These are what I have in mind as far as tablet devices.

First, I've played around the iPad a lot since the 2nd generation was released earlier this year. May have no idea about many of its inner workings but so far I have little expectation of not on this device but the other devices below. The one thing that would keep me from buying this device is the price tax. Even the entry-level device is pricey to me.

Second, there's the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0" it's as easy to use as the iPad. I only know this because I dropped by a Best Buy to play around with it. But only after reading an entry over at Instapundit, which basically talks about how Apple wants to prevent it's sale in Europe. Another notch in its favor is price at $349! There is another Galaxy Tab 10.1" much larger than the 7.0". Also the 7.0" has buttons while the 10.1" is totally touch screen.

Finally the BlackBerry PlayBook. The only knock at first is ease of use. I had to search far and wide for a Best Buy to find one I could play with. Took me awhile to figure out how to minimize certain programs so that I can access others. It takes a certain stroke to be able to go from program to program so that is certainly a negative. I do have still like being able to synch information between the PlayBook and BlackBerry phone. That is certainly a plus. Still this device costs as much as a WiFi only iPad. One major notch in its favor is tethering for internet access to the cell phone. Could use some improvements hardware-wise. Especially buttons for ease of use.

If only I could have all three!

Ames Straw Poll and Rick Perry's entry...

The Ames Iowa Straw Poll was won by MN Congresswoman Michelle Bachman:

Fresh off of her victory in the Iowa Straw Poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann said today she has broader appeal beyond a Tea Party and social conservative base, and that she can compete on a national stage with other Republican candidates and with President Barack Obama.

"Everywhere I've gone, all across Iowa, there isn't an event that I do that I don't have people come up who say that, 'Michele, I'm a Democrat, and I'm voting for you,' 'I'm an independent, and I'm voting for you,'" Bachmann said on "This Week." "And I think it's because I'm talking about what people really care about, and that's turning the economy around and job creation.

"I think what people see in me is that I'm a real person. I'm authentic," Bachmann said. "And they want someone who's going to go to Washington and represent their values. ... That's really what you saw here in Iowa in the straw poll yesterday. You saw a big message sent to Washington."

Bachmann took first place Saturday in the straw poll, with 28 percent of the nearly 17,000 votes cast. That was enough to beat close challenger Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who finished with 27 percent of the vote.

Her fellow Minnesotan, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty placed third and Marathon Pundit notes that Pawlenty has withdrawn from the 2012 race. The day of the straw poll saw the entry of current TX Gov. Rick Perry into the Presidential race.

Now that Perry is in for certain we're going to see some good things about him and Tribune columnist Eric Zone has found some mostly negative links about him. It's the "Rick Perry reader" of course if you know any good links in favor of Perry, feel free to share.

I think at this point the Republican Presidential Race is still up for grabs. Straw poll victory or not I just do not see a front runner at this point!

The Fix: Poll suggests Republican could win Weiner seat

Written by Rachel Weiner (no relation to Anthony Weiner) of the Washington Post:

A new Siena Research poll suggests that Republicans could win the Sept. 13 special election in former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s New York City district, a result that would be embarrassing for Democrats and would likely complicate redistricting plans.

The finds Republican businessman Robert Turner in striking distance of Democratic state Assemblyman David Weprin, 42 percent to 48 percent, suggesting a possible upset.

And with the election a month away, voters’ minds are surprisingly set. Only 15 percent of respondents said they were likely or very likely to change their minds.

There’s a borough divide going on here. Turner leads by six points in Brooklyn, Weiner’s home base. Weprin leads by 10 points in Queens, where he and his family are very well known. Brooklyn comprises 30 percent of the district; the rest is in Queens.

New York City is solidly Democratic, so how is it possible that a Republican can win? It would be interesting if one did although I understand that Staten Island is largely Republican as far as New York boroughs go.

Average Teen Unemployment Rate in D.C. is 50.1%, Analysis Shows

The teen unemployment rate is way above the nationwide teen unemployment rate which is at 50% currently according to this article:

An analysis based on U.S. Census Bureau data by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) shows that the average unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 in the District of Columbia was 50.1 percent as of June 2011. This corresponds with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showing that for D.C. the annual average unemployment rate for teens in 2010 was 49.8 percent.

Michael Saltsman, research fellow at EPI, provided the 50.1 percent figure to CNSNews.com as an update of an analysis he compiled based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

The 50.1 percent figure is almost double the average teen unemployment rate in June 2007 in the District, when it was 26.2 percent, according to Saltsman.

Well this article didn't break it down according to race. I wonder how many blacks vs. whites vs. latinos vs. whatever are unemployed. Is any one group having a much more tougher time finding jobs than others?

Whatever the race/ethnicity here's an explanation:

“Young people are facing more competition for fewer jobs, a lingering consequence of the recession and wage mandates that have eliminated entry-level opportunities,” Saltsman said. “The consequences for this generation of young people missing out on their first job are severe, including an increased risk of earning low wages and being unemployed again in future years.”

Competition with older workers even for those jobs you would expect to be held by young people? I would like to hear more about this conclusion about an increased risk of earning low wages and then possibly being unemployed again in future years. How did Saltsman arrive at that?

Via Instapundit!

Ward Room: Why Neo-Confederate Tea Partiers Need Joe Walsh

From NBC Chicago's Ward Room blog the skewering of the Tea Party and Conservatives continues:

Why has Rep. Joe Walsh become one of the faces of the Tea Party movement?

According to author Michael Lind, writing in Salon, it may be because the Tea Party doesn’t want to show its real face: as the latest iteration of white Southern radicalism, which dates all the way back to the Nullification Crisis of 1832, when South Carolina declared it had the right to ignore federal laws.

Lind, who is himself a Texan, points out that 63 percent of Tea Party Caucus members are Southerners. Only 19 percent are Midwesterners. (None are from New England, which is ironic, given the movement’s name.)

Why aren't there more "minorities" in the Tea Party movement? I don't consider myself a tea partyer myself, but sympathize with some of their issues, especially government spending.

"This is not about poverty, it's about culture,"

I agree with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Truer words has never been spoken:

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain is considering a raft of new measures related to crowd control, gang membership and social-media communications, in an effort to prevent a repeat of rioting and looting that exploded across the country this week.

Mr. Cameron spoke in an emergency session of Parliament, the morning after the U.K. had its first night of relative calm since street violence broke out in London last Saturday. So far, there have been 1,200 arrests across the country, amid a debate about how the riots will further dent an already weak economy and harm the reputation of a nation set to host the Olympics in less than a year.

The British leader took some heat from lawmakers—including from Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party—over the Conservative Party-led coalition government's decision to cut police budgets over the next five years as part of its effort to tackle the country's massive budget deficit.

Mr. Cameron repeated his view that the riots were caused by opportunistic criminals rather than the economic slowdown, cuts to government services and heavy handed police tactics that some say triggered the disorder.

