The Stonecipher Report

The Stonecipher Report On the Air Today - Tuesday, 6-30

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 30, 2009

Here we are on Tuesday – and now it’s time for the new, added time-slot for The Stonecipher Report radio show, available over the air or via the Internet. It'll be on Tuesday, June 30, from 3:00 - 4:00 PM Chicago time on WHPK-FM (tune in locally at 88.5 FM). And, of course, you can also hear us online at WHPK.org, streaming live from 1:00 - 2:00 PM on the West Coast, 4:00-5:00 PM on the East Coast (just click the "Listen" tab or the "We are STREAMING" window on the station's website).

Listen this afternoon as site honcho Tyler Rippeteau and I – TSR’s Political Director – chat our way through all the latest in political and pop culture news (during this oh-so-busy week of headlines). Plus, I’ll be playing some interesting modern rock between our discussions…including perhaps the only existing song in the history of music about wanting to become a quite particular type of easy-to-pose lighting instrument (now, THAT’s an unusual build-up to a piece of near-lost pop-thrash classic from the late ‘70s – betcha can’t wait to hear it now!). Thanks – hope you get a chance to listen to us…

Sosa? More Like “So-so” Now…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 27, 2009

It was a bit of no-surprise, "Well, finally!" sports news that hit last week – before getting buried by the troika of heavy-burning Gov. Sanford foreign affair / Farrah Fawcett long-anticipated R.I.P. / "King of Pop" completely unexpected death headlines. In fact, the semi-perfect (accidental and incidental) timing meant that, in most places, the word that former Cub Sammy Sosa had allegedly tested positive for some performance-enhancing drug (PED) – likely steroids – several seasons back faded away pretty quickly.

…But not here in Chicago – not where he had long patrolled right field and blasted out crowd-pleasing homers (on his way to 6th place on the all-time list, at 609 total home runs) for the Cubbies...

Crosstown Clamoring

Posted By: Mike Rodbard

June 26, 2009

Part 2 of the annual "Crosstown Classic" between the Cubs and the White Sox is upon us yet again. This now-twice-a-year-and-it's-not-really-so-special-anymore "classic" surely has the makings of the snooze-fest the last one brought us.

Our guys, as you know, have been limping this week on the road, losing a 1-game series to Atlanta, and then getting swept in 3 by the Detroit Tigers.

The Sox, in the meantime, seemed to handle the diabolical L.A. Dodgers, best team in the N.L. by the way, quite handily, sans Manny being Manny (boy, that guy is as annoying as his moniker).

Post-Sanford, Mistah Moderate Republican – He Dead…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 25, 2009

As Tyler and I discussed on this week’s episode of The Stonecipher Report radio show – and we even sort of dismissed it a bit with some punchlines – respected national political writer Roger Simon had a piece out last week on the 7 things he thought Sarah Palin should do to win the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination. (To which I add, OK – and then likely losing to President Obama by a Mondale- or Goldwater-dwarfing landslide…) The 7 examples he gave mostly consisted of events in two areas – shoring up her at-times ramshackle media and policy dealings AND in being identified as the "true" preferred candidate of the conservative base (albeit a somewhat-steadily shrinking base these days).

Getting Palin more fully studied up on non-Putin-sighting foreign policy and being prepared to list ANY actual news publications she may read or Supreme Court decisions she may agree with is up to her now-and-future staff (and "Good luck!" with that, say both I AND almost all of the McCain ’08 people who had to deal much with her). However, she seems to be getting all the help she can possibly get from the ongoing drop-outs and screw-ups among the moderate, white-man semi-minority in the Republican Party lately…

The Ex-Cub Factor

Posted By: Mike Rodbard

June 23, 2009

The ex-Cub factor.

We hear about it every year. You know how it goes: There's someone who used to play for the Cubs, and now they don't, and then they spank our beloved North Siders with a wink and a grin and a comment lke, "Gosh, I loved wearing the Cubbie pinstripes. I really thought I'd end my career in Chicago."

Uh, right.

