Just in time for the premiere of AMC's "The Prisoner" remake, we learn Illinois may be the home to some 200 al-Qaida terrorists currently near a Cuban beach in Guantanamo Bay. The Hound says ship them to the Thomson Correctional Center. We might as well make something off the Jihadists.
Besides, these prisoners look like they will be surrounded by about 1,500 GIs, if U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin knows what he is talking about. If military guards are involved, what happens to the 3,000 jobs Gov. Pat Quinn was touting for tiny Thomson, out there in northwest Illinois, a region which over the years has commonly been referred to as Forgottonia. That's because the rest of Illinois has forgotten about it, like one of your funny uncles.
Congressional Republicans have decided to fight this proposal by the Obama administration tooth and nail with Highland Park Congressman Mark Kirk leading the charge to keep these terrorists where they belong --- Cuba. He says putting them in Illinois leaves us open to danger at O'Hare International Airport and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). He even has an online petition on his U.S. Senate campaign Web site to send a message that Illinoisans don't want terrorists here: www.noterroristsinillinois.com.
Kirk and his fellow Illinois Republicans argue if the Islamic terrorists are here, they will endanger Illinois. The Hound thinks we have enough of homegrown terrorism on the streets of our cities that we can handle 200 Jihadists. Besides, they may like it here. Except in winter.
That was awful nice of the Lake County Health Department to offer "good neighbor" etiquette for leaf burners which appeard in the paper over the weekend. Here's a better idea on how to be a good neighbor: Ban leaf burning in unincorporated Lake County.
While nearly every municipality has banned leaf burning and gone to collecting them, then turning them to compost, Lake County officials cling to this old-fashioned, country-bumpkin ideal of letting residents send leaves up in smoke. Which probably runs counter to the Health Department's creed, but who's counting when the County Board holds the purse strings, right?
Did The Hound mention that most unincorporated areas border incorporated areas so, like other forms of pollution, leaf smoke doesn't stop at the limits of corporate entities? Like Beach Park, which still thinks its unincorporated, even though it is a village.
In Beach Park, they seem to burn seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Hound feels sorry for kids in Beach Park with asthma this time of year. Beach Park has this antiquated view of things, unlike Zion, Waukegan, Winthrop Harbor and North Chicago which all have controlled or no burning at all. Some great environmentalists there in Beach Park.
But the same can be said of Health Department folks who were quick to jump on the anti-smoking bandwagon, but not so quick to do the same for leaf burning. Guess the county hasn't heard of second-hand smoke. Instead, they want us all to be good neighbors. That policy goes up in smoke when the leaves fall.
The Hound originally thought Gurnee was Skunkland, but it appears Zion is starting to rank right up there on the smell-o-meter. But, wait. There's also been complaints from Green Oaks residents about skunky smells. What to do? What to do?
Skunks smell. There's no getting around this fact of animal life. The Hound has had run-ins with skunks and can testify they smell --- bad. There's no correct way to describe the smell of a skunk. It is a mix of urine, ammonia, burning rubber and, well, skunk. It is one mean cologne. It can make one's eyes water and have one embark on a coughing fit.
How to get rid of skunks in your neighborhood? Good luck. The Hound has seen humans try soaking rags in ammonia and laying them around their lawns. Doesn't work. The reason skunks are around is the grubs under one's lawn. The nicer the lawn, usually there's more grubs.
What Zion, Gurnee and Green Oaks needs are more owls. Skunks are a delicacy for owls. They can't smell the creatures. And, since both are night-time predators, well, you get the picture. Give a hoot, invite an owl to dinner. And not takeout at Hooters.
There must be some mean gris-gris in the New Orleans area when it comes to those European names the hurricane center gives to mean tropical storms. Katrina was the worst natural disaster to hit the U.S. --- $41 billion damage. Looks like the Gulf dodged a bullet with Gustav, but there's still major damage.
Seriously, is it voodoo or what? Hurricane Hanna is heading for the Southeast and on the eastern horizon is Ike and Josephine. Let's not even remember Camille. Perhaps that Texas lawmaker was right when she suggested names more reflecting Africa. After all, most of these hurricanes are coming out of the African Atlantic.
Besides those Germanic and Frankish hurricanes, what's with all these network and local news guys going to hurricane city? Katie Couric was down there, obviously expecting the worse. WLS-TV in Chicago even sent Chuck Goudie down there. Was he looking for Mob bodies in the French Quarter?
We certainly don't see that type of coverage when we have snow storms here. Where's The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore when there's a foot of snow headed this way? Safe and sound in Hotlanta, that's where.
Hey, Chuck, have a Hurricane for The Hound on Bourbon Street. And, toast Herr Gustav, paisan.
For a while there, Antioch really was in the toilet and not just village finances. At least it smelled that way.
Sewage sludge spilled off a truck over the weekend along Main Street (Route 83) and surely raised a stink among village residents. More so than the last Village Board meeting.
The village moved about 16 truckloads through town on Saturday, getting rid of 80 tons of sewage sludge destined for some farmer's field. Who knew Antioch residents could produce that much effluent?