"This is not about poverty, it's about culture," he said. "A culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities." He added: "We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets."

Most of these situations are caused by opportunistic criminals. Would good people want to loot and riot? Well we may not necessarily know the answer, but one that must be asked.

Via Althouse!

Feds buck Quinn, order cooperation in deportation program

I don't understand how unreasonable this is for many:

The federal government is requiring Illinois police to report illegal immigrants who are arrested on any charge from public intoxication to murder, in spite of Gov. Pat Quinn’s  opposition.

On Friday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, canceled contracts with the 39 states participating in Secure Communities — a program in which local and state law enforcement officials share fingerprints with the federal government.

 

ICE, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, did not cancel the contracts to end the program, but rather to assert that ICE doesn't need a state's permission, in this case via a contract, to operate the deportation program.

 

“ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement this federal information sharing capability,” ICE Director John Morton said in a news release.

...

The federal program, created under Republican President George W. Bush, was engineered to deport illegal immigrants who've been convicted of a felony or at least three misdemeanors in the same year in the United States or a previous crime in their home country. 

 

Local police departments sent the fingerprints of anyone arrested and fingerprinted for any reason to the state police and FBI. ICE then can access the fingerprints through the FBI and check them against several ICE databases of illegal and legal immigrants.

 

When ICE discovers a fingerprint linked to an illegal immigrant, it looks at that person’s immigration status and criminal history, among other things, to determine whether to deport him.

 

The program does not cost the states any extra funding, according to ICE.

Some aspects of the immigration issue for those who advocate in favor are understandable. Do you really want to break up families? Do you really want to send home those who are here to find a jobs (even if those jobs are essentially under the radar)?

At the same time what's the problem with sending home those who have committed crimes? I don't see that as unreasonable and those who want to even oppose that are simply unreasonable!

Via CapFax which by the way as always has a very active commenting section. In fact, one commenter compared one person's wish to enforce the laws on their books with wishing to maintain Jim Crow laws.

That is like WTF??? right there. Another commenter noted there are no Jim Crow laws today. Although yeah people did enforce Jim Crow laws and also had no wish to change them in any way. But how is this an argument to not allow federal authorities to deport those illegal immigrants who have committed crimes?

Dana Milbank: The most powerful man on Earth?

OUCH!

Marathon Pundit refers to Milbank of the Washington Post as liberal supporter. Here's his recent column:

When he began his speech (and as cable news channels displayed for viewers), the Dow Jones industrials stood at 11,035. As he talked, the average fell below 11,000 for the first time in nine months, en route to a 635-point drop for the day, the worst since the 2008 crash.

It’s not exactly fair to blame Obama for the rout: Almost certainly, the markets ignored him. And that’s the problem: The most powerful man in the world seems strangely powerless, and irresolute, as larger forces bring down the country and his presidency.

The economy crawls, the credit rating falls, the markets plunge, and a helicopter packed with U.S. special forces goes down in Afghanistan. Two thirds of Americans say the country is on the wrong track (and that was before the market swooned), Obama’s approval rating is 43 percent, and activists on his own side are calling him weak.

Yet Obama plods along, raising gobs of cash for his reelection bid — he was scheduled to speak at two DNC fundraisers Monday night — and varying little the words he reads from the teleprompter. He seemed detached even from those words Monday as he pivoted his head from side to side, proclaiming that “our problems is not confidence in our credit” and turning his bipartisan fiscal commission into a “biparticle.”

And what do you know Instapundit has this column and other links of interest related to Milbanks article!

Marathon Pundit says that Obama has lost another liberal supporter. Yes I'm aware he has his critics on the left, a group I consider his natural constituency. Then Instapundit says that the MSM who was solidly behind Obama in 2008 is starting to wane on him now!

Ward Room: Liberty and Justice For Some

Read this post over at NBC Chicago's local politics site, I will not that most of what is said can't be totally dismissed. That is he says certain terms are used to the advantage of whatever political ideology that exists in America. It's just that it seems that there are a lot of negative shots taken at those who are either conservative, libertarian, or anywhere on the right-wing.

Is this what it's come to?

Click for larger resolution

That image was via Instapundit! BTW, this is what that image is referring to:

Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S.’s AAA credit rating for the first time, slamming the nation’s political process and criticizing lawmakers for failing to cut spending or raise revenue enough to reduce record budget deficits.

S&P lowered the U.S. one level to AA+ while keeping the outlook at “negative” as it becomes less confident Congress will end Bush-era tax cuts or tackle entitlements. The rating may be cut to AA within two years if spending reductions are lower than agreed to, interest rates rise or “new fiscal pressures” result in higher general government debt, the New York-based firm said yesterday.

“The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics,” S&P said in a statement late yesterday after markets closed.

An Interracial Fix for Black Marriage

From of all places the Wall Street Journal:

I came away convinced of two facts: Black women confront the worst relationship market of any group because of economic and cultural forces that are not of their own making; and they have needlessly worsened their situation by limiting themselves to black men. I also arrived at a startling conclusion: Black women can best promote black marriage by opening themselves to relationships with men of other races.

I can agree with that, however, how would interracial dating promote black marriage. Well I'm assuming that means between black men and women. Perhaps the point here is to promote marriage, but not necessarily who you should marry.

We've heard some of these details before:

Part of the problem is incarceration. More than two million men are now imprisoned in the U.S., and roughly 40% of them are African-American. At any given time, more than 10% of black men in their 20s or 30s—prime marrying ages—are in jail or prison.

Educationally, black men also lag. There are roughly 1.4 million black women now in college, compared to just 900,000 black men. By graduation, black women outnumber men 2-to-1. Among graduate-school students, in 2008 there were 125,000 African-American women but only 58,000 African-American men. That same year, black women received more than three out of every five law or medical degrees awarded to African-Americans.

These problems translate into dimmer economic prospects for black men, and the less a man earns, the less likely he is to marry. That's how the relationship market operates. Marriage is a matter of love and commitment, but it is also an exchange. A black man without a job or the likelihood of landing one cannot offer a woman enough to make that exchange worthwhile.

But poor black men are not the only ones who don't marry. At every income level, black men are less likely to marry than are their white counterparts. And the marriage gap is wider among men who earn more than $100,000 a year than among men who earn, say, $50,000 or $60,000 a year.

The dynamics of the relationship market offer one explanation for this pattern. Because black men are in short supply, their options are better than those of black women. A desirable black man who ends a relationship with one woman will find many others waiting; that's not so for black women.

If many black women remain unmarried because they think they have too few options, some black men stay single because they think they have so many. The same numbers imbalance that makes life difficult for black women may be a source of power for black men. Why cash in, they reason, when it is so easy to continue to play?

This article gets more interesting:

But that's not the whole story. Even if a majority of white men are uninterested in dating black women, that still leaves more than enough eligible white men for every single black woman in America. Moreover, many major urban areas have large numbers of Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Latino men, some of whom, according to at least one study of Internet dating, are more responsive to black women than are black men.

