Concordia U.-River Forest is no more. Now it’s Concordia U. Chicago. New web site too.
Day: August 29, 2006
Icon slips
This just in from the 300 South OP Ave. block: The U.S. Postal Service did not deliver yesterday. This I can confidently assume from the totally empty three boxes in our building, west side of OP Ave., a few doors north of Wash Boul. There’s a # to call, but it does not give you the local p.o., or didn’t a few years ago last time I called, when same thing happened on 600 Ontario block. S–t happens, I know, and maybe we should mainly be grateful it happens as infrequently as it does in respect to mail delivery. There, got that off my chest.
3:50, having broken down and called the # (1-800-ASK-USPS), was put on hold AFTER answering the machine four or five times. 3:53, got Eric, who said give them to 5 p.m., call back with info, they will go to supervisor, etc. Thanked him, that was it for then.
4:30, going outside, there she was, Ms. Mail Carrier. I said Hi, added there had been no mail yesterday, she said she knew. Whole tone was, she knew quite well about it, which was all I had to hear. End of story and complaining.
Voting for Stroger
* At least one voter has decided to punt in November. She will not vote either way, Stroger or Peraica, for county board presidency, she volunteered to this blogger/writer. She can’t stand voting for Stroger and so will NOT VOTE.
Enter Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.” Good men and women, let the bad times roll!
* In a more analytic mode, here’s one man’s view a while back of the overall situation: “One thing Peraica needs to win is strong suburban turnout compared to the city. That’s a tall order since city turnout has been greater than suburban turnout in every major primary and general election for many years.”
— Rob Olmstead in Daily Herald 06-07-31
MERCANTILISM LIVES!
“In reality . . . from Adam Smith on (and before that), monopoly was always understood as being created by government. Indeed, The Wealth of Nations was a critique of mercantilism, the system of state-sponsored monopolies, protectionism, and monetary superstition that plagued European economies at the time (1776).” [Italics added]
This is a definition I’ve been looking for, supplied by Thomas di Lorenzo, author of How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present — 330.122 DIL on the Dewey decimal chart at OP library.
It’s important for OP, which has been practicing mercantilism for some time now, picking and choosing commercial operators, generating arguments about which to pick and choose and inhibiting growth and prosperity even when picking winners, as anyone is bound to do now and then. Consider the hundred monkeys at a hundred typewriters and their (maybe superior, who knows?) version of “Hamlet.”
Some possible sense about Katrina
. . . that takes us beyond the standard blame-Bush, blame-city and/or state officials position:
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L’Affaire Stroger, Part CDXXXVII
The saga marches on, you might say. Bobbie Steele, veteran county board commissioner named temporary replacement for the incapacitated president, John Stroger, is “uncomfortable,” she said — make it all past tense when reporting this business — with the hiring-freeze hiring of 1,300 employees, as we presume she was uncomfortable with the Stroger patronage chief, whom she bumped laterally. But not uncomfortable in either case to fire anyone. It is encouraging, however, that a few weeks in the job has gotten the party grin off her puss in newsp pix.
In addition, she’s knocking John Stroger now: his administration was “insulated.” But she didn’t fire the patronage man, who is able to sing or hum the old favorite:
I’m bidin’ my time/“Cause that’s the kinda guy I’m
Actually ’cause Baby Stroger has all that patronage army working the precincts for him. It’s the confidence that led Ald. Beavers tell reporters when the stricken Stroger was still president, “We can do anything we want.”
Steve Patterson is all over this story in Sun-Times, offering us nothing cute and keeping stories down to 500 or so well chosen words, which is how they all should be written for daily newspapers.
Wal-Mart coverage
Sandra Guy story, Sun-Times 8/28/06 says Wal-Mart is big in ‘burbs, where it’s considered to do great things. Good Jobs First man in Wash DC, however, wants govt to decide the issue, not believing in The Power of the People, and I’m only half kidding here. Rather, let them vote — with their pocketbooks — on what’s good for The Community. Note especially the Forest Park info, where the Wal-Mart on Roosevelt Rd. has contributed to improvements galore by its taxes, which are contributed by The People when they buy things that They Want. Give the lady (and gentleman) what she wants, as Marshall Field used to say.
Blithe Spirit 