And, how would you like to be living next to that farmer's field after 80 tons of the stuff is dumped? Not The Hound, that's for certain. Remember that the next time you flush away.
One more thing. We also now know that Antioch's um, stuff, indeed, does stink.
Six Lake County lakes have experienced die-offs of hundreds of carp. And this is a bad thing?
Granted, Countryside, Wooster and Fish lakes have had a few hundred crappie die, so let's get to the bottom of those. But why are fish biologists worried about bottom feeders that most anglers dislike.
Carp have been eradicated in several county lakes, Diamond Lake in Mundelein being one, and replaced by game fish. It's not like carp are the "canaries in the coal mines" here.
The Hound remembers attempts by several state DNRs to have anglers embrace carp as a fine game fish and excellent eating fish (watch that mud vein) if smoked or grilled after sitting overnight in a marinade.
Ever see carp served at a Friday night fish fry around here? Exactly. Slab crappie, now there's good eating.
What's with the people of Wisconsin who live along Lake Michigan and treat it like a garbage dump? Right now nobody's blaming the cheeseheads, but a bunch of garbage washed up along the lake's western shore, in the Holland, Mich., and Manistee, Mich., areas. But, some of the garbage carried names and addresses from Wisconsin, according to an Associated Press account.
Beaches were closed and three truckloads of garbage, including prescription drug bottles, hypodermic needles and household rubbish were hauled away to a real landfill, not a liquid one. This surely frosts The Hound. Hey, we drink this stuff!
Besides junk, Wisconsinites have been known to dump their sewage into Lake Michigan every time it rains. How about they fix their sewage systems? Then, they can concentrate on what to do with their garbage.
The Coast Guard is investigating the dumping of the hundreds of pounds of garbage. Let's hope they find out who's responsible.
It's all settled then. Americans overwhelmingly support off-shore oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters and more than half like the idea of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. So much for coral reefs and caribou.
The above is courtesy of the latest Zogby Poll, which in a telephone survey of 1,113 likely voters nationwide, found 74 percent support off-shore oil drilling and 59 percent favor drilling in ANWR. The poll also notes that these same folks might support John McCain because he thinks we should do the same to increase our energy independence.
McCain also has come up with another alternative energy plan, one in which he wants to award a $300 million (of your money) prize for the development of a battery to step ahead of what's now commercially available for plug-in hybrids or electric cars. Ah, those would be mainly Japanese vehicles, although Chevrolet is working on its Volt vehicle. He calls it his "heroic efforts in engineering" idea.
Great, now we're beholden to the oil cartel, soon we'll be beholden to the battery cartel. Where's the Energizer Bunny when you need him?
Those Republicans certainly are full of energy ideas this election season. U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Highland Park, unveiled his "moon shot" program, the Apollo Energy Independence Act which proposes long-term market incentives to spur technological breakthroughs for the development of renewable and alternative energies, vehicles and fuels.
The Hound hears this country has been talking about energy independence since the first Arab oil boycott of 1973. Looks like we haven't come that far since. Especially since we're now paying about $4.15 a gallon for gasoline.
Let's start drilling offshore now and make sure you get a geological survey of your back yards. Heck, let's also look into the parks and forest preserves. Who knows where oil lurks anymore?
One mother The Hound knows got a Mother's Day gift over the weekend. It was a digital picture frame.
We're all familiar with them and if you're not, the idea is to replace all those picture frames hanging on the walls or sitting on coffee tables with a media card plugged into the digital frame. This mom noted the photos are there to view until she gets bored with looking at them. Then in goes another media card.
This got The Hound to thinking how many other mothers got digital frames on Mother's Day. Plenty, right? Which is taking a step back from this ongoing push to be green and save energy, resources and materials, isn't it. The Hound believes that if miraculously oil drops to $90 a barrel tomorrow, talk of going green will disappear quicker than a bad movie at the box office.
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, digital picture frames are just one of the 25 consumer electronics devices the average U.S. household owns. That would include televisions, radios, CD players, cell phones, printers, computers, portable and stationary DVD players, VCRs, MP3 players, videogame players, digital cameras, camcorders, GPS devices. Yikes, Americans do own a lot of stuff!
The association also notes that two billion DVDs, 30 million digital cameras and 41 million MP3 players are sold annually in the U.S. On top of that, there's about 150 million used cell phones stockpiled in U.S. households.
The Hound has noticed a lot of those "recyclable" bags at area food and retail stores. But here's the question that has been bothering The Hound: Is it OK to take a Jewel bag into, say, Dominick's or a Wal-Mart bag into Target?
The Hound has heard of one Dominick's where a manager gave a customer two free bags (theirs are black) rather than seeing her use Jewel bags (dark green).
So, what is the etiquette here? Is it OK to use any bag you have because they are environmentally sound (or so we are told)? Or do your bags have to be store-specific?
Life is just full of questions, right? Next week The Hound will tackle organic foods. Then again, maybe not.
