My chair began to rock me...UPDATE!

...a few minutes before 1 PM (CDT), first gently, then a pause, and then the rocking was a bit more substantial for about 30 seconds.

Perhaps it's due to the less than 5 magnitude quake in Virginia?

For more info, go to http://www.usgs.gov/

UPDATE: 5.9 earthquake in Va, Felt in NYC


Read more here.

Stylizing Marilyn

J. Seward Johnson, the octagenarian sculptor, recently had his huge sculpture of Marilyn Monroe erected in Pioneer Court here in downtown Chicago.

This is a still from the scene between Marilyn and Tom Ewell in the film "The Seven Year Itch".  The following are a few shots of what I prefer to call "J. Seward's Folly".

It's obvious I do not care for this thing.  It entices all, men especially, to stand below the crotch area and have photos taken looking or reaching up.  Do small children really need to see Daddy looking up a skirt?

What interested me more was the lack of 'quality control' in the assembly of this monstrosity.  Just look at the lumpy arm below.

Pretty poorly done, wouldn't you say?

I ended my Mag Mile sojourn simply by rotating 180 degrees in order to view much more impressive 'sculpture'!

Trump Tower and the Wrigley Building

Feeling ill today...

...as the throat is sore, the glands are swollen, and the nose seems to want to run through every street in Chicago...so much for a very compromised immune system, thanks to the bacteria Cryptosporidium and John Norquist, the former Mayor of Milwaukee, WI (my hometown) who eventually resigned.

Sooooo, I wrote, as I am apt to do:

Day and night

Sirens scream in the night:
Up and down this street
Of this, the northernmost neighborhood
Of Chicago.

I wake, though,
Knowing they aren't coming for me.

For which I thank the Creator:
Once.
Twice.
And again.

It was a Sunday morning...

...in 1979, when I was working as a Production Artist here in Chicago on a film called "The Blues Brothers".

I had a boss, Gary Osborn, and his second-in-command, Jerry Palermo, who were members of the Studio Mechanics union out of Los Angeles. We were all working for Universal Studios on this film, but we found some spare time to walk around and shoot photos. Gary was very interested in photography. As a thank-you gift, I bought him a new lens for his camera. He was thrilled.

These are my pix, from a Sunday morning along S. Halsted Avenue, showing a couple of what we then called 'bums'. I wish I had Gary's shots!

The necessary bottle

The necessary 'air' guitar

Just why the crib was out in the middle of nowhere, and just what was written on the head and footboards...I have no idea any longer.

Just thought the whole post might be of interest to someone...somewhere?

Mayor Daley and his cronies...

...over at the Department of Water Management here in Chicago...

...need a quick visit from this woman...

Julia Roberts as "Erin Brockovich"

...or someone just as tough!

High levels of chromium found in Chicago-area tap water

Advocacy group reports level of cancer-causing metal is three times as high as considered safe under a California proposal

The cancer-causing metal made infamous by the movie "Erin Brockovich" is turning up in tap water from Chicago and more than two dozen other cities, according to a new study that urges federal regulators to adopt tougher standards.

Even though scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Toxicology Program have linked the ingestion of hexavalent chromium to cancer, the EPA doesn't require Chicago or other cities to test for the toxic metal.

Nor does the EPA limit the dangerous form of chromium in drinking water.

To take a snapshot of what is flowing through taps across the nation, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization, hired an independent laboratory that found the metal in treated drinking water from 31 cities.

The amount in Lake Michigan water pumped to 7 million people in Chicago and its suburbs was 0.18 parts per billion, three times higher than a safety limit California officials proposed last year.

{...}

The Chicago Department of Water Management said tap water is still safe. "Our water ... meets or exceeds all standards set by the EPA," the department said in a prepared statement.

The source of chromium in Chicago drinking water is unclear, though federal records show that some of the nation's biggest industrial sources are four steel mills in northwest Indiana that discharge wastewater into the city's source of drinking water.

Last year alone, records show, the U.S. Steel and Arcelor Mittal mills dumped a combined 3,100 pounds of chromium into Lake Michigan and its tributaries, less than 9 miles away from Chicago's water-intake crib off 68th Street.

