It is down to the wire in Illinois to pass a budget by midnight.
A replay of last year, with out the fun-loving Rod Blagojevich.
I have a hard time not thinking that the separation of power here in the Land of Lincoln is out of balance.
When do the leaders of the house (Michael Madigan) and senate (John Cullerton) finally realize it is not about them, but about us, the citizens of this state.
Do I want my taxes raised? No.
But we cannot keep digging a canyon of debt to make things work. We need to get revenue, plus start cutting the fat.
I think it would be great if the fine men and women representing us opened their campaign war chests and doled out funds to get this budget balanced.
Show us the way politicians, or maybe we should show a few the door.
Pabst, a boxer-mix rescued from a shelter in California, won the World’s Ugliest Dog contest, held in Petaluma, Calif., on Friday at the Sonoma-Marin Fair.
It was an upset win for Pabst. He unseated former champion Rascal, a pedigree Crested Chinese.
Pabst features an under-bite to go along with a scrunched face and floppy ears.
Pabst’s owner, Miles Egstad, of Citrus Heights, Calif., took home $1,600 in prize money.
I have been interested in the photo of the dog that wins the contest the past three years. They are quite the sight.
However, I would enjoy it if someone would run an Ugliest Pet Owner contest. One of the categories could be dressed like a slob.
It is sad that it takes the death of a pop star such as Michael Jackson to show again how the Internet has changed how we get our news.
When Elvis Presley died in August 1977, it was via radio and television reports that broke into regular broadcast.
With in minutes of TMZ.com reporting Jackson was hospitalized, people converged on his home and the hospital where was taken.
TMZ.com had the exclusive that Jackson died. It was an hour later before another media outlast, the Los Angeles Times had confirmed the 50-year-old Jackson’s death. CNN finally confirmed it at 6:30 p.m. (CDT). That was after it confirmed Jackson was in a coma, which was the time TMZ.com broke the story he was dead.
Newspapers are trying to utilize Internet sites and other new avenues to keep readers informed and on their Web sites.
In a tight economy any new revenue source is good. But do we have to look at Facebook and Twitter first as ways to bring in money, rather than how to capture a younger audience.
More readers are great. More revenue is super, but we need to attract the people and retain them.
Younger people (Gen X and Gen Y) want there news now and they want as much as they can get.
Twitter allows people to get a message out quickly regardless of limiting messages “tweets” to 140 characters. They are short but you can crank them out fast.
Facebook gives companies a way to be out there. It gives users a chance to show other sides of themselves as well as keep in touch with friends.
I have Facebook and Twitter accounts. The number of people following me is small, but I use the two social networks to sharpen the message or show them another side of me.
It is also two more avenues to keep me out in the public. I also write this blog, which is an extension of the weekly column I write and is published in Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Journal.
Facebook and Twitter might be replaced in six months or another year by cooler, hipper social networks. But they also are reminders of how we can and should plug-in to more readers.
Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died Thursday.
Fawcett, 62, was battling cancer. Jackson’s death at the age of 50 shocked the world.
They both touched my life.
It was the infamous poster of Fawcett. As a teen, I received it because an assistant principal at the school my mom worked at couldn’t keep it. The poster is in storage at my parent’s home in Indiana.
Fawcett was only on the ABC series “Charlie’s Angels” for the initial season, but the poster made her a pop icon.
She inspired other cancer patients when she took her battle public.
As for Jackson, I grew up listening to the music of the Jackson 5 and his solo work.
He broke new ground in the music industry. His “Thriller” albumn was and is awesome to this day. Just watch the movie “13 going on 30.” Jennifer Garner inspires co-workers, a childhood friend and strangers to hit the dance floor.
A chapter in my childhood closed today.
I recently turned down an offer to play with a bunch of co-workers in a celebrity basketball game.
That is something for the younger co-workers to do.
I am 47 years old, I had my day in the sun.
Now after two knee surgeries and back surgery, I rarely shoot hoops.
That wasn’t the case 32 years ago in Lafayette, Ind.
I spent the large portion of a summer battling the likes of childhood friend Vicky Anthrop on the courts of Miami Elementary School.
She was a varsity player for the Central Catholic girls’ basketball team. She was an all-area player before they had all-area teams for girls.
Vicky was going into her senior year and I was going to be a junior at Jefferson High School. I played intramural hoops.
At least four times a week, we played against one another for two to three hours.
It was a lot of fun, even in heat like we have experienced here in Kankakee, Ill., the past two days. The hotter it was, the better the games.
When the 1977-78 high school season rolled around, Vicky had a stellar season. She helped her team beat my school.
The local paper tabbed her the “Jeff killer.” She always had a good game against my school.
Vicky has a son who was a three-sport start at Central Catholic. Eric went on to play baseball in college and now is a successful businessman.
