Chicago Daily Observer

Throughout the Spring and into the Summer, the Obama campaign was assuring us of the inevitability of his nomination within the next twenty-four hours.

The Obama team urged us to do the math and insisted that further resistance was futile. In the weeks that followed, however, Hillary Clinton continued to rack up primary victories in state after state. With the finish line clearly in sight, Obama stumbled and struggled.

As events turned out, the nomination contest continued almost to the start of the Democratic National Convention. Relying upon arcane party rules and a brokered deal to deny full voting rights to disputed delegates from Florida and Michigan, two states that dared to advance their primaries in defiance of the well established tradition of the party promoting the primacy of Iowa and New Hampshire, unless Obama was awarded delegates from the two states that had been carried by Clinton (full disclosure: ... Read More...

It has been a difficult few weeks for the friends and political associates of Barack Obama.

In Detroit, Obama’s pal, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has plead guilty to an assortment crimes and resigned his office to begin a prison term. Closer to home, convicted political fixer Tony Rezko is due to be sentenced shortly before election day. Reports have indicated that Rezko has begun cooperating with prosecutors in an effort to reduce his sentence. Federal investigators have also conducted a search of the home of Will County Executive Larry Walsh, who served with Obama in the Illinois Senate. Walsh was one Obama’s poker playing friends and questions have been raised about the number of federal grant dollars that Obama showered upon Will County after meeting with lobbyists employed by Walsh.

In the gone, but not forgotten category ... Read More...

Children’s Chorus excerpted from the motion picture adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984.”

Is Barack Obama the incarnation of Big Brother or does he fancy himself as a dictator or a divine right monarch? Perhaps he would prefer to be “President for Life” like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

I was frightened and disturbed by the familiarity of the children’s campaign video that is circulating on the Internet. The exploitation of children for political purposes is nothing new, but Obama supporters have taken it to a sickening new low. If any other candidate or his supporters had staged a similar event, Obama’s leftist friends would report those responsible to the Department of Children and Family Services.

Watching the preschool students in the ... Read More...

The complacent local media has taken up the charge that the a current campaign commercial released by the McCain campaign is unfair.

As Mister Dooley once observed “Politics ain’t bean bag.”

The mayor and his brother, former Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley, have complained that the political advertisement linking Barack Obama to the corrupt Chicago machine is an example of political mudslinging. More specifically, Bill Daley resents the assertion that he has ever served as a political lobbyist.

Excuse me for my astonishment and disbelief. While Daley may have never registered as a lobbyist or made this activity his full-time occupation, I find it difficult to believe that he has not regularly communicated with a wide variety of politicians.

When Bill Daley worked for the politically connected Amalgamated Bank, Cook County taxpayers were taken to the cleaners when various government agencies and office holders in Chicago and Cook County ... Read More...

Today, I received seventeen pieces of mail which included an assortment of advertisements, bills, a bank statement, a letter from a law office and a union newsletter. Unfortunately, sixteen of the various items were addressed to other residents of my street and delivered to me in error despite the fact that each of the envelopes appeared to be addressed correctly.

I filed a complaint with the post office, but it seemed to be a thankless task undertaken solely for the purpose of exercise on my part. Quality customer service no longer seems to matter. Complaints about the Chicago post office seem to be routine. Like Mark Twain once said about the weather, everyone talks about it, but nothing is done about it.

I am dating myself by saying this, but, as a child, I can remember when the mail was delivered twice daily and the cost of a first class ... Read More...

It is beginning to get ugly.

The hysterical and sexist attacks are mounting as Sarah Palin and her family are being maligned.

Did you know that her husband, Todd Palin, once ran a stop sign and was ticketed? Imagine that! Additionally, he was cited on another occasion for operating a vehicle on public property that was set aside as a wildlife refuge.

That type of occurrence is routine in Alaska where paved roads are few and far between and the frontier is not always well marked. What is even more damning is the fact that he was given a DUI ticket a quarter of a century ago. Todd Palin was twenty years old at the time.

