Howdy, All, on an overcast and cool Wednesday.  We expect intermittent rain today.  The same conditions should hold through tomorrow.  I will wait till the sun comes back Friday to do anything more that walk between the containers and plucking a weed here and there.  The cooler temps are welcome after the warmth of the last few days.

Hey, Kay.  Glad you stopped by.  There are times when I would love to see term limits and agree with the theory behind it--bring in new (hopefully) minds and voices.  As things stand now, though, we would lose too many progressive voices when we need them most.

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Thursday now, everyone.  Rainy and much cooler.  I am watching the overnight predictions and will bring in my rosemary and lavender plants.  Otherwise they should all do ok.  It is much too wet to do any gardening.

We have been watching the political theater in Chicago over the school closings.  We can't help it because almost all of our "local" news comes from there.  In case you have missed the kerfuffle (lucky you!!) Chicago is going to close (at the moment) 50 schools, four of the original list getting a reprieve, and consolidating enough others to empty some 60+ buildings.  The battle has raged for months now pitting Rahm Emanuel, his hand picked school board, and his hand picked superintendent against the teachers and their union, parents, and communities.  The coverage, as usual, spans the range from thoughtful to knee-jerk and encompassing the maudlin and inane.  The news readers this morning interviewed the Superintendent Bennett asking for a reaction to a comment from one of the dissident city councilmen (I think) and chose the most idiotic sound bite imaginable.  The councilman talked about schools that had survived two world wars and a Great Depression but fell to the Emanuel administration.  Really!?!!??  The school board has appealed to efficiency, "underutilization," inadequate resources and those yahoos in the news room choose a comment appealing to longevity!!  What a load of crap.  If I lived in Chicago in one of the affected neighborhoods I would be at a total loss as which side to support.  On the one side I can easily see the anti-closing side's anger at not having a real say in the process.  I get the impression that the board made its decision and nothing anyone said would make a bit of difference.  As one of the protestors complained the board "heard" the complaints but didn't  really "listen."  On the other hand Bennett, Emanuel, and the board constantly talk about population shifts and the declining number of students but few in the opposition or the news media address those issues.  Out of curiosity I Googled information on Chicago population over time and found that Chicago itself has lost one-third of its 1950 population which was its highest census count.  Looking at the neighborhoods, I found that those most affected by the school closings are indeed African-American and Hispanic but that those neighborhoods have lost between 50 and 80+% of their population over the last sixty years.  And they are the most dangerous neighborhoods so forcing students to go to schools in another area and to cross gang boundaries has parents reasonably concerned.  Another sound-bite I think sums up the mess.  A school board member was heckled by an angry parent and told the reporter that the parents 'just have to trust us and that we know what we are doing."  I would say that trust is sadly lacking and perhaps deservedly so.

The Contrary Farmer always has a humorous and slightly skewed view of things.  Today he takes a few good shots at diets.  I absolutely refuse to follow any diet.

Every now and then I find pictures that are in the "AAAW!! HOW CUTE" file.  Like these.

Silly Me!! I thought slavery was unconstitutional.  And please don't give me any idiotic rigamarole about incarceration for crime not being slavery.  When the judge gets kickbacks for sending prisoners to a privately owned prison and when some 4000 of the convictions are being overturned that is slavery.