Took a stroll through Hyde Park earlier this week...

Wednesday I paid a visit to the President's Chicago neighborhood Hyde Park and snapped a shot of this restaurant Park 52. I was here last fall for a political fundraiser hosted by "SWIPO". SWIPO stands for the Seventh Ward Independent Political Organization and it was headed by 7th ward alderman Sandi Jackson who is also the 7th ward Democratic committeeman.


Little did I know attending this fundraiser that Ald Jackson was about to wind down her career as a Chicago Alderman. When I attended this fundraiser she was being interviewed by Chicago news anchor Cheryl Burton. After arriving we saw various local news vans staking this place out possibly looking for  her husband then Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. to surface after having been absentee since it was revealed that he was under medical leave from the House of Representatives.

Congressman Jackson had resigned his congressional seat not long after winning another term to the "People's House". Since he had been on medical leave since last June he didn't even campaign. Ald. Jackson also resigned her Chicago City Council Seat almost two months after her husband resigned from Congress. They both have since pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds in Jesse Jr's case and in Sandi's case tax evasion. It appears we'll hear more about this case on Friday as their lawyers are due in federal court.

Until doing a Google search I just found out that Park 52 was closed permanently. The signs were still up when I took my stroll through Hyde Park, however I wasn't certain that this was remodeling or what. Having done the Google search and finding this article via Crain's there's certainty that this restaurant isn't coming back at all!

Park 52 itself was located at 52nd & Harper.

Also I have to figure out how to edit some of the video I shot along Lake Park Avenue in Hyde Park

Weather video shot by me in Chicago

[VIDEO] I don't think I've ever seen the Chicago River this high! And another fun fact, the Chicago River normally flows to the Mississippi River. It has been this way since the turn of the 20th century when engineers changed the flow of the river away from Lake Michigan. Today because of the recent rains and flooding around the area the flow of water has been reversed back to the lake as the storm drains (or a deep tunnel that holds up to 2.3 billion gallons of water) are at capacity. Over the past day 5 inches of rain has fallen and according to WGN's meteorologist Tom Skilling that amounts to 80 billion gallons of water. WOW!

The video you see here I shot on the LaSalle Street bridge today looking west. The flow of the river is heading east towards the lake. As states earlier the river was a bit higher than usual.

More about "Dallas"

My mother was a fan of Dallas. I knew it was on but when that show was at it's height of popularity it was way too adult for me. Probably couldn't understand half of what they were doing.

It wasn't until I graduated from high school (GO FALCONS) and started attending a community college in downtown Chicago that I really began watching the series. At the time the show aired on this network known as TNN (The Nashville Network) which is the network that eventually become Spike and Dallas certainly fit the whole country music motif.

Once I made the comment that Dallas was a good way to learn business although yeah we're talking about a drama series here. Real life is a long way from what we find in that series although hey sometimes we can be surprised!

BTW, years ago visiting my brother who currently lives in Texas we dropped by Southfork. Somewhere in my archives I have a picture. Back then when I think of that proud US state I think of Walker, Texas Ranger. Now my expectation will be on finding the Ewings.

It's going to go from, I'm expecting fireworks to where's JR & Bobby Ewing. Probably wouldn't run into them at Southfork! lol

BTW, looking forward to the last two episodes of the current season of the new series. What will be the conclusion to JR's "masterpiece".

I've been getting into the "Dallas" reboot...

You know the series as it concludes it's second season on TNT is just getting better. During the course of the current season the iconic character JR Ewing was put to rest having been murdered. Before his untimely demise he puts together his "masterpiece" that now his family has to piece together to defeat their enemies. JR's demise was precipitated by actor Larry Hagman's death from cancer late last year.

Anyway I'm disappointed that I couldn't find an extended version of the scene above to embed so I'll post a link in the brackets [VIDEO]. This scene is from the original series and shows Jock Ewing, Bobby's father having to teach his youngest son a lesson about life & business. Bobby was upset some funds were taken from Ewing Oil without his knowlege and Jock has to tell him! Tell him that although Jock gave Bobby the power to run the family-owned oil business, however, power isn't given to you. Power is something you TAKE!

If that's not a life lesson, I have little idea what else is. On this blog I seek to write a lot about politics and you know this is a political lesson as much as it is a business lesson. Being a political science major in college and having dabbled in political theory there is certainly a work out there that describes this lesson.

You know perhaps Machiavelli is the political theorist who could describe this dynamic more than anyone else I have read. In fact the episode of the new Dallas series where they read JR's will & testament one of the things he gave to his family mainly his nephew Christopher Ewing was some of Machiavelli's works. My first thought was his book The Prince which I have read, however, Machiavelli has written more books that I have yet to run into so far.

