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Catholics increase their pressure against civil unions, death penalty

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Catholic Conference of Illinois is turning up the heat against the civil unions bill, and urged action by its adherents this week…

Please call your state representative and state senator next Monday, Nov. 15 or Tuesday, Nov. 16 and ask him or her to vote NO on Senate Bill 1716. We expect a vote next week! Senate Bill 1716 enacts civil unions and grants those in civil unions the same rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage. Under this bill the only difference between marriage and civil unions is the name. Your message is simple: “Vote NO on Senate Bill 1716 because it equates civil unions and marriage. I am opposed to undermining marriage in this way.” It is also true this bill could have a significant impact on the Church’s social service missions.

It’s not completely clear what that “significant impact on the Church’s social service missions” means. Washington, DC’s archdiocese originally threatened to close homeless shelters and end various social service programs if the city enacted a gay marriage ordinance. Instead, they simply transferred a foster care program to another group and stopped paying for new employee spousal health insurance.

Fran Eaton has her own translation…

Forcing the Catholic Church to consider civil unions in its qualifications for adoption and other family-oriented ministries would force state policy onto religious doctrine, a possible First Amendment infringement.

* Robert Gilligan, the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, penned a recent op-ed that provides some clues…

The November 12, 2010 editorial “Time for Civil Unions” stated that civil unions are not the same as same sex marriage. You should have read the legislation more carefully because they are the same.

The bill describes a “party to a civil union” as the legal equivalent of a “spouse” under Illinois law. The bill then states that a “party to a civil union” is entitled to the same legal obligations, protections and benefits as are afforded by the law to a spouse. Proponents of civil unions know lawmakers do not have the political will to pass same sex marriage in Illinois, so they have created the pseudonym of civil unions in order to get the same benefits of marriage by calling it something else.

The real tragedy with this legislation is that it further undermines traditional marriage, an institution necessary for creating and shaping new human life. More attention needs to be directed at how this legislation presents a clash with established principles of religious liberty. Real concerns remain about how this bill could require faith-based employers to grant benefits to same sex civil partners and how it would impact social service agencies by mandating placement of foster or adopted children with same sex civil partners. Do not be fooled. Civil unions are same sex marriage and there are real problems with this legislation for religious entities.

So, it appears that the Catholics may no longer be in the foster child, adoption game if this passes.

* Meanwhile, House Speaker Michael Madigan not only claimed that the civil unions bill has a good chance of passage, he also appeared to endorse it…

“There’s a good chance it’ll pass,” he said. “. . . It’s an appropriate thing to do.”

* Sen. James Meeks is probably hoping the bill never arrives in the Senate. He’s a social conservative and has opposed the idea in the past. He wouldn’t tell Chicago Tonight what he would do if he does have to vote, but said as Chicago’s mayor he would have a duty to uphold all the laws. Have a look…

* The Catholic Conference is also urging abolition of the state’s death penalty. From its website…

Legislation to abolish the death penalty in Illinois may be considered during the fall veto session in Springfield (November 16-18 and November 29-December 2). The Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) supports this legislation. The use of the death penalty when there are other means to protect our society, such as sentences of natural life without parole, weakens the respect for all human life. Now is the time to end the death penalty in Illinois. Here are a few things you can do to take action.

1) Call your legislators.

Please call your state representative and state senator and ask him or her to vote YES on legislation to abolish the death penalty. Tell your legislators that:

“The death penalty is not necessary when there are other means to protect our society, such as sentences of natural life without the possibility of parole. Please support legislation to abolish the death penalty.”

You can go to the Illinois State Board of Elections to look up your elected officials or call our office at (312) 368-1066 or (217) 528-9200.

2) Participate in the November 29 Lobby Day.

You can also participate in the “People of Faith Lobby Day” in Springfield on November 29. The Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (ICADP) is providing transportation (for a fee, lunch included) from Chicago and Glen Ellyn. Go to ICADP or contact CCI at (312) 368-1066 for more information.

3) Promote educational efforts on Catholic Social Teaching & the abolition of the death penalty.

* Related…

* Meeks swipes the cone!

