An Observed Phenomenon

Previous screeds of my past blog aside, I do have a number of current and former sorority women as friends on Facebook, and this only increased as I began my current program of study. Over the past few months I have noticed something: a disturbing (and annoying) percentage of them have their presumed middle names listed instead of their last names. Admittedly, this does not affect the sorting algorithm for Facebook, as the site alphabetizes by first name, but for the first month or so that this was going on it was somewhat confusing when, instead of seeing stuff about Jane Doe on my news feed, I get stories about a Jane Sue when I am certain I have never friended anyone with a last name of Sue.

No one has told my why this is going on, as I try to stay on the periphery of such social groups and have not asked directly. However, my best guess is that it's some cutesy attempt to keep people, like job recruiters or admissions officers, from finding their profiles and seeing everything that can be seen there. Using the friend list and other privacy features, not to mention de-tagging all those underage drinking photos, would be a better means of doing this, though, so I am not sure my guess is correct. Anyone know what's really going on?

Continuing Implosion of the Cook County Republican Party

Case in point: quality leadership.

Former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien is denying a police report that said his wife found him at home with two prostitutes and beat him with her fists and a toy guitar.

The report filled out by Barrington-Inverness police says that’s what Eni Skoien told them — and that Gary Skoien confirmed the account, said Deputy Chief Jerry Libit.

“That’s how it was reported to us,” Libit said.

A police report on the incident said he told responding officers there were prostitutes with him in the play room when his wife caught him.

...Police said he suffered cuts and had blood on his hands after his wife attacked him when she walked in on him at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday.

While the article states that the guy denies everything, let's look at this from a more pragmatic standpoint. If you are a philandering politician, and are smart about it, you do not bring hookers into your home, especially if you are a member of a party that proclaims a "family values" platform. You most definitely do not do this at a time when your spouse has even the slightest chance of being home. Lastly, if you want to cover it up, you start by not pressing charges, rather than by filing the police report and then repudiating it later. I mean, Illinois voters are rather inured to having crooked politicians, but we at least expect them to be competent at it. From my side of center, he loses respect not because of what he did, but because he was dumb enough to get caught doing it.

The Sun-Times article says the Cook County GOP has not won a county-wide office in 17 years. With geniuses like this bozo running the show, is anyone surprised?