Chicago Daily Observer

There was a pro-Second Amendment rally at the Thompson Center on July 11, 2008, and bloggers know about it.

There were quite a few people, up to 500, by some counts, photos and some reporting on the events that occurred, by an independent website or two.

Some pundits questioned whether the Chicago Tribune would cover the rally.

But, to no one’s surprise, the Chicago Tribune skipped the story, regardless of the significance of the recent Supreme Court decision, with a search returning a warmed over story of professional activist Fr. Pfleger instead of the news. Perhaps the Tribune did not have room in the paper for the story, as they are running a series of windy PR pieces painting Sen. Obama is a centrist demanding individual responsiblity, despite all evidence in his voting record to the contrary.

Kudo’s to ABC-7 and Chicago ... Read More...

The presidential candidate for change has adopted the twin themes of “hope” and “change” for his political campaign. These themes are the creation of David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s senior campaign adviser. It was a stroke of brilliance to tap into the widespread disaffection with Washington D.C. and the growing irritation among normal citizens that they have no say in their federal government. With approval ratings of the U.S Congress being around 9% (in other countries there would be an armed coup by now), the timing was perfect.

However, the same distrust and disgust are just as true with the state government of Illinois. We have a governor under multiple federal investigations, a General Assembly that can never seem to pass a budget, and political patronage happening out in the open with no regard for citizens. The gridlock in Springfield is universally despised and all other attempts to reform Illinois have ... Read More...

Last year, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan was able to use his alliance with the House and Senate Republicans to thwart Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones at almost every turn.

Whether it was the budget or the governor’s health insurance expansion or a multitude of other issues, Madigan and the Republicans were a solid team throughout the long overtime session.

This year, the Republicans have flipped on Madigan, allying with Blagojevich and Jones on the $34 billion capital construction package, funded by expanded casino gambling and by leasing the Illinois Lottery to a private company.

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...

I wish George Carlin had been able to hang onto life at least through last week.

Just think about the dual sociopathologies he would have observed in (a) all the attention paid to the symbolic fate of Barack Obama’s testes and (b) the goofy journalistic soul searching that went on in reporting exactly what Rev. Jesse Jackson said he would like to do to them.

OK—we know only the most liberated of publications and cable outlets will permit use of Carlin’s seven unsayable (unprintable?) words.

Sophisticated periodicals ranging from the Chicago Reader to the New Yorker will print the four-letter word for coitus at the drop of a hat—or pair of pants. Most others use asterisks or dashes for the middle two or final three letters. Some will refer to the “F-word,” while hipper places call it the “F-bomb.”

But how about the series of words that are perfectly acceptable ... Read More...