The Execrable Chicago Tribune

Went out for the Sunday paper yesterday to read the coverage of the White Sox (btw, they won the AL pennant last night and are on the way to the World Series!!! :-)

Unfortunately, the place I went to was out of the Chicago SunTimes and I got a copy of the Tribune instead. I guess it would have been ok if I'd just read the Sports section. However, once I was done with the sports, I picked up the first section and started reading the "news".

Oh, how the Tribune has fallen. For anyone who knows any history, the Tribune used to be criticized for its hard line conservative stances. Not anymore! And, boy are they trying to make amends -- it's almost as if they've abandoned any pretense of objectivity or any attempt to maintain a facade of presenting fact-based news reporting. In short, what passes for "news" at the Chicago Tribune is nothing more than liberal agitprop.

Here's what the Tribune's "news" section had to offer yesterday:

• "Antoine's Next Course" -- this was a story about the famous New Orleans restaurant that is trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. It was a pretty straightforward human interest news story. But, inevitably, it had to insert the required liberal theme of how the "rich" were recovering in New Orleans and how the "poor" restaurant employees were not faring as well. (At least they refrained from blaming Bush for causing the hurricane).
• "Museums Take Up Evolution Challenge" -- To be honest, I couldn't get past the first couple of paragraphs of this story. The article is about how natural history museums around the country are addressing the "challenge" of defending "well-established" evolution science against the onslaught from the unscientific ravings of the brainwashed Christian right.
• "Illinois Republicans Souring on President" -- The Trib couldn't resist gleefully reporting on its own poll which appears to reflect a drop in Bush's approval ratings among Illinois Republicans. Yawn.
• "Pregnant and Proud in Trafalgar Square" -- This was a glowing article on some depraved "artist" who put up some semi-pornographic statue of a nude, pregnant, physically disabled woman in London's historic Trafalgar Square. My, my, how bold and daring he must be to mock and defame hundreds of years of British history.
• "10 Years Later, An Inclusive March" -- I have to give the Tribune's agitator, oh, I mean "staff reporter", kudos for his dexterity on this article. It was about the Nation of Islam's "Millions More March" on Saturday. Well, even though the march was more "inclusive" (they opened it up to all the usual liberal interest group suspects -- feminists, Latinos, American Indians, and homosexuals), they didn't quite turn out a crowd in the "millions". In fact, the crowd looks like it wasn't more than a couple of thousand. Whatever. :-) The good news is that those on hand got to hear hours of liberal invective from the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. What I found humorous was, although the organizers had purportedly invited a homosexual activist to give a speech, they somehow forgot to issue him a pass so he couldn't get access to the stage area. Oops, so sorry! Never fear, no slight to the homosexual community will go unchallenged in the queer-friendly Trib. So, there was a sharp criticism of the Nation of Islam on this point buried amongst the glowing praise of the 'blame it all on whitey' liberal guilt trip.

Ugh. I've learned my lesson. I will never again spend one dime on a Tribune. It's not even worth using for lining my bird cage.