By Steve Rhodes

Note: Jim DeRogatis responds below.
Here are some ingredients that in my book make for a pretty big news story: An international political rally to save the planet from destruction spanning seven continents streamed live on the Internet and featuring 150 musical artists and bands organized by one of the globe’s most well-known public figures and a possible president of the United States. Witnessed by 2 billion people. Pretty big, huh?
So why has the coverage of Live Earth been so lacking in the local papers?
Could it be because the folks who edit those papers are so lame?
Love Al Gore or hate him, you can’t deny the immensity of an event whose corporate sponsors belied any notion that this is a fringe cause or a hippiefest. My God, I had to sit through a Chevy commercial before watching a performance video on the Live Earth website.
Not only that, but with all those bands and all those people watching, you couldn’t have a little fun with your coverage?

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Posted on July 9, 2007

By Natasha Julius

We love our work here behind the Weekend Desk, but can you blame us for fluffing up our resumes every once in a while?
Market Update
The global consciousness markets collapsed this week as research revealed conclusive evidence that money is more likely to destroy the human spirit than it is to preserve it. Nah, just kidding! Spend ’til it hurts, kids!

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Posted on July 7, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

The Papers will return on Monday, but we have new posts today throughout the site. Consult the Inside the Reporter box to your right for details, or just take some time to have a look-see and catch up with our recent offerings. The Weekend Desk Report, as always, will appear on Saturday morning and remain all weekend for your reading pleasure.
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The [Fourth of July] Papers / Posted on July 04, 2007
1. “We enveloped our President in 2001. And those who did not believe he should have been elected – indeed those who did not believe he had been elected – willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.
“And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it.”

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Posted on July 6, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

The Beachwood will return on Friday.
1. “We enveloped our President in 2001.And those who did not believe he should have been elected – indeed those who did not believe he had been elected – willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.
“And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and shaped it to a razor-sharp point and stabbed this nation in the back with it.”

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Posted on July 4, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

“So the Cook County state’s attorney’s office appropriately increased from misdemeanor to felony the charges against two men who barged out onto the playing ground at Wrigley Field in the last month,” the Sun-Times editorial page inveighs today.
“One of the men, Kevin Kleine, allegedly ran onto the field as part of a $400 bet, a stupid idea – just how stupid Kleine will soon learn. The other, Brent Kowalkoski, was barreling toward a pitcher when he was tackled by a security guard.
“Whereas a misdemeanor count would mean a fine, the charge of felony criminal trespass to a place of amusement carries the possibility of up to three years in prison.”
Which would be 1,095 days more than Scooter Libby will do.
– From The [Libby] Papers, in Beachwood Politics
Daley Dose
In separate news, Mayor Daley announced he has commuted the sentence of Robert Sorich.

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Posted on July 3, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

Barack Obama – taking the money out of politics.
Bandwagon Blues
The Cubs Bandwagon Starter Kit.
Best Movie Promotion Ever
How cool is this?
Kwik-E-Mart
How can you not love Wikipedia?
Springfield Shoppers
Better newspapers than the ones we have would’ve jumped all over this. Buzz cola and Krusty-O’s started appearing at my corner 7-11 a week ago.
I mean, c’mon!
It gets better.

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Posted on July 2, 2007

By Natasha Julius

It may be a short week for you, but the Weekend Desk never knocks off early for a holiday.
Guantana-Maybe
In what is largely seen as a blow to current Bush administration policy, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of several Guantanamo Bay inmates challenging the legality of their confinement. Naturally, we have responded by opening the Beachwood Reporter Weekend Desk betting window, but wagering has been surprisingly flat. Here are the latest odds that the Justices will:
Find in favor of the administration: 5/4
Wrap their anti-civil rights decision in the language of noble struggle: 5/4
Insult your intelligence: 5/4

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Posted on June 30, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

They just raised your prices and re-segregated your schools.
Moore Score
Tribune health reporter Julie Deardorff conducts a pretty interesting interview with filmmaker Michael Moore about his physical condition.
Roger Ebert gives Sicko three-and-a-half stars.
Kirk Quirk
Watching Chicago Tonight last night, it dawned on me as state Sen. Kirk Dillard was describing taking a bus tour or something with state Sen. (and Rev. and Democrat) James Meeks what was behind his participation in a Barack Obama TV ad: He’s running for governor.
Tool Shed
The panel was Dillard, Jennifer Hunter, and Paul Green.

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Posted on June 29, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

1. Mary Mitchell says it so I don’t have to.
2. Expecting insight about race from Neil Steinberg is like expecting insight about the Constitution from Dick Cheney.
3. Even Jonah Goldberg has bailed.

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Posted on June 28, 2007

By Steve Rhodes

“Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll,” the Times reports this morning. “The poll also found that they are more likely to say the war in Iraq is heading to a successful conclusion.”
Those wacky kids. They had me going there for a second.

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Posted on June 27, 2007