* VIDEO: In their own words

* Exposé Hits Hard At Death Penalty System: Since 2000, she learned, $100 million in taxpayer money has been spent via the Capital Litigation Trust Fund. That honey pot was meant to ensure defense counsel in capital cases, especially in places where public defender offices aren’t staffed adequately and must enlist private lawyers. But prosecutors made sure that the fund would also pay for their often-ample nonsalary expenses, including those for investigators, not just for private defense counsel and the nonsalary expenses of public defenders.

* VIDEO: Scott Turow — End the Death Penalty

* VIDEO: Rob Warden — End the Death Penalty

* VIDEO: Karen Yarbrough — End the Death Penalty

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Joe Ricketts thought he had a sure thing

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Joe Ricketts talked earlier this year about why he forked out all that money to buy the Chicago Cubs. Check it out…

The most interesting part of the video was Ricketts’ description of a conversation he had five years ago with his son, Tom, who is now the Cubs chairman.

“Why would I want to buy a baseball team?” Ricketts said he asked his son.

“They sell every ticket, every game, win or lose,” Tom replied.

“Now you’re talking about a business,” the elder Ricketts said. “Now you’ve got my interest.”

Cub fans have changed a bit since that fateful conversation. Attendance is down the last two years, even though it’s still abnormally high for such an awful team. Fan dissatisfaction appeared to grow this year with every horrific loss. They have a ton of overpaid, underperforming players and they can’t find the right managerial mix.

“If you take my money, and you start this business, you buy this baseball team, you have to come over and run it because I don’t want to be exposed to risk,” Ricketts told his son Tom. Well, the risk has injected itself anyway.

* Reading a Tribune story this morning about the proposed Wrigley Field renovation plan gave me an idea…

Ricketts said the more than $200 million in proposed ballpark renovations and another $200 million the family would commit to redevelopment surrounding the historic ballpark would create 1,000 construction jobs and hundreds more permanent jobs in the next five years.

Here’s the layout of the proposal. Click the pic for a larger image. Notice the “Triangle Building” to the west and “Cubs Alley” between the triangle and the park…

The Triangle Building will include parking, concessions, shopping, dining and Cub offices. It may also include a hotel. Cubs Alley will have a retractable roof and will feature shops, restaurants, etc…

The Ricketts see that development as a way to make more money. Understandable. But they can apparently afford to spend $200 million. So, how about they just put their cash into the stadium and find private investments for the ancillary stuff like the Triangle Building and Cubs Alley? There’d be no need for a government bailout and the park would be remodeled.

* Anyway, back to the Statehouse, where things got a bit confusing yesterday…

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D- Chicago) told reporters in Springfield on Tuesday afternoon that the team’s owners, the Ricketts family, withdrew their proposal to finance a $200 million stadium renovation with a state bond sale that would be repaid with the anticipated growth in the 12 percent amusement tax levied on tickets sold at Wrigley.

But a Ricketts family spokesman denied the family had scrapped the amusement-tax plan. […]

Later in the day, after Madigan’s comment, his spokesman, Steve Brown, seemed to leave the door open to more deliberations, but he did not elaborate on the state of negotiations.

“Mr. Ricketts has called the speaker … and the speaker has reiterated that he is prepared to try and be helpful,” Brown said.

When even the Speaker is confused, things aren’t going well.

…Adding… Joe Ricketts penned an op-ed for Politico this week…

The voters sent a clear message to stop reckless spending. Yet the earmarking system that perpetuates the power of incumbency, fosters a culture of dependency on the government, and produced the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” and influence-peddling scandals that sent many to prison, still exists. Washington keeps borrowing and spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need.

I suppose what Mr. Ricketts ought to explain is how government borrowing that allows him to build a big shopping mall and parking garage next to his ball park is something we really need, unlike those federal earmarks.

* Jon Greenberg at ESPN also took a look at the elder Ricketts’ ironic fight against federal earmarks…

“An earmark is something that’s appended onto a federal bill which is never debated, never discussed, just thrown in,” [Tom Ricketts] said. “The fact is, what it does is it jeopardizes the integrity of the federal budgeting process. You can tell by the people in the room today this isn’t a private process we’re going through. We’re trying to be as open as possible. This is a decision that will be made by elected officials and the people in this room.”

