My Blog

Category: Politics

  • Building a New Chicago

    I was skeptical of Rahm coming in as mayor.  But as time goes by I’m getting more and more impressed by his ability to take on the unions, manipulate the media, get things done, outmaneuver worthless alderman, and most importantly develop and articulate his vision for the city.  (It appears that) He gets it.   You can say a great number of things about Rahm Emanuel; but you can’t say that he doesn’t think big.

    There are several stories out this week about Rahm’s Building a New Chicago plan.

    Unveiling a plan for “Building a New Chicago,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday promoted a package of infrastructure initiatives that included very little that was new — except for its $7 billion price tag and its ambitious framing as a mission comparable to the city’s rebuilding after the Great Chicago Fire.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    The Tribune’s piece quotes local hacks:

    “It was a State of the Union speech in Chicago.  I think it was a good blueprint for Chicago’s future.”
    — Alderman Richard Mell (33rd Ward)

    … and the not so hacky:

    “I think this speech was aimed toward Chicagoans in general, and aimed toward business, because actually, these types of pronouncements are out there to encourage businesses to say, ‘I’m thinking of coming to Chicago, I want to open a place in Chicago, I want to do business in or with Chicago.’  These are all speeches geared toward making us an attractive option in a very global economy.”
    — Alderman Patrick O’Conner (40th Ward)

    This is where the Sun-Times nails it:

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday urged major airlines squeezed by skyrocketing fuel prices to come to the table a year early and negotiate a fourth new runway at O’Hare Airport as part of a $7.3 billion plan to rebuild Chicago’s infrastructure and create 30,000 jobs.

    via Chicago Sun-Times.

    O’Hare.

    It’s almost as an afterthought it mentions some of the other projects, the story’s nearly last paragraph:

    Other projects include: fixing 26 miles of CTA slow zones and renovating, repairing or rebuilding 100 CTA stations over the next ten years; building a new Green Line station at 22nd and Cermak; acquiring 180 acres of park land over five years and building 12 new parks, 20 new playgrounds, and eight artificial turf fields; building a new Malcolm X College and a new classroom building at Olive-Harvey College.

    Companies will come to Chicago because of O’Hare.  People will want to live here because of O’Hare.

    Rahm’s not wrong to make the comparisons to rebuilding after the Chicago Fire.  The Chicago Fire permitted the city to change the entire layout of the downtown area, build Grant Park, move the stockyards, and become a the Midwest rail transportation center for the country.  St. Louis could have easily bested Chicago due to it’s Mississippi River and centralized rail center location.  It was the Chicago Fire that really permitted Chicago to become what it was… not St. Louis.

    Airplanes are today’s rail cars.

    Miami International put together an interesting document which ranks airports for 2010:

    NATIONALLY

    • Total Passengers  –  O’Hare  is 2nd
    • International Passengers  –  O’Hare is 5th
    • Total Cargo  –  O’Hare is 5th
    • Total Freight  –  O’Hare is 5th
    • International Freight  –  O’Hare is 4th
    • Total Aircraft Movements  –  O’Hare is 2nd

    O’Hare is the lifeline we need to dig out of the hole we’ve (Daley’s) made for ourselves.  It’s right to prepare O’Hare for the next 50 years of service when we’re going to ask more of it.

    The plan’s not perfect.  But perfect if the enemy of good.

  • WI State Rep. Wants to Repeal Castle Doctrine

    Sounds to me like Rep. Tamara Grigsby is too dumb to understand the difference between the Castle Doctrine and Self Defense. While related, they are not the same. Just another Milwaukee liberal trying to make sure that a criminal has more rights than a victim.

  • #KillZimmerman: The Left is Silent

    On March 24 a “KillZimmerman” Twitter account began publishing calls for violence against George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26.

    Five days later, the account is still on its crusade to avenge Martin.

    The sender’s initial tweets made his or her aims clear: “No Justice No Peace!!!!!!!!!! #KILLZIMMERMAN #KILLZIMMERMAN #KILLZIMMERMAN,” they read.

    via The Daily Caller.

    This is a problem.

    Yesterday there was a post over at Althouse about how someone had taken a poll about the Martin/Zimmerman issue.  A Poll!!  We do NOT use POLLS to determine if someone is innocent or guilty!!

    We are a nation of laws.  Our system is not perfect; but it does work.

