass fingerless gloves (to aid in operating my camera), with camera around my neck, and occasionally tripod in tow.

This caught my attention one day while getting on the bus on my way to work. It's this ordinary-looking midrise about two blocks away from me, with nothing about it out of the ordinary save for one entire side is completely without windows. Except that one little guy. I wish I knew who decided to build it that way and why. It's just all sorts of curious