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« June 2006 | Main | August 2006 »
July 31, 2006
Playlist: Chicago Tonight
Who knew so many people were interested in the crappy snippets of music played on Chicago Tonight? From the program's Frequently Asked Questions:
What music is played during the opening and closing credits of Chicago Tonight?
Our new theme (effective Feb. 2006) is original music by composer Nick Tremulis.
What music is used during the segment transitions ("bumpers")?
We use a variety of music during our bumpers between segments. Below are just some of the songs and the artists featured between Chicago Tonight segments.
Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
Eleventh Confession (Peter Himmelman)
Neon (John Mayer)
Nothin' Bout Me (Sting)
Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
Child Into A Man (Peter Himmelman)
You Know Me Better Than I Do (Peter Himmelman)
Please Forgive Me (David Gray)
Fields of Gold (Sting)
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You (Sting)
Clocks (Coldplay)
Last Train Home (Pat Metheny Group)
Had I Known (Poi Dog Pondering)
In Seeds Come Fruit (Poi Dog Pondering)
Porcelain (Moby)
Carriage (Counting Crows)
Lie in Our Graves (Dave Matthews Band)
Stardust and Snow (Once Blue)
More Than This (Roxy Music)
Opposites Attract (Billie Myers)
Speak (Nickel Creek)
What Sarah Said (Death Cab for Cutie)
Landed (Ben Folds)
83 (John Mayer)
While She Sleeps (Billy McLaughlin)
Your Heart is an Empty Room (Death Cab for Cutie)
What music played is during the opening and closing credits of the Friday Night program?
It's Cantaloop by the group US3.
Posted by Lou at 12:20 PM | Permalink
The [Monday] Papers
Now incorporating The [Sunday] Papers.
Daley Dose
"Doling out city services at election time is yet another way that the Daley administration has used public resources for political gain," the Tribune reports, in "Trading Services For Votes."
Had enough yet?
Making Ends Meet
Dennis J. Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, fires back today at Sun-Times business writer David Roeder's assertions that the big-box ordinance is evidence of union weakness, not strength. Roeder's reasoning is that a strong union would welcome the stores at any wage, and then go in and organize them. Roeder ignores the idea that labor might operate on several fronts at once with several strategies, as well as the impact of eviscerated labor laws on the ability to organize.
Gannon, however, takes a broader approach in his response, citing labor's historic victories that have improved workers' conditions for everyone, union or not. "Only when families can afford to make ends meet and afford quality health care will we see real improvement in our communities," Gannon writes (second letter).
Like maybe among the poorest of the poor, and the children they send to Chicago's public schools?
Neil Steinberg has this to say today about Chicago public schoolchildren - apparently based on surveys the paper used to do a long time ago:
"Half arrive at their first day of school unable to identify the colors red, blue, and yellow. Half are unable to speak in complete sentences. Half do not know how to hold a pencil or a crayon, never mind write with one. Half can't tell you their last names - heck, some kids show up for school and don't even know their first names, only a street tag - 'They call me Lil Man.' It takes a special parent to send their child to school without knowing his name - actually not so special, which is heartbreaking.
"The surveys were last taken a dozen years ago, but the situation hasn't changed."
Steinberg was reacting to the Rev. James Meeks's assertion over the weekend that Mayor Richard M. Daley's vaunted school reform has failed black kids.
"How can the nation's third-largest city be comfortable with the fact that only six out of every 100 high school students will graduate from college?" Meeks asked at a rally on Friday. That means the mayor, who brags about how great he's done in the area of education, has a 94 percent failure rate . . .
"These kids who started in kindergarten, they wasn't messed up when they started in kindergarten," "They were not messed up in the first grade. They did not get messed up until they enrolled in the Mayor Daley-run school system."
Aside from the fact that Steinberg is content to rely on newspaper surveys a dozen years old, I don't know how Steinberg knows that "the situation hasn't changed." Maybe he's been conducting his own surveys.
Steinberg not only condemns Meeks, but rises to the defense of Daley, "whom impartial observers laud for doing so much with a school system that was on life support when he showed up."
I'm not sure who these "impartial observers" are, but the success of the Daley era in school reform is hardly settled fact. As Alexander Russo, the education reporter and proprietor of the District 299 Chicago Public Schools Blog, noted on these pages, Chicago is now a cautionary tale, not a model, for cities considering mayoral takeovers of their school systems.
What's more, Meeks argues that test scores are worse now than they were before Daley took over the school system in 1995.
I don't know if that's true - and I don't put much stock in test scores as a way to evaluate a school district - but I do know that in 1997, I contributed to a Newsweek article touting new test scores as evidence of the school system's turnaround. The test scores had indeed risen slightly - but only enough to match what the scores had been in, if I remember correctly, 1989. That was the year Daley took office. That fact didn't make it into the article.
So, if by "impartial observers" Steinberg means all the great press the Daley Administration has gotten worldwide, well, I would suggest that great press rarely has anything to do with reality - except that it's part of the plan. I interviewed Paul Vallas early in his tenure as head of the schools; he had retained the previous superintendent as a consultant, and told me that he wasn't doing anything different than she had been doing, except that he had more money, more flexibility from the union, and more power to make changes than she had had. He also said that regaining the public's confidence - doing better, more aggressive public relations - was key. In fact, that part of the plan has probably been more successful than the part about educating the neediest kids.
I have no doubt the school system works better for many people now than it did before the mayor took responsibility for it - especially those who can clout their kids into the city's top magnet schools. And perhaps others. But I also have great doubt that progress has been made for those who need it most, and that is in no small part due to conditions kids face before even getting to school.
Steinberg wants to blame that on poor black people.
My question , though, is this: If the conditions Chicago's kids are growing up in hasn't changed in a dozen years, isn't that still a failure on the part of the mayor?
Council Wars
At least we're not another Detroit.
'I'm originally from Detroit and I thought that city council was a bunch of idiots, but Chicago's is making Detroit's look like geniuses."
- Sally Wright of Edgewater, in a letter (fourth) to the Sun-Times today
Whitewash
Here's what the chief assistant to corporation counsel Mara Georges wrote to her in an e-mail upon hearing that Edward Egan and Robert Boyle had been appointed as special prosecutors in the Burge inquiry, according to the Sun-Times today:
"They will likely be fair to the city and the CPD and our guess is that they will not be inclined to turn their investigation into the kind of unfocused witchhunt . . . that the [People's Law Office] and their ilk would ideally push for."
As opposed to Jon Burge, and his ilk.
"The special prosecutor even admits that 'all police officers refused to talk to us.' That happened by chance?" DePaul law professor Leonard Cavise wrote in the paper on Saturday, arguing that the statute of limitations does not yet apply to the Burge investigation because the cover-up continues to this day.
Tribune Tickets
"Though the Illinois Ticket Scalping Act prevents those putting on a sporting or entertainment event from selling tickets above their face value, [Tribune-owned] Premium Tickets sells some Cubs tickets for more than $1,400 above face value.
"The Cubs successfully argued [before the state Appellate Court] that they sell tickets to their brokerage firm, which then marks up the tickets - not the team - and they do that to compete with other ticket brokers," the Sun-Times reports.
As lawyer Paul Bauch, representing a couple of fans in the legal action, said: "Everybody else seems to think this thing was misleading and deceptive except the judges who looked at it."
Meanwhile, James Klenk, a lawyer for the team and the brokerage - but remember, there is no connection - says Premium Tickets "offers consumers a better product, at better prices, than other ticket brokers."
Perhaps - but a worse deal than you get from the Cubs box office.
Tribune Tactics
"Three billionaires hoping to buy the Los Angeles Times expressed their interest in separate letters this month to the paper's owner, Tribune Co. But each was told the newspaper was not for sale - at least for now."
In a separate announcement, Tribune Company announced the formation of Premium Newspapers.
Dusty Joel
Heard by a member of the Beachwood Nation on the Loop this morning: "Dusty Baker Must Get Fired" to the tune of "We Didn't Start The Fire."
