The George W. Bush / Kanye West lovefest gets set to music. more ›

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.” more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

Howdy little doggies, the Roundup got in late yesterday as our wagontrain kept crashing. But not to worry, we're here with the best of the rest this week. Let's all snuggle up around the Firefox while yer Uncle Chicagoist tells y'all a story! Lynn Sweet is practically a political blogger, hopping on whatever Obama bandwagon is coming along at the moment. Flogging Obama's "drug use" is sure to be something that the bottom-feeder columnists will... more ›

As much as Chicagoist loves to rail against the corruption and graft that plagues our fair city, occasionally our obsession with back-room deals and hereditary peerage takes a back seat to more mundane fascinations. With this in mind, today we bring you this interesting tidbit: Barack Obama is a smoker! We stumbled across Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Michael Currie Schaffer's meditation on what makes a candidate more real, a person more than a media hack's... more ›

Two men that are running for mayor but refuse to declare it are taking swipes at each other in the local papers. Neither one will definitively say it, but it sure looks to Chicagoist like the competition is on. Yesterday, Jesse Jackson Jr. admonished Richard Daley to "leave race out of it". Apparently claiming that the unions turned a blind eye when big-box retailers opened shop outside of black neighborhoods, Da Mare accused living-wage supporters... more ›

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on... more ›

It was just another Friday happy hour at the Hideout. Well, not including the BBQ going on and the fact that there just seemed to be more people arriving than normal for a show that wasn’t supposed to start until 10:30 pm. Sure, there was to be a 9:30 showing of George Bush being eaten by rats, but what did that really mean? After the sound check, we dutifully made our way to the back... more ›

No, the title of this post does not refer to some alternate casting for Brokeback Mountain. Whenever Chicagoist is looking for guidance on a political issue, we don’t bother turning to the media, researching government records, or forming our own opinions. Why should we waste our time on stuff like that when celebrities are around to do our thinking for us? Most recently, Kanye West taught us that George Bush hates black people. And... more ›

George Bush’s nominee to replace William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate next week, but Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama will not be extending their support to Roberts’ nomination. On Thursday Durbin, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted against the nomination, but Roberts was still confirmed by a vote of 13-5. Durbin’s no vote was expected, as he... more ›

As Hurricane Rita gains steam and takes aim at Texas, the Bush administration is still reeling from the criticisms of its failures and slow action in the tragedy that is Hurricane Katrina. Last night Senator Barack Obama addressed the 35th annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and condemned the President’s response to Katrina and his efforts, or lack thereof, to deal with poverty honestly in this country. In response to Bush’s... more ›

What’s the best way to cap off a week of promotion for your new album? If you’re Kanye West, it’s taking on the President during a national telethon and cementing your status as the ambassador of the hip-hop nation. During an appearance on NBC’s “A Concert for Hurricane Relief,” West departed from scripted remarks he was to deliver with fellow presenter Mike Myers. After an introduction by Meyers, a nervous-looking West stammered “You see a... more ›

With Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama running unchallenged, and President George Bush essentially conceeding Illinois to Democratic challenger John Kerry, the top of the ballot this November isn't drawing a whole lot of attention. This has opened up a whole lot of possibility for races further down the ballot, like the 8th Congressional District race up in northwestern Cook, and Lake and McHenry Counties. The seat, held by Republican Rep. Phil Crane for thirty-three... more ›