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Numberscruncher: Mass, Class, and the Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are one of the great sports turnaround stories. Yeah, they won the Stanley Cup, and we’re all happy about that here in Chicago, but the big story is how the team
Read More »Numberscruncher: Mothers, Moms, Politics, and Palin
Although I have given birth, I don’t particularly like being identified as a mother. Even worse, I hate being called “a mom” by anyone other than my son, because that strikes me as a
Read More »Numberscruncher: The Blagojevich Family Clothing Budget
People who give personal finance advice tend to give the same advice over and over. That’s because it works. And one of the most basic ways to start getting a grip on your finances
Read More »Sugar Water: How Celebrities Can Help End the BP Oil Spill
On Tuesday CNN’s Larry King announced that he’ll end his 25-year-old talk show this fall, having been beaten consistently in the ratings the past year by his 9 PM cable-news competitors, Fox News’s Sean
Read More »Dw. Dunphy On… Our Spherical Universe
Every year Hollywood gives us at least one movie where our world is greeted, confronted or otherwise engaged with forces not of our earth. It’s a fascinating plot device even though, deep down, I
Read More »Sugar Water: $#*! You’ll Be Hearing on TV Soon
On May 12 the American Civil Liberties Union filed two free-speech lawsuits in Scranton, Pennsylvania, defending citizens who were charged with using profanity by local police. Seven days later CBS announced its fall schedule,
Read More »Political Culture: All Politics Is Local (Unfortunately)
Americans' loathing for politicians has reached historic levels -- and as Jon Cummings discovered, a squalid local race in one California county justifies their disdain
Read More »Sugar Water: Catholic Church Announces Farewell Tour
Earlier today I received the following press release in an e-mail. It was also posted on the Vatican’s website but was then mysteriously removed just an hour later. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rocco De
Read More »Numberscruncher: WaMu Scandal’s Legacy Is a Terrible Song Parody
Whenever there’s a corporate scandal, there is going to be an example of ridiculous excess. You can count on it. This time, the excess came from Washington Mutual, you mortgage brothers can’t deny. I
Read More »Political Culture: Reasons to Be Hopeful (Or Not) on Tax Day
Happy Tax Day! A special shout-out to those of you who are operating under the delusion that your taxes have gone up this year – a belief shared by a slim majority of Americans,
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