AP Report: Ditka glad he turned down 2004 bid against Obama

Former NFL Hall-of-Famer and coach Mike Ditka says he has no regrets about his passing up Republican party overtures to run against Barack Obama for U.S. Senate in 2004.
Da Coach said he thought about it for perhaps two days or so before declining the offer.
"The hypocrisy of both parties" is what annoys Ditka about politics, he said.
"You are not there to represent a party, a special interest. You're there to represent America, the people that elected you. They (politicians) don't do that. I'm sorry, they don't do it!
"And you can't make all these promises when you're a candidate, and none of them happen."

Where's the moolah?

One simple question for the officials of Illinois... why is there a school budget crisis going on?
Where is all of that money from the proceeds of the Illinois State Lottery and, in particular, the money from the Lotto drawings that was supposed to be going to the Illinois School System?
If memory serves correct, the state of Illinois instituted the lottery in 1974 and roughly ten years later the Lotto drawings started, with proceeds going to finance schools throughout the system.
Show me the money!
Because I would like to know...
Wha' happened?
Why is there a budget crisis?
Does anyone have any answers?
We, the good (TAX PAYING) citizens of ILLINOIS would like to know!
But in the meantime, we will not be holding our breath.
That could cause health problems if prolonged and we do not even want to go there again.
If anyone (and I mean anyone) has an answer to these questions, please reply because I may have missed something over the past 35 plus years regarding this matter.
In the meantime, where's the moolah?
We demand answers!

What's your status?

Blogging on the internet is certainly interesting.
There are many avenues to explore. Whether it be sports, politics, general topics, you name it and it is there.
A friend of mine recently asked me of this site and why I (or for that matter) or anyone bothers to blog about topics or themselves and what they are doing.
This came via facebook in a private message and I felt compelled to blog about this very subject.
This site deals primarily with sports and political views.
On occasion, heftyinfo strays from the norm and posts funny or sarcastic pictures of current political events and attempts to present them in a humorous fashion.
There are surely plenty of people who may get a chuckle out of these pictures and there also may be some who get offended because it does not represent their views.
That's okay because that is what blogging is all about.
That was the general message sent back to the individual who questioned the motives of bloggers.
What is your status on your own blog if you do blog at all?
Recently upon surfing the web, I discovered many new sites I had not checked out in the past and had a look-see, which is called trolling.
When one leaves comments on these sites (anonymously is the norm) they are referred to as "trolls".
That's funny because this site has had many trolls come along during the past nine months or so since heftyinfo was created.
It does seem there are a lot of bloggers who simply report on the everyday goings on in their lives and even they will get the trolls who may or may not have something nice to say about what they viewed and/or read.
On this site, there are numerous blogs listed that are "followed" on a regular basis by myself and they seem to have their regular "followers" as well.
This site doesn't get so many followers simply because "hot" topics are discussed (especially political topics) and many people simply will not comment on politics/religion and even sports these days.
Such is life and as long as the blogosphere remains open and free to surf, that will continue to be the case.
In the meantime, keep on blogging and surfing (or trolling if you prefer) and let us all hope that the rumors of more monitoring of the internet are just that ...
only rumors.

Here we go again?

With the signing of free agents around the National Football League, and the draft still some six weeks away, optimism abounds around the league, including here in Chicago.
The Bears signed three free agents this past week, including big names such as Julius Peppers (Defensive End) and running back Chester Taylor, who has been Adrian Peterson's sidekick in Minnesota the past three years.
The New York Jets inked cornerback Antonio Cromartie and probably feel they now have a "hands off" policy against opposing passing attacks with Darelle Revis already in the fold at the other corner spot.
Likewise in Baltimore, where the Ravens, known for their lethargic offense, signed wide receiver Anquan Boldin away from the Cardinals to hopefully bring some excitement to their team.
Let's face it, watching Baltimore play football (at least on offense) is like watching paint dry.
BORING!
Same goes for the Jets, all defense and very little offense.
In Chicago, the Bears are going for broke it seems after all the money they spent to ink Peppers and Taylor to help quarterback Jay Cutler resurrect that franchise.
Not so fast ...
Super Bowls are never won in the off-season, except maybe in the weight rooms as players stay in shape for the grind that is the NFL season.
If football continues to be like baseball in regard to free agency and these players jumping all over the place, then the NFL just might begin to lose some of it's swagger as the king of all sports in the United States. Look at the problems baseball has had as a result of the big money being tossed around over the past thirty or so years.
Numerous work stoppages and already there are great rumblings of just that happening in 2011 for the NFL as well.
In baseball, there are only a handful of teams that really compete each year for the title and the New York Yankees won (or is that bought?) another title last season.
Do football fans really want to see the New Yorks and other major markets dominate the sport like the Yankees and Red Sox have done so in baseball during the past decade?
The NFL should cool it's jets and just let the game "market" itself rather than trying to tweak things and just end up with an eventual mess like baseball has had over the years regarding the lack of competitiveness in the sport.
Let's face it, rooting for the New York Yankees is like rooting for IBM or some other corporate giant and where is the fun in that?
So while it may be exciting to see the new faces coming to your favorite teams right now, the problems will rear their ugly heads most assuredly as the progress continues and the smaller market teams are squeezed more and more.
If that happens, then the letters in NFL will literally stand for the "No Fun League."
And that will be no fun for any fans.

G.O.P.

THIS IS GOP SENATOR JIM BUNNING IN ACTION