After noting that Palin will be in Chicago later this month to appear on "Oprah", Kirk writes that "the Chicago media will focus on one key issue: Does Gov[ernor] Palin oppose Congressman Mark Kirk's bid to take the Obama Senate seat for the Republicans?"

Rich Miller discusses the layers of wrong here.

1. As a Virginian, I'm sorely disappointed by the substantial victory of knee-jerk social conservative Bob McDonnell who, as of 2003, either had not violated my home state's rather inclusive "crimes against nature" law (about which the only positive thing that can be said is that it does not technically discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or relationship status) or could not recall if he had. Which is - come on - kind of weird.

Fortunately, he did come around somewhat late in life on the issue of whether or not women should work. Dare to dream: maybe he'll even legalize oral sex.

Still, the end of uninterrupted Coors Light growth will add urgency to MillerCoors' toughest task: ending a string of declines for Miller Lite. The brand, essentially the company's co-flagship, posted a mid-single digit decline in the quarter.

I've been watching a lot of sports recently, what with football and the World Series and all, and I couldn't help but notice how awful Miller Lite commercials are - they're obviously, noticeably worse than all the other crappy domestic beer campaigns. As sportswriter Joe Posnanski has noticed, one high-profile ad is basically about how Miller Lite drinkers aren't just assholes, but loserish assholes: "The takeaway: If you are the type of man who prefers low-calorie beer to attractive women, Miller Lite is a good choice for you." Beer ads that make me yearn for the non-ironic sexism of the Swedish Bikini Team: hard to get much worse.

I say no more public money until they conceive an ad campaign that doesn't actively drive people away from the brand.

"To be perfectly frank, I think it’s just a lack of marketing about what [TIFs] do and account for," Daley said. "We just have to show, with better marketing, we have to show what the benefits to the community are."

The mayor said that the special taxing districts, which freeze the amount of property taxes collected within a given geographic area for up to 23 years and set them aside for local improvements, have allowed the city to build new police stations, fire stations and libraries.

THAT'S NOT WHAT TIFS ARE FOR. THAT'S SORT OF THE PROBLEM.

I'm not unsympathetic, but still reserving judgment. If you want to create a media organization quickly out of thin air, it's easiest done by calling on the powers that be, and the CNC has gone from nonexistent to something of a player with surprising speed. So while it makes me itchy, I can see why they've called on big names for management.

A better test will be the contributors they assemble to actually make the sausage (Greising might not do much for diversity, but his reputation is inarguable). Which is why, despite the fact that the critiques may be somewhat premature, I'm grateful for them, and hoping the CNC folks are reading them with the knowledge that their potential future audience has some concerns.

* Alderman Tom Allen of the 38th Ward is making noise, and has a new term for tax-increment financing: OTF, or the "Over-tax fund." (A good start; I'll see what I can do.)

* CBS2 is reporting that Alderman Walter Burnett wants to use TIF money for homelessness: "you probably haven't heard about a billion dollar pot of money that some alderman now say could be a life-saver for people struggling to put a roof over their heads."

* WBEZ works Allen into a report on the budget crisis.

This is all very good, but we'll know we've hit saturation when RedEye picks up the torch. I'll even spot them a cover:

You think we're making progress? It's an illusion. The above applies only to the maps in the cars. On the maps in the stations, the CTA has gone back to showing the routes in different combinations of black (or blue) and white. Red, green, and blue are used as the map background colors. Red background means "A" station, green means "B" station, and blue means "all stop" station. You never heard of "A" and "B" stations? Don't worry about it, they're history. You remember "A" and "B" stations, but never realized the maps were color-coded? I didn't realize it either. In fact, if you talk to CTA old-timers, you learn they sweated over a vast scheme of colors for maps, signs, and lights that nobody ever noticed. Another subtext of this saga: the vanity of human endeavors.

Even by Cecil Adams's usual high standards, this week's Straight Dope Chicago, on the history of CTA line color schemes, is a barnburner.

But one part made me angry:

I've avoided writing much about health care, mostly because Congress is in the middle of a deeply complex, truly epic legislative battle (one that I hope will be captured in book form at some point in the future), and it's hard to tell tactics from strategy on a day to day basis - on any given day, Harry Reid goes from goat to hero and back, or the other way around depending on where you stand. If you can bear the minutiae it's an engrossing drama, but in the long term, I think Sullivan's right that the state opt-out provision is all about giving the GOP enough rope.