I know where he got a lot of that grit and determination. I saw it in those games we played in the summer of 1978.
No thanks on playing again. I have too many fond memories.
Hi.
It has been an eventful day for me, the Web/Wire editor for They Daily Journal.
We have switched back to our old Web site with a few wrinkles.
I am busy looking over the site.We have to make sure all the parts are working.
Stay tuned for more from Bontyful
The Associated Press and Petside.com teamed for a national poll about people and their pets.
The poll, which was released Tuesday, found half of all Americans who own pets consider them as much a part of the the family as any other person in the house of the family. Another 36 percent said their pets are part of the family but not a full member.
Most pet owners said they feed their pets human food, nearly half give them human names and nearly a third let them sleep in a human bed.
I will plead guilty to feeding Smokey our cat human food and letting him sleep on are bed.
Is he a member of the family? Yes.
Smokey and I carpool to work three to four times a week. We do that because we provide the weather forecast for the News@Noon Web cast my employer, The Daily Journal, produces Monday through Friday.
When my wife first started telling Smokey to go see “Dad,” I was a little concerned. He is not my son. He is my co-worker.
But I have come around to being called “Dad.” I even tell Smoke Man to go ask his “Mom” if he can go out in the garage.
Like my co-worker, Caleb Benoit, I draw the line when a person goes and orders a meal at a restaurant for their pet, or takes them shopping at places other than a pet store.
That is just going a too far.
It would be like cats and dogs living in harmony with one another.
All right, I admit it. I am a wimp.
I had to run an errand in downtown Kankakee on Monday and the humidity flattened me when I went outside.
How I long for those days of yesteryear (25-plus years ago). The strapping young man I was when I worked outside on the grounds and maintenance crew for the parks department in my hometown of Lafayette, Ind.
When it was 100 degrees with a triple-digit heat index back then in the early 1980s during summer, I loved being out there. I roofed in temperatures like this as well as baled hay.
However, now having worked a majority of my days inside in an air-conditioned building, I am not long for outdoor activity. I love working in the yard, but I don’t want to melt doing it, or drinking 100-gallons of water.
There is an upside to this hot, sticky weather. I pack it in an air-tight container, only to be open when I am out running my snow blower in the bitter cold of January.
I tell people during the summer heatwave, “At least we don’t have to shovel this. I use this to help keep me warm when I am out there in the bitter cold of winter.”
Right now, however, I need to get pysched to walk to the car.
One of my childhood rituals, eating raw cookie dough, is in the news.
Nestle USA, maker of Toll House refrigerated cookie dough, is voluntarily recalling the product, according to a story from The Associated Press.
This happened after the Centers for Disease Control said a preliminary investigation showed “a strong association” between eating raw refrigerated cookie dough made by the company and the illnesses of 65 people in 29 states whose lab results have turned up e. coli bacteria since March.
No deaths have been reported but 25 people have been hospitalized. E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure.
Nestle officials said 300,000 cases of the Toll House dough have been affected by the recall. It covers chocolate chip dough, gingerbread, sugar, peanut butter dough and other varieties.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to throw away any Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their homes. The agency also asked retailers. restaurants and other foodservice operations not to sell any of the products.
I have a confession to make, up until about 15 years ago, I used to eat raw dough. First it was my Mom who let me eat some dough as she made Toll House cookies. Mom would never let me eat too much. She didn’t want me to get an upset stomach. Then as an adult, I would sneak some dough while making chocolate chip cookies.
While the cookies just out of the oven are always delicious, the dough was a treat.
Eating raw cookie dough is popular. The Associated Press reports there are more than 40 groups on Facebook, the Internet social network, dealing with the indulgence.
I cannot believe people can write odes to this childhood tradition.
But, wait, here I am writing about what a treat it was.
Oh what the heck, maybe I will go out and have a cookie dough ice cream treat tonight. Those are safe, according to Nestle officials.
The explosion of social networks on the Internet makes it a great place for people to express their opinions.
But what about when you get laid off?
Twitter asks “What are you doing?” and Facebook wants to know, “What’s on your mind?”
I guess it is how you look at it.
Some people feel you are putting that news out there to inform your friends. Others say it is fishing for a job.
I agree with it being a way to tell your friends the news. But don’t make it an every day posting. Yes, it is bad to be let go, but you do have to go on.
Even experts say don’t harp on it. Your friends will grow tired of the ramblings.
That could mean being hidden on someone’s Facebook page. That is not allowing their posts to be seen on your wall. Or stop following them on Twitter.
Being a poster on both Facebook and Twitter, I find it a great place to share with your audience — friends and followers.
I do use both social networks for my job as well as personal postings, but I love reading about their lives and their opinions. It can prove for lively conversation some nights as I chat.
There might be people out there using this to entertain themselves.
But then again, they may be the ones who are out of work.
