At least one ward of the Mormon church is activating against Illinois’ HB 2234, which would provide civil unions in the state (h/t Paul). Such unions would be available to hetero and homosexual couples, ad would provide the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. An email sent around to ward members encouraged them to call state legislators because the bill would, ‘create grounds for rewriting all social mores,’ amongst other evils. The bill passed out of committee yesterday despite the church’s input. As they recommend, however, it’s a good idea to call …
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As I mentioned yesterday, turnout is expected to be low for the IL-05 primary, but this is absurd. I just voted, and, as of 1:30pm (5.5 hours before the polls close), I was the fifth person to vote in my precinct. If Ward 1 voters aren’t turning out, this election is going to be decided by an extremely small number of people. If you haven’t voted and are thinking about skipping it - please go out there. There are no lines, so you’ll be in and out. Think of the voter calculus - I just made sure my candidate got at least 20% of the vote in my precinct (provided no one else …
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Can I just take a moment to say how important it is for voters to turn out for this primary? Turnout is expected to be very low - and with Fritchey, Feigenholtz and Quigley set to split the Democratic field, economist Charlie Wheelan or labor lawyer Tom Geoghegan could slip in with enough support. While the fields are not as large in the Republican and Green Party primaries, every vote will definitely count, whichever ballot you choose. (Speaking of which, there have been some problems in recent elections with Green Party ballots being ‘unavailable’ or placed out of sight/off the …
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Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old American reporter, has been arrested in Iran on charges of ‘illegal’ reporting and is being detained in an undisclosed location. Scary stuff, but perhaps some key facts from Saberi’s distinguished resume can help assuage our fears. A former Miss North Dakota, who’s been working in Iran as a freelance reporter, is being detained in undisclosed location there. And that’s the actual lede from the story running on MediaBistro’s TVNewser. We don’t learn until the second paragraph that Saberi has ‘reported for NPR, …
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Here’s the direct mail I got today from Mike Quigley, one of the candidates in the Democratic primary to fill the seat of Honorable Vacancy - IL05. Um, it just me or does Quigley’s ad seem strikingly (some might say ‘actionably’) similar to Geico’s dollar bill ad? Except for the quality of the image - Quigley’s ad looks like they took photos of Thin Mints and someone got a bit munchy on the Feigenholtz - I’d say Team Quigley is one googly eye away from a lawsuit. And see, it sucks that now my attention has been drawn to this ad because I really like …
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You go away for a couple of days and everyone’s all up in your fake-ish Senator demanding explanations about what he did or did not promise to do for your ex-governor. Jeez, people are pushy! Let’s let the man tell it, shall we? I mean, can you all imagine what’s going on now, when the secretary of state wouldn’t sign the petition? And we had to try to deal with all that…And (had) to hire all these lawyers. And they were looking at all the law and doing all this research. This is all going on and so we can be prepared to go to court in case they didn’t seat us…So …
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I am a dork because I get excited about pieces of legislation. The Prevention First Act - introduced in both the US House (H.R.463) and Senate (S.21) - is giddily awesome and covers everything from emergency contraception and comprehensive sex ed to assistance for rape survivors and funds for positive life education. Things like this are why I heart my Democratic Congress (today): Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any information concerning the use of a contraceptive provided through any federally funded sex education, family life education, abstinence education, comprehensive health …
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I just watched this week’s LOST on ABC’s website. While it’s no Hulu (love!), it is nice to be able to watch them online. ABC has prominent commercials - most of which are ABC-based - but I’m not sure that their outside advertisers are getting their money’s worth. ***Spoilers*** The most recent episode is entitled “This Place Is Death”. Perhaps not that auspicious for advertisers from the outset, but it is really all in the timing. The lead out for the Act II commercial break saw an ashen and profusely-bleeding Charlotte plead with Jin not to let Sun …
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…and a nation mourns. I actively don’t care about Michael Phelps’ smoking marijuana. (You can tell because I’m writing a blog post about it. As you are no doubt painfully aware, I never write about anything of substance.) Seriously, have we nothing else to worry about? Economic collapse, perhaps? Multiple, horrible wars, hmmm? The NYT today devoted several prominent links to a story about a 23-year-old smoking pot, including an analysis of how Phelps’ disciplinary action should have been handled. Is there no real news because everyone is just too sad? Because …
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So deep is my loathing of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger that I read this article thinking, ‘Yep, I’d vote for him. Vote for him. Never heard of him, but I’d vote for him.’ Former Chicago Public School CEO Paul Vallas is considering challenging Stroger as a Republican in 2010. “I really believe that it’s almost impossible to run as an independent or as a reform candidate through the Democratic Party,” Vallas said. “At the end of the day, if you’re going to be a reform candidate, particularly in Cook County…it becomes more realistic and more …
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