Archive for October, 2003
Posted in October 30th, 2003
I’m still on hiatus, but I couldn’t resist the title change. Confused, go see Atrios’ posting of a letter from Luskin’s lawyer. I’ve already had a biblical curse put on me, so what the hell can a trial lawyer do? Satire is protected speech. See you Saturday and thanks again to Armchairpundit
continue reading.....
Posted in October 29th, 2003
The problems with the Chicago’s Department of Human Services run far deeper than the initial report in today’s Sun-Times would indicate. According to friends of mine who run social service agencies, DHS’s mismanagement of Head Start lead the feds to cut off some Head Start funding already, and to threaten to cut off ALL funding […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 29th, 2003
Forgive the parochial nature of this post (and the earlier one on the same subject). When I am home in San Diego visiting family, I often visit for a respite the mountain town of Julian, which is much like Galena. So this, from today’s San Diego Union-Tribune, breaks my heart: "Fire crews are waging a […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 28th, 2003
The new Tribune/WGN poll for the U.S. Senate race was interesting. In both races, there is, despite the numbers and the spin from the camps, no clear front-runner. This was, essentially, a name-recognition poll, but for both parties, when pressed to name a preference, huge numbers of respondents (53% dems; 60% repubs) said they were […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 28th, 2003
So far the Mayor hasn’t left his defensive crouch about the conduct and qualifications of his cronies in the County Building fire. He defended James Joyce yesteday, whose only qualification to be Fire Commissioner is that he is, well, a Joyce. But as to Joyce’s lame apology yesterday, Eric Zorn has it exactly right in […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 26th, 2003
I was born and raised in San Diego. I remember the fires as unpredictable and frightening — as bad as earthquakes. My family is fine; some friends have been evacuated, but are also safe. As for anyone going through natural disasters, the victims and those in harm’s way would appreciate your good thoughts and prayers.
continue reading.....
Posted in October 25th, 2003
In all my years in Chicago, I have never seen Crain’s Chicago Business (THE paper of the business community) go after the Mayor and his cronies like this. They promise a fuller account in Monday’s print edition, which I’ll post then. Question: will Hynes ask Higginbottom to step down from his finance committee until the […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 25th, 2003
This from today’s Sun-Times: "Mayor Daley spent the week promising the victims’ families a full account of the Fire Department’s performance, but he was a no-show at Friday’s news conference. Joyce was left to sink or swim by a mayor who, by all accounts, is furious about what happened at the Cook County Administration Building." […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 24th, 2003
Apparently stung by Patrick Murphy’s comments that he lacks "backbone," Blago decided to step in yesterday and appoint his own commission to investigate last Friday’s County Building fire. Stroger also got around yesterday to naming a commission. When asked whether any of Stroger’s commission had political or other ties to him, this was his answer […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 23rd, 2003
When Archpundit passed this site to me for a few weeks, he noted that blogs were, basically, vanity sites. I would like to think that my posting today resulted in the press release out of Hynes’s campaign, but even I am not that vain. That said, here is the openning paragraph of their release: "Illinois […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 23rd, 2003
One of the most interesting dynamics to emerge in the Democrat primary for Senate in Illinois is the shake out of support in the GLBT community. This is important because, well, the gays vote like hell. First, so that the Hynes partisans who read this don’t go nuts, let’s stipulate a few things. Dan Hynes […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 23rd, 2003
In an article in today’s Sun-Times that includes, in part, reporting on James Joyce’s own investigation into last Friday’s County Building fire, this little bit of information is revealed: The commander of the downtown fire district, Thomas Donnellan, was off-duty at the time, but defends firefighters for their work. So far, typical. But then, according […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 22nd, 2003
In a state where cronyism and nepotism in politics is almost an art form, it is always gratifying to see the inner-circle under intense pressure for their stupidity, if not negligence. Yesterday the first lawsuit was filed against the management of the County Building that burned last Friday, which includes Elzie Higginbottom. When asked whether […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 21st, 2003
Patrick Murphy deserves enormous credit for not letting anyone off the hook for Friday’s County Building fire disaster. He said he didn’t care much about whether the mayor’s "cronies" were involved in the retrofit of the building, and he called the governor a politician in "search of a backbone" for saying the matter was none […]
continue reading.....
Posted in October 20th, 2003
One of the confounding aspects of the Daley administration is its ability to dodge reponsibility for crises in which serious loss of lives occur. Most of the horrific incidents under his tenure involved City or County (which he controls, despite the window dressing of independence) agencies or staff making decisions that at least were part […]
continue reading.....