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August 31, 2006

Booklist: The Last 10 Books I Read And Why

1. Heart of a Dog/Mikhail Bulgakov
Bulgakov was one of the Soviet Union's most banned writers, but largely because the Soviet leadership had no freaking clue what he was talking about rather than for specific political reasons, though his work was highly politicized. I'm reading it because my boyfriend bought me a copy.

2. Summerland/Michael Chabon
This one's a re-read for me. I really love Michael Chabon. He writes about topics I love (comics, baseball), and he's terrific at drawing you into his story and making you part of it. Granted, this is what "they" might call a "young adult" novel, but screw genre, it's just a great story all-around. Who can't relate to having been embarrassed by their parents or being awkward at sports or having weird friends or being really pissed off when your favorite nature spot becomes a victim of environmental degradation? Things like that transcend genre, and make a story for kids a book for everyone.

3. The Sandman Graphic Novels I-III/Neil Gaiman
Another re-read. I was about to loan them out to a friend, but before I did I felt compelled to dive back into the ground-breaking comics series that changed my perceptions about, well, a whole lot of things. Most importantly, they helped me understand that books with pictures didn't have to be left behind in childhood.

4. Bangkok 8/John Burdett
They say if you really want to understand a culture, you have to immerse yourself in it. In this fictional crime novel, you get as close as you possibly can get to Bangkok without actually moving there. Burdett lived in Thailand for some time, and he understands Bangkok in a way I imagine few Westerners do. I grabbed it off an editor's shelf a few years ago and it's been sitting around my place ever since - he wasn't interested in having a review of it done, but man, did his readers miss out on hearing about a smart, meaningful look into the very alien culture of Bangkok.

5. The Complete Strand Facsimile Edition Sherlock Holmes (with illustrations)/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I actually bought this at 221B Baker Street - how cheesy is that? But man, do I ever love Sherlock Holmes. This book is massive, which is a plus. Even if you are a fast reader like I am, it takes some time to get through; it includes all the stories. The illustrations are great, too. Holmes has been through the Hollywood (and BBC) treatment so many times, it's a genuine pleasure to see him presented as he was originally imagined to be. The stories make for a great history lesson as well, as London changes with the years. The only stories that shouldn't quite have made the cut are those narrated by Holmes himself - Watson's observations add a flavor and color that Holmes, with his utter disregard for the human element, is unable to convey.

6. The Dark is Rising Sequence/Susan Cooper
These books (there are five) are not new - the first was published in the late Sixties and the series ended in the Seventies. But they were my favorite childhood books, and I re-read them at least once a year, if not more. They're my alternative to eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's and watching a COPS marathon. When I need to, I can curl up with Cooper's books and immerse myself in the battle between the Light and the Dark, and the rest of the world can go to hell.

7. Captain's Courageous/Rudyard Kipling
I wanted to read Kim, actually, but the person I was borrowing from only had this particular Kipling novel. I remember not really "getting" The Jungle Books as a kid, but that's probably because I was trying to read them too young - I'd be willing to bet they'd go down more easily now. As for C.C., well, it's not all that. It's pretty implausible, and pretty predictable, and the only thing it really has going for it is the dialect of the fishermen, which is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Newfoundlanders' in The Shipping News, which is a great book. Lesson learned? Just because a book is considered a classic doesn't mean it's worth your time.

8. Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants/Robert Sullivan
I picked up this little gem at Hyde Park Books and it was fascinating as hell, in a really grotesque way. I once owned a pet rat, Barnabas, may he rest in peace, but about two paragraphs into Sullivan's book it was pretty clear that his rats - New York's finest - were nothing like the domesticated rat you can get at any pet store. I have to admit Sullivan is probably on the slightly insane side - sitting in a lawn chair staring down an alley in New York observing a colony of rats for months at a time definitely indicates some kind of mental aberration. But his prose is enjoyable, and his rat lore is undeniably amazing. You have to hand it to the nasty little buggers . . . they really know how to live.

9. Wolf Boy/Evan Kuhlman
I never would have picked up this book on my own, but I got paid to review it. I was set to hate it - a novel that incorporated comic book elements? Talk about jumping on the bandwagon, and a few years late, at that. But no matter how hard I tried not to like it, I couldn't help finding it a beautiful, transcendent, fantastic novel. Bonus points for being set in downstate Illinois and for excellent early '90s cultural references.

10. The Letter Home/Timothy Decker
This is written as a children's book, as a letter to a little boy from his father, a World War I medic. It's gently written, and drawn in pen-and-ink with gorgeous yet simple detail. It makes no judgments about right and wrong, but is a quiet, contemplative book. I've shared it with friends, and it generally elicits appreciative silence, then intelligent discussion. How did this book find its way to me? From first grade through early college, Tim Decker was one of my closest pals. We lit GI Joes on fire and dropped them with parachutes from his window. We acted in high school musicals, got into philosophical debates that nearly turned into fisticuffs, and were part of the same pack of misfits and no-goodniks at school. I haven't spoken word one to him in more than a decade, but I'm pleased to see he's evolved into an artistic genius.

Posted by Lou at 08:52 PM | Permalink

Life at Work

Aug 28 - Sept 1, 2006

THURSDAY -

Sometimes you think you've gotten a lucky break. Your boss is out of the office and you're not expecting him or her back anytime soon. It's the beginning of a long weekend, and things are winding down. You've got time on your hands. You can catch up on your instant messaging, surf the Web, go for a walk around the block and get some fresh air.

It's inevitable that at the very moment you're about to do something you know someone higher up wouldn't approve of, the phone rings. It's the boss, wanting to know how that project you finished an hour ago is coming along. And you make the fatal mistake of saying you're just finishing it up.You'll come to regret this more than you can imagine when you hear what he has to say next.

"Alright, great, let's get started on a new project!"

A new project? A mere four hours before you go on a four-day vacation? This isn't a time for new projects! This is a time for goofing off! A time for finding out how far you really can shoot a paper clip with a rubber band. (I'm pretty sure I can get it into a coworker I'll call "Jay"'s office from my work station, but I haven't tested my theory yet.)

The bad news is, it's not one, but two new projects, and he's swinging by in about an hour to see how things are coming. Damn. Way to screw up a perfectly good waste of an afternoon.

Oh well, guess I've got work to do. This is J. Bird, signing off 'til Tuesday. May every god that ever existed bless those who thought the Working Man needed a holiday, and thanks to the bosses who think the holiday weekend is a little too short and extend it by a day. We in the working world are willing to overlook a fair amount of shit in exchange for a freebie holiday.

WEDNESDAY -

I talk a lot, via an instant messaging program, with a great college buddy of mine who lives in Athens, Greece. We both spend a lot of time trashing U.S. policies and figuring out how to save the world. We're both real diplomatic geniuses, of course, and none of the terrible shit that's going on these days would be happening if we were in charge. It's kind of nice to talk to someone European who doesn't hate me for being American, and who knows that there are quite a few Americans out here who aren't very happy with the direction things are going. Plus, he shares my thoughts with his friends, so word gets around that we're not all evil and we don't all love Bush. Have you ever seen that bumper sticker that says "I love my country, but I think we should start seeing other people..."? I think that says it all.

So what's this got to do with work, you're wondering? Well, a lot. Prior to my current position, I worked in the North Suburbs, which wasn't much different than my job before that, directing a very nice preschool in a tiny little Southern town. Cultural diversity? Zip.

I live in a neighborhood that's certainly diverse, to the point that I'm a minority. But it wasn't until I came to work downtown that I came to appreciate what Chicago really has going for it, something that I kind of doubt Athens does.

It was on the Blue Line that I first noticed. People here really are from everywhere imaginable. And, on the train at least, they're crushed together, into a curious hodge-podge of representatives of every inhabited continent, and even the most far-flung countries.

Outside the Daley Center, in the summer, there are weekly festivals celebrating various cultures, where people from all over the world get to show off their wares, offer their foods for sale, and let their fellow Chicagoans see a taste of what their homeland is like. Ok, sure I thought Mongolian Week was a little excessive, what with the people in Ghengis Khan gear and all the tiny huts. But that's just me and my sense of the absurd.

In my office itself, there are professionals representing different races, different cultures, different religions. We ride the elevator together, we gripe about the weather together, we commiserate or celebrate about baseball (according to preference), and we huddle together to hear the latest gossip.

On my way home, I like to walk by the Horse and watch the kids sliding down it. If I work late, sometimes there are skateboarders skating down it. The kids are another example of how diverse we are as a city - you see African American kids from the tougher neighborhoods, kids in from the suburbs with their folks, kids from around the globe on tours with their parents, all sliding and playing together. Downtown, right in the heart of the working world, is the best place to find that swirling diversity that makes the city a great place to be.

