Results tagged “bush”

Now you can: In a book! That he probably won't read. Though maybe he will, since we expect that, like many Americans, he'll be unemployed for a while and will have more free/vacation time than he had even as president. Farewell 43, a Santa Monica, Cal.-based project that claims to be "unbiased, unaffiliated, and politically neutral," is publishing a collection of messages generated from the American public to be given to Bush after Inauguration Day.

EPA Midwest administrator Mary Gade has been forced to resign her post. Last summer, Gade invoked emergency powers against Dow Chemical to force the company to clean up three toxic hotspots near their Midlands, Michigan headquarters. She had been fighting the company for years over dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond the Midlands plant and into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. And when tests revealed that dioxin levels in along a park in Saginaw were the highest in the nation, she ordered more dredging. Dow and the EPA had been working out a deal over the cleanup, but Gade ended those negotiations in January, saying that Dow wasn't taking the steps necessary to protect public health. Company officials appealed to Washington, and Gade was forced from her position yesterday.

According to a new Sun-Times analysis of last Tuesday's county-wide primary races, those candidates that attempted character assassination of their rivals by associating them with unpopular Cook County Board President Todd Stroger lost, almost across the board. Stroger's approval ratings are basically in the same territory as President Bush's—somewhere between rock bottom and Herbert Hoover—so the prevailing logic was that if you could associate a candidate with Stroger, it would be like transferring his unpopularity onto them. Makes sense, right?

While Thursday was the Chinese New Year, today was the annual Chinese New Year parade. With the temperature near zero and wind chill making it feel like 20-below, the crowd was very light. Nevertheless, the Year of the Rat, known by its formal name Wu Zi, year 4705, has begun. In ancient times, the rat was welcomed as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. According to Wikipedia, the rat is “associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities.”

It’s coming, folks. The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial in 2009. You won’t be able to eat your Wheaties in the morning without reading something about Lincoln, so don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Head to Daley Plaza this morning at 10:30 a.m. for a quick early voting rally for Mark Pera. Pera, the assistant Cook County State's Attorney who is running against Dan Lipinski for the 3rd Congressional District seat, is the first serious candidate to challenge Lipinski since he went to congress in 2004. Pera's campaign has attracted a lot of attention, both online and in the district. Online support has helped helped fund his campaign, but anger in the district at how the elder Lipinski handed his seat to his son has fueled the viability of his candidacy. Still, he's running against the full force and weight of Chicago's entrenched Democratic Machine.

The CTA bailout passed, and now we can move on to that other chronic political problem: Governor Blagojevich. Just how much of Mr. Testicular Virility are Illinois residents willing to take? Judging by a new Chicago magazine article about the embattled gov, "Mr. Un-Popularity," not much. In that article, the Capital Fax Blog's Rich Miller suggests that Blago is the most unpopular governor in the country, with approval ratings that have sunk as low as 16 percent (which, Bernstein notes, is worse than President Bush polls in Illinois, one of the country's bluest states).

Goose Gossage is the lone Hall of Fame inductee this year. He should also be inducted into the mustache HoF, dudes. [MLB.com]

President Bush is in town today to celebrate the anniversary of No Child Left Behind, hobnob with Mayor Daley to talk Olympics, and give a speech about the economy to the Union League Club. And the Sun-Times makes him feel welcome with a front-page smackdown of NCLB.

If you are willing to brave crappy weather with your "Bush was right" or "Bush is a dope" signs, get ready: he's coming to town on Monday.

Today's big story--and no doubt one of the biggest stories in a long, long time--is that Benazir Bhutto, opposition leader and former prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated this morning in a bombing that killed at least 20 other people. International leaders, including President Bush, are condemning the attack.

Oprah is everywhere this week. She took her first campaign trip with Obama to Iowa where over 18,000 people came to hear Oprama speak. Oprah said, “Despite all the talk and speculation and the hype. I understand the difference between a book club and a free refrigerator -- that was a nice refrigerator." Okay good, we’re really happy Oprah explained herself because we weren’t sure if that was a nice refrigerator or not. Now we...

If you've ever wandered past the ever-under-construction mass of steel and concrete at the corner of State & Kinzie, that's the Museum of Broadcast History, the same group that put out the list of Top 125 American Political Broadcast Moments earlier this week. And, being as that lists are made to be pulled apart, dissected, shredded and argued over, who are we to get in the way of such rich tradition? There are some entries...

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits...

With his approval rating on par with President Bush and the state languishing without capital funding, Rod Blagojevich sent a letter (PDF) to the four legislative leaders yesterday, inviting them to a "leaders' meeting" in his office this morning. Referencing the mass transit band-aid issued last week, he urged lawmakers to put aside their differences and work with him to fix infrastructure and transit problems in the state. Although nobody believes much of anything Blago...

