Marathon Pundit

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Nothing better to do? Chicago to vote on banning plastic bags tomorrow

Not happy at Chicago's
Happy Foods

Chicago has massive pension debt, pot-holed marred streets, and rampant shootings. But the City Council, which has seen thirty of its members convicted of crimes since 1972, is tackling the menace of plastic bags.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

With self-congratulation but no debate, Chicago aldermen agreed Thursday to ban plastic bags but exempt restaurants and small independent retailers in a move that will require consumers to dramatically change their shopping habits.

"Today for Chicago is a historic day in terms of our environment and moving into a new economy,” said Ald. "Proco" Joe Moreno (1st), who has waged a two-year campaign for the San Francisco-style environmental crackdown.

Actually it was just a committee vote, the full Council will vote on the ban on Wednesday.

Moreno is best known for his jihad to ban Chick-fil-A from Chicago. Despite Moreno's claim that the ban will not cost jobs--Illinois has the third-highest jobless rate in the nation--it will. Paper bags create more landfill waste and take more energy to manufacture. Shoppers in Chicago already pay a higher sales tax than suburbanites, the likely ban gives another reason for city residents to shop elsewhere.

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politics

economy

New Bruce Rauner ad: Beautiful Thing

Cornell Nelson fell to the lure of the violent streets of Chicago. But the group A Safe Haven, which Bruce Rauner helped found, aided Nelson. He's supporting the Republican nominee for governor of Illinois.

To follow Rauner on Facebook, click here. To follow him on Twitter, click here.

To contribute to the Rauner campaign, click here.

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gop

Ten years ago today: Oldsmobile produces last car

1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88

Oldsmobile, which for over 100 years produced distinctive and popular automobiles--a tradition that continued after General Motors purchased the brand in 1909 until the 1990s. By then Oldsmobile was manufacturing dull GM retreads.

On this day in 2004, the last Olds, the insipid Aero, rolled off a Lansing Michigan assembly line. The death of Oldsmobile presaged the GM bankruptcy five years later.

Related post:

(Photo) Classic car: 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible

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Monday, April 28, 2014

(Video) Pat Quinn-Rod Blagojevich patronage hiring scandal

CBS 4 Rock Island takes a look at the Rod Blagojevich-Pat Quinn hiring scandal at the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The Land of Lincoln has a better choice for governor, Republican Bruce Rauner.

To follow Rauner on Facebook, click here. To follow him on Twitter, click here.

To contribute to the Rauner campaign, click here.

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law

(Photos and video) The soon-to-be-removed Chick Evans Golf Course Dam

Of the doomed low-head dams I've been writing about lately, only one is in Morton Grove, Illinois where I live. And it is the one where I saw two years ago--on New Year's Day--why these dams are despised by canoeists and kayakers.

This is the Chick Evans Golf Course Dam on the North Branch of the Chicago River. Above it is a footbridge, the reservoir created by the dam divides the course. I photographed the dam from Beckwith Road.

Another view of the dam. The golf course is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, low-head dams have been called drowning machines by critics. The football in that picture was caught in the backwash of the dam. It kept spinning...and spinning. People get captured in a similar fashion underwater in what is known as a hydraulic boil.

On the right is the Beckwith Road bridge.

What you see here is a boater's version of rush hour traffic on Chicago's Kennedy Expressway. I took this photograph during the 2012 New Year's Day Canoe Paddle, also known as Happy Canoe Year, which was founded by Ralph Frese. "Mr. Canoe" passed away later that year.

I shot some video that day too.