Read the rest here.

*********

How about it, Mister Mare? Don't the inhabitants of Chicago and its environs deserve CLEAN, UNCONTAMINATED DRINKING WATER?

From my window: Winter Wonder

George, selling a tree to someone who braved the weather

The Repeater: How to make grocery shopping unappetizing

I took this shot at my local Dominick's on Monday.

Needless to say, I am somewhat appalled.

Why is it called "Repeater"?

Why is a mouse trap out in the open?

This particular Dominick's is not very well-managed.

Way back, a thousand years ago (I was sixteen), my oldest brother was Personnel Manager for National Tea....a grocery store very big in Milwaukee at that time. Mouse traps were hidden from the consumer, because, as he said, "We want them to shop here."

If this Dominick's had any competition anywhere near the Ald. Joe Moore (Chicago-49th Ward) sanctioned Gateway Centre (a strip mall with at least 50% NON-occupancy after almost ten years), maybe they would perk up.

But NO...they are a complacent entity, as is Ald. Joe Moore.

From my window: Waking to Whiteness

This is the first significant snowfall here in Rogers Park. Out my window I see George's Christmas Tree Lot, replete with George's decorated trailer...a common sight after living here these past four winters.

Winter White...certainly one of the most beautiful colors of all!

Simply the BEST!

From the Chicago Tribune:

Sara Paretsky earns top mystery writer award

Sara Paretsky, courtesy of http://www.iliasspeis.co.uk/

Mystery Writers of America has chosen Chicago author Sara Paretsky to receive the group's top honor next year.

The group announced today that Paretsky would receive its Grand Master award next April in New York. The organization says the award is the "pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing" and was established to acknowledge important contributions to the genre.

Paretsky created feisty female private detective V.I. Warshawski in the 1982 novel "Indemnity Only."

Her latest book, "Body Work," was released earlier this year and is the 14th installment in the Warshawski series.

The mystery writers' group says Warshawski challenged a genre where "women typically played minor or passive roles."

Past winners have included authors Agatha Christie, Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King.

*********

Congratulations, Sara!

Christmas Splendor!

Here is the Great Tree in the Walnut Room at Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields) on State Street in downtown Chicago--and isn't it spectacular?

I am so pleased Macy's has kept up this tradition!

Detail of this year's theme "BELIEVE, WISH, IMAGINE"

The things that look like 'dotted hanging strips' are actually LED lights, that shoot down the tree randomly for an absolutely gorgeous 'falling snow' effect.

Unfortunately, the State Street window displays are not anywhere near this exciting holiday design level. They're paper/board constructs of the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" theme--quite dull, difficult to photograph, and not nearly as 'animated' as they were touted to be.

Yet another black jerk-off...

Kidnapped taxi driver calls 911 from trunk of cab

A Calumet City man was charged this morning with kidnapping a taxi driver at gunpoint and driving around with him in the taxi's trunk before crashing on the South Side.

Roderick Swoopes, 27, of the 300 block of South Luella Avenue, was charged with armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated vehicular hijacking, police said.

The taxi driver's ordeal started early Monday morning after Swoopes flagged down the cab near Racine and Clybourn avenues, asking to be dropped off near 64th Street and King Drive, police said.

When the taxi got close to that location, Swoopes asked how much he owed and then pulled out a gun and ordered the driver to get out of the taxi, police said.
Swoopes then demanded the driver's wallet and cell phone and told him to get in the trunk, police said.

Swoopes then took off in the taxi, unaware the driver had a second cell phone in his possession. The taxi driver called 911 from inside of the trunk as Swoopes drove around the South Side.

Officers working the "Operation Safe City" initiative were on patrol when they heard a kidnapping had just occurred over the police radio. They went after the cab, aided by a cab company dispatcher who had access to data from the cab's GPS tracking device.

Eventually, the officers spotted the stolen taxi northbound on South Western Avenue near 62nd Street, police said.

Swoopes crashed the taxi nearby and fled on foot. The officers chased him and took him into custody, police said.

Paramedics were called to the scene to treat the taxi driver who had minor injuries. Swoopes is scheduled to appear in bond court Wednesday.

