Category: Chicago

Welcome to GOP Grade-School Politics: Andy Martin Claims Mark Kirk Is Gay

Posted on by TL

U.S. Senate candidate Andy Martin (left) taped a commercial saying front-runner U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (right) is gay.

I’m sorry, this is just too funny.

Andy Martin, challenging Mark Kirk in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Illinois, wants you to know about a rumor he’s heard about Mark Kirk from some other guy who claims to know lots.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, the front-runner in the Republican primary election for U.S. Senate, finds himself the object of an unusual attack ad from one of his lesser-known opponents.

Andy Martin, once known as Anthony Martin-Trigona, who has run for numerous elective offices over the last three decades in Illinois, Florida and Connecticut, taped a commercial saying Kirk is gay.

Martin’s source? Statements some conservative Republicans made on a radio show saying they have heard “rumors” that Kirk is gay.

“Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a ‘solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual,'” Martin says in the ad. “Roeser suggests that Kirk is part of a Republican Party homosexual club. Lake County Illinois Republican leader Ray True says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals. Mark Kirk should tell Republican voters the truth.”

Kirk, a U.S. Naval Intelligence officer, was unavailable for comment because he is on active duty over the holidays, said spokesman Eric Elk.

But Elk issued this statement on his behalf: “The ad is not true and is degrading to the political process. The people of Illinois deserve better.”

Just in case you were ever tempted to take Republicans seriously again, read all that garbage up there again. Ask yourself, why does this accusation mean anything to Republicans? Then, ask yourself why Mark Kirk didn’t make some statement, at least to say, “No, I’m not. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”

The only response from that comes from  the campaign is an assurance that the ad is not true. If Kirk wants to garner any gay GOP voters, he’s got to do better than than.  The fact that a better response is so far an afterthought says more than any future response would.

As for Andy Martin? For some reason, I feel I must quote another queen, Shakespeare’s Queen Gertrude, ” The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

Electronics Sales and Thefts Up This Year; Watch Your Stuff on CTA

Posted on by TL

Reports leading up to the holiday season indicated sales of electronics were up this year. While not meeting 2010 targets due to the G.O.P./Bush Recession, manufacturers still expected to do well.

Thieves are also looking for your gadgets, so be careful.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Lindsey Anderson had a strange feeling when a man boarded and sat down in front of her on the CTA’s Green Line near the Harlem station earlier this month.

“Maybe it’s women’s intuition or ESP, I don’t know,” said Anderson, 26, who lives in the city’s North Center neighborhood.

Sure enough, Anderson said the man reached toward her in a swift motion and tried to take her high-end cell phone. But she kept a tight grip on her Motorola Droid, and the man eventually ran off.

The would-be thief left Anderson with some soreness, but also her phone. Other commuters haven’t been as lucky. Chicago police say crooks spy the tiny white ear buds that often signal an iPhone and use the frequent stops of an “L” train to get away with a quick score.

I visited several mobile phone centers today, and they were packed. I didn’t purchase anything new — just shopping around — but these places were booming. Compare that with Macy’s, which was all but empty. Would-be thieves hope to sell your favorite gadget on the streets.

And Macy’s is way over-rated.

Beluga Whale Born At Shedd Aquarium This Week Dies

Posted on by TL

Don’t know why, but I actually felt a twang of grief when I read this headline in the Chicago Tribune.

Strange. Feel sorry for the little guy.

Here’s the scoop:

A male baby beluga whale born in a difficult birth Sunday at the Shedd Aquarium died Tuesday after never establishing a bond with his mother or learning to nurse from her.

"This is an extremely sad day for the Shedd Aquarium family," Ken Ramirez, senior vice president of animal collections, said in a written statment announcing the death.

"Over the past 48 hours we provided round-the-clock care to the calf, and this morning, we became more concerned since he continued to be disoriented in his swimming and still had not reached two critical milestones of bonding with mom and nursing.

"Based on our knowledge of a healthy calf, we knew something was wrong."

The statement did not give details of where or when the calf died but said that his 20-year-old mother, Naya, is in good health and remains under 24-hour-a-day observation by the marine mammal staff.

