Change of Subject

Consequences for Komen

Megan Crepeau — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:38:03 GMT

By Megan Crepeau When the Susan G. Komen foundation very publicly decided to pull their support from Planned Parenthood (a decision that was quickly reversed), did it imagine this happening months down the road? Registration for the Komen Race for...

Jolly holiday pay for firefighters who aren't working?

Eric Zorn — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:38:15 GMT

The Sun-Times story on the rocky negotiations between the city and the firefighters union notes that one area of contention is Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal that only firefighters who work on holidays be awarded holiday pay: Former union president Bill...

Meet the meter tax -- Latest parking insult is likely not the last

Eric Zorn — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:43:15 GMT

Just when you thought you couldn't get any more indignant about the deal that privatized the city's parking-meter operations … Those who park at the 17 city-owned lots near neighborhood shopping districts are now being charged city and county taxes...

Kids these days

Megan Crepeau — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:26:07 GMT

By Megan Crepeau Let's talk entitlements. As we volleyed ideas for the most obscene items to buy with food stamps (a cheese wheel from Whole Foods, we decided), a woman seated next to us leaned forward, her words darting out...

These questions loom over the Trayvon Martin case

Eric Zorn — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:30:55 GMT

Talk Left has done another long, analytical post on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, piecing together the knowns and pointing out the unknowns: 2 min. 53 sec: The time between the end of George Zimmerman's call (to police) at 7:13:28...

'Unemployoment dips'

Megan Crepeau — Tue, 29 May 2012 19:30:18 GMT

By Megan Crepeau There's an awful whiny pedantic side of me that loves finding typos in news stories. There's a much more noble side of me that loves finding uses for Pinterest that aren't the same ten "bride day" inspiration...

Summer resolutions, anyone?

Eric Zorn — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:04:22 GMT

OK, it's summer. (Not really yet, I know. School's not out in many districts. Astronomical summer doesn't begin until June 20 and even the informal "meteorological summer" -- June, July and August -- doesn't start until Friday. But unofficially, Memorial...

Does 'Talk Left' get the Zimmerman/Martin case right?

Eric Zorn — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:54:03 GMT

Talk Left, a liberal blog that specialized in criminal justice issues, has an in-depth analysis of what we know so far in the Trayvon Martin case. Conclusion: The state is unlikely to prevail in arguing Zimmerman was the aggressor because...

Fine line generator

Eric Zorn — Sun, 27 May 2012 05:13:16 GMT

"I remember years ago, Bertie," said Aunt Dahlia, "when you nearly swallowed your rubber comforter and started turning purple. And I, ass that I was, took it out and saved your life. Let me tell you, it will go very...

Fitzgerald lays 'Lincoln's grave' assertion to rest

Eric Zorn — Sun, 27 May 2012 05:03:00 GMT

Tribune photo by José M. Osorio (2007) Good for Patrick Fitzgerald, finally expressing regret for his least honorable moment in office — the news conference 31/2 years ago at which he unleashed his inner newspaper columnist. Federal authorities had just...

An 'owed' to Memorial Day

Eric Zorn — Sun, 27 May 2012 05:02:00 GMT

Computer engineer Curtis Vevang, 71, of Palatine, sent along the poem below,"Owed to a Soldier," which he recently wrote to contrast the leisure and liberty enjoyed by civilians with the often terrible sacrifices made those who fight to defend that...

'Pro-choice' number dips in Gallup, but, really, the more things change, the more they stay the same

Eric Zorn — Sun, 27 May 2012 05:01:00 GMT

Opponents of abortion rights last week gleefully touted the results of a Gallup Poll taken earlier this month showing that the percentage of respondents who identified as "pro-choice" had fallen to 41 percent, the lowest number since Gallup began asking...

Keeping tabs

Eric Zorn — Sun, 27 May 2012 04:45:49 GMT

My May 9 column discussed the iPad revolution getting underway in schools and focused on Zeeland, Mich., where every high school student was issued an iPad tablet computer last September and Superintendent Dave Barry said it been a boon to...

Weeks in review

Eric Zorn — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:25:00 GMT

A roundup of state and local news-review and weekly political chat shows. Descriptions provided by the broadcast outlets in most cases: Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review (WTTW Ch. 11) Host Joel Weisman with Julie Unruh, WGN News; Abdon Pallasch,...

It’s so: Joe offers health perks

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 23:07:45 GMT

It may seem to you as though coffee is one of those good news/bad news products — that one month you’ll read a squib suggesting it causes some ghastly malady, and the next month you’ll read a gee-whiz article like...

Fine line

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:45:53 GMT

When my parents died, I decided the measure of a good end of life was the brevity of the interval between creaky-but-taking-care-of-yourself, that is, perpendicular to the floor, and bedridden-and-entirely-dependent-on-others, i.e., parallel to it....Nancy Nall She is reflecting on A...

Shouldn't abortion polls be moving left?

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:20:10 GMT

In Slate, Will Saletan asks Why are Americans becoming more liberal on homosexuality but not on abortion? Despite the trumpeting of abortion foes in the wake of the release of a recent Gallup poll, "Americans views have moved very little"...

Not much of a check in this 'well-being check,' evidently

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:58:21 GMT

From our story about the discovery this week in Blue Island of the partially mummified body of Eugene Davis inside his home The mailbox became stuffed with unopened mail a few months ago, several neighbors said. The neighborhood's mail carrier...

There's a lesson in here somewhere

Megan Crepeau — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:19:20 GMT

By Megan Crepeau 1) Conservative old-media corporate tycoon prohibits a large Midwestern university from videotaping his speech, for fear that parts of his address could be taken out of context. 2) The university acquiesces. 3) Students take video of the...

Paging Al Sharpton

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 05:16:04 GMT

The right-wing* Mediaite watchdog site gleefully reports: In March and April, MSNBC’s primetime hosts ran with nearly wall-to-wall coverage of the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. They regularly suggested that the lack of national interest in the case was...

Abort hissy fit! Abort hissy fit!

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:41:44 GMT

Admit it, when you saw the headline High school student punished for 'Tebowing' and read the opening lines... A graduating senior at a Fort Myers, Fla., high school was disciplined for "Tebowing" before he received his diploma on Saturday. Chuck...

Baloney watch

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 02:48:49 GMT

In Media's negative ways hurt Chicago, a commentary in tomorrow's Tribune, Lou Raizin president of Broadway in Chicago writes: Who is really responsible for any short-term loss of revenue to retail, entertainment and business in Chicago? The protesters? No, they...

Help wanted

Eric Zorn — Thu, 24 May 2012 02:33:00 GMT

Scott Stantis writes: I have had quite a few readers ask me to set my Scott Stantis Cartoon Caption Contest drawing in locals other than the Loop. I think that it is a great idea, but can use your help...

A Dash of nostalgia from Bruce Willis

Eric Zorn — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:51:09 GMT

Larry Pennell as Dash Riprock, 1965 He’s just the Dash Riprock of the Republican Party....actor Bruce Willis on Mitt Romney Eddie Haskell I don't know about this analogy. The character of Hollywood leading man Dash Riprock appeared on 10 episodes...

Let's go to the video -- Cameras everywhere subject police, protesters to further review

Eric Zorn — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:17:00 GMT

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, Or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance … There will be no pictures of pigs...