*********

Just WHEN, I ask, when will black men in Chicago STOP...stop committing crime?

Everywhere I've searched...

...it is still all projection.

And in less than 2 days, our pResident, Barky O, leaves the country...so he and the wifey can go campaign like a couple of idiots in India (simply cuz the only thing this man can do is CAMPAIGN. He's a former community organizer--and has never grown out of THOSE PYJAMAS!!).

With 40-some planes and several hotels fully booked, including the entire Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay--OK, now they call it Mumbai--it's soooo difficult when these Moslems change their names, AND THEIR VOWELS, isn't it?

Sooooo, what can I say?

GO, Obamas, GO...and hopefully stay there?

Like...um...from Soetoro in Jakarta to Obama of the United States!, could this a$$ try to escape reality any more; because before there was the Soetoro name, there was only an "X" on the birth certificate?

We shall see, in time, some truth about Barky Obama...and his immature falseness of displaying his middle finger.

From the SPEECH WRITER:

Erm...uh...Barky, sir: I just heard you can never go back home!

It's all hiding, in plain sight, isn't it?

We have a chicken-s&ite for a pResident, don't we?

Butt, I must go rest and sleep,
take this disabled body to bed,
to lie prone and try to crack the bad parts into good parts,
as sirens wail, here, continuously,
in what is known as Rogers Park.

The Past Few Days...

The past few days...

...I have felt

LOST

As the winds in Chicago

Have removed the leaves

Of the day.

C. 2010 RPFreeSpeech

A tree at the Howard Avenue Red Line Terminal

Stripped!

Just opposite 1217 W. Chase Avenue is a circular 'focal point' for the turn-around (Chase ends at the Lake Michigan Shore) which is populated by a large Scotch Pine, which attracts wildlife.

One of the neighbors planted sunflowers there this year, and as you see, they are stripped! I believe they were planted for the birds, who must have had some hearty chowdowns this autumn!

The question I have, however, is how much asbestos dust did the poor birds and the many squirrels in this area ingest along with the seeds since greedy Swanette Triem began building her parking lot on the asbestos-ridden remains of the North Shore School?

(See previous post: "Swanette's Lot: Above the Law?")

A Picture Postcard Day--almost

Downtown Chicago was rather gorgeous today! Clouds and a true blue sky reflected in many of the fine buildings.

"Cloudgate", Stone Container Building and Trump Tower

Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building

The Sax Man was playing joyfully outside the Bennigan's at Adams Street and Michigan Boulevard. I stood and listened for about five minutes...and dropped a bill in his tip cup. He thanked me so quietly--without missing a beat!

The parkway in front of the Harold Washington Library has been beautifully planted for autumn. Mums are yet to blossom, but this Ornamental Cabbage really drew me in. These are huge--more than two feet across!

And then there is this:

The EYE!

It's in the newish Pritzker Park, across from the library, at the corner of State and Van Buren Streets. The lovely building behind this monstrosity is the Fisher Building, which I have always thought would be a nice place to live--as the view over Lake Michigan must be fantastic if one lives on a higher floor.

The EYE, courtesy of Chicago artist Tony Tassett

Mr. Tassett apparently thinks he is an equal of Salvador Dali and/or Rene Magritte. The sculpture medium is Fibreglas (TM); the painting is done with a spray gun. This is a very creepy piece which will thankfully 'end its run', hopefully, later this month!

If I were president...

...of Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce (of which I am a co-founder and only funder of that entity which is over a month BEHIND in their second repayment!), I would certainly have accomplished more than THIS at this point in time (even though I am disabled).

What Mr. Bill Morton (of the recent "my dog is injured, give me money because I have no real job" incident) does not understand is that Rogers Park contains a grand number of children, who shall in a few weeks, need to return to school.

All he can do is post this now-very-boring shot of a full coffee cup, and again announce that his "pet" Cafe Society will be meeting...somewhere, sometime.

Mr. Bill Morton (part Italian and originally from Elmwood Park, the home of the Chicago Outfit) does not seem to have even one creative node in his brain.