Of course there are enclaves of hatred, of racism, of intolerance in and around Chicago. But in the swirling kaleidescope of a busy office worker's day, race, color, and creed melt away, and we're all just people, trying to get stuff done.

TUESDAY -

It would be really easy to use this as a forum to gripe about all the lousy crap that happens in an average day. Remember when you were young, in high school, and you were so sure that was the absolute worst time of your life, that it couldn't get any worse, and that things could only look up from there? Ha! Joke was on you, wasn't it? No one told you about neurotic bosses with chaotic mood swings, or office gossip, or that every office manager you would ever encounter would be ten times worse than your worst nightmare of an intrusive in-law. No one mentioned "inter-office memorandums" (always bad news), or dress codes, or that creepy guy you inevitably get stuck alone on the elevator with.

But as much as it makes me feel better to bitch about work, what makes the whole work experience really unique is the crazy, weird, unexpected things that happen every day but tend to get steamrollered by the things that make us miserable.

Take today, for instance. I've gone out for the second time on the same errand, dealt with the same ever-charming civil servants, gotten rained on, and as I'm re-entering my building, it suddenly hits me that there are Good Humor Ice Cream Carts all over the lobby. They've got their umbrellas up, their vendors are in uniform, and all these people, from the back-office jeans-n-tshirts folks to the very top executives are practically jumping up and down with excitement, trying to figure out whether they want the Chocolate Eclair Bar or the Rocket Pop. And it's all free (one per customer, unless you manage to sneak back in line.)

So I get on the elevator with my Chocolate Eclair Bar, and everyone else has their ice cream pops, and a guy from my office is fretting over whether his Oreo Bar is going to mess with his South Beach Diet, and I couldn't help but think, "THIS is what it's all about." Why do we get up before the sun, and drag ourselves out of bed, and leave our lovers and pets so we can toil and sometimes get beaten down and feel like our lives are going nowhere fast? I'll tell you why. So we can eat free Good Humor Bars in the elevator at two o'clock on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. Life doesn't get much sweeter than that.

MONDAY -

Today was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. First, my boss went MIA this morning. No e-mails, no phone calls, no notes. Usually, I have a list of things waiting for me first thing on a Monday. Today? Nothing. My coworker and I recently got titles. She is "Executive Assistant". I am "Personal Assistant". This seems to mean that she gets to answer the phone and sort out what bills need to be paid while I get to be a personal (verbal) punching bag when the boss is in one of his "moods" (every hour-and-a-half or so).

The morning was kind of pleasant, therefore, in an eerie way. The phones weren't ringing, my co-worker, who is usually drowning in work, didn't need a hand, I was caught up on my stuff, and the usual craziness around here had subsided to the point that the sound of the air conditioner was pretty much all I could hear. Around 10:45 I decided enough was enough, or not enough was not enough, and called the boss' cell. He sounded a little weird . . . not his usual manic self. We got cut off in the middle of the conversation, and I expected him to call back, but no dice.

He called me a little after two and gave me an assignment. He appeared at the office about fifteen minutes later. I had a question for him, regarding my project, but instead of answering, he said, "Did you finish that thing I told you to do?" "I'm working on it right now, and . . . "

"Working on it." he muttered, and walked away, into his office, and closed the door.

Then he reappeared, looked at what I'd completed, yelled at me for changing some wording (precisely what I'd had a question about), and wandered out of the office. He disappeared for a good forty minutes, and we were starting to think he might have left, leaving his coat and briefcase behind. This was getting stranger by the minute.

Finally, he showed up again, and I had a chance to go over what I'd been working on. He asked me a question, and before I could even get an answer out, he shook his head and said, "You know, your problem is either that you just don't listen, or you just don't comprehend what you hear. Why the hell would I do what you just said I was going to do? I never told you I was going to do that. So why would you think that?"

Oh great. Time for a beating. And I was worried while he was missing this morning?

This is not a typical day, by any means. By and large, he's a generous, amiable fellow, but when he decides to go on the attack, you'd better get your armor on fast. He figures out what'll bug you the most, and he'll take that line every time. It's like having an annoying cousin as an employer.

Actually, I take what I would consider an abnormal amount of verbal abuse from this man. The strange thing is, I can bring it up, point it out, tell him I think it's inappropriate, and he'll apologize, and attempt to behave like a rational human being for as long as he can possibly manage it. Then it's back to square one. Maybe I'm not the one who doesn't comprehend around here.

Why is it that people with a degree of power over you feel the need to exert it in ways that'll really ruin your day? What is it about running a company that makes you want to squash people like ants? Or do you already have to have the compulsion to squash people in order to run a company? How come people in charge get to make their bad day everyone else's bad day too? I know a lot of companies tell their employees not to bring their problems to work. So why isn't that a two-way street?

Oh well, tomorrow's another day. May it be more normal, and hopefully less painful, than this one.

J. Bird is The Beachwood Reporter's pseudononymous workplace affairs correspondent.

Posted by Lou at 08:23 PM | Permalink

The [Race] Papers

Neil Steinberg, a white guy, recently complained that "Black people prefer to be the sole arbiters of all things racial." (See No. 4)

But it's really white people who want to control the dialogue on race.

For example, the Rev. James Meeks was recently in the news for his use of the "N" word. The white media demanded an explanation - and an apology. The mayor was also offended and weighed in. The same mayor who once reportedly said that Chicago needed a white mayor (aides later clarified that he meant a "wet mayor," though they couldn't explain what that would entail or how it would improve the city).

Maybe people of color should be the sole arbiters of how the "N" word is used. Maybe us white people should stay out of that one; like Germans who aren't allowed to legally form neo-Nazi parties, our ancestors have forfeited certain priveleges for us, regardless of our technical lack of responsibility for historic abuses. Maybe the best way for us white people to recognize and repudiate those abuses is by accepting such sacrifices as having little or no say in who, what, when, and where using the "N" word is acceptable.

But then, neither should white people bow out of discussions of race. A few cases in the last week show just how complicated that can be - and how crucial it is that racial dialogue with enlightened understanding take place.

Doctoring Dusty
The recent revelation in USA Today that Cubs manager Dusty Baker has apparently been receiving racist hate mail has been met with a fair amount of skepticism among the local press. (The latest entry is today's column by the Sun-Times's Jay Mariotti, "Baker's Copout Casts An Unfair Cloak On Cubs.")

The truth is, the local press doesn't seem to know how to handle Baker's frequent - and often misguided - forays into race.

For example, in a follow-up to the USA Today story, the Sun-Times's Carol Slezak wrote in "If These Walls Could Talk . . . " on Sunday, "But contrast the lack of furor about the Cubs' hate mail with the harsh criticism Baker received after remarking three years ago that black and Latino players could withstand high temperatures and hot sun better than white players."

As I wrote in 2003 when Baker made those comments - this is the best link I can provide; nearly three years of Press Box columns for Chicago magazine no longer exist online or in the archives on the magazine's website because, frankly, they just don't care - the local press hardly cared at all. I reviewed the press coverage nationally of Baker's remarks, and if you lived in Chicago you pretty read the least about them, though the Tribune's sports editor, Dan McGrath, reportedly a close friend of Baker's, did write a piece in which he asked, "Whom, exactly, did Baker insult?"

Well, the white McGrath wasn't insulted, though if he was on the team at the time he might have wondered if he received less playing time during heat waves, or if he, as a Tribune Company manager, could have survived making similar remarks about his staff. Of course, anyone aware of the particular physical qualities ascribed to people of color in order to portray them as brutes or rationalize slavery might have been less nonchalant than McGrath. After all, Baker did say "Weren't we brought over because we could take the heat?"

I think that may have offended a few folks.

In any case, just days after the recent hate mail story, Baker pulled another racial boner, as reported by Slezak (after days of discussion on sports talk radio, I'm told). "During a discussion about pitch counts with reporters last week, Baker noted a young Greg Maddux once three 167 pitches in a game," Slezak wrote.

"If I left somebody out there 167 pitches, you guys would have lynched me," Baker said.

Whether Baker simply chose his words poorly or feels perpetually racially aggrieved, the Tribune committed the bigger error.

"Interestingly, you couldn't find Baker's quote about being lynched in the Tribune Co.'s newspaper because editors substituted the word 'criticized' for the word 'lynched.'"

