Good 'Ole La Grande Jatte

Greetings from San Diego! If you, like I, had a vague feeling you had seen the young lady with the parasol before, it finally occurred to me where:

Idiots with Money

I'm travelling today, so no time to expand on this, but make sure you read Krugman today, and then follow his link to the incredibly vile, racist, fantasist cover story at Forbes Magazine. Then resist the urge to put white-hot pokers in your eyes.

Another Place Keeper

Sorry for the paucity of postings. My sister is home and doing well, and I'll be seeing her soon!

I'm paying attention to what's going on in politics, and it's ugly and scary. The Tea Party movement won't last more than a couple of years (they said that about the National Socialists in Germany, I'm sure), but it remains to be seen how much damage they'll do before they're done.

In the meantime, I've been buying 19th century photos on eBay. I absolutely love this one. Click on it.


The umbrella (or would that be a parasol?), the bustle, the pose, even the painted background. Love it. I won't mention that she's cute, too.

A Place Keeper

Right now most of my attention is focused about 2,000 miles away, where my sister is recovering from a heart attack. I'd tell you what a terrific sister she is, but that would be unMiller-like.

In the meanwhile, here's a picture from a couple of years ago. I think Suellen and I were going to a medical appointment, and I had my little Canon G9 with me. It was snowing, I think. It's a little more interesting if you click on it.

For non-Chicagoans, Water Tower Place used to be the shopping Mecca of Michigan Avenue. It's lost some of its luster over the years. Don't we all?

Fact Check

From Steve Benen, over at Political Animal:


This is a chart of the jobs lost/gained in the private sector in the past few years. The red bars are Bush Administration; the blue bars are Obama Administration.

Stupid, Meet Evil

Via Chicago Ted, make sure you watch these two Daily Show episodes:

First:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Extremist Makeover - Homeland Edition
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Then go here:

At risk of sounding like a broken record: Why is it that this stuff is covered in comedy shows, but not in the mainstream media? Answer: They have been so lax for so long, and Fox has grown so powerful, that now MSM are afraid of Fox.

The Cordoba House

Frank Rich has a good column today on the Fox cynicism behind the flap.

And don't miss Franklin Graham's explanation of how Obama was born a Muslim.

Finally, Laura points me to a little thing showing up on Facebook pages:



Fly the flag to show your opposition. Love that.

In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first.

-Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

Villains

Have you noticed how, whenever there is a minority somewhere to be villainized, the Republicans fall all over themselves to seize the opportunity? It's apparently all they've got.

Lately it's illegal immigrants and Muslims. It's sad, too, how often they get away with it.

The so-called Mosque at Ground Zero, which isn't a mosque and isn't at Ground Zero, is a perfect example. Keep the folks at home all worked up over this, and real issues don't need to be discussed in the fall campaign. So Harry Reid has to take the cover offered by the Anti-Defamation League: I've got nothing against [insert minority here], but in this case ....

Wish I could work up head of steam on it, but it's all just too sad.

Here are two articles worth reading, though. First a quick one from TPM about what else is at the hallowed ground of Ground Zero. And this very informative one about Muslims. Turns out they're not all jihadists.

It's all just too sad.

Lens

No, this isn't about Chip's fabulous new lens, which is (literally) on a slow boat from China (or Japan).

It's a recommendation that you regularly visit the New York Times photography blog, called LENS. I've put the link to it in the list on the right, to make it easier for you. There's some really outstanding stuff there.

Underpass Update

Work on the underpass is moving along. All the "canvas" has got something on it, and now they're mostly in the shading phase, which means they're adding contour and depth to the paintings. There's some remarkable work being done there.

This was work done today.

Location, Location, Location

Across the street from us, they're building some boxes they'll be selling for about $625,000. Here's what two of them look like right now:



Meanwhile, out in Freeport, Illinois (115 miles WNW from Chicago), this is what you can get for about the same money. Make sure you click the link; it probably won't be active very long.

Anybody want to start a commune?