How low can the smear tactics go? Will we next learn that a member of the Palin family has had to pay library fines on overdue books? Not any books, mind you, but ... Read More...

Hillary Rodham Clinton recited her lines and hit all of the chalk marks when she assumed center stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Tuesday, but something seemed to be lacking.

Her speech was crafted and approved by the Obama team, but for some strange reason the junior Senator from New York never managed to achieve the maximum response from the planned applause lines. Was Clinton’s delivery less than perfect or were her supporters in the convention hall sitting on their hands? Whenever Clinton spoke about her personal experiences during the past campaign, there was a greater degree of emotion in her voice. When speaking of Barack Obama, she resorted to a flat monotone.

Predictably enough, the mainstream media lauded Clinton’s performance and pronounced the Democratic Party united for the fall campaign. Then why was the assembly hall so quiet? You might hear louder applause from polite spectators ... Read More...

I had not intended to write another column about Barry “Not Goldwater” Obama, but events intervened and here we go again. Obama’s stumbling performance at the Saddleback Church necessitated this op-ed commentary. My original topic (Cook County mismanagement) will have to be tabled until another day.

Rather than admit that the presumptive Republican nominee, US Senator John McCain of Arizona, handed him his lunch after both candidates were interviewed by Pastor Rick Warren, the Obama camp cried foul and insisted that McCain had not been isolated in “the cone of silence” during Obama’s individual interview and thereby benefited by knowing Obama’s responses in advance. Given Obama’s clumsy and stuttering performance, I find it difficult to believe that McCain could have possibly learned anything of value by listening to the junior senator from Illinois. What exactly is this “cone of silence” business anyway? Is this a presidential campaign or a television ... Read More...

Are the Democrats and the American People About to be Mugged by a Con Artist?

Some Democrats are beginning to feel pangs of remorse over the candidacy of Barack Obama as they head to Denver. The presumptive nominee appears to be fully capable of snatching defeat out of the jaws of certain victory. Despite heroic efforts by the mainstream media to resuscitate Obama’s candidacy after he was battered by Clinton in the closing series of primaries, Obama is flat lining in the polls. This is not supposed to be happening. Conventional wisdom held that 2008 was supposed to be a Democratic year. How can this sudden reversal of fortune be explained?

Rank and file, blue collar workers seem to be resistant to Obama’s
oratorical charms. Some voters find his angry and scary wife to be the political equivalent of the obnoxious reality television personality Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.

Watch for ... Read More...

The approach of August means that it is time to begin making plans for the start of another school year. Back to school sales will be widely advertised in coming weeks. For those of you who have not made a vacation trip this year, there is time to do so before Labor Day. August is also the time to make plans to attend the Illinois State Fair. This year’s fair opens on August 7th and concludes on the 17th.

Attending the State Fair means making a trip to Springfield, which is still the state capital after all.

Judging from Rod Blagojevich’s chronic absenteeism one would never know that to be the case. Prior to the ratification of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, our governors were actually required to reside in the state capital.

The current constitution states that the governor be a resident of Springfield during his or her term ... Read More...

According to David McCullough, Harry S. Truman was supposedly fond of making the observation that the only thing new under the sun is the history that you do not know. How right the haberdasher from Independence, Missouri was!

Although he never attended college,“Give’ Em Hell Harry” was an avid reader. Sadly, many disinterested people would never know it because they care nothing for the past and have little patience for current events. Some contemporary cynics call these people “Democrats.”

One of my cousins refuses to watch black and white movies because they are “too old fashioned.” From the standpoint of cinematography and film preservation, black and white film stock is arguably a much more expressive and permanent medium than colored film. More importantly, I think that some younger viewers are missing out when they refuse to watch older films. Many of the scripts filmed when the production code was still ... Read More...

