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Morning shorts
Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · My most sincere condolences: “Alexis Giannoulias, founder and chairman of Chicago-based Broadway Bank, died suddenly while traveling in his native Greece over the weekend. Mr. Giannoulias, 69, suffered an apparent heart attack, according to a spokesman for his son, Alexi Giannoulias, who is the Democratic nominee for state treasurer.” · Krol thinks Bill Scheurer would’ve received 1 or 2 percent, citing his anti-war beliefs. I think his union backing could have bumped him up substantially higher and cost Bean the election. But it appears to be a moot point now. · Editorial: Way above average in clout stats · “Chief Illiniwek likely has not danced his last dance at University of Illinois home football games and could perform at basketball games this winter because the school’s board of trustees has not settled on a solution to the long-simmering debate.” · More Illinois children are living in poverty, but fewer newborns and young children are dying, according to a national study that rates how well states are caring for their youngest residents. · James “Pate†Philip State Park is no longer on the endangered species list — at least for this year.
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- Gregor - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 8:13 am:
This park story is another example of how the administration claims they didn’t raise taxes, when the truth is they force smaller units of government - county and city - to pick up the tab for state functions. And where does the county and city get the money? Duh, from us!
- zatoichi - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:03 am:
May the Chief dance forever.
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:21 am:
Using the NCAA’s “logic” Chief Osceola of Florida State can dance on the sidelines but Chief Illiniwek can’t.
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:32 am:
JBT could do something with those stats on kids.
Clearly, the patchworky nanny state that Blagojevich is trying to bring about via Allkids and other programs cannot substitute for an economic environment that does not produce good jobs for Illinoisians in their child rearing years. The increase in children living in poverty and the increase in children living in underemployed households is a reflection of Illinois’ poor business environment, with its high business and property taxes (individual and business property), expensive overstaffed government bureaucracy, rampant government corruption for the benefit of a few, and really bad schools. It doesn’t matter what the graduation rate is if the graduates are unemployable.
Welfare can only do so much. And Blago, although he is just short of 50, is clearly an elderly 60’s politician when it comes to solving economic and social problems. And we have only to look at Western Europe to see the flaws of the nanny state.
- NW burbs - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 9:56 am:
Rich, you give the unions too much credit in the 8th. All I ever saw them doing was eating donuts — no offense union bros and gals.
Bean had a heckuvalot of her own volunteers even without the unions. And now she has the perks of incumbency.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 11:13 am:
As far as this “clout list” is concerned, has anyone noticed that the media have given the committeemen on the list a gigantic pass?
They’ve paid virtually no attention to the thousands of times the number of a ward organization appears in the “source” column on the “clout list” spreadsheet. The number “13″ appears in the source column 216 times by my count. I stopped counting the number of times “11″ appears after I reached 300. The numbers “33,” “23,” “19,” “14,” and “18″ show up dozens of times, too. But nowhere do we see the names of Mike Madigan, Bill Lipinski, Tom Hynes, or Dick Mell in any of the cute “batting average” stories.
The reporters covering the story have focused on the politicians’ names that appear in the “comments” section of the list and ignored the “source” column. Why is that?
Maybe they’re protecting their sources. Or maybe they don’t teach how to read a spreadsheet in journalism school.
- Retire the Chief - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 12:16 pm:
I wish there was such a thing as time machine technology. Wouldn’t it be interesting if the Chief, university trustees and mascot supporters were beamed back to the Great Plains between the gold rush days and the beginning of the Civil War? This group could tour the Indian villages, hunting grounds, army forts, mining camps and white settlements. The Chief could do his dance routine up and down the Bozeman Trail. I’m sure everyone would put out the welcome mat, given the “great honor†the Chief brings to Native American culture.
In May, John Supinie, a sports writer for the Copley News Service, wrote that descendents of the Illiniwek, the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, do not support the Chief and have expressed their opposition to Illinois. As an alum, I wish the university would honor their request. It’s time to retire the Chief.
- Dem - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 2:47 pm:
Why does the Herald think an anti-war position would translate into only 1% or 2% of the vote? Have they not noticed that a majority of the public opposes the Iraq War? An anti-war candidate running against two pro-war candidates could reasonabley expected to unite the 30% or more of the people in the district who are strongly against the war. Not all voters share most journalists fear of writing anything critical of the war.
- Anon - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 3:22 pm:
The problem with that logic is that not everyone who identifies as “against the war” is “for immediate pullout” — that’s why the number is so low; too many of the “strongly against” folks are also strongly against cutting and running, since we’re already there.
- Philosophe Forum - Tuesday, Jun 27, 06 @ 10:25 pm:
The chief disgraces all of IL & proves how foolish people really are. Maybe UIUC can find a reptile that needs something to do & doesn’t mind being a marketing gimmick. The gecko’s busy.