Well, thank God the 2006 midterm elections are over. All those snarky and negative TV/radio ads have gotten to be quite boring. I miss the days when candidates could run an ad like SCTV's Mayor Tommy Shanks, sitting in front of the fireplace with his stuffed dog, saying things like, "So how are things with you? Things are going pretty good for me. Stubbed my toe the other day. Gee, that hurt. Well, see you!"

I'm not going to weigh in and try to sound intellectual about the elections. I hate politics in pretty much all of its forms. IMHO, by the time you get to be a viable candidate for any party, you've already slept with so many corporate slimebags to garner support or bucks that you're ready to do whatever they say. But frankly I'm glad that both the House and the Senate are back with the Dems to at least give some sort of objectivity a fighting chance. (And another two years for a possible presidential impeachment.)

I'm also glad that Our Town has finally passed a referendum requiring new construction to be "in the spirit of" the original flavor of the neighborhood. Although that gives developers plenty of room for interpretation, at least it might stem the tide of teardowns being replaced with outrageously huge and ostentatious McMansions.

Our neighboring town of Western Springs does quite a nice job of remodeling its tiny homes -- instead of teardowns, they add a modest second story, very much in the flavor of the neighborhood, and each one is unique -- but all in proportion to other homes in the area. Let's hope Our Town adopts similar guidelines.