By Steve Rhodes

“Rock ‘n’ roll is a spectacle, and what more grandiose show is there than a raw descent into hell?” Oak Park writer Emily Hauser writes on today’s Tribune Op-Ed page. “Here’s the thing, though: The drugs, as The Verve once sang, don’t work.”
Master Merv
Merv Griffin not only invented Jeopardy!, he wrote its iconic theme song and musical phrase.
El Story
“People are passionate about the El,” says Greg Borzo, the author of a new book about the famed Chicago train system.
Yes, they love the El, but hate the CTA.

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Posted on August 13, 2007

By Natasha Julius

Have a great weekend, everyone. If you need us, we’ll be in Canada.
Market Update
World share prices tumbled this week due to increased concerns over the impact of Chinese imports on the subprime sector. Analysts note that once a brand has established itself in that market, it can be awfully difficult to shake the trend.

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Posted on August 11, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Does anyone else get the feeling we’re on the verge of an economic meltdown?
The Dirty Two Dozen
City officials say only 24 homeless people live downtown.
A) And three of them live in this Wienermobile
B) Which is twice as many as they’ve previously acknowledged
C) According to the same accounting methods used to craft the budget

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Posted on August 10, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Memo to Cubs fans: Please Stop Believin’.
Toy Story
I was struck by a couple of oddities in the Tribune’s lead front-page story this morning, “Toymaker Knew About Lead.”
“In researching its records after inquiries from the Tribune, Jim Leonard, the company’s chief operating officer, said Schylling found a June 2002 test report showing that the Thomas & Friends top contained lead paint on its wooden knob,” the paper reports.
The company researched its records at the Tribune’s request? As if it has a civic responsibility to be reasonably transparent about its operations?

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Posted on August 9, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

I’ll be tending to business today, so no Papers.
We do, however, have a new Mystery Debate Theater from last night’s AFL-CIO Democratic forum, as well as a report from our man at Soldier Field.
Plus, send us your submissions for Existential Rock.

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Posted on August 8, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

“Congress is concerned that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is not telling the truth. The best way to get the truth from Gonzales is to subject him to waterboarding or another equally forceful means of getting people to talk,” James K. Gendon of Evanston writes to the Sun-Times this morning (last item).
“While squeamish civil libertarians and bleeding-heart liberals might object to this, claiming that such practices are methods of torture, Gonzales himself would not agree. As the president’s legal adviser, he argued that such tactics are perfectly permissible in interrogation.”

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Posted on August 7, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

“We might as well admit it up front: The first time we heard of the liberal blogging network known as Daily Kos was when Bill O’Reilly dissed it on his show,” the Tribune editorial page says this morning.
Whoa! The Tribune editorial page had never heard of Daily Kos until . . . last week?!!!
Tribune editorial board, you’re fired.

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Posted on August 6, 2007

By Natasha Julius

The Weekend Desk has wrapped up that pesky suspension; now it’s time to get back to work!
Market Update
It was a bad week to be a child in Missouri as quarterly Eligible Parent projections plummeted more than 25%. Analysts warn that this trend could sour parenting markets nationwide.

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Posted on August 4, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

* “The I-35W Bridge is about as ‘Minneapolis’ as it gets,” our very own Don Jacobson writes in his Letter From Minneapolis. “Anyone who was raised here feels its place at the heart of who and what we are as a city.”
* I share some thoughts I’ve had as well upon watching the non-stop television coverage about a bridge that was personal to me, in What I Watched Last Night.
* Bridge collapse photos from The Minnesota Daily

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Posted on August 3, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Note: Yesterday’s technical difficulties were due to a “a connectivity issue in Chicago” experienced by our Internet Service Provider, Speakeasy. Those problems have been resolved. I hope to catch up with new posts on the rest of the site through the morning and afternoon, and be back on our regular schedule, as it is, tomorrow.
–
Minnesota Mourns
Night Watch On The Bridge.

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Posted on August 2, 2007