Mark Pera, Democratic candidate for congress in the Third District, is launching his first TV ad today. Debuting on cable television around the area, the ad contrasts incumbent Dan Lipinski's supposed political affiliations with his actions in Congress. “The Iraq war is the defining issue in our campaign for Congress, and we’re giving voters a clear choice. I’m offering to voters real leadership in Congress to end this war and bring our troops home safely...

Barack Obama might not be Ronald Reagan (thank God for small blessings?), but he and Dick Cheney share something: A common ancestor. Yes, our junior senator and the good old face-shooter are distant cousins. Freaking out! Oh wait, no we're not: The Sun Times reported this over a month ago. Obama definitely has presidential timber in his family tree: He's distantly related to three U.S. presidents — Harry S Truman, George W. Bush and George...

As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in...

It was a Tuesday — a beautiful, sunny Tuesday at that. Most likely, most of the United States was getting ready for or just starting an average Tuesday in September. And then, the unthinkable happened. Two planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, and yet another plane was crashed in Pennsylvania. The country was legitmately in "shock and awe." However, there were those of us who...

Former Chicago resident and one-time member of the Maniac Latin Disciples Jose Padilla was convicted yesterday of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas, conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists, and providing material support for terrorists. Adham Amin Hassoun, a Lebanon-born Palestinian, and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, a naturalized US citizen born in Jordan, were convicted as well in federal court. Although held for 3-1/2 years in military custody as an enemy combatant, his...

Eighty years ago AT&T was quite the different company when it came to privacy of its customers and free speech. A quote lifted from a Boing Boing post on Thursday where AT&T spoke out against warrantless surveillance, "The telephone has become part and parcel of the social and business intercourse of the people of the United States, and this telephone system offers a means of espionage to which general warrants and writs of assistance were...

While most of the city was partying down at Lollapalooza this weekend, a different type of party was going on just a few blocks south of Grant Park: YearlyKos, the annual convention hosted by DailyKos, the netroots weblog started by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, and filled with content, news and views by a motley crew of bloggers from around the nation (including Dick Durbin!). Saturday was a big day for the bloggers by the lake, with...

- City employees readying for retirement are sweating a little. All four of the city's pension funds lost value last year. - The $217.7 million deficit in Mayor Daley's 2008 budget will take some drastic measures to close. - Chess is no longer the sport of gentlemen. Two Englewood men were shot Sunday while playing a game. - Police are investigating the death of a Hyde Park man who fell from a building. -...

It's only July, one year out, and already it feels like there is a presidential race going on, doesn't it? Maybe it's too soon to declare Bush a lame duck, but we're inclined to think he is. In this most early of seasons, much has been made of fund raising, often at the expense of real discussions of the issues. Obama is setting records, regularly pulling in millions of dollars in small sums, Hillary is...

It's no secret that Chicagoist is interested in global politics. In the wold-wide checkerboard of cities, we love knowing that our little City by the Lake is quickly becoming a global destination, for business, people, education, and life. That's why our ears perk up a little bit when some national or international figure pays us a visit; even more so when Chicago is used as a platform for some sort of important announcement or drama....

Now we know why Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak kept quiet for so long about who told him CIA Agent Valerie Plame's name; he needed to save that information (at least until 2006) so he could one day publish a tell-all book. Well done, Novak, well done. Novak's book, The Prince of Darkness, (which should not be confused with the Ozzy Osbourne box set of the same name) chronicles Novak's 50 years of work as a...

Calling the sentence imposed on Lewis "Scooter" Libby "harsh" and "excessive," George W. Bush commuted the 30-month sentence on Monday. Not quite the full pardon that some conservatives wanted — he still has to pay a quarter million dollar fine and serve 2 years probation for lying under oath — it certainly left Bush open to criticism, from both sides of the congressional aisle. “He was indicted by a grand jury and convicted beyond the...

In the marathon that this presidential political season is becoming, presidential hopeful and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards made a pair of brief campaign stops in Chicago Wednesday, just one day before Barack Obama made a campaign stop in North Carolina. At BB's bar and restaurant on Hubbard, part of his "Small Change for Big Change" series of fundraisers, Edwards told the crowd, who had paid between $15 and $100 a head to hear...

This is not a fun time to be a baseball fan in Chicago. Whether a White Sox or Cubs fan, you no doubt have that sinking feeling about your team's prospects for the postseason after they were swept this week. The Cubs lost 9-0 to the Florida Marlins on Wednesday, following a day full of meetings. The players held one. So did management. Didn't help, at least on Wednesday. The players felt they needed to...

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with...