Elliott Harris also addressed the Tribune's editing, in his Quick Hits column today: "As part of the Fox Cubs-Cardinals telecast Saturday, racism was mentioned in discussing manager Dusty Baker, who has brought the topic to the fore in recent days. Interesting, as pointed out by Dan Bernstein and Terry Boers on their WSCR show Friday, how the Tribune chose to alter a Baker comment to read: 'If I left somebody out there for 167 pitches, you'd [criticize] me' rather than 'you'd lynch me' as he actually stated. Let the record show Cubs.com ran the quote unedited. As did the Sun-Times in a story in Sunday's editions. Choosing words is one thing. Choosing words for someone else is quite another."

My guess is the Tribune doesn't know why it edited the word out except out of avoidance of a racial reference, rather than some more sophisticated rationale. Better to play it safe and avoid race than face it head-on.

But given Baker's frequent and recent invocation of race, the Tribune was dullheaded and wrong to make the change. Instead, somebody should have asked Baker about it.

And given the racial ramblings that have come out of Ozzie Guillen's mouth, too, maybe race should be discussed more in the sports (and news) pages, not washed away out of convenience or fear.

Bogus Baker?
The Tribune did follow up the USA Today story with its own examination of Baker's hate mail and the racial environment of the Cubs.

Today, the Tribune came back to the story by way of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"The issue of race was also brought up after Baker told the Post-Dispatch he had been told 'certain people' in Chicago said a USA Today report that he had received racist mail had been 'fabricated,' apparently referring to WSCR-AM," Paul Sullivan wrote.

"'You don't fabricate stuff like that,' Baker said Sunday.

"Baker was then asked if he'd like to show the letters to prove they were legitimate.

"I have,' he said. 'I've shown people. I don't show most of them. Every once in a while. I show some of them.'

"Baker also told the Post-Dispatch his father had once received calls from people alleging they were with the Ku Klux Klan, threatening to burn a cross on his front lawn the day Baker signed his first pro contract.

"Baker said Sunday he has no 'animosity' toward anyone. But is he tired of the race issue?

"'Yeah, but I'm not the one who brought it up,' he replied. 'I've tried to downplay it as much as I could. Other people won't leave it alone."

It's not at all clear that Baker is the one bringing it up. Chicago freelancer Bob Cook writes today on MSNBC.com that "This is not the first time Baker has shared with reporters that he gets racist letters -- that, in fact, Baker has a knack for doing this when it appears his Cubs career is in trouble."

And Baker has acknowledged that he got hate mail in San Francisco, too, just as every manager everywhere gets mail from wackos.

Given, then, Baker's history and the swirling hate mail controversy, it's probably not a good idea to scrub the word "lynching" from a Baker quote.

You get the feeling that the Tribune would just as soon not address race and Dusty Baker. And yet, there it sits, beneath the surface, and occasionally, above the surface too.

Land of Oz
"Guillen called it ''a shame' that Cubs manager Dusty Baker has received racial hate mail, admitting that he has gotten similar e-mails at times."

- Sun-Times

"Guillen said he doesn't read his mail but does look at his e-mail and occasionally gets nasty notes, though he did not characterize them as racist."

- Tribune

White Columnist Club
John Kass, a co-member with Neil Steinberg in the Aggrieved White Man's Club, wrote on Sunday about the new season of Survivor, which will pit four racial groups against each other.

"Civil rights leaders and others who've made careers defining Americans by race are angry over CBS' upcoming Survivor shows. But I can't figure out why," Kass writes at the top of his Sunday column.

I'm sure the white folks who ran the diners, bars, banks, and political organizations in the white South Side neighborhood where Kass grew up never defined Americans by race when he was growing up - and surely still don't.

Neil Neal
Neil Steinberg follows up on his "Black people prefer to be the sole arbiters of all things racial" performance with a weird kowtow to Barack Obama. Obama is right, but that doesn't make it any prettier to watch. It shouldn't be a surprise either, given a previous Steinberg account (as memory serves, I couldn't find it online) of being reduced to a drooling idiot in the accidental presence of Obama at his health club.

On Sunday, Steinberg showed once again that he finds it easier to take shots at people as long as he doesn't have to talk to them. Sort of the Jay Mariotti School of Journalism, though truthfully that's about the least of things I find bothersome about Mariotti.

Steinberg explains that it's dangerous to know your targets, because if you like them you won't rip them.

Well, if you spend time with them you might find they aren't caricatures, but real human beings. You might find, for example, that Jesse Jackson Jr. is a pretty sharp guy, not a bozo as Steinberg once supposed, for example.

But you still have to be able to question and criticize public figures. Knowing them is not befriending them. It's what journalists do. (For example, I would enjoy few things more than a beer with Kass, whom I know a smidgen and always enjoy talking to, even if I think he sometimes warrants criticism; less so Steinberg, but hey, I'm still game.)

Instead, as Steinberg says in the opening to his column on Sunday, he wishes could master the skill of the late Steve Neal, who apparently was able to disappear when an angry pol was looking for him.

(Steinberg's admiration of Neal lacks any awareness or acknowledgement of Neal's reputation among political insiders for pursuing agendas both hidden and obvious; his admiration for Neal's attacks on Sen. Richard Durbin lacks awareness or acknowledgement of just how bizarre, mysterious, generally unwarranted and often false those attacks were. Then again, Steinberg describe how he is now "pals" with Durbin, and has thus put down the Neal attack mantle he once felt compelled to uphold.)

In this case, the pol looking for Steinberg was Barack Obama, unhappy that the columnist had accused the senator of exploiting the African American portion of his racial heritage for political gain.

By Steinberg's telling, Obama brought him to his knees.

"He knows politics, [Obama] says, he knows the give and take. But we're friends, and this is over the line.

"'I'm sorry,' I say, surrendering. 'How can I make it up to you?'"

By kissing my ass in your next column?

After all, we're friends.

Profile in Courage
Finally, some sense talking: Why (mostly white) people who support racial profiling are wrong.

Posted by Lou at 12:46 PM | Permalink

What I Watched Last Night

I was looking for some filler to pass the time between commercials while watching Mythbusters last night when I stumbled upon a little primetime gem called Rock Star: Supernova. Rock and roll may never die, but it just came awfully close.

I think that I have a decent ear for good music, and what I heard last night actually affected my hearing.

For the second time in the month I watched someone butcher "Baba O'Riley." The last time was on America's Got Talent, which is named more after a wish than a conclusion. That performance featured a girl and her violin.

This time it was a mallpunk with eye make-up, tight black jeans, bandanas and chains, and the all-to-familiar spiked Mohawk that has morphed from a cultural signpost of disaffected anarchists to the cute Message: I'm Dangerous!

I never did get this guy's name, but he jumped into the crowd and really got the theatre of 300 or so innocent families vacationing Los Angeles and taking in a show going.

The next act was a girl named Storm Large. Storm took a different route in her destruction of a classic by performing "Helter Skelter." I have never been a fan of anyone covering the Beatles because they rarely can be improved upon. Star declared Helter Skelter "the first punk song ever," perhaps trying to one-up Mohawk Mallpunk, given that The Who has often been (just as wrongly) declared the first punk band ever.

Storm Large asked the crowd if they knew how mosh as I choked down the vomit that was making its way up my esophagus. I kept it down as she bounced around the room without any sense of rhythm whatsoever. Her finale was falling backward into the crowd as she, thankfully, finished the tune. If a genie would have appeared in my apartment last night to grant me just one wish, it would have been for the audience to get out of her way and let her plunge to the floor, and then set upon her with violence, kicking her in the stomach while demanding to know if she knew the meaning of talent.

The third and final act forced me to re-engaged the mute button. It was a painted and pierced girl taking on "Psycho Killer." She had an uncanny ability to miss every note of the musical scale.

Seeing three songs of some musical importance getting thrown about in a blender made me wonder: Is this the death of popular culture? Are we just replacing old culture with refurbished retro culture and creating something merely pseudo-new and pseudo-hip?

For a long time now, the movie industry has feasted on taking good ol' TV shows and ruining them in order to exploit our natural curiosity of these creations for a quick buck. See Dukes of Hazzard and Starsky & Hutch.

Now television is taking good ol' classic rock songs and ruining them, without shame or apology. You couldn't blame kids today seeing these facsimiles and wondering what made the Dukes or the Beatles so great to being with. That's what's so disturbing about the new refurbished pop culture; it's destroying our historic and cultural integrity.

At least the judges on the Rockstar panel are legit: Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and David Bowie. Oh wait. That was in my mind. In reality, the distinguished panelists are Tommy Lee, Jason Newstead, and Gilby Clarke.

See what I mean?

Posted by Lou at 09:39 AM | Permalink

The [Thursday] Papers

Here's a Beachwood Reporter exclusive: Mayor Richard M. Daley is running for re-election.