If I were still with Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce, I would have, before now, organized a drive for donations of school supplies for the children of Rogers Park. It certainly would have put the Chamber "on the map", so to speak, as a caring entity, don't you think?

But, of course, Mr. Bill Morton's dog, and chatting over free coffee seem to be the goals of this ill-fated, no-longer-a-member (while still utilizing the logo as a pretend-member) of the US Chamber of Commerce, pitiful group of followers of Mr. Bill Morton's shallow scams.

In Light of Obama's upcoming 49th birthday, to be spent alone...

...I offer this, because these people neither understand the power of internet memory, nor the power of old photographs and video tape:

Click to enlarge

Mrs. Obama gets personal about Barack

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Americans historically like to know personal details about their presidential candidates, but the latest insight into Sen. Barack Obama from his wife Michelle may be a bit more insight than needed.

In an interview with Glamour Magazine, Mrs. Obama details her two girls' morning ritual, a time, she says, when her husband Barack is often "snore-y and stinky."

“We have this ritual in the morning," Michelle Obama told Glamour. "They come in my bed, and Dad isn’t there — because he’s too snore-y and stinky, they don’t want to ever get into bed with him."

NOTE: "They come in my bed, and Dad isn’t there...."

Apparently, this implies the Obamas do NOT sleep together, in the same bed. How nice!

Personally, I don't think "dad" has been allowed anywhere near that bed for at least ten years, and has chosen to seek out someone else in his 'sexual bereavement'...or something.

"But we cuddle up and we talk about everything from what is a period to the big topic of when we get a dog: what kind?” she added.

(Well, they got the dog from Teddy Kennedy, and neither one has a scintilla of an idea on what is required of 'dog ownership'. POOR Bo the Dog!).

Michelle Obama often discusses more intimate details about her husband on the campaign trail - even her annoyances with the Illinois Democrat.

"There's the Barack Obama who lives in my house," she said when introducing her husband earlier this year. "That guy's not as impressive. He still has trouble ... putting his socks actually in the dirty clothes, and he still doesn't do a better job than our 5-year-old daughter Sasha at making his bed, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little stunned at this whole Barack Obama thing."

Though some have criticized her for expressing such gripes, Mrs. Obama defended the practice to Glamour.

"People have notions of what a wife’s role should be in this process, and it’s been a traditional one of blind adoration. My model is a little different—I think most real marriages are," she said.
*********

IF she still, after almost two years, believes he is such a PUTZ and still forgives him for being such a PUTZ, why is she running away to Spain, with her youngest daughter, on HIS SUPPOSED birthday (MOSLEMS BELIEVE DIFFERENTLY--LOOK IT UP YOURSELVES!), when most Dads like to be thought of as their children's heroes?

There is something about to happen in the Obama marriage, and I don't think it's going to be very 'nice' or 'pretty', but of course it will be as 'fashionable' as is Michelle--RIGHT!.

I think MO has pretty much had it with Reggie and the boys.

And I think and feel she would really like to be known as the first woman evah! to have a child conceived in the White House.

Unfortunately, neither Barry nor his 'little swimmers' seem to be up to it, nor anything much more of late. He seems to prefer the golf course, or being with the boys, OR BOTH.

Has no one ever let Michelle know of Barry's (and Rahm's) escapades over the years at Man's Country, in Boystown? In CHICAGO?

That's all quite well-known here in Chicago, via the kind gentlemen at http://www.hillbuzz.org/. THEY know! THEY have seen!

So, I would guess his nickname is "STINKY", and we should just continue to hold our noses shut when in his presence?

Wannabes...

This is the Queen, Elizabeth II. Long may she reign!

This is a "wannabe" queen. Sorry, wighat is not equal to a crown!

The other "wannabe" queen. Hey, SOETORO, why don't you smack that fly on your face? (Been to Man Country lately?).

Now you see?

CLASS vs. crass.

Soooo Junior High!

Find the video at www.weaselzippers.us

This must be a "Chicago" thing...my own 49th Ward alderman, Ald. Joe Moore (D-eranged), uses the same gesture to exhibit his displeasure.

I'll leave you tonight to ponder the answer to this question:

Will Barry and Michelle EVER grow up?

Three little words...