To understand the intimate segregation of black women, we must go beyond the question of whether black women are wanted and look instead at what they want. For some black women, the personal choice of an intimate partner is political. They want to help black men, not abandon them. As one woman told me, "If you know your history, how can you not support black men?"

Others prefer black men because they don't think a relationship with a non-black man would work. They worry about rejection by a would-be spouse's family or the awkwardness of having to explain oneself to a non-black partner.

I wanted to call this silly, however, this might actually be valid in some instances. The curiosity could be there, but why should this be a reason to not pursue something that could be real.

Read the whole thing!

Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Rich Man, Poor Man

[VIDEO] I was alerts to this commentary from an e-mail from PJTV. Whittle attacks those who believe that the poor has a rough ride in this country. Except that many of them own things that surely many in well-to-do households would take for granted. Refrigerators, TVs, microwaves, video games, PCs, even air conditioning!

So how much worse off is the poor in this country if they can afford those luxuries?

Innocent Bystanders: The Poverty Brand™

Are people really OK and unashamed of their poverty and whatever claiming poverty would get them? Here's what Innocent Bystanders blog says about that idea:

During the Great Depression, my Grandpa Dave worked for the Works Progress Administration building roads. (This was FDR’s failed “stimulus” plan.) I heard about how he would come home exhausted and drenched in sweat. He worked himself half to death, because he was ashamed to be receiving public assistance and wanted to prove to himself that he had earned his pay. That is the attitude we need today. Instead, we have created a culture where women think it is perfectly OK to make a career out of being sluts, pumping out babies, and expecting the public to take care of them and their bastards.

I have the solution. Let’s make poverty shameful again. Let’s expurgate the entire concept of “entitlement” from our public discourse, and go back to the concept of charity. Poor people should feel pitied. Instead, they feel oppressed if they don’t think the government is doing “enough.”

See, I have no issue with a social safety net. I just think the beneficiaries of this net should be grateful and embarrassed. Instead, we have a growing population who thinks they are “entitled” to food stamps, AFDC, Section 8 housing, a free cell phone, health care, a nice hot lunch for the kids instead of Mom packing a lunch box (even in the summer), and on and on.

The “entitlement” mentality perfectly suits the massive bureaucracies that support their dependencies and are very well paid to do so, and the fraudsters who prey on the system. So, in America we have “poor” people who, by any global standard, are living large with cable TV, air conditioning and internet access. Meanwhile, the average taxpayer is getting raped.

Via Instapundit!

Since we're on the subject of tablets...

[VIDEO] This report is from CNN and how to restauranteurs use an iPad to enhance their eatery:

Christian and Nacasha Ruffin are using iPads to revolutionize their Atlanta restaurant.

I plan to return to ATL in time for homecoming. Hopefully I can visit their restaurant do at The View when I finally do return.

Thank goodness for some ingenous Googling because I was able to find them! It all started with their twitter account @DORestaurant.

AT&T Opens the Bridge for BlackBerry-PlayBook Connection

AT&T Opens the Bridge for BlackBerry-PlayBook Connection

I wanted to look seriously as the BlackBerry PlayBook until I saw this:

Users will be able to access basic information coming into their BlackBerry from the tablet without a paid tethering plan, but those looking to access the Web using their BlackBerry’s Internet connection will need to sign up for the $20-per-month tethering plan.

I won't necessarily need a separate data plan, but to access the internet still need to pay more for tethering.

Even for a basic 16GB PlayBook, it costs the same as a similar iPad with only wifi ($499). A 16GB iPad with wifi and 3G capability will cost $130 more. There are other sizes to the PlayBook with a 32GB and a 64GB that will go up by $100 each at $599 & $699 respectively.

At least the Playbook has wifi. Then I also understand that one could use tethering with an iPad instead of having to purchase a data plan for that device.

BTW, I'm a bit upset that I missed a sale for the Playbook at Staples. Could've saved $100 on it if purchase before July 30th with a coupon! >:(

Hollywood Conservative: An I-Phone President

Basically the author, Kevin Rush, is promoting Michigan Republican Congressman Thaddeus McCotter for the Presidency. There is a point to be made here beyond who Rush wants to see as President:

McCotter recalled that in the 80’s Ronald Reagan had made being conservative cool, and noted that conservatism should be cool again. According to McCotter, every trend in American life, except government, is veering towards greater freedom and greater autonomy. Smart phones, iPads, Kindles, etc. all allow greater mobility, accessibility of information and ease of communication. Entertainment is now “on demand” putting the consumer in charge, and, I might add, frustrating the hell out of programming executives who can’t figure out, or are loathe to supply, the type of entertainment the public wants.

Technology is removing obstacles and empowering individual freedom while providing a multitude of choices.  The potential for individual liberty, and one might posit the pursuit of happiness, has never been greater.  That is, if government will get out of the way and let America be America.  McCotter observes that everything that seems to empower us can fit in the palm of our hands, so why shouldn’t our government?

Contrast McCotter’s vision of a wireless, on-the-move nation where Washington is reduced to the size of an Intel chip with President Obama’s turgid, passive, inert populace weighed down by a voracious, federal Leviathan.  With 2011’s Q1 GDP growth revised down to 0.4% and the initial estimate for Q2 landing with a thud at 1.3%, we’re starting to feel the full effects of Obamanomics with its crushing regulation, anti-growth policies and socialist give-aways.

Has Obama gotten the message that runaway spending for government feather-beds does not resonate with the American people?  Not on your life.  Like the fish who doesn’t know it’s wet, Obama doesn’t know he’s grown government too large.  Earlier this week, in frustration over the failure of his opponents to crumble under the weight of his petulant foot-stomping, Obama told an audience of supporters:

“I’d rather be talking about stuff that everybody welcomes — like new programs…”

Is Obama so insulated in his liberal bubble wrap that he actually believes the people are waiting with bated breath for him to roll out his next federal program? Is that what he thinks the people want, even more government than the first $14 trillion has bought us? Obama keeps promising free stuff, but it’s always followed by a litany of, “but this is what you have to do for us!” And that litany invariably details liberties lost. Activist government that serves the people long ago became activist government that serves itself at the people’s expense. Hence, the debt crisis.

But if Obama doesn’t get it, who does? McCotter seems to think the Millennials will. The generation coming of age and exiting college into Obama’s stagnant economy are not going to want to be wage slaves to the Obama Leviathan. They want to be the iPhone nation. They don’t just want their MTV, they want their Lib-er-tee.

 Hmmm, gov't the size of an intel chip? I do wonder how that'll look.

Also the greater access to information. We have lots of ways to look up information now. Me personally I no longer have to be wedded to a desktop PC. No, there's my BlackBerry where I can read some of my favorite news sites and blogs anytime.

