Rahm Emanuel

I think I've mentioned before that several years ago I had the opportunity to sit down and have a one hour, almost one-on-one, conversation with Rahm Emanuel. He was my Congressman for several years, then he went to Washington and did something, can't remember what, and now he's running for mayor of Chicago. Which is all the proof you should need that he's either corrupt or out of his freaking mind.

This Sunday the NY Times will run a little story about Emanuel by the author, Scott Turow. That's another six degrees of separation thing. Scott used to be – I don't know, maybe he still is – an attorney at Sonnenshein, Nath, and Rosenthal (currently has a new name, but who cares what it is), where Suellen worked. And for some reason (there are many to choose from), Scott took a liking to Suellen. We sometimes would go to readings that Scott gave from his latest book, and when he spotted Suellen he would walk over to her and chat with her. I'd hold her coat. She was thrilled and I was jealous. That was a common pairing.

Anyway, Scott's story is here. It's not the greatest political journalism, but it's an easy read.

Emanuel has had some good political ads (brought to you by Axelrod & Co). I'll talk about one of them later.

Joao Silva Update

The earlier vagueness about the extent of Joao Silva's injuries led me to anticipate this: Silva lost both legs when a land mine exploded under him in Afghanistan. He was a "contract photographer" for the Times, which means the Times is probably contractually not responsible for him from now on. Thus, the fund raisers. Welcome to the Reagan Revolution. [Update: See Chip's comment, below.]

Here are the pictures Silva took just before – and after! – the explosion. And a video of his recovery, which is going well.