The Hound is glad Six Flags Great America didn't back down under pressure from PETA and not serve a buffet of creepy crawly things during this year's edition of Fright Fest. Instead of Madagascar hissing cockroaches to dine on, those brave enough can munch on another assortment of sorts. The Hound is glad for kibble at this time of year.
Yes, you can save a cockroach, as PETA urged, and instead eat grasshoppers, silkworms, night crawlers, snails and superworms, the larvae of a specific black beetle. This lineup sounds just yummy. The Hound had snails once, but the doggie bag was from a French restaurant which called them escargot. Who knew they were snails?
If one has a strong stomach, large and small intestines and colon, feel free to dive in an pig out on this lucious dining experience. The feast takes place Friday nights at 7:30 in the park's Hometown Square through Nov. 1.
What is it with the Cubs and playoff opponents from the Left Coast? Does The Hound have to refresh everyone's memory about what happened in 1984 against the San Diego Padres? How about '89 versus the San Francisco Giants. There's something going on here and there's only one explanation: Deep gris-gris.
Did The Hound fail to mention that Arizona is just a few quakes away from being beachfront and what happened when the Diamondbacks and Cubs met in the playoffs last year? Those snakes swept the Cubs.
There's only one thing to break this spell. If your heading to Wrigley Field today, grab your mojo bag and take it to the ballpark. The Z Train may need it.
Or, you could travel to the Wildfish restaurant on Waukegan Road in Deerfield and have the Cubs/Sox Celebration sushi combo which includes a Sox Roll, freshwater eel and black tobiko over spicy scallop, cucumber and avocado, and a Cubs Roll, special spicy tuna roll. That's enough raw stuff to scare any voodoo doll away.
The Hound has been living in a recession for most of the past decade. If Republicans in the House want to take you all into one, as their president has warned, let them do it. Hope they and their party are ready to face the consequences in the failure Monday to protect the financial basics of the U.S. economy.
Unless you can't add, the financial markets have been taking a beating the last few months or more because of bad mortages, bad debt and bad management. It's a disaster movie befitting a Hollywood blockbuster. Trust me, feather merchants, this could get ugly. Better yet, don't trust me, trust your president, the Fed chairman and every banker from here to What Cheer, Iowa.
The consequences for Republicans, especially those who voted against the $700 billion bailout package is they get voted out and become the minority party for the next 30 years as they were until the GOP revolution of the 1980s. They can run, but they can't hide.
And, don't give The Hound the baloney about nobody bails out the taxpayers. When the taxpayers hold the power to issue business lines of credit, mortgages, car loans, just to name a few financial uses for lent money, then your opinion counts.
Besides, the government does bail out taxpayers. There's unemployment insurance, food stamps, disaster relief. This wouldn't be the first financial bailout. Remember the Resolution Trust Corp. of the '80s and the savings and loan debacle. The Hound was told several Lake County savings and loans got caught up in that financial nosedive.
Looks like the Republicans are holding pat in their crusade to save Main Street from the ills of Wall Street. Good luck because it's a little late for that. Hold on to your wallets folks, it'll be show time today on the Big Board.
Those Antioch officials sure don't know which way to turn. Faced with a revenue crunch, village trustees are expected to adopt an ordinance next month making homeowners responsible for clearing snow from their sidewalks within 24 hours of a two-inch snowfall. Yea, let's get those senior citizens out there clearing their sidewalks after a heavy snow, the type meterologists dub "heart attack" snow.
Who's advising these yokels? Wait till AARP hears about this law. Some communities recommend clearing sidewalks by residents and even have hold-harmless laws in case anybody slips and breaks a hip. What about those "snowbirds" who take flight to Florida, Arizona or Hawaii at the first sign of freezing precipitation. If you're not home, how can you clean your sidewalk?
Why stop there? Get those shovels and snowblowers out and have residents start sweeping their streets during snowfalls. Won't have to worry about snowplows or salt or snowplow drivers. Just one more way for Antioch to save money.
In the summer, same drill except without the snow. The Hound has been told the Europeans do this all the time. They wash down their sidewalks and streets. And, nobody makes them!
Think about all the tax revenue which will be generated by residents buying all those new shovels, brooms and snowblowers to Antioch's brigade of street sweepers. That's one way to balance the books.
The Hound was expecting a breakthrough performance from Illinois' favorite son, Sen. Barack Obama on Friday night in the first of several presidential debates. Didn't happen, did it? The Hound didn't think Obama looked that sharp. Hey, he didn't know it wasn't debating Tom McClain, whoever he is.
As for John McCain, he knows the difference between strategy and tactics. His strategy is to win in just over a month. His tactics are making Obama look like he just left the sandbox. That didn't work so well,either.
So, what can we learn from Friday's faceoff? There's two presidential candidates who know their stuff. At least when it comes to foreign policy. Neither were too sharp when discussing the financial market meltdown. Guess that comes from being blindsided by fast-moving events of the day.
The Hound is waiting for the Palin vs. Biden bout. Talk about ultimate fighting. Which one will tap out? Any bets?
At one time, Chicago was the city Billy Sunday couldn't shut down. It was hog butcher to the world, city of big shoulders as Carl Sandburg said. Right now, it once again is the laughing stock of the National League. For a change, it's not because of the Cubs.
