What the wind brought.

This, friends, is the definition of what is colloquially known as “some bullshit.”

It won’t last. Doesn’t matter. Last night I took Kate to a concert, a freakin’ long one, and we drove home under a bright full moon. Eighteen hours of high, freezing winds had finally abated, and I thought, OK, that’s over. Evidently, it’s not over. This is what the winds were bringing us. Should have known.

The concert was Anarbor, the same band we saw last November. Actually, it was five bands, with Anarbor in the middle, although we had to stay until nearly the bitter end. This week is spring break, so getting home at a decent hour wasn’t a big concern, but the headliners played for a Springsteen-like interval and they were getting on my nerves. So I discovered one use for text messaging, i.e., contacting your daughter on the other side of the club:

Let’s go. This band sux.

I agree.

So?

We’re waiting for Mike.

Mike being the Anarbor guitarist. All the other members had been out to pose for photos and sign merch, but Mike was the last holdout. I guess you have to stagger these things to maximize merch purchases, an important revenue stream for a young touring band. On the other hand, one more song by A Rocket to the Moon seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. So I walked up to the secured lounge area where I’d seen some of the other acts coming and going, and caught one going.

“Mike in there?”

“Yeah.”

“Send him out.”

Let me tell you, folks, one of the very few advantages to being an old bag is, if you look like someone’s mother, a well-raised young man will frequently obey a direct order. Thirty seconds later: Mike.

“Hey, Mike, thanks for coming out. My daughter wants to get her poster signed. Hang on while I text her.”

“That’s great you’re down with the texting, got the iPhone and everything. I wish my mom was.”

Text: I’ve got Mike at the top of the stairs. On the double.

So Mike and I chatted about this and that, the weather and Phoenix (where they live) and Po, Kate’s band. The look on Kate’s face when she rounded the corner on the staircase with her friends and saw her mother having a conversation with her guitar hero was something to see. Mike signed the poster: “Rock and roll, Mike” and posed for pictures.

Mike is a very nice guy. I only wish he would cool it with the marijuana boosterism.

Mike is 21 years old. In some parts of Detroit, I’m old enough to be his grandmother.

It’s spring break, but I’m still working. So let’s get Monday under way.

Roy Edroso saw “Atlas Shrugged” so you don’t have to:

(As) much fun as it is to slag rotten movies, it is much better to be surprised by a good one, especially when you’ve reached the stage in life where two hours in front of a stinker sets you dreaming of the warm couch and leftover sesame chicken that you left back home. But it is my great regret to inform you that Atlas Shrugged: Part I is neither good nor good-bad, but bad-bad-bad-bad. I dreamed, not of sesame chicken, but of my own swift and merciful death, and that of the director, not necessarily in that order. It is not a pleasurable surprise, not a hoot, nor an outrage; it is Rand’s granite crushed, reconstituted, and spread across the screen with steamrollers.

You’ll hear a certain amount of handwringing over this story — computer out-writes human sports reporter — but I honestly believe it has more to do with sportswriting than journalism in general. Still, amusing, as well as proof that if we could harness the power of pissed-off readers, we could light Los Angeles for a month. (This whole project was touched off by a college-age reporter whose story of a perfect game neglected to mention that little detail until the penultimate graf. Kirk, stop pounding your forehead on the desk. You’ll leave a mark.)

You’ve probably seen this, but let’s give it a little more exposure: Racist Orange County Republicans keep outdoing themselves. Amazing. No, not amazing.

OK, up and at ’em. Let’s hope for a swift melt.

Posted at 10:20 am in Media, Movies, Popculch |
 

49 responses to “What the wind brought.”

  1. Kirk said on April 18, 2011 at 10:26 am

    Please, at least put quotes around the word “reporter” when discussing that miscast person, who probably has a bright future in public relations or something.

    Thankfully, I’m about to go pick up my buddy and head to the ballpark for a day game.

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  2. Sue said on April 18, 2011 at 10:59 am

    My take on the “Atlas Shrugged” movie is that they know their audience. Bad acting etc. doesn’t matter, the important thing is not to stray from the story at all. Perhaps they should have just filmed someone reading the book to make sure nothing was left out. After all, isn’t one of Rand’s most famous characters (that Fountainhead guy) a hero who blows up a building because someone changed his design a little? Or something?
    And speaking of bad movies, we were in the same weather system as Nancy and so ended up watching a few on-demand movies this weekend. We saw ‘Morning Glory’ and attempted to watch ‘Hereafter’. So, can anyone tell me, regarding the main character in Morning Glory and (I assume, I finally turned it off) the love interest in Hereafter: what is so damned adorable about a hands-fluttering social incompetent who can’t string three words together? I wanted to slap both of them and tell them to watch a couple of Katharine Hepburn movies if they were looking for oddball appealing. Or does Hollywood just not do that anymore?

