Bartman vs. Cubs
ArchPundit
A more neutral take on Bartman, the spoiler of all that is holy, can be found at Eat Your Vegetables
I’m trying to feel sorry for the guy, but it just isn’t working.
October 2003
It’s Official Kooky Kathuria
Kathuria filed a lawsuit against the Trib yesterday.
The lawsuit alleges that Kathuria of Oak Brook could lose $100 million in pending business ventures and future deals if the newspaper is not forced to remove the story from its Web site.Kathuria also is seeking a court order for the newspaper to post retractions both in print and on its Web site. He also seeks damages in excess of $1.5 million.
"Should I have updated my resume? Yeah, but there’s a lot of old resumes that are around when companies are up and running. It’s a fact of business," Kathuria told reporters. "If someone said they were running a company and it’s no longer around, you just have a new resume. … So at the worst case, sure, I’m guilty of not updating my resume."
First, the suit is a non-starter. It’ll be thrown out–as a public figure his business dealings are fair game. If he didn’t want scrutiny, he shouldn’t have run–regardless of whether the scrutiny is fair.
Second, he is officially relegated to being a fringe candidate from such behavior. Taking the hit, protesting it and moving on would have been a far, far better strategy. Now, he’ll be the kook with a lawsuit againt the Trib.
I’m With Zorn
If the Cubs lose tonight, I wouldn’t have been able to blog afterwards for two weeks anyway. Zorn gets it right
That Marlins’ 8th inning reeked of history, of pitiful stories we will tell our children’s children in 2045 during the centennial commemoration of the Cubs’ last World Series appearance.
…in aught three, we were cruising along, five outs away from the World Series, when a fan snatched a pop-up from Moises Alou. After that, of course, the floodgates opened and the team’s spirit was crushed….
The announcers and even some of the players who were saying "don’t blame the fan" for Tuesday’s defeat were guessing, at best.
You never know, of course, but the way I see it, if Alou catches that pop up, then we have two outs and Alex Gonzalez doesn’t rush trying to get a double play on the ground ball two batters later, fields it cleanly, and and we’re out of the inning still leading 3-1.
(Speaking of which, if there’s one person in all of Cubdom who’s secretly grateful to the foul-snatching fan, it’s gotta be Gonzalez, whose horrifying bobble is now just a footnote and not a new chapter in team history.)
And when they excuse the fan by saying, as pitcher Mark Prior did after the game, that "99 percent of the people" would have done the same thing, reaching out for a foul ball that close to the field of play, they’re simply wrong.
Most fans, good fans, smart fans know to lean out of the way–scurry if possible — when a guy from their team is running toward the seats with a bead on a foul fly.
And here’s the doubly mortifying allegation from an S-T story this morning:
"In the section where the ball fell….Pat Looney, 34, of the Northwest Side said… the (grabby fan) already had a ball from earlier in the game when Alou tossed one into the stands."
If the Cubs lose game seven tonight, their fans will never forget and never forgive.
It sounds ridiculous and petty, but it’s probably true that this young man will almost certainly have to leave town and start again elsewhere if he wants some semblance of a normal life.
If the Cubs win, he’ll be OK, a footnote himself, just that knucklehead who kept us all on edge for an extra 24 hours.
Not for his sake but for the sake of everyone who’ll otherwise spend the rest of their lives including him in their mutterings about goats, black cats and Leon Durham, I hope it all turns into a jolly anecdote:
…we thought the players would crumble under the demoralizing weight of it all, but, by golly, the next night….
Escorted Out
I attempted to post this last night between the 2nd and 3rd outs in the bottom of the 9th….
Security escorted him out early to avoid any confrontations. I just talked with someone before the last out and they took him out at the beginning of the 9th. That is probably for the best-perhaps he should join Dick Cheney in the undisclosed location.
Bring Me the Head of the Fan
who interfered with Moises Alou on the foul ball. NOW!
In a sign of the apocalypse, Spoons and I are on the same page here
Guest Blogger
For my time away, we will have a guest blogger–Armchairpundit (not armchair analyst) who describes himself thusly,
I am a centerist gay activist from Chicago involved in national and local GLBT issues.
I think you’ll enjoy him and his take on Illinois politics. And I thank him for giving me a break while keeping the site going—while this is ultimately a vanity site, I do take readers seriously. Treat him nicely. There may be another guest blogger, but I’m waiting to hear back.
I’ll be lightly posting through tomorrow and then I’ll be back on or directly around November 1st. I may pop in if there is a breaking news or if really, really big news hits by the 26th. But then again I may not. Feel free to drop me e-mail in the mean time.
We Here At ArchPundit Would Like to Welcome Dr. Kathuria…
to the world of being a public figure. If you can’t handle a tough news story without resorting to a lawsuit, this is going to be a very, very long primary campaign.
The lawsuit has no merit. It is going nowhere and it is going to doom any good press the campaign was going to get—John Zahm should be tackling his candidate and taping his mouth shut. If he isn’t, John Zahm shouldn’t be managing campaigns. It is nearly impossible for someone to win a lawsuit against a newspaper if they are a public figure–and running for the US Senate makes one a huge public figure.
This will only turn away from his message and focus on lawsuits and complaining instead of allowing him to reach voters. Even worse, the Trib’s lawyers will make mincemeat of the guy in court.
