Moments In Water History

Circa 29 AD — Jesus Christ picks an odd time to go surfing.  Observers are totally stoked by the result.

Circa 1601 — Shakespeare, stuck for a dramatic hook for his new play about otherwise-boring Danes, decides to ice one of them by drowning her.

Circa 1850 — The first breweries in Milwaukee are established, followed soon thereafter by predictable stereotyping of Wisconsinites.

Circa now — Richard M. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (and, as you can see, super-cute), tries to sell the world’s purveyors of Sport on Lake Michigan.  He fails, miserably.  He then tries to sell Lake Michigan — full stop.

If the parking meter deal put a bad taste in your mouth, try swallowing this: Chicago is considering leasing its water system to help fix the budget.

The new boss could charge whatever they want for water….

…and I give up.  Dude has sold off the parking meters, and a toll bridge. (Actually, they’re 99-year leases.  But who’s counting?)  He wanted to fork over Midway Airport to a private company, but couldn’t swing the deal.  More than half the money from the sales he did do is already spoken for.  And now our water’s for sale.

Screw it.  Go ahead and raise my taxes.  It’s not like you’re going to lose an election in the next twenty years.  You’re still going to have 90% of the City Council kissing your ass, no matter what happens.  Better an honest tax hike than privatizing water.