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  3. Jeff Borden said on April 18, 2011 at 11:05 am

    Ahh, the Obama family as monkeys. . .always a laugh riot among those wacky, wacky right-wingers. Expect this bullshit to increase geometrically next year during the campaign.

    While I despise Ayn Rand’s philosophy and think “Atlas Shrugged” is truly one of the worst American novels ever written, I actually admire the guys behind the film. It’s not easy to produce a $10-million film and, by all accounts, the production values are pretty solid. The conservatives who complain that Hollywood doesn’t produce films with themes they admire have a point. The problem, however, is that there may not be enough of an audience to justify this kind of investment. The box office totals fell 6% from Friday to Saturday, suggesting word-of-mouth is not going to drive any but the true believers to the theater. A similar fate befell “An American Carol,” which was written and produced by the guy behind “Airplane” and was intended to pillory Michael Moore and liberals in general. It boasted a cast of veteran actors, unlike “Atlas,” but it also landed with a splat.

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  4. LAMary said on April 18, 2011 at 11:06 am

    I watched Master and Commander yesterday and while it lost a lot on the small screen, I still really like that movie. I wish they made more like that and fewer movies made from comic books and old TV shows. I am an old fart.

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  5. coozledad said on April 18, 2011 at 11:08 am

    From Roy’s Voice article on rightblogger reactions:
    “Those used to having less certainty and more nuance in film characters will feel out of place, perhaps, but don’t confuse this with cardboard characterizations…” –Ed Morrissey, Hot Air.

    Translation: Those used to movies that entertain will be disappointed by this film, but don’t confuse this with your eyes being gouged out with the lid of a cat food can.

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  6. Jeff Borden said on April 18, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Freakin’ damn, Cooz, you are hilarious.

    I guess everything is political for right-wing culture creatures. I recall reading one of the dumbest sports columns ever written –no small feat, true– during the World Series last year, where the conservative was trying to link the respective politics of Dallas and San Francisco to the baseball teams. You know, limp-wristed homo lefties of California vs. strong. manly cowboy men of Texas.

    I wonder if he committed sepuku after the Giants crushed the Rangers?

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  7. Judbusy said on April 18, 2011 at 11:39 am

    I am getting rally sick of jerks who blame the liberal media for exposing their racists selves. There also seemed to be an undercurrent of “Oh, this is just a sweet old lady –direct quote–so she’s harmless.” Her defenders managed to be patronizing and sexist while batting for her. Yuck. I have always thought a lot of the vitriol aimed at the resident was racially motivated, thus the increase in militia and other scary groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center keeps track of all these types, and makes for disturbing reading.

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  8. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 11:52 am

    “old bag”? Unnecessarily harsh self-appraisal. Rocket to the Moon. Wow, that’s as obnoxious as that Hey Soul Sister, Mr. Mr. on the Radio horseshit. Cutesy lyrics caterwauling sensitive creep vocals. Singer sounds like John Mayer, which is more or less deadly.

    Anarbor. Seems like a Strokes knockoff. But seriously, a Bryan Adams teeshirt? If you heart Canuck bands, let it be The Guess Who. Where’d you get the gun John? Burton Cummings porn stache and all. Otherwise it’s just Geddy Lee and Ayn Rand.

    LA Mary. I think Master and Commander is pretty close to a masterpiece, and the rest of Russell Crowe’s movies are difficult to sit through.

    Ayn Rand was about as talented a writer as Margaret Mitchell, I.e. no talent at all. I tried to read Atlas Shrugged once. All the literary allure of Angels and Demons. And didn’t Gary Cooper already play John Galt? I’m making myself a teeshirt that says “John Galt is an asshole Republican weenie.”

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  9. Mark P. said on April 18, 2011 at 11:54 am

    Judbusy, you had better believe some of the antipathy directed towards Obama is racially motivated. I have seen enough racism where I live to recognize it even when it’s dressed up in its Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, but this particular case was buck naked. The republican in question is just shocked that anyone could possibly think she was being racist. Why, she didn’t even consciously consider that possibility. That’s someone whose racism is so engrained that she takes it as given that everyone else feels exactly the same as she does.

