Results tagged “georgew”

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...

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...

While thumbing through the morning paper, we couldn't help but chuckle (read: guffaw) at the Tribune headline, "Streeterville relic - history or just junk?" Apparently, while some dude was toolin' around under the corner of Illinois St. and McClurg Court, he found an anchor that he joked probably belonged to Captain George Streeter. He researched the anchor for fun and found, to his surprise, that there was a distinct possibility it may have actually belonged...

Wal-Mart is reporting that the store that opened in Chicago has produced $2 million in state and local taxes and has created 443 jobs since it opened 6 months ago. The USPS in Chicago is hiring 200 more letter carriers. Comcast is buying Fandango and starting a website for watching TV and movies. Should the Lakeshore Athletic Club be a landmark? Some are saying it should after finding out that a prospective buyer wants...

Missing Presidents?

This week, more than before, we have a veritable cornucopia of presidential news. After how many years of Southerners and Westerners in the White House, it seems only fitting that we dedicate this week's Hump Day Political News Roundup to all the cowboys that have ridden off into the sunset that is the Beltway. Let's take a look back: George W. Bush Is a Bad-Ass Cowboy. As his term dwindles away, his approval ratings circle...

After a brief jaunt out west, Chicagoist is back at the homestead, making camp here on the prairie that is sweet home Chicago. But just because we took a long weekend doesn't mean that our elected officials did. Here's a look back at what's been newsworthy so far this week: Illinois junior senator Barack Obama has a huge lead — in MySpace friends! Outpacing Hillary Clinton's "friends" by some 20,000, he's clearly in the lead,...

Since the re-election of George W. Bush, Fox News has seen its ratings fall. While they still have a large base of viewers, it seems they have been introducing new programs in the hopes of wrangling some of the conservatives that may have been lost in cableland for the past 2.5 years.

Yesterday we gave you a preview of who might be running for president in the Democratic camp. Today we turn our focus to the right, looking at the Republican side of the primaries. Since Dick Cheney isn't going to seek the presidency this time around, the field is wide open for any Republican to join the fray, hoping that his agenda is the one that will resonate most with conservative voters. And not unlike the...

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all. Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary. And now, the awkward...

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...

In case you missed it, there was an election yesterday. Chicagoist hopes you got out and voted. And after we rocked the vote, we rocked the Daily Bar & Grill at a special election night happy hour; you should have been there. That said, it was an exciting day: The Democrats have taken the House, but the Senate is still a toss-up. And yes, that means that Nancy Pelosi will be the new Speaker of...

Since members of the Republican-dominated US Congress aren't too keen on impeaching President Bush for screwing over the country, the Illinois General Assembly is trying to find a way to make it happen. Democratic State Representatives Karen A. Yarbrough, Sara Feigenholtz, and Eddie Washington are pushing a resolution to "submit charges to the U.S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for willfully violating his...

The Cubs and White Sox each won their season openers Monday. Of course, the Sox actually began their opener on Sunday. A 3-hour rain delay pushed the game into Monday morning, when the game ended around 1:00am.

Yes, yes, yes. We're on the bandwagon. U.S. Senator Barack Obama is a wonderful man. Illinois citizens are lucky to have such a great senator, so smart, so good looking, so many prospects for solving our nation's ills.

Since his election to the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama has repeatedly said that he was elected to serve all Illinois citizens, and that he will not represent any particular special interest (This great NPR interview from yesterday illustrates that struggle). But the fact that he is the nation's only African-American Senator, and no matter how much he says he's everyone's senator, he will regularly be called from the bullpen to pitch for African-Americans across the country. Yesterday was probably the first clear example of how often he'll be called on to do this job.

The president's handling of the past year in Iraq -- his dismissal of those who warned him about the difficulty of reorganizing the country, his neglect of deep problems that are costing American lives there -- made us doubt his ability to bring our involvement there to a successful conclusion. And we became concerned by the secrecy of his subordinates such as Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft, coupled with an unnecessary disregard for some of our most cherished civil liberties.

Unlike chocolate and peanut butter, politics and art are rarely two great tastes that taste great together. Witness Robert Mapplethorpe’s troubles with the NEA, the painting of former Chicago mayor Harold Washington in women’s underwear and this weekend’s Team America: World Police which is at the top of Chicagoist’s must-see list this weekend. Social commentary with puppets from the makers of South Park? Yes! And yet this only proves the above thesis as none other...

Chicagoist certainly agrees we as a nation could use some inspiration regarding freedom, its civic responsibilities and the necessity of progecting them. Can we book an opening day educational field trip for George W. Bush and John Ashcroft?

Chicagoist received a mass e-mail message this past week with the subject line "Mandatory Draft" followed by a number of, depending on your position, exciting or menacing exclamation points. The e-mail mentions companion bills H.R. 163 and S 82. The titles of both these bills contain the text "...to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."

Got $4k and don't know what to do with it?

Believe it or not, there are some folks out there that would like to see Mike Ditka elected as our next Illinois Senator. The Daily Southtown reports today that Tom Pence of Oswego, a Kendall County GOP committeeman, is leading an effort to get 10,000 signatures to put up Mike Ditka as the Republican State Party Chair, and now there's talk of him going for the Senate spot too.

Here's the Obama For Illinois senatorial campaign site, which has the Obama Blog. And as a U. Chicago law school professor, Obama is beloved, even after standing up a Maroon reporter. The New Republic's Noam Scheiber recently wrote an article about Obama (registration req'd), Black Commentator searches for the "Real" Obama, and the Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn posts excerpts of an Obama interview Jeff Berkowitz did. You can also read Obama's memoir, Dreams of My Father.