A 'hero,' finally heard

Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Also: Fight for a baby's life, John Belushi revisited, Emily Postmodern and who's hacked now

A 'HERO,' FINALLY HEARD. Previously unreleased audio of Pfc. Bradley Manning's speech to a military court gives the public a chance, for the first time, to hear the voice of the man who shared hundreds of thousands of government documents with WikiLeaks.
* Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg calls Manning a hero: "I can think of no one more deserving ... of the peace prize."
* Man who surreptitiously filmed Mitt Romney's "47 percent" comments on video: "I felt like I had a duty to expose it."

HACKED OFF.
* Minutes after the chief of the NSA warned the U.S. Senate about banks' cyber-insecurity, Chase's website suffered a denial-of-service attack.
* Without confirming reports Michelle Obama's credit records had been accessed illegally, President Obama declares the compromise of personal data "a big problem."

OBAMA'S 'MOST IMPORTANT MAN IN CHICAGO'? Chicago magazine's Carol Felsenthal says it'll be a guy named Jon Carson.
* Obama rejects Donald Trump's offer to pay for restoration of White House tours.
* Head writer for political drama "House of Cards" reveals why anti-hero Francis Underwood is a Democrat. (Spoiler-free, by the way.)

* 'WE ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON DESTROYING THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.' Former VP candidate Paul Ryan suffers an unfortunate slip of the tongue.
* Charles Pierce in Esquire: What Ryan doesn't get about America.

INSIDE THE FIGHT FOR A BABY'S LIFE. A doctor tells the Tribune how his team worked, unsuccessfully, to save a 6-month-old girl shot Monday in Chicago.
* Whet Moser: Is Chicago's crime problem people "peeing in the streets"?


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JOHN BELUSHI. DRONE STRIKES. THE SEQUESTER. What ties them together? It's Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward, like Belushi a native of Wheaton, Ill. Author Tanner Colby says re-reporting Woodward's book about Belushi raises troubling questions about Woodward's more recent work.
* Twinkies' new owner wants Zach Galifianakis for commercials.
* Ed Asner taken to hospital by ambulance after cutting short performance in Gary.
* Billy Joel's surprise on-stage decision at a college concert goes viral.

DO YOU SUPPORT MARRIAGE BETWEEN CONSENTING COMPUTERIZED AUTODIALERS DELIVERING RECORDED MESSAGES? As the Illinois House nears a decisive vote on whether to legalize gay marriage in Illinois, opponents are opening the spigots on a flood of robo-calls -- including one to Quad Cities residents, targeting Rep. Mike Smiddy: "Who is Mike Smiddy representing? You or Chicago homosexuals?"

EMILY POSTMODERN.
* Gawker: "Don't leave me a voicemail unless you're dying."
* The Atlantic: "Here's the nice thing about all these mean people writing something to force people to stop writing the way they do: It will never work."


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