One of the funniest moments of the primary campaign season occurred when the
a comedy skit was aired on “Saturday Night Live.” While Hillary Clinton was
being pounded with difficult questions, one of the panelists asked Barack
Obama if he wanted a pillow. It was one of the most wickedly effective exposes
of the rampant media bias and favoritism that has characterized the campaign
coverage and the overall lack of journalistic objectivity and scrutiny of
Obama to date and it aired on a weekly sketch comedy program rather than a news
discussion show.

Another ridiculous example of similar bias occurred this past weekend when
the local media reported that Obama secured another “key endorsement” in his
quest for the White House as the American Federation of Teachers, which was
holding its annual convention at Chicago’s Navy Pier, had voted to ... Read More...

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.”
—George Graham Vest

Is there any more joyful Latin descriptive term than canis familiaris domesticus (the common canine)?

The news was bad, but not entirely unexpected. I had been waiting for the telephone call and hoping against hope that the veterinarian had conducted the additional tests out of an abundance of caution, but I was wrong.

Is there any crueler Latin term than canine osteosarcoma (canine bone cancer)?

The tests confirmed that initial prognosis was correct. The dog had not simply fallen down the steps and broken its hind leg. The clean break was the result of bone cancer.

The prognosis and the veterinary medical options available were not optimistic. There were no guarantees whatsoever as to successful ... Read More...

I have to confess that reading columns by Michael Sneed is something of a
guilty pleasure. Sneed’s column is one part gossip, one part political intrigue
and one part scandal mongering. Journalistic accuracy, however, is not
necessarily a prerequisite for the inclusion of an item in the column.

I was somewhat startled and surprised to read in Sneed’s column this morning
that both Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama (formerly Michelle
Robinson), have allowed their law licenses to become inactive. As Sneed pointed
out, both of the Obamas could complete some paperwork, pay the necessary fees
and reinstate their law licenses. The item continued by stating that various
politicians choose to go on inactive status when they are no longer engaged in
the practice of law on a regular basis. For example, both Governor Rod
Blagojevich and US Senator ... Read More...

The local real estate market has been quiet as of late. The long term affects of the home mortgage crisis have reduced the number of sales in recent months. Imagine, everyone applying for a mortgage needs to have a complete and thorough credit check performed and the property must be appraised by a qualified professional before any funds can be loaned. A few months ago, before the real estate bubble burst,loan officers were handing out money left and right with little or no questioning whatsoever. Borrowers did not even have to establish that they were legal residents of the USA to qualify for loans.

Ah, well, those palmy, balmy days of the real estate speculation land rush are now a distant memory. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is prepared to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted from its stall. Madigan will be joining other legal officers ... Read More...

“The Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby.”

Mayor Jean Drapeau of Montreal, Quebec Province, Canada (1970)

Barack Obama modestly announced that he was looking forward to Chicago’s
hosting the 2016 Olympics which would coincide with the final year of his second
presidential term. Obama also waxed melodically about how the new stadium
near Washington Park would be only a short distance from his palatial home
(alternatively known as “The House that Rezko Bought” to discerning sports
fans). Senator Obama was merely paying homage to his patron, Mayor Richard M.
Daley, by touting the Olympics.

Apparently, none of the besotted followers of Obama have stopped to
contemplate the oxymoronic character of seeking to nominate and elect a reform
politician who was nonetheless a product of the Chicago ... Read More...

At long last, Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama has resigned his
membership in the controversial Trinity United Church of Christ. It only
took him two decades to renounce his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah
Wright, despite Obama’s previous insistence that he could no more disown Wright
than his own grandmother. What a difference a few weeks can make! Time will tell
if this desperate move occurred too late to be of any real value to his
staggering candidacy.

Of course, there are cynical observers who will insist that Obama acted out
of pure political expediency rather than as the result of a genuine crisis of
conscience. The inflammatory racial rhetoric issuing from the pulpit of the
Trinity United Church of Christ seemed better suited to a beer hall meeting
than ... Read More...

“Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
That he is grown so great?”
Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene ii, by William Shakespeare

Given the fact that Barack Obama is the official licensed candidate from the
Oprah Book Club who conducts his campaign rallies like a evangelist leading
a revival in a rented tent, I fully expect him to adopt “Brother Love’s
Traveling Salvation Show“ as his theme song, provided that Neil Diamond will
grant him the musical rights. I have listened long and loud to “the Platitude
Dude” for months on end and I still cannot explain to you what his specific
policy proposals are. “Change that you can believe in” makes less sense to me
than Bud Abbott informing Lou Costello of the baseball line up in the immortal
“Who’s on first” comedy sketch.

Forgive me, but I ... Read More...

Snow plow drivers often operate their trucks late at night and during the
hours immediately before dawn. As such, they see many things that those of us
accustomed to working from nine to five miss. Many animals are nocturnal. My
informants have told me not to discount the presence of ... Read More...

The scheduled 3:00 p.m. start of the first race was delayed for almost
ninety minutes. Racetrack spectators observed that the temporary shutdown seemed
to be timed to coincide with the closing weekend of the Spring Thoroughbred
Meet at Hawthorne. On Monday, April 28th, racing will conclude at Hawthorne
and the next series of thoroughbred dates will be held at Arlington Park Race
Track beginning on May 2nd.

According to some sources, a tactical decision was made to stage the strike
at Hawthorne on a slow ... Read More...

“Don’t Go Crooked, Go Straight to Roy’s!”
Billboard advertisement for a former garage which specialized in wheel alignment jobs.

The late George Murray, who cut his journalistic teeth working for the Hearst newspapers in Chicago, once contemplated the irony that significant portions of the Appian Way are still serviceable long after the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, but the Little Caesars of the asphalt and road paving companies operating in Illinois cannot construct a road surface that will last for more than a few years at most under optimal conditions.

If you need any evidence of the perpetual motion machine that is “the political combine,” to use the term popularized by Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, look no farther than the road construction industry. The paving contractors make substantial political contributions to whatever politicians are in power, the politicians award public works contracts to favored firms to ... Read More...

In the song “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request,” the late Steve Goodman
described Wrigley Field as “an ivy covered burial ground.” It is true in more ways than one. The ashes of the late Charlie Grimm, the banjo playing player
manager of the Cubs, who won three pennants while helming the team, including
their last league title in 1945, are part of the landscape at the park.

Failing to close the deal has been a hallmark of the Cubs. Take your pick:
the 1969 team completely falling apart during the month of September and being
overtaken by the New York Mets (was it a black cat on the field at Shea
Stadium that hexed the Cubs?), Jim Frey mismanaging the bullpen against San Diego
in 1984, Roger Craig of the San Francisco Giants out maneuvering ... Read More...

“De mortuis nil nisi bonum” (translation: “Speak no ill of the dead“).

During the contested Republican mayoral primary of 1931, the incumbent
mayor, the Honorable William Hale Thompson, Jr., was opposed by two candidates.
Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the powerful publisher of The Chicago Tribune was
a determined opponent of Thompson’s re-nomination bid. In a startling
display of bravado, a Thompson operative happened to liberate a draft copy of the
mayor’s obituary from the Tribune files. The mayor reproduced the text of the
obituary and made McCormick into a laughingstock in the process.

Thompson had undergone an emergency appendectomy during the previous autumn
and the paper had prepared an obituary. It is not an uncommon journalistic
practice to prepare obituaries in advance of a noteworthy person’s death. The
summaries are largely biographical ... Read More...

Hillary Clinton is not going to go quietly into that good night.

Although she is being called up to step aside in the interest of party unity, I fully expect Clinton to soldier on until the Democrats assemble in Denver for their party’s national convention. Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean may not like it, but where is it written that nominating conventions must be as predictable as a homecoming high school pep rally? There was a time in America’s political history where convention delegates actually did bargain and confer with each other and select their party’s nominees after multiple ballots were cast. Now, the pundits and network television expect the conventions to serve as coronation ceremonies for the presumptive nominees. The issue must be decided on the first ballot if one follows this script.