In addition we have platforms where the individual can provide entertainment. We have blogs, YouTube, audio podcasting and the like to offer what no programming executive could.

BTW, I could have added the quote about in 2012 it won't be cool to vote for Obama. Of course that could be done anytime!

Check out Google's homepage today...

They're celebrating Lucille Ball's 100th birthday. Click on the numbered dial and you will find several clips from Ball's classic TV series I Love Lucy. I remember the time she passed away, was creeped out by the very colorful pictures of her that aired on FOX 32 back in the day. Back in the day it was hard to get away from I Love Lucy reruns today I have a hard time getting away from reruns of The Simpsons, The Office or Seinfeld for example.

I have three other posts scheduled for today and all of them tech related. So consider this today's fun post. :P

When it Comes to Earnings, Higher Education Isn't the Whole Story

From the Chronicle of Higher Education. Let's focus on the gender and racial aspects of this:

Like the study on college majors, this new research also reveals earnings gaps for women and minorities. The report refers to gender and race as "wild cards that matter more than education or occupation in determining earnings."

Women earn less money than men over a lifetime at every level of education. At the median, a man with some college but no degree earns nearly as much as a woman with a bachelor's degree, and a woman must hold a Ph.D. or professional degree to surpass what a man makes with a bachelor's.

White workers earn more than African-American and Latino workers at every level of education. Asian workers, in contrast, make more money than white workers at the three graduate levels: master's, Ph.D., and professional degrees.

The report also includes lists of the 10 most common occupations for workers with each level of education and their median lifetime earnings, which help illuminate the occupation-based variation within education levels.

What the article doesn't seem to mention is what accounts for the variation according to gender and race. Why don't women earn as much as men? Why don't Blacks or Latinos make as much as white workers?

Via Instapundit!

Doug Ross: Top 10 never-seen before Obama banner ads

My personal favorite from this collection is "NOW... with executive experience". LOL! Via Marathon Pundit.

Ward Room - Illinois: The Most Democratic State

I hope the Republicans had read this from NBC Chicago's local politics blog:

Why are Republicans so powerless in Illinois? As the saying goes, geography is destiny. It’s all about Cook County, which contains half of Illinois’ voters. Only Delaware, Hawaii and Rhode Island -- tiny states with similarly Democratic voting records -- are so dominated by a single urban county.

Illinois’ GOP has become irrelevant because of its association with the national Republican brand: white and rural, with a desire to bring religion into public life, and a belief that the government has no business telling people how many guns they can own.

Unfortunately, the Republicans’ last gubernatorial nominee, Bill Brady, embodied those values. Brady campaigned as though he lived in the Illinois of the Republican Party’s dreams -- an Illinois that does not include Cook County. He counted on Downstaters’ resentment of the Colossus of the North carrying him to victory. The result: He won 99 of 102 counties, and still lost. Pat Quinn would have been elected to a full term even if he’d just carried Cook County.

Republicans will just have to get used to the fact that the Democrats have become the natural governing party of Illinois. They may be able to sneak in a governor after years of one-party fatigue, but as long as the Democrats are the big-city party, and the Republicans the small-town party, they’ll never dominate this state again.

What this means is that they need more of a presence in Cook County. They need not totally cede the county to the Democrats. It's often been said if the Republicans can get enough votes to cut into any potential Democratic votes, they can win a statewide race.

Walter’s Perspective: Enough With The Celebrating, Mr. President

[VIDEO] Walter Jacobson has been a fixture on Chicago TV for a very long time even before I even arrived on the scene and this doesn't mean as a blogger. Even he has something to say about the President's birthday party in Chicago. Lesson here is that the President should act like he cares about the economic issues of this country and cool it with the celebrating!

Marathon Pundit: Leftists protest Obama at 50th birthday party fundraiser in Chicago

Well he got some pics, but there probably wasn't anything at the "Jobs Bash" that I failed to attend.

A Tea Party Jobs Bash was planned for the Green Mill a block away from the Aragon but it fizzled out--if it had started at all. Leftists had a hissy fit and harassed the management of the bar with nasty phone calls and emails.

The left has their issues with President Obama and were in force last night. I noted on my Twitter account that there were immigration protesters there. "Yes we can...stop the deportation".

Of course immigration dissidents weren't the only ones there either!

Like I said, next time I plan to bring a friend. :P

UPDATE I didn't notice that he also shot some video of immigration protestors in Uptown! [VIDEO]

SouthernAvenger: The End of Right-Wing Progressivism?

[VIDEO] Neo-conservatism is "right-wing progressivism". And I've watched enough Southern Avenger videos to know that he doesn't like neo-cons and he really doesn't like President Bush. Even better he may see little difference between the policies of Bush and Obama. What do you think?

Ward Room: When Conservatives Loved Public Schools

To be honest, the following quote from NBC Chicago's local politics blog were almost very disappointing. A good case was made, but it almost veers into saying conservatives are bigots:

But there was a time when conservatives wanted to require all Americans to send their children to public schools because Catholic ones were a threat to American values. In the 1920s, white Protestants were getting extremely uptight about the torrent of non-Protestant immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Poland, Russia and Germany. They spoke stupid languages, ate weird foods and practiced heathen religions.

Prohibition cut off the newcomers’ sinful indulgence in beer, wine and whiskey. Immigration was halted in 1924. And the Ku Klux Klan became the most popular men’s club in the Midwest. Unlike its Southern counterpart, though, the Northern Klan didn’t hate blacks. It hated Catholics, seeing their allegiance to the bishop of Rome as a threat to American democracy.

In those days, public schools were seen as Protestant schools, which was why Catholics established their own separate system. At the height of the nativist reaction, some states actually held Klan-backed referendums which would have banned Catholic education by requiring all children to attend public schools.

Today, of course, it’s the other way around, as Protestant evangelicals support school voucher laws that would allow parents to receive tax money to send their children to private schools. No matter where the lines are drawn, public schools have always been a political issue.

Better call them nativists than conservatives, and those nativists I would refer to as anti-school choice today!

Uptown Update: The President In Uptown

Uptown Update: The President In Uptown

I was up there today to see what was going on. Even to see about this "Jobs Bash". Next time an event like this takes place I'll be sure to bring a friend. At least Uptown Update shows us how to cover a presidential visit to their neighborhood. A YouTube video and photos.

I know it will be a very rare event on the streets of Chicago, but I promise to do better next time.

I forget that I have my own pictures from up there. Some of them posted onto Twitter. I should exhibit those here. Just not tonight!

RIM Announces New BlackBerries For AT&T, Sprint

I haven't had my BlackBerry for a year and a half and I'm already looking for the next phone. I'm considering either another BlackBerry or an iPhone believe it or not. Now this new BlackBerry, a touchphone model Torch 9850/9860, is coming. Might keep using a BlackBerry phone afterall!