Clay Dice
Reporting on another death possibly associated with a dice game gone bad, the Sun-Times reports that "The game was likely what some call 'happy-go-lucky dice shooting.'" The paper helpfully explains the rules, like how you win if you roll a seven first, or if you match your first number during later rolls. Side bets even get made, in what the paper calls "a game played for years in hallways and on street corners."
Sounds like fun. I wonder why it hasn't caught on.
Forked Tongue
From Jim DeRogatis's Pitchfork Music Festival review:
"At its best, it illustrated the enduring strengths of the indie-rock underground, thanks to spirited and wonderfully idiosyncratic up-and-comers such as Art Brut and Tapes N' Tapes and long-running underground heroes such as Mission of Burma and Yo La Tengo.
"But the festival also demonstrated the shortcomings of the often-insular indie-rock scene, offering a parade of acts championed by the influential Pitchfork Web zine. Too many of these bands lacked the charisma to captivate such a large crowd. They celebrated pointless quirkiness and uninspired amateurism, or they were just dreadfully boring."
The Beachwood Tip Line: Often dreadful, never boring.
Posted by Lou at 08:38 AM | Permalink
Rock a Billy Goat
What is the meaning of this strong connection between goats and bars in Chicago? I have detected new evidence of the curious goat/tavern karma here. As if one all-too-popular bar that fetishizes the animal isn't way more than enough, now there's another popular watering hole in town that's sporting a thing for horned ruminants.
The big difference is this one features some pretty tasty roots music and hasn't yet been turned into a Hollywood version of itself. And not only that, instead of that petting-zoo alcoholic creature that Billy Sianis brought for company to the 1945 World Series, the Charleston in Bucktown has a much more formidable rocky mountain goat as its icon. Stuffed, of course, and in prominent view of the unique, in-the-round stage the place has.
Goats and bars. The first one is pretty bad karma, I think, because it reminds us of being losers every time we're about the reach the brass ring. So if that's not good, isn't it probably time for a goat that's associated with Chicago's alt-country scene - which to my way of thinking exudes some of the best karma the city has to offer - to take its place? I actually envy the Charleston goat, and would go so far as to say I want to be that goat, unlike the Cubs' billy goat (which probably ended up getting served as faux cheez-borger down on Lower Michigan Ave.) That's because the new goat gets to see some great music for free in what's being talked about in several local publications as a laid-back, pretension-free music zone at Charleston and Hoyne in Bucktown. Assuming such a thing is indeed possible, it might be worth getting in early at its reportedly packed weekend shows.
It at least has a big fan in Perdita, mistress of Three Hours Past Midnight, who raves about the performance of Strobe Recording's Jim Frazier there and admits the goat got the better of her:
I might start considering spending more time there. I like the ambience, and the smokelessness, and, of course, the goat. I mean, what sort of hardhearted asshole wouldn't be charmed by half a stuffed goat in a paper hat and a feather boa? I mean, really.
And Frazier seems kind of typical for the place's musical stylings. When he's not busy running Strobe Recording on Division Street in Humboldt Park (engineering for such bands as Bakelite 78, Lucky 7s, Filisko & Noden), he's playing a brand of sometimes-dreamy, pop-influenced acoustic country rock, including "'Cause of You," a Woody Guthrie-style lament wherein the hurtin' line goes, "I'll drink until I see double, and I'll smoke till I turn blue, if they ask me just why I do it, I'll tell them it's all 'cause of you." Yeah, it hurts, baby, but maybe not as much if it's at a cool bar.
Frazier says he's working on a John Prine tribute album at Strobe Recording that could include his frequent musical partner, Tim Menard, another Bucktown regular and member of the roots rock band Fallen Angels. These guys and their buddies seem to be the house band at Charleston. Looking at its calendar, coming up in August are such pickin' bands as Hardscrabble, Blue Line Rider, and Honeysuckle Rose.
It gets me to thinking that maybe that drunken old goat downtown has made enough cheese for one lifetime.
Majors Junction Meet-Up
Majors Junction is a Chicago band whose stated goal is to get you to feel you're stuck in some God-forsaken desert dive bar. It's where they say they want their music to take you, a pensive locale whose name they share:
As you approach Majors Junction at sunset you can see the hazy desert stretch for miles in every direction; three U.S. Highways meet here where the neon beer lights glow under the pink sky. The absence of company is obvious, you are isolated here. It is a place where the laws of the old west are still alive, visitors are welcome but trouble is met with the barrel of a gun.The only standing structure for 30 miles in every direction is this bar in the Nevada desert, you push open the doors to discover a place where weary travelers have sat for many a beer and whiskey. You hear the old juke box in the corner playing an old country waltz and the slot machines chiming in time. A lone bartender awaits his orders, leaning your way with his straight arms firmly placed where you can see them. The one patron sits at the end of the bar and glances at you for a moment through his glass and then squares back up to the bar.
With its population of two people and a dog named dog, Majors Junction symbolizes the stand-alone maverick qualities of the band that shares its name.
I like that this town has a dog named dog. And the bartender kind of sounds like the one from It's a Wonderful Life, the mean bastard who threatens to kick the crap out of Jimmy Stewart when he's so obviously harmless and confused (that just wasn't right). Or maybe Moe the Bartender, the well-known floor hockey champion.
Anyway, once the members of the band Majors Junction (veterans Mike Mulcahy, Heather O'Brien, Benjamin Nusbaum, Colin Williams and newcomers Michael Scott Duplessis and Jay Septoski) made their way back from the lawless frontier in one piece, they started working on a new album tentatively called Confluence on North of Nashville Records. (Maybe that's referring the confluence of those three U.S. highways to hell they mentioned.) The disc is likely to be another dose of the hard-edged western blues rock that evidenced on their first album, "A Desert Oasis."
Posted by Don at 01:46 AM | Permalink
July 28, 2006
The Weekend Desk Report
Don't mind us if we nod off for a bit. Even in a dream state, we're still watching the stories that count.
Market Update
Peace continued to face a consumer confidence crisis amid reports of a hostile takeover bid. Ultimately, key decision makers decided to merge Peace with Rhetoric to create a new entity, Lasting Peace. Shares in LP were promptly junked.
Condi-tional Surrender
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to return to the Middle East to give her special brand of diplomacy another try. We suggest for this encore that she try a piece that better expresses the complexity and difficulty of the situation.
Idol Chatter
Meanwhile, President Bush reiterated his deep concern over the mounting crisis in the region. Indeed, he indicated that, should Secretary Rice's diplomatic approach fail, he has already assembled a crack second negotiating team.
Cruising to Stand Still
Finally, the Hermit Kingdom this week continued its pattern of evasiveness, vowing to communicate directly only with long-time allies and sympathetic parties. And in other news, ditto.
Posted by Natasha at 08:57 PM | Permalink
The [Friday] Papers
1. Mayor Daley is on MySpace. "Anyone who is interested in being my online buddy is welcome!" he says. Mayoral friends so far include Jesus Christ, Esquire; Pirate Zombies From Outerspace; and John Candy. Someone on the mayor's staff might want to keep up with the comments, though. I doubt he'd be pleased to see the word "jewspaper" there.
2. The mayor's musical interests: "Chicago, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, and, of course, the blues."
3. The President of the National Association of Letter Carriers delivers a message to Bobblin' Burt Natarus. (second item)
4. "The new local ordinance mandating big-box retailers pay higher wages and benefits to workers sent a chill through the Chicago retail industry, from high-end department stores to hardware outlets," the Tribune reports.
"Aside from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the primary target of the hotly contested ordinance, the law would cover at least 18 retailers operating more than 40 stores in the city.
"Nordstrom, Marshall Field's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Carson Pirie Scott & Co., Toys "R" Us, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards and Kohl's are just a few of the stores affected, according to a list compiled by the City of Chicago's Department of Planning & Development."
The paper Tribune includes a terrific map of existing retailers who will be affected by the new big-box ordinance throughout the city, but, unfortunately, the online Tribune doesn't.
5. "Radio Station Format Goes From God To Porn." Listenership stays the same.
7. "Disabled List Offers Mark Prior Two-Year, $8 Million Extension."