    And where is the MSM on this?  Where’s the left on this?

    When Gabrielle Giffords was shot the MSM & the left were everywhere jumping up-and-down that it was all Sarah Palin’s fault.  Palin — love her or hate her — never, in any way, called for Giffords to be killed.

    Here, this person is actually publicly calling for the assassination of another person.  Somehow that’s acceptable?  Is this really who we’ve become?

  • Tea Party = Peace

    The Senate was about to pass a bi-partisan bill imposing tough sanctions on Iran through “unanimous consent” – that means no floor debate or discussion.

    But Rand Paul, Kentucky’s ‘Tea Party’ senator, objected, which immediately prevents the easy passage.

    According to a notice from his office, Paul wants insert an amendment, “that would ensure that nothing in the act shall be construed as a declaration of war or an authorization of the use of force against Iran or Syria, and that any such use of force must be authorized by Congress.”

    via Business Insider.

    Pretty much speaks for itself.

  • Countries Move to Isolate the U.S.

    Are other countries planning for a U.S. demise?

    “I was in Australia earlier this month and there, as elsewhere on my recent travels, the consensus among the politicians I met (at least in private) was that Washington lacked the will for meaningful course correction, and that, therefore, the trick was to ensure that, when the behemoth goes over the cliff, you’re not dragged down with it. It is faintly surreal to be sitting in paneled offices lined by formal portraits listening to eminent persons who assume the collapse of the dominant global power is a fait accompli. . . . Greece’s total debt is a few rinky-dink billions, a rounding error in the average Obama budget. Only America is spending trillions. The 2011 budget deficit, for example, is about the size of the entire Russian economy. By 2010, the Obama administration was issuing about a hundred billion dollars of treasury bonds every month — or, to put it another way, Washington is dependent on the bond markets being willing to absorb an increase of U.S. debt equivalent to the GDP of Canada or India — every year. And those numbers don’t take into account the huge levels of personal debt run up by Americans. College-debt alone is over a trillion dollars, or the equivalent of the entire South Korean economy — tied up just in one small boutique niche market of debt which barely exists in most other developed nations.”

    Same page there’s this:

    I’m a Canadian, and you might be interested to know that the Harper government are working very hard (in the background) along the same lines as the Aussies. They are doing everything possible to diversify Canada’s export markets away from the US as fast as possible, for example the pipeline to move Alberta and Saskatchewan oil to world markets via the sea, not to the US. Ditto aeroplanes, rail cars, fibre-optic electronics, robotics, lumber, and a wide range of other products.

    The quiet back-room planning is driven by the alarming extent to which the Obama administration has already deeply damaged the US economy (compared to Canada) with its policies, actions, and insane deficits. The Harper government are now moving to shut down US environmentalist activity in Canada — “We’re not going to be your National Park.” says the PM — and are already developping scenarios for maximum-possible disconnect from the States in the event Obama and his crew are returned to power in the coming elections.

    via Instapundit.

    Hummm… not good.  Not good.

  • U2’s Bono on Band’s Tax Dodging

    U2 singer Bono is known for his antipoverty activism, which includes calls on most world governments to spend more on foreign aid. Yet when it comes to the finances of Bono’s own company, he’s apparently a bit more of a Scrooge. Moreover, he’s loath to admit it, as an interview with author Jason Mattera caught on tape showed. …

    Mattera: By dodging taxes on royalties are you raiding the poverty programs you purport to champion?

    Bono: No.

    Mattera: No? Don’t you want governments to be generous with other people’s money and not yours?

    Bono: I don’t have control over that…

    Mattera: How do you not have control over that? It’s your company. Are you not in charge of your own company?

    Bono: It’s not my company.

    Mattera: You have no say in what U2 does?

    Bono: Not particularly.

    Mattera: You don’t? You don’t have a say in what U2 does?

    Bono: No.

    Mattera: You’re the front man of your band, which has made you hundreds of millions of dollars … you have no idea why it moved from Ireland to Holland?

    Bono: I don’t have that answer.

    Mattera: It wasn’t take advantage of a much lower tax rate?

    Bono: I don’t have that answer.

    Mattera: You are seriously going to say that you don’t have that answer?

    Bono: I don’t have that answer.

    via TheBlaze.com.

    In the end, Bono’s a 1%-er.