The Sun-Times and now the Tribune both seem afraid to say it, though they feel confident enough in their sources to publish the fact that Chicago Housing Authority chief executive Terry Peterson is leaving that post to run Daley's campaign - the campaign the papers won't acknowledge exists.

Why won't they acknowledge the existence of a campaign whose manager they are naming?

Because the mayor hasn't told them it's okay to say so.

The mayor traditionally doesn't make his re-election announcements until December. So even if a re-election campaign exists, the papers won't acknowledge it until the mayor holds what historian Daniel Boorstin used to call a "pseudo event" and says so. Even though it's already true.

In other words, the media is waiting for an artificial event to report as true what it knows already exists in reality.

In the meantime, the mayor gets a couple of days of good press to lay out his case for re-election without "officially" being a candidate, like about how courageous he was to selflessly take on the city's schools and public housing against all political consideration, even as he continues to politically exploit the fact that he took on the city's schools and public housing. Without, by the way, anyone questioning what he has done in either realm - or whether he really selflessly took on the city's schools and public housing or had both thrust upon him.

"When I make a decision, I will look for Terry," Daley said yesterday, sidestepping "confirmation" that he is running for re-election.

But the Sun-Times reported on Wednesday that Daley had already chosen Peterson to manage his re-election campaign. In today's paper, a photo caption says "Mayor Daley has chosen Peterson to head his re-election campaign."

In today's story says, "CHA chairwoman Sharon Gist-Gilliam, who will replace Terry Peterson as CEO, made no bones about why Peterson is leaving. 'Terry can't be leading the campaign from this office, so he will go over there and do that and I'll move across the hall to the CEO seat."

So there is a campaign. Yet, the Sun-Times reports in the same story that Daley "insisted he has not decided whether to seek a sixth term, and won't until after the November election," leading the paper to pretend there isn't a campaign even as it reports sideways that there is one.

It's not as if the mayor asked for a correction to the Sun-Times's story on Wednesday. Did the mayor say the paper had gotten its story wrong? Did he say it wasn't true that, as reported on Wednesday, he switched Peterson's assignment only after being convinced that there would be a "seamless transition" at CHA?

The Tribune joined the silliness this morning. In the lead to its story, the paper stated the Daley was "sounding more than ever like a candidate for re-election," leaving open the possibility that he wasn't yet a candidate.

Three paragraphs later, the paper cited City Hall sources in whom it had enough confidence to publish saying that Peterson will serve as Daley's campaign manager.

In what universe is that not confirmation that there is indeed a campaign?

Meanwhile, Peterson says he "has not been asked to take any immediate tasks on [Daley's] behalf." No immediate tasks. Except to resign as head of the CHA.

Or maybe he did that to spend more time with his family.

Mayor Soul Man . . .
. . . is John Kass's new moniker for our main man. Kass also says Peterson's real job "is to pretend to be the campaign manager while mayoral brains Billy Daley, Tim Degnan and Jeremiah Joyce do the plotting."

With rage particularly high among African Americans upset about the recent whitewash of decades of police torture, the mayor also hopes to gain politically by naming an African American as the ostensible campaign manager. Maybe that's why a mayoral aide afraid to use his or her real name told the Sun-Times on Wednesday such a touching tale as how personally close Rich and Terry are, how they go to ballgames together and such. It diverts the skeptical mind that might suspect the existence of the exploitation of race in Chicago politics.

Plamegate Pablum
Sun-Times editorial page editor Steve Huntley attacks Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame in light of the revelation that deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage was Robert Novak's primary source in the column that kicked off the whole brouhaha.

Huntley fails to disclose that he is Novak's editor at the Sun-Times.

He also plays fast and loose with the facts - and with his facile interpretation of events.

Huntley says Plamegate was "fueled by left-wing anger over the Bush Iraq war." The latest Newsweek poll shows 63 percent of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the war. There aren't that many left-wingers in the country, so Huntley's statement is just nonsense. Not only that, but the war was vigrously opposed by many conservatives, including William F. Buckley and George Will, as well as traditional mainstream Republicans such as Brent Scowcroft and, by most accounts, the president's father. It's also news to me that the left-wing is far more concerned with outing CIA agents than the right-wing.

Yet, Huntley states that it was left-wing anger that caused the Bush administration to name Fitzgerald as special prosecutor in the case.

If that's the case, it would be the first and only time that left-wing anger ever forced the Bush administration to do anything. Second, Fitzgerald was named special prosecutor only after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the investigation because of a conflict of interest. That's just a fact.

Huntley then wonders why Fitzgerald's investigation continued for so long when he knew Armitage was a Novak source 31 months ago. Instead of shutting down the investigation, Fitzgerald kept digging, eventually charging Scooter Libby with obstruction of justice and perjury. Huntley apparently doesn't consider that Libby's alleged obstruction extended the investigation. Nor does he mention that presidential henchman Karl Rove was this/close to being similarly indicted.

Instead, Huntley speculates about Fitzgerald's political motives. If there is one person in public service in Illinois who has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to political motives, it is Fitzgerald.

The same can't be said for Huntley.

The Donald
Huntley publishes another press release on his Commentary page today, this one authored by Don Rumsfeld. Because Rumsfeld has so few ways to get his message out.

PR Offensive
In the Tribune today: "U.S. Offers $20 million For Better PR On Iraq" next to "Shootings, Blasts Kill Dozens In Iraq."

The Beachwood Tip Line: Public relations by other means.

Posted by Lou at 08:49 AM | Permalink

August 30, 2006

What I Watched Last Night

It's been a long time coming; Top Gun was on Spike TV last night. This movie defines my existence.

There are so many great moments in the film. There is the bar scene when Goose tells Mav that Iceman's name is Iceman because he flys "ice cold, no mistakes." Or when Hollywood and Mav get in a fight on the tarmac. When Goose gives Charlie "the finger - you know, the bird." My favorite scene, though, is when Mav visits Viper's house and Viper tells Mav that Mav's father was a great pilot.

This film is not all sunshine and smiley faces. Goose dies. I still can't even listen to track 12 on the soundtrack because of that scene. The green dye in the ocean, Pete Mitchell holding his best friend, a helicopter overhead.

I could go on and on about this tremendous piece of motion picture history and the living legends of the actors guild that were in it (Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, Tom Skerritt, Kelly McGillis, Michael Ironside, Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan). Instead, I am here to settle an argument that has raged in bars across the world since this film was released:

Would you rather fly with Mav and Goose or Iceman and Slider?

The answer is simple and it all comes down to Goose's line about Iceman. He flies ice cold, no mistakes. Maverick is the hero in the film and the main character, but he does not win the Top Gun trophy. In the final dogfight scene, Maverick disengages from six bogies and Iceman. "Talk to me, Goose" he says, clutching his old friend's dog tags - tuning out Iceman's calls for help. As Iceman is eluding multiple bogeys and performing "rolling scissor" maneuvers (get the special edition DVD to understand what that means), Mav is talking to ghosts.

This infuriated me the first time I watched Top Gun and still boils my blood. Maverick is no maverick of aviation; rather, he is a product of a fighter pilot father. He was born with his wings on. We never learn how Iceman came through the ranks to become the best naval aviator in the military. And don't forget, "Cougar turned in his wings" in the first scene and that sent Maverick and Goose to Top Gun.

Needless to say, I have spent many hours thinking about this and spent many nights debating it in countless bars over the years. I will not budge on my assertion that Iceman is the better pilot. Mav is just a head case.

Funny how life imitates art.

Posted by Lou at 10:04 AM | Permalink

Cab #1309

Date: August 30, 2006
From: Wicker Park
To: Humboldt Park

The Cab: Neat and clean. I was surprised to see the seatbelts prominently displayed in the back rather than tucked away under the seats. Then the driving began and I understood.

The Driver: He seemed cheerful, but he was talking on a headset cell phone in heavily accented French the entire ride. This might have been the reason he drove as if we were on the Autobahn. It was a Francophone moment.

The Driving: The defining moment of the ride came at the intersection of Western and Augusta. The cabbie suddenly realized he had to make a right and slammed on his brakes in the middle of the intersection, neatly skidding a good ten feet, then swerved back at least 140 degrees in order to make the turn. His speed on Augusta was impressive - I peeked over the plastic partition and clocked him at forty-seven miles an hour. His observation of stop signs and lights was spotty at best.

The turn onto my street was similar to his earlier feat of physics, except that he was saying to the person on the other end of the phone, "Okay, man, talk to you later!" in a jaunty voice (no longer in French). Then he said to me, "Wow, we almost missed Augusta, there, huh?" and laughed like we'd just been on Space Mountain and he still had tickets left to take the ride again.

