By Steve Rhodes
1. Whet Moser is smarter than Mary Schmich. And a better writer. Think he gets paid nearly as much?
2. Some local businesses can’t figure out how to get stimulus money, Ald. Manny Flores tells Chicagoist. And the Green Exchange may seek TIF funds.
3. Sheryl Crow sells her catalog for $10 million. I hope to someone who was willing to pay that much so we wouldn’t have to hear any of her songs ever again.
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Actually, her first record had some value to it. Since then, though, she’s been nothing but a menace.
4. The public option makes no sense whatsoever. And the entire bill makes no sense whatsoever without the public option.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Single-payer or kick it to the states. Either way, get Corporate America behind an effort to do away with employment-based insurance.
5. Eric Zorn presents a terrific case for holdout University of Illinois trustees James Montgomery and Frances Carroll to give up the ghost and join their colleagues in tendering their resignations.
Zorn quotes from the report filed by the admissions review panel, which stated:
* “In an email to (UIUC Chancellor Richard) Herman dated April 16, 2009, Trustee James Montgomery advocated for a rejected applicant. Montgomery explained that he emailed Herman at the behest of his daughter, who was dating a relative of the applicant. Montgomery stated that he emailed Herman because he wanted to determine if it was ‘too late’ for the applicant, whom he acknowledged had been rejected, to be accepted by the University.
* “An April 1, 2009 e-mail to (Chancellor Richard Herman’s secretary Phyllis) Mischo, (Associate Provost Keith) Marshall indicated the University will admit a substandard student sponsored by Trustee Carroll as late as possible because she has terrible credentials at a ‘good school’.”
Zorn also notes that Montgomery recommended at least four students in the last three years, and that Carroll backed at least three students.
Finally, both were appointed by Rod Blagojevich.
Here’s the funny thing, though: Zorn doesn’t think the record shows that Montgomery and Carroll ought to resign.
Apparently trustees sticking their fingers in the admissions process is acceptable to him. I don’t get it.
The Tribune gets it right today in its editorial “It’s Not About You.”
Remember: If Gov. Quinn finds their service too invaluable to lose, he can always re-appoint them.
But does anyone really think Montgomery and Carroll are indispensable?
Their selfish behavior and poor judgement proves just the opposite.
6. Billy Dec, nightclub impresario and Olympic ambassador, threw out the first pitch (while tweeting) at the White Sox game yesterday and then kicked it with the sports guys on Chicago Tribune Live last night, where he said he is “getting the feeling the momentum is building” for the 2016 bid.
On what planet, Billy?
Host David Kaplan, whom I am a fan of, said getting the Olympics here would “set up our economy for years going forward.”
If by “set up” he means distort, pervert and wreck, well, yes, then, he’s right.
The phrase “TIF” was never uttered; nor were the words “blank check” or “the mayor lied.”
I guess these guys limit their reading to the sports section.
7. “More than 30 percent of single-family homes in the Chicago metropolitan area had mortgages that were greater than the value of their home at the end of June, according to a report from First American CoreLogic,” the Sun-Times reports. “That’s 550,572 Chicago area homes with negative equity.”
But if we get the Olympics . . .
8. Richard Roeper actually has a good line this morning: “There are few things in life more depleting than going back to the gate.”
And he’s right about Wi-Fi on airplanes: Amazing. I mean, how does the Internet get up there? All that stuff flying through the air – instantly – it just makes no sense.
I don’t understand this world.
9. I guess it was coming.
“Blackhawks star winger Patrick Kane has skated on felony charges,” the Sun-Times reports.
Please no more stale puns. It’s depleting.
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A colleague pointed out to me that Patrick Kane apologized to everyone in the universe – except the cab driver.
From the Buffalo News:
“Because I’ve put myself in being in the wrong position in the wrong time, I’ve caused a lot of pain for my family, my hometown of Buffalo, the city of Chicago, the Chicago Blackhawks and obviously the great fans we have here in Chicago. And for that part, I sincerely apologize.”
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Maybe an apology to the cabbie will be part of his coming plea bargain.
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He beat up a cab driver over 20 cents! We still don’t know otherwise.
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Then Kane can get back to kicking it with Billy Dec – because I just have a feeling they do.
But do they kick it old-school or new?
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And then Kane can get back to the ice, where he can beat up people legally.
10. I’m a Rick Bayless fan, so I have nothing snarky to say about this. And I like the show.
Bonus Round
* Pat Quinn’s Body Snatched
* Chris Kennedy: Our Brett Favre
* Melissa Bean’s Scones of Shame
Plus . . .
* A famous director and a feces flood at a Chicago pizzeria.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Kickin’ it.
Posted on August 20, 2009