Tag Archives: politicos

This, That and the Other Thursday

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Here’s a sign you can see in my neighborhood.

Cave CanemLiterally true, and it might mean a legal quagmire for the property owner, though I’m no expert on the matter.

Driving along today, I spotted the first bumper sticker of next year’s election. Next year being the operative term. Everything at this point is just talk, and citizens are entitled to pay it no mind. The sticker said: Bernie 2016.

Mostly blue, but the letters and numbers were white, with a thin red swoosh underlining the letters. Reminded me of the Obama O design; no accident, I’m sure.

I mentioned it to Ann, who is as nonpolitical as a 12-year-old should be, and she told me the only presidential candidates she’s heard of are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

On the Roosevelt Road bridge at the southern edge of downtown Chicago are some nifty bronzes. I only took a picture of one.

WorldBronzeRooseveltRoadThe sculptures are by Miklos P. Simon and include (among other things) likenesses of  dolphins, dinosaurs and celestial navigation instruments, supposedly homages to the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and the Adler Planetarium, none of which are far away. More about the bridge is here.

Fall Break

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Back to posting around October 19. It’s fall break. With any luck, I might see a thing or two in the next few days worth posting about.

In a grocery store parking lot the other day, a man in rollerblades rollerbladed up to me and gave me some campaign literature from one of the candidates running for Congress in my district. I can say for sure I’d never seen anyone electioneering on rollerblades before.

The weekend was cold, but it’s warmed up since then. Yesterday, late in the day, I spied a cricket on the door to the garage, which the sun was striking directly at that moment. I’d never seen a cricket perched there before. I didn’t realize until I looked at the picture that I also caught his reflection in the door lock.

Cricket, early Oct 2014Worried about his mortality, if crickets worry about such things? October would be the time to do it. I have a feeling they don’t, but I can’t say absolutely for sure.

Come to think of it, why should the grasshopper plan and work and save up for the winter? He’s going to die anyway come winter. The ant’s just being a killjoy.

Somebody’s Lying

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At 5:12 on Tuesday (my answering machine tells me), we got our first robocall of the election season. Since it’s an off-year election, the volume probably won’t be as high as in ’12, nor as entertainingly daft.

Still, I’m recording it here. The candidate is in the Republican primary. Regardless of who wins that primary in the Eighth Congressional District of Illinois, incumbent Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, is odds-on favorite to win the general election.

Anyway, the call went as follows: “This is Hugo Z. Hackenbush, and I’d like a few seconds of your time to set the record straight. Over the last few weeks, my opponent for Congress has smeared my good name, and has lied about my residency in Illinois.

“The truth is, I was born and raised in the Eighth District, and the only time I left was to serve my country in the United States Marine Corps, which included five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It’s clear that my opponent’s attack on me and the military aren’t just wrong, they’re unpatriotic. Please send a message for freedom, and vote for me, Hugo Z. Hackenbush on March 18. Thanks for your time.”

Chance Encounter With an Elected Official

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After attending an event this morning, I walked through downtown from Trump Chicago to Union Station, aiming to catch a 10:30 train. Time was a little tight. My route took me by the State of Illinois Building (Thompson Center), where I notice a large DHL truck parked outside. Glancing inside the building and its enormous atrium, I noticed a wall of DHL boxes.

Not something you see every day. Or ever, come to think of it. Train or no train, I had to get a closer look at that. On the other side of the boxes, I saw a small crowd of people, and a few TV cameras. Some kind of event was going on.

So I peaked around the DHL wall and saw a man giving a speech. He was lauding a thing called Pizza4Patriots, which ships pizza to soldiers on occasions such as the Super Bowl, with the assistance of DHL.

He looked awfully familiar. Then it hit me. That was Gov. Quinn, doing the ceremonial part of his job. I’d never seen him in person before. Curiously, today’s the fourth anniversary of him succeeding his (now) imprisoned predecessor, Gov. Putz.