The BlackBerry Torch 9810 looks very similar to the existing AT&T Torch, but has many upgrades under the hood, including the new BlackBerry 7 OS. The Torch 9850/9860 for AT&T, Sprint, and US Cellular, meanwhile, is RIM's latest attempt at a touchscreen-only model after ditching the BlackBerry Storm moniker.

Of the two new devices, the 9850/9860 is fresher and more daring. RIM has tried to do full-touchscreen phones before, in Verizon Wireless's BlackBerry Storm and Storm2. But the original Storm was buggy, and the Storm2 was criticized for having a difficult user interface.

The new touch Torch (say that five times fast) has a 3.7-inch, 800-by-480 touch screen and a 5-megapixel camera on the back with 720p HD video recording. The processor is a 1.2-Ghz, single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8655, and the phone has 768MB of RAM and 4GB of storage.

The touch Torch has a curved front which RIM calls the "waterfall." The company says it makes the screen appear bigger; it certainly prevents the device from looking boxy.

The big question around the touch Torch is whether the new BlackBerry 7 OS will provide a much better touch experience than consumers found on the Storm. Superficially, BlackBerry 7 looks a lot like BlackBerry 6—similar icons, the same app tray, and the traditional BlackBerry pop-up menus. But RIM has said that it includes many core features, such as hardware graphics acceleration, which will make the experience smoother and simpler.

About when will we see this new phone come out?

AT&T said the 9810 will come out in August and the 9860 will appear sometime before the end of the year. Also this year, AT&T will launch the BlackBerry Bold 9900, with which we had some hands-on time back in May. (See the slideshow below for more details.) That's a sped-up BlackBerry Bold, without a touch screen.

I've had my eye on the Bold 9900, but hey the time will come when I will make up my mind what I want to get as far as a phone goes.

“Jobs Bash” Party Planned Across Street From Obama’s Chicago Birthday Bash

Uptown Update blog has been talking about this Presidential event for a month almost. The long suffering Uptown neighborhood of Chicago is celebrating because at least for a brief time the neighborhood will be the safest place on Earth. That will also mean hopefully that it'll be a safe place to hold a rally that protests the President:

Activists Plan to Counter Obama’s Re-Election Fundraiser in Chicago

WHAT:President Obama plans to celebrate his big 50th birthday this Wednesday at the historic Aragon ballroom on Chicago’s north side with additional satellite fundraisers being held around the country. But the President may be in for another unexpected surprise: A “Jobs Bash” just steps away from the upscale fete in his honor.

On Sunday’s premiere of “The Victory Sessions” with Stephen Bannon on TalkRadio 790 KABC and streamed live with Larry O’Connor, editor-in-chief of Breitbart.tv , “Tea Party Report” contributor William J. Kelly issued a call for people - conservative, independent, and tea party supporters and leaders - to come to Chicago for the President’s birthday and have a “jobs bash” of their own.

“Barack Obama is only concerned about one job and that is his own. He is in town for a birthday fundraiser after sending a debt limit deathblow to American businesses,” said Kelly.

To that end, Kelly is helping to organize the first Tea Party “Jobs Bash: 2011.” He is calling on the unemployed and the underemployed to come out and bring their resumes and business cards to “Job Bash 2011” and call on the President to own up to the high U.S. unemployment figures – currently at 9.2 %.

WHERE: The Green Mill (across from the Aragon Ballroom)
4802 North Broadway Street
Chicago, Illinois

WHEN: Wednesday, August 3, 2011 -- Jobs Bash" reception begins at 3pm.

CONTACT: Call Bill Kelly at (312) 217-4623. For details, watch www.kellytruthsquad.com

Perhaps the Uptown Update blog will have some updates on any protests against the President in addition to how the neighborhood fares on the world stage!

Via Gateway Pundit with a hat-tip to Instapundit!

With debt debate over, Obama urges focus on jobs

I definitely agree. That was the issue the President sought to work very hard on, although it's hard to see the results of his policies on the economy as far as jobs go:

President Obama marked the end of the "long and contentious" debt-limit debate Tuesday afternoon, lamenting that the "manufactured crisis" has stunted the economic recovery and promising a return to a jobs-focused agenda.

The president spoke from the Rose Garden moments after the Senate gave final approval to the deal by a vote of 74-26. The House had voted for it by a surprisingly comfortable 269-161 margin on Monday.

Obama signed the measure more than an hour after the Senate vote, ensuring that the nation is able to continue borrowing money to pay its bills.

The president called the deficit-reduction measures paired with the debt-limit increase an "important first step to ensuring that as a nation we continue living within our means." But he also said he would continue to fight for a "balanced" approach when Congress continues the debate this fall.

"I've said it before, I will say it again: We can't balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have born the biggest brunt of this recession," he said.

Alas Keynesian policies will continue and we'll have a tough time seeing more jobs in this economy. Also I'm not sure if this crisis was manufactured. He should know that a Republican US House was elected last year over government spending. There was bound to be a fight over that!

Federal debt ceiling and the effects on US states

Rich Miller talks about the lack of coverage on the effects of the debt ceiling issue to the states.

Improving Mexican economy draws undocumented immigrants home from California

I wonder what this says about both the American economy or even the Californian economy?

There are fewer undocumented immigrants in California – and the Sacramento region – because many are now finding the American dream south of the border.

"It's now easier to buy homes on credit, find a job and access higher education in Mexico," Sacramento's Mexican consul general, Carlos González Gutiérrez, said Wednesday. "We have become a middle-class country."

Mexico's unemployment rate is now 4.9 percent, compared with 9.4 percent joblessness in the United States.

An estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants have left California since 2008, though the remaining 2.6 million still make up 7 percent of the population and 9 percent of the labor force, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Via Newsalert!

Politico: Liberals' summer of discontent

Via BigGovernment

I haven't tuned in very heavily to the debt ceiling debate, but it appears the polls for the President isn't going in the right direction on this issue. Politico:

Even the least painful resolution to the crisis — a plan backed by Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that is a cocktail of deep cuts in discretionary public spending and infrastructure improvements without a whiff of the tax-the-wealthy agenda that has been a staple Democratic demand — is poison to many progressives.

“Every policy outcome for liberals is a loss at this point,” a senior party operative said, reflecting the prevailing view among progressives that the alternatives mulled by Obama in the debt talks range from the awful to the unthinkable.

“We may win on the politics,” the operative said, “but the policy battle is lost. It’s just depressing.”

Several recent polls show unmistakable signs of Obama’s slippage with this core group. A Washington Post survey released last week found that the percentage of self-described liberals who “strongly” support the president’s performance on jobs has fallen 22 points over the past year, from 53 percent to 31 percent.

The percentage of African-American Democrats, Obama’s electoral core, who think he’s doing a good job on the economy, has plummeted from 77 percent last year to a little over 50 percent.

A CNN poll released last Friday showed Obama’s overall approval rating dropped from 48 percent to 45 percent in the past month, sapped, in part, by dampened liberal enthusiasm.