He seemed unusually pleased to be tipped. But I kinda liked it, too.

Overall rating: 3 extended arms

- ML Van Valkenburgh

Posted by Natasha at 10:01 AM | Permalink

The [Wednesday] Papers

"Chicago Housing Authority Chief Terry Peterson is taking a leave of absence to run Mayor Daley's re-election campaign in the first concrete sign that Daley intends to shake off recent corruption scandals and seek a sixth term, sources said Tuesday," the Sun-Times reports this morning, in a story with a double-decker front page headline reading "FIRST SIGN DALEY WILL RUN AGAIN" and sub-headlined "CHA Chief Taking Leave Of Absence To Head Mayor's Re-Election Campaign."

Can someone explain to me how hiring a campaign manager is only a "sign" that a campaign exists? Is a campaign still in doubt if Peterson is leaving his post to run it?

Seems to me the paper could have run a headline and story declaring that the mayor is running for re-election. But then, maybe that's not the headline the paper's sources want just yet. Spinning out the story of the mayor's re-election effort slowly might get them a series of stories tuned up just the way they want them, instead of putting the mayor in a position where he might receive critical questions about his candidacy.

For example, this way, you get stories with passages like this one:

"Daley made the decision to let Peterson go only after he was assured that there would be a 'seamless transition' with Peterson handing the reins to [CHA board chair Sharon Gist] Gilliam. The two have worked 'hand-in-hand' to dismantle CHA high-rises and replace them with thriving mixed-income communities, a top mayoral aide said."

This wouldn't have made it into my college paper, nor any newspaper or news organization I have worked at in 20 years, except perhaps The Courier in Waterloo, Iowa, where I once spent nine hellish months. Maybe that's why the Sun-Times's reporting often evokes small-town Iowa to me.

First, an aide with the agenda of making the mayor look good peddles the notion that Daley only accepted the campaign manager of his choice after he was assured the CHA would not be harmed by the absence of that man's leadership. What a selfless guy. He was assured of a "seamless transition," because, you know, if changing chief executives at the CHA was anything less than that, the deal was off.

Then we are assured that the mayor and Peterson have worked "hand-in-hand" - because the mayor is a roll-up-his-sleeves-and-git-'er-done kind of guy - in dismantling CHA high-rises and replacing them "with thriving mixed-income communities."

Can someone point me to these thriving mixed-income communities? Provided "mixed-income" doesn't mean the rich and the richer?

Every evaluation of the mayor's "Plan For Transformation" has shown that what has come to pass is just what critics of the plan said would come to pass: CHA residents are largely being shut out of the new communities replacing their old homes, and finding themselves with little or no support in finding adequate housing to move to instead. In particular, the Plan For Transformation is causing a resegregation of former public housing residents in both poor city and poor suburban neighborhoods.

Just because "a top mayoral aide" says otherwise, you don't have to print it.

Not only that, but under what conditions does the Sun-Times grant sources anonymity? I find it's usually when the mayor's people want to issue a press release through City Hall reporter Fran Spielman.

I mean, does "a top mayoral aide" really need anonymity to polish the mayor's apples?

Then there's the "Daley adviser" who asked to remain unnamed for daring to say "Nobody's heard [the mayor] say it, but if you're looking for tangibles, this is as good a sign as ever."

Oh, I get it. That's where Spielman and her editors got the idea that this was a "sign," not actual confirmation that a re-election campaign exists.

The system works - if you're on the mayor's media team,

Daley Dose
"Daley said he expects to be judged on his entire record - not on the hiring abuses for which he has accepted ultimate responsibility," Spielman also wrote, validating a mayoral talking point without thinking for herself.

The "hiring abuses" are not just a trifle; it's very possible the ongoing investigation could lead to racketeering charges that would formally define city government as a criminal enterprise.

Besides that, does anyone really believe the mayor has taken ultimate responsibility? Or was that what he was doing when he endorsed that fundraiser for convicted patronage chief Robert Sorich?

And if the mayor is ultimately responsible for the hiring fraud, won't it be hard for him to run the city from behind bars?

Model A
To see the flip side of Spielman's reporting in the Sun-Times, read the work of Abdon Pallasch, whose work I've long admired. At the end of Pallasch's story this morning about Cook County hiring controversies, he showed why he is one of the city's best reporters.

"A week ago, after being interviewed about the Sun-Times whistleblower story, [Interim county board president Bobbie] Steele removed Stroger's patronage chief, Gerald Nichols, from his office just outside hers, but let him keep his $114,000-a-year salary and an office with duties to be determined.

"Asked Tuesday if Nichols had any role in lining up county jobs held by several of her relatives, Steele said, "No, no no no."

Good question! Whether Steele's answer is truthful remains to be seen, but a question and answer well worth asking and publishing.

Daley Diet
Has Spielman asked the mayor - or any of his anonymous aides - why he didn't veto the foie gras ban the City Council passed last April that he now finds so silly? I'm just wondering if he's taking ultimate responsibility. Plus, Sun-Times readers want to know. (starting with the second letter)

Hiring Thaw
"Most of us, when we hear about how such-and-such business or government has instituted a hiring freeze, no doubt think that means a freeze on hiring," the Sun-Times editorial page says today. "As in, hiring is frozen. As in, nobody's getting hired. In the topsy-turvy world of Cook County government, however, a hiring freeze appears to have an entirely different meaning."

I'm obviously not here to defend Cook County's hiring practices, but anyone who has ever worked at a newspaper - or anywhere, really - knows that a hiring freeze is never really a hiring freeze as in, hiring is frozen and nobody's getting hired. Even at the Sun-Times.

Juggler Judgement
Yesterday I linked to this amazing juggling performance. The Beachwood's very own Marilyn Ferdinand suggests juggling fans check out the work of this fellow, expanded upon here.

Puttin' On the Hits
The Tribune might want to be careful in its reporting of Internet traffic stats. Today, for example, the paper cites a "minor Web sensation" that generated 228,599 hits one day.

One thing I've learned since starting this site is that "hits" is a virtually meaningless statistic. If you visit a Web page with one story and three images on it, that will register as four "hits." We get something like 800,000 hits a month here, but as best as our tools can tell us - and they are far more imprecise than I ever imagined tracking technology would be - we get about 7,000 unique users a month.

A top mayoral aide who asked that his name not be used, however, says 800,000 hits indicates what a great job we are doing, and suggests that I would be willing to take ultimate responsibility if you chose to donate to us through a Beachwood membership. We also offer seamless transitions - though no CHA contracts - to advertisers. If interested, contact me and I'll tell you how.

The Beachwood Tip Line: Always there 4 U.

Posted by Lou at 09:13 AM | Permalink

August 29, 2006

What I Watched Last Night

After writing this column for about a month now, I have learned something about television. That is that Monday nights are terrible and that is a shame.

Seeing as how Mondays are typically thought of as the worst day of the week, there could at least be some decent television on to dull the pain. But no.

I browsed a couple of stations and then remembered that the Cubs were on, so I tuned in only to see that they were down by six in the fourth inning. Not surprising. After all the Cubs were playing the Pirates. I flipped from top to bottom, what felt like, fifty times and found nothing to entertain me.

So I have to ask the few but loyal readers of this column: What do you watch on Mondays? I would like to
know so I can tune in next Monday. This way I will at the least be reviewing something rather than nothing. If something doesn't happen soon on Mondays I just may have to take them off. Which, theoretically, would involve a cut in pay. So I don't want to do that.

Given that the programming last night was so bad, I thought I'd tell a little story of my own - just like in the days before TV. This is the story of the last Cubs game I went to.

At six o'clock the streets are full with the white and blue of uniforms Prior, Zambrano, Murton, Lee, Woo-Woo. The Addison stop is congested and ticket masters are offering their best seats for "face" by means of megaphone. The bars are spilling fans and alcohol alike into the streets. She is wearing her blue Cubbies shirt and I am in my jersey and dark blue hat. We purchase tickets from a man standing outside a garage. A little sketchy, but he gives us a deal on tickets because there is a birthday in the group. The weather is also celebrating the birthday by producing a Northern wind. A Northern wind means homeruns at Wrigley.

We grab a beer and discuss eating options as we search for a seat in the bleachers. A man with a broken foot shows us to seats that are available.

"Is that my water that was on my seat?" Apparently there are reserved seats for obese woman with cheap perfume in the general admission section tonight.

