Interesting
BackupPundit
Who needs a home when you have a blog.
Scroll down to the third post, guess Wired Magazine did a feature, check it out.
Uncategorized
Out until Monday
ArchPundit
But I think the guest bloggers might continue as their time permits. I’m sick, if you sent me e-mail, don’t expect a quick reply.
Monday, will be a return to your normally scheduled programming until July 3rd and my trip to San Francisco. August will have a couple breaks as well, including Governor’s Day and recovery from Governor’s Day and a vacation. If the guest bloggers had fun over the last week, they’ll be welcome to return as I’ve enjoyed their stuff. I’ll also be on the lookout for others.
On Obama and Progressivism
First, so there is no confusion, this is not Larry writing. This is one of the guest posters while he’s on vacation.
I wanted to comment on David Sirota getting a phone call and interview with Senator Obama that popped up last week or so. I encourage you to read the piece as David wrote a good article, allowed the Senator ample room to express his views and does a very good job of laying out an emerging progressive topic du jour: Is Obama a Progressive or Will He Disappoint?
David says we should tamper down our expectations as Obama will disappoint progressives with his insider/institutional approach to solving problems.
What he completely misses is there is no reason to be disappointed.
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Post Does the Hastert Land Deal
The Washington Post writes up the Hastert deal with a couple other lawmakers.
Will the Real John McCain Stand Up?
One of the reasons John McCain was so loved in 2000 was his willingness to fly in the face of his party and say what they didn’t want to hear.
McCain is a shadow of his former self these days having resigned himself to court the insiders in order to win the nomination for 2008.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska now fills that role:
The war in Iraq is the defining issue on which this Congress and the administration will be judged. The American people want to see serious debate about serious issues from serious leaders. They deserve more than a political debate. This debate should transcend cynical attempts to turn public frustration with the war in Iraq into an electoral advantage. It should be taken more seriously than to simply retreat into focus-group tested buzz words and phrases like ?cut and run,? catchy political slogans that debase the seriousness of war. War?s not a partisan issue, Mr. President. It should not be held hostage to political agendas. War should not be drug down into the political muck. America deserves better. Our men and women fighting and dying deserve better.
Hat Tip to Think Progress.
The Mouth of the South (Side that is)
Instead of going into detail about last night’s butt-whipping the Sox gave the Cards, I will be respectful of Arch’s turf here and look into OOHMA (Ozzie Opening His Mouth Again).
Greg Couch has the story.
Now, I dislike Mariotti as much as the next man (this is the jackass column he wrote about the Sean Tracy incident), but you have to control yourself Ozzie, you’re giving the White Sox PR guys heartburn.
It’s good to stick up for your players and your obviously not running for anything, but stuff like this ends up hurting people, distracts from the good ink the team should get AND worst of all probably brings a smile to Marriotti’s face since he gets attention.
Anyone ever see the Simpsons episode where they ignored the commercial advertisement monsters to make them go away? Ignore him Ozzie and you’ll make him irrelevant.
Update: I should have clicked through a few more spots on the RSS reader. More talk from South Side Sox here.
New Survey USA Numbers Senate
Not a ton of news here, but I post in case anyone missed.
2006 Isn’t Even Over Yet: Big Box and 2007
Am I the only one who feels we’re not really in an election year? Virtually every statewide race is pretty much decided and there’s no real chance that either state chamber will switch control. Sure, there are a couple of good congressional races, and the Governor’s race might heat up . . . but really, outside of speculating on John Stroger’s health, there’s not much going on.
So what’s a political junkie to do? This one is going to start speculating about the next election cycle!
We can start with this curious polling:
“Chicagoans overwhelmingly favor wage and benefit standards for Wal-Mart and other “big-box” retailers, even if it places jobs at risk, according to a new poll commissioned by proponents to turn up the heat on the City Council.”
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Go Wild, Illinois!
The politics stuff is a blast — and no doubt, there’s plenty to talk about locally and nationally. But we’ve months for that, and we don’t want to burn out now, do we?
Since it is vacation season, I want to share something with all of my friends outside of the Chicago TV market (as well as the majority within the Chicago TV market that aren’t public television-watching nerds like me).
Wild Chicago’s Illinois Road Trip.
Wild Chicago was a show on WTTW that went dark a few years ago. The hosts, which over the years included eccentric actor Will Clinger and current Illinois Road Trip host Ben Hollis, traveled, mostly throughout the Chicago area and Illinois (though there was some travel to Indiana, Wisconsin and other Midwestern states – I think they may have also gone to Japan), clueing viewers in on the many oddities that exist in our back yards. Info on that show here and here.
Wild Chicago’s Illinois Road trip is in the same vein, but Hollis takes viewers on a journey throughout our great state, stopping along the way to see an idyllic Japanese Garden in Rockford, on a cruise on the Spirit of Peoria, to the Garden of the Gods in Southern Illinois, and on a number of other adventures in every part of Illinois.
The show has one major sponsor. And in essence, the show’s a half-hour ad for that sponsor. But it is NOT a commercial production. It’s sincere and the host is wonderfully goofy, complete with safari outfit, pith helmet and bad jokes.
I don’t think it shows outside WTTW’s viewing area, but it may (if anyone knows, please chime in). But the web site’s pretty inclusive.
Check it out.
Slacking…
Apologies to the readers, busy day at work.
To hold you over, the Washington Post has a writeup on wonder boy Barack Obama and presidential ambitions. They should have titled the piece, “Dog Bites Man, Sky Remains Blue, and Pizza Still Delicious” for all the news broken in it.
Like this one.
He recently hired two nationally experienced political consultants, Anita Dunn in Washington and David Axelrod in Chicago.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Axelrod worked for the campaign in 2004. So, how is his hiring new? Annita Dunn is new, but already reported. Oh, and lots of people come see him at fundraisers? He raises lots of money? Again, newsworthy?
However, I’d rather see more stories like that than this one. I’ll have more comment on the latter in a later post.
Check out the Post piece here.