Bally Total Fitness is Run by Cold-Blooded Reptilian Vampire Parasites

I really hate Bally Total Fitness. I'm going to tell you exactly why.

Before I go on, you should know that I am a member of Bally Total Fitness, unfortunately. I can't stop until next June, because my GYM has me locked into a BS multi-year contract. I am an idiot for having signed it, but never in a million years did I think it could be as big of a joke as it is. And yes, I do have a motivation to insult them on the internet in secret hopes that they will be pissed at me and kick me out of my contract (which would be sweet, sweet relief). Alas, I doubt that this organization could ever do anything so positive for a human being.

First of all, let me delve into how CHEAP Bally Total Fitness is, as a corporation. Over the course of my contract, I will have given Bally Total fitness upwards of $1,100. I will use their often broke-ass treadmills, search for one open bench on a wednesday afternoon because they only have three, and wait 3-4 minutes every time I want to do a simple pull-up, just because they only seem to want to put pull-up/chin-up bars in when they are a part of those rediculous total-gym contraptions that hilarious dudes always do tricep extensions on in the strangest positions known to man. I will try to swim laps in their pool, which is always kept at way too warm a temperature to do much of anything other than float, and even more often than that, isn't clear enough to see through when you are swimming. I would have even frequented their sauna and steam rooms from time to time, but, well, an employee told me about what happened in one of those one week, and then said "that stuff happens here more than you'd ever imagine." OKAY. Case closed already, right? Well just wait.

Again, remember, I'm a $1,100 customer. A while ago I threw my wallet into the trash by accident, freak thing - great story - but the point is, i salvaged everything except my Bally's card. It was gone in the trash. I told a woman working the counter about losing my wallet in the trash, and that I could use another membership card. She found my profile (which says PLATINUM member on it btw) and we laughed about the story. She took my picture, then printed out the card on the .08 cents of plastic that it is printed on.

"Ten dollars please."
"Excuse me?"
"The new card will be $10."
PAUSE. PAUSE.
"Are you putting me on?"
"Er, no sir."

I was baffled. You have a $1,100 customer who pays you guys more than $1.25 a DAY just to use the place (which I couldn't possibly get to everyday even if I tried). Mind you, thats supposed to be a deal to them -- and you are going to charge him $10 for a new card to USE at the gym that you are trying to get him to stay at? Don't you WANT him to extend his bullshit contract another crappy 2-3 years? Why would you needle him, especially since he notices the indignant sneers the "personal trainers" give him when they watch him do exercises and routines that include elements that they have never seen before or tried before. Sometimes, they even say something "Why are you doing that exercise?"
"I learned it at IMG academy when I was in athletics. It's great."
"You could get hurt doing that you should stop."
"I've been doing this for 7 years."
GLARE - Walk away. Way to go, personal trainers. As if I wanted to hire you to run some overpriced workouts for me anyway.

Oh yea, and about these personal trainers. News flash, they charge over 80 BUCKS a workout, at least many of them do. And they try to get everyone to sign up for them, IMMEDIATELY, when you become a member. They pretty much make you do a "free workout" right away, and then you have to sit in a room and listen to a schpiel for 30 minutes, at which the end is them circling you and pressuring you to sign up. NO WONDER i see so many sheepish people who don't know their head from their behind sign up for those things. HOLY COW - "Welcome to Bally Total Fitness! Come in here for your free Spanish Inquisition!!"

And what do you get for 80 BUCKS a lesson (1 hour)?

This is the qualifications for a personal trainer at Bally Total Fitness - right off their website:

Personal Trainer
We are looking for enthusiastic, professional and knowledgeable personal trainers for full and part time personal training positions. As a member of Bally Total Fitness’ personal training team you will assess, motivate, and educate your clients through personalized nutrition and exercise plans that you help create. Flexible work schedules are available.

Job Requirements
A high school diploma or equivalent, plus a company recognized personal training certification (within 90 days of hire) or a bachelor’s or masters’ degree in fitness related field.


OR a college degree in their field? Are you serious!! For 80 bucks an hour you BETTER be an expert. You better not be someone who is good at exercise (or if you've seen some of these people, some that aren't) and took a 90 day training class.

OH YEAH - and this training class doesn't even have to be put on by an outside certification program or an accredited collegiate movement science/kinesiology program.

