My Blog

Month: February 2012

  • Rahm Wants Handgun Registry

    Stupidity in human form.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel today said he wants state lawmakers to approve a statewide handgun registry.  …

    Rep. Brandon Phelps, who has championed efforts to pass a concealed weapons bill in Illinois, said the mayor’s office called him Thursday morning to let him know the registration proposal would be introduced.

    “Number 1,  my first response was I don’t know why you’re trying to do this statewide because we don’t want your policies on us downstate,” said Phelps, a Southern Illinois Democrat from Harrisburg. “Number. 2, it’s never going to work. They’re trying to go after criminals. They’re never going to register their guns. They won’t pay the fee. “

    Phelps called Emanuel’s initiative a “slap in the face of every law-abiding gun owner.”

    via Chicago Tribune.com.

    It’s been shown time and time again that gun registries simply do not work.  The greatest national experience was Canada’s long gun registry.

    Department of Justice reported to Parliament that the system would cost $119 million to implement, and that the income generated fromlicensingfees would be $117 million. This gives a net cost of $2 million. At the time of the 2002 audit, the revised estimates from the Department of Justice were that the cost of the program would be more than $1 billion by 2004/05 and that the income from licence fees in the same period would be $140 million.[6]

    In February 2004, documents obtained by Zone Libre of Télévision de Radio-Canada suggest that the gun registry has cost around $2 billion so far.

    So we know that a registry is crazy expensive and becomes another government boondoggle.

    Well, maybe it’s still worthwhile because it really reduces crime.

    Former Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino (who was opposed to the gun registry) stated in a press release in 2003:

    We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them. None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives.”

    Well ok, maybe he was really really biased.  Perhaps other police really thought the registry was a great idea?

    In April 2011, a survey was conducted by the Edmonton Police Association. Its members voted 81 percent in favour of scrapping the long-gun registry.

    Well, at least law abiding citizens who do register their guns will know that their data is safe right?

    John Hicks, an Orillia-area computer consultant, and webmaster for the Canada Firearms Centre, has said that anyone with a home computer could have easily accessed names, addresses and detailed shopping lists (including make, model and serial number) of registered guns belonging to licenced firearms owners. Hicks told the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) that “During my tenure as the CFC webmaster I duly informed management that the website that interfaced to the firearms registry was flawed. It took some $15 million to develop and I broke inside into it within 30 minutes.”

    The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters questioned the security of the gun registry after a home invasion that seemed to target a licenced gun collector. The OFAH argues that, in the wrong hands, a database detailing the whereabouts of every legally-owned firearm in Canada is a potential shopping list for criminals.

    Given that any handgun registry would likely include all of the guns owned by police officers (& county sheriffs, state troopers, etc.) means that a whole big batch of government bureaucrats and anyone who wants to hack into the database would have the name, address, and list of owned handguns of everyone law enforcement officer in the state.

    This could be the dumbest idea from the Rahmfather yet.

  • Traveling to Mexico?

    “Gunbattles have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area,” the travel advisory said.  …

    More than 47,500 people have been killed in Mexico since late 2006 when President Felipe Calderon took office and sent the Mexican armed forces to crush powerful cartels battling for lucrative smuggling routes to the United States.The State Department advisory noted that 130 Americans were reported murdered in Mexico last year, up from 111 in 2010 and 35 in 2007. Among recent atrocities have been a fire set by masked gunmen in a casino in Monterrey, Mexico’s industrial capital in Nuevo Leon, that killed 52 people, mostly women.

    via Reuters.

    Yikes!

  • Speed Cameras Save Children

    Quinn pulls out an old line:

    Gov. Pat Quinn gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel something he wanted Monday: the power to use cameras across nearly half of Chicago to nab speeding drivers and fine them as much as $100.  Questions linger about the effectiveness and scope of the speed camera plan, but the governor sought to frame the issue as being about protecting children, not raising revenue.  “I think that youve got to understand that if you save even one life, you are saving the whole world,” Quinn said during an appearance at a high school on the Far South Side.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Reminds me of the Simpson’s:

  • Picketers Demand Local (Union) Labor at Costco

    Seems like the Gazette’s missing the real story here:

    A group of unemployed tradespeople, many with union cards, have been picketing Near West Side construction sites for more than a month, demanding that community workers get a share of both local building jobs as well as permanent retail positions.

    via Gazette Chicago.