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  10. Julie Robinson said on April 18, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    Davenport also misquoted Shakespeare: it’s “much ado about nothing”, not “much to do about nothing”. But then I suppose knowing Shakespeare would make her part of the godless, liberal elite.

    Nance, I wonder if Kate thinks you’re a cool mom because you take her to concerts, or if you are still get a lot of eye-rolling. I got to have a sweet moment of parental one upmanship when I showed Moe’s amazing video link to my son, who hadn’t seen it yet. We both loved it–thanks Moe!

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  11. Nancy Pevey said on April 18, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    What a great story! You’re the Best Mom Ever.

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  12. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    Judybusy.

    Liberal media? Really? Like Wapo? There is no such thing.

    Actually, Nancy. My dad did pretty much the same thing you describe, but instead of Mike the decent guitar player, in a club, it was John Unitas, greatest QB that ever lived, outside of Tiger Stadium. I remember every detail to this day, and my dad is gone two years and a few months. Course, that was long before texting. He just disappeared for a minute and came walking back around the corner of Michigan and Trumbull with Johnny U’s arm over his shoulder. Awesome. I guess the new ballpark is nice, but Briggs was incredible. 8th inning rallies with the crowd stamping feet on the wooden bleachers was tremendous. Seemed like the place might come crashing down.

    Y’all that are blessed with Macs instead of PCs, ever heard of MacKeeper utility? This looks worthwhile to me, but who knows. I know Macs are supposed to be impregnable to hackers, but any extra protection for a relative pittance might be worthwhile. Anybody tried this?

    Anybody that says “much to do about nothing” is a freaking idiot and it’s a miracle breathing isn’t too much of a mental challenge. Idiot Wind.

    Edit: When I looked up that Idiot Wind link, I came across this version of Tangled Up in Blue. Absolutely brilliant version of a great song.

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  13. Bitter Scribe said on April 18, 2011 at 12:57 pm

    Photoshopping the President’s face onto a monkey? No, not racist at all.

    I always thought Orange County was a weird place. They named their airport after John Wayne, for Chrissake.

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  14. moe99 said on April 18, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    wrt to the OC teabagger: have you ever noticed they don’t believe in evolution, unless it’s something like this?

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  15. LAMary said on April 18, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    We refer to it as “behind the Orange Curtain.”

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  16. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    Orange County’s one saving grace, Mike Watt, of the Minutemen. One absolutely brilliant bass player.

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  17. Peter said on April 18, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    I’m stunned, dumbfounded about this excuse for a human:

    “I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth,” Davenport wrote. “In no way did I even consider the fact he’s half black when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people [Scott Baugh, Orange County GOP boss, and this writer] tried to make this about race. . . . I received plenty of emails about George Bush that I didn’t particularly like yet there was no ‘cry’ in the media about them.”

    Translation: I didn’t consider he was half black; I thought he was ALL black.

    Yeah lady, it was your chairman and the evil media who misinterpreted your cute little e-mail and is making a big stink about this being racism just because you compare Obama to a monkey.

    But no, it gets better, with her apologist saying “…she is just real big on Birther stuff. One of her passions that drives her is the president’s lack of forthrightness about where he was born…”

    Yeah pal, supplying a birth certificate and announcement in the paper is really showing a lack of forthrightness.

    “…Marilyn believes that nobody knows where he was born and so this picture says a thousand words.”

    No, it just says a few words: I am stupid, ignorant, racist, arrogant, and I need to adjust my meds big time.

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  18. Pam said on April 18, 2011 at 2:26 pm

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  19. Judbusy said on April 18, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    Prospero, you do know my liberal media phrase was in bold quotation marks, right?

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  20. Sue said on April 18, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    I would love to meet her ‘friends who are black’. Or half-black. One assumes she follows the one-drop rule.

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  21. Rana said on April 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm

    Note to Orange County Republicans – any person, regardless of gender or age, who thinks a picture like that is funny is neither “sweet” nor “ethical.” The fact that you think so, even as you demand she apologize, says much about your own standards on the matter.

    There are a fair number of little old racist ladies in this town; during the last presidential election one of them horrified my husband in the post office by joking that the White House rose garden was going to be replaced with a watermelon patch. I don’t have much tolerance for them, but content myself with the knowledge that that generation won’t be around much longer.

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  22. beb said on April 18, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    Nanc wrote: “Mike is 21 years old. In some parts of Detroit, I’m old enough to be his grandmother. ”

    You’re 39?!!!