8. Kendall County is among the five fastest growing counties in America.
9. An American city doesn't show up on this ranking of the world's best cities until number 27 - and that's Honolulu. Chicago is ranked 41st - the fifth-highest American city (also behind San Francisco, Boston, and, somehow, Washington, D.C.).
10.Is the American public stupid?
11. Fido fires back at Bobblin' Burt Natarus.
12. Who are Illinois's biggest lobbyists? Who knows.
13. "From a distance, especially from the air, downtown Vancouver looks like most downtowns: a pack of modern skyscrapers nesting in a dense and confined central area. Only when you hit the ground do you realize that it is different. The skyscrapers are virtually all condominium towers. This is an overwhelmingly residential high-rise downtown. Some 560,000 people live in Vancouver, Canada's third-largest city, and nearly 100,000 of them reside in tall, slender towers on the less than five square miles of the downtown peninsula.
"There is nothing quite like this in North America, not in San Francisco, Chicago or even New York. When it comes to downtown housing density, the closest comparisons are to places such as Rio or Hong Kong. And virtually the entire change has happened in the past 15 years. Since 1991, when Vancouver rewrote its zoning laws to attract downtown residents, launching a self-described "Living First" policy, the physical character of the central city has been so thoroughly transformed that a visitor returning after two decades would have trouble even recognizing the place."
14. "Ironically, it was as State's Attorney that Daley became the first Cook County official to sign the court-ordered Shakman decree, which eliminated the politically motivated hiring and firing that had been a hallmark of his father's administration."
- "Chicago's Richard Daley: 1997's Municipal Leader of the Year" American City & County magazine, 1997
15. "Whether privatization can really work in the city of Chicago, or whether it will just provide a cover for some new form of patronage system, is still a matter of some debate. What is clear, however, is that this Daley would rather not be thought of as a boss. In keeping with his new-style urban ideology, he prefers to be called a manager. 'Daley hates waste. He hates inefficiency,' says Paul Green, a political science professor and locally prominent Daleyologist. 'In many ways, he's a policy nerd.'
"Not everyone is so sure that patronage has died. A few privatization opponents on the city council suggest that Daley is merely designing a new machine, exchanging the old patronage system for a pinstriped one where businesses contribute to his campaign and are paid back in city contracts. Others have charged that Daley is creating his own secret patronage army, in an attempt to get around an anti-patronage federal consent decree that is supposed to limit the numbers of jobs under the mayor's personal control.
"The merits of both these charges are hard to prove - and may, in the end, simply lack credibility.
- "Taking Chicago Private," Governing magazine, 1994
16. "Master of the detail."
- Richard M. Daley: Master of the Detail," Governing magazine, 1997
17. "The Encyclopedia Britannica, which for more than two centuries has been considered the gold standard for reference works, has only a hundred and twenty thousand entries in its most comprehensive edition. Apparently, no traditional encyclopedia has ever suspected that someone might wonder about Sudoku or about prostitution in China. Or, for that matter, about Capgras delusion (the unnerving sensation that an impostor is sitting in for a close relative), the Boston molasses disaster, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada, Bill Gates's house, the forty-five-minute Anglo-Zanzibar War, or Islam in Iceland. Wikipedia includes fine entries on Kafka and the War of the Spanish Succession, and also a complete guide to the ships of the U.S. Navy, a definition of Philadelphia cheesesteak, a masterly page on Scrabble, a list of historical cats (celebrity cats, a cat millionaire, the first feline to circumnavigate Australia), a survey of invented expletives in fiction ('bippie,' 'cakesniffer,' 'furgle'), instructions for curing hiccups, and an article that describes, with schematic diagrams, how to build a stove from a discarded soda can. The how-to entries represent territory that the encyclopedia has not claimed since the eighteenth century. You could cure a toothache or make snowshoes using the original Britannica, of 1768-71. (You could also imbibe a lot of prejudice and superstition. The entry on Woman was just six words: 'The female of man. See HOMO.') If you look up 'coffee preparation' on Wikipedia, you will find your way, via the entry on Espresso, to a piece on types of espresso machines, which you will want to consult before buying. There is also a page on the site dedicated to 'Errors in the Encyclopedia Britannica that have been corrected in Wikipedia' (Stalin's birth date, the true inventor of the safety razor).
"Because there are no physical limits on its size, Wikipedia can aspire to be all-inclusive. It is also perfectly configured to be current: there are detailed entries for each of the twelve finalists on this season's American Idol, and the article on the '2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict' has been edited more than four thousand times since it was created, on July 12th, six hours after Hezbollah militants ignited the hostilities by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers. Wikipedia, which was launched in 2001, is now the seventeenth-most-popular site on the Internet, generating more traffic daily than MSNBC.com and the online versions of the Times and the Wall Street Journal combined."
- from "Know It All: Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise?" The New Yorker.
The Beachwood Tip Line: Wiki-worthy.
Posted by Lou at 07:37 AM | Permalink
Scatisfacturing Dissent
In 1957 the Brazilian visual poet Décio Pignatari turned a famous marketing slogan against itself by manipulating the Portuguese translation of "Enjoy Coca-Cola" into repulsive word-shapes like "drool" and "cesspool." Pignatari's work has been on my mind recently, ever since a peculiar ad campaign for Snickers candy bars hit town.
The concept is simple enough: invent new, hunger-inducing words from pieces of other words and deploy them in Snickers's iconic font, thereby inspiring the target with an irresistible desire to buy and eat delicious Snickers candy. For whatever reason the bright lights at Snickers settled on using CTA buses to carry their neologism-ads to Chicagoans. I'd like to have been a fly on the wall at that meeting. ("Hey, buses are kind of shaped like Snickers bars! And our research indicates 73% of commuters eat candy!")
A week ago I encountered my first Snickword, "PEANUTOPOLIS," rolling its way down Milwaukee Avenue. This seemed like a cruel method of transporting the mentally ill - Nuthouse Express, please watch your step! - but the passengers looked comfortable with it. Actually, my opening impression was that "PEANUTOPOLIS" was as good a description as any for our schizophrenically-run city on the make. It also conjures dystopian visions of a citizenry scraping by for peanuts meted out by mad, stingy overlords. Crazy, I know. Further deconstruction yields a single "NUT" connected to a stretched-out "PE-N-IS." Taxpayer-funded studies disproved the nipples-in-the-ice-cubes effect decades ago, but here it lives - on the side of a city bus, no less. I guess sometimes a candy bar is more than a candy bar.
Shortly after my brush with "PEANUTOPOLIS," I met "HUNGERECTOMY" at the Grand Avenue stop. If you've ever squeezed aboard the Grand bus exiting the Loop at rush hour, you've undoubtedly felt the need for an "-ectomy," along the lines of "another minute crammed into this fellow passenger's umbrella and I'm gonna need an umbrellectomy." But wait! What on earth is the word "RECTOM" doing in an advertisement for candy bars? Have these copywriters not seen Caddyshack?
"NOUGATACITY" sounds like Chicagoese for white flight, or a fight over who should flee. ("No! YOU get outta da city!") I find nougat unappetizing enough, reminiscent of packing foam, that for me calling attention to it serves more as warning label than sales pitch. On this score, the word succeeds.
At least "NOUGATACITY" provides some public benefit. "SUBSTANTIALISCIOUS," meanwhile, resuscitates the unfortunate fad of generating adjectives by suturing the suffix "-alicious" to nouns ("rockalicious," "groovealicious"). Note, however, the added "s," forming a mildly evocative "-liscious." I suppose that's meant to reference "luscious," or maybe "conscious," as in, "Somehow, I've become conscious of how deliciously substantial this candy must be." But I also can't help but sense "viscous," which inevitably calls to mind motor oil. Anyway, after "RECTOM" I'm probably just paranoid by seeing the "AN-AL" in there.
My newest discovery, "SATISFECTELLENT," manages to summon both "disinfectant" and "repellent," fitting terms following all this rectal activity and nougat. But alas, we're back to the drawing board with "TIS FEC-EL," which may appeal to representatives of the constipated candy-eater demographic but is unlikely to do much for the "regulars," other than remind them how viciously/viscously a fierce chocolate-nut combo can propel through the human body.