50% approval amongst Black voters? All the enthusiasm from 2009 seeing the first Black President elected and it doesn't appear to be as strong as it was in either November 2008 or January 2009! Well I wasn't always interesting in polling but if only I can see if the numbers for Black voters continue to either shrink or stay consistent. Ultimately what will be the numbers by the time the 2012 Presidential race is concluded in November?

Via Marathon Pundit!

Speaking of economists...

[VIDEO] Reason commemorates economist Milton Friedman's 99th birthday!

There's no way to appreciate fully the contributions of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006), who would have turned 99 years old this weekend, to the growth of libertarian ideas and a free society.

This is the man, after all, who introduced the concept of school vouchers, documented the role of government monopolies on money in creating inflation, provided the intellectual arguments that ended the military draft in America, co-founded the Mont Pelerin Society, and so much more. In popular books such as Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, written with his wife and longtime collaborator Rose, he masterfully drew a through-line between economic freedom and political and cultural freedom.

Yet his ultimate contribution to freedom and liberty is found less in any of the specific argument he made and more in the ways he made them. Friedman provided an all-too-rare example of a public intellectual who was scrupulously honest, forthright, and fair in every debate he entered. Whether he was duking it out with fellow Nobel Prize winners and other high-profile economists or making the case for the morality of capitalism with TV hosts such as Phil Donahue and angry students, he always argued in good faith, admitted when he was wrong, and enlarged the circle of debate.

Long after some of his technical points and social insights have been superseded, that commitment to relentless inquiry and search for truth wherever it takes us will survive.

Milton Friedman gave us something much better than revealed truth: He showed us the process by which we might continue to indefinitely learn about our world and the human condition. In this sense, the Friedman Century is far from over; indeed, it's just getting started.

Written and narrated by Nick Gillespie. Produced and edited by Jim Epstein, with help from Jack Gillespie.

About 2.30 minutes.

His work probably isn't in the public domain, but I have seen clips of his appearance on Donahune. This is something I need to read up on as well!

So says the intellectual father of capitalism...

I found this image from a friend. I haven't read Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, but some reading of this work is warranted. A justification for those who believe we should tax the wealthy?

Is College a Waste?

[VIDEO] I wish I could embed this video , but FOX News for whatever reason has disallowed embedding from its YouTube channel. So click the link in the brackets so watch this segment from the late great Glenn Beck program that ended it's almost two and a half year run last month.

UPDATE 5:26 PM -  Found an embed to post directly from FOXNews.com

The subject was about the value of college and this is something I have pondered as of late.

College was expected of many young Blacks whether it was my parents or younger generations. It was especially critical when say the parents were successful and they wanted better for their children and the key for that was going to college.

I would expect my children (when I have any) to go to college. My hope is that they would be prepared for that step and that I would be able to help guide them forward. When it was my time to go to college it was basically a roller coaster ride. Was not prepared at all?

My first finger would be pointed at my old high school. Although on the other hand many of us wasn't expected to go to college so therefore for most of us the idea hadn't been planted in our heads. It's OK to prepare a select few but let those who want to leave themselves out leave themselves out. The ones who don't want to even think college will not go!

My mother wasn't exactly expected to go to college. My grandmother never graduated from high school but for her generation she could probably afford to do so. While most of my aunts and uncles have college degrees or at least some college credits they weren't expected to go to college. My mother did finish her degree in her 40s after attending school part time during the early course of her working career. My dad on the other hand never finished high school.

I could continue to point fingers, but in expecting the young people to go to school they should have to consider what they're getting into. The disciplines they would be interested in studying and perhaps the potential job when they get their degrees. They should also consider the financing. Do they really want to go into student loan debt for something that is in the long run still somewhat valuable?

What is your answer?

Washington Post: U.S. officials believe al-Qaeda on brink of collapse

Will not shed a tear for the terrorist group. Yeah I'm sure there may be others to arise, but I hope that they won't be able to conduct the same type of operations that al-Qaeda has been able to!

U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed al­Qaeda to the brink of collapse.

The assessment reflects a widespread view at the CIA and other agencies that a relatively small number of additional blows could effectively extinguish the Pakistan-based organization that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — an outcome that was seen as a distant prospect for much of the past decade.

U.S. officials said that al-Qaeda might yet rally and that even its demise would not end the terrorist threat, which is increasingly driven by radicalized individuals as well as aggressive affiliates. Indeed, officials said that al­Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen is now seen as a greater counterterrorism challenge than the organization’s traditional base.

President Obama has steadily expanded the clandestine U.S. campaign against that Yemen group, most recently by approving the construction of a secret Persian Gulf airstrip for armed CIA drones. But recent setbacks, including a botched U.S. military airstrike on American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, underscore the difficulties that remain.

Chicago Argus: Something stinks. That’s the partisanship

For almost the past week Gov. Pat Quinn, has been on a business trip to the Jewish state of Israel. Of course that doesn't stop blogger Gregory Tejada from commenting on the state of politics here in Illinois:

According to the Chicago Tribune, Quinn told reporters that he feared Republican legislators would use the opportunity to play political games of their own, and that he thought it best to keep them out as much as possible.

What makes that possible is that state law requires a budget to be approved before the state fiscal year begins on July 1. Which is why Quinn on June 30 signed into law the budget approved by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

Had he not done so, the state laws that require a larger vote of support to pass something into law would have taken effect. Which would have meant the Democratic majorities in the Illinois House of Representatives and state Senate would not have been able to do whatever they wanted, and that Republican votes would have been needed to pass something.

This is a good point. This should hurt Republicans in this state. Hopefully they can turn things around and be competitive in 2012:

If the GOP wants to be taken more seriously, they need to focus their attention on winning elections and gaining more representatives. Just as it is difficult to argue about the behavior of Congress these days – where the conservative ideologues won a sizable share of the House of Representatives to have some legitimate say. For Republicans to gain some say in Springfield these days, they're going to have to win a share of representation. That's just the way things are in the real world.

This would also be true of a lot of the many groups in America. You could be a libertarian or a socialist, but if you want a say organize people around your ideas.

Chicagoist on the Eastland disaster

96 years ago the SS Eastland capsized in the Chicago River at a dock half way between the present day locations of the Merchandise Mart and Marina City. 844 people had lost their lives on this very day back then. Chicagoist gives us the history lesson. Gives us what Schmidt would've otherwise done! :P

artistmac: Replacing an Old-Fashioned Toilet Ballcock and Float Ball

[VIDEO] He really needs to post more videos. Actually I wish I could utilize my YouTube account more. This video he shows us how to replace some parts in his antiquated toilet:

When you live in an old house with an old-fashioned 3.5 gallon tank, you either learn how to replace ballcocks and float arms or you call a plumber. Since the one in my bathroom recently needed replacing, I decided to record the replacement process for posterity (and YouTube). Thank you, Lowe's, for stocking a product that millions of homeowners still want and need. And Home Depot, if you're not going to carry ballcock assemblies, why the flying **** do you still stock the float balls and arms!? Strange.

