Monday Quickies

I don't have much time to write here today, amid various project deadlines stacking up like planes waiting to depart Chicago's O'Hare Airport. But here are a few quick things I thought worth mentioning.

Our Favorite New Company Name (at least it's new to us): Media Schmedia. And as a bonus, it's local.

Trust us: We're Known Prevaricators (That's a Nice Word for Liars). Giant PR firm Edelman, which has been caught doing some egregious things, like trying to pass off a phony blog for similarly ethics-challenged client Wal-Mart, offers up a trust survey. Sorry, folks, but when you lack credibility yourselves, it's a bad idea to be commissioning polls on trust. It only calls that much more attention to your shoddy reputation.

Good for you, Bob Reich. It's not easy taking on an old friend and former American president, publicly pointing out that he's been uttering untruths (there's yet another synonym for lying). But someone's gotta do it. The former Labor Secretary and former FOB (Friend of Bill), dating back to their days at Cambridge as Rhodes Scholars, calls Clinton to task for his shameful attacks on Obama. In my eyes, Reich (who stands just under five feet tall) can walk tall and proud for speaking up this way. And this isn't the first time he's been a truth squad on the subject of Clinton. A decade ago, he wrote an entire book about his time in the Clinton Cabinet, which documented how his old friend tried his best to marginalize him for his liberal views.

What is Councilman Zone Smoking? The West Side Sun covers a story about the rehab of an old theatre on Cleveland's near west side, Gordon Square. So far, so good. Then it quotes the neighborhood's councilman, Matt Zone, saying something so ridiculous that I read it three times, just to make sure I hadn't misundstood him. "I believe that, upon completion, Gordon Square will be synonymous with other destinations like Soho, Dupont Circle and Greenwich Village. Ten years down the road it will have that kind of recognition." If you've ever been to that blighted Cleveland neighborhood and the lively, booming NY and DC neighborhoods of which he speaks, you wouldn't merely think that's a ridiculous statement. You might actually think only a fool could say something so silly. Yes, I'm all in favor of a councilman singing the praises of his own area and trying to raise everyone's hopes. But come on--use some common sense. Cleveland will never be like NY or DC--it doesn't have the population density or the economic base to begin to pull it off. So just get used to it, folks, and do the best you can. Offering up laughable benchmarks doesn't help your case. It only makes you look ridiculous.