The "makers" of the television series Little House on the Prairie are suing the non-profit that runs the house museum of Laura Ingalls Wilder's reconstructed childhood home in Kansas. This was the setting of the book of the same name. The non-profit museum makes about $90,000 a year. Wilder passed away in 1957.

Real classy.

We've had record rain falls in Chicagoland over the last couple of days. It sucks out there. Luckily, our house has been okay, and our local “river” is only flooding a little. The biggest excitement came yesterday when we lost power. Turns out there was a loose power line that was setting the pole on fire a few houses down. The lovely people from the electric company fixed it in 45 minutes.

Today should be quiet. After the Bears game, we're off to the public library to see how much trouble I can get into during the dollar-bag book sale. By that point, the rain should finally be gone.

Speaking of rain, WTTW's PBS pledge drive hit a new low. I'm used to the make-more-money seminars, Doo Wop spectaculars, and mediocre-Irish-singer specials. I put up with it knowing that such pandering brings in the money. Last night, though, they unleashed the worst thing ever to get foolish baby boomers to give up their money. They actually showed a concert of a tacky Beatles tribute band called Rain.

Don't get me wrong, I've been known to enjoy the occasional Beatles tribute band at a summer festival. The problem with Rain was that they weren't actually any good. Their musicianship was lackluster, and their “singing” sounded nothing like the Beatles which is kind of a problem if you're a tribute band. To top it off, their Paul seemed to have had extensive plastic surgery to look more like Macca. His close-ups burned my eyes as his results made him look like a McCartney/Phyllis Diller love child.

I have an idea, how about PBS tries showing some intelligent, creative programming during pledge drives?