Read more here. And hug your pet goldfish.

Or something like that.

Michael Jordan Sues Jewel, Dominick’s for Using His Name, No. 23 to Sell Steaks

Posted on by TL

Wow. This was just incredibly bad judgment on the part of Jewel and Dominick’s.

From the Sun-Times:

Michael Jordan is suing Chicago’s two big grocery chains, Jewel and Dominick’s, claiming they used his good name and his good number — 23 — to sell steaks and other goods without his permission.

According to the suit, filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court: “Jordan brings these claims for violation of the right of publicity, false endorsement, false designation of origin, deceptive business practices, and unfair competition against” Jewel-Osco and Dominick’s.

In both cases, the grocery store chains had advertisements in a commemorative Sports Illustrated issue congratulating him on this year’s induction in to the basketball Hall of Fame, according to the suit.

According to the suit, the Dominick’s ad featured Jordan’s name and number with the phrase “You are a cut above” and a photo of a steak.

Below the congratulations is an ad for $2 off a Rancher’s Reserve steak. In the case of Jewel, Jordan takes issue with a full-page magazine ad that congratulates him on the Hall of Fame honor.

The pair of basketball shoes, with a number 23 on the tongues, “appear to be an inaccurate and misleading copy of Air Jordan basketball shoes, which are the subject of an endorsement agreement between Jordan and Nike, Inc.

I would not want to wrestle with Michael Jordan in the courts.

Read more at the Sun-Times.

Danny Davis Likes Dorothy Brown for Cook Co. Board President, and So Do I

Posted on by TL

Rep. Danny Davis endorsed Dorothy Brown for Cook County Board President. In desperation, Todd Stroger played the race card, stupidly, I think.

From the Sun-Times:

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) threw his support behind Dorothy Brown in the crowded Democratic primary for Cook County Board president.

Davis noted that a recent poll showed Brown, the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, leading the pack and he said that factored into his decision.

Davis dropped his own candidacy for board president earlier this year after failing to convince incumbent Todd Stroger to drop out.

Brown, who lost a 2007 bid to unseat Mayor Daley, thanked Davis for his support and said it would help propel her to victory in the four-candidate race.

The Sun-Times says Stroger released the following statement: “Congressman Davis has made a point of expressing his desire to not create or involve himself in any issue that would divide the African-American community. However, this endorsement has the potential to do just that.”

That’s just silly, Todd.

I would like to see Dorothy Brown issue a strong statement condemning patronage jobs. That happens, and I’m all in.

More from the Sun-Times here.

Eleven-Year-Old Aston Wise Killed by Coward with Shotgun

Posted on by TL

When will it stop?

The sad news from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Eleven-year-old Aston Wise was a passenger in a sport-utility vehicle parked on a South Shore street Friday night when a masked gunman opened fire with a shotgun, killing Aston and critically wounding his father.

Aston, of the 6800 block of South East End Avenue, was shot in the head in the 7800 block of South Kingston, police said. He was pronounced dead on the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Aston was a sixth-grader at Martha Ruggles Elementary School, 7831 S. Prairie, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

Police Supt. Jody Weis said detectives are investigating if the shooting was connected to a relative with gang ties.

Weis said Aston had a half brother in the Black Disciplines street gang and that there has been “low-key” conflict between the Black Disciplines and the Gangster Disciples. Police are also looking into the possibility of a carjacking, Weis said.

“We won’t really know until we get a chance to talk with the father,” Weis said. No arrests had been made as of Saturday night.

Another one of our children cut down, this time by a coward with a shotgun.

BREAKING NEWS: Terror Alert in Chicago, IL

Posted on by TL

This just in via email:

BREAKING NEWS: Terror Alert in Chicago, IL

The Chicago Bears football practice was delayed nearly two hours today after a player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice field. Head coach Lovie Smith immediately suspended practice and called the police and federal investigators.

After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white substance unknown to players was the GOAL LINE.

Practice resumed after special agents decided the team was unlikely to encounter the substance again this season.

Sorry Bears fans.  I couldn’t resist.