For weeks and weeks, Obama’s campaign has been urging us to believe that Clinton’s candidacy was ... Read More...

I was browsing through “the Irish Sporting News” a few days ago. For the uninitiated, this dated slang expression refers to the obituary columns. The term probably had its origins in the propensity of the Irish to consult the obituaries in order to attend wakes and funerals in decades gone by.

Still, once you are of a certain age, you check the daily obituaries to make sure that
you are still breathing and to fulfill your obligations towards others.

In any event, what struck me was the obituary for an elderly gentleman who had passed away in his nineties. What caught my attention was that this person was listed as a proud graduate of Crane High School.

Crane has been in the headlines too often lately for the escalating gang violence that has been occurring there on an almost daily basis. One teenager shot and killed another student in ... Read More...

In the waning days of his unsuccessful presidential campaign, former Bob Dole asked a rhetorical question: “Where’s the outrage?” This was a challenge to the media and the public concerning serious allegations, many of which were subsequently proven, that the Clinton/Gore campaign has engaged in illegal fund raising practices which had included accepting contributions from foreign nationals. Dole correctly pointed out that the press had been ignoring the story. Although the issue failed to produce dividends for Dole, the press belatedly took up the issue. Vice President Gore’s visit to a Buddhist temple fund raising event, where some illegal contributions were collected, tarnished his reputation and may have cost him a few precious votes in 2000.

The perpetual adolescent columnist, Richard Roeper, of the incredible shrinking Chicago Sun-Times raised a question today concerning criticisms of Barack Obama. Roeper cannot fathom why his opponents have ratcheted up their criticism of the ... Read More...

Above the mantle there is a mural: a golden American eagle centered prominently atop a collection of flags arranged with the United States, France and Great Britain featured prominently. The other flags are partially obscured. I was able to recognize the colors of Greece and Japan (the now abandoned Rising Sun flag). I pondered it for a moment and asked a question of another person seated at my table. My guess was correct: the flags represented the allied powers from until the 1940s was called the Great War. That made perfect sense as the Evanston post received its individual charter in 1919.The congress had authorized the national charter of American Legion that same year.

Elsewhere in the hall were framed banners commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of World War II and a similar one for the Korean war (call it a “police action” to be technical). The World War II banner ... Read More...

The returns from Florida last night caused me to contemplate the significance of the upcoming Illinois primary February 5. . Although there seem to be some spirited primary fights on the Democratic ballot, other than force of habit what would possess many conservative voters to request Republican ballots when they arrive at their precinct polling places? For many voters, the primary has been reduced to nothing more than a beauty contest.

In the race for the presidential nomination, Senator John McCain (R-Az) has seized the momentum and may be nearly unstoppable. Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney remain in the field, but they are trailing McCain. Both men may be campaigning for the silver medal, the vice president nomination at this point.

Unless you reside in an outlying suburban legislative district, there may not be a candidate for the Illinois ... Read More...

How long will it be before “The Chicago Sun-Times” ceases publication?

Judging from recent events, the end cannot be too far off. In addition to gutting its staff and eliminating the business section, the tabloid paper has been struggling to stave off insolvency by filling its pages with sleaze. How else can one explain the editorial decision to run another article about the narcissistic divorce attorney Corri D. Fetman?

Fetman, you may recall succeeded in embarrassing feminists and scandalizing the legal community by promoting her divorce law practice by posting a series of provocative billboard advertisements featuring scantily clad models and the caption that “Life’s Short. Get A Divorce.” The controversial and tacky advertisements managed to offend many people, men and women alike.

In one of the most salutary acts in his lengthy public career, former 42nd Ward Alderman Burton Natarus had Fetman’s tasteless and offensive billboards removed. The advertising ... Read More...

Through nothing else but the force of habit, I still check the movie directory listings. Regularly, I come away disappointed. This is because I’m in the demographic slot Hollywood doesn’t’ care for. What is it?

