EXTRA: Kirk upgraded to “good”

Why do I suspect this will be the high point of the news cycles this week?

Seriously, it is encouraging to learn that Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was upgraded to “good” condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, within just a couple of weeks of suffering the stroke that has caused him to undergo a few rounds of surgery.

IT MAY WELL be sometime this month that he gets to go home to continue his recuperation, although doctors indicate his recovery is a long-term process and one that could result in paralysis to one side of his body.

And no, I don’t have a clue who Kirk was rooting for Sunday night while watching the Super Bowl from his hospital room.

  -30-

Midwest U.S. “immune” to Romney charm? Or will we “clinch” it for him?

It will be intriguing to see the next pair of states where voters will express their opinions about which Republican should get the chance to face off against President Barack Obama.

Not only do they provide significant amounts of drinking water, the Great Lakes states voters also tend to influence who wins presidential elections.

For we’re talking about a pair of our sister states at work. No more of these Anglos out west who like to think they’re descended from the original settlers or these Southerners who are a breed in-and-of themselves.

FOR ON TUESDAY, voters in Missouri will participate in elections, and there will be caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado.

I couldn’t help but notice a New York Times commentary whose point was that the Midwestern U.S. was the one region of the country where Mitt Romney hadn’t managed to win anything (his Iowa “victory” by 8 votes is now believed to be a “loss” by 23).

The newpaper seems to think that news fit to print includes speculation that those two states could provide victories for another campaign (perhaps even Rick Santorum) that could make the GOP a suddenly-competitive fight all over again.

I’m not sure I buy into that theory. But I am curious to see how competitive the campaigns are in those states – particularly since they are ones where people can draw some comparisons to the types of people who vote in Illinois.

SINCE IT IS uncertain whether there will still be competitive primaries by the time Illinois comes about on March 20 (despite Newt Gingrich’s promise to pull a Hillary Clinton of ’08 and stay in the campaign to the bitter end), Tuesday might be the closest we get to seeing how we’d vote – for those of us who would be inclined to pick an “R” ballot, rather than a “D,” for Election Day.

For the record, Minnesota has been one of those states in recent presidential election cycles where Republican candidates have been competitive, but ultimately lost out to Democratic alternatives.

Missouri is just the opposite – a place where the GOP picks have won, but by narrow margins. Close enough, in fact, that I’m sure Democrats there are optimistic that they can ultimately put the state in line with Obama come the Nov. 6 general elections.

Will either state give any of the GOP dreamers a large-enough margin of support to be able to claim a definitive victory? Will Romney finally be able to come to a state where there is a mix of urban and rural (rather than domination by one faction or the other) and be able to claim a solid margin of support that would justify the belief that he really is the inevitable Republican pick to run for president?

I WONDER IF Missouri could be the place that could finally give him that 50 percent-plus vote that he so desperately needs to get in a state. For as long as all of his opponents gather more votes combined than he does, it doesn’t matter how Mitt spins it.

The truth will be a political party whose hard-core wants Anybody But Mitt to run for president – no matter how laughable any of those “anybodys” would appear to be in a head-to-head campaign against Obama.

I’m also going to be curious to see what voter turnout is like in the states of the Great Lakes region of the nation. Tuesday could be our first glimpse on what real Midwesterners think about this whole situation, particularly in Missouri. I can’t help but think that caucuses – while cutesy – only tell us what the most hard-core of political geeks think about an election; rather than real people.

For I recall the Obama campaign of 2008 being one that unified the Midwestern U.S. We all came together to back the senator from Illinois for president over the guy from Arizona whom even his own political party wasn’t really that enthused about (just like this year, it seems).

HECK, EVEN INDIANA fell into the Obama column for the general election that year – which was a first since 1964, the year that Barry Goldwater (another Arizonan) did his ideological number on the nation.

I expect the Hoosier State will revert back to its GOP leaning ways come Nov. 6. But can a Republican presidential hopeful manage to split up the rest of the Midwest? Or will a sense of “unity” for a regional counterpart remain in place?

If one of them can stir up the interest of Midwesterners and get people to the polls, then perhaps the Republican challenger (whichever one of the GOP goofs it turns out to be) can manage to make Obama an observer on Inauguration Day in 2013.

Otherwise, we’ll get “four more years” of Obama, and we’ll see how long it will take (personally, I’ll place my bet on “one week or less”) after that date for Republicans to shift into a mode where they try to “Impeach Obama!” (just like Earl Warren) during a second term in office.

  -30-

Peloteros w/ Chicago ties trying to bolster careers in Caribbean Series

We’re in the midst of an intriguing sporting event this weekend – and no, I don’t mean that overbloated excuse for a football game being played on Sunday in Indianapolis.

