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Tommie Harris Apologizes For Punching Deuce Lutui

2009-11-09T23:32:34Z

Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris said he's embarrassed and apologized for punching Arizona Cardinals guard Deuce Lutui in the head early in the Cards' 41-21 win at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Deborah Mell In Danger Of Being Kicked Off The Ballot

2009-11-09T22:31:46Z

Another big piece of bad news is hitting Chicago's Mell/Blagojevich political clan.

Michael Jones: Ishtar Lives! Men Who Stare at Goats

2009-11-09T18:58:23Z

N.B.: Ishtar, starring two of the hottest stars of the seventies: Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, was one of the 'biggest' movies released in 1987. Its can't miss premise involving two American lounge singers wandering in the Moroccan desert was directed by Elaine May of Mike Nichols and Elaine May fame. A 'buddy' movie with a comic/action plot, it has been on most top ten worst films in history lists since its release. Reactions to the movie were so negative that all copies were confiscated by the United Nations and are kept under guard at the Yucca Mountain Repository.

Men Who Stare at Goats is so bad that I write in stunned disbelief. I can only compare the experience to, let me think, watching paint dry while undergoing a colonoscopy sans anesthesia while Perez Hilton scratches his long acrylic fingernails slowly up and down a chalkboard held inches from my ear.

A half full theater sat in deep silence. During the several centuries it took for this movie to begin and end, there were, at most, three titters. Yet, it is billed as "an eye-opening and often hilarious exploration of the government's attempts to harness paranormal abilities to combat its enemies."

Whatever.

Titters aside, things got so bad I started encouraging people to call or answer their cell phones or text their friends, to divert our attention from what was happening on the screen. I walked out at one point and convinced theater management to turn the house lights on to allow book reading and crossword puzzle work. Rather than objecting to my request, I was told that management had been asked to turn them on for humanities' sake at every showing today.

My theory is that Hollywood decided to remake Ishtar. The reason, I can only guess: global warming. It's causing everything else these days.

Ishtar, for those who don't know, was a famously awful movie made by extremely talented people. A movie that, until Men Who Stare at Goats, set the gold standard for, unfunny, painful, star centric comedies.

Ishtar is Citizen Kane compared to Goats.

I will try to sum up the plot. Well, that was easy, there is no plot. Much of what appears on the screen seems a pastiche of those particularly unfunny commercials these days starring inept white guys doing really dumb or cruel things. If you could imagine a continuous loop of the most wooden of ads like that you will get a sense of the slow repetitive un-comedy of Goats. Or, maybe a better example would be if you have persevered through decades of painfully unfunny Saturday Night Live skits starring celebrity hosts and you decided to vid (oh, Alex and my brothers) 30 of the worst, back to back, you might get an idea of the awkward celebrity-ness of the exercise. Its pacing is glacial. The humor, visual or spoken, not even up to the standards of Live at Five News teams.

It must have been hell watching the dailies for the crew. You can imagine the atmosphere as the soul deadening comic bits revealed themselves in all their turgid humorlessness. One can hear the director and scriptwriter keeping up a steady banter to hold down heroin use: wait until we put the music in ... no worries, we'll cut this a bit differently ... this is good, real good ... what? ... no, I've never heard of Ishtar.

Schisse ... even a laugh track machine would malfunction if asked to laugh at Goats.

Plot. Yes, plot, one must not just rant, but give readers an idea of the movie so they can make a judicious choice in deciding to attend. The plot: uhhhh, emmmmmm, aaaarrrgh, nope, and I really am trying here ... there is no plot.

Goats consists of scenes and flashbacks about some new age army unit doing hippie things at Ft. Bragg, Kuwait, Iraq, and in the desert. Sober minds must have realized the enormity of script/direction/acting train wreck while filming and desperation ensued. In Hollywood desperation usually means throwing in Abu Ghraib references wherever possible. This insulates the filmmakers by appealing to West Hollywooders and movie critics. There isn't a movie critic living who wouldn't give three stars to a movie with an Abu Ghraib reference. Four stars if GWB is portrayed as a buffoon. In these perilous times, any Hollywood movie that combines sand and soldiers must have an obligatory Abu Ghraib scene somewhere.

But, Goats evidently got completely out of hand either in rushes or in previews. Appeals to politically correct prejudices were evidently not enough to deflect even anti-war zealots from its awfulness.

So, for the first time in years we have a lysergic acid subplot. It's a fall back, I guess, for when all else fails: let's go tripping. You know, maybe we can escape with our reputations intact if we infer that all that you have seen up here would make sense if you were four tabs into a windowpane world. Perhaps IMDb's trivia section will disclose, in due time, that the director et al actually did the movie on acid.

