July 18th, 2008
NIU today defended its position as the only entity permitted by a state panel to build a proton therapy center in Illinois. Proton therapy is the cutting edge in radiation treatment of cancer, and NIU in building a center in western DuPage County.
The NIU plan is under attack by Sen. Dan Cronin, R-Elmhurst, and other lawmakers who say the state panel should consider a competing proposal.
A group of 23 state lawmakers is urging a state regulatory agency to approve a second proton therapy facility for DuPage County, which would put two cutting-edge cancer treatment centers within 6 miles of each other.
The lawmakers’ support was captured in a letter written by state Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst) to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
As the Tribune story notes, the board approved NIU’s plan but not the competing plan.
Northern Illinois University won state approval in February to build a $160 million proton therapy cancer treatment center in the DuPage National Technology Park in West Chicago. NIU promised the state it could have the center open by March 1, 2010.
In April, the health facilities planning board issued a preliminary rejection of Central DuPage Hospital’s and Procure’s plan for a $140 million facility, citing its nearness to NIU’s. The health board will reconsider the Central DuPage project a final time next month.
Cronin took a shot at NIU …
Cronin’s letter stated that lawmakers were “troubled by the proceedings that resulted in approval for NIU.” The letter also said a staff report prepared for the board relied too heavily on information provided by NIU to the detriment of evidence presented by Central DuPage.
In its statement, NIU’s John Lewis shot back:
NIU followed the rules scrupulously to obtain approval for its non-profit proton therapy treatment and research center, has already broken ground, and remains on time and on budget. The opinions of those not even involved in the process should be weighed against the ‘facts on the ground.’ The ‘very real reality’ is eligible cancer patients will be able to receive proton treatment at NIU’s center in 2010, as required by the IHFPB’s approval of NIU’s Certificate.
The Register Star covered this story extensively. Go here and here for more background.
July 18th, 2008
Obama’s week in the news began with a bang when the New Yorker magazine released a cover satirizing right-wing fear mongering. The cover depicts Obama sharing a “terrorist fist jab” with his wife, Michelle.
The Politico.com’s Roger Simon cut to the chase in a column entitled “‘Idiot’s Veto’ not worth the cost” …
The New Yorker was kidding. It was satirizing people who hold stupid misconceptions about the Obamas.
A lot of people got upset anyway.
Root.com followed up with a survey of Obama cartoons. The site’s story concluded: “Drawing a black man—either seriously or satirically—it appears, is damned difficult.”
The (liberal) Huffington Post’s take on the cover controversy is here. A conservative columnist suggested “many people looking at the cartoon don’t think of it as ’satire’, but rather as a serious statement on the Obama power couple.”
Much, much, much more on this flap is here.
An accompanying New Yorker story examines Obama’s political upbringing in Chicago.
Obama also announced he will soon travel to the Middle East and Europe, on the taxpayer’s dime of course.
And on Tuesday, Obama gave a speech in which he renewed his view that American troops ought to pull out of Iraq. More here.
The Wall Street Journal says perhaps Obama should have held his speech until after completing his trip abroad. The editorial mocked his judgment …
It would be nice if Mr. Obama could at least get his facts straight. Earlier this month, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad reported that the Iraqi government had met 15 of the 18 political benchmarks set for it in 2006. The Sunni bloc in Iraq’s parliament is returning to the government after a year’s absence. Levels of sectarian violence have held steady for months – at zero. (In January 2007, Mr. Obama had predicted on MSNBC that the surge would not only fail to curb sectarian violence, but would “do the reverse.”) If this isn’t sufficient evidence of “genuine political accommodation,” we’d like to know what, in his judgment, is.
Meanwhile, this state’s own U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel did his part to damage Obama’s “reformer” credentials by repeatedly saying Obama played a stronger role in Rod Blagojevich’s 2002 election as governor than had previously been reported. Blagojevich is one of the nation’s most unpopular political figures, and he increasingly has embodied the shady side of Illinois politics — despite his own pledge to reform Illinois government. By linking Obama to Blagojevich, Emanuel certainly didn’t do Obama any favors.
The WashingtonPost.com ran its own story on Obama’s Chicago ties.
Obama is crazy about exercise.
Politico.com looked at Obama’s relationship with Kirk Dillard, a Republican state senator from west suburban Hinsdale. Dillard took the unusual step (unusual for a Republican) of cutting a television commercial to express his affection for Obama.
The spotlight found Michelle Obama, too, when the Washington state GOP ran an attack ad capitalizing on her infamous American “pride” remark.
And a major British paper profiled Michelle Obama …
Michelle is not exactly a pauper. She has earned salaries of up to $275,000 even since quitting corporate law for public service, first working for Chicago’s mayor and latterly for the city’s university hospitals. Whereas Cindy McCain was a big beneficiary of Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, Michelle’s refrain is: “We have become a nation of struggling folks. It’s gotten worse over my lifetime and, doggone it, I’m young! Forty-four.”
She can just about claim to voters: “We’re a young couple just out of debt.” The Obamas had large student loans, only repaid by the sales of Barack’s two books.
Her informal language – “Doggone” and “Jeez” – emphasises that she is a relatively normal “working soccer mom”, whose chief concern is her family. When their daughters Malia, 9, and Sasha, 7, were given a giant cookie shaped like the Obama logo, she complained: “More sugar for the kids.”
Michelle Obama is working to re-introduce herself.
And, lastly, a look at Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain.
