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  • 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 worried about.”

    He said the feds only indicted him because he refused to wear a wire on fellow Commissioner John Daley, the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and of former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.

    What?!  Assuming this is true, isn’t this just about the last thing you want to say?  How does this help Beavers or Daley?  It doesn’t.

    Can you imagine some knuckle-dragging bent nose Tony Soprano wanna’be getting indicted and walking out of booking shouting, “They wanted me to wear a wire on Tony.”  Now what you’ve done is tie the two of you together and make both of you look guilty of somethin’.

    Looks like Daley certainly took it that way:

    John Daley said he was surprised at what he characterized Beavers’ attempt to change the story.

    “I have no idea what he’s talking about,” Daley said.

    He said Beavers never approached him to say that any federal agents had asked Beavers to wear a wire on him. Looking at the indictment against Beavers, Daley said: “It’s pretty obvious what this is about, and this has nothing to do with me.

    via Chicago Sun-Times.

    Yes, yes.  Of course John.  This has nothing to do with you.

     

  • 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 operations in Colorado and Pennsylvania.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    This is not good on so many levels.  Jobs leaving, union occupying, government failing… etc.

    “Ongoing economic challenges in construction and building products, collapse in demand for window products, difficulty in obtaining favorable lease terms, high leasing and utility costs and taxes, and a range of other factors unrelated to labor costs, have compelled Serious to cease production at the Chicago facility,” the company said in a statement.

    Isn’t this just a nice way of saying, ‘We can no longer afford to continue to operate this plant in Chicago where it’s incredibility expensive to due business’?

    If a company making windows can’t survive in Chicago then what kind of manufacturing jobs can we sustain here?

  • 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 children that Chicago totally rocks for business.

    [LevelUp founder Seth] Priebatsch said he was attracted to Chicago because of its size and importance, as well as its active startup community. The company, which has about 120 employees, has opened an office in Chicago with seven people.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    and

    PNC Bank is opening three new branches in Chicago, bringing 200 new jobs to the city by the end of 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel

    The positions will be located at the three new branches and at PNC Centre, the company’s regional headquarters at One North Franklin.

    via Chicago Tribune.

  • 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 obtained by the Tribune show that in the face of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s expansion of the school day, the union has led with an offer seeking a 24 percent raise in the 2012-13 school year and a 5 percent increase the following year, the net effect being 30 percent.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    This just goes to show the world how completely out of touch the CTU is with the taxpayers that pay the bills.

    The city is broke; the state is broke; the feds are broke.  The wheels are falling off the bus, people everywhere are struggling, and here comes the teachers asking for a 30% raise over two years.

    According to CPS’s own website the starting salary for a teaching with a bachelor’s degree is $50,577.00 for 38.6 weeks or 193 days.  It further provides that, “[t]he salary and total compensation figures are based on a regular school term of 40 weeks, at 6.25 hours per day….

    The way I figure that’s $50,577.00 / (6.25 * 193)  = $41.92 / hour.  That’s not too bad for some 22 year old right out of college.

    Consider some other public servants: Assistant State’s Attorneys.  A Cook County ASA starts at $57,196.00 for a regular, real, full-time job.  $57,196.00 / 2080 = $27.50 / hour.

    So we, the taxpayers, already pay teachers with a bachelor degree over 150% more per hour than we pay ASA’s with a law degree and passed the bar exam.  And on this they want a 30% raise.

    It’s no wonder our schools are failing.  Their They’re run by greed greedy pigs.

    UPDATE:  Fixed some bad grammar as noted.

  • 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 Guy to show the world that they could come to the G-8 and NATO,” said attorney Thomas Durkin, who represents a dozen of the 94 defendants seeking to have their cases dismissed

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Hello pot, meet kettle.

  • 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 their constituents like children; seen and not heard.

  • We’re Number One… in corruption that is.

    A former Chicago alderman turned political science professor/corruption fighter has found that Chicago is the most corrupt city in the country.

    He cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice to prove his case. And, he says, Illinois is third-most corrupt state in the country.

    University of Illinois at Chicago professor Dick Simpson, who served as alderman of the 44th Ward in Lakeview from 1971 to 1979, estimates the cost of corruption at $500 million.

    via CBS Chicago.

    Ya, that sounds about right.

  • Sun Times Editorial Board = Morons

    I came across this while looking for something else:

    Some critics have said this won’t make as much of a dent in pedestrian fatalities as Emanuel suggests, and they may be right. Citing statistics from a city pedestrian study, the Chicago Tribune found that more than half of the city’s 251 fatalities between 2005 and 2009 occurred outside Emanuel’s safety zones.

    This is an argument for more cameras, not fewer. But if installing the cameras is all that’s done, it’s still worth it. Between 2005 and 2009, more than 7,700 pedestrian crashes occurred within one-eighth mile of a school or park, city data shows.

    One life saved, one life-altering injury prevented, is more than enough. Studies clearly show that the lower the speed the more likely a pedestrian is to survive a crash.

    via Editorial @ Chicago Sun-Times.

    Really?  That’s the argument you want to go with?  “One life saved … is more than enough?”  Ok then, follow this dumb-asses.

    If it is true that lower vehicle speed means greater pedestrian survival, then why stop at cameras?  What we should do is change the speed limit on all streets wherever pedestrians may be present to 5 MPH.  After all, one life saved is more than enough.  Effective immediately the speed limit on Michigan Ave, Sheridan Rd,  Roosevelt Rd, Halstead, Western, Harlem, Devon, Broadway, etc will be 5 MPH.  And the fine for speeding will be raised to $10,000.  Just think of the lives we can save.

    Fools.

    If one really wanted to save pedestrian lives what we should do is (1) increase the training requirement for all licensed drivers in the state; (2) stop selling cars to people who cannot prove they have a valid drivers license and proof of insurance; (3) hire more police so that some (at least a few of them) can focus on traffic stops and not just run from 911 call to 911 call; and (4) strictly enforce the jaywalking laws already on the books.  Watch any corner downtown for 5 minutes and count the number of people crossing against the light.  It’s like their just begging to get run over.

    We have to get beyond the notion that every car vs. person accident is the drivers fault.  When some jackass is trying to cross 4 (or more) lanes of Michigan Ave against the light and runs in front of a bus… well… they get what they have coming.  Most of the accidents in the city are not kids chasing a ball into the street.