By Steve Rhodes
What is there left to say about Todd Stroger, aside from wishing he would just go away?
Actually, plenty. After all, we still don’t know who Todd Stroger is. I mean, besides the shameless son of John Stroger.
Posted on July 19, 2006
The [Patronage] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
The verdict itself in the City Hall hiring fraud trial was nothing but anti-climactic. But the aftermath has been nothing but downright weird. Who is criminal defense lawyer Thomas Anthony Durkin, and what planet does he live on? How could the consistently dim-witted Sun-Times editorial page get it so right and the often-misguided but more solidly consistent Tribune editorial page get it so wrong? And how blind to reality are the patronage apologists who continue to insist in the face of overwhelming evidence that basing jobs and promotions on political considerations somehow results in a superior, well-oiled workforce?
Let’s take a look.
Posted on July 8, 2006
Blogging For Freedom
By Scott Gordon
When the news broke in May that the National Security Agency had created a huge database of Americans’ phone records, incensed portions of the blogosphere cranked up their message machines, demanding that something be done.
But what?
Daily Kos blogger Da Buddy had an idea. In an “ACTION ITEM” posted on Kos, Da Buddy urged readers to “bombard” the NSA with Freedom of Information Act requests asking for records involving their own phone numbers. “And they HAVE to respond within 20 days, by law!” Da Buddy assured confidently.
Not a bad idea, but a rather unknowing one. Da Buddy’s mob could indeed expect a response within 20 days – most likely a letter from the NSA explaining why the agency would need more than 20 days to respond to their requests.
The Freedom of Information Act is a jewel of democracy, but an imperfect one. The NSA’s own FOIA policy (pdf), for example, states that “In the event the Director of Policy cannot respond within 20 working days due to unusual circumstances, the chief of the FOIA office shall advise the requester of the reason for the delay and negotiate a completion date with the requester.”
So good luck with that.
Freedom geeks are not only celebrating Independence Day this week, but the the 40th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act. That makes it a particularly good time to consider FOIA’s many loopholes as well as the opportunity presented by the growing swarm of bloggers and citizen journalists to press for fixes both federally and, perhaps more importantly, in state FOIA counterparts. Because one thing we’ve clearly learned in the last 40 years is that the use of the Freedom of Information Act is neither free nor always informative.
Posted on July 2, 2006
The [Stroger] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
Bill Beavers is a real piece of work.
“Todd Stroger is a man,” Beavers insisted in today’s Sun-Times. “He might not have as much bass in his voice as I got, but he’s a strong man. For the first time he’ll be his own man.”
But he won’t be allowed to vote. Or to actually become a Cook County commissioner himself. He’ll just be “president.”
If Todd Stroger were a man, wouldn’t he be feeling humiliated just about now?
Posted on June 29, 2006
Stumbling To The Finish Line: Chicago Schools Slip Into Summer
By Alexander Russo
The school year just ended for the Chicago public schools, and everyone who’s not doing summer school seems pretty relieved to have gotten out alive.
It was a mess of a year – full of turmoil and difficulty and tremendous amounts of uncertainty. By most accounts, there’s more turmoil to come.
Looking back at the past nine months, the only things CPS hasn’t had are a patronage scandal or high-level embezzlement. But the way things have been going it seems like either one could come along any day now.
Posted on June 27, 2006
When People Mix
By Kiljoong Kim
This nation’s battle with racial and ethnic tension has been well documented through political measures, from the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Act to the Naturalization and Immigration Act. While most of us have observed and interpreted this history as a struggle, a series of tumultuous circumstances, and have seen race as a dividing force, others have explored beyond their own identity and managed to interact with people outside their own races. In fact, some even managed to marry and have children as results of their interactions. However, despite the increasing complexity of our society, we have not thought of a good way to recognize those people who do not necessarily fit into conventional categories of race.
For a long time, if a person had 1/16 of blood that was black, that person was considered black. Even today, Halle Berry was labeled as the first black actress to win the Best Actress in Oscars though her mother is white. We routinely consider Sen. Barack Obama as black though he is a product of a white mother and a black father. Prior to 2000, even the United States Census Bureau couldn’t figure out how to adequately deal with people who did not fall neatly into existing categories. The decennial census in 2000 was the first time people were allowed to identify themselves with more than one racial category.
Posted on June 25, 2006
The [Debate] Papers: Gloves Off In Gov Debate. Brains, Too.
By Steve Rhodes
The first gubernatorial debate between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and challenger Judy Baar Topinka – broadcast last Sunday on Dick Kay’s City Desk – was a truly weird and disturbing affair whose freakishness was nowhere near adequately captured by the media covering it.
Perhaps intent on providing a “balanced” account rather than a true one – and enthralled by a real, unscripted debate in which the challenger actually, um, challenged the incumbent – the media reports focused on the fact itself that a debate actually broke out at a debate rather than examining the incredibly lame and reckless behavior of the participants.
Personally, I found myself wondering at times if Judy Baar Topinka was doing lines of coke during the commercial breaks or was simply overly mindful of advisors urging her to attack, attack, attack. The unhinged Topinka, who by the way is the state treasurer, and a Republican, reminded me of one of those cranky old folks who rise to speak during the public comments portion of city council or school board meetings and is so incensed about her complaint of the day that she can’t spit out a coherent sentence. She made me wonder if our state’s money was really safe with her.
On the other hand, I found myself wondering at times if the pouty Blagojevich was going to cry as he pleaded with mom that he really had been a good boy.
Is there still time for someone not named James Meeks to make a third-party run?
And yet, I find it incredibly easy to declare a winner amidst the hijinks.
Posted on May 31, 2006
The [Immigration] Papers
By Steve Rhodes
1. In a national address, President Bush pledged last night to secure our borders, and proposed a temporary worker program as part of an immigration reform package that he says will “live up to the promise and values of America.”
Oh, wait. That was two years ago.
2. Jesse Jackson recently noted that until 1918 the United States didn’t require passports to enter the country and the Mexican border was unguarded, in a column debunking immigration myths.
3. Finally, a presidential plan that would reverse the flow of people across the border.
4. A new development: Illegal Immigrants Returning To Mexico For American Jobs
5. These foreign flags didn’t seem to upset a soul.
Posted on May 16, 2006
The [Political] Papers: A Colbert Report
By Steve Rhodes
The news blackout in Chicago on Stephen Colbert’s controversial keynote speech at the White House correspondents dinner a week ago ended on Sunday when the Sun-Times packaged a review by its TV critic with an edited transcript of the performance on the cover of its Controversy section, under the headline “The Mocking Of The President 2006.”
That’s right. If your only source of news is the Chicago newspapers, you’ve been in the dark about a story that has engaged not only the mystified political insiders and their media brethren in Washington, D.C., and the nation’s newsrooms, but the political outsiders who shape public political debate on the Internet, talk radio, and cable-TV.
Posted on May 8, 2006
Mexico, Illinois
By Kiljoong Kim
In 1980, 69 percent of Illinois residents were born in Illinois.
The next highest place of birth among Illinois residents was Missouri, accounting for 2.4 percent (279,025 people) of our state’s population.
By 1990, Missouri fell out of the top spot as the largest provider of Illinois residents born elsewhere. It was replaced by Mexico.
Posted on May 1, 2006