Kathuria Response
Via Illinois Senate here is the press release from Kathuria
Dr. Kathuria for U.S. Senate 2004- Press Release-October 13, 2003
MEDIA ALERT: DR. KATHURIA TO RESPOND TO MALICIOUS AND DEFAMATORY ATTACK BY RICK PEARSON AND CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Dr.Chirinjeev Kathuria, Republican candidate for the United States Senate, will respond to the front page smear piece published in the Chicago Tribune on October 11 and 12 in a press conference at 11:45 AM on Tuesday, October 14 at the Hampton Inn of Downtown Chicago at 33 W. Illinois
Dr. Kathuria will refute the charges that his resume and background have been ‘too good to be true.’ Dr. Kathuria will make key documents available to the media and the public that will prove that his resume and background are strong and completely verifiable.
Dr. Kathuria and his legal team will also present copies of the substantial lawsuit to be filed at the DuPage County Circuit Clerk’s Office Tuesday morning. Dr. Kathuria will be suing Messrs. Pearson and Zajac personally, and the Chicago Tribune corporally, for $100 million in damages resulting from the story that included malice aforethought, defamation of character, false and unsubstantiated claims, willful misleading and tortious interference with contractual relationships.
"The Chicago Tribune and its political reporters must be held accountable to write fair and balanced articles on all the candidates. We must remember it is the people of Illinois who decide who gets elected- not the reporters at the Chicago Tribune. This type of irresponsible trash reporting will never stop, unless someone takes a stand against it. I will carry this fight to save my reputation on behalf of all the people of Illinois and make politics a level playing field for all candidates. May this type of character assassination and negative and biased reporting never occur again," Kathuria said.
Dr. Kathuria graduated valedictorian in 1983 from Downers Grove North High School. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Stanford. Dr. Kathuria’s group made a $55,000 investment in The X-Stream Networks, Inc: and he became a Director and major shareholder and helped pioneer the free ISP concept. The X-Stream networks, Inc. was sold for USD 75 million in cash and stock and merged with LibertySurf. Dr. Kathuria was instrumental
in helping build MirCorp and is a former founding director. MirCorp created world history on April 4th, 2000 when the company became the world’s first company to privately launch and fund a manned space program. MirCorp helped send the first ‘citizen explorer’ to space, Dennis Tito. Dr. Kathuria?s co-authored papers include "Selectivity Heat Sensitivity of Cancer Cells", "Avascular Cartilage as an Inhibitor to Tumor Invasion,? and "Segmentation of aneurysms via connectivity from MRA brain data" the latter of which was published in the Proceedings of the International Society for Optical Engineering in 1993.
The Chicago Tribune was well aware of all of these accomplishments, yet chose to slant the story maliciously.
The Kathuria team will also discuss several reasons, and provide corroborating material, to explain possible motivations for the publication of this story and the months of research expended in a desperate attempt to find anything negative to defame Dr. Kathuria’s good name and reputation
Hynes Announcement on Job Creation
ILLINOIS COMPTROLLER DAN HYNES RELEASES PLAN TO CREATE JOBS IN AMERICA
U.S. Senate Candidate Releases Comprehensive Plan To Get America Working Again
Springfield, IL ? Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes visited Springfield today to unveil his plan to create jobs in America if elected to the U.S. Senate.
?We have lost over 3 million jobs in this country and all we hear from the Bush Administration is more tax cuts for the wealthy and more money for Iraq,? said Hynes. ?This administration has no plan to stimulate the economy, no plan for Iraq and no plan to create jobs.?
Since President Bush took office, we have lost over 3 million jobs ? more than 200,000 in Illinois ? giving him the worst record on jobs for any President since the 1930?s. Our economy is struggling and we continue to sign bad trade agreements that ship our jobs overseas. States across the country are facing massive deficits, forcing many to cut jobs, eliminate services and in some cases, even raise taxes.
?Misguided economic policies and misplaced priorities have contributed to massive job losses in our country and as U.S. Senator, I will do as I have in Illinois ? get us back on track and get Americans working again,? said Hynes. ?Our leaders in Washington have forgotten that what makes America work is helping Americans get to work.?
?How many jobs must we lose before the federal government addresses needs at home, in the states and in our manufacturing sector,? asked Hynes. ?Without a commitment to investing here in America, assisting our states and standing up for American workers, we are neglecting to make good on America?s promise of providing opportunity to its people,? said Hynes.
As State Comptroller, Hynes has been a leading voice for long-term fiscal reform in Illinois and an advocate for working men and women. He has passed several legislative packages and instituted policies that will make the state more fiscally sound so that our state economy is strong, we can create jobs and protect workers. The Hynes Plan to Create Jobs is built on the same principles.
The Hynes Plan To Create Jobs includes the following:
Investing in America
Match every dollar we spend rebuilding Iraq with a dollar of investment in America
Investing in Illinois
Provide relief to state and local governments by fully funding federally mandated programs
Invest in Illinois? transportation infrastructure
Encourage development in our distressed neighborhoods and communities
Revitalize Illinois? coal industry
Invigorate Illinois? agricultural economy
Enacting a National Manufacturing Policy
Invest in small manufacturing companies
Expand Manufacturing Extension Centers
Reduce health care costs for smaller businesses
Establish Regional Manufacturing Skills Alliances
Fight for ?Made in America? tax incentives
Making America?s Trade Policies Work for American Workers
Reject unfair trade agreements
Combat unfair trade practices
Help workers hurt by U.S. trade policies
Vote to revoke PNTR status for China
Over the next few days, Hynes will travel to Peoria, Quincy and Carbondale to share his plan for creating jobs in America with fellow Illinoisans.
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For a copy of the Hynes Plan to Create Jobs, please call the Hynes for Senate Campaign office.
NAACP Candidate Forum Available On-Line
The Illinois Channel has made the NAACP Candidate Forum available on-line.