Chicago Daily Observer

By the logic of Cook County politics, it makes perfect sense. Republican state’s attorney candidate Tony Peraica is vowing to use his independence to put away criminals and fight political corruption, so of course it was just revealed that he accepted $2,700 in contributions a couple years back from several felons. His Democratic opponent, Anita Alvarez, has promised to bring the office a fresh perspective—integrity—even though she’s worked in it for 20 years; she’s been under fire for taking donations from prosecutors who’d report to her if she were elected, and from at least one attorney whose firm reaped millions in a lawsuit against the county.

Peraica returned his scrutinized money; Alvarez kept hers, brushing off conflict-of-interest allegations.

Alvarez was mostly quiet about the controversies. Naturally, Peraica tried to rally his supporters to battle.

Exxon Mobile is having a tough week, with its stock slipping from a high of $84 per share to near a yearly low of $79 per share today. As one of the most widely held companies in America, the 20% drop this year is bad news for many pension funds, retirement accounts, insurance companies and mutual funds. The investment community expects Exxon to be more profitable. When it does not reach profit goals, the life savings of millions of average American are reduced.

So what better time for Sen. Obama to announce a new tax on Oil companies to fund a rebate scheme sending $1000 to a select group of Americans. Sen. Obama didn’t say who gets the checks, but he did say that the Oil Companies would pay with new taxes.

A basic concept of a corporation is that ownership is by the shareholders. The shareholders of public oil ... Read More...

Ask random passersby on an street corner to name the democrats’ nominee for president. Among those who follow politics at all, 99.9 percent will answer, “Obama.”

If Heidi Li Feldman, a blogger and a professor of law (and philosophy) at Georgetown University Law Center, and Marc Rubin, a blogger, veteran ad man, and movie and TV writer—head writer for “The White Shadow”—happened by, they would say there is no nominee yet, that the two ended the primary/caucus season in “a virtual tie,” in Feldman’s words, neither of them having the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim the prize. 2118 are needed; Obama got there only with the help of superdelegates who are free, Feldman says, to change their minds until they actually cast a vote at the convention in Denver late next month. That’s when, if Feldman and Rubin, who co-founded and are the only official members of The ... Read More...

“What are we paying him for? Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, arguably the most powerful Democrat in the state, takes home $95,000 a year but refuses to sit down with the governor.” Sun Times Editorial July31, 2008

The jerk who has had a happy hour fueled night of entitlement floors his Jaguar through traffic and is eventually pulled over by a police officer for violating public safety and the Laws. The officer is treated to ‘Don’t you have anything better to do? How’s the murder rate? Hey, I pay your salary. How about catching some real criminals?’

Teachers, who have given young Rachel a B- in Honors English, hear this as well –‘What am I paying you for?’

The Chicago Sun Times whines the same thing against Speaker of the House Mike Madigan – the only adult voice in Springfield Leadership and the only person not linked by the forged ... Read More...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies—including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

"It's the deal from hell," says Sam Zell, never one to mince words. "And it will continue to be the deal from hell until we turn it around." Zell is talking, of course, about his $8.5 billion purchase of Tribune Co. in December 2007, a transaction that's shaping up to be one of the most disastrous the media world has ever seen. Zell is a real estate tycoon, and his plush office reflects his decades of success: Giant even by CEO standards, it brims with paintings and statues and looks out on a private garden above the Chicago River. One item that stands out among the clutter is an upside-down map of the world, a prop presumably intended to convince visitors that they're in the presence of an iconoclast. Zell, 66 and fiercely devoted to blue jeans, has burnished that image carefully over the years.