Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
1. This was the lead image at the top of the Sun-Times’s website at the height of yesterday’s storm.
Storm clouds roll over the Chicago Loop in this July file photo.
A file photo from July? They couldn’t just stick a camera out the window?
2. On the other hand, the Cubs’ acquisition of outfielder Craig Monroe was top of the page “Breaking News” on the Tribune’s website.
3. It’s always about Sneed.
Posted on August 24, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
I guess Karl Rove really was George Bush’s brain, because he appears to be operating without one now.
Kerry’s Call
“Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.”
Perfect Face
Mark Brown is singing my tune.
Posted on August 23, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
Another day, another farce of a front-page at the Sun-Times.
The big news of the day, of course, is the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision upholding former Gov. George Ryan’s conviction on corruption charges – and its subsequent stay allowing Ryan to remain free while another appeal is filed.
For a time on Tuesday, we thought Ryan was headed to prison as soon as Friday.
So a pretty big day.
The Sun-Times’s front page angle?
“ANOTHER SNEED EXCLUSIVE.”
And just what was that exclusive?
“I still believe,” Ryan tells her. “We are staying strong.”
Posted on August 22, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
“The lightning-swift deportation of Elvira Arellano triggered an equally sharp debate Monday about whether her dramatic battle to stay in the U.S. will help or hurt attempts to liberalize immigration laws,” the Tribune reports.
And a debate between Sun-Times columnists.
Posted on August 21, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
“Federal authorities Sunday arrested Elvira Arellano on a downtown city street, ending a yearlong standoff that intensified recently after the illegal Mexican immigrant began what was to be a nationwide campaign to push for new immigration reforms,” the Tribune reports (link to updated version 10:37 a.m.)
The Trib had a reporter in Los Angeles on the scene, as it should have.
Debate Mystery
“It was the most provocative Democratic presidential debate yet,” the wife of the Sun-Times’s publisher who will make the paper’s endorsement writes this morning.
Funny, after the debate ended last night, the Beachwood Mystery Debate Theater team agreed that it was the lamest of the Dem debates so far.
See our witty and insightful commentary – including how Carrot Top fits in – in the latest episode of our wildly popular debate series.
An audio version will be available this week on Vocalo.org. Details as we get them.
Posted on August 20, 2007
By Natasha Julius
We’ve been laying low this week, the better to monitor the world while you relax.
Market Update
Apparently, “stability” now means vertiginous stock market upswings built on unsustainable foundations that don’t really make most people feel any better. So now that we have stability, go on out and buy a house!
Posted on August 18, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
1. “Astronomers have discovered that a giant star that has been studied for centuries is streaking across the sky trailing an enormous, cometlike tail,” the New York Times reported this week.
“Scientists said Wednesday that they were stunned to learn that the giant red star, Mira, zipping through the Milky Way galaxy 300 times faster than a speeding bullet, has a turbulent tail stretching trillions of miles across space.”
Just to keep things in perspective.
Posted on August 17, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
You know, I still don’t have a firm grip on the Elvira Arellano situation. My instinct is that the authorities should let her go to Washington, D.C., to make her case, and then arrest her upon her return.
I’m pro-immigrant. I’m pro-illegal immigrant too. I tend toward the open borders end of things. But I’m also disgusted with the way American companies depend upon and exploit cheap illegal labor to the detriment of all workers.
Arellano’s particular case is complicated. Maybe an arrest after going to Washington would best put her in a position to more effectively pursue reform while accepting the current letter of the law the way figures of civil disobedience must.
Posted on August 16, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
Given his documented history, Joey “the Clown Lombardo” is going to be destroyed on cross-examination. But it’s going to be fun.
Lombardo took the stand on Tuesday in his own defense and played the part of overgrown street kid.
“At times, Lombardo meandered in his testimony, like the man at the dinner party who doesn’t realize his story has gone on too long,” Steve Warmbir of the Sun-Times reports.
Posted on August 15, 2007
By Steve Rhodes
“As a 19-year-old working in Illinois, [Karl] Rove used an assumed name to gain access to the headquarters of Democratic state treasurer candidate Alan Dixon,” the Tribune notes this morning. “He made off with campaign stationery, which he used to print 1,000 fliers promising ‘free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing’ at Dixon’s Chicago office. The fliers were given to homeless people on Lower Wacker Drive. Years later, Rove expressed regret for the ‘youthful prank.'”
People are who they are.
Posted on August 14, 2007
