I've never bought into the idea that there's something wrong with putting ketchup on a hot dog -- it's not my thing, but who am I to tell people what they should and shouldn't enjoy eating? -- but I have to give credit to the Vienna Beef folks for this humorous poster.

It's up at various local dining establishments and you can buy a copy here,  though, as I've written before, our local preoccupation with heaping opprobrium on those who like ketchup their hot dogs strikes me as strange attempt to impose one’s own tastes on others.

Why, aside from the fact that some consider it conventional wisdom, is ketchup on a hot dog a bad thing? What makes it objectively worse than, say, sauerkraut?

And beyond that, why attempt to convert others to this view? Why would it matter to anyone who doesn't own stock in mustard companies what someone else puts on a hot dog?

When I dealt with this evergreen topic two years ago, the click survey showed decidedly mixed results:

A very reliable source -- my 12-year-old daughter, who is so observant and insightful we call her "Canny Annie" -- reports that Patti Blagojevich is still driving the 21-year-old car --a 1988 Volvo 740 GLE sedan-- she complained about during one of her appearances last month on "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"

Annie watched nearly every minute of that NBC reality show with me and so is a bit star-struck when her path crosses with PBlag's up here on the Northwest Side.

I'm sure she earned enough money appearing on the show to buy a new (or at least newer) car, but It appears she and her husband are saving for the inevitably tough financial days ahead.

Several years ago, Norm Pellegrini disclosed to Rich Warren the song he wanted played on "The Midnight Special" in his memory after he died.

Pellegrini, the long-time program director of WFMT FM 98.7, was a host on the eclectic weekly program from the mid 1950s -- shortly after comedian and famed director Mike Nichols founded it -- until the mid 1990s -- when Warren became the full-time host.
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Pellegrini was a serious fan of serious music, but he also put a wacky imprint on "The Midnight Special" (9-midnight on Saturdays), billed as the station's  "weekly aberration of folk music and farce, show tunes and satire, odds and ends, madness and escape."

He died July 2 at age 79. And, dutifully, on July 4, Warren spun "The Wilted Lettuce Orgy"  the ballad of an adulterous liason between a family man and a salad fetishist from Steve Lyon's album, "The Doctor - There's No Place Like Mars."

"I'm not putting you on," Warren told listeners "I'm not playing that at Norm's expense. He probably requested it at my expense. That's what Norm requested I play on his memorial program. That shows you what an interesting person Norm Pellegrini was. And we certainly will miss that sense of humor."

Question for readers: What one song would you like to have played on your memorial program (live or broadcast)? Why?

 There will be a memorial service for Pellegini on July 18 (which would have been his 80th birthday) at Mayfair Lutheran Church, 4335 W. Lawrence Ave. in Chicago.

See:

Norman Pellegrini, 1929-2009: Legendary broadcaster fought for quality, class on the radio airwaves

Bidding farewell to a broadcasting legend, Norman Pellegrini

Catching up on my reading tonight I see where my former colleague Steve Daley recently penned  this tribute to cartoonist, Jeff MacNelly, who died 9 years ago at 52.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with MacNelly when he worked in Tribune Tower and this is exactly what struck me about him. He was genuinely friendly and never put on the airs to which his three Pulitzer Prizes certainly entitled him. In this, he contrasted sharply with certain others in this business with bigger egos and far less impressive resumes.  People liked and respected him.  In fact they certainly respected him more because they liked him. How about that.

Driving on Irving Park Road between Clark Street and the Metra tracks several times this week during Cubs home games I saw several tour buses with their engines on idle. 

I didn't stop to ask why -- maybe the drivers wanted to keep the air conditioning going for their comfort -- but this is  wretched excess and if I were a Madigan or a Daley I'd make it illegal.

UPDATE -- As several commenters pointed out, it already is illegal, though the law (as seen here in a photo sent in my reader Gary Jaffe) is not well enforced.

Another commenter points out that a bill now on Gov. Quinn's desk Increases the fine for an excessive idling violation from $50 to $90 for the first conviction and from $150 to $500 for a second or subsequent conviction within a 12 month period.

Indulge me, for a moment, as I critique the concept of “tolerance” as a virtue.

I’m inspired to do so by  the above quote from Rev.  De Jesus, the answer to which is, "It’s not ironic in the least. But you can make this argument because the left, in large part, has embraced a narrow definition of tolerance --  a live-and-let live attitude toward those who are different from oneself  -- that belies the fact that all decent people are intolerant of a good many things.

Murder, to name one obvious example. Pedophilia.  Bigotry.

Tolerance of such acts is a vice. 

It’s sensible -- not hypocritical or ironic – for a person to be intolerant of the intolerable, no matter where one comes down on the idea of equal rights for gays and lesbians.

And it’s sophomoric at best, disingenuous at worst,  to trot out the old “your intolerance of my intolerance is a form of intolerance” argument that turns the whole notion of tolerance into a circular absurdity based on false equivalences.

Forget the T word.  De Jesus is welcome to believe whatever he wants to believe. It’s a free country. But when that belief threatens to translate into anti-gay votes on the City Council, his critics have cause to find that idea, um, unacceptable.  

