By Steve Rhodes
1. If you’re thinking about a career in journalism.
2. State regulators also gave ComEd permission to open a chain of pawn shops.
3. I don’t mean to be a killjoy, but I’d rather see the city enforce the foie gras ban than the ban on pot.
4. The papers today don’t fully convey the horror that was the president’s news conference yesterday. It was so bad that Joe Scarborough – a conservative who twice voted for Bush and supported the war – called the president “delusional.” He didn’t mean it rhetorically. He really meant it; he even raised the specter of impeachment to resolve a potential impending crisis of one man waging a war that the military, Congress, and public no longer wants. To see the remarkable segment, go here and click on “President Bush Goes It Alone” in the middle column.
5. “A former operations manager for Chicago Public Schools admitted in federal court Wednesday that he took $1,000-a-week bribes to hand out fencing and snow-removal contracts to a politically connected contractor,” the Tribune reports.
Mayor Daley praised the man’s fine character.
5. “Police have been stymied by the lack of cooperation from people at the Ice Bar the night Willie B. Posey was shot,” the Tribune reports.
Mayor Daley praised the people’s fine character.
6. No pun intended, but this is an awfully tortured defense from the Chicago Police Department on the Ealy case. Some might call it delusional.
7. There is never a penalty for being wrong in punditry and never a reward for being right. Pundits are insiders whose intellectual skills are usually lacking but ability to be provocatively wrong are exceptional.
8. Case in point.
9. Media scripts are repeated every day as if true, mostly because reporters don’t think for themselves – and when they try their editors shut them down. The solution is simply to independently report rather than repeat what the punditry says. We need reporters, not repeaters. Here in Chicago too. See if you can spot the lazy scripts.
10. I never truly understood what Jesse Jackson Jr. meant when he told me once that it was “too expensive” to seek a spot in his party’s leadership. Now I do.
11. The Screw was much better than The Drill Bit.
12. Build That Screw.
13. The Sun-Times Media Group is considering “a complete overhaul of its flagship newspaper.”
14. Judaism places strict laws on killing animals for food – it must be done in the most humane way possible, usually an instant death by one quick slice of the neck, for example. The mayor may think it’s silly, but the way geese are tortured to produce foie gras doesn’t pass the test.
15. If only the mayor got as excercised about the entrenched corruption of his administration as he does about the foie gras ban, what a wonderful world that would be.
16. Sign of the Times. Or the teams.
$40 million – Value of the four-year contract journeyman left-hander Ted Lilly (59-58 career record) signed this week with the Chicago Cubs.
$40 million – Value of the four-year contract two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana signed with the Twins in February 2005 after winning his first Cy Young.
17. Help save the college-bound youth of America.
18. The Trib’s best books of the year vs. the Beachwood’s best books of the year.
19. “[Obama’s] wife’s income as an administrator at the not-for-profit University of Chicago Hospitals nearly tripled to $316,962, from $121,910,” the AP reported recently.
“In 2005, she was also elected to the board of directors of west suburban Westchester-based TreeHouse Foods, which calls itself the nation’s largest pickle and pepper supplier. For that, she received $12,000 and $33,000 from a subsidiary.
“She was promoted to the hospitals’ vice president for community and external affairs in March. Obama said that his wife, who, like him, is a Harvard law school graduate, was deserving of the promotion and raise.”
And from Crain’s:
“Ms. Obama, vice-president for external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, says she was asked to join the [TreeHouse] board – five months after her husband took office – after putting out feelers indicating she’d like to get some corporate management experience.
20. When Dan Hynes writes, “Since he was elected to the Senate, Barack has proven himself as someone who tackles difficult issues, successfully works in a bipartisan fashion, and isn’t afraid to articulate his true convictions, ” which difficult issues is he referring to? Because on the biggest issue of our time – the Iraq war – Obama certainly isn’t out front. You might say that for a presidential candidate he’s showing a remarkable absence of leadership.
21. Barack Obama: Charisma piled on gorgeous and wrapped in a sex tortilla. (Spotted first on Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax Blog)
22. If Barack Obama says he loves you, check it out.
23. Am I the only one who gets the feeling that John Edwards will be on the Dem ticket again – as the nominee for vice president?
24. The Bears’ other character guys.
“When the Bears play the Patriots today, they’ll be without cornerback Ricky Manning, who leads the team in interceptions and convictions. This week the NFL suspended Manning for one game for his most recent crime,” Jeremy Schaap said on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters earlier this season.
“In April, Manning and some friends were at a Denny’s when they noticed another patron quietly working on his laptop. For no known reason, Manning – already on probation for another assault – slapped the man in the face and allegedly called him an ugly Jew – and worse. Then Manning’s friends beat the man – who by the way is not Jewish – into unconsciousness.
“Manning denied the slur – my lawyers are Jewish, he said – but in September he pleaded no contest to felony assault.
“Regarding the suspension and its timing, Brian Urlacher said, quote, ‘It stinks.’ Urlacher’s an outstanding linebacker, but perspective is clearly not his strength. Neither he nor anyone else on the Bears said it stunk that Manning assaulted an innocent man – only that it stinks that he won’t be in the team’s nickel package today.
“For its part, the NFL was too soft on Manning, a repeat offender, an alleged bigot and a confirmed dope. In just about any other line of work, Manning would have been fired for cause. Instead, he’ll be back on the field next week. Go Bears.” (Spotted first at Rosenblog)
25. Time to rep Smoke Park.
The Beachwood Tip Line: Party at the Moon Tower.
Posted on December 21, 2006