Chicago officials, led by by Mayor Richard M. Daley, want to cap the serving of alcoholic beverages during "clinch" games from the seventh inning at Wrigleyville saloons until the end while the Cubs burn their way to the World Series this October. What are they thinking?
Once again, they're not. These are the same people who have made Chicago a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants. These are the same people who banned foie gras. These are the same people who banned gun ownership. These are the same people who have turned nearly half the city's taxable property into tax-increment districts.
What a bunch of party poopers. What are they afraid of? Chicago has some of the meanest cops --- at least when they're off duty and beating the you-know-what out of barmaids and suburbanites. Put some cops in the area around the ballpark and let them beat up on any drunkards who decide they want to rip off some World Series souvenirs. Let's face it, Chicago cops haven't had a chance for wholesale beatings and the possibility of getting away with it since the 1968 Democratic convention.
Besides, what does this say about the city hosting a world-class event, like the 2016 Olympics? You think Cubs fans can get out of control? City officials obviously haven't met European soccer hooligans.
The Hound needs a bailout to get out from under a car loan and some increasing credit-card debt. Certainly Uncle Sugar can spare a few bucks to help out. What, uncle? You say The Hound isn't a financial institution and isn't covered by the near $1 trillion the Treasury Department is going to be pumping into Wall Street to save a sinking system. Boo-hoo.
Thomas Jefferson warned of this financial debacle under a central banking system when the nation was formed. That was one of the constitutional arguments between John Adams and Jefferson. If you don't remember, catch HBO's "John Adams" again.
But this is what we're left with and one plays 'em as they lay, and that includes devalued
mortgage-related assets, even those held by foreign banks doing business here. So how did we get to this point, within several days of the entire financial house of cards coming down? Oh, there's plenty of blame to pass around.
There was deregulation of the financial industry, which kept on coming up with new casino games to play, as one wag pointed out. Just what is a credit derivative swap? Is it like keno?
A lot of mortgages at variable interest rates were given to borrowers who were not qualified. The Federal Reserve held down interest rates. Consumers with existing mortgages were encouraged to borrow more. Mortgages were consolidated into securities. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
And where's Gordon Gekko when you really need him? Or Charles Keating. We need a villain here and The Hound is waiting for someone to parade one out. The sooner, the better.
Cub Nation is ebullient today after the team clinched the Central Division championship for the second year in a row and for the first time in a century. Does anybody see destiny here in '08? Don't get your hopes up, Cubbie fans.
The Hound's relatives always talk about what could have been back in '45, '69, '84, '03, '07. The only year nobody gripes about is '89. How come? As most of you Cub fans sober up today after a clinch party happening rave-up, remember several things.
Clinching the division is just one goal. Last year the Cubs won the division and then went on to lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks three straight. It's called focus, folks. That's what Lou Piniella gets paid for. Let's see if he's better this year, than last when the post season begins.
And, let's ignore those Central Division champion hats. Those are UGLY with a capital u and g and l and y. Who designed those hats with those colors? During the celebration, were some Cubs wearing Sarah Palin glasses? After watching the party a dozen times, The Hound can attest those were snorkel glasses and not dental hygenist specs.
The Hound, though, is behind the Eddie Vedder song to take the Cubs to the World Series. Yet, it stlll doesn't match Chicago Shorty's ditty. If you don't know who that is, ask your older brother or an uncle. Go Cubs!
Now that Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran has kick-started the area debate on illegal immigration with his broadside at "sanctuary city" Chicago the other day and his figures that one in five jail inmates is an illegal alien, it's time for problem solving. The Hound favors the Spanish solution: Pay immigrants to leave.
The federal government is bailing out failing financial institutions, the feds can write a check to send illegals home --- if in fact we really don't want them. After all, one of the major jobs of the federal government is protecting the nation's borders, which appear to be as sturdy as a sieve.
Spain's unemployment currently is running nearly 11 percent on the Iberian peninsula. That jobless rate is the highest in the euro-driven European Union. So, Spain's government has decided to pay the tens of thousands of non-EU people --- mainly North Africans, Turks, Slavs --- in the country to go back to where they came from.
Those that leave get a lump-sum payment of 40 percent of unemployment money once they renounce their residency permits and the rest once they get home. They also have to agree not to go back to Spain for three years, although after the three years they can recover their work and residency permits.
Sounds like a plan to The Hound. What say you, presidential candidates?
Forget that fence the feds are building along the Mexican border from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas. After seeing what Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran had to say about the region's immigration policy, let's build one right here along Lake-Cook Road. Curran, who just spent some time in the Lake County jail, says nearly a quarter of the inmates there are illegal aliens or aliens of questionable status.
And, he blames Chicago and Illinois authorities for letting illegal alien criminals stay in the U.S. even after they do the time for their crimes. Curran says he's had enough --- as have right-thinking people --- and wants to deport any and all illegals who happen to be patrons of the Lake County hoosegow. So far, he's convinced immigration agents to place 75 on a hold status for deportation. The overwhelmng majority --- 105 of the jail's 137 foreign-born inmates --- are from Mexico.
Wonder if Curran has discussed this issue with tough-talking Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.?
At least this may touch off the long-awaited debate over illegal immigration some have been waiting for in this presidential election year. So far, both John McCain, who hails from Arizona, and Barack Obama, who hails from the "sanctuary" city of Chicago, have dance arm's length on the topic. They need to let voters know where they stand.
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