THEY RUN THE CLASSES THEMSELVES IN THE BUILDING. And how long do you think that the training program lasts? Well I would guess it isn't more than 90 DAYS. People go to college for 4-7 years to earn that kind of money. I'm not saying these people should be paid some money to help people work out: you can learn something in 90 days, but all you can really be at that point is a really educated workout partner. No way can you diagnose correct lifting positions, identify physiological strengths and weaknesses, accurately assess minor injuries and implement rehabilitation routines, recommend flexibility, strength, and cardio-vascular workout regiments and develop explosive power and energy in a wide wide wide range of people in a 90 day class. And yes, that is the service extent that you should expect when you are signing up for upwards of $800-1000 worth of lessons - if not much more!!!


BUT - my hatred doesn't stop there. That isn't even what makes me the most upset. They could have overpriced trainers, bad machines, crowded lockerrooms, and other maladies, and they still wouldn't be that much different than some gyms (aside from being more expensive).

NO NO NO, what really really makes me sick is that they are selling people FOOD and DRINKS in the facility. Yes, you can buy BallyBlast energy bars, energy shakes, and other various (and for 99% of the people in the club TOTALLY WORTHLESS) products. You can even buy body-building compounds and steriod-like products (very shady supplement stuff) for the guys who think they should do that. There ARE SHAKE MENU's over some of the water fountains! (IF you can actually find a water fountain in the club - the Schaumburg, IL Bally's only has ONE that men can access, and it is legitimately RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOWERS -- real convienient)

What they REFUSE to tell people is this:

This may come as a shock to many of you - but you need to hear this. 85-90% of the people in the gym are NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH to get any benefit out of a shake or an "energy bar". Let me give you the facts: there are good things in those, stuff that is healthy. BUT, they are calorie/energy rich, often times with 300-500 calories in some of those shakes. If you do this at the gym:

ride the eliptical for 30 minutes, or
walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes, or
do about 1/3 of your workout stretching and doing light dumbbell work, or
work up a light sweat and feel winded when you are done for the day...

YOU ARE EXERCISING. YOU ARE NOT TRAINING. Exercise is GREAT! Everyone should do it! HOWEVER, it burns about...300-500 calories an hour, maybe up to 600-700 if you are a bigger person. What you should do when you are done exercising is drink a lot of water, possibly have a SMALL snack (granola bar, 120 calories, apple, 60-80 calories, or a banana ~ 100 calories) and REST. Then, about an hour-2 hours later, when you inevitably get hungry, you should make a healthy meal. THIS WILL RESULT IN MODERATE, CONSISTENT WEIGHT LOSS FOR ALMOST EVERYONE AND PROBABLY HELP THEM ACHIEVE WHAT THEY WANT - WHICH IS LOSE UNWANTED POUNDS.


Protein Bars. Big Energy Bars. Energy/Protein Shakes. Creatine/Supplements. THESE ARE FOR PEOPLE WHO TRAIN.

You can tell people who are TRAINING. They are lifting weights, for at least 45 minutes, anywhere from 1X-3X their body weight depending on the exercises. multiple sets, multiple reps. They are running or biking until they are DRIPPING WET. They are doing sprints, doing squats, stretching in the beginning, stretching at the end, and definitely showering and changing when its all said and done. This is more than exercising. People who are training are usually doing so for some athletic pursuit, personal fitness goal (such as having <7-8%>Also - you can bet people who TRAIN know if they need a protein shake or an energy bar or some other supplement combination. They ALREADY KNOW. They don't need a menu over the water fountain. In fact, they probably already brought their own stuff to the gym anyway.


So Bally's - STOP TAKING ADVANTAGE OF the average guy or girl who walks into your gym. They will spend $4 on your stupid stuff everytime, because you are telling them its healthy and that they should. You might be giving them good nutrition, but you are giving them way too much of it and too many calories, and you are just keeping them from succeeding at what they are setting out to do to begin with.


Okay, one last thing. The company's latest promotion is a "2 Week free membership".

Okay, guys, just stop. This is rediculous. Again, off the website - let's look at the 2 week free membership:

Your free 2-week Bally Membership includes:
Usage of the Bally Total Fitness or Bally Sports Club of your choice.

- DUH!
Access to all Group Exercise classes including Cardiovascular, Resistance Training Toning, and Flexibility workouts and specialty classes such as Pilates, Boxing, and more

- Okay, Duh again.

Access to our new online weight loss program, Built To Fitsm, the perfect balance between nutrition, exercise and support.

A promo for all of the FOOD and DRINK you guys are selling! Let me guess, you are going to design a diet that includes a bunch of stuff you can buy from Bally's !?

