So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish

Our last regular posting here, on Chicago News Bench (CNB), will be on July 26, 2009. This blog was started as "Rogers Park Bench" in October, 2007 and by January, 2009 had achieved a Google page rank of 5, no small feat. We have over 52,000 inlinks from other web sites. Unlike one of the other local blogs, we have never screwed with our numbers to jump them way over a million. Unlike many other blogs, we never relied on, nor wanted, nutjob serial commenters for manicly repeated visits in order to artificially drive up our numbers. CNB quickly achieved a national readership, and to those of you who "got it," we extend our sincere thanks. This blog started as a personal form of expression, an experiment, a desire to inform and to challenge the status quo. It became an obsession, however, and I am pulling back from that. The first step to a cure, as they say, is to admit you have a problem. I am returning, therefore, to the original purpose of this blog. Oh, I'm not going away. There's still stuff to be done. For example: Watch for 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore to run for the 18th Legislative District, which is being vacated by Julie Hamos. While this is not definite, confidential sources tell CNB that Moore is most interested in it. He might just do it; he's exploring that possibility now. While it's not definite that he will run, it is definite that he's strongly considering running for the 18th. That means, of course, that Moore undeniably wants out of his dead-end city council job. and doesn't give a rat's ass about serving the 49th Ward any longer. Not that he ever did, really. I predicted that Moore would not seek re-election to the city council in 2011 back on January 27, 2009 ("Ald. Joe Moore Will Not Seek Re-Election"), and it looks like I was right. Moore has certainly been raising campaign funds. Ah, but for which campaign? It may be more difficult that Moore thinks, no matter which campaign, after pissing of the SEIU last year over the Boys and Girls Club fiasco in Rogers Park, and after more recently yelling "F--- You and your family!" to a high ranking IVI-IPO official in a roomful of high ranking Democrat leaders, include Gov. Pat Quinn. While July 26 will be our last day of regular posting, we'll still post now and then. It's just that there will no longer be a desire to post daily. Hell, I lost that desire weeks ago anyway. We've still got Helen Shiller to pick on. We've still got Todd Stroger to laugh at. The list is endless, of course: Mayor Daley and the Chicago City Clowncil, Pat Quinn and the morons that make up the majority of the Illinois legislature. The U.S. Congress, both houses. And on and on and on. It's endless really, and I suppose that's the point. One little blogger like me cannot hope to take it all on. I was never content to devote the majority of this blog to bitching about pot holes and other petty, hyperlocal trivia. As I've said before, there's a whole world outside of Rogers Park, outside of Chicago, and an entire universe outside of your own experience and mind. What a shame to restrict any blog to pot holes. What a waste of time to spend hours maniacly following crazy comments to your own blog, and one well-known blogger does, baked on marijuana and spending hours more writing poorly constructed responses, some of which hypocritically rail against the very drug pushers that supply his own dope. What a cowardly thing it is, for some bloggers, to remain anonymous and hide in the shadows, afraid even to walk to a crime scene to take photos or actually cover the event, and expect people to ascribe any credibility to them. How sad indeed. So I shall limit my participation in the blogosphere with mixed feelings. I've gotten to know many excellent bloggers, writers who truly care about the big picture while understanding but not obsessing about pot holes. To those people, a big salute. It's been an honor to be among your ranks. Carry on, and please check back here now and then. I'll be reading you.