    From what I can tell from the photos, not a single non-union person was there standing around doing nothing (a/k/a protesting.)  All the non-union people were working hard building something.

    “Hundreds” of qualified tradespeople in and around the area who “worked on jobs in Roosevelt Square, Fosco Park, and the Engine 18 firehouse” are available to work, Loving said.

    Just exactly what are these hundreds of “tradespeople” qualified to do?  I’m pretty familiar with the area — I’ve lived in and around the area since 1988.  I don’t see a whole lot of pick-up trucks with tools in the back driving around in the area.  I do see a lot of $500 cars with $5,000 kicker boxes in the back.

    And on and on it goes.  It’s basically a PSA for Brother Dickens.  I wonder how I can get the Gazette to give me 300 words to do with what I want.

    The minister and community organizer said he has seen “a lot of dashed hopes” since the area began its current renaissance. “Our people are not working,” Loving added. “Jones College Prep is going up even as we speak. That’s an $85 million project, but we’re not working on that. How’s that happening? All I’m saying is that we need jobs.”

    What kinda skills do these people have?

    Bro. Byron Dickens was protesting to make sure local residents get a fair share of jobs.

    So is this really the issue?  Because there was a lot of news about how Costco got that site.  And the truth is…

    Alderman Robert Fioretti (2nd Ward) earlier predicted Costco can be expected to bring 600 construction jobs, and full- and part-time retail jobs once the 50,000-square foot store opens.

    Fioretti said the first day of Costco’s hiring fair this coming spring will be exclusively for 2nd Ward residents.

    Oh, that.  That’s right, I remember now.  Costco said it would give preferential hiring to residents in the 2nd Ward.

    …  Dickens and Loving said they are out tomake sure the neighbors get their share of those jobs.

    What are they talking about?!  If the local folks are really qualified they have first chance at those jobs.   The even have an entire exclusive day to apply before anyone outside the area can apply.

    Jeesh!!  I mean, what’s it going to take to make you satisfied?

    Loving said the patience of some of the unemployed is wearing thin.

    Uh oh.  What does that mean?  Ya know what I think?  I think that the good Brother Dickens is tied into the whole “protest movement” that we’ve been hearing so much about lately.  His job is to keep the people angry and on edge so they can be “mobilized” for a major event when the time comes.

    We’ll see.

  • Peoria Illinois Carp Hunters

    My throat hurts from laughing.

     

  • FOID Card Requests Sink Police

    Illinois has so many requests for Firearm Owner’s Identification cards that state police can’t process them in a timely manner.  In addition, people calling the state police to ask why they haven’t received their FOID cards are put on hold for as long as 35 minutes, if they’re lucky enough to get through to an answering machine that puts them on hold.  I tried the number 12 times, received a busy signal 11 of those times and got the answering machine once.  After 20 minutes on hold, I hung up.

    Under law, the state has 30 days to process FOID card requests.  I’ve been waiting 50 days for a response to my application.  …

    According to Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the state police department, Illinois had a record number of FOID card applications in the last three years. Last year, 321,437 people applied for FOID cards, 287,552 in 2010 and 326,008 in 2009. … ”There has been a 16 percent increase in FOID cards applicants in Chicago, which Bond attributed to a Supreme Court decision overturning the city’s gun ban.

    Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, laughed when I asked if he had heard complaints about the state’s tardiness in responding to FOID card applicants.  “The governor isn’t staffing the FOID processing center of the state police department,” Pearson said. “He’s not replacing people as they retire. And that’s because he’s not enthusiastic about the idea of gun ownership.

    via Southtown Star.

    Would anyone believe that politics is not playing a role?

  • Team Crane Unveil Turnaround Plan

    Crane is not a school; it’s voluntary daytime detainment for youth.  It can’t die soon enough.  If only parents had a real choice of schools they would never send their children to Crane.  But some refuse to let it die.

    A coalition of Crane teachers, students, parents and Near West Side community activists unveiled a plan Friday night to turn around the 109-year-old high school at 2245 W. Jackson Blvd., focusing on adding programming and services to the school.  …

    After an hour of testimony in support of keeping the school open from neighbors, teachers and students (including the basketball team), the Crane coalition took the stage with a rap music video created by Crane students in an After School Matters program in 2010.

