Vote early, vote often

Property taxes are a big scam in Cook County.  If you have a lot of money you hire a lawyer and go to court to get them knocked down.

I'm not so sure about that, at least not in the old days.  A long time ago, maybe in the late 50s or early 60s, my father appealed his property tax and got it knocked down significantly.  I don't know how he did it; no lawyer was ever mentioned and he wasn't involved in the local political scene.  At that time the alderman, John Hoellen, was the lone Republican in the Chicago City Council so maybe dad just went to his office which was on Irving Park, not far from where he worked.  Hoellen was a lawyer whose office was above the shoe store that his family owned.  We always got our shoes at Hoellen's, so maybe that was the deal; you'll get a tax break if you buy all your shoes at our store.  Funny thing is that the tax break lasted more than fifty years until the building was sold.

Anyhow, taking a cue from Uncle Ken I brought a cheat sheet to the polling place this morning, and I'm glad I did.  Not having watched much local TV lately I wasn't familiar with a lot of the candidates, and I haven't suffered the deluge of junk mail that Uncle Ken has received; some pieces but not as many as in past years, less than ten in total.  There may have been phone calls, but I don't answer calls from unknown numbers; if they don't leave a voicemail, screw 'em.  There  were a lot of text messages for one candidate but their database must be goofy.  My name isn't Kristen.

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...slithy toves gyring and gimbling in the wabe,

What is this, some reference to Lewis Carroll and perhaps the implication our political process is a trip through the looking glass?  I suppose future topics should include cabbages and kings.

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I don't really care too much about the business with Stormy Daniels and Trump except for the non-disclosure agreement part.  The pundits are stating that it is too onerous and won't stand up in court which may open the floodgates for others who had to sign NDAs.  That could include current and former White House staffers; there has never been a president who required an NDA as a condition of employment.  But what do you expect from Precedent Trump?

And speaking of Stormy Daniels, she has a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for legal expenses and it is doing well, more than a quarter of a million bucks in less than a week.  It's at a site devoted to raising money for all types of cases, which is an interesting spin on the crowdfunding model.  Maybe the little guy can finally catch a break.

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I can't close without mentioning those happy-go-lucky Finns.  Here's a nice couple who made a hot tub out of ice: Lauri & Anni