So what's Snickers's game? According to Webster's, to "snicker" is to "laugh in a covert or partly suppressed manner." Am I merely a pawn in a sophisticated marketing scheme? "Step one: unveil a series of ads that slyly mock the product, evoking comparisons between it and anuses, motor oil, etc. Step two: ride free media from misinformed 'clever' types running snarky responses to campaign. Step three: await massive sales increase as snarky responses drain from public consciousness, leaving only a nougaty residue on the unsuspecting consumer mind. Step four: laugh in a covert or partly suppressed manner." Suddenly, somehow, I've become conscious of how deliciously substantial Snickers bars must be.
CORRECTION: My thanks to the readers who pointed out my misspelling of "NOUGATOCITY." I may have given the Snickers people too much credit by unconsciously linking nougat with sagacity or tenacity to form "NOUGATACITY." It's a better word than the actual one, which after all is just a letter away from "NOUGATROCITY" (a redundant term for any product that contains nougat).
Posted by Lou at 04:54 AM | Permalink
July 27, 2006
Peter Popoff
Who: Rev. Peter Popoff.
Where: Upland, California.
Organization: Peter Popoff Ministries.
Brief History: Peter Popoff preached his first sermon at age nine and conducted his first crusade at age 14.
Throughout the 1980s, Popoff dazzled spectators by accurately stating personal information about his "powerful miracle circus" audience members. He would call out their names, addresses, and physical ailments, claiming the knowledge came from God-given revelations.
According to James Randi, a professional magician and pseudoscience investigator, God's will oscillates at the frequency of 39.17 Mhz. It was at this frequency that Randi and a team of researchers sponsored by the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER), intercepted the voice of Popoff's wife, Elizabeth.
Via wireless earpiece, she fed Popoff information she had gathered before the show from prayer-request cards and conversations with those who came to be healed.
Randi busted Popoff by playing these intercepted recordings live on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Later that year, Popoff filed for bankruptcy.
Now Playing: Though he has ceased calling out audience members, Popoff is still on the air, Sunday at 9 p.m. on WJYS (Channel 62). Now Popoff is "giving away" Miracle Spring Water with a mandate from God to make us all "healthy and wealthy," as long as you follow the directions.
But don't fret. For those rare illnesses that still require his holy touch, Popoff has a heavenly anointing of assault and battery. When not promoting his miracle spring water, he keeps busy by slapping old women and shaking them until their heads nearly pop off. He screams, and sweats, and then usually leaves his victims groaning on the floor, all in the name of a loving God.
Salvation Inflation: With one simple call, Popoff and his bored-looking wife will send you free Miracle Spring Water with a promise of prosperity. What they don't tell you is that when you receive the water, you are instructed to send $17 dollars (the "1" is for one God, and "7" for the number relative to God's perfection) or else God won't bless you.
They also promise to send a free book, but instead you'll receive is a letter asking for $19.00, or $38 if you want a double blessing.
Miracle Money:Purchase The Divine Transfer Kit and watch your bank account grow for no worldly reason. "It's not coming from your job," he says between tearful testimonies of thousand-dollar bank flubs. "It's supernatural."
The kit comes with an awful lot of reading. Is The Divine Transfer Book Club far away? Kit contents include the following Peter Popoff books:
- 7 Hours In Heaven
- Prosperity Thinking
- God Has Promised You Divine Wealth
- Guaranteed Answered Prayer
- Angels
- Dreams
- God's Promises (Devotional)
- God's Abundant Blessings
- Releasing The Power Of The Holy Spirit In Your Life
- HOOKED! Breaking Satan's Bondage
As well as:
- A Divine Transfer Wallet with Engraved Prayer by Rev. Popoff
- The Powerful Teachings 3-CD set, "For My Very Important Platinum Members"
- A Divine Transfer Bracelet
- "Beautiful Cross Necklace Personally Brought Back From Israel By Rev. Popoff Filled with Holy Land Soil and Water."
Divine Transfer Kit Quote: "A $390 value for only $89.99!" Wealth is being transferred already.
Not So Miracle Money: Peter Popoff Ministries raised $16,220,066 in revenue in 2004. More than $548,000 went into Peter Popoff's pockets..
TV Quote: "Just as God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promisedland, so too has He given me a mandate to lead you into health and wealth."
Who Would Jesus Kill? During the program I saw, a woman shared her testimony about being in serious financial debt. She ordered the Miracle Spring Water and within minutes of using it, received a phone call informing her that her grandmother had just unexpectedly died and left her with a $100,000 inheritance. "Praise Jesus, It's a miracle!" Popoff exclaimed.
Yes, praise Jesus for killing your grandma.
Lesson: If money is the root of all evil, then Popoff's miracle spring water came from the devil's sprinkler system.
Hallelujahs: 1.8
- Steve Yaccino
Posted by Natasha at 09:02 PM | Permalink
Booklist: Kinko's Kiosk
1800 West North Avenue
1. The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness
Stephen R. Covey
2. How To Win Friends And Influence People
Dale Carnegie
3. One Thing At A Time: 100 Simple Ways To Live Clutter-Free Every Day
Cindy Glovinsky
4. Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey
5. Self Matters: Creating Your Life From The Inside Out
Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D. (Dr. Phil)
6. The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
Stephen R. Covey
7. Unstoppable: 45 Powerful Stories Of Persverance And Triumph From People Just Like You
Cynthia Kersey
8. Get Hired Fast! Tap The Hidden Job Market In 15 Days
Brian Graham
9. The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan To Live And Finish Rich
David Bach
10. How To Win Any Argument: Without Raising Your Voice, Losing Your Cool, Or Coming To Blows
Robert Mayer
11. The Resume Handbook: How To Write Outstanding Resumes & Cover Letters For Every Situation
Arthur Rosenberg and David Hizer
12. Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways To Stop Procrastinating And Get More Done In Less Time
Brian Tracy
13. 101 Smart Questions To Ask On Your Interview
Ron Fry
14. Business Etiquette
Anne Marie Sabeth
15. 151 Quick Ideas To Get New Customers
Jerry R. Wilson
16. How To Work For An Idiot: Survive & Thrive - Without Killing Your Boss
John Hoover
17. Hiring The Best: Manager's Guide To Effective Interviewing And Recruiting
Martin Yate and Martin John Yate
18. Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps To Achieving Financial Security And Funding Your Dreams
David Bach
19. How To Change Anybody: Proven Techniques To Reshape Anyone's Attitude, Behavior, Feelings, Or Beliefs
David J. Lieberman
20. Never Check E-Mail In The Morning: And Other Unexpected Strategies For Making Your Work Life Work
Julie Morgenstern
21. How To Spot A Liar: Why People Don't Tell The Truth . . . And How You Can Catch Them
Gregory Hartley and Maryann Karinch
- Steve Rhodes
Posted by Lou at 06:27 PM | Permalink
The [Thursday] Papers
The Chicago City Council's passage of the "big-box" ordinance requiring stores such as Wal-Mart to maintain wages and benefits above and beyond those mandated to other businesses rightfully dominates the news today, and we'll get to that soon enough.
My more immediate concern this morning is this: Can we sue special prosecutors Edward Egan and Robert Boyle for malpractice for their gross mishandling of the recenty released, $7 million, four-years-in-the making report on police torture allegations surrounding former commander Jon Burge?
The report's many flaws have already been noted, but with the release of the transcript of the special prosecutors' interview of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who was the Cook County State's Attorney when the torture allegations first bubbled up to the surface, confirms that this report was either an exercise in incompetence or a whitewash rigged from the get-go.
"Noting that [tortured suspect Andrew] Wilson was in such bad shape - apparently after being beaten by police - that officers at the lockup would not let him in, Boyle posed his question this way: 'I assume that nobody ever brought that to your attention?'
"'No,' Daley answered.
"Boyle sounds almost apologetic in raising the question of whether the police killings that led to Wilson's arrest put pressure on law enforcement authorities.
