By The Beachwood Editorial Cartoon Affairs Desk

We’re pleased to introduce today the Beachwood’s official editorial cartoonist, Sunil Adam. Sunil has graciously agreed to let us repost his cartoons on our site, which means we now have the best editorial cartoonist in the city. Take that, Stantis and Higgins!
The complete collection of Sunil’s Kennan & Bull can be found here. You can expect more Chicago-oriented works in the future.
Today, one of Sunil’s latest, followed by some of our recent favorites.

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Posted on April 29, 2010

By The Beachwood Vs. Affairs Desk

“The ad opens with black and white images of the candidate’s late father Alexis Giannoulias, as the Illinois treasurer compares his family’s financial troubles with those of everyday people.”
– Northwest Indiana Times
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Giannoulias: Failed bank threatens political career.
Everyday people: Failed banks threaten lives.
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Giannoulias: Cried over having to sell bank.
Everyday people: Crying over having to sell blood.
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Giannoulias: Democrat.
Everyday people: Homeless Democrats.

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Posted on April 28, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

You can judge for yourself whether it’s an outrage that the Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady hasn’t paid any federal income taxes in three years, but the bigger outrage in this corner is the way the tax return game is played.
First, there’s the dissembling. Brady initially refused to release his returns, saying his business interests would be jeopardized. Then Brady gave in to the political pressure and decided that, you know, his business interests could survive a peek at the numbers.
Once released it became clear Brady had made a political decision, not a business decision.
Then came the spin.

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Posted on April 26, 2010

By The Beachwood Television Show Hour

1. “According to a Fox Chicago News source, former lieutenant governor candidate Scott Lee Cohen and House Speaker Mike Madigan had a private meeting Saturday morning on the South West Side.”

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Posted on April 22, 2010

By The UIC Center for Urban Economic Development

This is the executive summary of Unregulated Work in Chicago, April 2010.
This report exposes a world of work in which core employment and labor laws are failing significant numbers of workers. These protections – the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, the right to be paid for overtime hours, the right to take meal breaks, access to workers’ compensation when injured, and the right to advocate for better working conditions – are being violated at alarming rates in the low-wage labor market.
The sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers and their communities, entailing significant economic hardship, demands urgent attention.
In 2008, along with our colleagues in Los Angeles and New York City, we conducted a landmark survey of 4,387 workers in low-wage industries, 1,140 of whom are employed in Chicago and suburban Cook County. We used an innovative, rigorous methodology that allowed us to reach vulnerable workers who are often missed in standard surveys, such as unauthorized immigrants and those paid in cash. Our goal was to obtain accurate and statistically representative estimates of the prevalence of workplace violations. All findings are adjusted to be representative of front-line workers (i.e. excluding managers, professional or technical workers) in low-wage industries – a population of about 310,205 workers employed in Cook County.
Finding 1: Workplace violations are severe and widespread in the low-wage labor market We found that employment and labor laws are regularly and systematically violated, impacting a significant part of the low-wage labor force in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
Minimum wage violations:

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Posted on April 20, 2010

By Drew Adamek

I like Barack Obama but I don’t think we elected the right man to be our first black president.
It was clear to me from the get-go that the “hopey-changey” stuff was really just top-notch spin. Anyone who knows anything about Chicago politics knows that if you are going to be a change agent, there is no better place to start than right here (Hi, Emil).
Don’t get me wrong; I was truly touched when the Obama family stood on the stage in Grant Park in November 2008 and I realized that they were America’s first family. I was amazed that America had gone, since my freshman year in high school, from arguments about the merits of a black quarterback to a black president. I was proud to be American; I was thrilled that a Chicagoan was president. Obama’s election was a touchstone moment in American history.
But as incredible as the Obama election is in context, there seems to be something missing. Obama, in my mind, has proven himself to be a man of transient convictions and flexible promises. He is a great speaker, and I do like his measured, tempered approach. But I am disappointed because it feels like he lacks the true power of one’s convictions and that he’s wasted the certainty of his electoral mandate.
I wish the man we elected in 2008 would have more confidence in his convictions, be less likely to compromise, and be less like a Republican president. We face an uncertain world, and I want a president who is resolute, hard-core: a grown damn man. Like, say, Carl Ridenhour, otherwise known as Chuck D.
Here, then, is why Chuck D should have been our first black president:

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Posted on April 19, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

Federal prosecutors revealed new details on Wednesday in their case against Rod (and Rob) Blagojevich when a judge James Zagel denied a defense request to keep the government’s Santiago proffer sealed.
Before I get to my favorite excerpts from the document itself, I’ll post a few highlights from the punditry and news reports.
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Sun-Times: “Patti Key To Feds’ Case Against Former Gov.”
From the report: “[The proffer] described a Blagojevich who almost obsessively discussed cutting a deal to personally benefit from appointing a U.S. senator to Barack Obama’s vacant seat.
“‘Now is the time for me to put my fucking children and my wife first, for a change,’ Blagojevich allegedly said . . . Blagojevich questioned whether the president-elect could do ‘something big’ in the ‘private sector’ for Blagojevich in exchange for the Senate seat.”

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Posted on April 15, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

If you don’t want to take it from me or the Tribune, take it from David Remnick and Garry Wills: Barack Obama is full of it.
From “Behind Obama’s Cool,” Wills’s review of Remnick’s The Bridge: The Life and Times of Barack Obama:
“Obama is such a good storyteller that his biographer might well be intimidated by the thought of competing with his own version of his life. But Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, has many important additions and corrections to make to our reading of Dreams From My Father.”
It seems Obama got his own life story wrong – something that would become a familiar pattern.

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Posted on April 14, 2010

By The Juvenile Justice Initiative

Legislation to Encourage Early Treatment for Juveniles Among Several Juvenile Justice Bills Pending at Half-Way Point of General Assembly’s Spring Session
The Illinois House has approved legislation aimed at encouraging early delivery of mental health treatment and other services to troubled juveniles.
House Bill 6129, now pending in the Senate, would protect arrested juveniles against incriminating themselves through any statements they make when discussing that crime in the course of a behavioral screening, assessment, evaluation, or treatment.
“It’s no secret that many youth in our juvenile justice system suffer mental issues and other behavioral problems, but too often they aren’t addressed until months after the initial arrest,” said Betsy Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative. “If they can be reached much earlier, there is a much better chance of changing behaviors and reducing the likelihood of repeated crimes. This legislation represents a small but important step in changing a system that now leaves too many youth afraid to talk openly and freely with the professionals who can connect the youth with the most appropriate treatment and services.”

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Posted on April 12, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

“Not everyone applauded when President Barack Obama’s appointment of political fundraiser Louis Susman brought Chicago-style deal-making to the Court of St. James,” the Tribune’s Greg Burns wrote this week.
No kidding.
Even the staid CBS News played it this way: “Obama Picks Crony As U.K. Ambassador.”
This was just what Obama promised not to do during his campaign, but when he backtracked during the transition we should have seen it coming.
In February, Carol Felsenthal penned a revealing profile of Susman for Chicago magazine.
Let’s take a look.

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Posted on April 9, 2010