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  23. Suzanne said on April 18, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    Jeff said “The conservatives who complain that Hollywood doesn’t produce films with themes they admire have a point.” But isn’t that because the film industry is a business and thus will make whatever the vast majority of people will pay to see, trash or no? This seems to escape so many conservatives, in love with the free market. It really seems to set them over the edge when the market forces give them exactly what they deem unholy or un-American.

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  24. Jeff Borden said on April 18, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    Suzanne,

    You make a great point and one that allegedly free market conservatives regularly choke on, namely, that the executives in Hollywood would be churning out more conservative-themed films if there were any money to made in them. My point was simply that they rarely get the kind of red meat they say they would relish.

    The disappointing box office performance may suggest that the conservative movement is not as large or passionate as it claims. Or, maybe, even conservatives don’t want to be bored into a coma by the film adaptation of a lousy book written by a horrible person.

    “The Passion of the Christ” remains the gold standard for conservative Hollywood fans. The gallant Mel Gibson, eschewing the Tinseltown liberals, self-produces the intensely painful depiction of Christ’s last hours and it makes a fortune. But the Randians forget that “Passion” would appeal to a wide range of Christians from liberal Episcopalians to the bedrock Baptists to the Evangelicals. Also, it was well-made and well-acted by professionals who knew exactly what they wanted to make.

    The conservative culture vultures have celebrated the demise of liberal-themed movies about the Iraq war that bombed at the box office, so clearly, this issue cuts both ways.

    I have no dog in the fight. I’ve always thought Christians deserve their version of Vegas, their version of Lady Gaga, their version of “Glee,” etc. If they want to make movies like “Atlas Shrugged,” get to it.

    At $10-million in production costs, it’s not inconceivable “Shrugged” will eventually earn money. I can see the Koch Brothers mailing out DVD’s for every $100 donation to their phony political websites, for example.

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  25. deb said on April 18, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    Nance, wish you had a picture of Kate when she saw you chatting up Mike. You ARE the best mom ever, even if your motivation was just to get the hell out of Dodge. Which I totally get, but no matter—Kate will be telling that story forever.

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  26. Bob (not Greene) said on April 18, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    Jeff, Christians do have their version of Vegas — Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

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  27. nancy said on April 18, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    The look on Kate’s face was 33.3 percent excitement, 33.3 horror and 33.3 embarrassment. No matter what they pull off, parents are lame.

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  28. Mark P. said on April 18, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Hey, Nancy, I think it was more like 33.3 percent chagrin, not embarrassment.

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  29. Judbusy said on April 18, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    Branson = Vegas for Christians.

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  30. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Anybody want knicks over Celts in seven? Bwa ha-ahha. All of this is hilarious. If thepurs make it to the finals, Celts will kick they ass because Garnett is that much tougher than Tim Duncan. That matchup is not close. Cam Newton, only if there’s extra cash. What an ahole. He’s about as much a pro QB as Tebow, who is hilariously bad. You telegraph throws like that, Champ will catch every throw. He runs faster than this moron thinks.

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  31. alex said on April 18, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    No, sillies. Heaven = Vegas for Christians.

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  32. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    Nancy. been there. I got my keedo bacstage to meet those Wahlberg boys. They were polite, but sort of aholes. They acted lie assholes, and I was about to throw punches, because they were such dicks screwing over my kid’s dream. I was pissed off. The only thing that annoyed you about Kate’s guy was he’s pro-pot? So am I. How can you not be? You are a sea of good sense, in general, but about pot, you are way ridiculous. Sorry, but you are way wrong on pot. If we think alcohol is fine? How the fuck can we say pot is proscribed?

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  33. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    This is bullshit. Duane Wade is not a jerk like Lebron, Whatever. And Chris Paul is not Rajon Rondo. Not even quite that good.

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  34. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    Prince Fielder is one fat POS. Bg this bullshit/

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  35. Jolene said on April 18, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    No matter what they pull off, parents are lame.

    You’re in good company. At his recent Chicago fund-raiser, Barack Obama reported that his daughters were mortified when he referred to Justin By-ber.

    Re the charming lady from Orange County, T-N Coates has made a (scathing) joke out of the phrase “there are no racists,” which he uses to capture the apparent oddity of incidents such as this occurring repeatedly, even though the people who commit these acts are, as they firmly declare, not racists.

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  36. Mark said on April 18, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    Alex, that’s a good one.