A 1-hour one-on-one session with a Ballysm Personal Trainer where they will help you: (oh this should be good...)

Determine your current body composition by measuring your Height, Weight, Body Fat
Percentage and Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR).
The have a scale and a ruler! And they will pinch you, and tell you what you already know, if you are fat or not.

Assess your fitness levels with 3 nationally standardized tests
Cardiovascular Endurance – FIT Test - a treadmill around 5.0 mph. Hard for some I'm sure, but you could tell that just by looking at someone. Not an eye opening experience.
Muscular Fitness – Curl-Up Test - Curl you arms up. Okay, great!
Flexibility – Sit and Reach Test - what you all did in 5th grade

Experience a dynamic workout including High-Intensity Exercise, Calisthenics and Plyometrics,
Your trainer knows some exercises! Actually, this is probably the only thing I can think of so far that actually could potentially benefit a customer in this 2 week trial.

Small Apparatus Exercise and Active Recovery - Fancy terms for being told to keep moving throughout the workout.

Cool down with a relaxing partner-assisted stretch - This sounds creepy.

Gain access to the knowledge you need for your own Total Fitness plan.
You will be shown a pricing sheet for the lessons, then recommended to get them regardless of how in shape or out of shape you are.
*expiration date as it is printed on guest pass


Bally Total Fitness is an organization most interested in sucking every last penny out of the people that work out there. They are taking what could be a great service and making it shady. They don't spend the money they make on keeping the clubs clean or laying them out effectively. They don't have enough space between machines, and they don't make good use of the space they have. They try to hire too many under-qualified people in the business of making huge bucks on mediocre-at-best workout plans, instead of hiring less people who are MUCH more qualified to help people do absolutely anything they want to. They should keep the people they hire, but they should be there for spotting lifts when you need it, or getting you a towel. They are using their powers to actually hinder members' personal goals (again, average member is a person who exercises and just wants to lose weight) instead of help them along as much as they could.

I just want to say, to anyone out there that is a trainer at Bally's - I know I make you sound terrible in this, and I'm sorry. I actually don't have anything against you guys - in that I'm sure given time and a fair business plan, you guys could all be great, adequately compensated trainers some day. However, the situation your company puts you in makes you guys look like nothing more than used-car/fitness-product salespeople.


This is why I hate Bally Total Fitness. God bless humble, local rec-centers.

Refined Food - Unrefined Results

An interesting program that I found worth mentioning today:

http://urbansprouts.blogspot.com/

In case anyone hasn't noticed, America is fat. I am not sure if we are getting any better on this front of if we are getting worse, but I know that if you look at the stats from the last 20 years, it isn't good.

We have a schizophrenic attitude towards this. We celebrate the consumption of a huge ice-cream sundae, amazing pizza pie, donuts, double-cheeseburgers and my personal favorite, french fries. However, we also shun the results of that activity, and try to promote "looking good" and getting into shape.

My take? If you are willing to use your brain, you can have the best of both worlds. For anyone who isn't an active person, I would say that I am 99.9% sure you are missing out. Simply moving your body around isn't an issue. You have energy on a daily basis. You can breathe better. You sleep better. And hey, you look better. You can go do whatever you want to do - its amazing the everyday things that people miss out on because their bodies physically can't do it.

So, if you do want to treat your body better and feel healthier than ever before, I am telling you that you can do it with two things.

One: Exercise. And yes, it will probably be hard for a while if you aren't active. Do it, regardless of how much at first. Starting small is fine BUT you can't miss it entirely, and once you start, you have to progress to doing more and more each time. Unless you are over 50 or getting over a medical condition, don't count just walking. Once you get into a healthier mindset, walking will no longer be thought of as an "exercise" you did, it will simply be what happens when you want to go somewhere on foot. The only catch-22 about exercise is as the better your body gets at something, the easier it becomes for it (more efficient) and therefore, burns less energy doing it. That's why you have to progress upwards. On the good side, the more strength you build, the more good mass you will have. This extra muscle (less fat too) will consequently burn more energy for you.

If anyone needs any ideas on what exercises could be fun, I've got a million ideas. Also, you can just take up a rec sport you like, or if you want to get serious, check out crossfit.