That would explain a lot.

One could hope, for the sake of future Goats' goers, that ushers will hand out tabs of Sunshine to those foolish enough to pay to see it. The theater owners could flick house lights off and on rapidly during showings, while patrons use the brightly lit faces of their cell phones as glow sticks, and a be in might raise its retro Ishtar-ish head. Then all might be right with the movie, in a Lucy in the Sky-ish ruminant romp.

But, I merely fantasize. Goats is a movie that every aspiring filmmaker should see: if you have doubts about your ability to be a director, screenwriter, producer, or actor, they will disappear within thirty minutes.

Harry Reid could make a better, funnier movie.

Brian Dickie: Conflict Resolution

2009-11-09T18:53:50Z

I am not sure that I am very good at it - but conflict resolution is something that from time to time has to be dealt with. I think that the secret must be to somehow persuade the most die hard and determined to recognize that "accommodation" is not a weakness but a strength. This seems to be the best style of resolution to aim for in an opera company! We all have to work together and it is no bad thing if some healthy disagreement is resolved with some improved self knowledge. This can be a positive outcome. I have never read up on any of the theories that are commonly employed in the work place. I fly by the seat of my pants I am afraid, relying on "common sense", which some of my nearest and dearest regard as somewhat pollyannaish of me, rather than playing games or using force.

Anyway we have had some issues today. I remind you that this blog is subtitled "Life as General Director of Chicago Opera Theater." So here you have it - I have to deal with all sorts of situations. And it is not just during the opera season! Give me sopranos any day!

Bernard Haitink is in town with the CSO. Try to get to it this week!

Tomorrow morning we have the first session of Chicago auditions for next season and other general purposes. I will be on parade at 9am.

As I walk to the office every morning from the bus stop I rarely look up. It was a bright one today and the light on the wall of the building opposite was particularly luscious so the "art work" popped more than usual. I thought you might enjoy it too.

Gutierrez Endorsing Giannoulias For Obama's Old Senate Seat

2009-11-09T18:33:32Z

Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is set to receive the endorsement today of Illinois' highest-ranking Hispanic elected official, U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, in the Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate.

Prosecutors Still Won't Explain Why They're Subpoenaing Northwestern Journalism Students' Grades

2009-11-09T16:51:03Z

CHICAGO — A Northwestern University professor and journalism students who spent three years investigating the case of a man convicted in the 1978 killing of a security guard believe they have evidence that shows prosecutors put the wrong man behind bars. But in the quest to prove his innocence, they may have to defend themselves, too.

Cook County prosecutors have outraged the university and the journalism community by issuing subpoenas to professor David Protess seeking his students' grades, his syllabus and their private e-mails. Prosecutors claim since the team was made up of students, they may have been under pressure to prove the case to get a good grade.

It's a first for Protess and his investigative reporting students, who have helped free 11 innocent men from prison, including death row, since 1996. Their work also is credited with prompting then-Gov. George Ryan to empty the state's death row in 2003, re-igniting a national debate on the death penalty.

"Why are we talking about our grades when we should be talking about whether there's an innocent man in prison?" said Evan Benn, a former Protess student mentioned in the state's subpoena. None of the students has been individually subpoenaed.

The prosecutor's office – led by Anita Alvarez, who last year was elected Cook County state's attorney on a reputation for toughness – said it's just being thorough, and wants to determine if students may have skewed their findings to get a good grade.

"It's been framed as a witch hunt or a fishing expedition, and it's not," said Sally Daly, spokeswoman for Alvarez. "We're engaging in a discovery process as we would in any criminal investigation."

Northwestern's lawyers have filed a motion to quash the subpoenas, and the judge may act on that Tuesday, when a hearing is set to hear arguments about whether there should be a new trial in the case. In the prosecution's response, they argue that Protess and his students aren't journalists and therefore aren't protected by reporters' privilege.

John Lavine, dean of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, considers that argument chilling.

"I don't think the prosecution in a criminal case ... or the defense ever ought to be able to say we decide who is a journalist," Lavine said. "They should never have that right."

Protess and his students spent three academic years investigating the case of Anthony McKinney, a suburban Chicago man serving a life sentence for killing a security guard in 1978. After interviewing witnesses and inspecting documents, they're convinced that McKinney had nothing to do with the murder.

Several witnesses told the students that they implicated McKinney in the murder only after they were beaten by police. Northwestern's legal clinic filed a petition seeking a new trial.