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  37. Deborah said on April 18, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    Good stuff here today as usual. Alex the heaven=christmas link was hilarious. Coozledad getting your eyes gouged out by a cat food can lid would be quite unpleasant. Rana your story about the racist who said that the white house rose garden being replaced with a watermelon patch was depressing. Nancy what a great Mom you are, taking your kid to concerts and making sure they get the autographs they want… Wow. LA Mary, “behind the orange curtain”, that’s a good one. My stepdaughter lives in Anaheim, I get the heebie jeebies when I go there, I don’t care that Disney Land is there. Not my cup o tea. And more stuff here in the comments and in the NNC post that made me laugh/think. I love this place.

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  38. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    Tananishi Coates. Holy shit. I’ve got Newt as an ape. apologies to apes. In nature they are not obese. He;s greasy and obese, and fuck you. Newt is as gotesque as anybody gets. He’s a pig, if pigs were revolting, and they aren;t He looks so much like a pig it is amazing. He was born with a snout. right up there with Dan Burton. Republicans amd made that whatever youthful indiscretion, What a bunch of shitheads and scumbags. Dan Burton, you aren’t a piecee of shit. Anybody want to claim that piece of shit? I mean that are Republicunts.

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  39. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    Jarvis codker cunts are ruling the world. Republicans are assholes.

    They all are and there is no way to excuze these shitheels, Whatever, They killed Rosie and so did you all.

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  40. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    No way of kidding, They killed Rosie, They are scum. It is like Cheney, He’s a despicable piece of shit,

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  41. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 11:21 pm

    No shit? Are we joking? Lying like it’s goiinf out of stule. This is absurd. This is one motherfucker that failed to show up for war and sent folks to die, and acted like John Kerry had to do with sending them when he sent them useless shit. W sent soldiers to die when he didn;t stand up, abd Jerry did. in’t we prowd of W? Piece of shit.

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  42. prospero said on April 18, 2011 at 11:28 pm

    No shit? Are we joking? Lying like it’s goiinf out of style. Wht A bunch OF ASSHOLES. This is absurd. This is one motherfucker that failed to show up for war and sent folks to die, and acted like John Kerry had to do with sending them when he sent them useless shit. W sent soldiers to die when he didn;t stand up, abd Jerry did. in’t we prowd of W? Piece of shit.

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  43. Dexter said on April 19, 2011 at 3:04 am

    My nephew was married last month in Las Vegas to Becky Carroll. Becky is in the news as Rahm Emanuel has released his Chicago Public Schools team.
    Here’s the news release for Becky:
    Becky Carroll, Chief Communications Officer
    Becky Carroll has directed communications policy for the City’s Housing and Planning and Development Departments and the Mayor’s Press Office. She managed the communications and community outreach strategy for the launch of Mayor’s Daley’s Five-Year Affordable Housing plan and served on the Cabrini Green/Near North Side Redevelopment Plan Task Force. In 2007, Carroll joined President Obama’s campaign as National Director of Women for Obama, where she implemented a national outreach strategy to engage women voters. She spent the last two years in the private sector as Vice President of Communications and Community Affairs for the Chicago Fire Soccer Club. She is a graduate of the Chicago Public School system. Carroll holds a Bachelor’s in Communications and Political Science from Loyola University.
    END
    I think my nephew married a go-getter.

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  44. Deborah said on April 19, 2011 at 7:17 am

    Dexter, that’s cool, I’ll be looking for your nephew’s wife in the news in Chicago.

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  45. prospero said on April 19, 2011 at 7:44 am

    The Brothers Mael, with the No 1 song in heaven.

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  46. Kim said on April 19, 2011 at 9:02 am

    Way to go on using your age (aka wisdom) in delivering the rock star. I’m with you, too, on the pot boosterism. Not against pot, just against saying it’s OK to a 13 year-old. Because what a 13-y-o hears is this: “My mom says it’s OK for me to smoke pot.”

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  47. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 19, 2011 at 9:18 am

    Alex, good one — except many of my fellow believers seem to think Heaven will look like a cross between Branson and a Thomas Kinkade painting . . . when we traditionalist faithful know it will look like:

    http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/illinois/images/s/illinois-chicago-wrigley-field.jpg

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  48. Rana said on April 19, 2011 at 1:28 pm

    Deborah, I was talking with him about it later (he reads NN.com regularly – he’s the one who introduced me to this place) and he reminded me that, in addition to that, she said some other things that were far, far worse. I’d blotted them out, and am right now refusing to make the mental effort to recall them again. Horrifying.

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  49. joodyb said on April 19, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    beb gets a big HA from me!

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