"Yeah, that's your water." I responded and handed the woman her water. It seems that no one told her that the worst way to put make-up on was with a shotgun.

"Shit!" she said, knocking over my beer.

"Damn, a whole beer!" I squealed. "I need another beer. She just knocked it over and said shit. No sorry."

There was laughter amongst my group. I was a little more upset. The baseball rules are simple: if you spill a drink that is not yours, you are obligated to pay for a replacement. No questions asked. That's the
rule. It also applies to kicking nachos, bumping a dog, and spilling a Coke. Nowhere in the rules does it state, "When spilling a drink that is not yours, simply say 'shit' and continue to watch the game as if nothing happened."

I shared a beer as I preached about the necessity for civility in the ballpark, the kindness of people diminishing, and how "six dollars may have well as been tossed in the air."

I was getting calmed down just as her rather large boyfriend was getting uneasy with me. I went for another beer and some peanuts.

I got back to my seats as the Cubs added one more run to make the score 4-1 in the seventh. I began to crack my peanuts and spread the shell all over the back of the young lady sitting in front of me. She is getting annoyed. My party is getting a chuckle out of these antics. I figure that it is the least I can do. If
she says stop, I have to say "Shit!"

Alcohol and encouragement create a dangerous environment and the couple before me left. The Cubs
won the game. That was in July.

But it's still a more entertaining story than anything TV offered up last night.

Catch up with every night Pat has watched TV for us so far here.

Posted by Lou at 09:56 AM | Permalink

The [Tuesday] Papers

Tribune media writer Phil Rosenthal writes today that the media has nothing to apologize for in its latest spasm of JonBenet Ramsey coverage. "[I]t wasn't the media that made [John Mark] Karr the prime suspect for 12 days in a 10-year-old murder case. You can thank authorities in Thailand and Colorado for that."

Yes, let's thank authorities in Thailand and Colorado - for doing their jobs, which is to investigate crime suspects. The media's job is to report when those suspects are charged. That is one eroded standard that ought to be restored; haven't we all learned by now why this was a good rule to begin with? How many times must we raise the specter of Richard Jewell? Karr's satisfying creepiness is not license to override the basic building blocks of reporting.

"The media reported doubts almost from the start," Rosenthal argues.

Yes. Almost. First, the media convicted Karr. Then, seeing holes in its own reporting, it convicted the Boulder D.A.'s office. Whatever.

"The media never learns," Bill Maher said on Larry King Live last night. "The press is so uncritical about what they choose to cover, and what questions they choose to ask."

Maybe that's because the media - including newspapers - has given itself completely over to marketing values. JonBenet Ramsey sells newspapers and, presumably, gooses ratings. As Maher said, "any excuse to show footage of her prancing around in a cowboy outfit like a little whore."

Journalism values counsel restraint on a story like that of John Mark Karr. Marketing values see a business opportunity, not unlike publishing flags and cheerleading a disastrous war, pimping patriotism for a few extra pennies.

Rosenthal doesn't think the media has anything to apologize for, but did the Sun-Times really have to give over an entire front page to a JonBenet photo?

Did the cable news networks really have to spend hours every night in pure speculation rather than devoting those resources to actual acts of journalism?

And, as pointed out by Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo (via this History News Network blog post), did The New York Times really need to devote 13 contributing reporters to a recent front page JonBenet Ramsey story while supplying just two to its story about a federal judge's ruling in the NSA wiretapping case? (Beyond that, the HNN blogger adds: "I'm trying to recall the name of any of the 550 other American children who were murdered in 1996.")

That doesn't mean that Karr wasn't newsworthy. It's just that his newsworthiness derived only from the hype this case got in the first place.

Yes, as the pundits keep reminding us, John Mark Karr is "creepy." But how much more creepy is he, really, than a media establishment equally obsessed with a sexualized doll-child and what may have been done to her and why?

Reporting, restraint, and journalistic values went out the window with this story. Maybe we're so far gone we don't even know the difference anymore.

"What (the media) wanted to do was get back into the JonBenet story, because that's good eyeball grabbing stuff," Maher said.

And for that, I think the media does have something to apologize for.

Tipsyville
Sneed asks today whether Karr will sue for false arrest. Yes, I suppose he will, because he claimed his innocence all along, didn't he?

SneedSpeak
When Sneed advises readers to "Stay tuned," she means to television, because that's where she's getting a lot of her reporting from.

Sneedling
Sneed sends "a belated brand new birthday wish for Edward Burke Murphy, aka Teddy, who was born earlier this month to Jennifer and Jim Murphy. In case you're wondering, Grandpa Ed and Grandma Anne Burke are over the moon."

And they've already got a job lined up for him.

Emergency Broadcasting System
City officials will stage a mock evacuation of the Loop next week to test their emergency response plan. Afterwards, city officials will stage a mock press conference to see how well they can deflect blame for everything that went wrong.

Meta Zorn
Eric Zorn blogs a panel we sat on this weekend about blogging. Main point of contention: Allowing anonymous comments. I'm against them, but I'm open to being persuaded otherwise.

And in the end. . .
Greatest Juggler Ever.

Museum of Lost Chicago
Yesterday I suggested the soon-to-be vacant Carson Pirie Scott store on State Street become a museum for Lost Chicago, housing such long-gone classics as the neighborhood tavern, chain link fences, and the middle class. Rick Kaempfer has a few more suggestions:

1. People who . . . smile at you.
2. Independent book stores
3. Less than 22 minutes of commercials an hour on our local radio stations.
4. Schlitz on tap.

Pluto Post-Mortems
It comes to my attention that Paige Wiser wasn't the first or only writer to suggest the new mnemonic for the post-Pluto world has just shifted from "My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas to "My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us . . . Nothing," as she wrote (without the ellipses) this weekend and I linked to yesterday.

The Tribune's Jeremy Manier wrote just that on August 24. I can only surmise that the two greatest science writing minds in town think alike.

For more on new mnemonics, the Tribune solicited suggestions from readers here, the best of which is "Here's how I'll remember: Google.com."

And "My! Very Educated Morons Just Screwed Up Numerous Planetariums" won this contest.

BREAKING PLUTO UPDATE/CORRECTION 1:07 P.M.: Okay, Pluto is still not a planet, but it's come to my attention that I've managed to screw this item up about 50 different ways.

First, Paige wrote "My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us . . . Nothing." Jeremy wrote "My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us . . . Nothing." Two different mothers, it would seem.

Also, you might have noticed that both used ellipses, contrary to what I wrote originally. A small point, but just to set the mnemonic record straight.

Finally, the line about the two smartest science writers in the city thinking alike was a tip-off that in no way is Paige being accused of wrongdoing; only coincidentally clever thinking. Frickin' astronomers.

County Line
There were four people at the Chicago Tonight table last night discussing Cook County's latest hiring scandal: Democratic board president nominee Ald. Todd Stroger (8th), Republican board president nominee Tony Peraica, county commissioner Mike Quigley, and moderator Carol Marin.

Three of them seemed like plausible county board presidents. The other is the one who will probably get the job.

Tony Trumps Todd
Todd Stroger's performance last night sealed it for me: Vote Tony!

"I don't think there are a lot of people from the 8th Ward who are hired and who work for the county," Stroger said.

Marin pointed out that numerous reports state otherwise.

"I've never seen a report that actually states that," Stroger said.

And maybe he hasn't. That doesn't mean they don't exist.

"Vast numbers (of recent hires) do come from the 8th Ward," Peraica said. "Everybody knows that in order to get hired at the county, you have to have a political pedigree."

Just in case you think that's a partisan statement, Quigley, a Democrat, was shaking his head in agreement as Peraica said it.

"It's a pattern of behavior I've watched for eight years," Quigley said. "If something were to close Stroger Hospital, there'd probably be a mini-Depression in the 8th Ward."

Stroger said government does need to be restructured. For example, his father never used a computer, while he gets his schedule electronically.

Marin pointed out this wasn't about technology, but about corruption.

"President Stroger would never bring in anybody who wasn't qualified," Todd said.

Maybe he meant to say he's never read reports that state that. But that doesn't mean they don't exist.

George W. Stroger
The Sun-Times's Abdon Pallasch reports further today on Stroger's lack of curiosity.

"In last week's story, the Sun-Times quoted Highway Department supervisor Eric Petraitis saying he felt pressured by former President John Stroger's patronage chief Gerald Nichols to change test scores so Todd Stroger's friend Dwayne Robinson, who was rated unqualified for a highway job, could be hired instead of a candidate who was qualified," Pallasch writes.