Prosecutors conceded a hearing was warranted but also sought all the students' notes, unpublished memos and reimbursements for their expenses. Daly insists the subpoenas are justified because of information that Alvarez's office has uncovered, but would not elaborate.

"It goes to the interest and the bias of the students," she said. "Did they receive a better grade in the class? Was there incentive for these students to develop additional information (about McKinney's innocence)?"

Protess and his students call that claim ridiculous – especially since the prosecutor's office has never asked for such records before relating to investigations by the Medill Innocence Project, founded by Protess in 1999. Legal experts also said it's a rare request.

"It's extremely unusual to go after that kind of background material about the investigators because none of that is legally relevant to guilt or innocence," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based Student Press Law Center. "It is worrisome that the response of the justice system is not to interview the witnesses, but to investigate the investigators."

Protess and his students have investigated nearly a dozen high-profile cases, several involving men on death row – including the Ford Heights Four, who were exonerated by DNA evidence in a double murder, and Anthony Porter, who was exonerated roughly 48 hours before he was to be executed. In some of the cases, Protess' students found that police had bullied or coerced false confessions, and Illinois has paid out tens of millions of dollars to some of those who were wrongly convicted.

But in two cases they investigated in the last five years, students who found compelling evidence of prisoners' guilt still got As in his class, Protess said, so students had no reason to pad their findings in the McKinney case.

"Students are rewarded for advancing the cause of truth, regardless of where the facts lead them," he said.

The American Society of News Editors is asking Alvarez's office to reconsider the subpoenas, calling them "a wide-ranging, unfounded sweep for information" that violates the Illinois reporters' privilege statute. That statute protects reporters from having to reveal their sources and other information uncovered during newsgathering, including notes and e-mails.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have declined to release records of the police officers who were involved in McKinney's case, and have also rebuffed a Protess offer to release students' grades in exchange for prosecutors' performance reviews.

Benn, the former Protess student, said he thinks the prosecutors' motives are clear.

"The state's attorney's office is trying to save itself from the embarrassment of students finding another innocent man in prison," he said.

Beyonce Expected In Chicago For Lawsuit Over Alleged Song Ripoff

2009-11-09T16:39:30Z

Did pop diva Beyonce Knowles and her Destiny's Child rip off a Chicago songwriter's song?

Swine Flu: 51,000 Have Been Vaccinated In Chicago

2009-11-09T15:14:35Z

Chicago Department of Public Health officials say they've vaccinated almost 51,000 people against the swine flu in seven days.

New CTA Ads Aimed At Stopping Sexual Harassment

2009-11-09T15:01:18Z

The CTA has new anti-sexual harassment ads up in trains and buses, thanks to the efforts of a group of young Rogers Park women who have campaigned against unwanted touching and rude comments on the transit system.

David Orr: It's Time to Get Judicial Retention Elections Off the Ballot in Illinois

2009-11-09T14:52:02Z

Now, I have always thought of myself as an advocate for democracy. As Cook County Clerk since 1991, I have spent 18 years pushing measures to improve access to voting. I fought for the Motor Voter law to simplify voter registration. I initiated Early Voting to make it more convenient for working people to cast ballots. And I pressed for open absentee voting, to remove outdated restrictions against voting by mail.

So, why am I against voting for judges? Our current system -- electing judges through retention contests -- undermines the quality of judges, in part because there are just too many on the ballot. Judicial retention races are a paradox, where too much democracy means no democracy at all.

Not a single judge has lost a retention election since 1990. That's 19 years -- longer than I've held this office as County Clerk.

Consider November of 2008, when most voters' eyes were on the presidential prize. On November 4, there were 84 contests on the ballot in Cook County. A full 70 contests, or 83% of the races, were judicial retention elections where the judges were up for a yea or nay vote -- to retain or fire. They were, essentially, running against themselves.

That's a lot of elections. To understand how many, consider this. That's more judges on the Cook County Ballot than Madison, Sangamon, Lake, Champaign, DuPage and St. Clair counties combined. More than twice as many. Nearly three times as many. Twenty-three times as many as Madison County.

Few people have the time to examine the judicial records of 70 candidates. It's hard enough to make decisions about presidents and senators. What kind of system is this? A broken one. It's the kind of system where the press devotes very few column inches to any individual judge's qualifications. It's the kind of system where most voters are ill-equipped to make a decision.

To nobody's surprise, nearly every Cook County voter who entered a polling place in November 2008 cast a ballot for president. Fewer than one percent did not. But in the average judicial retention race, only 65% of voters cast a ballot. That's only slightly more than the votes in uncontested races.

