BackTalk

A cyclone left at least 22,000 dead in Myanmar and the death toll could still climb. More than a million people are now homeless after this natural disaster, and 40,000 are still missing.

But the repressive military junta that has ruled since 1962 is limiting who it accepts aid from to "friendly" countries. President Bush offered help from the U.S. Navy but so far Myanmar isn't accepting.

Continue reading "Myanmar Needs Relief" »

Posted by Teresa Puente at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

At BackTalk, we want to highlight some of the better Chicago-themed blogs out there.

We just came across Lee Bey's The Urban Observer, and don't know how we've missed it for so long.

Bey is the executive director of the Chicago Central Area Committee and a former high-ranking official in Mayor Daley's administration.

And he's got a passion for Chicago architecture.

In his blog, he offers up original insights on well known Chicago landmarks.

Continue reading "Chicago architecture on the web" »

Posted by Steven Warmbir at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For most people in the United States, Cinco de Mayo is a chance to down some tequila shots and Mexican beer. It's like the St. Patrick's Day for Mexican-Americans.
Here it is largely celebrated because of extensive marketing campaigns by beer and tequila companies.
While I'm all for fiestas, I think the holiday has been trivialized.

Continue reading "Cinco De Mayo" »

Posted by Teresa Puente at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Should Illinois voters be able to recall statewide elected officials?

The Sun-Times editorial board thinks it's a good idea, in theory, but a deeply flawed one in practice. A recall would create far more problems than it solves. The process would probably be too cumbersome to recall the worst offenders in a timely fashion and would render them even more ineffective while they're in the cross hairs. A recall election would also drain the state of money it doesn't have to spend.

Despite that, we urge the state Senate to take a vote on the recall proposal. A senate vote is being blocked by backers of Blagojevich -- who is the main recall target. In the name of good government, let our senators speak.

The House already passed a version earlier this month. With a May 4 deadline looming, the Senate must act now and then send a revamped version of the recall proposal back to the House. We may be shooting ourselves in the foot -- there's a good chance the senate will pass the recall bill. But we elected our senators to legislate, not to kowtow to party leaders.

Posted by Kate Grossman at 04:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The story of baby Lazar makes us want to hold our children and grandchildren
close to us.
The idea that a force of nature - the wind - could blow the 2-year-old in his stroller into
chilly Lake Michigan makes our hearts shutter. A beautiful walk by the lake
with a grandfather and his grandson turned into a nightmare.

Continue reading "Don't Forget Baby Lazar" »

Posted by Teresa Puente at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

While speaking before the Colorado state legislature, state Rep. Douglas Bruce argued against a guest worker program and called Mexican workers "illiterate peasants."
"I would like to have the opportunity to state at the microphone why I don't think we need 5,000 more illiterate peasants in Colorado," Bruce, a Republican, said Monday.

Continue reading "Lawmaker calls Mexicans: "Illiterate Peasants"" »

Posted by Teresa Puente at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBacks (0)

If you drove anywhere in the Chicago area Tuesday morning, we feel for you.

At one point it was taking 90 minutes or more to get from downtown to O"Hare. If you were commuting from the suburbs, after 9 a.m., when the sun was out and the snow plowed, it still took more than 80 minutes to travel from near Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg to the heart of Chicago.

All it seems to take is a couple bad accidents, anywhere on any Interstate, and it brings things to a crawl throughout the whole system. (And feel free to share your commuter nightmares with us.)

Sure the RTA has its operational funding in place, but the horrible traffic shouts out that regional transportation woes are far from over.

Continue reading "Tuesday traffic and transportation woers" »

Posted by at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Olympic sprinter and former gold medalist Marion Jones was once considered the fastest woman on earth.
But she can't run away from her mistakes any more. On Friday, she was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to investigators about using performance enhancing drugs and her role in a check fraud scam.

Continue reading "Marion Jones goes to jail" »

Posted by Teresa Puente at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A little late with this, but what the heck was Hillary Clinton wearing last week at her victory rally in New Hampshire? It looked like a sofa your grandma would have.

Sure it's tougher for a woman. All men do is put on a variation on that same dull suit they all have - with a flag pin, of course. They are the guys in the WaMu commercials (with Obama being the cool, laid back guy they bankers in the ad just don't get but are sort of in awe of maybe.)

But for a campaign like Clinton's that seems so programmed, one can only imagine the sessions deciding what she will wear for the day.

Posted by at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBacks (0)

Forget about Huckabee, Clinton, Obama, Giuliani and the rest of that lot. The voting America really loves starts next week when the new season of "American Idol" begins.

Actually the first few weeks of the show are the hardest to stomach, a theater of cruelty featuring the bizarre and the off-key prancing and singing for that insufferable panel of judges: Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell.

A good amount of the godawful singing seems staged and if it isn't it's just picking on the mentally or psychologically challenged.

It wouldn't be so bad but for that Jackson has claimed to this "dawg" that the dreadful talent they show represents a true cross section of the talent they encounter.

That may be true, but the only reason they put it on is to make fun of the frail.

Posted by at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)