And no, I'm not putting in a low-flow toilet. I'm the only one living here; it's not like there's five kids and the toilet's constantly being flushed.

A fun home-improvement oriented video for today!

Woman’s bullets fell out of gun just before she tried to shoot cop

Shandra Kidd

This has got to be a case of sheer stupidity and madness. It's unbelieveable that she had no bullets in her gun then attempted to fire at police.

In May 2007, officers were investigating a report of shots fired near 78th and Burnham when they stopped a car Kidd was riding in. She ran and when an officer caught her, she stuck a gun in the officer’s chest and pulled the trigger.

But the gun didn’t go off.

The officer and Kidd struggled and they fell down. When they got up, she stuck the gun in the officer’s chest again and pulled the trigger.

Again, it didn’t go off.

That’s when the officer shot Kidd, 22, of the 7700 block of South Phillips.

Police later found that the cylinder of Kidd’s gun had opened during the chase and all the bullets fell out.

Judge Neil Linehan sentenced Kidd on Thursday.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez was quoted in this article saying...

“This is a fitting and a just sentence for anyone who would be so bold as to fire a gun at a police officer,” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said. “We are grateful that this officer was uninjured in this incident and we will continue to prosecute violent crimes against police officers to the fullest extent of the law.”

And for this 2nd City Cop blasted her:

Unless of course, she's in Hawaii and can't get camera-time for charges against a cop killer.

They're of course referring to a story about no charges were immediately filed against a man in prison who apparently confessed to the murder of a police officer last year. A story I wrote blogged about over at my very own The Sixth Ward.

Rahm Emanuel - Why do all that and then answer the question?

Ironically this story about Mayor Emanuel when Mary Ann Ahern at NBC Chicago decided to query him during the course of an interview about where he plans to send his children to school made it to Instapundit this morning. This is what happened after he attempted to cut of the interview, Ahern made the point that the Mayor could send a message about how confident he was in the public schools to educate his children:

Then, the Mayor of Chicago positioned himself inches from my face and pointed his finger directly at my head. He raised his voice and admonished me. How dare I ask where his children would go to school!

"You've done this before," he said.

This was the Emanuel we had heard about, and it was one of the oddest moments in my 29 years of reporting.

Glenn Reynolds says:

And your kids’ schooling is his business, but his kids’ schooling isn’t any of your business. These people always seem to think that way.

Sense of entitlement is the point, right?

The Cider House story

The Cider House story

A story out of the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. Did apple cider really save a house from the fire? Was this house unique amongst the many structures to survive the fire? John Schmidt at his WBEZ blog gives us the answer!

NBC Chicago: How to Lower the State Income Tax

A piece advocating for a more "progressive" income tax:

Even before the state income tax rose from 3 percent to 5 percent, Illinois was listed as one of “Terrible 10 unfair tax states,” because of our flat tax, high sales taxes, and 1.25 percent levy on groceries. The poorest 20 percent paid 7 percent of their income in taxes, while the richest 1 percent paid…1 percent. Those numbers are even worse now that the guy shining Mayor Emanuel’s shoes is paying the same 5 percent as Mayor Emanuel. (This comparison does not apply to Gov. Quinn, who gets his shoes shined as often as he combs his hair.)

But it doesn’t have to be that way! The delegates to the 1970 Constitutional Convention, who included former Mayor Richard M. Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan, banned a progressive income tax. But it can be un-banned with a constitutional amendment. The legislature could then return most of us to the old 3 percent rate (or less), while forcing Mayor Emanuel to pay 7 percent (or more) to make up the slack. Of the 43 states with an income tax, 33 use a graduated scale. New Jersey, which usually manages to be in less financial trouble than Illinois, goes from 1.4% for the broke to 8.97% for the millionaires. Only four states -- Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee -- tax the poorest of the poor at a harsher rate than Illinois.

If only there was a discussion to eliminate the income tax entirely. Before the 1970 constitution was enacted there was no income tax in Illinois. Of course I would hope that this state would be in decent financial shape for that to ever happen.

BTW, what does it say about Illinois if blogger Edward McClelland noted that New Jersey has a progressive income tax yet has less financial trouble than Illinois. Hopefully taxpayers would take an interest in knowing where their dollars are going.

Anti-employment movement in Chicago

Well not sure that a strip-club would be a good example to set if you wanted to point to ways that a government may seek to close a business they don't approve of. It's not only government who may not approve of type of business, but citizens as well.

For 18 years, the city of Chicago has been trying to shut down what’s now known as VIP’s A Gentlemen’s Club, whose politically connected owner, Perry Mandera, boasts that he runs “Chicago’s only full liquor & topless bar.”
City Hall’s position is this: The club’s dancers showed too much butt and too much breast.

The club’s take: No, they didn’t — and, besides, it argued, the city ordinance that makes it illegal for a club to sell liquor if it has performers exposing their buttocks or breasts is unconstitutional.

The courts keep rejecting the club’s arguments. Mandera hasn’t won a court ruling in the case in 10 years, going all the way at one point to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to take his appeal.

But VIP’s is still operating and still serving liquor. Even as Mandera has lost one ruling after another, the courts have stayed those rulings, allowing him to keep operating the club while his lawyers keep fighting the city.

Whatever legal bills Mandera may have piled up, the fight clearly has been worth the effort financially, court records show. Mandera has said in court documents that his club takes in $6 million a year with its mix of near nudity and liquor. That’s at least $4 million more than adult-entertainment venues make that don’t have a liquor license, according to Mandera.

The club isn’t just good for him, Mandera, who declines to be interviewed, has argued in court, but is also good for the economy, employing 180 people, including 100 performers. The women are paid to dance on stage, and they can make more money by doing private table dances.

“According to Mandera, the average dancer at the club was making ‘six figures a year’ by the year 2000,” according to a 2006 Illinois Supreme Court ruling. “Mandera reported his own take from the club to be $75,000 a month.”

VIP’s says it pays $480,000 a year in taxes to the city and state.

One way to look at this. This may not be the type of business you want in the neighborhood, but if Chicago isn't doing that great fiscally then is it in your best interest to close a business that's making money. Even if that business is "sin".

Via Newsalert!

NBC Chicago: How Flint Michigan Proves Mayor Daley Right on Gun Control

Almost sounds like a justification, but all the activity isn't thanks to Flint's lack of gun control. The availabilty of guns aren't causing people to use their guns to commit crimes:

In Flint, it's hard to make the case that liberal gun laws and a well-armed populace have made it a secure place to live. Last year, the impoverished city, which has lost more than 70,000 auto industry jobs, laid off a third of its police force. Homicides jumped from 36 to 66, breaking a record set in 1986, when Flint had nearly twice as many people as its current population of 102,000. Flint is the deadliest city in America, with a murder rate four times as high as Chicago’s. Some killings were in self-defense: an elderly woman shot a teenage boy who broke into her home. But most were drive-by shootings, robberies and drug murders.

