My OperaThe Gong Show... and other musings
Saturday, October 21, 2006 7:04:22 AM
Another kooky week here on the Northcoast. Let me put it this way: it's never a dull moment around here. That's a promise! :clown:
(1) Over the previous weekend, someone broke into the City Club downtown and made off with a brass gong that's been used to open and close the speaker forums for the last 70 years. Thankfully, in today's edition of the Plain Dealer, it was reported that it had been completely recovered Thursday via US Mail "with a cancellation stamp from New York". The executive director of the club, James Foster, said that the theft may have been a "prank". We love you too, New York.
(2) The Army Corps of Engineers wants to build an "island" off the Lake at a cost of $100 million, with the city picking up 1/4 of the tab. This project will basically consist of the mud, slime, industrial junk, etc. that's been building up on the Lake bottom which will be scooped up and redistributed at a site somewhere along the span of the Lake front and 1/2 a mile off the coastline. The new location will be necessary due to an already mounting present landfill at Burke Lakefront Airport. However, it's still in the very early planning stages and will not commence until at least the year 2034. I'm sure the gulls can hardly wait.
(3) Also this past Tuesday on the West side... Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, along with 10 other police were on a late evening stakeout to close in on prostitution in one neighborhood, while down the road undercover police posing as prostitutes were also set to bust the johns. Upon the sweeps, all the offenders were then loaded into a police van. "The media were invited Tuesday to 'spread the message that Cleveland isn't a marketplace for sex and drugs,' Mayor Frank Jackson said," stated the Plain Dealer in Wednesday's edition.
Earlier that day, and back at City Hall...
40 demonstrators from a coalition called the Northeast Ohio Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign gathered on City Hall steps to protest last year's designation of Cleveland as the "poorest big city in America", partly to raise awareness of the proposed minimum wage hike currently on the Ohio ballot as Issue 2, and also urge action on the part of the Mayor. "We remind ourselves and each other that every step we take is to make Cleveland a great city and improve the quality of life for all of us," he was reported as saying in a written statement.
"Now if you'll excuse me... there's a pair of busts that need my attention."
And for the cake icing ... the final slinging of debate mud in the state Capital, freshly signed abuses of executive power in the nation's Capital, and the colossal self-combustion of "compassionate" political posturing. That scene in The Wizard of Oz with the Wicked Witch melting from water thrown on her by Dorothy comes to mind.
And now...
The Unofficial Mid-term Election Game Checklist! (NOT endorsed by Milton Bradley [tm] ).
Try these on for size:
Monopoly. Now with human pawns and corporate landing spaces.
Connect the Dolts. The path to felony convictions.
Pain By Numbers. Polling place SNAFUs and general voting malaise.
Run Yourself Ragged. And into the ground.
Pin the Fail On the Donkey. Blame the Democrats.
Tic-Tac-D'Oh! "X" marks the fallguy.
Memory. Or lack thereof.
Brutes-n-Chatters. The making of a bad Rep.
Prattleship. News anchors aweigh!
And finally...
Sorry! Better luck next... term. Or maybe not.
GO BUCKEYES!!!!!
Later!
(1) Over the previous weekend, someone broke into the City Club downtown and made off with a brass gong that's been used to open and close the speaker forums for the last 70 years. Thankfully, in today's edition of the Plain Dealer, it was reported that it had been completely recovered Thursday via US Mail "with a cancellation stamp from New York". The executive director of the club, James Foster, said that the theft may have been a "prank". We love you too, New York.
(2) The Army Corps of Engineers wants to build an "island" off the Lake at a cost of $100 million, with the city picking up 1/4 of the tab. This project will basically consist of the mud, slime, industrial junk, etc. that's been building up on the Lake bottom which will be scooped up and redistributed at a site somewhere along the span of the Lake front and 1/2 a mile off the coastline. The new location will be necessary due to an already mounting present landfill at Burke Lakefront Airport. However, it's still in the very early planning stages and will not commence until at least the year 2034. I'm sure the gulls can hardly wait.
(3) Also this past Tuesday on the West side... Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, along with 10 other police were on a late evening stakeout to close in on prostitution in one neighborhood, while down the road undercover police posing as prostitutes were also set to bust the johns. Upon the sweeps, all the offenders were then loaded into a police van. "The media were invited Tuesday to 'spread the message that Cleveland isn't a marketplace for sex and drugs,' Mayor Frank Jackson said," stated the Plain Dealer in Wednesday's edition.
Earlier that day, and back at City Hall...
40 demonstrators from a coalition called the Northeast Ohio Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign gathered on City Hall steps to protest last year's designation of Cleveland as the "poorest big city in America", partly to raise awareness of the proposed minimum wage hike currently on the Ohio ballot as Issue 2, and also urge action on the part of the Mayor. "We remind ourselves and each other that every step we take is to make Cleveland a great city and improve the quality of life for all of us," he was reported as saying in a written statement.
"Now if you'll excuse me... there's a pair of busts that need my attention."
And for the cake icing ... the final slinging of debate mud in the state Capital, freshly signed abuses of executive power in the nation's Capital, and the colossal self-combustion of "compassionate" political posturing. That scene in The Wizard of Oz with the Wicked Witch melting from water thrown on her by Dorothy comes to mind.
And now...
The Unofficial Mid-term Election Game Checklist! (NOT endorsed by Milton Bradley [tm] ).
Try these on for size:
Monopoly. Now with human pawns and corporate landing spaces. Connect the Dolts. The path to felony convictions. Pain By Numbers. Polling place SNAFUs and general voting malaise. Run Yourself Ragged. And into the ground. Pin the Fail On the Donkey. Blame the Democrats. Tic-Tac-D'Oh! "X" marks the fallguy. Memory. Or lack thereof. Brutes-n-Chatters. The making of a bad Rep. Prattleship. News anchors aweigh!And finally...
Sorry! Better luck next... term. Or maybe not. GO BUCKEYES!!!!!
Later!