So if you believe that this scene may echo Machiavelli, it's very interesting to see it play out in a TV drama! Also looking forward to the last two episodes of the current season.

This song makes me miss the 1980s

[VIDEO] I'm old enough to barely remember the 1980s. So young by the time I became aware of the decade that was, it became the 1990s just like that.

80s culture is different by culture I'm referring to music, TV or even movies for example. There were other aspects than that I'm sure, but those are the easiest ones to point out.

While the music scene of the 21st Century doesn't stand out to me as much as it did the last century, wouldn't anyone get a kick out of a music video inspired by the one above. Talking Heads song "Road to Nowhere" and watching the video version I pay attention to the running man in the lower right hand corner.

Consider this your Saturday entertainment on this blog!

Paul gets cool reception at Howard

I think it's a great thing for Kentucky US Senator Rand Paul to visit Howard University - an HBCU. It's truly good to know an American university is truly seeking to provide students with opposite viewpoints from their own. Still why were the Bisons cool to Sen. Paul:

"I don't think he changed any minds," one student said, noting that Howard has a tradition of allowing controversial figures speak at their university in order to get a broad range of viewpoints.

"I came here because I'm a very open-minded person," Jazmine, a junior, stated. "And I'm excited about the way I hope the GOP will do its thing in the future because I think that they're on the right track," she added. However, she said she did not think that Paul was the right person to spread the GOP's message of tolerance given his questionable position on the Civil Rights Act. (An issue he tried to resolve Monday, claiming that he has "never waivered" in support of the legislation.)

Jazmine and several other students said they also took offense at the Senator's attempts to educate them on the GOP's role in the advancement of African-Americans and pander to them by quoting Toni Morrison and notable Howard alums - all of whom were black. At one point in the speech Paul asked the students if they knew that Republicans founded the NAACP. The audience was visibly taken aback and audibly expressed shock that Paul would have the audacity to ask the predominately black audience a question about black history.

"This is Howard University. We know the history of the Republican Party. We have to take political science. I should have brought my book. That's in the first chapter," Jazmine said.

The outspoken college student admitted that there was nothing Paul could have said or done to change her mind about him or the Republican Party and was unable to give an example of someone within the party she'd be more likely to listen to.

"I feel like no one has really taken a step in that direction" her friend, Evelyn, chimed in, saying she would be more likely to take into consideration a speech by someone "genuine," unlike Paul, who she said should have owned up to his previous statements about the Civil Rights Act.

Perhaps the GOP can reach out to other HBCUs around the nation as well. I'm sure many of them have their own College Republican organizations. If I may add a former RNC chairman Lee Atwater had been a member of the Howard University Board of Trustees although it was for a brief period and he resigned his position.

Via Instapundit who offers Sen. Paul points for actually showing up!

Mary Mitchell: Black clergy hypocritical on same-sex marriage issue

Remember what was posted her last Friday about whether or not Black ministers are chasing the wrong issue with their opposition to gay marriage. Well Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell has her own take on this issue.

So I’m not impressed that a group calling itself the African American Clergy Coalition has geared up to battle a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Illinois.

The coalition is attempting to persuade 20 Black Caucus members, who may be the key to passage of the legislation, to vote against the measure.

The coalition, led by the Rev. James Meeks, has partnered with Cardinal Francis George to conduct an “aggressive street campaign” that includes robocalls to African-American households.

“It’s time for the church to wake up,” said Meeks, who also was a vocal opponent of same-sex marriages when he was a state senator.

But it seems hypocritical for black clergy to put this kind of energy into blocking people who want to get hitched legally while doing so little about the absence marriage in the communities where most of their congregants live.

To his credit, in 2010, Meeks challenged 25 unmarried couples in his church to take the plunge at his expense.

Unfortunately, marriage rates in the black community have been in decline for decades. In 2011, there was a lot of moaning and groaning when the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that only 52 percent of black women will marry by age 30. That means 48 percent of black women will sit out their prime childbearing years, or give birth without the support of a committed spouse. Today, 70 percent of black children are born outside of marriage.

Researchers blame a host of factors for black people not getting married, including high unemployment and their failure to inherit or accumulate wealth. Instead of marriage, a lot of people have serial relationships that may or may not involve cohabitation. The problems associated with these kinds of arrangements are well-documented. Children of unstable families are more likely to do poorly in school and end up in the criminal justice system.

Here's a real ball of fire thrown here!

Additionally, black clergy need to be careful about where they throw stones.