"'And this may be an unfair question,' Boyle began. 'But in the normal course of events, I assume that the [William] Fahey and [Richard] O'Brien killing was a somewhat heightened case. And it's difficult, we've all been in law enforcement, and it's difficult to characterize a terrible event like that, so I don't know how to characterize it.'
"Boyle's question continues for four more lines in the transcript. Daley's answer was brief: 'Yes. It was known as a heater case.'"
Being a heater case - a high-profile prosecution of man charged with killing two police officers - you'd think Daley would have paid special attention to, say, a letter from the police chief indicating the suspect had been tortured.
This may be an unfair question, but could Boyle have been more of a pussy?
The Sun-Times reports that Daley said "I don't recall" 16 times. And maybe he doesn't. Daley made a big show last week about how he would never have allowed torture on his watch if he knew about it.
But it's not as if the allegations are just coming to light now. Daley was the state's attorney from 1981 to 1989, when he became mayor.
"Amnesty International issued a report in 1990 about police torture in Chicago; we received reports at the time that police from the Area 2 police station systematically tortured African-American detainees between 1972 and 1986. In December 1990, Amnesty International wrote to both the Cook County state's attorney and to the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, asking them to investigate the allegations," an Amnesty International official writes in the Sun-Times today (fifth letter). "Despite the allegations of torture, the authorities failed to act."
And yet, Channel 7's Charles Thomas reports that Daley was asked only about the Wilson case. "There was nothing about the other 54 torture allegations during his term as state's attorney."
Additionally, "Egan told ABC7 an earlier, informal interview was conducted with Daley but was not transcribed.
Wow. Worst special report ever?
The Daley Index
The mayor's other interview responses, according to the Sun-Times:
"I don't know." Four times
"I wouldn't know." Three times.
"I can't comment on that." Twice.
"I couldn't speculate on that." Twice.
"I forgot." Once.
"I don't have a recollection." Once.
"I wouldn't recall." Once.
"I don't remember." Once.
"I've never heard of that." Once.
They Might Not Be Giants
The Tribunemay want to reconsider whether Egan and Boyle are really "Giants Among Men."
Transcripted
Neither paper, as far as I can tell, posted the Daley transcript to their Website. WBBM-AM has a pdf available here.
Big Boxing
This big-box thing is a big deal whose repercussions could be felt nationwide as other cities take up the debate and retailers are forced to respond one way or another. Appropriately, then, Wednesday's City Council vote made the front page of today's New York Times.
This was the most interesting part of the Times's account:
"We're very confident that retailers want and need to be in Chicago, and the question for the city is what kinds of jobs they will bring," said Annette Bernhardt of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School, which helped draft the Chicago bill and has done economic studies of its likely impact . . .
"The drive to raise state and city minimum wages has grown out of frustration with Congress, which has left the federal minimum wage at $5.15 an hour since 1997. At least 22 states have enacted somewhat higher minimum wage laws.
"San Francisco; Albuquerque; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Washington have across-the-board minimum wage ordinances for all but the smallest businesses. Those in San Francisco and Santa Fe have set levels near that in the Chicago bill without driving out retailers, Ms. Bernhardt said.
"Ms. Bernhardt said that large retailers had saturated suburban markets and had powerful incentives to move into urban areas."
Pundit Patrol
* John Kass says the bill is "certainly unconstitutional," though the focus of his column is on the politics of the squabble. (The Illinois Retail Merchants Association says the bill violates equal protection guarantees; the Brennan Center says there is precedent for selective minimum wage requirements.)
* David Roeder, not very convincingly, says the bill reflects union weakness, not strength.
* The Sun-Times editorial page suggests big-box stores game the system and build stores that measure 89,999 square feet. (The new requirements apply to stores that are 90,000 square feet and larger.)
* Our very own Scott Gordon dissects an economic claim made in full-page ads paid for by Wal-Mart and the company's pals.
* Eric Zorn says he came to his position favoring the big-box ordinance late, and still has doubts. He also says the debate demonstrates why council meetings should be televised.
By The Numbers
The New York Times says the big-box ordinance bill will affect 35 stores, including Kmart, Target, Toys "R" Us, Sears, and Lowes.
The Tribune says there are about 40 stores that will be affected, naming Menards, Home Depot, Marshall Field's, and Nordstrom's.
The Sun-Times pegs the number at 38.
Living Large Wage
The City Council voted itself a pay raise.
Meat's a-Cookin'
Chicago advances in the Olympic derby.
Ring Them Bells
Sue Ontiveros of the Sun-Times says the media got the story about new neighbors silencing church bells of St. John Cantius wrong. One of the complainants speaks, too.
Ministry Misery
John Cleese on the effects of his recent hip replacement: "I can't do the silly walk anymore." (via QT)
The Beachwood Tip Line: Pedestrian-friendly.
Posted by Lou at 07:43 AM | Permalink
July 26, 2006
Blow It Up
"I don't think you have to blow this thing up and start all over again."
- Dusty Baker
"To be successful next year, a blowup's not in order."
- Jim Hendry
"We've got a good group of players. We've just got to make a few adjustments."
- Aramis Ramirez
Please. Blow it up. Now.
It may not seem like the Cubs have much to offer on the trade market, but they actually do. Several of their players are worth more now than they will ever be. The value of Michael Barrett, a lousy defensive catcher having a career year at the plate, will never be higher. Trade him. The value of Jacque Jones, having a strong year at the plate but a lousy defensive player, will never be higher. Trade him. Aramis Ramirez, having a relatively mediocre year at the plate and a lousy defensive player, isn't at his highest value, but could be worth something in a trade. So trade him. Greg Maddux will never be worth more for the remainder of his career. Trade him. Juan Pierre will be a free agent at the end of the year. Trade him unless he is the centerfielder of the future. In which case, trade Felix Pie. Dump Neifi Perez and Todd Walker. Stock the team with young prospects in return. Sign a couple free agents in the off-season. That's how you get back to contending.
*
Jim Hendry continues to evaluate Dusty Baker, but Jim Hendry and Andy MacPhail seem safe from accountability. Don't forget: Hendry was in charge of Cubs scouting from 1995 to 2000. Then he became assistant GM under Andy MacPhail. If the problem is the organization, that means Hendry and MacPhail.
*
Jim Hendry complaining that the media misconstrued his remarks about evaluating Dusty Baker over the All-Star break:
"My stance hasn't changed. Despite what people have written or said that I had a so-called deadline -- I don't have a time frame. And if I don't have a timeframe, how can someone else have one?
"In the end, I will make a decision. That hasn't changed. I will do what I feel is in the best interest in the Cubs."
"It's something you do every year after the first half," Hendry said.
What Hendry said on July 5, according to the Sun-Times:
"You certainly want to give us a chance to see if we can make a run here before the break,'' Hendry said about the five games left before the All-Star Game. "See if we can do well the rest of the week. I'll spend a lot of time over the break not just with the way the situation is, but with your own players. I'll sit back and reflect on the first half.
"You are getting ready to go into a month where you have to evaluate what you have. It's one of those [things] where you want to give everyone a fair chance to succeed. I'll continue the process of evaluating the whole situation on a daily basis. When you are 20 games-plus under .500, I'm evaluating everything, all situations.''
*
Early in his Cubs presidency, according to George Castle of the Northwest Indiana Times, Andy MacPhail said, "It's a failing of the front office when you fire a manager." So they don't want to admit ailure?
*
The MacPhail quote is included in an interview Castle did with Dusty Baker, in which Baker's religiosity made him sound a bit like George W. Bush believing God put him in the presidency for a reason.
Excerpts:
The Times: The Cubs' losing syndrome seems like a tiger that can't be tamed. Can it ever be tamed?
Baker: I think so. Nobody ever thought Boston could be tamed. Everything can be tamed. Just because everything has been gobbled up here, you don't quit throwing stuff at it. Sooner of later, you're going to throw stuff and throw stuff, and he won't be to gobble 'em up. Then you'll be able to tame him and ride him.
The Times: Do you still believe you can be that tiger-tamer?
Baker: I hope so. That's why I came here. I still believe that's why I was sent here.
The Times: Do you think you're being unfairly blamed - even crucified - for the Cubs' problems?