    The Laffer Curve is a reality.  When taxes go up too much, revenue goes down.  The revenue just disappears… people move, stop working, go underground, etc.  Sad though that Bono’s such a hypocrite.

  • Chicago: 1 Night, 8 Shot, 2 Dead

    A 22-year-old man was fatally shot in a Far South Side liquor store Saturday evening, police said, and a 46-year-old man was killed about 45 minutes later.

    At least six others were shot on the South and West sides overnight.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    While notable, not a record.

    At the time of the story, 36 hours ago, there was no word from the mayor about how he was going to stop the carnage.  Today there was news on that:

    One week after dozens of people were shot in a deadly outburst of street violence, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Superintendent Garry McCarthy sought Monday to assure the public they are focused on combating gang crime.

    The announcement of a gang crackdown on the West Side was the first joint appearance by Emanuel and McCarthy since news broke that 10 people were fatally shot over the March 17-18 weekend, including a 6-year-old girl. Police say gangs are largely responsible for the violent start to 2012 in Chicago, which has seen fatal and nonfatal shootings on the rise.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Good luck.  My guess is that you’re going to have to get about 1,500 new kids into the police academy.  That would really put more cops on the street.  All the cops I know can’t get too wrapped-up in gang matters because they spend every shift running from call to call to call to call.  Cops on the street need to have a little down time to work the issue on the streets, cultivate contacts, bring in informants, and keep the little kids out of trouble.  Right now there’s just no time for any of that.

    And then we have to look at Anita Alvarez, and the elected judges of Cook County.  The message needs to be sent that if you’re a gang-banger and get caught you’re going to do serious time.  Every weapons possession by a felon needs to be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s office for federal prosecution.

    Eventually the gang will get the message… but you can’t send this message when you’re short 1,500 people.

  • Derrick Smith Must Resign or Be Expelled — Dems Own It

    The Democratic party was silent prior to the election of State Rep Derrick Smith on the issue of his resigning or getting off the ticket for allegedly accepting a $7000 cash bribe from an undercover FBI agent posing as a daycare center owner in exchange for a $50000 grant.

    The silence of the Democrats is now over as they are calling for the resignation of Derrick Smith in unanimity, as if from a chorus, they are signing the same song, “Get out!”

    Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Minority Leader Robert Cross found an issue they can agree as they named members to a committee to investigate the charges and to call on Smith to “Get out!”

    via Examiner.com.

    Silent?!  The Dems weren’t silent:

    The growing pressure on Democratic state Rep. Derrick Smith contrasts with the silence from party leaders who avoided such criticism in the days after the arrest, when it might have affected his primary race.

    Some, including U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, encouraged voters to support Smith to ensure the West Side seat stays in Democratic hands. But that changed the day after his easy victory over Tom Swiss, a former Cook County Republican Party official.

    Now Democratic leaders are moving to oust Smith and pick a replacement to run in the November general election.

    Davis said that while he asked voters to cast their ballots for Smith, it was about ensuring the seat stayed in Democrat control and was not a show of support for Smith. Davis said Smith should not appear on the November ballot given the ethical cloud he now faces.

    “I was glad to see Derrick win the election, but I think in reality one can say that Democrats won the election,” Davis said. “I don’t think they were necessarily voting for Derrick, but I think they were saying ‘Democrat, Democrat, Democrat.’”  …

    Quinn likewise refused to call for Smith’s resignation before the election, only to change his tune Wednesday while on a trade mission in Brussels.

    “The governor believes Rep. Smith should resign” because the charges represent a “cloud hanging over” him, said Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson.

    House Speaker Michael Madigan poured more than $60,000 into the race before Smith’s arrest.  Madigan has declined to comment on the situation.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    The Illinois Machine, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, is working overtime here.   The Machine is controlled by Chicago Democrats — the GOP’ers in their mist are really just tolerated because they play along — and they own this.

    Jesse White, Danny Davis, Michael Madigan, Lisa Madigan, Pat Quinn… what have you done for the poor folks whom you represent?  Quinn’s new budget calls for cutting Medicaid spending by $2.7 billion next year.  Well who’s that going to hurt Governor?

    Last year this cabal doubled our income taxes.  This year they want to kill Medicaid.  How about stopping the corruption that costs our cities and state billions every year?

    The whole lot-of-’em need to be kicked out to the street and have their pensions cancelled.

