By Steve Rhodes

Catch up with The [Sunday] Papers here, including a brief look at the stunning developments among the George Ryan jury, a challenge to the president of Exelon Nuclear, and the political sidelight of the Chicago Sun-Times‘s business editor.
In today’s papers, there is one story that stands above all others as a must-read. Can even the most die-hard Republicans now claim that we weren’t deceived into war by a president lacking judgement, among other shortcomings?

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Posted on March 27, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

Count me among those stunned that the defense in particular apparently didn’t do a background check on jurors in the George Ryan trial.
I guess $10 million doesn’t go as far as it used to.
It strains credulity to think that today’s sophisticated jury consulting doesn’t include gathering every single fact possible on every single juror, including their favorite colors so lawyers can choose the most advantageous wardrobe and their favorite TV shows so a reference or two can be dropped into closing arguments.
But then, maybe Dan Webb is so brilliant that he doesn’t need no stinkin’ jury consultants.

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Posted on March 27, 2006

By Natasha Julius

The stories we’re watching for you this weekend–because someone has to.
The World Tradeball Classic Wrap-Up
In a shock to almost no one, Japan has officially won NAFTA.
Deliberating Under the Influence
Buried in the story that one of the jurors in George Ryan’s corruption trial may have concealed a DUI conviction is the revelation that all 12 people on the jury hate one another already. In the interest of ending this trial in a peaceful and expedient fashion, we recommend providing a deliberation wet bar. After all, a few tall ones and the BR Weekend Desk loves all you sons of bitches.
Belarussian to Judgment
In light of this week’s widely-criticized presidential poll in Belarus, we are postponing The Beachwood Reporter Fantasy Dictator Draft. To help you prepare once a new date is determined, the official freely-elected Eastern European leader board stands as follows:
Alexander Lukashenko – Not Cool
Vladimir Putin – Still Cool
Viktor Yushchenko – Allegedly Poisoned
Slobodan Milosevic – Allegedly Not Poisoned
An Exercise in Humility
We here at the BR Weekend Desk work hard to find fresh, insightful stories in the most mind-bogglingly absurd places. Sometimes, however, even we have to accept that there’s not much we can do.

Posted on March 25, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

The fact that today’s column is full of this week’s leftovers doesn’t mean the items are less than superb. On the contrary, it means that they are so compelling that I saved them just for this occasion.
Rod Reagan
Eric Krol’s early preview of the governor’s race in the Daily Herald reveals something that hadn’t occurred to me before about the Blagojevich-Topinka matchup. In this campaign, the Democrat will be the sunny voice of optimism while the Republican will be the doom-and-gloomer. Even if Topinka provides a more accurate assessment of the state’s condition, the advantage goes to Blago.

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Posted on March 24, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

Note: I futzed around with this opening paragraph a bit throughout the day. My original gnawed at me because while I said the elephant in the room (and I hate using cliches, but I’m not above being lazy when tired) wasn’t race, it was the media, the example I used was all about race. For example, I could have examined the Duckworth-Cegelis contest for Congress and argued that in the analyses so far (and in those to come) about why the results came in as they did, the impact of the media was (and will) be missing. Duckworth, after all, received international publicity and the bulk of the attention from the print and broadcast accounts I read, saw, and heard ( which did not include the Daily Herald or other suburban media, so don’t write me moaning if the coverage out there was different.)
Are we to believe the media had absolutely no impact on that or any other contest?
The example I did write about below was meant to show the media’s unrecognized impact, but of course it involves race. So just to be clear. Feel free to disagree with a posting in our Forums or send me a Letter to the Editor. – SR
When it comes to the myriad analyses now appearing purporting to explain Tuesday’s primaries, there is a proverbial elephant in the room, something right in front of us but ignored by virtually everybody: The impact of the media itself on election outcomes.
For example, Cook County Democratic Party Chairman Thomas G. Lyons says in today’s Chicago Tribune that the illness of embattled county board president John Stroger galvanized Stroger’s African-American, South Side base.
“They didn’t want to see their guy pushed around,” Lyons said. “He’s kind of an iconic figure, and when they think people are coming at him, they’re going to rally around him.”
Despite challenger Forrest Claypool’s aggressive campaign, I never got the sense that he was energizing the opposition by “pushing around” Stroger.
But it sure felt like the media was pushing Stroger around.
The endless parade of editorials, columns, and news stories detailing Stroger’s incompetence and alleged corruption reached a tipping point. And then, perhaps, folks pushed back.

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Posted on March 23, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

For our look at the primary results and what we think it all means, check out our Politics page.
Tell us where we’re wrong on our Forums.
And to catch up on recent editions of The Papers, we have an archive just for you.
War Wonders
Doesn’t the very fact that we’re still debating the rationale for the war in Iraq inherently prove it has been a failure? If you’re still debating a war three years in, you’ve screwed up.
Doesn’t the very fact that the war is still going on with no end in sight prove that it has been a failure?
If you are debating whether a country has fallen into civil war, isn’t it beside the point whether it is technically true or not?

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Posted on March 22, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

One of my favorite reads every election season is the the one where Cornelia Grumman, of the Chicago Tribune‘s editorial board, dishes on the weird and disheartening responses candidates give to questions from the board in live appearances and to the board’s questionnaires that it sends out as part of its endorsement process.
This year’s version is once again a gem. The only problem with it is that it leaves me wanting more. I’m sure Grumman could fill a whole page with this stuff–and she should be allowed to.

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Posted on March 21, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

Today’s world, as seen through The New York Times.
When wondering what in the world is going on in Englewood, consider this.
When evaluating the effectiveness of policing strategies, don’t forget this.
When you wonder what’s gone wrong in Iraq, remember, the correct answer is Nothing Except the Media Reporting Too Much Bad News.

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Posted on March 20, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

Both the Tribune and Sun-Times put Englewood on their front pages Sunday as the press struggles as much as the community for an effective response to two recent shooting deaths of innocent children caught in the grip of the neighborhood’s violence.

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Posted on March 20, 2006

By Natasha Julius

We’re a little befuddled here at The Beachwood Reporter Weekend Desk. We thought we were going to be up to our ears covering the most recent U.S.-led air assault in Iraq, but apparently it ain’t no thang. So here are the stories we think we’ll be watching for you instead this Saturday and Sunday.

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Posted on March 18, 2006