And who can blame voters for skipping those races out of fear of casting an unwise vote?

It's not only hard to know the right decision, it's hard to actually cast that vote. The judicial ballot is an unwieldy behemoth. Our paper ballots, consisting of two double-sided sheets, are the longest in the country. It takes flipping through eight pages on our touch screens to get through the retention ballot. That doesn't even count the review screens, and the reams of paper trails to provide the necessary security for the vote. Judicial retention ballots turn a simple act of citizenship, which should take two or three minutes, and turns it into an eight or nine minute affair. If you've ever wondered why there are long lines on Election Day, now you know.

The long ballot also exacts a literal financial cost. It takes more taxpayer dollars to program, print and process our ballots because of the judicial races.

Right now, to be retained, a sitting judge needs a yes from 60 percent of the people voting in their race. In a low turnout race, that's not hard for machine operatives to supply, if skeptical voters don't vote. So that's what we have now -- retention by machine. Qualifications just don't factor in to re-election. That is why we need a merit-based system.

There are a good dozen bar associations in Cook County who rate judges on their merits. But those recommendations have no legal power. They compile, print and promote their endorsements, but they simply don't get into everyone's hands. All 74 judges who sought reelection in Chicago and suburban Cook County in 2004 were retained whether or not bar associations found them wanting. Even two judges who were rated unqualified by a whopping twelve bar associations kept their posts.

It's time to give recommendations based on merit more power -- and to give them the power of law. Here's the idea. A panel of bar association representatives screens judges whose terms are up, and assesses their qualifications. The panel automatically retains those who meet standards. But the five or ten who fall short are placed on the retention ballot, and must win 60% of the vote to keep their jobs.

With only five or so races on the ballot instead of 70+, the news media and voters will be able to devote attention to the candidates. And the hope would be, they would reject the judges who don't deserve to keep their robes. For without the possibility of losing, we don't have democracy. What we have is something else, altogether. A respectable judiciary deserves better.

Danny Davis Running For Re-Election, Drops Out Of County Board Race

2009-11-09T14:44:12Z

Congressman Danny Davis has officially decided that he'll seek another term representing the 7th District instead of running for Cook County Board president.

Burleigh Hines Dead: Longtime CBS 2 Reporter Dies At 77

2009-11-09T14:42:16Z

Burleigh Hines, a reporter at Channel 2 for more than 25 years, passed away Sunday morning at age 77.

School District Tying Teacher Pay To Student Performance, Likely First In State

2009-11-09T14:37:50Z

Teachers in Evanston-Skokie School District 65 used to be judged on what they did in the classroom.

Ellen Gill: Howard Dean Stresses Importance of Grassroots Pressure on Public Option

2009-11-09T13:59:21Z

Howard Dean came to Deerfield, Illinois on Halloween night to speak with the Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats or "Tenth Dems." Tenth Dems is a large volunteer organization that was started in 2003 in a Highland Park living room by seven people including former state representative Lauren Beth Gash. The group now claims over 2000 members and works to elect Democrats at all levels of government within the congressional district.

Former Governor Dean started by congratulating the Tenth Dems on their mission and success, stressing the importance of the grassroots in American government because they are "always ahead of Congress."

In particular, Gov. Dean sees the increasing importance of young people as a voting block. He pointed out that the last presidential election was the first in modern times where people younger than thirty-five turned out better than seniors. Dean said that this new youth voting block will change our political dialogue because people under 35 have less patience for the anger now being shown by the Republican Party and are more tolerant of the differences among Americans. Since they know, and are friends and coworkers with, people from different backgrounds and walks of life, it is harder to young people are more accepting of differences.

Dean also talked about the fifty state strategy. It allowed Democrats to introduce themselves into areas where they had not been active for thirty years. Dean knew that moving into all states was the right thing to do when the DNC polled Evangelicals and found that the top three issues for younger Evangelicals were poverty, the environment and Darfur. Dean believes that Democrats must bring their own message to places where their message has lately been brought by Rush Limbaugh and other media figures of the far right.

The governor then turned the discussion to health care. He believes that we already gave too much away in the current legislation. We should have never taken single payer off the table. He said that he thinks the public option should be Medicare, administered by the same agencies and under the same rules as Medicare. He further commented that we cannot give up much more before the bills become worthless. He'd still be comfortable with a state opt-out provision, but an opt-in or trigger will set the public option up for failure. He touted a single payer system, but not an exclusive single payer pointing out that even in England where doctors and other providers are employed and paid by the government, 15 percent of health care dollars are private. However, when he spoke about bringing coverage to his home state of Vermont, he found that states cannot easily implement a single payer system of their own because of the complexities of ERISA law.