Special Transcript From Last Week’s Radio Show – “Ask Billy Jeff"

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 22, 2009

In case you may have missed this last week, we had a special "guest" on The Stonecipher Report radio show…(BTW, we’ll be back on today, available over the air or via the Internet...on Monday, June 22, from 3:00 - 4:00 PM Chicago time on WHPK-FM, 88.5 FM…and, of course, you can also hear us online at WHPK.org, streaming live from 1:00 - 2:00 PM on the West Coast, 4:00-5:00 PM on the East Coast (just click the "Listen" tab or the "We are STREAMING" window on the station's website)).

...So, here’s a very special transcript of the fascinating interview I did on Tuesday with "Billy Jeff," a very famous political man of the ‘90s (and beyond) whose voice you would all find familiar (as long as the impression didn’t fail TOO much)…Enjoy!

The Stonecipher Report is On-the-Air and on Twitter!

So I can't believe I'm actually doing this because I've had suck an aversion to this type of thing in the past, but I've finally broken down and joined Twitter.

Since Digg's new format annoys the crap out of me, I've basically stopped using it, and for weeks I have been thinking about joining Twitter in order to stay connected and as a tool for promoting the website and radio show.  The recent "Twitter Revolution" in Iran was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

Speaking of Iran and the show, the Iranian elections and subsequent chaos will be topic number one this afternoon at 3:00 PM Chicago time as Michael Sweeney and I host the radio version of The Stonecipher Report on 88.5 WHPK in Chicago and online at whpk.org.

Finally, I have to apologize for not posting much recently.  It's time to get back on track with that, so expect more from TSR this coming week.  If you want to know when we have a new post up - I can't believe I'm saying this - you can follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/StoneTSR.

Who’s In, Who’s Out, What’s Next? – Chicago / Illinois Politics a Bit Up in the Air

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 20, 2009

Man, you spend a couple of late-spring weeks guiltily watching a former Illinois First Lady tough it out in a jungle reality television show (that, plus a ton of baseball), and – suddenly – when you turn back around to the local political headlines, you find that nearly everything has gone a bit topsy-turvy.

Must-Miss-TV! The GOP Plans Sudden Response to Obama-ABC Healthcare Broadcast

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 19, 2009

Note: This piece is cross-posted at Eyes on Obama

An interesting bit of news hit the web last night (and – no, no – it WASN’T the speculation over whether GOP Sen. John Ensign of Nevada was outing his own affair with a staffer to either A) Derail a blackmail attempt or B) Empty his closet of skeletons prior to a 2012 Presidential run):

(CNN) — National Republicans — miffed over ABC News' decision to broadcast a primetime special featuring President Obama making the case for his healthcare proposal — are looking to raise $100,000 to hit the airwaves with their own healthcare reform proposal…

"ABC News will be promoting Obamacare at virtually every opportunity, from ‘Good Morning America’ to ‘Nightline,’ and reach from ABC News' Web sites all the way to the White House's East Room," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele writes in an e-mail titled "URGENT" to supporters Thursday…

Roger Ebert Takes Bill-O to Task – Again

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 18, 2009

Hey, all you readers, browsers, and even redirected radio (or on-line) listeners – welcome to The Stonecipher Report. Now, we know that we’ve perhaps not been as up-to-date with frequent posts lately as we were earlier in the year…but, rest assured that both Tyler Rippeteau – the site’s Head Honcho – and I – its Political Director – apologize for the bit of the late-spring slowdown the site may have experienced. And we pledge to pick things back up with more frequent new material – sometimes even multiple times per day. (Watch for an upcoming message from Tyler about this, as well…)

To help launch this period of frantic semi-"rebirth," first of all, I’d like to wish a very Happy Birthday (here on June 18th) to one of my journalistic, writing, and political philosophy heroes, Roger Ebert. He – along with the exactly-same-aged Paul McCartney – turns 67 today. And here’s hoping that all holds together for the award-winning film critic from the Chicago Sun-Times and that he gets to perhaps even equal his late, great Chicago-liberal-voice mentor Studs Terkel’s final age, and reach into his late 90s. (I can actually picture Roger replying to that, "Oh my gosh, no – that would probably be TOO damned old…")