Two: Eat unrefined foods as your regular routine. What kills people isn't that they eat ice cream on Sunday night, or order a Pizza on Friday night, or drink 6 beers Saturday. Sometimes people actually eat so much bad food in one sitting that the body doesn't absorb a lot of it anyway, and once it passes through the body it doesn't do that much damage. HOWEVER, what people screw up with is drinking 4 cokes a day (me), putting 3 sugar packets in their coffee instead of one, eating fritos or cheetos with lunch instead of a giant pear or banana, eating white bread instead of 7-grain/wheat bread, having donuts for breakfast instead of one bowl of cereal, getting fries with their Big Macs instead of getting a salad, and the biggest, shopping and eating out of boxes, bags, and cans, instead of what is in the produce section and fresh meat section.

Pay attention to this, because you need to understand this concept. Companies refine the sugars in their processed foods. The fiber that fills you up usually and passes through the body gets replaced by simple sugars that the body can digest. Food sometimes tastes better because of it (usually not) but either way, what happens is that what FEELS to your body like 2500 calories of food in a day is actually 4500-5000. This information is out there, but it actually takes a little digging and for some reason this isn't mentioned often at all. This isn't always about avoiding sugars, chocolate, bread and candy. Its much more about avoiding refined"regular" foods in your daily routine.


As for the original link about the school kids (if you haven't clicked it, I'd do so), and getting people to live healthier at an early age, I have to say some of the funniest progress is being made. Recently in Illinois soda-machines were banned. Which I guess is a good step - except that fruit juice boxes/bottles were being substituted in many of the schools I've seen for myself. (Hint: It's usually not real fruit juice, and which one do you think has more refined sugar in it? You guessed it.) Also, the average school lunch I've seen made includes:

white breadsticks and butter glaze (almost gauranteed to be made with refined flour)
fruit snacks (100% refined sugar)
Grilled cheese (POSSIBLY a good choice, except that its pretty likely the cheese and bread are both refined)
pizza (ok)
ice cream bars (sometimes, but everyday?)
frozen fruit popsicles (see fruit juice boxes to understand if that makes you fat or not)
french fries (oh boy)


Now, I understand, bread and cheese and fat are cheap. But so is corn, so are carrots, so are apples, so are baked potatoes - chicken is a pretty inexpensive meat, and bread can be sold and bought with all of the grains, fibers, and minerals still left inside. Don't forget that even fried food wouldn't be 1/2 as bad for you if we always used oils without trans fats and we always used unrefined flours to batter them in.

If we replaced the word and the concept of "dessert" with "refined foods", and treated all other kinds of food as our typical meals, we'd get to keep all the stuff we love, eat until we were filled up, and have the energy to burn and the waistlines to be proud of.

Deal'em

A quick foreword: I am currently working on updating this place to be more of what its intended to be. With some free time this week, I've made a little progress. Currently, things are still very much under construction. If anyone has any tips for someone teaching themselves html, please let me know. And no, I don't have time to take a course. (Though eventually I might make time)

Anyway, back to the original topic: I happen to be a poker buff. I've been playing casually since I was in the 8th grade, and yes, when Rounders came out years ago, it was the coolest thing I have ever seen.

It's possible that my feelings could be more than just an opinion too; look around the Internet, the television, anywhere, poker has been catching like wildfire ever since the movie's release.

But anyway, a while ago I wrote a quick thing on how the U.S. has basically put the axe on American poker play over the Internet. Being someone who had participated in it for many years, I was heartbroken to say the least.

Doing some research on the law, it turns out that it doesn't affect me as a player - and it is still legal for me to participate. However, sites accepting money for such games have (according to many) been banned from taking American money, and so indirectly its lead to dramatic decline in American play.

However, people have marched on and play seems to have continued on as normal, albeit now in somewhat different clothing.

As for the extent of my pursuits - I have always been what I would call a casual player. I've made money in cards, but we are taking 100s of dollars, not big bucks by any means. I play 10 dollar, 20 dollar sit-and-go tables as a general rule, and I do that usually just to make enough money to enter small-money tournaments, which I find to be by far the most entertaining form of the game.

Beyond the pocket change I've spent or earned on poker over the years, it has endeared me for a lot of sentimental reasons as well. Being a broke-ass college kid, without the time during the day to work (school/athletics), the hobby was a great way to spend time avoiding studying for unwanted exams at 1am - or a good reason to stay in and avoid partying for a night when you just didn't feel like spending the money/brain cells. A certain poker site once offered me 10 free dollars to join - which I managed to turn into 180 dollars without risking a dime. I used almost every penny of that to get Wendy's when I was hungry or chip in 10 bucks when our house needed fixing. Poker also saved me after my senior season was over. I was looking to start finding something to do with my life back in Chicago, but I didn't have much - not even enough money for a train ticket back. Poker bought me a $1000 vehicle which I drove for 6 months. It was my first vehicle purchase of my life - whatever happened to that Cutlass Cierra?

