The [Tuesday] Papers

By Steve Rhodes

The papers are mourning the passing of Pontiac and I, too, will join in that mourning, though I always preferred Chevy's Camaro (my first and most-beloved car was a green 1975 model) to the Firebird and the Trans Am, even if the Trans Am was a killer name that really said it all.

The Tribune and Sun-Times both list the pop culture presence of these models, as well as the Pontiac GTO. My top three:

1. The 1977 Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit.

2. Jim Rockford's Firebird.

3. Wooderson's 1970 GTO from Dazed and Confused. ("Hey, hey, hey watch the leather, man . . . heh-heh")

The Tony Cole Show
Okay, I'll join in and say it: Todd Stroger ought to resign. And because that isn't likely to happen, party leaders need to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with young Todd and show him the door.

I'm sure there's room for him in John Daley's insurance firm. They hire patronage workers, don't they?

Because the steakhouse busboy (I guess he wasn't even waiting tables) Stroger hired and then promoted - twice - to work alongside the chief financial officer of the country's 19th largest unit of government not only had a history of allegations of abusing women but, the Tribune reports today, was getting his rent paid by taxpayers by claiming he was a Hurricane Katrina victim. While the county was paying him $60,000 a year. And, the Trib reports, he used a fake Social Security number to get his apartment.

Meanwhile, the Sun-Times reports that Cole was paid by the county while he was in jail. Both times.

Pot Spot
Item: Half of Adults Switch Religions At Least Once

Item: Religious Leaders Back Medical Marijuana

Punch Line: Nah, too easy.

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Dude, I saw Jesus on my toast this morning!

Correction
Fooled by the tabloid edition of the Tribune I had yesterday, I mistakenly attributed two letters to the editor to the Sun-Times. You can see the correction and the items in yesterday's column. Brand confusion plan working!

White Wash
"[T]he Trib . . . managed to do something I thought impossible in the year 2009 in the city of Michelle and Barack," Lowell Thompson writes in a letter to the paper today. "Its staffers had written a whole magazine titled 'Art in Chicago' without a single image of or by a black artist."

You can bet that if the entire magazine featured black artists without a single white person, the editors would have noticed.

Blago Book
Eric Zorn has a preview of Elizabeth Brackett's forthcoming book about Rod Blagojevich. This is what caught my eye:

"In 2003, during Blagojevich's first year as governor, Secretary of State Jesse White told him, 'I've known [former Gov. George Ryan] for 30 years. He never lied to me once. You've lied to me 15 times in six months'."

White's experience was not unique - in fact, Blagojevich's dysfunctions as well as an actual federal investigation were such an open secret that it's a step too far to even use the word "secret;" it was just open. And yet Democratic leaders (including the highest leader of the land who exhorts you to believe) backed Blagojevich's re-election in 2006. Along with Stroger's election that year to Cook County board president.

And we've been paying the price ever since.

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I've got more from Brackett's book here.

Baloneyvich
"Because Blagojevich promoted himself as a man of the people, aides worked hard to make sure the public didn't learn about his taste for expensive clothing," the Tribune reports.

Name those aides!

No, seriously. Name them.

And Then There's . . .
Maude.

And with Bea Arthur's death this week, now is a good time to re-read our very own Kathryn Ware's awesomely brilliant series about the debut season of Maude. You can start here and then look at the links at the bottom for the whole thing.

Who's Hiring
"PoliticsDaily.com is the latest blog being rolled out by the portal's programming unit, MediaGlow. From a conversation last week with AOL programming SVP Marty Moe, the site is a bit different than the series of blogs it has been rolling out this past year," paidContent reports.

"The site is being cast in the mold of a newsweekly magazine and daily paper, as opposed to quick, off-the-cuff blog posts. The company has tapped former NYT reporter Melinda Henneberger as its editor. The site has about 21 other journalists on its staff . . .

"With all the layoffs across the newspaper industry the past few months, Moe told me that AOL has been able to take advantage of a 'once-in-era opportunity to hire the best people coming out of the newspaper industry over the next 18- to 24 months'."

Meet The Spilotros
In advance of a two-part authorized excerpt from Tribune reporter Jeff Coen's Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled The Chicago Mob, starting tomorrow.

Slouching Toward Indy
With Beachwood auto racing correspondent Carey Lundin, who takes you behind the scenes - and behind the storylines.

Holy Cowpunk!
How can a poor man stand such times? By listening to the Del-Lords.

Must-See TV
"As communities across the country face the largest exodus of prisoners in history, the issue has never been more pressing," the good folks at Frontline say in advance of tonight's The Released. "This year alone, over 700,000 people will leave prison, more than half of them mentally ill. Typically, these offenders leave prison with a bus ticket, $75 in cash, and two weeks' worth of medication. Studies show that within 18 months, nearly two-thirds of mentally ill offenders - often poor and cut off from friends and family - are re-arrested."

See the the story synopsis and the trailer.

Rain . . .
. . . is like Grant, not Lincoln.

Alexi's Dark Start
Is our state treasurer to blame for college savings program investments gone awry?

Ready For Reform!
Recommendations I hope Quinn's commission makes today.

The Beachwood Tip Line: Ready for your love.

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