I’m referring to the Caribbean Series, the baseball tourney involving the champions of the winter leagues in Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

THEY BEGAN PLAYING Thursday and will run through Tuesday – with the winner of the six-game tourney getting the bragging rights of beisbol champions of Latin America.

Yet one of the things that intrigues me about the Latin American leagues in general, and this tourney in particular, is the way in which professional baseball people in this country use the leagues as a chance to bolster their on-field experience.

Which means that we even have Chicago-affiliated ballplayers taking part in the tourney – hoping that maybe a particularly outstanding week this week could bolster their chances of making a higher-level minor league ballclub.

If not the major league team itself.

FOR THE RECORD, two ballplayers with Chicago Cubs ties (pitcher Oswaldo Martinez and infielder Alfredo Amezaga) are playing for the Obregon Yaquis – champions of Mexico’s Pacific League for this season.

Meanwhile, catcher Hector Gimenez of the Venezuela ballclub and Ryan Kuusmaal, a pitcher for the Puerto Rico representative, are the members of the Chicago White Sox organization who are playing baseball this week – just a few weeks before they report to Glendale, Ariz., to start the workouts that will determine where they will play baseball this coming summer.

Admittedly, none of these guys is likely to be the star of their respective team this week – unless they pull off an unexpected star play that makes them a hero-for-life in their respective Latin American nation (where this tourney is taken seriously – perhaps moreso than many people here these days take the World Series itself).

Then again, there is the manager of the Aragua Tigers who are representing Venezuela. Buddy Bailey may be a Pennsylvania native whose U.S. baseball career has been in the minor leagues (1,500-plus career victories as a manager).

BUT HE ALSO has included his stints in the winter managing in Venezuela – and he will be the guy trying to win a championship for the fans who will enjoy it as a diversion from the impact of Hugo Chavez on their daily lives.

And when it is over after next week, he will return to prepare for a 2012 season managing the Tennessee Smokies (the Knoxville-based ballclub that provides a AA Southern League affiliate for the Chicago Cubs).

I can only hope for his sake that his Chicago Cubs ties do not overcome his minor league winning ways. Because Chavez strikes me as being goofy enough to behave like one-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo used to many decades ago – incarcerating ballplayers who failed on the playing field.

Then again, a part of me wonders if such a tactic would be appropriate on the Chicago playing fields – because there have been times throughout the seasons when I have seen miscues where someone deserves to be locked away for taunting us with their ineptitude.

SO THIS COMING weekend, I’ll be the guy using my laptop computer to see the baseball activity being played in the Dominican Republic (which is hosting the tourney this year).

It just strikes me as being more interesting than anything that could possibly happen on that football gridiron some 185 miles southeast of Chicago.

You know, the so-called sports spectacular where most people will be paying more attention to the television commercials than they will be on the game itself!

  -30-

This is why “Burge” is wrong

I hate the idea that a man now serving prison time for his involvement in the gang rape and torture of a young woman may well be able to start thinking of himself as the “victim.”

Because as I understand it, even by this own man’s admission, he held an iron to the thighs of the young woman to burn her (he claims only his friends forced themselves sexually upon her).

BUT WE MAY have to start thinking of Stanley Wrice – who went on trial in 1983 and received a 100-year prison sentence for the 1982 attack on the woman at Wrice’s South Side home – as the wronged-one.

Because when he was arrested, he came under the control of the detectives working at the then-Pullman Area police headquarters (down on 111^th Street) who were supervised by police Commander Jon Burge.

We have heard so many stories throughout the years of the degree to which Burge and his crew used force to extract confessions from those who they thought were guilty of crimes – even though there is substantial evidence that many of them were merely guilty of “being black.”

The likelihood that Wrice underwent treatment possibly worse than what was done to the girl (who ultimately was abandoned on a side street, where she walked to a local gas station to call police) was used (rightfully so) by the Supreme Court of Illinois on Thursday to justify new hearings.

A JUDGE IS going to have to decide how much of the incriminating testimony Wrice made against himself was coerced by Burge violence. If the outcome is severe enough, it could result in a new trial.

At the very least, it could wind up with a new sentencing – one that would end his prison term much earlier than the 2041 release date he now faces.

BURGE: Still causing problems



Considering how long he has been in prison, he may well get sentenced to a term that he has already served. Which would leave this man in a position where he could claim to have been incarcerated for too long a time period – which would put the state in a position of having to compensate him for the damage done to his life.

Which is disgusting, because there is strong reason to believe that he did commit the particular offense. Prosecutors had hoped the state Supreme Court would leave the matter alone – instead of determining that coercion by police is severe enough to taint any legal outcome.

“IT IS NEVER harmless error,” the high court wrote, in their ruling this week.

