Like you really care, but I'm feeling very under the weather today. Stomach aches, a sore throat, and blurry vision, not to mention a failed pen drive that cost me an entire five weeks of work on a school project, a project for my video class that my teacher deemed "okay" after tons of work, and the opening of my first set design -- I'm exhausted.

Since I'm sick, it's only appropriate that the news today is the impending war... over Medicare. Surprise, surprise, the Bush Administration wants to privatize Medicare. Actually, that's a bit of an overstatement. He wants to give the elderly the option of moving their Medicare coverage into private industry. Let them eat cake, eh, Mr. President?

The argument against charter schools is that it earmarks public funds for affluent people to put their children into private school instead of using that money to improve public schools. I agree with that. The same argument goes to the Medicare debate -- the only Medicare-recipients who could feasibly move their benefits to private industry are the ones who can afford it. In effect, this plan reduces federal spending on Medicare, and thus those who don't (can't) elect to move their benefits have access to fewer resources for their own care.

I won't, of course, bring the issue of over-population into this. I've said before that I'm not a conspiracy theorist.

Hey, tomorrow is Election Day in Chicago. I unfortunately haven't paid as much attention to the aldermanic elections as I should have, especially in my 'hood, the 44th Ward. Shame on me.

I'm pretty sure I'm voting for Dean Maragos now that Tom Tunney is Mayor Daley's bitch. Rick Ingram is a great guy, too, and gay, which would be a huge boon for Boys-town on Halsted street. So why have I chosen Maragos? Both Maragos and Ingram want to fight over-expansion in our Ward, which is a huge problem, not only economically, but architecturally. Chicago is full of hideous, flat, unappealing condos now, pillaging the city of family-oriented neighborhoods and affordable rental housing. Of course, any candidate can say they're against over-expansion, which lasts only until they are in office and start receiving briefcases full of money from developers. Hey, it's a buyer's market, what can I say?

A more tangible issue is that of expanding Wrigley Field. A larger capacity at Wrigley would just add to the already high congestion of cars and drunk frat boys. However, there's the counterargument that expansion will help the businesses in the area by bringing them more business -- i.e., more cars full of drunk frat boys willing to buy unauthorized Cubs merchandise and yard-long plastic tubes full of Old Style.

If the Cubs can't expand, though, will they move? All they want are 1,600 more seats and a dozen or so more night games. Is that worth building a new stadium for, or even moving to a new city? Wrigley Field is in good shape and is such an important landmark in Chicago that it's doubtful the Cubs are going anywhere. Money, however, leads to strange things. Who knows. If the Cubs moved, the neighborhood would take a hit financially. The bars and souvenir shops rely on game patrons to be Old Style and Sammy Sosa jersey patrons.

So how much do I care about the Wrigley expansion? A lot. I spend a lot of time at Stage Left, where Hi-Volt does a lot of its shows. Stage Left is spitting distance from Wrigley. More sports fans in Wrigley means more customers for bars, which means more money for the neighborhood, which means higher rents for storefronts, which means a small company like Stage Left, well established in their location, is forced to move. Property values go up, people are forced to sell their homes, and no matter what the Alderman has to say about over-expansion, developers will buy up the empty properties left and right and either gut them or tear them down, raising the neighborhood's cost of living even higher. Wrigley expansion will exacerbate an already huge problem for my Ward, so I'm against it.

Let the Cubs have their night games, though. You can complain about the noise and the traffic congestion, but that complaint is like moving to a house near the airport and then complaining about the noise. Wrigley Field is 89 years old, so for most of us, there has always been a baseball field there. I'll deal with the noise and the traffic congestion as long as people don't lose their homes and the small businesses that don't cater to drunk yuppie frat boys (and I should be fair -- yuppie sorority girls drink, too) are forced to move.

Rick Ingram is great, and all the candidates agree on just about everything. So where they differ is where I have to make my decision.