"Todd Stroger concedes a close friendship with Robinson and Nichols, who is an unpaid advisor to his campaign and serves as secretary of his ward organization. Stroger said he has talked to Nichols since the Sun-Times story appeared last Monday. But Stroger said he never asked Nichols about the allegations."

The Beachwood Tip Line: Your Venus, your fire, at your desire.

Posted by Lou at 08:56 AM | Permalink

August 28, 2006

What I Watched Last Night

Politics and lying seem to go hand in hand these days and it doesn't bother all that many people.

I watched Surviving Katrina on Discovery last night and learned just that. Our current governmental scheme is totally incapable of telling any truths. All of the leaders in this country lied directly to the face of all the onlookers and sufferers of Hurricane Katrina. Lying about a war and an election and intelligence and terrorism and other politicians seems to be acceptable these days, but letting Americans die and lying about it? That's bullshit.

This is not all Bush's fault, or Brownie's, or Chertoff's, or Nagin's. It was a series of lies being told to each other until passing the buck again and again started getting people killed. This was not a case of red tape or bureaucracy, it was simply a case of protecting political power and careers. Amazing that this is what the best governmental system in the world is capable of in times of distress and horror. All the political players involved in any way with this disaster are guilty, they should actually be tried for gross negligence.

I worked in politics for a while and realized how ugly it was. There was lying and backstabbing and cheating and stealing and everything you would expect from a politician and their underlings seeking power.

I understood that part of politics is screwing people and getting away with it. Poor people always have been a great group of people to screw because they will never be heard from and because they have no money. Money = political power.

Sadly, nothing has changed. New Orleans is still a quagmire. There are still no answers to what exactly went wrong with Katrina. A congressional panel should get together and write a book like the 9/11 commission did, that really did a whole lot of good.

Finally, since everyone in the government is still too busy a year later lying to one another about how much money Americans should give to New Orleans, the American people should do what they've been doing while the government fiddles. We should all match the donations that we made last year. If we don't fix it who will?

On a lighter note, the Emmy's were on last night. I saw that The Amazing Race won Best Reality Contest Show. It was weird watching all the producers come up on stage to collect their little statues. I would think that all the contestants from the winning season should have been up there collecting those awards instead. Just an observation.

Posted by Lou at 10:25 AM | Permalink

The [Monday] Papers

"As Americans celebrate the release to safety of Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, two Fox News journalists who had been held captive for nearly two weeks by kidnappers in Gaza, the joy is tempered by the news that another American journalist, Paul Salopek, is being held in Sudan as a prisoner in the same war," The New York Sun says in an editorial this morning.

Salopek is the Chicago Tribune's two-time Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent. He was in Sudan on a freelance assignment for National Geographic. To get up to speed:

* "Journalist Faces Charges Over Entering Darfur Region." (New York Times)

* "Media Groups Urge Sudan To Release U.S. Reporter." (Associated Press)

* "The 'Passionate Witness.'" (Chicago Tribune)

* "Tribune Correspondent Held As Spy In Sudan." (Chicago Tribune)

The [Race] Papers
The Tribune doctors a Dusty Baker quote to avoid a racial reference; Obama chides Steinberg; Kass visits the new, racially-divided Survivor island; and why racial profiling would be of little help fighting terrorism. Coming later today in Politics.

News-Mart
The Sun-Times's "Suburban Officials Sold On Wal-Mart" offers one side of the story - the side of Suburban Officials! And what a pretty side it is! What's missing in this love letter to Wal-Mart, and perhaps to its increasing newspaper advertising budget, is a look at just what the pay scale is at Wal-Mart's suburban stores, how that compares with what they plan to pay in city stores, and how that compares with the big-box ordinance, not to mention the makeup of the suburban workforce (teenagers in part-time after-school jobs, or parents in full-time jobs?) and other ways in which this talking point may be irrelevant. After all, it was the mayor who recently pointed out all the reasons why Chicago should not be compared to San Francisco and Santa Fe, right?

(Mayors of those cities objected to Daley's rant on Sunday.)

And is it really a surprise, as the Sun-Times reports, that the Wal-Mart store in Niles hasn't (according to officials) resulted in an increase in publicly subsidized health care costs due to low-wage employees working little or no benefits? The question isn't health care costs in Niles, it's how health care costs will be impacted in Chicago if and when new Wal-Mart stores open there. Perhaps the paper could tell us about places where health care costs have increased - or do the work to debunk the whole notion. But don't just tell us what is or isn't happening in Niles (and without, presumably, the paper checking it out on its own).

Finally, there is no voice of labor in the article, which, considering the story is about wages, makes it unfit to publish, particularly in a major metropolitan newspaper. Even muzzled workers at the Niles Wal-Mart would have at least been a start.

Carson's Care
Carson Pirie Scott is leaving its famed State Street location, but the landmark Louis Sullivan building is staying. What should go in it? How about a museum for Lost Chicago Brands? A Berghoff bar in one corner, a mini-Marshall Field's in another . . . Or just plain Lost Chicago, a catalogue of all things lost here over time: the neighborhood tavern, the mind of every Cubs manager, the middle class, chain link fences, medians without flowers/streets without medians, the Blackhawks, the position of Tribune editorial cartoonist, and reporters who check it out when their mother says she loves them.

Machine Town
"Everybody knows Chicago is a Democratic town," Mark Brown wrote in a fine column on Sunday, "but you forget sometimes just how bleak the landscape can be for Republicans."

But just to be clear: Chicago is a "Democratic town" because the Cook County Democratic Party, a private organization, has hijacked the local government here and made it its own. It has nothing to do with ideology. I think it's more accurate to say Chicago is a Machine town, not a Democratic one. And certainly not a democratic one.

Sneedling
Michael Sneed says the JonBenet Ramsey case is "nothing" compared to the Peterson-Schuessler murders here in Chicago 45 years ago. Yeah, the cable news channels really went to town on that one.

SneedSpeak
When Sneed says "Now comes word," it means, "And another thing I read somewhere else . . . "

Supply Side Economics
Cook County has a novel approach to its budget woes: It's going to hire its way out of its deficit!

Pricey Propaganda
One of the more interesting factoids to come out of the Sun-Times report on recent Cook County hiring is that taxpayers are paying Chinta Strausberg $109,233 a year to spin them. Strausberg is the county's communications director, meaning her job is to direct communications away from the truth.

For example, Strausberg told the Sun-Times that the addition of 1,300 people to the county's payroll in the months after then-board president John Stroger suffered a stroke (and when the county was ostensibly under a hiring freeze) "is not a significant increase in hiring."

I think my favorite, though, is Strausberg's response to the revelation that Stroger patronage chief Gerald Nichols was drawing $114,000 annually from the county highway department, though his real job seemed to be opening mail and placing political cronies on the payroll.

"I'm not sure his job title, but I know he's going to give the residents of Cook County the bang for the buck," Strausberg said.

I think there's something else Nichols is giving Cook County residents for the buck.

Poor Whigham
James Whigham, who was John Stroger's chief of staff, thinks the Sun-Times is putting a bunch of "crap" out there. Such as the fact that his daughter, her parents, and her brother have all been on the county payroll since 2001.

Poor Pluto
In a sea of crap about Pluto, two pieces stand out.

* "Throw Pluto A Bone - It Deserves Star Status," which notes that the new planetary mnemonic is "My Very Efficient Mother Just Served Us . . . Nothing. And that's sad." (Paige Wiser)

* "In Pluto's Orbit," which reclassifies Tom Cruise as a "dwarf star" and the Chicago Transit Authority as the Chicago Transit Attempt. (Tempo Subcommittee on Reclassification)

Self-Awareness Gap
1. "But is too much being made of [Obama's] visit to the home of his late father, whom he met only once in his life?" the Tribune's Jeff Zeleny asks - in a front page story written from Kenya while traveling with the senator, along with Lynn Sweet of the Sun-Times and the rest of the media gaggle.

2. "Abeer Qassim al-Janabi is not a household name, though perhaps she should be. The 14-year-old girl was repeatedly raped, then shot to death in her home March 12. Her body was set on fire. Her mother, father and sister also were murdered," William Neikirk wrote in the Tribune on Sunday, in a piece headlined (and sub-headlined and sub-sub-headlined) "Where's The Outrage: U.S. Troops Have Been Accused Of Committing Atrocities In Iraq. Americans Should Care."

"It happened in Iraq, in the village of Mahmoudiya near Baghdad, in the so-called Triangle of Death, the most stressful, violent place in a stressful, violent country. The alleged perpetrators: American troops.

"Before the incident, the soldiers allegedly downed whiskey, played cards and hit golf balls. Afterward, they dined on grilled chicken wings.