I've finished 4th out of 617 in a tournament once, I've finished first out of 10 an uncountable number of times. I've finished 12th, 10th, and 9th in tournaments that included 2000+ people. I've been up 800 bucks in one day, I've been down 200 in 2 hours. I've beaten AA heads up to stay alive, and I've lost with AA, KK, QQ, and KKoverQQQ in the same day. I am far from experienced enough to consider myself a real guru, but I'd make a great ringer as a guest at a random game.

To anyone interested in ever playing, I would definitely recommend it. However, remember these things:

1) It takes some time (about 10,000 hands) to really get a feel for.

2) It's extremely fun and addicting.

3) It takes a good deal of poise. Because, you will get completely screwed about 10000 times. You will also get your fair share of luck along the way.

4) In the end, it's a game of skill. The better you get, the better you will do. You are likely to lose money for a while before you make it.

If this seems like something you would be interested in, go for it man. I think you'll have a great time. How do you go about getting started?

Well, like I said before, depending on where you are from, there are some places that you can, can't and shouldn't go. I will say this:

1) You should be safe and cautious. Start only with sites that are recommended, like PartyPoker, PacificPoker, Bodog, PokerStars, Absolute Poker...etc. If you haven't heard of it from somewhere before, don't use the service.

2) Spend only what you can afford to lose. It isn't gambling, but you gotta treat it like gambling, know what I mean? Don't go in expecting it to be an ATM machine for you, especially if you are new.

3) Keep it entertainment. Play big stakes, small stakes, no stakes - whatever. But always keep it as entertainment. I'm not big on poker professionals. Listen, there are a lot of ways you can make a living in the world and do some constructive good at the same time. Spending 10 hours a day playing cards doesn't seem to me like a great way to do either.

Check out some of the blogs linked on here. You'll read some funny stuff about cards. Like the time I lost 75 bucks with KKK/AA to four of a kind 3's, ran around the room punching myself and doing somersaults around the room in agony.

Finger pointing and Fire bombing.

A brief smattering of viewpoints on the recent Iraqi sectarian violence. I would encourage everyone to read each story, and notice two things:
1) The languaged used to describe the same events.
2) The main idea that each article is conveying.

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/3396

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25724169.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112401317.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/six-burnt-alive-in-fresh-iraqi-brutality/2006/11/25/1164341454474.html

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/149069,CST-NWS-iraq25.article

http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=3990

Why read these? Just to point out that 1) The world is a long way from actually seeing an objective, accurate form of news reporting - in fact, its probable that we will never have that; and 2) In the history of resolving conflicts, assigning blame and looking out for your own interests has never resulted in a successful resolution.

Kudos to all people who work to make peace - it is no small mountain to climb.

Thanks, Man.

Thanksgiving dinner. Is there a better moment?

Its the only dinner in my family that we anticipate so much that we actually serve it well before 2pm. It is also one of those days that seems to make everyone think back to when they were a little kid. No, not as much as Christmas, but for instance, who doesn't remember how much they didn't like green bean casserole as a kid, or how much they loved pumpkin pie, and wondered why in the world it wasn't served all year long? Who doesn't remember making handprint turkeys for their parents, and drawing oddly shaped sketches of the pilgrims and Indians?

Of course, for those who are just growing up right now, they might not have all of those memories. I'm guessing today's little ones are learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans, and they are also learning how to navigate their new Nintendo Wii's and Playstation 3's, which are now released right before Thanksgiving instead of right before Christmas shopping season. But then when you think about it, we actually consider pre-Thanksgiving AS the beginning of shopping season. Whatever happened to the official kickoff of that stuff happening the Friday morning after? Now, that's not the kickoff, its just mid-shopping season rush.

But before I start sounding like a "in myyyy day" crotchety old wind bag, lets just say this: just because things are changing doesn't make them any worse. As a kid, I had 1000 things to be thankful for, and the only thing that's changed about that is that today, I'm sure I have even more.

Thank God for On Demand. To even argue that life was better without that is a completely ridiculous argument. And while we are at it, lets just give a giant shout out to computers, my MP3 player, my instant messenger, my cell phone, my automatic door opener-clicker thingy, my favorite radio shows streaming online, and any other forms of technology that I use on a daily basis, such as zippers, doors, appliances, bottle openers, egg-beaters, and even occasionally, hangers.

