Chicago - A message from the station manager

Proco Joe Moreno’s Stand Against Chick-fil-A Is Cheap, Hypocritical And Dangerous

By Steve Rhodes

“A Chicago alderman wants to kill Chick-fil-A’s plans to build a restaurant in his increasingly trendy Northwest Side ward because the fast-food chain’s top executive vocally opposes gay marriage,” the Tribune reports.
“Ald. Proco ‘Joe’ Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A’s effort to build its second Chicago store, which would be in the Logan Square neighborhood, following company President Dan Cathy’s remarks last week that he was ‘guilty as charged’ for supporting the biblical definition of marriage as between a man and woman.”
But wait: Moreno had no problem supporting Barack Obama even though he had the exact same position until earlier this year – and then only went so far as to back leaving gay marriage up to the states, validating North Carolina’s (and others’) decision to ban it.
In fact, Illinois doesn’t allow gay marriage! Get the state out of the 1st Ward!

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Posted on July 25, 2012

ProPublica: The Best Reporting On Detention And Rendition Under Obama

By Cora Currier and Suevon Lee

When Barack Obama took office, he banned torture, shut down the CIA’s network of black-site prisons and pledged to close Guantanamo. But exactly where terror suspects should go continues to be a legal and political challenge for the administration. So we’ve rounded up some of the best reporting on rendition and detention under Obama. Got others? Add them in the comments.
Why Obama Hasn’t Closed Guantanamo Camps, Foreign Affairs, January 2012: Miami Herald Guantanamo reporter Carol Rosenberg analyzes the combination of political, security and bureaucratic obstacles that have thwarted Obama’s plans to shut down the prison. ProPublica has also covered the dilemma of indefinite detention at Guantanamo.

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Posted on July 16, 2012

Pat Quinn Signs Campaign Finance Bill Into Law When Nobody Is Looking Because It Reverses Post-Blago Reform

Loophole Bill Was Rushed Through The Legislature In The Dark Too; Ruse Now Complete

“The co-chairs of the CHANGE Illinois! coalition on Friday said Gov. Quinn’s signing of Senate Bill 3722 has damaged the state’s campaign contribution limits system and opened the door to unlimited contributions in election contests where independent expenditure groups spend significant amounts of money,” the group said in a statement released to the media.
Here’s the rest:
“Under the new law, there will be no limits on campaign contributions in any election where spending by an independent committee (or super PAC) exceeds $250,000 in support of a candidate in a statewide race or $100,000 in an election for state legislator, mayor, judge and all other non-statewide contests.
“‘This new law could open the floodgates to a torrent of special interest money surging into the campaigns of candidates seeking some of the most important offices in our state,’ said CHANGE Illinois! Co-Chair Peter Bensinger. ‘Those unlimited contributions will carry more opportunities for the kind of corruption that has denied Illinoisans a fair and honest representation in their governments.’

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Posted on July 6, 2012

Tribune’s Clarence Page Spoke At Rally For Iranian Militant Group

By Justin Elliott/ProPublica

Late last month, syndicated columnist Clarence Page appeared at a rally in Paris in support of the Mujahadin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian group that has been lobbying Washington to be removed from the U.S. government’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.
Before a huge crowd waving portraits of MEK leaders Maryam and Massoud Rajavi as well as Iranian flags, Page called for the MEK to be removed from the official terrorist organization list.

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Posted on July 2, 2012