Baker: Ever since I've been here, most things that have happened adversely, my name seems to come up one way or another, whether I've had anything to do with it or not. But most of the time, stuff is thrown at the strong, stuff is thrown at those who believe more than those who don't believe. People try to bring those who believe down to not believe. I refuse to let it happen no matter what people feel. "Ever since I've been here, most things that have happened adversely, my name seems to come up one way or another, whether I've had anything to do with it or not. But most of the time, stuff is thrown at the strong, stuff is thrown at those who believe more than those who don't believe. People try to bring those who believe down to not believe. I refuse to let it happen no matter what people feel.
*
The [Patterson] Papers
"Hendry said Patterson was mislabeled as a leadoff man, while Patterson viewed himself as a power hitter who should be batting fifth or sixth. That led to internal conflicts.
- Sun-Times, July 5
It was Dusty Baker who insisted on batting Patterson leadoff, instead of the six-hole where he has had the most success.
"He's being Corey and not trying to be somebody he isn't, what they wanted him to be in Chicago," says La Troy Hawkins.
During a recent Braves broadcast, former Cubs announcer Chip Caray said that while in Chicago, Corey Patterson was "chasing the ghost of Lou Brock. Too many people in Chicago wanted him to be the next Lou Brock, instead of the first Corey Patterson."
It was Dusty Baker who said Patterson could be the next Lou Brock.
"Part of Patterson's frustration with the Cubs was the overabundance of advice he received. In Baltimore, he has worked exclusively with hitting coach Terry Crowley, who said Patterson has been very receptive."
"They're all positive here and upbeat," Patterson says.
*
The difference between the real winning manager and the real losing manager was clear after the Cubs' 15-11 victory over the White Sox:
"It was a great game to watch, a great game to manage."
- Dusty Baker
"It was an ugly game. Ugly on both sides."
- Ozzie Guillen
*
More July tidbits.
* "A new victim will come in with high hopes, plenty of energy and a fail safe plan to revive a franchise with no direction, no future, and no accontability."
- The Tribune's Paul Sullivan on the next Cubs manager
* They never learn. "Agent Mark Rodgers' deals with two Cubs draft picks have caused some commotion in the baseball world," Sullivan reported in early July. "Rodgers represented 11th- round pick Chris Huseby, who will receive a $1.3 million signing bonus despite being the 329th player selected. Last year, the lowest- picked player with a $1 million or more bonus was the 33rd pick. The right-handed high school pitcher out of Palm City, Fla., spent the last year recovering from elbow surgery.
"Rodgers told teams Huseby would attend Auburn unless he received first-round money. The Cubs' first-round pick, outfielder Tyler Colvin, received a $1.45 million bonus. General manager Jim Hendry declined to discuss Huseby's deal, which will be done by Wednesday.
"Rodgers was also an adviser to Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija, who signed for a $250,000 bonus after reports surfaced he was to receive a $7.25 million conditional deal, back-loaded over five years, if he gave up football for baseball.
"The Cubs believe Samardzija would've been a first-round pick if he wasn't expected to play in the NFL, and Huseby would've been a first-rounder if not for the elbow surgery."
* "This is the team they penciled in, the other seven, eight guys. For the most part, this is the team they penciled in for this year."
- Steve Stone on The Score, rebutting the idea that Baker hasn't had "his team" because of injuries
COMMENT: If the Cubs have more injuries next year, does Dusty get to keep his job again until that one magical year when not a single player goes on the DL?
* "I look at this and I see the Cubs in '03, first place; '04, third place; '05, fourth place; '06, fifth place. The trend of this team is not where you want to see it. It's straight down," Stone says. "Accountability is something that everybody has to have, whatever business they're in."
* "The last three-plus years, the Tribune Company has spent more money on this baseball team than they ever dreamed. They've spent enough o win. For $98 million, we should be able to assemble a winner. There's some changes that have to be made."
* Stone compares Dusty's record to other managers in other organizations and it's clear Dusty has been given a long lease on life.
* Stone also points out that the Cubs are terrible in one-run games, which is "not a coincidence," and in a later show points to the Cubs heading toward historic back-to-back losing home records.
* "We're seeing the same things we saw from 2004 and 2005," Stone says. "Missed cutoff men, a lack of bunting, hitting behind runner, baserunning mistakes . . . different players, same problems."
* Stone loves the job Joe Girardi is doing in Florida with a $14 million payroll. Joe Girardi, the guy the Cubs didn't hire.
Posted by Lou at 07:25 PM | Permalink
Big Box of Nonsense: Wal-Mart's Imaginary Billions
Don't worry, House of Smiley. Be happy.
You're not as bad off as you think.
Yes, the Chicago City Council voted Wednesday on a living wage proposal that will require "big-box" retailers such as yourself to pay workers more than you are used to.
But you're still in pretty good shape - surely up to absorbing Chicago's new rules and still make gobs of money. And same to you, Chicago - unless you believe Wal-Mart's propaganda. Those full-page newspaper ads desperately asking, "Would You Turn Down $6.5 billion?" don't really add up.
The figure comes from an independent estimate cited in a 2004 Crain's Chicago Business article that says: "Chicago consumers spend $6.5 billion a year on goods outside the city's borders -meaning the city is losing out on tens of millions of dollars a year in sales tax revenue."
Big-box stores account for a significant chunk of that spending, but certainly not all of it. So on the face of it, the number is nonsense.
In fact, the same story cites a company estimate that "Chicago residents spend $500 million a year at Wal-Mart's 35 suburban Chicago stores."
Of course, Wal-Mart is not the only big-box out there. So let's do a little experiment. Let's say the big-box ordinance had failed, and Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target and the rest of 'em sought to soak up that entire $6.5 billion city dwellers are spending in the suburbs. Let's also say that Wal-Mart's $500 million from its 35 suburban stores is a good measure of typical big-box performance. [Update/clarity caveat: remember, that's $500 million from Chicago consumer spending, not all spending at those stores.] It doesn't take an economist to see that the numbers don't add up. To get to $6.5 billion, the following would have to happen:
* Big-box retailers would have to cram 455 more stores into Chicago. Do the math: $500 million is one-thirteenth of $6.5 billion. Thirty-five multiplied by 13 equals 455. This, of course, assumes that . . .
* The city would have to have several square miles of large, open parcels of land on which to build all these new stores. Wal-Mart's square footage per store is growing. According to the proposed ordinance, the smallest big-box stores take up 90,000 square feet. Wal-Mart's suburban stores often run larger. Assuming all 455 stores are itty-bitty big-boxes, we're looking at 40,950,000 square feet, which converts to 1.5 square miles. If they tend more to the size of the 145,000 square-foot Wal-Mart already approved for the Austin neighborhood, that'll be 65,975,000 square feet, or about 2.4 square miles. (To be fair, the smallest U.S. Wal-Mart I could find takes up only 40,000 square feet, but according to CNN, supercenters - the ones that Wal-Mart would presumably have to build here to provide a significant amount of affordable groceries - usually top 100,000 square feet.)
* Chicagoans would have to stop going to suburban big-box stores entirely. Would residents of Rogers Park abandon the Target on the Evanston side of Howard Street? And the Home Depot on Oakton Street in Evanston? Would residents of the Southwest Side stop going to the Evergreen Park Wal-Mart?
* Poor city dwellers would have to match the spending power of suburban shoppers. No doubt, well-placed Wal-Marts could greatly benefit poor Chicagoans who don't have access to major pharmacies and affordable groceries. But would spending at inner city Wal-Marts be comparable to spending their suburban counterparts?
* Poor city dwellers would have to match their wealthier counterparts' transportation and hauling ability. Wal-Mart has threatened to run shuttle buses between the city and suburban stores. Even if Wal-Mart does open more stores in the city, this might be a good idea for poor people who don't have cars.
* The growth of suburban markets and the decline of urban markets would have to slow or reverse. While Chicago has stemmed its population loss, the long-term trend shows more people ditching the city for the suburbs and exurbs, which are the real big-box stomping grounds anyway. Suburban revenues are only going to grow, regardless of what the city does.
