Chicago Daily Observer

The Natural Resources Defense Council has observed that Lake Michigan shoreline beaches top the nation in closures due to high bacteria contamination, with the Kathy Osterman (Mrs. Bruce DuMont) beach being above safe levels 12 out of 12 times tested.

Though it seems unlikely that the tests are all that accurate or scientific…Abion Beach was tested 289 times in 2007, while Loyola Ave Beach was never tested, the results are distressing, but expected.

The NRDC does not take the investigation very far, stating under the heading “Causes of Closing and Advisories” that “All of Illinios beach closures were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels from unknown sources of contamination”.

This despite the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District dumping 233 Million Gallons of raw sewage, in August 2007 which may have increased the bacteria count a bit.

Once again, the “Web 2.0” Candidate is being scrutinized by using…Web 2.0.

The Republican National Committee has launched a suprisingly functional Facebook parody titled Barackbook, which goes into Sen. Obama’s deep links with various Chicago radicals, convicted felons, and Iraqi financiers.

The site is not all that deep, but serves the purpose of easily navigating the tangled set of relationships in Cook County Politics.

In the last few days Mayor Daley has been spreading the word that even though the city faces mountains of debt, there’s absolutely no way he will raise property taxes.

Last week he and schools CEO Arne Duncan announced that the Board of Education would rather take $50 million out of reserves than hike taxes for the cash-starved system.

And today he proclaimed that he would mandate furlough days for nonunion city employees to help close a budget deficit he says stands at “a couple of hundred million dollars.” But no new property taxes.

The Dow Jones Industrials Average is down roughly 20% from its peak in 2007 and fears of recession (or worse) are rampant. Bearish sentiment on equities is elevated and as is typical in fear-filled environments, opportunity exists.
Not only are fears of recession overblown, but earnings continue to surprise analysts to the upside. The bottom-line is that the US equity market is at least 35% undervalued. And when we survey the entire investment landscape it is clear the equity market is the only broad market category where significant future gains can be reasonably expected. Equities are the most undervalued asset class.

Consider the alternatives – real estate, commodities, and bonds. Although there are regional pockets of resilience, on a national average, residential real estate is still in the process of adjusting to a Fed-induced “bubble.” We still do not see home prices hitting bottom until mid-2009.

While commercial real ... Read More...

They are planning a vacation together. They have been planning for months.

She likes the mountains. He likes the sea.

She says if they go to the seaside she would like to watch the waves from a boatdeck. A cruise boatdeck. She hasn’t worn a bathing suit in ten years. He speaks of snorkeling, and sunshine, and baking on white sands. She says sand gets in places that itch.

He is enamored of cathedrals. She prefers cafes. Cathedrals, she says, are dank with tombs of kings and very few poets. Cathedrals are monuments to pride and haughty gods.

Cafes, he says, are an excuse for languor and unfulfilled promises. There is no structure to cafes, no architecture, no permanence. There is sodden conversation and willowy resolve.

They agree to divide – one cathedral and one café per day. He promises to visit cafes, once a day for a specified penalty ... Read More...

Once again, the “Web 2.0” Candidate is being scrutinized by using…Web 2.0.

The Republican National Committee has launched a suprisingly functional Facebook parody titled Barackbook, which goes into Sen. Obama’s deep links with various Chicago radicals, convicted felons, and Iraqi financiers.

The site is not all that deep, but serves the purpose of easily navigating the tangled set of relationships in Cook County Politics.

(T)his bucolic scene in his father’s village of Kogelo near the Equator in western Kenya conceals a troubling reality that, until now, has never been spoken about. Barack Obama, the Evening Standard can reveal, after we went to the village earlier this month, has failed to honour the pledges of assistance that he made to a school named in his honour when he visited here amid great fanfare two years ago.

At that historic homecoming in August 2006 Obama was greeted as a hero with thousands lining the dirt streets of Kogelo. He visited the Senator Obama Kogelo Secondary School built on land donated by his paternal grandfather. After addressing the pupils, a third of whom are orphans, and dancing with them as they sang songs in his honour, he was shown a school with four dilapidated classrooms that lacked even basic resources such as water, sanitation and electricity.