. I am an adult.

Consequently this former avid filmgoer, who once went to from four to six movies per month, hardly goes any longer. .

I cannot relate to the juvenile and violent pap that has become t Hollywood productions. Increasingly, I find myself watching dvds and most of the titles that I prefer predate 1970.
That’s an anomaly. Consider: when the studios in Tinsel Town were producing films on a factory assembly line basis and churning out four hundred or more releases per year, the results were far better than today’s multimillion dollar productions.

James Cameron practically ran the table at the 1998 Academy awards with his film “Titanic.” As a movie ... Read More...

Can you remember when a Governor Moonbeam held office in California rather than Illinois? Our zany adolescent masquerading as a fifty-one year old has hit upon a new scheme to bolster his sagging popularity with the electorate: Blagojevich is reported to be considering purchasing venerable Wrigley field and assigning its operations to the habitually inept Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

Since the State of Illinois cannot attend to its most basic responsibilities, Blagojevich feels that an afternoon at the ballpark is just the cure for what ails us. Moreover, state ownership of the ninety-five year old stadium will help keep the team in Chicago rather than moving to the suburbs. As an added benefit, the deal may aid the Sam Zell’s purchase of the Tribune Corporation. Zell has indicated that he will sell the Cubs franchise and the associated real estate separately to pay for his purchase of the media conglomerate.

In Addition to Depriving Him of His 1st Amendment Rights this “University” Betrays its Once Catholic Heritage.

Founded in 1898, DePaul University holds itself out as America’s largest Catholic University. Named for St. Vincent de Paul, who established the Congregation of the Mission (known as the Vincentians), the motto of the university is t“Viam sapientiae monstrabo tibi”. It’s from Proverbs meaning, “I will show you the way of wisdom.”.

Sometimes, I wonder if DePaul maintains its “Catholic” identity simply to retain tax exempt status. The classrooms and offices of the university have been almost completely denuded of crucifixes and religious artwork of any kind. After my time at DePaul, all that remains is inoffensive and nondescript representations of the saint making him appear unidentifiable.

Few of my old classmates express any loyalty to DePaul as our alma mater. Most who were graduate students described it as the most “secularized” of ... Read More...

Filing as a candidate is just the beginning, staying on the ballot is the real test

The silly season is upon us.

No, I am not referring to the Christmas shopping rush as the holidays approach. The primary election, on February 5, 2008. As I write this, candidates for delegates and alternates are hurrying to gather voter signatures on their nominating petitions before the filing deadline. Republican delegates and alternates will be the last candidates to file under the new election laws. The winning candidates will attend the national nominating conventions to be held next summer.

For the first time in decades, the Illinois primary election may be meaningful to the nomination process of presidential candidates. Our election is now early enough to affect the outcome. It means the presidential candidates are likely to have to spend some real dollars campaigning in Illinois which involves setting up offices, installing telephone ... Read More...

One month and counting. The mail has been delivered and I am still waiting for a promised government document to reach me. Tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow.

Feeling like a character out of the fictional works of Franz Kafka, I am obliged to interact and interface with various and sundry bureaucrats and clerks. One can spend hours trying to get necessary papers from the bloated county government. Lawyers derisively refer to the “Circus Court of Cook County” and dread having to retrieve files from the office of the Circuit Court Clerk, Dorothy Brown. One of my friends is a circuit court judge. He’s described the clerks as the bane of a judge’s existence I have decided to keep him anonymous, so he won’t be subjected to retaliatory conduct in the form of slower clerical responses and more mislaid files.

Abandon all hope ye who have to read the handwritten tract book entries ... Read More...

Here we go again!

In my misspent youth, I watched Abbott and Costello comedies on television often enough to memorize some of their routines. It wasn’t that difficult. If a comedic bit worked, Bud and Lou were certain to repeat it over and over again. Some of their most celebrated sketches were performed in the movies as well as on radio and television. Constant repetition of familiar routines may have served to hasten the end of their careers as headlining entertainers during the Fifties.