That is the real harm caused by the Burge behavior of the late 1970s into the ‘80s. It has police acting like little more than thugs – perhaps more criminal than the individuals they were arresting.

We needed protection more from the police than the muggers and rapists of the police districts that patrolled the Far South Side of Chicago. Which is a sad commentary on our society.

The fact that the Burge conduct is now resulting in a situation where a potential wrongdoer gets more respect than he ought to deserve is despicable. As far as I’m concerned, it is the reason I can’t feel the least bit of sympathy for Burge – who ultimately got picked up by federal prosecutors for a perjury charge for which he is now serving a 4 ½-year prison term in North Carolina (which is even more lame than Al Capone getting prison time for tax evasion).

BURGE IS NOW far, far away from our streets of Southside Chicago. But not far enough!

Because some people are still deluded enough to think he’s the victim – a dutiful police officer protecting us from the scum of our society. Nonsense!

Burge brought his own fate upon himself by giving in to the aura of violence that he was supposed to be protecting the people from.

And in doing so, he gave many people whose behavior was appalling a legal leg upon which to stand as they will continue to have their lawsuits seeking damages for the aspersions he “put” onto their “moral character” (or lack thereof).

  -30-

EXTRA: “Phil’s” brethren gave headache I still remember years later

It has been more than two full decades, but I still remember a bit of Groundhog Day aggravation that popped into my life.

It was back in my days with the now-defunct City News Bureau, and I was working a shift on rewrite duty – which meant I got to sit in the office downtown and grind out copy based on notes provided by reporter-types in the field.

BECAUSE THIS WAS a February 2, one of those reporter-types had to make the trip to Brookfield Zoo – where the local officials coordinated an event meant to give us our very own local groundhog to predict our weather, a counterpart to Punxsutawney Phil.

The reporter-type went out there, spoke to some people, observed the stunt, then called in with the story that I proceeded to pound out with "bulletin-like" speed.

As I recall it, the groundhog came out of the hole, ran around this maze that had been built for him, then went back into the hole.

The wire service’s copy reflected that fact – it went back into the hole. With mock seriousness, we reported that the local groundhog went back inside, meaning “six more weeks” of wintry weather. I honestly don’t remember how much longer dismal weather lasted that year.

BUT WHAT I do remember was that officials from the zoo called the wire service about an hour after the City News story was transmitted to clients. They were upset, and not with any mock seriousness like our story was written.

They were peeved.

For they wanted the events interpreted that the groundhog came out of the hole and ran around in the maze. Winter’s over!!!!!!! Yea!

I don’t remember exactly what got written up and transmitted by the editors to account for this “discrepancy.” But the idea that anyone took any of this nonsense seriously still amazes me.

IT WAS NEARLY as obnoxious as the sniping that hospitals can engage in on New Year’s Day as they quibble over which one gave birth to the first baby of the year. It was bad enough that, to this day, I have never been able to sit through the film “Groundhog Day.”

It is one of those reporter memories that has lodged itself in my mind and will not go away – which makes me wonder what significant piece of information will I never be able to remember because this trivial memory is permanently lodged there – taking up precious brain space.

And for the record, that groundhog DID go back into that hole – so I’d still say that the initial report was as accurate as anything can be for a stunt like this.

  -30-

We’re not there, yet

Government bodies of all types have their moments when they dwell on things that the general public could care less about.

SUFFREDIN: Speaks a rare truth



Take the Cook County Board, which on Wednesday met for a few hours and spent quite a bit of time reviewing resolutions meant to pay tribute to a new brigadier general from Chicago and a former staffer with the assessor’s office who recently died.

THEY EVEN HAVE their humorous moments – such as when county board President Toni Preckwinkle had a slip of the tongue and inadvertently referred to Commissioner John Daley from the South Side as “Mayor Daley.”

Not that I’m saying Wednesday’s meeting was anything exceptional. If anything, it was a typical gathering of government officials trying to do “the people’s business.” You have to be an insider to care about 90 percent of it.

Which is what makes it all the more special when a government official manages to say or do something that hits upon an essential truth. It becomes a little gem amidst the blather that occupies too much of the time of most government business.

Take Commissioner Larry Suffredin of north suburban Evanston, who managed to say something so incredibly honest that it will stand in my mind for a long time – even though it didn’t relate in any way to anything that was likely to get covered in the newspapers or on broadcast news programs.

FOR WHEN THE county board felt the need to pass a resolution praising the idea of February being African-American History Month, Suffredin felt the need to say that passing mere resolutions isn’t enough.

“When we pass these kind of proposals, it is incumbent upon us to reach out and tell people we still have a lot to do,” he said.

How true!

