I'm back from Chicago, quite tired, and looking at mounds of paper (my mail today was delivered in two USPS baskets, and that's before I stopped by my PO Box). The real world resumes tomorrow....

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Today's Chicago newspapers had headlines noting the closing arguments in the Rezko trial. Unless you read this blog and are in Chicago you probably haven't heard much about this.

You likely should start reading about this case. Indeed, for the Obamamaniacs I suggest you read this series: Barack Obama - Operation Board Games for Slumlords (Part I) and Curtain Time for Barack Obama - Part II.

The author of this series is a Democrat, and in a previous article noted that she didn't want to believe that Obama was part of the corruption in Illinois politics and was also surprised that no major media had investigated this issue. So she did.

The truth about all the scams run by the political mafia operating in Illinois is only coming out now because of Rezko's corruption trial, and if the Democrats want to lose any chance of winning the White House, all they have to do is nominate Obama.

This case is only the first of what could be many to go to trial. Other criminal charges are pending against several people listed in the indictment, and civil lawsuits have been filed against many of the same people and are awaiting the outcome of the criminal cases.

If Obama had an ounce of respect for Democratic voters, he'd drop out of the race before the details of the corruption in Illinois spread to the rest of the country. If the leaders of the Democratic party had a lick of sense, they would inform Obama right now that under no circumstances will his name be on the ballot come fall.

For the record, I'll note that the Republicans in Illinois are just as deep in corruption as the Democrats.

Part III is due out tomorrow in Ms. Pringle's expose. I know that Obama is hoping that Rezko is found not guilty because if not this is a scandal that he'll be asked about regularly if he's the Democratic nominee. And even if 90% of the media is for Obama the questions will be asked and he will have to answer them (eventually).

Today was Cubs day, and exploring for a locale for a book idea. I drove in to Chicago in rush hour to myh first cousin's house in the gentrified area west of downtown (the Loop). I met my two second cousins for the first time--I've spoken to the older of the two but the younger is just 8 months. I have a feeling she won't remember this encounter.

Then on to Wrigley Field, via the El. The Blue Line to the Red Line, to the Brown Line, back to the Brown Line, and then the Red Line. The reason was the aforementioned search for a location to set a book. I found it, too. I discussed it later at dinner with my Aunt, my first cousin, and her husband and they confirmed that the locale met my needs.

It was cold today at Wrigley. The beer salesmen had a bad day but the hot chocolate concession did quite well. Over 40,000 jammed Wrigley on a day when it may have reached 50 F in the sun--gametime temperature was 46 with the wind blowing straight in off Lake Michigan. We had great seats--Section 122, Row 3...which is the first row of the section. Section 122 is almost directly behind home plate, with just one section (the lower boxes) in front (about 15 rows). I took some great pictures, at least I hope they are. I'll post them next week when I return home.

The game was good, too. It didn't start off looking good with the Chris Young homering for the Snakes in the first inning. Fast forward to the bottom of the fifth (not much happened between, with Ted Lilly of the Cubs and Dan Haren of the Diamondbacks pitching quite well). In the bottom of the fifth Mark DeRosa doubled with two outs. The snakes intentionally walked Reed Johnson to get to pitcher Lilly. That walk didn't work as Lilly singled to score DeRosa. Alfonso "I swing at anything" Soriano followed that up with a double to score Johnson. Derek Lee added an insurance run in the 8th with his 9th homer (if you look very carefully at the replay you will see me as the camera pans back over home plate following Lee around the base paths...but it's a fleeting glimpse), and that was that.

I made it back to my cousin's house, and then we drove to Hugo's Fish and Frog Bar (I think that's the name...it's next to Gibson's steakhouse) on Rush Street for dinner. My New York Sirloin was great, and I got to see my aunt (my only aunt) for the first time in several years.

Well, tomorrow it's off to Carol Stream.

A horrible story: Fired for rescuing a co-worker from an assault. Here's the depressing story.

Barack Obama has deplored Ayers' views, but he still considers him part of the mainstream (via FoxNews -- sorry, I can't find the link on my lousy laptop). If he really wants to dissociate himself from Ayers he has to change his latter view. This will be an issue that comes back to bite him.

I'm watching the John McCain interview. I respect someone who won't change his views. But I think he's wrong on a lot of issues. Of course, I think that both Obama and Hillary are wronger on more issues....

It will be interesting how this campaign is run. If it's all platitudes (Obama's "change"), he'll win easily. If it's on the issues, he'll lose big. If McCain can explain that Obama's proposals will cause huge tax increases on top of his goal of eliminating the Bush tax cuts, he'll be lucky to match Kerry's electoral college total.

Of course, I think it will be more on platitudes than policies. A Dem talking head wants it to be platitudes (now on Fox), "the past vs. the future". It's a shame she's lying on health care among other issues; it might have been an interesting discussion.

Anyone interested in the race should read Karl Rove's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today. It's an accurate portrayal of the race today.

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Yay, donkaments. I get crippled with QQ vs. 66 ... 6 on the turn.

Oh well, drinks soon.

Today was cold, gray, and windy in Chicago, though the sun made a late-day appearance. Today was supposed to be my touristy day (taking the architecture cruise on the Chicago River, etc.); however, a former co-worker asked if we could meet for lunch today rather than Monday, and I decided to swap days. So I headed to Oak Brook Terrace for a long lunch with her (we worked together for a telecommunications company years ago). Afterwards I drove by a Nordstrom Rack and decided why not see if they have any shoes that are my size. And they did--three pairs.

Later tonight I'm having drinks with yet another former co-worker downstairs in the hotel lounge. I had one of my more sinful pleasures for dinner tonight, a deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati. I remember going to Lou Malnati's in Lincolnwood many, many times.

