January 26, 2011
January 26 is … Australia Day
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them
Rahm Emmanuel is back in the race for Chicago Mayor. I just don’t get it. No matter what happens, this, once again, makes the State of Illinois and its politics look ridiculous. We can’t even get a mayor’s race done right.
The Illinois Supreme Court granted a stay and told the Chicago Board of Elections to not print any ballots without Rahm’s name on them. They then said they would hear the case in an expedited manner and decide the case on the already filed briefs. No new briefs, evidence or positions will be considered. Do you think the Illinois Supremes will give Chicago the finger with this decision and not let him on the ballot, thereby depriving Chicago voters the chance to elect who they want?
If he ends up on the ballot, Rahm wins big. If he ends up off the ballot, the voters of Chicago are the real losers. They will be prevented from electing who they want, regardless of my position on the election. President Obama chimes in and thinks Rahm should be on the ballot. Obama should not express an opinion on an ongoing Court case. He should be running the country, if he can, and stay out of local politics, even if it is his local politics.
I find it disingenuous to hear people say Rahm left Chicago to serve his country. He left Chicago to make big money and to make bigger money once that job was over. When he took that job, he knew it was not forever. If things worked out swimmingly, the job was for only eight years and nobody stays in that job that long. His upcoming book deal will be a seven figure advance. He did not go to Washington to serve our country; he went for the money and power to serve his own status.
I missed an infamous date from our history yesterday. It was 40 years ago -- Jan. 25, 1971 -- that a jury returned guilty verdicts against Charles Manson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel, three central figures in the infamous "Helter Skelter" murder spree. The three were found guilty on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder for their roles in the ghoulish Tate-LaBianca murders in the Los Angeles area. Two other members of Manson's twisted "family" -- Leslie Van Houten and Charles "Tex" Watson" -- would be tried later and convicted for crimes related to the killing spree. This crime still captivates this country and true-crime buffs.
The State of the Union address was last night. It is really the ‘boy am I good speech’ by President Obama. The SOTU address was expected to take over sixty minutes, although when I am writing this, Obama is also working on his speech. How many time will the word ‘country’ be said; the word ‘America’, the term ‘USA’, the word ‘strong’, the word ‘inherited’(or something meaning the same thing), God Bless America?
NBC mentioned the video on Salon.com about aisle hogs, members of Congress who get on the aisle to shake the President’s hand every year. Go to the website address below and watch the video. It is pretty cool;
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/us_house_of_representatives/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/01/25/aisle_hogs
Some SOTU facts I got off the internet; The State of the Union messages are mandated by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, which states that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." But the Constitution said nothing about making a speech. And while the first two presidents George Washington and John Adams delivered their SOTU messages orally, subsequent presidents delivered them in writing. It wasn't until Woodrow Wilson in 1913 that the message was delivered orally again. And with a couple of exceptions, speeches have been the SOTU rule ever since.
The shortest speech: Appropriately enough, the shortest SOTU message was also the first. Delivered by Washington in 1790, it clocked in at just 1,089 words.
The longest speech: Bill Clinton holds the record for the longest SOTU speech. It was the one he gave in 1995, shortly after his party lost control of Congress. Apparently, he felt he had a lot of explaining to do. That speech weighed in at a hefty 9,190 words.
The longest SOTU message: That honor goes to Jimmy Carter, whose last message, delivered in writing just before he relinquished the presidency in 1981, came in at an encyclopedic 33,667 words. To be sure, the state Carter left the country in was pretty bad.
The wordiest president: The fattest president in history, William Howard Taft, also delivered the fattest state of the union messages. His SOTU messages, all delivered in writing, averaged 22,614 words. Most sparing president: That honor goes to John Adams, whose SOTU speeches averaged just 1,790 words.
The longest speech: Bill Clinton holds the record for the longest SOTU speech. It was the one he gave in 1995, shortly after his party lost control of Congress. Apparently, he felt he had a lot of explaining to do. That speech weighed in at a hefty 9,190 words.
The longest SOTU message: That honor goes to Jimmy Carter, whose last message, delivered in writing just before he relinquished the presidency in 1981, came in at an encyclopedic 33,667 words. To be sure, the state Carter left the country in was pretty bad.
The wordiest president: The fattest president in history, William Howard Taft, also delivered the fattest state of the union messages. His SOTU messages, all delivered in writing, averaged 22,614 words. Most sparing president: That honor goes to John Adams, whose SOTU speeches averaged just 1,790 words.
William Henry Harrison and James Garfield never gave a State of the Union Address while in office. They were not President long enough.
The homeless guy from a few weeks ago shows he lived a life he chose. He was handed life on a silver platter for a do-over and instead grabbed the bottle of booze. He left the rehab center he never wanted to go to in the first place. He received and spent the money he got from Kraft food for the Mac-N-Cheese commercial. It is unlikely he will ever work for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They need someone reliable. He has a lifetime of unreliability. This guy made a fool out of half of the United States population and doesn’t even know it.
Every company that tried to look good by taking advantage of this homeless alcoholic should spend time in life’s penalty box.
Taco Bell meat taco filling is only 35% meat. Who cares? It was never sold to me as a health food and I cannot recall ever hearing about people dying from eating the meat filling, if the meat filling was properly prepared.
Didn’t Taco Bell just pull their sponsorship from a MTV show because of its strong sexual content; apparently too much meat for Taco Bell’s tastes.
At the top of the music charts on this date throughout history;
1946
1954 Stranger in Paradise - Tony Bennett
1962 The Twist - Chubby Checker
1970 Raindrop Keep Fallin’ on My Head - B.J. Thomas
1978 Baby Come Back - Player
1986 That’s What Friends are For - Dionne & Friends
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available by February 15, 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)
www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard NEW SOURCE FOR BOOK
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.
“You're smart when you only believe half of what you hear, Wise is when you know which half to believe.”