Despite the hostile attitudes they may encounter, there are gays and lesbians in the black church, and some of these young people are being victimized.

For instance, the black church was recently rocked when the pastor of one of the country’s largest megachurches was caught up in a gay sex scandal.

In 2010, five young men accused Bishop Eddie Long, of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, of lavishing them with gifts and coercing them into sex acts. Long admitted giving the gifts but denied engaging in sex with the men. The pastor settled the cases out of court.

Despite the settlement, one of the accusers, who said he was gay, released a tell-all book in February alleging that he and Long were in an abusive gay relationship.

 OK, so the Black church should tackle the issues of out of wedlock births and the lack of commitment between men & women in Black communities instead of chasing down the issue of gay marriage. In addition, Mitchell is right, there are gays & lesbians who attend church on Sundays as well. Even worse we see an example of a sex scandal when it comes to a Black minister.

I generally don't support gay marriage although I do accept civil unions. At the same time gay marriage should be the least of our concerns. Besides if this is an issue that socially conservative people want to address then perhaps instead of focusing on gay marriage perhaps they should focus on the issue of why people are choosing not to get married.

Well actually you don't need a college degree for a cashier's job at McDonald's

An update to an earlier post also found on Instapundit. It turns out that job listing for Micky Ds was erroneous.

Good news for teenage job seekers: You don’t really need a college degree to work at a Massachusetts McDonald’s.

A report buzzing around the Internet Thursday claimed the McDonald’s restaurant in Winchendon had posted an opening for a cashier position that said applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and two years experience.

No, they do not.

“We do not require a bachelor’s degree for employment,” said Joe Ruscito, owner of the Winchendon fast-food outlet, in a statement. “My organization is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse work force.”

The bogus posting for the McDonald’s position was listed by an independent job search site called www.jobdiagnosis.com. A spokesman for the site’s owner, VHMnetwork LLC, confirmed the posting contained inaccurate information.

Well young people, continue searching and PLEASE stay in school.

Washington Examiner: McDonald's want ad demands bachelor's degree, two years experience for cashier

Wow, this is unbelievable. A bachelor's degree to even operate a cash register and sell hamburgers. This is a classic McJob and to start probably won't make enough money to pay off student loans. There had better be opportunities for growth here! Why take it if you won't go anywhere in the business?

Via Instapundit!

The new Star Trek is coming soon...

[VIDEO] Another preview for the coming Star Trek into Darkness coming to theaters May 17th, 2013. It seems very action packed and I'm really curious about the plot points!

College Grads May Be Stuck in Low-Skill Jobs

As a college graduate who isn't exactly in a high-skill job this article is depressing. This is a week economy and if college grads are in the running for these low-skill jobs then there's another side effect.

The recession left millions of college-educated Americans working in coffee shops and retail stores. Now, new research suggests their job prospects may not improve much when the economy rebounds.

Underemployment—skilled workers doing jobs that don't require their level of education—has been one of the hallmarks of the slow recovery. By some measures, nearly half of employed college graduates are in jobs that don't traditionally require a college degree.

Economists have generally assumed the problem was temporary: As the economy improved, companies would need more highly educated employees. But in a paper released Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a team of Canadian economists argues that the U.S. faces a longer-term problem.

They found that unlike the 1990s, when companies needed hundreds of thousands of skilled workers to develop, build and install high-tech systems—everything from corporate intranets to manufacturing robots—demand for such skills has fallen in recent years, even as young people continued to flock to programs that taught them.

"Once the robots are in place you still need some people, but you need a lot less than when you were putting in the robots," said Paul Beaudry, an economist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and the paper's lead author. New technologies may eventually revive demand for advanced skills, he added, but an economic recovery alone won't be sufficient.

David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied issues of skills and education, called Mr. Beaudry's thesis "provocative" but also "speculative." There is no question, Mr. Autor said, that the wage premium enjoyed by college graduates hasn't grown as quickly during the 2000s as in earlier decades. But whether that is the result of a glut of degree holders or some other explanation isn't yet clear.

And now the side effect:

Better-educated workers still face far better job prospects than their less-educated counterparts. The unemployment rate for Americans with at least a bachelor's degree was 3.8% in February, compared with 7.9% for those with just a high school diploma. College-educated employees also tend to earn more and advance more quickly even when they are in fields that don't require a degree.

But as college-educated workers have been forced to take lower-level jobs, they have displaced less-skilled workers, leaving those without degrees with few job options. "You eventually push the lowest skilled out of the market," Mr. Beaudry said.

WOW! Here's hoping you're not in this boat.

Via Instapundit!