No this project isn’t an earmark, per se, but it’s close. If you bend the meaning a bit, you can see how some people would see that above statement as an exercise in semantics and this plan as hypocrisy.

After all, who would benefit the most by the Cubs getting a new park? The owners, of course. This isn’t a nonprofit. While Ricketts has claimed he wants the team and the park to stay family-owned for a century, a new Wrigley Field would increase the team’s value significantly. Astronomically, even.

According to [Taxpayers Against Earmarks, the group funded by Joe Ricketts], the point of railing against earmarks isn’t really the way they’re put together, it’s that they’re tailored to benefit the people who are sponsoring them. Sound about right?

Here’s what it says on the website: “Earmarks provide federal funding for projects benefiting only a state or local interest, or a private company, university or non-profit. In other words, most earmark-funded projects do not benefit the nation as a whole — though the ‘giving’ of an earmark by a Member of Congress certainly benefits that Member.”

Now, you can see the similarities.

Yes, we can.

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Rate Emanuel’s first TV ad

Monday, Nov 15, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Tribune…

Titled “Tough,” the 30-second spot will begin airing Monday as part of a large, nearly $750,000 ad buy of broadcast Chicago TV stations.

Showing images of Emanuel talking and greeting people around the city as part of his five-week ramp-up to the mayoral run he formally announced Saturday, Emanuel narrates, saying Chicago is “at a crossroads” and needs a mayor to make difficult but necessary decisions.

Rate it…

* Roundup…

* Axelrod on whether Obama will campaign for Rahm Emanuel for mayor: “Well, the president has made clear what his view of Rahm is. He said he was an excellent chief-of-staff, thought he would be an excellent mayor. Whether he involves himself actively in this campaign is a matter that we haven’t yet decided. But I think his view of Rahm is very clear.”

* For Emanuel, path to Chicago mayor is not without obstacles

* Giannoulias staying out of mayor’s race

* Alexi Giannoulias Will Not Run for Mayor

* Ed Smith 8th alderman not to run: sources

* Mayoral Candidates Set To File Petitions

* Davis, Meeks step into mayoral ring

* Field to replace Daley gets more crowded

* Former GOP chair helps Meeks kick off campaign

* Davis throws hat in ring for mayor

* Danny Davis Launches Mayoral Campaign

* Davis says he’s best to bridge gap between rich, poor

* State Sen. Meeks to announce mayoral run

* James Meeks’ bio

* Q&A with Gery Chico: His bid to be Chicago’s mayor

* Sneed: Very Gery: The Chico file

* Washington: Consensus coalition fails mission

* Marin: Let’s get to know the other mayoral candidates

* Emanuel: It’s on

* Rahm Emanuel officially in race to be Chicago’s mayor

* Emanuel formally announces run for Chicago mayor

* Rahm Emanuel’s biography

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Reader comments closed for the weekend

Saturday, Nov 13, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Springfield guitar legend Raoul Brotherman passed away peacefully November 12th after a brief illness and a hellraising life.

Some friends and I were with Raoul when he died Friday night. He opened his eyes while I was telling a story about him playing an obscure Neil Young song, smiled and then left. No fear, no sadness. He was serene. Raoul died like the Bar Buddah lived - at peace and surrounded by friends.

Raoul had his pain and his demons like everybody else, but he was a joyous man without a single mean bone in his big body or an enemy in the world. Everybody who knew him loved him.

This town just won’t ever be the same without Raoul. His friends will miss him intensely, but there will be an emptiness in the music scene here that can never be filled. All the people who’ve ever heard him play understand what I mean.

I hope to write more about Raoul’s life later. Right now, I’m just too emotionally drained to say much more. Some folks are working on a compilation CD and digging up some videos. Believe it or not, there’s really nothing out there right now except for his backup playing on other artists’ recordings.

The Round Mound of Sound wrote several songs, but this was always one of my favorite covers…

And the wind is blowin’ cold tonight
So goodnight, Louise, goodnight.

Goodbye, Raoul.

You can leave comments here if the spirit moves you.

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When you hunt with the big dogs you gotta learn to kill snakes in the tall weeds

Friday, Nov 12, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* OK, make sure you’re not eating when you read my Sun-Times column this morning. Please, put down that bagel. Set aside your croissant. You’ll thank me later. Ready? Begin…

I was thinking the other day about what sort of governor Pat Quinn ought to be now that the election is over, and for some odd reason I flashed back to an old buddy I haven’t seen in a decade.

