Chicago Daily Observer

After 20 years of Sen. Obama being a parishoner, receiving baptism, marriage, and the baptism of his children from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Obama is reacting to Rev. Wright’s views expressed over the last week:

CNN Obama ‘outraged’ by Wright’s remarks

LA Times Barack Obama cuts bait with Jeremiah Wright

ABC News Obama Condemns Wright’s Defense

Washington Times Obama on “appalling” Wright: “I mean it”

Bloomberg Obama Calls Wright’s `Ridiculous’ Statements Offensive, Wrong

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist The Pastor Casts a Shadow

Fox News Obama: I Am ‘Outraged’ and ‘Angered’ By Wright’s Comments

Our Chicago Daily Observer editorial board wonders what else might take 20 years to get such a reaction from the Senator. Perhaps after another 20 years, Sen. Obama might note that the public schools in his neighborhood are terrible, the ... Read More...

With a bob and a weave and a joke — and a lot of winking — former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas on Monday made it clear that he is interested in running again for governor of Illinois.

In remarks before and after a luncheon of the City Club, Mr. Vallas, repeatedly insisted that, while he would never say never to a race here, his hands are full with his current job as superintendent of schools in New Orleans.

But such insistence quickly crumbled under persistent questions from reporters and from Mr. Vallas’ own hints that he really wanted to say more.

“Would I be open to running again? Yes,” he ultimately concluded. “Am I planning that? No.

Ah, the debate is back about how much preschool we should force every American toddler to have.

“Force” may be an odd way to put it, but what we’re talking about is “universal” pre-school, early childhood “intervention” and a raft of other government “programs” that mostly Democrats “advocate.” And in all this talk, there’s little about “choice,” as in whether parents can decide whether not to send their kids.

Although the debate about universal preschool is hardly new, it will re-emerge with new gusto as the elections approach. It is one of those “issues” that Democrats love to raise because it makes Republicans, who generally question the effectiveness, cost and philosophical underpinnings of such programs, look like ogres. If you’re not prepared to plunge headlong into a nation-wide roundup of every kid 5 and under you’re presumed to be a monster.

The “experts” and their partisan allies who constantly raise ... Read More...

When we add up almost all the components of GDP – consumption, business investment, home building, trade, and government – we get a great big goose-egg (0%) for the first quarter of 2008. Consumption, business investment, and trade add to GDP, while weakness in housing and government fully offset these gains.
However, the one component we left out – inventories – looks like it rebounded strongly in Q1, after a large decline in Q4. As a result, we expect the first report on Q1 real GDP to show a growth rate of 1.5%, which is near the high end of what economists are forecasting.
At this point, we are forecasting 0.5% growth in Q2, with a sharp rebound in the second half of 2008 to real growth rates near 4%. The weakness we expect in Q2 is primarily due to inventories, with the other components ... Read More...

Damn! Prehistoric people had better dental plans than we do!
— Viewer’s comment on 10,000 B.C.

10,000 B.C.! Savage, nomadic hunters packing hefty bludgeons, beating each other senseless, and hauling choleric females around by their hair; eight-year-old boys itching to exit their caves and kill a few wild animals for lunch: these are the kinds of things I’d expected to remember about director Roland Emmerich’s Stone Age spectacle. I wanted to leave the theater happy—and grateful—to be living in an age of frozen entrées, instant coffee, and daytime television.
Tough luck, Roquemore. After the movie I drove home thoroughly disappointed, reeling from a relentless barrage of sheer malarkey, and asking myself—again and again—a single question: how on earth could a film humming with perilous hunting expeditions, tough as nails cavemen, and snarling saber toothed tigers be dead on arrival, unintentionally funny, and tedious? In spots, 10,000 B.C. makes ... Read More...