Todd Stroger Doesn’t Like Them Poll Numbers

Posted on by TL

From the Sun-Times:

Embattled Cook County Board President Todd Stroger blasted a new poll showing he’s in third place in the four-way race for his job.

A Tribune poll of what has been described as 500-plus likely voters shows Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown leading the pack in next month’s Democratic primary with 29 percent of the vote followed by Chicago Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) at 20 percent. Stroger is next with 14 percent and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terrence O’Brien garnered just 11 percent.

“I think it is inaccurate,” Stroger told the Sun-Times today.

“I’ve been here for three years. The Tribune has been trying to sink me for all three years. So I can have a balanced budget when everybody else is struggling, I can keep the hospital system open. I can help 25,000 people change their mortgages and keep their homes, but that’s not good enough,” Stroger said, using an all-too-familiar refrain about how the media is biased in its coverage of him.

Well, that’s one way to handle bad numbers: deny they exist.

Unless Stroger pulls a George W. Bush and fixes the election, I don’t see him surviving the primary.  He certainly does not have my vote. I’m leaning toward Dorothy Brown right now.

I’m looking forward to writing about “former Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.”

Lawsuit Against Chicago Archdiocese Charges Racial Discrimination in Sex Abuse Cases

Posted on by TL

From the Chicago Tribune:

A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago alleging that church officials discriminated against African-American victims of sexual abuse by trying to silence their claims and proposing smaller settlements than those offered to white victims.

The suit, filed today in the Northern District of Illinois by Seattle attorney Phillip Aaron on behalf of 41 men and 8 women, seeks $98 million, accusing the archdiocese, Cardinal Francis George and retired Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Goedert of racial discrimination, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, fraud, conspiracy and racketeering.

"The defendants have acted intentionally to silence the voices of African American and minority victims while defendants distributed false and deceptive information to the public in an attempt to prevent the victims of clergy sexual abuse, their families and the African American and minority community from expressing and exposing racism and discrimination," the suit says.

As evidence that the church acted in bad faith, the suit points to a deposition by Goedert released by the archdiocese in July. In the deposition, the archdiocese’s second-highest-ranking bishop testified that he believed church law required him to keep clergy sex abuse confidential, even when most of the priests he confronted admitted to abusing minors.

The Archdiocese is standing by a report released to the public which found in an audit last month that the average settlement for African-American victims is more than 28 percent higher than settlements with white victims and 19 percent higher than the average of all settlements, the Tribune says.

Quinn vs. Hynes: I’m Leaning Quinn

Posted on by TL

Carol Marin Saturday column in the Chicago Sun-Times compares and contrasts the personas and personalities of Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes.

Characterizing them as Walter Matthau (Quinn) vs. Jack Lemmon (Hynes), Marin says the governors race in Illinois “may boil down to which guy you’d rather have a beer with.”

Right now, I’d like to have that beer with Pat Quinn.

As a fellow Domer, I probably should lean Dan Hynes, but I like Pat Quinn’s down-to-earth style. While I probably shouldn’t characterize people by the schools they attended, Hynes is also a product of the aloof St. Ignatius Prep School.

Here’s Carol:

A longtime politico of the Democratic-Irish-Catholic persuasion, who hates to see his/her name in the newspaper, explained the race to me this way: “It’s been very personal and getting worse. Hynes has worked hard and is smart and capable but not a great campaigner. And Pat Quinn is viewed as the outsider . . . but ended up in the right place at the right time. . . . Right now I do my best to stay out of it. We have long Hynes connections, but I like Pat Quinn. He connects to people, he’s honest.”

The pol added: “At a White Sox game, he sits in the upper deck, not in a skybox.”

Quinn (Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown) and Hynes (magna cum laude from Notre Dame) are among this state’s brainiest politicians. And this contest should be decided based on who has the best, smartest policies to pull Illinois out of the worst financial crisis, perhaps, in its history.

I hope these guys campaign on what they want to do as governor. I don’t want to watch an endless stream of commercials attacking or responding to frivolous political attacks. Right now, I’m just not sure how these pols differ ideologically. They both seem very intelligent and honest. I just feel more comfortable with Pat Quinn right now.

Let the games begin.