After his brief comments, Dean took questions. One audience member asked about the President's desire for bipartisanship and the importance of Olympia Snowe in the negotiations. Dean responded by stating that Harry Reid did well in not allowing Snowe to control the ultimate Senate bill, as it is important not to let one Senator overshadow the many who are already signed on to reform.

Dean was asked about the impact of the Blue Dogs on the health care legislation. He answered that he didn't think they have had as much negative effect as many believe. He feels that they took the place of the republicans by adding the conservative voice when the republicans failed to engage in any meaningful debate. He also pointed out that the Blue Dogs pushed for changes that will help the smallest of small businesses by taking them out of the insurance business completely.

I asked Dr. Dean what the next steps to reform are. Democratic congressional leaders have told those of us who are disappointed with this legislation that it is only the first step, so what comes next? Dean said that the next steps are not congressional, but are for the grassroots. It will be important to push for expansion of the public option. He also said that the insurance companies have to show that they can do better. Their profits show their inefficiencies because those are dollars not spent on health care. If they don't do better, their inefficiencies will cause them problems down the line.

Another audience member asked about the money that affects legislation. Dean closed by reminding us of his campaign where small Internet donations from average Americans challenged traditional money sources for the first time, but reminded us that we are going to have to campaign finance reform an issue in the next election or it will never get done.

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Cardinals Shred Bears 41-21 As Warner Throws 5 TD's

2009-11-08T22:07:55Z

CHICAGO — Kurt Warner envisioned doing this on a regular basis at Soldier Field. Good thing for the Arizona Cardinals, the Chicago Bears took a pass on him.

One week after throwing five interceptions, Warner tied a career high by throwing five touchdown passes while Larry Fitzgerald added 123 yards receiving to lead the Arizona Cardinals to an easy 41-21 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

Warner was at his best after a miserable performance in a 34-21 loss to Carolina. He handled a team that had a chance to sign him as a backup four years ago, matching the record for TD passes by a Bears opponent without getting picked off.

Two of them went to Fitzgerald, who had his way with Charles Tillman before the cornerback left the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter, but this was Warner's afternoon.

He completed 22 of 31 passes for 261 yards and threw touchdown passes on the first four possessions. Neil Rackers added field goals on the next two, booting a 43-yarder at the end of the half and a 30-yarder in the third quarter to make it 34-7, sending Arizona (5-3) to an easy win and Chicago (4-4) to a damaging loss.

The Bears got within 34-21 after Zackary Bowman returned an interception by Matt Leinart 39 yards to the Arizona 28, setting up a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jay Cutler to Greg Olsen with 9:04 left in the game. Olsen had five catches for 71 yards and three touchdowns.

Otherwise, it was a rough afternoon for Chicago, which is in danger of missing the playoffs for the third straight year.

Tim Hightower ran for 77 yards, Beanie Wells added 72 rushing and the Cardinals' offense racked up 438 yards even though Arizona was missing wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

He missed the game with a sprained right ankle. The Cardinals, however, did not miss a beat.

It helped that they didn't have to contend with Chicago's Tommie Harris after the three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle slugged offensive tackle Deuce Lutui in the head as they were on the ground on the game's first possession. He got ejected, and the Bears unraveled.

The Bears wasted a good effort by Jay Cutler, who threw for 369 yards while completing 29 of 47 passes. He got sacked four times for the second straight week and got shaken up on a hit early in the third quarter, dropping his helmet and taking a knee after he walked to the sideline.

He was fine. The Bears are far from it, and they have little time to regroup, with a Thursday night game at San Francisco.

The Bears then close out the month against Philadelphia and the first of two games against NFC North leader Minnesota, a difficult stretch for a team whose playoff hopes are hanging in the balance.

Things weren't looking good for the Bears after Harris got tossed for slugging Lutui near the face after they ended up on the ground following a run play. Things only got worse from there, and leading the way was Warner, who wound up signing with the Cardinals in 2005 in part because the Bears were committed to Rex Grossman.

His 11-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald capped the opening drive, giving the Cardinals a 7-0 lead. The Bears quickly tied it thanks to two long passes by Cutler – a 42-yarder to Devin Hester and a 33-yard touchdown to Olsen – but the Cardinals wasted no time busting this game open.

Arizona responded with a 74-yard drive that Warner finished off with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Ben Patrick that made it 14-7 with 3:26 left in the first quarter.

(This version CORRECTS Cardinals 41, Bears 21. SUBS 5th graf to correct Warner's stats, reflecting changes in official statistics.)