Too many people seem to want to think that “the war’s over” and now we can go back to the way things were. The “war” being the fight for any sense of equality or elimination of laws that are meant to keep certain people in check.

SUFFREDIN HIMSELF CITED the recent study by the Manhattan Institute that found traces of segregation that still remain, and that there are neighborhoods where non-white people remain either under-represented or over-represented.

Although the modern day reality of our society is that there are few lily-white communities that still exist – and the ones that do are usually in places so isolated that one can make the argument that they are cut off from the majority of the population.

DALEY: President, Mayor, or brother?



In short, it takes a lot of effort for someone with segregationist sensibilities to truly cut themselves off. But it doesn’t mean by any means the fight is over – which too many people seem to want to believe.

So to hear something from a public official like Suffredin is encouraging – even though his comments will get overshadowed (the “official” story from the county board on Wednesday was their decision to have their Finance Committee study further the situation at the Cook County morgue – where the bodies have been piling up high in recent weeks). This account here may well be the only recognition of what happened.



JUST AS I’M sure I may also be the only one to acknowledge Preckwinkle’s gaffe – which caused Daley to sigh and everybody else in the county board chambers to laugh vigorously.

For as Daley (the brother of the retired hizzoner) himself said, he often gets people describing him in just the wrong way.

“The other day, I was called both ‘president’ and ‘Bill Daley’,” said John – as though he was the esteemed Barack Obama, or his other political brother (the returned-to-Chicago White House chief of staff).

  -30-

Why would New York Yankees want to bring Chicago Cubbie-ness to Bronx?

I used to root for the New York Yankees as a kid (my feelings about the big  ballclub in the Bronx are more neutral these days), and I can appreciate the aura that the team gives off.

That winning attitude (which some people interpret as a sense of entitlement) is about as far removed from the sentiment that one experiences if they root for the Chicago Cubs.

SO EVEN THOUGH I can appreciate the fact that people who work in professional baseball are “baseball people” first (with ties to a particular team coming second), I must admit to being amused whenever there is someone who has ties to the two franchises.

The biggest baseball winners and the loveable losers (except that losing really is never lovable). It’s just too much of a mish-mash.

So I can appreciate the sense of confusion that some people experienced when they learned that the Yankees (who think they are experiencing a long athletic draught because they haven’t won a World Series title since 2009) added a new executive to their front office.

In the form of Jim Hendry – who until a few months ago was the general manager in charge of the Cubs.

IN CUB TERMS, Hendry is successful because he put together teams that won three division titles (although that falls short of the record of Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams – an American League championship/World Series title goes a long way in this city).

 But in real terms, he hasn’t won anything (no National League championship, let alone a World Series appearance).

So why would the Yankees (who didn’t win the league pennant for 2011 even though they had the best regular-season record in the American League) want Hendry?

The key is understanding that he was given a title of “special assignment scout.” Which is a convoluted way of saying that he is a consultant. Which means he doesn’t have real, full-time duties.

HENDRY, WHO IS 56 and devoted 17 years of his working life to the Chicago Cubs organization, managed to get himself a slot within professional baseball that will tide him over for 2012 while he figures out what he wants to do with the rest of his working life.

I only hope that Hendry’s Cubbie-ness doesn’t rub off on his new ballclub. Because the sense I have always picked up on is that Cubbie-ness overcomes Yankee might!

Former Cubs managers Gene Michael and Lou Piniella didn’t have success in Chicago – even though they were hired here on the premise that they would bring their Yankees ways (both played and managed there) to our city’s baseball scene.

It didn’t work.

NOR DID IT seem to help when one-time slugging outfielder Bobby Murcer (who once was thought to be the successor to Mickey Mantle in the Yankees lineup) returned to the Yankees in the late 1970s and finally got to play in a World Series in 1981.

The Yankees lost that year, and some smart-alecks noted that the reacquisition of Murcer from the Chicago Cubs put them over the top, so to speak, in the number of ex-Cubs who played for them – thereby ensuring their defeat.

I don’t know that having a former Cubs general manager on staff hurts the Yankees in any way. In real terms, it may not mean much of anything – particularly if they don’t pay his opinions much mind.

Because when it comes right down to it, there’s probably only one baseball person with ties to both the Bronx and Lakeview who had success in both places.

THAT WOULD BE Joe McCarthy (not the crackpot one-time senator from Wisconsin).

He managed the Cubs to a National League championship in 1929, then led the Yankees to American League championships and/or World Series titles in 1932 (a four-game sweep of the Cubs), 1936-39 (’38 was also a four-game Cubbie sweep) and 1941-43.

It’s just that with Jim Hendry, I can’t help but think he’s another Gene Michael, and not the second coming of Joe McCarthy.

  -30-