There have been numerous diaries as to who John McShame will select as his running mate.  So let's have a little fun with this, and pick the worst possible legitmate, though obscure choice for the senior (or is it senile) senator from Arizona to run with.  More after the fold.

This is a short diary.  MSNBC is reporting that the Chinese government is blocking internet access by the media covering the Olympic Games to a variety of websites deemed sensitive or embarassing to the Beijing regime, and that the International Olympic Committee had apparently cut a deal to allow the Chinese to do so.

A short while ago an IOC spokesman admitted such a deal was cut, despite the Chinese having previously promised to give journalists covering the Games the same freedom to report on the Games as was enjoyed by them at previous Olympics.  IOC Press Chief Kevan Gospar admitted, "Some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related."

More below the fold.

This will be a fairly short diary.  Right now MSNBC has a poll on its website that asks, "Is Democrat Barack Obama unfairly receiving more coverage than Republican John McCain?"

There are only three choices for you to chhose from.  At this time, "Yes, the media has a liberal bias. No one should be surprised by this," has 79% of the damn vote.

The other options after the jump.

Tomorrow afternoon (July 16) in Washington, the US Postal Service is scheduled to issue the 42-cent "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" Stamp, commemorating the 100th anniversary of that tune.  But rather than holding a First Day of Issue Ceremony at a major league stadium before thousands of fans (where the song has been a staple of the 7th inning stretch for years), the USPS will hold it on the South Lawn of the White House, at the behest of that failure as a baseball executive (as he has with almost everything else in his life), our Chump in Chief, George W. Bush.  

Instead of a public ceremony, open to fans and stamp collectors alike, this 3:30 pm EDT event will be just another controlled media photo op with Bush and a bunch of little kids, brought there for his T-ball tournament.  More below the fold.

I received an E-mail message earlier today, from a friend of mine whose husband is seeking re-election to office in the February 5 Illinois Democratic Primary, asking if I had "any creative ideas for these personal endorsement questions from the Chicago Sun-Times."  The message also included the 15-item "Personal Questionnaire."

I assume I was asked to provide some assistance since I graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism back in the 1970s, and have been around the political block and have seen a few newspaper candidate questionnaires over the years.  But I have to admit, I was stunned and appalled to realize these questions were being asked by a major newspaper in America's third-largest city.  See for yourselves below the fold.

I have a bit of a problem, and perhaps you fellow Kossacks can help me out.  I am busy here in Chicago helping a good Democrat, frank Avila, seek re-election to a fairly obscure (but significant) local office, a seat on the Board of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD).

Frank is finishing up his first six-year term on the MWRD Board (the Board has nine members, with three elected to six-year terms every two years).  

What Frank Avila wants to do is produce a half-hour program for Cable-Access Television, in which he is interviewed by youngsters on the environment.  You can't be too flippant with these kids, since the District is the 4th-largest taxing body in the state (behind the State of Illinois, City of Chicago and Cook County).  

More on my problem below the flip.

A short while ago I received an E-mail message from James Carville on behalf of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC), which is chaired by that noted torture-appeaser Sen. Charles Schumer.

In the message, Carville correctly noted that there are plenty of opportunities for the Democrats to expand their narrow majority in the US Senate in the 2008 elections.  He then asked if I could please donate some money to the cause.

Now I don't have any money to give them in any case, since I have been an underpaid employee in the Cook County, IL (Chicago) court system since Jimmy Carter was still in the White House.  Normally, I simply delete these messages as I get them.  But this time, I E-mailed a reply.  Since I realize that their computer system might not accept return E-mail messages (just money), I have posted my response below the fold, in the hope that my response can be forwarded on to Mr. Carville and to the folks at the DSCC (particulary Schumer).

