By Steve Rhodes
Oops, I promised yesterday to catch up with a few news items from the weekend but I have to be downtown all day at a conference so I’ll just have to do it tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who came out last night for Monday Night Beachwood. We’ll do it again next week.
Meanwhile, please enjoy these fine offerings:
* The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: Olin Kreutz totally had the brew situation covered.
* Saturday Afternoon: Savoring the complacencies of a beer run.
The [Monday] Papers
I’ll catch up with the gubernatorial debate on Tuesday, as well as Fran Spielman’s interview with Rahm Emanuel. Let’s get the rest of the news out of the way.
Alexi’s Spotless Mind
“Giannoulias has admitted meeting with [convicted bookie Michael ‘Jaws’] Giorango a few times at the bank, years ago, and inspecting one of Giorango’s Miami hotels in 2006 as standard operating procedure when approving a loan on the property,” Kristen McQueary writes.
“But that’s about it.
“On Thursday, he couldn’t recollect a single detail about his visit to the hotel – a hotel which landed on Florida law enforcement’s radar in 2002 after a nationwide prostitution sting.”
Not a single detail.
Huh. I remember details of trips I took as a kid. You know, like family trips to California and Washington, D.C.
Don’t you?
And I would certainly remember visiting Jaws Giorango, even if it was routine business.
But then, I’m not running for U.S. Senate.
*
Barack Obama in a campaign ad for Alexi:
“Alexi’s my friend. I know his character. You can trust him. You can count on him.”
Isn’t it time the president was pressed on Alexi’s memory problems? Is he really urging us to vote for someone who refuses to come clean about his bank’s dealings with unsavory characters? And just what really happened on that trip?
*
Remember this one?
“Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias tried to dampen criticism Thursday of what role he may have played in causing problems at the family bank where he worked before being elected state treasurer,” the Tribune reports.
“On more than one occasion, however, Giannoulias did not answer direct questions about which loans he approved while chief loan officer at Broadway Bank that have since gone bad.
“‘We’ll have plenty of time to get into that,’ Giannoulias said at a hastily called news conference.”
*
From the Beachwood vault:
About Alexi.
*
COMMENT: From Paul Clark:
“On Thursday, he couldn’t recollect a single detail about his visit to the hotel – a hotel which landed on Florida law enforcement’s radar in 2002 after a nationwide prostitution sting.”
When I was in my late teens, going all the back to the last century, I used to deliver groceries to Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo’s house. Though I never met him, I remember the visits to the house very well, where I would ring the doorbell and then heard a voice from a speaker by the door telling me to just leave the groceries at the door and walk away.
And I would sometimes deliver groceries to Tony Accardo AND Paul Harvey in the same trip. I would think to myself – “America . . . what a country!”
The Public Transit Paradox
Public transit is built for those who least need it, our very own Kiljoong Kim writes.
Political Science
“Illinois has been cutting the number of points required to pass annual achievement exams, allowing children to flub more questions but still be deemed ‘proficient,'” the Tribune reports.
And in a related move, Illinois is also lowering the level of proficiency required to hold public office.
*
The Bears are considering a new rule that would lower the number of yards required for a first down.
Bears’ Return Game
“Kick returns are again the Bears primary offensive weapons,” writes our very own Jim Coffman in SportsMonday.
*
AP’s summary, with appropriate photo:
“The way Jay Cutler got knocked around [against the Giants], Lawyer Milloy and the Seattle Seahawks couldn’t wait for this game.
“When it came, they delivered another beating.
“Matt Hasselbeck threw for a season-best 242 yards and a touchdown and Seattle’s defense sacked Cutler six times in a 23-20 victory over the Bears on Sunday.
“Cutler was in trouble much of the game, and completed just 17 of 39 passes for 290 yards. He missed last week’s win at Carolina with a concussion after being sacked nine times by the Giants in the previous game.
“‘We were licking our chops, the way the Giants had success,’ said Milloy, who had one of those sacks.
“Cutler insisted he felt fine no matter how sickening this performance was. At least the Seahawks were blitzing, something the Giants rarely did two weeks ago.
“Either way, it was another ugly afternoon for the Bears.”
The Weekend in Chicago Rock
Spanning the city’s venues.
Schmich Pique
Our very own David Rutter responds.
The Swarm and the Sick House
By our very own Brett McNeil, in his Indonesian Journal.
Bartender Journalism
Once again I’ll be behind the bar at the Beachwood Inn tonight bringing you Monday night in all of its new vigor. We’ll stick with the $2.50 Old Styles and $1 off the bottom shelf and raise you new songs on the jukebox and input into tomorrow’s Beachwood Reporter. Doors open at 5 p.m. and don’t close until 2 a.m.
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An Original Ballad
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The Beachwood Tip Line: On the house.
Posted on October 19, 2010