Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform,” Mr. Obama said during a 20-minute speech in the East Room of the White House.
– March 4, 2010, New York Times
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House May Try To Pass Senate Health-Care Bill Without Voting On It
– March 15, 2010, Washington Post
Posted on March 17, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
Mayor Daley on Monday filled two new positions in the city’s Department of Aldermen. State Rep. Deborah Graham (Chicago-D) will now be the mayor’s liaison to the 29th Ward and businessman Joe Moreno will be the mayor’s liaison to the 1st Ward. Each will report to the mayor.
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“Graham and Moreno are the 34th and 35th aldermanic appointments in Daley’s 21-year tenure as mayor,” the Sun-Times reports. “But they are the first to follow an open invitation for applicants on the city’s Web site.”
And they are the first appointments made after the local media went along with the fiction that online applicants would be considered for the job.
Posted on March 16, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
1. Who owns Danny’s?
2. “Preckwinkle has her recommendation [for a successor as alderman] ready for Mayor Daley, who will appoint someone to the plum position,” Laura Washington reports. “It’s a prominent political name.”
3. The city just spent $1.8 million revamping its website, which badly needed it. But $1.8 million? Longtime Beachwood readers know I would have done it for $1.7 billion.
Seriously, someone should look into this contract, that sounds nuts. For this.
Posted on March 15, 2010
Natasha Julius is on assignment searching for America. We’ll watch the news for her while she’s gone.
Greek Omelette
The European Union is close to a deal that would bail out financially beleaguered Greece. Members of the Papandreou administration have already applied for their bonuses.
Whammy Bar
In what researchers are calling a “double whammy,” two studies of more than a million Englishmen and women indicates that obesity combined with excessive use of alcohol acts in concert to raise the risk of liver disease. The results of the studies will be published in next month’s Journal of Duh.
Posted on March 13, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“Testimony in the federal corruption trial of a Chicago developer on Thursday revealed that U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez met with the developer and Mayor Richard Daley to push for the city’s approval of a controversial real estate venture,” the Tribune reports.
This may or may not be a problem for Gutierrez, but he clearly tried to soft-pedal his involvement in the deal – and the developer – up until now. One might wonder why he’s been disingenuous to this point.
“Gutierrez’s involvement in lobbying Daley to support the project goes a step beyond what the congressman has previously told the Tribune in stories documenting his political and financial relationship with the developer, Calvin Boender, and his unusual role in backing a project outside his congressional district.”
Posted on March 12, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
Ugh, this has turned into a rather trying week, so posting on the site has slowed to a trickle. Not for lack of material, but for lack of time and energy on my part, each having been leeched and sucked out of me by the vagaries of the universe and its evil inhabitants. Apologies.
We do have another (three-legged) flight review by our very own Mike Luce today. Rumors of snack boxes involved.
Now let’s see what we can scare up out of the papers today before I don the armor once again today and try to slay our enemies.
Posted on March 11, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
As readers of this column may know, I’m a big fan of Google. And they’ve done it again
“On Wednesday, Google will unveil a service offering bicycling directions on its Google Maps feature,” the Tribune reports.
“Hard-core and recreational cyclists will be able to use the Web-based technology to plan trips or explore biking trails and routes in Chicago and 149 other U.S. cities, Google officials said.”
Posted on March 10, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
“The City Council will move quickly to empower Chicago’s inspector general to investigate alleged hiring abuses by aldermen to bolster the city’s case to get out from under the Shakman decree, an influential alderman said today,” the Sun-Times reports.
“But, Rules Committee Chairman Richard Mell (33rd) said aldermen are so divided about Mayor Daley’s plan to give the inspector general more sweeping investigative authority over the City Council, a seven-member subcommittee has been appointed to sort it out . . .
Posted on March 9, 2010
By Steve Rhodes
My favorite part of Sunday’s New York Times piece on the “messaging” struggles of Obama media maven David Axelrod:
“Others question what happened to the Mr. Axelrod who so effectively marketed Mr. Obama, the candidate, as a change agent. He and some defenders, though, say that trying to explain a president who is dealing with a fusillade of difficult governing issues is far different.
“‘In a campaign, you’re not held to the same standard of actually doing what you say you’re going to do,’ said Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director and Obama campaign adviser.”
Posted on March 8, 2010
By Natasha Julius
NOW WITH A BONUS WEEKEND DESK SUNDAY OSCAR UPDATE!
It looks like this is going to be an uncapped season after all. Enjoy the ride, everyone, and we’ll monitor the key stories for you.
Market Update
In what most view as a positive sign, the focus of economic recovery this week has shifted from job creation to job retention at all friggin’ cost.
Posted on March 6, 2010