The Illinois Committee for Honest Government (ICHG) has booked three hours of studio time at the Chicago Access Network (CAN-TV) studios for taping half-hour programs during YearlyKos.  This studio session will run from 5-8 pm CDT on Friday, August 3, at the Chicago Access Network studios, located at 322 S. Green St., Chicago (the northwest corner of Green & Van Buren Streets, one block west of Halsted and the Greek Town restaurant row, just off the junction of the Kennedy, Eisenhower and Dan Ryan Expressways and about three miles northwest of McCormick Place and YearlyKos).

This will be an excellent opportunity for candidates running for House and Senate seats in 2008 to get some exposure, not just on CAN-TV and its 400,000 Cable TV households in the City of Chicago, but also back in your home state and district.  Details are below the fold.

(The following is basicly a repeat of the diary I posted Saturday evening.  Several respondents suggested that it would be better if it was posted again on a weekday, so I am doing so here.)

Consider this to be an open invitation for the leading Kossacks (and perhaps some of you loyal followers of Kos & Co.) to help promote the upcoming YearlyKos Convention here in Chicago on the Chicago Access Network (CAN-TV).  The Illinois Committee for Honest Government (where I am the co-founder and the Secretary/Treasurer) has booked a six-hour studio session at the studios of (CAN-TV) on Monday, July 9 (from 5-11 pm CDT), where we hope to produce a number of half-hour programs.  I would like to have one of those half-hour programs be a preview of YearlyKos, which would include an explaaation of what Daily Kos is to the 400,000 Cable-TV households in the City of Chicago and to others on the Internet. Details below.

Consider this to be an open invitation for the leading Kossacks (and perhaps some of you loyal followers of Kos & Co.) to help promote the upcoming YearlyKos Convention here in Chicago on the Chicago Access Network (CAN-TV).  The Illinois Committee for Honest Government (where I am the co-founder and the Secretary/Treasurer) has booked a six-hour studio session at the studios of (CAN-TV) on Monday, July 9 (from 5-11 pm CDT), where we hope to produce a number of half-hour programs.  I would like to have one of those half-hour programs be a preview of YearlyKos, which would include an explaaation of what Daily Kos is to the 400,000 Cable-TV households in the City of Chicago and to others on the Internet. Details below.

In case you were wondering what happenned to that tough special prosecutor who nailed Scooter Libby's butt not to long ago, you need not fret.  Patrick Fitzgerald, that "mediocre prosecutor" that President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were thinking of firing, is back on the job in Chicago.

Earlier this afternoon, Fitzgerald, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced the indictment of Chicago's former Commissioner of Streets & Sanitation, Alfred Sanchez, on nine counts of mail fraud.  Sanchez was a key leader in Mayor Daley's political goon squad, the infamous Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO), since it was formed nearly two decades ago.  You can read the press release on the indicatment at:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/...

Is this significant?  You bet it is.  (More below the fold.)

How many of you Daily Kos readers say to yourselves that if you got rid of the Republicans, at least as an effective voice in government, then everything would be wonderful.  Don't deny it... I have read enough of your postings not to come to that conclusion.

I'm sure you also remember that saying, "Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true." Well, in the case of wishing the GOP was nothing more than an afterthought, that happens to be a reality here in Chicago, where you will be meeting at YearlyKos later this summer.

But rest assured, that reality is not the dream you might have thought it would be.  Let me tell you more about it.

I wanted to bring to everyone's attention, particularly since Yearly Kos is coming to Chicago in August, of news of the death on Friday of the longtime Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, former State Senator Thomas G. Lyons, at the age of 75.

Lyons, who has been the Democratic committeeman of Chicago's 45th Ward on the city's Northwest Side (a ward that I moved into just a few months ago after spending most of the past 28 years living along Chicago's lakefront) since 1968, had announced only a few days ago of his intentions to resign the party chairmanship that he had held since 1990.  According to news reports Lyons died of complications from paralysis due to an inflamation of the spinal cord.  He had been in poor health for some time.

How important is this?  Read below the fold and then be the judge.