The City Council has made a controversial decision that may or may not end up costing the city jobs and tax revenue. But either way, it wasn't a $6.5 billion decision, as advertised. Not even close.
Posted by Lou at 05:15 PM | Permalink
The [Wednesday] Papers
The City Council's vote today on the proposed Big Box ordinance that would establish a separate, higher minimum wage for large retailers such as Wal-Mart is going down to the wire - the margin could be as slim as last night's one-run victory by the Twins over the White Sox.
While pro-ordinance forces still hold an advantage, according to today's media reports, Mayor Daley is twisting arms, and given the nature of our aldermen, it wouldn't be surprising for a few to say Uncle, especially in return for, say, some extra street paving in their wards.
The question from the mayor's point-of-view is whether he's too late. If the ordinance passes, the Sun-Times's Fran Spielman writes, the mayor and the business community will only have themselves to blame.
"The business community didn't wake up fast enough," Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper told Spielman. "Over the years, the City Council has been somewhat pro-business. We've always known the mayor was there to be a bridge. We let the mayor down. We didn't recognize early enough - two years ago - that this was an issue we should have engaged on."
Roper diplomatically refused to lay any blame at the feet of the mayor. Spielman, however, reports that the mayor was "asleep at the switch."
"Distracted by corruption scandals and disengaged from recent City Council action, Daley waited too long to jump with both feet into the big-box debate," Spielman writes.
Not to worry though, Wal-Mart. If the ordinance passes, just consider the higher wages you will be forced to pay a corruption tax. You can probably make up for it with sweetheart contract for a kiosk at O'Hare.
Crafty Comparison
While the Chicago City Council debates the Big Box ordinance, area suburbs have put out the welcome mat for Wal-Mart, the Tribune notes. The paper fails to report, however, what wages suburban Wal-Marts are offering, or what the difference in living costs are for workers in, say, Round Lake Beach, which is about to get its second Wal-Mart, versus Chicago.
Pundit Patrol
* Carol Marin favors the Big Box ordinance - and a raise for aldermen. With a caveat.
* Eric Zorn and Cindy Richards think Wal-Mart is bluffing.
* Mary Mitchell thinks the ordinance makes poor blacks sacrificial lambs in a union fight.
Burning Burns
The Sun-Times sticks it to Channel 2's Diann Burns on its front page today for asking a Cook County judge to seal from the public large portions of her lawsuit alleging that contractors did a lousy job building her $3 million Lincoln Park home because she is black.
But the paper makes a huge goof of its own in its accompanying story.
"As a journalist, WBBM-Channel 2 anchor Diann Burns regularly delves into the private lives of others, but she wants her own private life off limits," the paper says.
Since when is Diann Burns a journalist?
Princess Di
At $2 million a year, Burns is the city's highest-paid teleprompter reader.
Political Whines
Rick Kaempfer's got nine of 'em.
Gekko Goof
"Geico Dumps Gecko For Minor Celebs."
I'm not happy about this.
Extra Sausage
The Milwaukee Brewers are adding a chorizo to their sausage races.
It might look like this.
Housing Hitches
* Is it necessarily bad news when home prices fall? Or does it mean that more homes are becoming affordable to more people?
* The CHA plans to raze the Lathrop Homes. Will a mixed-income community really replace it?
Lobotomy
A Beachwood reader suggests that a story this week in which a modeling agency executive and a plastic surgeon reviewed photos of Chicago CEOs to evaluate "the look of power" demonstrates "the depths that Crain's has sunken to."
Traitor Joe's
I spread my grocery shopping around. I get my Diet Mountain Dew and Hostess products at the corner Walgreen's. I get my coffee, apple fritter, and occasional tuna sandwich and pre-packaged sushi (much to the horror of friends and acquaintances) at the 7-11. And I split the big stuff between Whole Foods and Jewel.
I've been a Whole Foods shopper for years, in fact.
But I've also heard a lot in the last year about Trader Joe's as an alternative to Whole Foods.
I finally shopped at a Trader Joe's recently, and my skepticism was confirmed.
First, nothing was where it was supposed to be!
So I admit I am a creature of habit.
Beyond that, though, I didn't find the prices much different from those at Whole Foods, I was put off by the whole Hawaiian shirt thing, and the selection seemed awfully narrow. Where was the rest of the store, I wondered?
The rivalry between the stores is real, though, particularly as Trader Joe's gains momentum.
The New York Times recently surveyed food prices at a Whole Foods, Food Emporium, Trader Joe's and Walgreen's near Union Square in Manhattan.
"In several cases," the paper reports, "Whole Foods' prices were, in fact, the lowest. An 8-ounce package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese was $1.99 at Whole Foods, compared with $2.19 at Walgreen's and $2.99 at the Food Emporium. A 15-ounce box of Kashi Crunch cereal was $2.49 at Whole Foods, compared with $2.69 at Trader Joe's and $3.49 at Food Emporium.
"Despite its reputation as a higher-priced alternative, Whole Foods frequently matched the prices at Trader Joe's, which, since it arrived in Union Square in March, has often attracted a line of customers outside its store waiting, up to 20 minutes, to join the line inside."
I found another comparison here.
Whole Foods is also battling critics over just what constitutes organic food. You can find an exchange between Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey and University of California-Berkeley journalism professor and author Michael Pollan here.
Finally, don't be fooled. Trader Joe's is Aldi.
The Beachwood Tip Line: A different kind of Big Box.
Posted by Lou at 08:45 AM | Permalink
July 25, 2006
The [Tuesday] Papers
The Sun-Times oddly shows little interest in the shameful aldermanic pay raise that now looks like a done deal, pushing it to page 11, but the Tribune (admirably) goes to town on its front page this morning with wit and verve:
No rational person believes the Chicago City Council deserves a pay raise, but unfortunately the City Council is populated by Chicago aldermen, not rational people, and in an affront to the just order of things, as set out by ancient Biblical law, the Enlightment, and the laws of physics, they get to decide their own salaries.
This doesn't happen in a two-party town, but there you go. This aldermanic pay raise is brought to you by the same people who brought you Todd Stroger, Dan Lipinski, the Hired Truck scandal and massively fraudulent hiring at City Hall.
Had enough?
It's true that the compromise measure linking the pay raises to the cost of living is better than the original proposal that would have awarded aldermen annual increases of $5,000 over four years, apparently to be delivered to aldermen's homes in brown paper sacks. But then that proposal was just an opening bid. The aldermen have still snookered you.
"I know that I work very, very hard," says Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th).
"We work very hard," says Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) .
"If I stay in my office till 10 o'clock at night, my phone rings at 10 o'clock at night, because people know that we are going to try to do what we are supposed to do to help them," says Ald. Ed Smith (28th).
Well, would you take some time off if we paid you less? Please?
Or, can we pay you more to just sort of stay away, take some long vacations?
I'm sure many aldermen work very hard on constituent service, but they are aldermen, not ward superintendents. Those duties can be delegated. Where the City Council doesn't work hard is in its role as a legislative branch confronting the major issues facing the city, and as a watchdog on the executive branch.
On that count, the City Council deserves to have their pay docked, but unfortunately they have the power to judge their own job performance, declare it worthy, and dip into your pocket to push their pay into six figures.
Perhaps voters should determine aldermanic salaries in referenda every four years. I don't mean the old cliche about elections, I mean actually putting salary figures on the ballot. Why not? It would be like a job review. Just like, as the mayor and his minions like to say, private industry.
Or the pay of aldermen (and the mayor) could mirror the median income of Chicagoans. That would put them in a real constituent-oriented frame of mind. A Tribune graph this morning shows that in 1980, the median family income in Chicago was $18,776, while the salary of an alderman was $24,075. In 2004, the last year for which the paper had figures, the median family income was $47,186, while the 2006 salary of an alderman is $98,125.
"On average, Chicagoans per capita are paying nearly three times what residents of New York and Los Angeles are for the salaries of their public servants, noted Lisa Valentine, vice president and director of research for the Civic Federation, a local budget watchdog," the Tribune reports. "'It begs the question, are the Chicago ward constituents getting three times better representation, three times better services, and more efficiencies?'"
