The [Friday] Papers

All I need to know about the Sex and the City movie I learned from Roger Ebert this morning: Carrie and Mr. Big buy a penthouse they name "Heaven on Fifth Avenue."

Check, please!

Dream Weaver
"More than half of U.S. workers say the American dream of owning a nice home, having financial security and hope for the future is unattainable, and almost half blame the political system, according to a new poll by Zogby International."

Doprah
"I've tried to stay out of politics for my entire tenure on the air," she said. "Basically, it's a no-win situation."

I mean, if Oprah actually used her celebrity status to lobby for health insurance and higher wages for the poor, they might not find a reason to follow her New Age nostrums anymore.

Pfleger Flap
Barack Obama responded to his latest preacher problem on Thursday by claiming that he barely even knew Michael Pfleger and has never been present when he's made politically inconvenient comments. The Pfleger he's known for 20 years, he said, was never one to shoot his mouth off.

The Daley Show
I think everyone's missing the point about Mayor Richard M. Daley speaking at Northwestern's commencement. Does NU president Henry Bienen believe that Daley is a good role model for ethical public service?

*

Alton Logan would have been a more inspired choice.

Tony's Take
"Rezko allegedly accumulated $450,000 in debts to Caesars Palace and Bally's Hotel Casino between March and July 2006," the Sun-Times reports. "He passed nine bad checks and got hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash or gaming chips in return."

RezkoWatch has the details, including this bit of unfortunate timing:

"A warrant was issued for Rezko's arrest on May 20, 2008, and federal authorities were notified about the outstanding warrant a week later, on Tuesday, May 27, 2008. The criminal complaint was filed on May 13, 2008, "with two counts of fraud stemming from $250,000 in gambling debts at Caesars Palace and $200,000 in markers at Bally's."

By a strange coincidence, U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) - to whom Rezko has been a long-term friend, personal real estate fairy, and political benefactor - returned to Las Vegas on May 27, 2008, to 'shore up his weaknesses in Nevada, which is in the heart of a must-win region if he is to take the presidency in November,' J. Patrick Coolican reported in the Las Vegas Sun. "

Currency Exchange
"In a Tribune story a year ago, Obama defended special budget earmarks for his district while he was a state legislator, including ones that went to programs associated with Pfleger's church.

"Pfleger gave Obama's campaigns $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced at least $100,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs."

SOS
The Chicago cop who wore a wire to build a case against his colleagues in the now-disbanded Special Operations Section is scheduled to appear on 60 Minutes this Sunday.

I wonder if he's available for commencement speeches.

Cable Guys
"Hackers Alter Comcast Homepage."

Trick customers into thinking they are required to be home today from 1 p.m to 4 p.m. to receive repair service.

Appreciation
Chicagoist remembers Harvey Korman.

A Little Cute
"CHARLESTON, S.C. - The wife of entertainer Bill Murray has filed for divorce after nearly 11 years of marriage, alleging he abused her and is addicted to marijuana and
alcohol."

She can't go! All the plants are gonna die!

- Tim Willette

Teach The Children's Museum Well
You on the museum board
There is a law that you must live by
So please think for yourself
Because Grant Park is not a good buy.

See the rest!

Rolling Phat
This commercial grated on me at first, but now I'm a fan. The lyrics are really good, especially when his posse's getting laughed at instead of looking fly and rolling phat. See more in my new TV Notes column.

What Happened
"Mr. McClellan does not exempt himself from failings - 'I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be' - and calls the news media 'complicit enablers' in the White House's 'carefully orchestrated campaign to shape and manipulate sources of public approval' in the march to the Iraq war in 2002 and 2003."

Maybe the same voices who were pointing this out back then should gain some measure of credibility today instead of us having to listen to the same crappy pundits who are always wrong about everything.

Then again, it's not just pundits. It's reporters. Er, well, Katie Couric & Co. But reporters too.

"Speaking on The Early Show on CBS, Ms. Couric said the lack of skepticism shown by journalists about the Bush administration's case for war amounted to 'one of the most embarrassing chapters in American journalism,'" the New York Times reports. "She also said she sensed pressure from 'the corporations who own where we work and from the government itself to really squash any kind of dissent or any kind of questioning of it.' At the time, Ms. Couric was a host of Today on NBC.

"Another broadcast journalist also weighed in. Jessica Yellin, who worked for MSNBC in 2003 and now reports for CNN, said on Wednesday that journalists had been 'under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation.'

"On Thursday, she clarified her comments in a blog post, writing that her producers at MSNBC had wanted their coverage to reflect the patriotic mood of the country."

Beachwood Gift Guide
Family Guy Pint Glasses.

The Beachwood Tip Line: Giggity.