  • Naomi Davis: Issues in the African-American Community

    Local community organizer Naomi Davis put together a top-ten list of issues impacting the African-American community in her area of Chicago.  Not a bad list:

    1. NORFOLK & SOUTHERN/CREATE. Opportunity Of A Lifetime.  Multi-billion, multi-decade south side economic impact with America’s richest companies without a single negotiated community benefit/jobs plan.
    2. CRIMINALIZATION OF BLACKNESS.  Gulag Economy.  Jim Crow/John Burge/Howard Morgan, and millions of our young caught up in a culture of violence without guidance, in a system designed to profit from their downfall.
    3. FORECLOSURE FRAUD TSUNAMI.  Rape & Rescue.  Three generations of wealth stripped from our community on purpose, and now investor/gentry with federal subsidies are available to help rebuild…about us without us.
    4. 50% UNEMPLOYMENT.  City of Big Shoulders & U of C.  Some of our neighbors in public housing suffer with over 90% unemployment when worker-owned cooperatives like Evergreen in Ohio successfully partner the poor with universities and government in laundries, urban ag, solar enterprises…and more.
    5. SCHOOL CLOSING & TURNAROUNDS.  Mis-education Incorporated.  Follow the money and you’ll discover the real reason for ignoring parent and community protests, while some local politicians and preachers are purchased.
    6. NEIGHBOR-OWNED BUSINESSES.  We Are Colonized.  Our wealth is extracted rather than circulated in our communities by retailers we permit to take our money without reinvesting, also siphoning out scores of millions in LINK dollars.
    7. SUFFERING SENIORS.  Limited & Isolated.  Too many own homes they can’t afford to repair on fixed incomes, and live isolated from neighborhoods while their taxes fund TIF community developments that don’t help, but hurt.
    8. SMALLER GOVERNMENT.  The Rich Get Richer.  Privatizing government work creates a fat plutocracy with often questionable net savings to the public, and eliminates middle-class incomes which stabilize us.
    9. THE BLACK TAX.  Equal Enforcement & Traffic Justice.  Note the skin color of the 99% in traffic court and the amount of money extracted from our communities in traffic camera tickets and booted vehicle revenues.
    10. POLITICAL CORRUPTION.  Chicago Is #1.  In “Leading The Pack,” UIC Professor and former Alderman Dick Simpson document what we already knew: behind-closed-doors, under-the-table, business-as-usual politics here is destroying us.

    via Naomi Davis email.

    I wonder what race-neutral solutions she would propose?

  • Labor Unions and Politics

    On March 10 there was this story in the LA Times I meant to write about:

    Labor unions rethinking their role in politics
    As top union leaders gather in Florida on Tuesday to determine labor’s political strategy this year, the influential AFL-CIO appears poised to endorse President Obama’s reelection — despite some lingering dissatisfaction with his record.

    But the way in which unions back him and other Democrats this year is likely to take a very different form than in past campaigns.

    Concluding they need to be more independent of the Democratic Party, many unions are increasingly financing their own efforts instead of writing large checks to candidates and the party.

    via Los Angeles Times.

    I was simply thinking how labor unions don’t really help working people and how laughable it is that “they need to be more independent of the Democratic Party.”  They are dying and it is the Democratic Party who’s keep the life support machines plugged-in.

    Then, three days later, March 13:

    Leaders of the influential AFL-CIO  labor federation announced Tuesday it voted “proudly and enthusiastically” to endorse President Obama’s reelection effort.  …

    The vote, among the AFL-CIO’s 57 member executive council, was unanimous.

    Labor leaders had in the past been vocal about dissatisfaction with the Obama White House on a host of issues, from Obama’s compromise in extending the George W. Bush tax cuts to perceived shortcomings in the administration’s stimulus and healthcare reform packages.

    But AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said he had been heartened the administration’s renewed push on jobs and combating inequality, a pivot that occurred around Labor Day last year.

    via Los Angeles Times.

    How embarrassing it must be to have to endorse and carry water for a guy who really hasn’t helped you one bit.  On a unanimous vote the union agrees that the AFL-CIO and the Democratic party are in a symbiotic relationship; each would die without the other.

    These stories actually appear out of order.  The endorsement story should be first — describe how Obama has not done everything the unions have wanted and yet they have no where else to turn.  Then, as a result of their lack of options politically, the union(s) will seek other ways to engage in outreach and influence besides giving directly to candidates.  Well of course they will… they have no other choice.