Big Box Blues
I'm experiencing a bit of clever deficit this morning, so I haven't come up with a witty way to link the aldermanic pay raise to the proposed ordinance before the City Council that would set a higher minimum wage for Big Box stores like Wal-Mart. But I would like to exchange the City Council for any 50 Wal-Mart workers and see if we're any worse off.
The truth is, I'm torn about the Big Box ordinance. I'd like the Wal-Marts of the world to pay their workers higher wages - even if it meant slight price increases, because I believe a high-wage economy is not only stronger than a low-cost economy, but also the only path to economic growth. But I'm not sure the approach of the City Council is the right one. I believe government has every right, even a duty, to enforce a minimum wage and other labor laws, but to start determining wage rules for particular sectors of the economy makes me uncomfortable.
But not as uncomfortable as the mayor and a coalition of black ministers joining Wal-Mart to make this a racial issue. To paraphrase Kanye West, Wal-Mart doesn't care about black people. I don't think they care about poor white people, either, but I most definitely don't think they care about black people.
"Meanwhile, residents of the Harold Ickes Homes on the city's South Side said organizers opposing the ordinance tricked them last week into attending a rally of about 1,200 people, heavily covered by the media, by saying that jobs at Wal-Mart awaited them there," the Tribune reports.
"'They said we were going to get some jobs, and when we got there, it was just a bunch of bullcrap,' said Cheryl Brown, 24. 'All they did was talk about how they were going to bring Wal-Mart to Chicago. People were mad.'"
Red Rod
"Customers will be able to take home unfinished bottles of wine from restaurants under a new law signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Monday."
I take back (almost) every bad thing I've ever said about the governor.
Mancow Madness
Chicago Tonight is adding Mancow Muller as a commentator, apparently not bothered by the fact that he has admitted parts of his memoir were fabricated, that he lied to reporters about his age for years, and that he is prone to bold, hyperbolic statements whose veracity disintegrates with time and scrutiny.
MyPaper
The Tribune discovers MySpace. Ditches story about Friendster.
Think Pink
Customer feedback for the CTA.
Sammy Sighting
"On Feb. 2, 2005, the Cubs traded Sosa to the Orioles. He had slumped to .253 in an injury-plagued 2004 but still hit 35 homers. 'I hit 35 home runs, and that was like I was hitting 10. They probably know what [35 homers] means now."
- "Sosa Can't Believe He's Not A 'Hero,'" Tribune
The Beachwood Tip Line: Goes best with red.
Posted by Lou at 08:13 AM | Permalink
July 24, 2006
The [Monday] Papers
1. The Tribune blows it in its big front-page profile of mayoral press secretary Jackie Heard, in The [Sunday] Papers.
2. "Call To Limit Cases Amuses Public Defenders."
3. "Bush 'Signing Statements' Deemed Unconstitutional."
The rest of his administration to follow.
4. "Some big American cities are flourishing as at no time in recent memory. Places like New York and San Francisco appear to be richer and more dazzling than ever: crime remains low, new arrivals pour in, neighborhoods have risen from the dead," The New York Times reports in "Cities Shed Middle Class, And Are Richer And Poorer For It."
"[T]he rich pour into what some economists now call 'superstar cities,' places like New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston and Washington."
Boy the mayor's been busy.
5. "I'm a Realtor, so I understand a thing or two about the good and bad sides of 'neighborhood changes.' And I am SO, SO SICK of yuppie types who want to move into a 'charming old ethnic neighborhood' because of its 'local color' and 'urban feel' - then, five minutes after unpacking, start agitating for removal of precisely the qualities that gives the area in question is 'charm' and 'feel'! Gosh darn, those ethnic businesses are so full of ethnics! And the churches have the audacity to announce themselves with their bells! (I won't even begin to go into the history of the significance of church bells here.)
"And how many folks who grew up in Chicagoland, and think of Western Avenue as Car Lot Central, know about how 'gentrification' is causing the removal of the bread-and-butter economic underpinnings of that street and the neighborhoods it goes through? How naive I was a few years ago when a couple of clients, checking out a new condo development, asked me, 'So when is that car dealership next door going to leave?' I told them, in effect, that Western Ave. has historically been zoned for car sales and they should learn to live with it. Silly me - never underestimate the power of newbies-with-money to petition for removal of a long-standing local business! Within a couple of years after completion of the condo project, the car store was gone and replaced with a 'Build to Suit' vacant lot!"
6."I've got nothing against Britney, I just didn't understand why she would choose to do a song like "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" when rock doesn't even touch her life in any aspect."
- Joan Jett, in an interview with the Sun-Times's Jim DeRogatis
7. Don Rose's "No Way Daley Was Clueless This Time" is not about the police torture of black suspects that occurred while Daley was the Cook County State's Attorney, but about the mayor's illegal patronage machine. But with renewed attention on Daley's two terms as the state's attorney, you have to wonder what he did with his time over there. The special prosecutors who issued the Burge report last week let Daley off-the-hook for not following up on allegations of police torture in part because he was a delegator. Rose notes that Daley "was shocked and angered to learn that the Duff fmaily, who threw parties for him and donated heavily to his campaigns, was running multiple financial scams on the city. Amazingly, though he was state's attorney for nearly a decade, he didn't know those same Duffs were prominently connected to the mob."
8. "Every four years we hear from politicians from both parties about how they want to be our friends," said Vietnam veteran Donald Smithenry of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Illinois. "I think it is lip service on both sides. Politicians tell us what we want to hear."
9. Jon Yates's piece on Sunday about his "What's Your Problem?" column notes that customer service columns are nothing new for newspapers, reaching back into the past to cite the Action Line that ran in the Tribune in the 70s, but failed to acknowledge current-day The Fixer that runs in the Sun-Times.
10. Amtrak ridership at record levels. Who knew?
11. Gov. Baloneyvich.
12. Media as business watchdogs.
The Beachwood Tip Line: Mmmm, baloney . . .
Posted by Lou at 11:58 AM | Permalink
The [Sunday] Papers
The Tribune on Sunday managed to publish a 3,000-word front page profile of Jacquelyn Heard, longtime press secretary to Mayor Richard M. Daley, without answering (or apparently even asking) the key questions such a story would raise.
The paper chose to focus on Heard's rise from the Henry Horner Homes on the West Side to mayoral confidante - with a stop as a Chicago Tribune reporter - instead of examining her role in shaping Daley's media strategy and the ways she manipulates the press to control what the public knows.
Heard's personal story isn't uninteresting, but it's also not unfamiliar.
What makes Heard a compelling profile subject at the moment is that the mayor is drowning in a sea of bad news, from the conviction of his former patronage chief and three other aides for their role in fradulent city hiring schemes designed to further the mayor's political machine, to festering questions surrounding his inaction toward police torture allegations while he was Cook County state's attorney.
Then again, this mayor is always in the midst of one scandal or another. Heard is the one who helps him navigate the resulting coverage, and just how she does that is the central question any profile of her should seek to answer.
On that count, the Tribune fails miserably.
The paper notes that recent events have "put a premium on damage control and image preservation," but does not explain just how Heard has gone about either (much less ask how a former newspaper reporter feels about participating in the deceit implicit in those tasks.)
Reporters Bob Secter and Gary Washburn do write that "Favorable stories are selectively planted with pliant media outlets, while press attempts to obtain information that could prove unflattering to the administration can be stonewalled."
No examples are given, however, and the sentence is tucked in between approving descriptions of Heard as an unflappable mayoral counselor who keeps her contributions to policy decisions to herself (and thus we never learn what they are) and how she is a "classic working parent."
There is no evidence, for example, that the Tribune asked Heard about her recent refusal to pass along to the mayor written questions from Sun-Times reporters regarding the Roti family, whose extended ties to city business (and organized crime) earned them the moniker The First Family of Clout in a recent Sun-Times series.
Heard told Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin that the questions were too "insulting" and "upsetting" to give to the mayor.
Maybe the Tribune didn't want to get into the Sun-Times's business. But then, it could have asked about