Thank God we can talk to anyone we want to, almost anytime we want to, about almost anything we want to. Thank God for skyscrapers, cab drivers, and cities that never sleep. Thank God for newswires, .com's and blogs -- and also thank God for the Northwoods, crickets, the Northern Lights, and logs for a campfire.

Thank God for free enterprise, companies, home-owners and a guarantee. Also, thank God for unions, protesters, laws and rights of every man woman and child of our country.

Thank God for free-trade, thank God for java chip, thank God for "original formula" and thank God for longnecks. Thank God for low-fat, rec. centers and WebMD, but also thank God for bratwursts, extra cheese, baskets of fries and frozen custard.

Thank God for movie reviews, preview trailers, and even your friends that have terrible taste in movies.

Thank God for baseball. Thank God that soccer is there to amuse everyone in the world who isn't evolved enough to love baseball.

Thank God my fantasy football team is bad enough to not cause me to waste anymore time on it than I already do.

Thank God for Weezer. Thank God for old school bands that rock. Thank God for music that you never heard of, and you've wondered where its been all your life. But while I'm at it, thank God for JaRule, The Game, Nelly, and all the other players out there. Keep it real fellas, and remember, one day, if you work hard enough, you might be able to put out a track as good as Lupe's.

Thank God for volunteers. As long as there's at least one, the world's better off than it was before.

And thank God there's corporate marketing campaigns. Someone needs to take credit for all that work that the volunteers do (-;

Thank God for our troops. Thank God I haven't lost any friends because of the fighting yet.

Thank God for summer. Thank God for snow.

Thank God for Big Mac's, Big boy clothes, big wheels, and that creepy Big Boy logo.

Thank God for small ball, small favors and small frosties.

Thank God for wrestling, naval engineering, and space exploration - a few things that small guys have a distinct advantage in.

Thank God for long lists, and thank God for short memories.

Thank God for people who mean well but screw up.

Thank God for people who didn't know any better, but ended up totally saving the day.

Thank God for bad stories, good stories, and stories we can't repeat.

Thank God for dark truths and white lies.

Thank God for risks, rewards, taking chances and losing it all.

Thank God most people don't think like me or you, but thank God at least someone does.

Like I said before, there's 1000's of things to be thankful for. Thank God I'm not smart enough to think of them all.

But thank God you all are. I'm sure I forgot more things than I remembered - thanks for reading and thanks for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving!

Michigan - Ohio State 2006 (Inches Speech)

Mid-Term Mayhem Baby

As the dust has settled this evening, there's a significantly simple thing that can be taken from the way things went.


The Democratic party will have their chance to make reforms. There's a significant amount of changes that need to be made.

Before I get into what I think needs to be done in Illinois and in the US, let me make two points:

1) Blagojevich stands for a lot of good things. To be honest, so far he hasnt been that successful at doing what he says he will do. Schools, pension, and our state's position on guns and minimum wage need to improve! Quick.

2) Kudos to Roskam, Kirk, Lahood, and Shimkus, and whoever else was GOP and won their races in Illinois. It was almost a clean sweep, and I would think that this means that the repubilcans that did happen to win must be good candidates - fit to do a great job. (and yes, I know, it reflects that there are a few conservative districts. but if you saw how horribly bad the dems won everything today, I'd say any republican that won anything in illinois as a pretty good candidate.)


Anyway, theres lots of stuff that needs fixing. We will see how well it goes now that we have some changes in govt. Lets see....


1) Troops need to come home.

2) Federal minimum wage needs to be increased, as many states have already acted on this already.

3) Health care systems must find a way to lower the costs of perscription drugs.

4) Our schools spend too much money to not be a world leader in educating kids. We need smaller classes, a more comprehensive school day, increased emphasis on math and foreign languages.

5) Social security must either be protected, or be reinvested in a form that will benefit the most people that will be retired 20-40 years from now.

6) Foriegn policy as a whole must be re-thought to actually benefit human interest, instead of simply American economic interest.

7) Corporate accounting practices must be reformed.

8) Our college educations need to mean more.



For a funnier take on this whole thing, watch last night's Colbert Report on Comedy Central. That guy is hilariously biting, on both sides. Genius.

Anyway, have a good evening. Until the next election, remember to voice your opinion, remember to put others first, and above all, try the best ya can to help the nation and your neighborhood improve. No matter what side you are on, keep your heart in the right place.