Archive for August 2010

Do Sox fans want to win bad enough to put up with Ramirez?

Manny Ramirez is thrown out of the game on Sunday in his last at-bat with the Dodgers. (Matt McClain, Associated Press / August 29, 2010) This White Sox fan doesn’t. Yeah, cheer when (if) he hits a game deciding home run. But the bottom line is: The Manny Ramirez is a bum. It would give... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 31, 2010 at 11:35 am
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Casino near Gettysburg battle field?

That would be about a mile away from the historic battle field’s southern borders, where sit the Big Round Top and Little Round Top where hundreds died. A proposal to build a casino near there eclipses the idea of building a mosque near Ground Zero. A mosque is constitutionally protected; a gambling joint is not.... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 31, 2010 at 11:23 am
• 6 comments

How did that nation-building thing work out in Iraq?

Not so bad, according to David Brooks in the New York Times. The question for tonight: Will Barack Obama take credit for it? Or will he give credit to George W. Bush?
By Dennis Byrne,
August 31, 2010 at 10:51 am
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How did that nation-building thing work out in Iraq?

Not so bad, according to David Brooks in the New York Times. The question for tonight: Will Barack Obama take credit for it? Or will he give credit to George W. Bush?
By Dennis Byrne,
August 31, 2010 at 10:46 am
• Leave a comment

The only issues in Illinois that matter

  Forget about gun control, energy, abortion, public safety and all the other issues that are cluttering up the Illinois gubernatorial race. The only things that matter in the race between Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Sen. Bill Brady are how to dig the state out of the biggest financial hole it has... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 31, 2010 at 10:00 am
• 4 comments

In praise of the Blago jury "holdout"

Juror JoAnn Chiakulas has taken a lot more than her share of lumps for being the “holdout” in the 11-to-1 verdict on the most serious charge against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his corruption trial–the selling of Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. In her first interview, she described what it felt like as being the... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 27, 2010 at 12:25 pm
• 1 comment
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Conservatives coming around to Mark Kirk

The view from inside the Beltway: By Jessica Brady, Roll Call Illinois Rep. Mark Steven Kirk hopes he is going to be part of a GOP trend in which moderate Republicans beat the odds in decidedly blue states. Based on the warm reception conservative party chairmen gave the GOP Senate candidate last week during the... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 27, 2010 at 11:22 am
• 3 comments

Common sense arrives at the New York Times

Can it be so? The New York Times goes after the Obama administration for trying to lag a Democratic senator in a tough re-election campaign taxpayer’s dough to help her out with special interests: Senator Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has been seeking $1.5 billion in disaster relief... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 27, 2010 at 11:00 am
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Judge to blame for people going blind

A federal judge’s ruling this week blocking the federal government from funding embryonic stem cell research has ignited the usual flames of outrage among the political and scientific left. “Criminal,” said Robert Lanza chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which has a financial stake in continued funding. “We are talking about people going blind,... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 26, 2010 at 1:49 pm
• 3 comments
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Never too young to watch a throat getting slit

Here’s a story about six- and seven-year-olds sitting around watching the bloodbath when a pig’s throat is cut. It’s good for them, don’t you know. Monica Eng, the Chicago Tribune’s food writer, apparently thought as much when she took her  daughter, Miranda Zanca, 7, out to the farm to watch a pig slaughter–so she can appreciate... Read more »
By Dennis Byrne,
August 26, 2010 at 12:38 pm
• 3 comments
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