By Steve Rhodes
They just raised your prices and re-segregated your schools.
Moore Score
Tribune health reporter Julie Deardorff conducts a pretty interesting interview with filmmaker Michael Moore about his physical condition.
Roger Ebert gives Sicko three-and-a-half stars.
Kirk Quirk
Watching Chicago Tonight last night, it dawned on me as state Sen. Kirk Dillard was describing taking a bus tour or something with state Sen. (and Rev. and Democrat) James Meeks what was behind his participation in a Barack Obama TV ad: He’s running for governor.
Tool Shed
The panel was Dillard, Jennifer Hunter, and Paul Green.
Mystery Debate Theater
Find out what Paul Bunyan and Bruce Wayne had to do with last night’s Democratic debate, in our continuing Mystery Debate Theater coverage.
Olympic Accounting
They say it, the Sun-Times prints it – no matter how absurd.
Olympic Evasion
“Olympic officials did not make [new Chicago 2016 chief operating officer David] Bolger available for comment, and Bolger did not return calls. [Chicago 2016 chairman Pat] Ryan called Bolger ‘the guy who runs the inside,’ who would have limited public exposure.”
Just like the budget.
Porch Poop
An engineering report done by the city four years ago on the Lincoln Park porch that collapsed in 2003, killing 13 people, has just come to light.
Obamafied
“Michelle Obama addressed the experience issue yesterday – a day after Barack Obama himself addressed it,” says First Read (third item). “‘For people who say that Barack Obama is not experienced … I can’t wrap my head around that,’ Michelle Obama told hundreds of people crowded into the offices of the nonprofit Our Children’s Foundation in Harlem.”
I can’t wrap my head around electing a president virtually straight out of the Illinois legislature either.
Impeachment Grounds
If lying a nation into war and wiretapping our phones and torturing our ‘prisoners’ isn’t grave enough, then what is? I’d just like to know what standard we have to meet.
Straw Poll
“Meanwhile, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is engaging in a bit of media baiting in mounting a straw man argument in a direct e-mail appeal to supporters, designed to spur donors to give in time to run up second quarter numbers,” Lynn Sweet writes.
“‘Media pundits and Washington insiders are already speculating about our end of quarter fundraising totals,’ Plouffe wrote. ‘They claim the money we raise by this Saturday, June 30th, will determine the success or failure of our campaign,’ Plouffe wrote.”
How meta. Prove the pundits wrong by beating them at their own game!
Sox Pox
Somebody told us so.
This Week in the Beachwood
* “Even the children of Lake Forest, it seems, are not good enough for Lake Forest.”
* “The importance of power calculations in the making of a political news story was further evidenced by how the Washington Post constructed the attempt of Representative John Conyers (D-MI) to publicize the implications of the memo by holding a House informational hearing. That hearing was held in the political context of Republican dominance of the House, and the continuing muddle among Democrats about making an election issue out of being deceived on the war.
“Given this context, the hearing was unlikely to result either in a shift in Democratic position or in any direct political repercussions for the Bush administration. The degree to which these power considerations by the press trumped (indeed defined) the implications of the document is shown in a telling story by Washington Post reporter-analyst Dana Milbank which began with the headline ‘Democrats Play House to Rally against the War.”
“The lead sentence was even more revealing about the power calculus underlying news construction: ‘In the Capitol basement yesterday, long suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe.'”
* “We like to call this the Cub Chill Factor. It’s the difference between the real temperature of this team and what it ‘feels like’ to Cubs fans.
“For example, when the Cubs go, say, .500 over a period of 10 games, it ‘feels like’ they’ve won seven of 10. When the Cubs win one of six but a couple of losses are close, it ‘feels like’ they’ve gone 3-3. When the Cubs win two in a row – or sweep the White Sox – it ‘feels like’ they are a contender. And when the Cubs are closer to last place than first but are within a half-dozen games of .500, it ‘feels like’ they are making a run for it.”
* “The post-Real World life has obviously been good to Trishelle. Not so sure about the others. Former go-go dancer Brynn Smith, who had a threesome with Trishelle and hunkmate and condom-refuser Steven three days after they met for the original series, is married with two kids, who, um, she has brought along for the reunion show. Buzzkill, dude. Her marriage actually seems solid, though she is purportedly jealous of the wild, single life Trishelle still lives while Trishelle pretends to be jealous of Brynn’s married life.”
* “Jimmy Swaggart Ministries claims it has sold 13 million gospel music albums worldwide, and although that assertion is impossible to verify because JIM Records, as a private label, isn’t audited by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), there’s no doubt Swaggart’s popularity as a musician is immense and has changed the face of gospel music forever.”
Who knew?
The Beachwood Tip Line: Pending appeal.
Posted on June 29, 2007