Residents say the understaffed police force takes 50 minutes to respond to a shooting. Which inspires people to take law enforcement into their own hands.

“If you know no one’s going to show up for 50 minutes, that’s plenty of time to get away,” a young African-American man told me. “I’ve got a Glock in my house. If they’re not going to have my back, I’ve got to have my own.”

Perhaps guns haven't made Flint safer, but the people don't feel safe anyway. Perhaps the people of Flint feel safer with their own guns because their police department doesn't have decent responses to incidents. I can also point out, that it also depends on who is holding the gun and every individual shouldn't have a gun. Does that really mean that no one should ever handle a gun?

Big Government: Obama's Debt Rebellion

Obama's Debt Rebellion

A good history of debt and federal government finance over at Breitbart's Big Government blog. I don't totally understand it but it good to see the history. This post makes the point of making sure that our government pays off their debts and remain in good shape financially.

If there was a time to really get back into decent financial shape now is the time. Otherwise when will we finally get out of this "Great Recession".

Publius Forum is glad to see Ron Paul go....

Ron Paul a long-time Texas Congressman has decided to focus his attention on his Presidential bid instead of seeking re-election to his US House seat. There are a few people who are happy because they aren't very happy about some of his views on foreign policy and probably on the Federal Reserve as well.

For example Publius Forum:

I'd say we are safe to start writing the obit for Paul's career, so what is the Paul legacy? A hit-and-miss libertarianism, constant attacks on Jews and the Federal Reserve, complaints about federal spending, while culling billions of federal tax dollars in earmarks for his constituents in Texas. But no real lasting legacy, I’d say.

In fact, I'd say his best legacy is his more levelheaded son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

I won’t miss his half-informed fanboys who have for at least ten years descended on nearly every Republican or conservative conference stuffing straw poll ballot boxes with votes all paid for by Paul's multi-million dollar campaign war chest. I also won’t miss his fans and their overly confrontational attitudes and ignorant, raucous behavior. Most especially, I won't miss their anti-Semitism and hatred for Jews.

Hmmm, I had little idea that Ron Paul has said anything against the Jews. I wish I could see some examples. Also kudos to Publius for allowing a compliment on Paul's son Rand who is currently in the US Senate from Kentucky.

We can agree on one main point, I'm not sure the nation is ready for Ron Paul's brand of libertarianism. To be honest though now is the time to advocate for libertarianism. If progressivism and conservatism have had their day it's about time for the libertarians.

Can this really be called a recovery???

Check out this AP article:

A dismal June employment report shows that employers are adding nowhere near as many jobs as they normally do this long after a recession has ended.

Unemployment has climbed for three straight months and is now at 9.2 percent. There's no precedent, in data going back to 1948, for such a high rate two years into what economists say is a recovery.

The economy added just 18,000 jobs in June. That's a fraction of the 90,000 jobs economists had expected and a sliver of the 300,000 jobs needed each month to shrink unemployment significantly.

The excruciatingly slow growth is confounding economists, spooking consumers and dismaying job seekers. Friday's report forced analysts to re-examine their assumption that the economy would strengthen in the second half of 2011.

Saw this about the Siskel Film Center...

I did lament that there isn't a movie venue downtown. It was known for many movie venues, but many of them have been either razed or converted to other uses.

For example down the street from the Gene Siskel Film Center (a marquee posted to the left) in either direction. Block 37 had been vacant for many years to the south near State & Randolph but there were a number of movie theaters there before that block was razed in the late 1980s. Then a little north was the old State/Lake theater which is now a TV news studio for Chicago's ABC affiliate.

Then directly across the street is the Chicago Theater. These days it's more of a live theater venue. Many years ago it played host to an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Anyway today I'm reading this Chicagoist post about the Siskel Film Center operated by the Art Institute of Chicago. It's a good read and while this venue mainly shows more art and specialty features it indicated how the film exhibition business is changing and attempting to adapt to the current climate.

Interviewed is Marty Rubin who is the Assistant Director of Programming at the film center. This is merely the second part of a series.

Johnson Publishing receives investment through stake sale to J. P. Morgan

While this is only a minority stake taken by Morgan Chase surely this is lamented by those who follow Black-owned businesses. But to survive a business has to do what it has to do to keep their business afloat. That's capitalism and the benefit is that the business survives and I would imagine there are some things Johnson Publishing needs to stay afloat:

Johnson Publishing Co., the Chicago publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, has sold a minority stake to J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. and will use funds raised through the investment to accelerate its growth plan.

CEO Desiree Rogers declined to say how much the private-equity arm of New York-based J.P. Morgan invested, but she noted that the stake is “substantial.”

The funds will be used to expand the brand's digital presence, and increase marketing for Johnson's magazines and its Fashion Fair cosmetics line.

The company also plans to bring some functions in-house, hiring a general counsel, head of human relations and vice-president of digital, Ms. Rogers said. She also said Chief Marketing Officer Rod Sierra has left to pursue his own business.

Chase is “supportive of the strategic direction” the company has taken over the past year, Ms. Rogers said.

I wonder what's the strategy:

Part of Ms. Rogers's digital plan is to strike partnerships with more vendors online to sell services and products to readers, she said. “Mainly now what we're doing is refining our strategy,” she said.

The monthly Ebony has used direct-mail marketing and discounted subscriptions to help return its circulation to 1.25 million, Ms. Rogers said. That's the base rate that is touted with advertisers. Ebony's total paid and verified circulation was 997,173 as of the end of last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Jet's circulation has jumped to 800,000 weekly, the company said. That's up from 703,944 as of the end of last year, according to ABC.

Ms. Rogers is also considering cutting costs by teaming up with other publications to buy materials, such as paper, at bulk prices. The company also previously announced it's selling its current Michigan Avenue office building and moving to a new headquarters in the city.

Well this is where I could add what I wish could be seen in Ebony and Jet magazines, but I think I will hold off. Johnson Publishing needs to turn their product around and hopefully then maybe some changes will be made to the content of their publications.

Raze the Roof: Cleveland Levels Vacant Homes to Revive Neighborhoods

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

I saw this story on PBS Newshour Tuesday night. I caught the part with the man who is seeking to use a vacant lot in Cleveland as a vineyard. Similar to something you should've seen on this blog from the past spring. Description:

Business correspondent Paul Solman reports from Cleveland on the economically troubled Ohio city's efforts to tear down thousands of empty foreclosed homes in hopes of putting eyesore and dangerous properties back to productive use -- perhaps as community gardens, new businesses or even a vineyard.

I would like to see something about this on The Urbanophile that takes a hardlook at urban development in America's Midwest region.

Oh and I almost forget that Detroit wants to do something similar decommissioning depopulated neighborhoods and finding another purpose for the land.