NEWS-STAR KICKS ASS

The new News-Star newspaper, recently acquired from the Sun-Times, is kicking ass and taking numbers. Boy, are they taking numbers. The self-appointed "leaders" of Rogers Park did not lead. Only two of their flock were in attendance. The room was tacitly against them. It was mercifully boring. It was most notable for who was not there.

Who was not there: Joe Moore, Katie Hogan, Michael James, Jim Ginderske, Tom "Wee Wee" Westgard, Rene Camargo, or any of the usual suspects - with the lonely exception of Brian White.

White actually did a fair job of moderation, but he was visibly uncomfortable as he realized minute by minute that this would not turn into a tarring and feathering.

The missed targets: Cool, calm and collected publisher Dan Haley, managing editor Helen Karakoudas (photo left) and editor Lorraine Swanson (not shown) of the News-Star.

Brian White called this meeting. It is unprecented: Inviting the new publisher of a small community-oriented newspaper to explain himself to the community. It was a thinly veiled attempt by the goons who lick Alderman Joe Moore's boots to bully the new kid on the block. But the bully tripped. Only two of Moore's waterboys were in attendance, Francis something-or-other and a caterer named Terry Feingold.

While the 45 - 50 people in attendance were asking polite questions about news coverage, requesting the return of the crossword puzzles, more pet news - in short, no political screeds - Francis whats-his-name and Feingold sat stone still, grimacing, pissed off. Why? Because the room was full of people gushing adoration and praise on publisher Dan Haley and star reporter cum editor Lorraine Swanson. THIS WAS EXACTLY OPPOSITE OF WHAT WHITE AND COMPANY hoped for.

Caterer Terry Feingold had the dumbest comment of the night:

He couldn't help himself. Like a man with an uncontrollable twitch, Feingold invoked the word "diversity" to the room. This neighborhood is very diverse, he said, and about 30 per cent of the residents are Latino. So, he asked Mr. Haley, why doesn't the News-Star have a Spanish language edition?

Huh? A Cuban-American woman was among the many of us who snickered. "Sure," she said, "as soon as La Raza puts out an English version."

Questions for Terry Feingold:

When will your crooked overlord and patron Joe Moore put his email blasts out in Spanish? And why are you fixated on Spanish? What about those among us who only read Urdu, German, Russian, Bosnian, Portugese, Congolese, and so on?

When will your liquor license violating friend Michael James put out a Spanish version of the menu at his Heartland Cafe? Gosh, Terry, wouldn't that make it easier for all the illegal aliens working in his kitchen to read the menu? Sure it would.

When will you demand that DevCorp put out a multilingual version of their little propaganda rags? No, not just Spanish and English, but in all of the other languages spoken in this oh-so-diverse neighborhood?

Why, Terry Feingold, is your Gold'n Pear Catering Company's web site in English only? Are you a racist, anti-Latino bigot? Are you deliberately excluding Latinos from being clients of your catering company? No, we know you're not. But since you're so into diversity, we look forward to seeing your web site in Spanish soon. And in about 40 other languages.

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