Hubris

Again from Andrew Tobias, a link to a Huffington Post story about JPMorganChase.

Did you think the financial meltdown of 2008 sobered up anybody in the banking industry? Think again.

I was going to rerun the guillotine picture, but instead here's a shot of JPMorgan's global commodities group:

A Road to Somewhere?

Andrew Tobias pointed to this video about the possibility of roadways made of solar panels (which are made of landfill). Sounds bizarre. But in addition to being a roadway, the panels serve as an electronic grid, delivering electricity everywhere it goes. Sounds cool.



A few years ago I bought a 1 gig flash drive for about $35. Today you can get three 4 gig flash drives for $35. And I just bought a 2 terabyte hard drive for less than our first 20 megabyte hard drive cost us. If there's a reason to be hopeful, it's because of things like this.

On the Road to Nowhere

Paul Krugman is pessimistic about the economy. So am I.

And don't miss his column about Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, who is what passes in Washington these days as a "serious thinker."

And if that hasn't got you reaching for the razor blades, try The Third Depression.

The Great Depression wasn't all bad, though. It was the Golden Age of Board Games and Jigsaw Puzzles. And it reminded people of the importance of having a functional government.

T-Storms Again

Okay, so nobody liked the squirrel joke. I should have listened to Suellen, who thought it was a stupid joke.

It was really just a device to point you to my kid brother's Flickr site. He does outstanding wildlife photography (and bugs), and his bird pictures have been used by Audubon and others. Leaf through a few pages and you'll see why. Make sure you blow up the pictures. They're incredible.

I did get some pictures of the underpass yesterday, but there were only 3 or 4 people working. It was raining in the morning, and the humidity in the afternoon made me fear for my camera.

Everybody seems to like the stylized versions best (sigh) so here are some more.

This picture has been oversaturated:


And here's the same picture, desaturated:




Rain again this morning, which will give me the chance to get these pictures organized for sharing with the people who are doing all the work.

Rain-out?

It's raining this morning, so there may be no underpass painting activity. I'll post a picture from yesterday for now:


It's more interesting in the larger version (click on it to enlarge it), which usually means it's not all that interesting to begin with.

I'm not saying it's heavily manipulated, but this is the picture I started with.

Overpass Project

Took some more pictures of the overpass mural today. There was no activity over the weekend, but the kids were hard at work today.



I might have stylized this picture just a little.

And So It Begins

I've always liked Target stores. They're cleaner than most big-box stores, the aisles are wider. We recently bought a television at our local Target (plus a bunch of school supplies for the local food pantry to give out).

So I was really bummed to read this article in Talking Points Memo. Target Corporation has decided to take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision to corrupt the electoral process in Minnesota.

The Target Corporation has effectively given $150,000 of their stockholders' money to a gay-baiting, über-conservative Republican candidate for governor.

According to TPM:

Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel has explained that the company's support for Emmer is based purely on economic issues. "Target has a history of supporting organizations and candidates, on both sides of the aisle, who seek to advance policies aligned with our business objectives, such as job creation and economic growth," wrote Steinhafel. "It is also important to note that we rarely endorse all advocated positions of organizations or candidates we support, and we do not have a political or social agenda."

Well, Gregg, if that's how you feel, use your own damn money. Myself, I'm going to have a hard time walking into a Target store anytime soon.

Street Art

A few blocks away a group of artists are in the process of creating a mural on the walls of a railroad underpass. And I've been dropping by to record their progress.

Here's how things are going so far:

Weiner Becomes a King

Rage is not a popular emotion among politicos. But I've been feeling so much rage for so long about the Republicans that it's a relief to see somebody actually call one out.

In this video, Rep. King (R) of New York is called out by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D), also of New York.



This morning, on Fox [spit] Weiner and King had it out again, or should I say: Weiner sliced and diced.



The commentator's closing comment is idiotic. But it was Fox, so that's redundant.

Thanks to TalkingPointsMemo for posting these clips.