Drinks in about three hours; until then I'm donking it up on Stars.

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Here's an interesting video of a flight to Chaiten, Chile. A possible cause of global cooling is visible throughout.

Travel today didn't go well today. The culprit was the weather here in Chicago. A line of thunderstorms hit Chicago at about 6:30pm...the time my flight was scheduled to land. Instead, we landed in DSM. That's Des Moines, Iowa--we needed to refuel the 757. We finally landed around 9:00pm, and I got to my hotel around 10:15pm.

There's no pictures of rain, because by the time we landed it was just dark. And cold...51 F.

Tomorrow is tourist day, so it should be interesting and fun.

As I posted earlier, here's a hand from WEBS. "15 minute levels, starting with T1000; blinds were T25/T50. I'm second to act at an eight-handed table. I make it T175. Nolan Hee re-raises to T475 from two seats later. Nolan is a good, loose aggressive player. After everyone folded, I immediately moved all-in for T650 more. Nolan goes into the tank.

So, what are the two hands?

Oh yes, Nolan eventually folded."

davidjacob had the right idea. "from what I gather, you're a rather tight player, and I assume Nolan knows this. You apparently know he's loose aggressive. Is it possible you're making a move on him, banking that he will know your tight reputation and fold? If the two of you are familiar with each other, it makes his fold that much worse as your range of hands might include more marginal stuff than it ordinarily would."

Nolan had JcJs. Unless he puts me on specifically AA, KK, or QQ, his fold is horrible. There's T1025 in the pot before I raise, so now there's T1675 in the pot. It costs Nolan T650 to call. If he folds, he has about T1000 left. And the structure is fast--15 minute levels, escalating blinds, etc.

I have a tight reputation; Nolan knows that I know this, and I do make moves. This was one of those. I had AdQd. When Nolan re-raised I put him on 99-QQ, possibly AK or AQ. It's unlikely given my reputation he's doing this with total air.

gunga_galunga had the hands almost exactly backwards; purplehaze9 came close. allknight still gives me too much respect.

The presentation of evidence in the Rezko trial has ended. The defense for Rezko rested yesterday without calling any witnesses.

A defendant, of course, does not have to call any witnesses. However, the prosecution has a pretty good case (based on the reports), including Ali Ata's testimony showing Rezko making bribes, wiretaps showing bribes, etc. There are two possibilities: Rezko (and his attorneys) feel that the case is weak, and they can get off or they are planning on making a deal.

For Obama, a Rezko acquittal would be great news. The last thing Obama needs is to be linked to corruption. Alternatively, Rezko may be negotiating with prosecutors, hoping to get a reduced sentence in return for testifying against a bigger target. That would likely be Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who Ata placed at the scene of a payoff. If Rezko were to testify and backup Ata's testimony, Illinois would likely have a new Governor, and Illinois politics would drastically change. That would be horrible for Obama, as no matter whether or not he's a direct participant in the corruption (which, btw, I highly doubt) he has had many dealings with Rezko. If Illinois' Democratic politicians get linked to corruption, Obama will be linked to it too.

We'll probably find out which way the winds blow in regards to Obama and Rezko within the next month.

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Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported today that Senator Obama won the support of the Teamsters, "...after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign." Yeah, Obama is different...

Meanwhile, Ayers has been in the news. Rezkowatch posted a picture of Ayers stepping on a US flag.

Senator Obama can probably survive Ayers (though with reduced support). I don't think he can survive a second Rezko trial (i.e. a trial of Blagojevich with Rezko providing the star testimony).

Many of you may not have seen this news story, but the Chaiten Volcano in Chile is erupting. Here are two pictures of the eruption. First, a picture of the eruption:



Here is a satellite picture of the plume of ash:



As you can see in the second image the ash plume crosses the Andes and Argentina and has made its way from the Pacific coast of Chile to the Atlantic.

Ok, there's a volcano erupting. So what. Well, this may be a very big deal. First, the last time this volcano erupted was 7420 BC (+/- 75 years), or about 9428 years ago. This is also a somewhat unusual volcano. It's not much of a mountain, it's a caldera. Caldera's are formed when a volcano collapses; this almost always indicates an explosive volcano. Think Pinatubo, Mt. St. Helens, Vesuvius, etc.

So what does this mean? Fact: Volcanoes can impact the earth's climate. A major volcanic eruption lowers the earth's temperature. The "Year Without Summer" was primarily caused by the massive eruption of Mt. Tambora.

Possibility: We may be entering another period of low solar activity. The newest sunspot cycle which should have begun in January hasn't shown up with sunspots yet. If this cycle hasn't begun by year-end, change this from possibility to probability. If we're still talking about this at the end of 2009, change that from probability to fact. And shock of shocks, "Low solar activity seems to be strongly correlated with global cooling."

Are we heading towards global warming? Almost certainly not. Are we headed towards global cooling? Maybe. And that's a frightening thought--something I'll hold off commenting on for a while.

Yes, poker returns to my blog. I played yesterday in WEBS, a satellite into the WSOP. There were three seats at stake, and we had 21 entrants. We had two tournaments, and a playoff then to decide the three winners. Except that Don Condit won both heats and got a seat. I finished as one of the three next best placers. Five of us made the final table, with two seats up for grabs. I finished 4th...a lack of good cards and a lack of doing much right.

Earlier, in heat two, here's an interesting hand. 15 minute levels, starting with T1000; blinds were T25/T50. I'm second to act at an eight-handed table. I make it T175. Nolan Hee re-raises to T475 from two seats later. Nolan is a good, loose aggressive player. After everyone folded, I immediately moved all-in for T650 more. Nolan goes into the tank.

So, what are the two hands?

Oh yes, Nolan eventually folded.