Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
Still working on that post called “Blago’s Going To Jail.” Hope to finish it before he does, but either way it will hold.
Working on a follow-up to this post about the absolutely mystifying move by the Reader.
In the meantime, these items will have to suffice. And I think they do, quite nicely in fact.
Posted on July 26, 2010
By Natasha Julius
Don’t worry if you’re temporarily stranded in some God-forsaken part of town. We’ll keep an eye on the stories that matter for you.
Market Update
Investors reeled this week as the Honest Services market completely collapsed, dragging a lucrative export trade along with it.
Posted on July 24, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
My Blago column isn’t quite ready; mostly it’s a roundup of the best morsels I didn’t get to this week, but I also address what’s become a popular media meme at this juncture. I won’t give away that one here; I do hope to finish that column today but I may not post it until Monday. We’ll see, today is a fluxy day.
Meanwhile, plenty of other items.
1. “Online Dating Grows, Sheds Its Stigma.”
Next: Tattoos not just for sailors anymore.
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The MSM: Yesterday’s trends tomorrow.
Posted on July 23, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“When the hour arrived at his corruption trial Wednesday, the former governor of Illinois chose not to speak.” – The New York Times
Oh, but he did.
He spoke to jurors through the media, just as he has since the day he was arrested. He offered his defense from the comfort zone of the media bubble, where reporters’ questions are easily evaded and one isn’t tied to the witness stand until dismissed. (Frankly I was surprised he wasn’t on Larry King last night.)
It was a remarkably consistent and familiar strategy. During his impeachment trial, Blagojevich repeatedly went on national television to complain – falsely – that he wasn’t allowed a fair chance to speak in his defense. Then he went to Springfield and gave a speech in which no questions were allowed.
Posted on July 22, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“What is the sound of Dead Meat?” John Kass writes today. “The sound of silence.”
*
Rod Blagojevich could still change his mind – maybe this is all for show, with the courageous governor just dying to put his hand on that Bible and explain those tapes – but if he doesn’t testify, he’ll lose what’s left of his credibility with what’s left of his base: reality show producers and cable news pundits.
Posted on July 21, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
There won’t be a column today but you can enjoy these fine offerings elsewhere on the Beachwood:
* Postcards From Pitchfork
* Comcastic!
* White Sox Academy: Clock Drill
Posted on July 20, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
Well, of course, the big news over the weekend was the Tribune poll showing that “more than half of Chicago voters don’t want to see Mayor Richard Daley re-elected.”
On the face of it, wow.
“The poll found only 37 percent of city voters approve of the job Daley is doing as mayor, compared with 47 percent who disapprove. Moreover, a record-low 31 percent said they want to see Daley re-elected, compared with 53 percent who don’t want him to win another term.”
Posted on July 19, 2010
By Natasha Julius
No one knows how to rock out a summer weekend quite like we do.
App It!
President Obama this week giddily announced a new jobs initiative in the struggling state of Michigan. “These aren’t just any jobs,” Obama proudly declared. “These are jobs of the future that will be generating overheated headlines for generations to come.”
Posted on July 17, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
1. Marlon Byrd vs. Robert Byrd.
2. Beware deadly air fresheners.
3. Luis Gutierrez knows how to get on the Internet.
Posted on July 16, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
I have a George Steinbrenner story to tell.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to speak to former Tribune sports columnist Bob Verdi on the phone. Verdi was one of the greats; he and fellow columnist Bernie Lincicome were world-class at a time when the paper was trying to be but never quite got there.
Anyway, Verdi taught me a lesson that I’ve passed on many times over to friends, colleagues and students. It went something like this:
“You can be the millionth person to write ‘Steinbrenner sucks’ or you can write, ‘George Steinbrenner, ex-con, . . . ‘”
Verdi was right, of course; I’m always at my best when I follow that recipe.
Posted on July 15, 2010