Listening to our politicians engage in brinksmanship and double talk, makes me pine for a straight man like Bud Abbott. He could at least put over some of the nonsense more skillfully than our elected officials.

Higher taxes are being threatened by City Hall and the County Board, but how much of it is genuine and how much of it is part of a bait and ... Read More...

As the Chicago Transit Authority lurches towards another mass transit doomsday, one wonders if there is anyway to apply the brakes to this runaway train?

Austerity and economy are two words which have been permanently banished from the vocabularies of local bureaucrats and politicians. Faced with an imminent budget crisis, the only solution proposed is more government spending to bail out the profligate transit agency. The Illinois General Assembly, which cannot manage to get its own financial house in order, must rescue the CTA, once again.

Under the administration of Frank Kruesi, the former head of the CTA, money flowed like water as the transit agency embarked upon an ambitious rebuilding and construction maintenance program. Older elevated stations were to be modernized or replaced. Train platforms were to be enlarged to accommodate longer trains. Remodeled stations were to be made fully accessible to the handicapped. New technology was ... Read More...

A few weeks ago, friends of the late Mike Royko gathered at Wrigley Field to observe the ten year anniversary of his death. Royko was a lifelong fan of the Cubs, a team that he often lampooned and ridiculed. After seeing the Cubs manage to make a final World Series appearance during his adolescence, Royko watched the team as it bottomed out completely. Royko bemoaned the clumsy players that masqueraded as professional athletes on the Chicago roster, frequently venting his anger and disgust in print. He took solace by playing sixteen inch softball and was inducted into the Chicago Softball Hall of Fame. It was altogether fitting and proper that his family and friends assembled at the Friendly Confines to toast his memory.

Thinking of Royko, put me in mind of his final years writing columns for the Tribune. It was not an entirely happy employer/employee relationship. Royko had taken ... Read More...

When does a dream become a nightmare? Possibly when the Congress repeatedly attempts to defy the wishes of the majority of the American people to pass a massive amnesty program that benefits millions of illegal aliens residing in the country.

Once again, large numbers of Americans jammed the Senate telephone switchboard and unloaded a blizzard of letters and faxes to remind their elected representatives that they oppose any legislation that offers amnesty to illegal aliens. Their efforts succeeded at derailing the Dream Act for the time being. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has vowed to try to revisit the issue in six weeks.

The Dream Act has been sponsored by our own Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL). It was defeated prior to this week, but Durbin reintroduced the measure. He was confident that the bill would pass on this turn at bat. It was hoped that the Senate could pass ... Read More...

Truer words may never have been spoken on the silver screen. That is when the late John Huston, playing Noah Cross in “Chinatown,” utters these immortal lines: “‘Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”

An Atlanta based author, Karen Abbott, who has specialized in romance novels, has set out to prove this axiom true. In Sin in the Second City she seeks to rehabilitate the reputations of two brothel owners who were driven out of Chicago by the express orders of Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr., nearly a century ago. It is the most recent book to revisit the notorious and opulent Everleigh Club. The former bordello was located in Chicago’s infamous segregated red light district, the Levee which was the city’s old red-light district which in its early 20th century heyday was a conglomerate of door-to-door gambling dens, clip ... Read More...

Hildy Johnson doesn’t work here any more. Neither does Charles MacArthur or Ben Hecht. Mike Royko is dead and I am not feeling too well myself. If you are one of the few persons who still torture yourself by reading the tepid rags that pass for newspapers in Chicago, you know precisely what I mean.

Why is the online edition of The Chicago Daily Observer important and needed? Because it fills a significant void. The major news outlets have abandoned any pretense at allowing a full range of opinions in their editorial pages and broadcasts more than a few years ago and effective news coverage is not necessarily their forte either, so you need to turn to the Internet for an alternative to the empty secularism and liberal orthodoxy that holds sway in the electronic and print media in our beleaguered city.

Consider a few recent examples: the mainstream media ... Read More...