In mid May, when all signs indicated that seethingly eloquent conservative attack dog Dan Proft (right) was about to announce his candidacy for governor, I dropped him a quick line.

"That'll be fun," I wrote.

"Thankfully, I'm used to the counterfeit objectivity characteristic of most of the Chicago press corps," he fired back humorlessly.  "The bullies with bylines for bankrupt outlets in this town who confuse their liberal orthodoxy for intellect only encourage me."

"See, now that's what I'm talking about!" I replied. "What could possibly be more fun than regular explosions of just this sort of bilious contempt for anyone who disagrees with you? I can't wait. I mean it."

I didn't have to wait long. Proft, a political consultant and freelance radio commentator, got in the race late last month with a call to "start the partisan bickering."

In separate statements last week he offered characteristically withering assessments of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and his daugher, Atty. Gen Lisa Madigan -- "The Madigan family name symbolizes the sclerotic, corrupt patronage politics that eats away at our prosperity" (link) -- and his fellow GOP gubernatorial primary candidate Sen. Kirk Dillard -- "I want to welcome Sen. Dillard to the race, though I admit to being a bit surprised he decided to run as a Republican." (link)

What more fun might be in store? Well, Proft's claim to fame is having been the mouthpiece for Alan Keyes and the Town of Cicero, and his  consulting firm, Urquhart Media LLC., is named for Francis Urquhart, a character in Michael Dobbs' novel "House of Cards."

The company web site notes proudly that the fictional Urquhart,  "schemes, dupes, cajoles, seduces, blackmails, extorts, and eventually even murders his way into No. 10 Downing Street in such an awe-inspiring display of cunning and ruthlessness that you find you can’t help but root for this most evil of men."

And you can't help but be entertained by this most venomous of candidates.

UPDATE -- In a news release, Proft wrote,

On his blog today, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn accused me of being the "most venomous of candidates.” So be it.  I'm not going to Springfield to make friends....I do concede one aspect of Eric Zorn’s review of my candidacy.  There are most certainly nicer people in this race. Every GOP primary voter must decide who they want to send to Springfield to challenge the Chicago Democrats and their corrupt practices: A puppy dog or a pit bull?

EARLIER

Dan Proft, the Un-Oscar  June 23, 2009

The Proft - Zorn Papers -- May 13, 2009

A gubernatorial run for fun and Proft -- May 12, 2009

We all have foods, perfectly ordinary foods, that disgust us -- olives, say, or sardines, mushrooms, oysters, tongue. Mine is Brussels sprouts. Mary Schmich's is hard boiled eggs. My wife's is lima beans.

WGN AM host John Williams has the oddest such "fear food," as he calls it, that I've ever heard of -- blueberries.

They are sweet little berries. They happen to be deep purpleish in color. And before Wednesday, Williams, 49, had never even dared to eat one. Not in a muffin. Not in a pie. Not in a scoop from an ice cream guy. He would not, could eat a blueberry.

He and his staff gathered in the Tribune lunchroom after his 9 a.m. --noon show Wednesday to dine on their fear foods. Here's the video:

Does anyone have a more innocuous fear food than a blueberry?

Below: The columns in which I searched for the pickiest eater in Chicago:

Thus began a story I wrote nearly seven years ago that drew a powerful response from readers; a story that now has an ending.

What's Lisa Madigan really up to?

• She's secretly angling to challenge Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2011.
•  She and her father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, are setting her up to run for governor in 2014.
• She's biding her time until her friend and former legislative seatmate, President Barack Obama, appoints her to a Cabinet post or perhaps even to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cynics began buzzing Wednesday morning when news broke that Lisa Madigan -- our popular, two-term attorney general -- plans to run for re-election next year and not, as most of us had assumed, for governor or the U.S. Senate.

What sort of devious chess move or clever misdirection was this? The speculation was reasonable. Things are seldom as they seem in Illinois politics, and the elder Madigan has long been an inscrutable power broker and master games man whose interest in his daughter's future is considerable.

But I doubt there's much to it. I've listened to the attorney general explain her decision numerous times in the past several days, and the simplest explanation makes the most sense:

So many topics. That's why we call it the World's Greatest Podcast.

Audio Part One: Download or click to play link

Audio Part Two: Download or click to play link

Listen to Mary's favorite summer song, "Lights of Louisianne" by Jennifer Warnes here.

Listen to my favorite summer song, "That Summer Feeling" by Jonathan Richman, here.

Watch John Williams confront the stupidest food fear in the history of food fears, blueberries -- here. Tell me about your stupid food fear here.

Comment on the Madigan news here.

 

In "Little people ask FCC to ban the word 'midget' on TV," Newsday's Jennifer Maloney writes:

I honestly didn't know this. Did you? My son's 10-13 year-old baseball division is called the Midget Division. Banning a word from the airwaves seems a bit much, but I should probably alert the league directors and suggest they rename the division next year.

Newsday click survey results:

Should the FCC comply with the Little People of America request to ban the word "midget" from broadcast TV?

Yes, the government should set an example --4.4%

Yes, but awareness needs to be raised in movies, cable TV and other media, too --16.9%

No, but the group should raise awareness of how slurs can hurt others -- 78.7%

* 385 total responses