Ah, as the end of another summer nears, the deluge of summer memories and news bits are remembered...

Aren't you sick of fast food operations that have made its large pop a "jumbo," its medium pop a "large," and so on? In other words, they trick you into buying this pop that's too big to drink.

But then you get conditioned and bop into a restaraunt which hasn't made the switch and get screwed into buying a drink that's no more than a swallow.

Didn't you feel sorry for David Souter, President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court? The poor guy must have only brought two suits to Washington. Can you imagine being on television every night...in the same suit? Horrors!

Anyway, talk about a quick change in life. This dude went from his quiet little farm, where he'd lived his entire life, and was swept into every magazine, newspaper, television and radio in the country.

But Souter should send a thank-you note to Saddam Hussien. When the old Iraqi leader decided to invade Kuwait, he scared stateside oil into jacking their prices skyhigh and influenced news reporters into having front pages with nothing but Iraq stories. Talk about short-term memories. David who? Oh, oh yeah. The guy with two suits.

As Paul Harvey would say, shop talk: The word "debacle" should be banned, especially when talking about Savings and Loans. The media have just run this word into the ground. Other overuses and abuses: "Oil-rich Kuwait" and "price goughing."

What a great season for the Cubs! Sure, as of this typing, they're in fourth place, below .500 and almost 11 games out of first, but we got rid of all the fair-weather ‘84 and '89 bandwagoneers, huh? Go Cubs!

If folks at Commonwealth Edison thought the summer of 1988 was bad (except for their pockets), they never could have foreseen this summer. From having to refund consumers loads of money for hefty utility hikes to stranding thousands of customers powerless on Chicago's west side for days, they're looking forward to the fall.

"Spondulex" is a great word. Use it.

A new flap has come out of Chicago with Operation PUSH's call for don't buy Nike." According to PUSH, Nike goes out of its way to not support black-run business, to not use black-run banks and to do little advertising in black-run publications.

But the call has split Chicago's black community. One minister, the Rev. Jesse L. Butler, has said the proposed boycott of Nike is "extortion" and only will hurt blacks.

Debate the issues or make an issue of the debates? What a summertime campaign platform for opponents U.S. Rep. Lynn Martin, R-Loves Park, and U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, D-Makanda and for opponents State Rep. John Hallock, R-Rockford, and Galena attorney John Cox. When are they going to actually make opinions rather than demand and refuse debates?

And oh, Mr. Bush. Look what you've done...your lips sang a different tune and it was enough to send your biggest supporter -staunch conservative Paul Harvey- against you and even call you a "closet democrat." Ouch.

Does Susan know?