Thoughts & Musings
Teenagers Pour Gasoline on Boy Walking Home From School
Is this really what we've come to? A 13-year-old boy who police say was doused with gasoline and lit on fire last week while walking home from school is recovering from first-degree burns to his face and head. The boy was just two blocks from his home in Kansas City...
Killer Received Unemployment While In Jail
Authorities say a convicted killer who gained notoriety for having a murder scene tattooed on his chest received unemployment benefits while he was in jail. Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said Saturday that Anthony Garcia, nicknamed "Chopper," received more than $30,000...
You’d Be A Fool To Hold Anything But Cash Now
David Stockman was Reagan's budget director and quit because he thought there was too much deficit spending. Then he went to Blackstone and really learned the pro's and con's of using debt to make things happen. Q: How do investors protect themselves? What about the...
Dog Walker in Custody After Stabbing
This is the third or fourth stabbing in the last two weeks. A 61-year-old man is in custody after police said he stabbed another man this morning after the two had an argument that began when the victim tried to swat the dog away in the Longwood Manor neighborhood....
Gun Control Measures Advance
Yes, this is a few days old: Two controversial gun control proposals advanced to the full House Wednesday. On a partisan vote, the Democratic-controlled House Executive Committee approved a measure requiring handgun owners to register their weapons with the state. The...
Judge Rules Eavesdropping Law Unconstitutional
A Cook County judge today ruled the state’s controversial eavesdropping law unconstitutional. The law makes it a felony offense to make audio recordings of police officers without their consent even when they’re performing their public duties. Judge Stanley Sacks, who...
High Gas Prices Raise Airline Ticket Costs
“[R]ising jet fuel costs put significant cost pressure on the airline industry,” Steve Lott, vice present of communications for Airlines for America told CBSDC. “Regarding fuel, it was the airline industry’s largest expense in 2011, representing 35 percent of total...
GM (Temporarily) Laying off 1300 Due to Low Volt Sales
General Motors Co. announced the temporary suspension of Chevrolet Volt production and the layoffs of 1300 employees, as the company is cutting Volt manufacturing to meet lower-than-expected demand for the electric cars. "Even with sales up in February over January,...
The 99% Spring
It's coming: From April 9-15 we will gather across America, 100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country. We will organize trainings to: Tell the story of our economy: how we got here,...
Emanuel vs. Lewis
Karen Lewis, the Chicago Teacher's Union President, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have a testy relationship at best. ... The two leaders met privately last year ahead of Emanuel's inauguration. They went for dinner and to attend a dance -- both are fans of the art form...
Businesses Get the Old Yes No on the G-8/NATO Summits
Well which is it? Mayor Rahm Emanuel was asked Thursday whether businesses located within the inner-most security perimeter will have a process to recover lost profits incurred during the May 19-21 events at McCormick Place. “The [NATO and G-8] Host Committee is...
Beavers Indictment: Where’s Madigan?
So I understand that our unwanted and tried to be run out of town U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois has indicted Old Man Beavers. The feds are usually pretty good about putting their case together and have a 85-90% conviction rate. So it's safe to say that the Hog...
Beavers Indictment: Talking When Should be Quiet
Talk about passing the buck: Cook County Commissioner William Beavers, an old-school Chicago politician who likes to call himself “The Hog With the Big Nuts,” has been indicted on federal tax charges. ... But Beavers, 77, called the indictment “horse s--- I’m not...
Workers Occupy Goose Island Plant
A group of about 65 workers who occupied a Goose Island window factory in 2008 have once again locked themselves inside the plant in a desperate move to save their jobs. California-based Serious Energy said Thursday it is closing the plant's doors and consolidating...
Our Per Capita Government Debt Worse Than Greece
This chart was put together by Senator Jeff Session's office. I found it over at The Weekly Standard.
It’s Not All Bad
It's important that every once in awhile we remind ourselves that aside from all the corruption, the parking tickets, the traffic, and the weather (generally but what happened to winter this year?) and the massive debt that the Machine has thrust upon us and our...
Chicago Teachers Asking for 30% Raises
The Chicago Teachers Union is asking for raises amounting to 30 percent over the next two years, the opening salvo in heated contract negotiations with school officials who are implementing a longer school day across Chicago Public Schools next school year. Documents...
American And Canadian Homeowners
We're alike and yet we're different. What I would like to see is this information from 2003 and 2007. The Difference Between American And Canadian Homeowners.
Lawyers for Occupy Say Crackdown was Practice
Lawyers for dozens of Occupy Chicago protesters arrested in Grant Park said Wednesday that the mass arrests amounted to a "dry run" by the Emanuel administration for handling protests during the G-8 and NATO summits in May. "This was Mayor Rahm Emanuel being Mr. Tough...
Chicago Aldermen Want Quiet Public
Some of the City Council’s most influential aldermen proposed a crackdown today on crowd participation at council meetings that would ban everything from signs and posters to clapping and booing in the public gallery. via Chicago Tribune. I guess they want...