By Steve Rhodes
1. Blagojevich now trying to influence not only upcoming jury pool but potential jurors, judges, reporters of the future and/or children of important people.
2. Paralyzed high school athlete outlives his health insurance.
3. “Ryan said the state’s flawed capital justice system first drew his attention a few months after taking office in 1999 when he watched a TV news report about the release of Anthony Porter, who had spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of a double murder,” the Tribune reports.
“‘And I looked up, and here’s this little black guy with a big grin on his face and curly hair, happy as hell that he’d just been released from prison after 15 years of incarceration as an innocent man,’ Ryan said. ‘It’s a bad, bad situation for a country like ours to have a situation like that . . . You know how close he came to getting executed? About 48 hours. They ordered his meal . . . measured him for his burial suit, and they were ready to juice the guy.”
“The city attorney, Avi Kamionski, responded by telling Ryan that no one believed innocent people should be incarcerated but that the city had a right to defend itself.
“Ryan persisted, calling disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge ‘a good example’ of the problem.
“‘I mean, I read those cases where he tortured those guys, put bags over their head, put a gun in their mouth and pulled the trigger with no bullets in it,’ he said. ‘Give me a break.'”
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See also: George Ryan’s Other Jailhouse Interview.
4. I wonder how many Chicagoans – and how many of his voters in particular – even know Rahm Emanuel is Jewish. My guess is very few; it was barely publicized.
5. Yeah but he intends to move his underwear back to Springfield in time for the next election.
6. They better outsource security or Andy Martin will get in.
7. Charlie Sheen for President.
8. Chicago Code’s ratings hold steady, though still not terribly impressive.
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Shawn Ryan says he’s already preparing for a second season – including an episode based on dibs.
“Ryan admitted that he had devised one idea for a potential new episode after reading an article in a Chicago newspaper.
“‘[It was] about the tradition of ‘dibs’ in Chicago . . . which has to do with people placing objects and furniture in the streets to save parking spots after snowstorms,’ he explained. ‘I started thinking about how that might be the basis of an episode.'”
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The show is getting better with each episode, but sometimes the dialogue is still laughable. A bigger problem going forward is that the show only has one compelling character – though it’s a doozy. That’s Delroy Lindo’s Ald. Ronin Gibbons.
The problem is, what happens if/when Supt. Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals) gets her man and throws Gibbons in the clink? The show basically ends, unless you want to show Gibbons pulling strings from behind bars. Borrrrrring!
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Better idea: Spin Lindo off into his own show. Call it The Alderman. Lay off the mob stuff. Get rid of everything else. Do it now; rip off the Band-Aid.
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A review of last night’s episode, “Cabrini Green.”
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“Cabrini Green,” by the way, yielded two additions to our Chicago Code Drinking Game last at the Beachwood: Drink every time a character mentions the Chicago Liberation Army, and drink every time the show gives an address that would actually be in Lake Michigan.
9. Randy Newman’s Chicago Ties.
10. The Beachwood has obtained the short list of candidates being considered for the job of Cubs public address announcer.
11. Many Of World’s Most Heinous People Hold Brazen Public Meeting But Authorities Let Them Go Free.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Fickle finger of fate.
Posted on March 1, 2011