    Then they showed off their plan. To improve Crane, they said, programs need to be added to make it more appealing. Add an International Baccalaureate program, add trade-focused classes like cosmetology and video game programming, and reach out more to Crane’s feeder schools.

    via Chicago Journal.

    Video game programming?  Do these people have any idea of what  kind of education it takes to program video game?  Knowledge of vector graphics.  Understanding of electronic inputs and outputs.  The ability to develop very complex logical structures.  And yet:

    In addition, since 26 percent of Crane’s students have special needs, and 87 percent of Crane students are from low-income households, more outreach programs are needed, they said. Solutions, they said, should include mentoring, tutoring and social services.

    An IB program?  Ok, will someone get a bus and drive these people straight to the men with the white suits.  Medication is not going to be enough, they need to be admitted.

    Also worth mentioning, one day I get a chance to write about the locals who are collection millions from the city for after school programs.  They have a financial self interest to be served; this has nothing to do with saving the children.

    If we really want to help our children we’ll inject some competition into the education marketplace and give parents a real choice of where to send their children.  Right now CPS (a/k/a CTU) has a monopoly on public education and it’s failing miserably.

  • Your Water Bill Doubles For What?

    God bless Ben Joravsky.

    All summer long, in press conferences and at public hearings, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget refrain remained the same: no more accounting gimmicks and no new taxes.

    “We have been doing smoke and mirrors on the budget and avoided taking control of our own future as a city,” he said at a public budget hearing in Englewood in August. “That moment of reckoning is here.”

    But the mayor who vowed to bring honesty to the budgeting process continues to rely on one of the oldest tricks of them all: the water/sewer fund sleight of hand.

    That’s the one where the mayor says he’s jacking up your water and sewer bill to pay for infrastructure and environmental protection—but then diverts millions of dollars a year to finance other city operations that have little direct connection to water, sewers, or protecting the lake.

    In this case, Emanuel is proposing to double water and sewer fees over the next decade, an eventual increase of about $500 a year for the average household. Yet how much of that money will actually make it to the water and sewer system is hard to determine, since, despite Emanuel’s promises of transparency, his first budget obscures what’s being diverted.

    A conservative estimate is that the mayor’s 2012 budget will siphon off at least $70 million in water and sewer fees to cover other city spending, according to our analysis of budget documents and interviews with current and former city officials.

    via Chicago Reader.

    Another amazing piece from the Reader.  A must read.

  • Taxpayers Pay for Political Payback

    Kudos to Crains on this unbelievable story:

    Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain’s investigation finds.

    Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Madigan stopped five refinancing bills, ignoring declining interest rates that would have saved hundreds of millions. At the time, he never explained why, but his reasons seem petty and political: McCormick Place CEO Juan Ochoa, an appointee of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, had fired a Madigan ally at the convention center, and lawmakers from both parties say the speaker wanted retribution.

    “It was no secret that Madigan had a beef with Ochoa and wanted him gone,” says state Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, an Elmwood Park Republican who sponsored refinancing bills in 2005, 2007 and 2009. “As long as Ochoa was there, Madigan wasn’t going to give McCormick Place anything.”

    But politics may not have been Mr. Madigan’s only motivation. By holding up refinancing, the speaker also denied McCormick Place the money to build a new hotel. That bought time for clout-heavy developers Gerald Fogelson and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc. to push a controversial land swap and hotel deal with McCormick Place on property just north of the convention center. Both were then clients of Mr. Madigan’s law firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, but the speaker denies any connection.

    via Crain’s.

    Five Hundred Million Dollar hit to the taxpayers.  Hundreds of jobs directly in the balance.  Total economic impact of $8-billion and 66,000 jobs all used as toys by Madigan.

    My question is when will someone ask our State Attorney General Lisa Madigan when she’s going to investigate a politician?

  • Ward Map Gerrymandered

    Really?  We didn’t know.

    Residents in this area had hoped Chicago’s new ward map would put homogeneous communities in the same ward. Those hopes were dashed on Jan. 19 when the Chicago City Council passed one of the most gerrymandered maps in its history.

    Second Ward resident Barbara Burchjolla summed up local frustration when she said, “After the Jan. 19 City Council meeting, I am embarrassed to call myself a Chicagoan. The council action memorialized Chicago’s decades long reputation as the most segregated city in America. And I’m tired of living on the plantation we call Chicago electoral politics.”

    via Gazette Chicago.

    Worth reading.