"A similar act of violence here in the U.S. would have triggered overpowering outrage, non-stop TV coverage and a grave concern about our military. It might even have surpassed the wall-to-wall coverage that the arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder has received.

"Yet no great public outcry has arisen over one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq war."

Number of times Abeer Qassim al-Janabi's name had appeared in the Tribune before this article: 0.

Number of times JonBenet Ramsey's name appeared in the Tribune in the 10 days before Neikirk's complaint: 22.

Reporter Disqualification
"I don't remember attending a single party during college," the Tribune's Barbara Brotman wrote on Sunday.

Now, if she didn't remember any of the parties she went to during college, that would be one thing. But she didn't attend a single party. And she still got a job on a newspaper, which tells you everything you need to know about the state of the industry today.

Even worse, she attended Queens College when it was still tuition-free and every penny could be directed toward inebriation.

Sometimes I just don't understand people.

The Beachwood Tip Line: Where neither art nor commerce meets.

Posted by Lou at 09:26 AM | Permalink

August 26, 2006

Swingin' Doors: Make 'Em Jump & Rip Their Hearts Out

Swingin' Doors is a three-hour weekly radio show on KEXP in Seattle, in my opinion, one of the five best public radio stations in the country. Why? It's all about the music on KEXP, lots of great shows and great DJs as well. And its Internet streams are the best - high-speed and crystal clear. Don Slack is the host of Swingin' Doors, and his taste in roots and country-rock is awesome, as evidenced by the playlist below.

Here's how he describes his show:

"Swingin' Doors is dedicated to a wide range of country sounds and styles, from honky tonk and western swing to alternative country and bluegrass, in sharp contrast to the tight playlists and narrow focus of today's commercial country radio.

"As might be expected from a show named Swingin' Doors, there's usually a bit more honky tonk than anything else, though you'll hear everything from old-time fiddle tunes and boppin' country boogie to lush Countrypolitan sounds and hard-charging alternative twang-rock.

"You'll hear country giants like Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb and Lefty Frizzell alongside more obscure but talented folks such as Joe Carson, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and Charline Arthur. You'll also hear plenty of new music ranging from hardcore honky tonkers like Roger Wallace and Heather Myles to edgy alt-country artists like Neko Case, the Drive-By Truckers and Fred Eaglesmith.

"I try to keep listeners up-to-date with what's happening now in the wide world of country music, while also bringing to light the richness and diversity of country's past. I'll also do my best to put the music in context by structuring the show so you can see the connections between different songs, artists and styles, along with sharing anecdotes and other bits of information about the music.

"I also try to give folks a chance to hear country artists that are coming to town soon, while also supporting Seattle's twang community by regularly playing the music of local artists.

"More than anything else, I try to play music that moves you, whether it's a song that makes you jump with joy or one that rips your heart out."

And here's the playlist from the August 24th edition of Swingin' Doors. Use it as your basis for alt-country musical knowlege.

1. James King, "Days Of Grey And Black" (Thirty Years Of Farming, Rounder)

2. Patty Loveless, "Big Chance" (Dreamin' My Dreams, Epic)

3. Bobby Hicks, "Prosperity Special" (Fiddle Patch, Rounder)

4. Flatt & Scruggs, "Blue Ridge Cabin Home" (Foggy Mountain Jamboree, Columbia/Legacy)

5. Jim & Jesse, "Better Times A Coming" (Y'All Come: The Essential Jim & Jesse, Epic/Legacy)

6. Webb Pierce, "Wondering" (Hillbilly Fever! Vol. 3, Rhino)

7. George Jones, "Just One More" (The Essential George Jones, Epic/Legacy)

8. Lefty Frizzell, "I Love You A Thousand Ways" (Look What Thoughts Will Do, Columbia/Legacy)

9. Merle Haggard, "I Knew The Moment I Lost You" (A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World: Or, My Salute to Bob Wills, Koch)

10. Floyd Tillman, "Slipping Around" (Columbia Country Classics Vol. 2, Columbia)

11. Kelly Hogan, "(You Don't Know) The First Thing About Blue" (Because It Feel Good, Bloodshot)

12. The Little Willies, "Roll On" (The Little Willies, Milking Bull)

13. Caitlin Cary, "Sleepin' In On Sunday" (I'm Staying Out, Yep Roc)

14. Emmylou Harris, "Rough & Rocky" (Blue Kentucky Girl, Warner Bros.)

15. Johnny Cash, "Paradise" (Personal File, Columbia/Legacy)

16. BR5-49, "Poison" (Dog Days, Dualtone)

17. Mike Auldridge, "Train 45½"(Blues & Bluegrass, Takoma)

18. Billy Joe Shaver "It Just Ain't There For Me No More" (The Real Deal, Compadre)

19. Iris Dement, "The Old Gospel Ship" (Lifeline, Flariella)

20. Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, "Yes (I Feel Sorry For You)" (Turntable Matinee, Yep Roc)

21. Ray Condo & His Ricochets, "Teardrops From My Eyes" (Swing Brother Swing!, Joaquin)

22. The Horton Brothers, "Three-Fifteen Blues" (Heave Ho, Texas Jamboree)

23. Johnny Bond & His Red River Valley Boys, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" (Hillbilly Boogie!, Legacy/Columbia)

24. Milton Brown & His Brownies, "Taking Off" (Hillbilly Fever Vol. 1 Legends Of Western Swing, Rhino)

25. Stacy Dean Campbell, "Honey I Do" (Hurt City, Columbia)

26. The Domino Kings, "Walk Away If You Want To" (Some Kind Of Sign, Hightone)

27. Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys, "You've Got Some Cheating To Do" (Your Favorite Fool, Bloodshot)

28. Danni Leigh, "Divide & Conquer" (Divide and Conquer, Audium)

29. Eddie Spaghetti, "Sleepy Vampire" (The Sauce, Mid-Fi)

30. Slaid Cleaves, "Quick As Dreams" (Wishbones, Rounder)

31. Kasey Chambers, "On a Bad Day" (Barricades & Brickwalls, Warner Bros.)

32. Paul Burch, "Last Dream Of Will Keene" (East To West, Bloodshot)

33. Willie Nelson "Heartaches Of a Fool" (Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits, Columbia/Legacy)

34. Steve Earle, "Shadowland" (Jerusalem, E Squared/Artemis)

35. Drive-By Truckers, "Do It Yourself" (Decoration Day, New West)

36. Junior Brown, "Highway Patrol" (Guit With It, Curb)

37. Wayne Hancock, "Johnny Law" (That's What Daddy Wants, ARK 21)

38. The Del McCoury Band, "On the Lonesome Wind" (The Family, Ceili Music)

39. Jason Carter, "Look What the Dog Brought Home" (On The Move, Rounder)

40. The Gillis Brothers, "Are You Alone?" (Heart & Soul, Rebel)

41. The Louvin Brothers, "Hoping That You're Hoping" (When I Stop Dreaming, Razor & Tie)

42. Mac Wiseman, "I Wonder How the Old Folks Are At Home" (Appalachian Stomp: More Bluegrass Classics, Rhino)

43. Joy Lynn White, "Try Not To Be So Lonely" (The Lucky Few, Little Dog/Mercury)

44. The Souvenirs. "One Less Fool" (King Of Heartache, Will)

45. Dale Watson, "Sit and Drink and Cry" (Whiskey Or God, Palo Duro)

46. Justin Trevino, "Texas Honky-Tonk" (Texas HonkyTonk, neon Nightmare)

47. Hank Williams, "Hey Good Lookin'" (The Ultimate Collection, Mercury)

48. Mandy Barnett, "I've Got a Right To Cry" (I've Got A Right To Cry, Sire)

49. Marti Brom, "Alone At a Table For Two" (Heartache Numbers, Goofin')

50. Mike Ireland & Holler. "House Of Secrets" (Learning How To Live, Sub Pop)

Posted by Don at 08:49 PM | Permalink

August 25, 2006

The Weekend Desk Report

We're not going to let the latest wave of flying nincompoops stop us from following the key stories this weekend.

Market Update
Despite heavy trading this week, gains in both gross understatements and baffling over-confidence canceled each other out, resulting in little actual progress.

And Then There Were Eight...
Illinois astronomy buffs were dealt a blow this week as Streator native Clyde Tombaugh's discovery, Pluto, was controversially stripped of its planetary status by an international committee. However, state officials remained upbeat, saying the new guidelines requiring such an object to have "sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces" and have "cleared the neighborhood around its orbit" indicate Oswego's own Dennis Hastert might qualify as the solar system's new ninth planet.

Liver and Let Die
Chicago's City Council this