By Steve Rhodes
1. “A new telephone survey from Mayor Rahm Emanuel seeks opinions from Chicago voters on public officials, what to cut, school taxes and more,” the Sun-Times reports. “The survey also asks if Emanuel is ‘no better than Mayor Daley.'”
Apparently measuring up to the former mayor isn’t Rahm’s concern.
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That’s kind of remarkable, isn’t it?
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“Tom Bowen, who manages the mayor’s committee, would not comment on the survey, except to say, ‘We don’t comment on internal strategies.'”
Actually, the rest of the quote went “about how we plan to manipulate public opinion to further our own political goals.”
2. “In the wake of protests and civil disobedience in Chicago and across the country criticizing the Obama administration’s Secure Communities program, immigrant advocates called on the government to turn over remaining documents about the program sought in a Freedom of Information lawsuit and to halt the controversial program,” Hispanically Speaking News reports.
“A batch of unredacted documents released by court order this week, which federal district court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin called ’embarrassing,’ included acknowledgement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys that they would have to ‘rewrite’ memos on whether the program is mandatory for states and localities and revealed schisms between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the right of states and localities to opt out of the program.
“In her order, Judge Scheindlin chided the agencies for going ‘out of their way to mislead the public about Secure Communities,’ and pointedly stated that the ‘purpose of the [Freedom of Information Act] is to shed light on the operation of government, not shield it from embarrassment.'”
3. “In the land of draws, the Chicago Fire are kings,” Major League Soccer Talk reports.
“Last night, La Maquina Roja looked well on their way to their third win of the season after dominating DC United at home for about 70 minutes. Sebastian Grazzini had given the home side the lead early in the second half and United’s attack looked spent. However, two second half substitutions by DC coach Ben Olsen turned the game as the visitors were able to grab a goal and hold on for a point, etching Chicago’s name in the record books. The draw was Chicago’s 15th on the year (out of 24 matches), setting an MLS record for most ties in a season.”
4. Exclusive: Obama’s Jobs Plan!
5. “The Vatican, reeling from unprecedented criticism over its handling of sexual abuse cases in Ireland, took a pre-emptive strike Wednesday and published some internal files about a priest accused of molesting youngsters in Ireland and the US.,” AP reports.
“The files published on the website of Vatican Radio represent a small, selective part of the documentation the Holy See must turn over to U.S. lawyers representing a man who says he was abused by the late Rev. Andrew Ronan. The man, known in court papers as John V. Doe, is seeking to hold the Vatican liable for the abuse.”
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“The file contains a 1963 letter written by the Chicago-based provincial of the Order of Servants of Mary to the order’s headquarters in Rome detailing accusations that Ronan had abused students while he was a teacher at the Servites’ Our Lady of Benburb Priory in Ireland.
“The provincial wrote that he had ‘removed’ Ronan immediately from Ireland after discovering the abuse accusations in 1959. Ronan began working in Chicago and was later transferred to Portland. He died in 1992.
“While the letter does not mention Vatican involvement in the transfer, it clearly implicates the Servites in placing a known child molester in a Chicago high school, St. Philip’s. The provincial, whose name is illegible, wrote that after transferring Ronan from Ireland to Chicago, ‘I am expecting the worst any day here at St. Philip’s but much better that it occur here than in a seminary.'”
6. “[Jesse] White learned the lessons of political longevity from a master,” the Tribune reports. “His mentor was George Dunne, the late 42nd Ward Democratic power broker who was Cook County Board president for two decades until retiring in his late 70s.”
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Well, that’s a rather polite way to put it.
“Pushing 80 and yet enmeshed in a scandal in which he admitted having sex with female county employees who alleged they were pressured into providing sexual favors to him, Dunne did not seek re-election to the County Board Presidency or party chairmansip in 1990,” Dunne’s accurate Wikipedia entry notes.
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Or, as Mike Royko put it:
“Actually, what Dunne proved is that in Chicago politics, if you live long enough, never get indicted, pick up enough dinner checks and don`t end up bent and bleary-eyed, you will be saluted as an elder statesman.”
7. “There was also a public relations side benefit [to Rahm’s ride-along with police],” the Sun-Times reports. “Although City Hall did not alert the news media in advance, the mayor’s press office did release a photograph showing Emanuel – wearing an open-collared dress shirt and no tie – talking in an office with plainclothes gang officers wearing bullet-proof vests.”
And you can see that photograph by clicking on the link. The one that goes to the Sun-Times article I just quoted from. I give up.
8. The World’s Greatest College Football Report: Mormonism, The Hall 9000 And Endless Strains Of Rocky Top.
9. The Week in Chicago Rock: You shoulda been there.
10. The Week in WTF: Devin Hester vs. Joe Walsh.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: A daily deal.
Posted on August 19, 2011