Years ago, I had a little cabin in the Missouri woods. My neighbors would get together on weekend evenings around a campfire, drink beer and tell stories.

One of my neighbors was a factory worker who had been laid off from Boeing and eventually ended up working at a different factory for half the pay. He wasn’t ever bitter, though, and he’d do anything for anybody.

My friend also had a fascinating ability to mimic a hoot owl. He’d hoot for a few minutes and pretty soon all the trees surrounding the campfire would be filled with owls, hooting back at him, their eyes glowing from the reflection of the blaze.

It always gave me a spooky rush, and I begged him more times than I can remember to do it again. He never once failed.

One evening, my buddy showed up at the fire pit with a big bandage on his left cheek. I asked him what happened.

He said he had been out hunting with his dogs in a field not far from where we were sitting. He was slowly making his way through a stand of tall grass when suddenly a copperhead snake jumped up and bit him hard on his cheek.

Talk about a spooky rush. I didn’t know copperheads could even leap, and because we weren’t far from where my pal was attacked, I nervously scanned my surroundings before asking what he did next.

“You mean after I screamed?” he said with a laugh.

Yeah. After you screamed.

Well, he said, the snake wouldn’t let go of his cheek, even though he tried and tried to pry its head loose from his face. Nobody could help him because he was alone except for his dogs. So, he said, he grabbed that snake with one hand, pulled out his hunting knife with the other and cut the copperhead’s body off from its head.

Then he walked back to his car, with the copperhead’s fangs still embedded in his cheek, and drove himself to the nearest emergency room.

I almost fainted just listening to his tale. I bet I’ve probably lost a few readers by now as well. You don’t expect to see a crazy scary snake story when you pick up the Chicago Sun-Times.

But if I could force Quinn to model himself on anyone, it would be my long-ago friend.

Figuratively, of course. Quinn doesn’t have to learn to hoot like an owl, but the governor does need to do a far better job of attracting state legislators to his side whenever he speaks.

Quinn’s post-election boasts about his supposed “mandate” for a tax increase did nothing but shoo away the General Assembly’s hoot owls. It seems like he loses support every time he opens his mouth. The object is to pass your bills, not kill them.

And some of those Springfield bosses make angry, leaping copperheads look downright tame.

Quinn has a galling habit of flip-flopping whenever they bite him, which is the Statehouse equivalent of lying down to die.

Nobody ever helps him out when this happens because he annoyingly refuses to lay any groundwork and do any real planning before he acts.

So, he’s left alone to deal with his wounds, and it ain’t pretty.

Please, governor. Learn.

* In other news, the gaming expansion bill has hit a new roadblock. Black Caucus members won’t support it…

It’s never easy to expand gaming here, and that’s just one reason why. By the time you please everybody who can kill your bill, it’s too heavy to move. Or, in the local parlance, the Christmas Tree collapses under its own weight.

* And…

State revenue from gambling in the past fiscal year was the lowest in 10 years, the result of both the poor economy and Illinois’ indoor smoking ban, a new report said. […]

“However, the numbers continue to suggest that the biggest contributor to the drop in Illinois casino revenues is the indoor smoking ban,” the report concluded.

Since the ban took effect in January 2008, adjusted gross receipts at Illinois casinos dropped 28 percent. The report said both admissions and receipts took hits after the ban went into effect.

“Illinois riverboat totals are significantly worse than the riverboat totals of states surrounding Illinois,” the COGFA report says. “Therefore … it appears that the indoor smoking ban has continued to have a major negative impact on the riverboat industry.”

* Roundup…

* Disclosure Fight Looms in Springfield: Open-records advocates are preparing for a fight in Springfield next week over the lingering effort to make performance evaluations of public employees exempt from the state’s freedom-of-information law. State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia, Democrat of Aurora, is leading the effort to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s amendatory veto of a bill that would have exempted the evaluations. Mr. Quinn sent the legislation back to the House in July, narrowing the exempt list to law-enforcement personnel.

* SJ-R: Quinn’s amendatory FOIA veto should stand

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