Women's group organizing Kenyan sex strike

Here is an idea that will get peoples attention:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/30/Womens-group-organizing-Kenyan-sex-strike/UPI-43721241110264/

The organizers of this action should ask our Secretary of State to offer her expertise in this process.

Obama team reverses union transparency

This news article discusses recent changes in regulations made at the Department of Labor:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/27/obama-team-reverses-union-transparency/

The changes reduce the annual filing requirements for labor unions and their officials. The form that labor unions are most opposed to is the LM-30 and can be found at this link:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/compliance/RevisedFormLM30.pdf

This subject is also discussed at the following blog:

http://laborpains.org/index.php/2009/04/27/obama-admin-rolls-back-union-transparency/

Note the list of new appointments to the Department of Labor that have previous employment in labor unions.
Also note this quote from the above blog:

“With the Labor Department itself disclosing that investigations into union corruption yielded over 1,000 indictments, 929 convictions, and more than $93 million in court-ordered restitution from 2001 to 2008, one would expect a need for greater union transparency, not less, right?”

It is clear to me that organized labor has taken over the federal government.

Trio cleared over 7/7 attacks

The following article outlines the difficulties created when trying terrorism suspects for criminal activity:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7507842.stm

The three men were acquitted of conspiring to plot terrorist activities. The jury found that most of the evidence was circumstantial. Two of the men were convicted of lesser crimes of attending terrorist training camps. These three men were the only people indicted for the London subway bombings.

Our new commitment to treat terrorism as a crime and not an act of war may produce similar results in our federal court system.

Security Before Politics

The current controversy about prisoner interrogations has serious national security implications. These implications are explained in this essay by Porter J. Goss who was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 1997 to 2004 and director of the CIA from September 2004 to May 2006:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403339.html

This quote is a direct contradiction to what many members of congress are currently saying:

“Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:
-- The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.
-- We understood what the CIA was doing.
-- We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.
-- We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.
-- On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda.”

Statue of Liberty flyby startles New Yorkers

The following article provides insight into the desire for publicity by our new president:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE53Q3S820090427

Making an unannounced low flyby with Air Force One over the Stature of Liberty is unexcuseable. The White House will probably try to blame the Air Force for this mistake. Don't believe them, this was a publicity stunt ordered by the White House.

Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation

One of my freinds emailed me the following article by Star Parker:

http://www.urbancure.org/article.asp?id=3141

This is a brilliant quote:

"I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism."

only in Chicago

There will be no shortage of names for new menu items at this new restaurant:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/ald-not-biting-at-felony-franks-proposal.html

These quotes are classic:

Felony Franks, which Andrews hopes to open in a few weeks, will include items like the "misdemeanor wiener" on its menu, Andrews said.

"I'm trying to take the negative word 'felony' and show that there are good felons," Andrews said.

"Those that are negative on the name, the name Felony Franks, need to get over it."

We now have a new Chicago slogan: “be a good felon”. Maybe the city can paint that on the sides of the police cars. Someone may open a new philanthropic organization named “Good Felons”, it could model itself on Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Obama legal team wants to limit defendants' rights

More “Change We Can Believe In”:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-090423-obama-defendants-rights,0,7827903.story

It appears that soon only suspected terrorists will have rights protected by the federal government.

Poll results

You will probably hear about the results of this public opinion poll:

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/pdf/AP-GfK_Poll_Topline_April_2009.pdf

I was surprised at the high numbers that say the country is heading in the right direction and Obama’s high job approval ratings. These results are on page 2.

Generally speaking, would you say things in this country are heading in the right
direction or in the wrong direction?

Right Direction 48%
Wrong Direction 44%
Don’t Know 7%
Refused 1%

Overall, please tell me whether you approve, disapprove, or neither approve nor
disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president.

Total Approve 64%
Strongly approve 38%
Somewhat approve 22%
Lean approve 5%
[VOL] Neither—don’t lean 2%
Total Disapprove 30%
Lean disapprove 4%
Somewhat disapprove 5%
Strongly disapprove 22%
Don’t know 3%
Refused *%

These poll results can be explained by the answer to this question (on page 21):

Do you consider yourself a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or none of these?

Total Democrat 46%
Democrat – strong 16%
Democrat – moderate 20%
Independent – lean Democratic 10%
None – lean Democratic *
Total Republican 28%
Republican – strong 9%
Republican – moderate 9%
Independent – lean Republican 9%
None – lean Republican *
[VOL] Independent – don’t lean 7%
[VOL] None – don’t lean -
[VOL] Other *
Don’t know 19%
Refused -

All of the other demographic questions (on pages 23 – 29) have responses that fall in line with census data. Is it a reasonable outcome that the respondents to a random telephone sample would be 46% democrats and only 28% republicans?

Tea parties make an impact

Here it is, the Obama administration’s response to the call for reduced government spending:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD97MADV81

In 2009 federal spending is budgeted to total three trillion nine hundred thirty eight billion dollars ($3,938,000,000,000). This spending is equal to 27.7% of GDP. See page 114 of the following report: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy10/pdf/fy10-newera.pdf

Please note that the $3.938 trillion spending does not include the “stimulus package” or any losses that the US Treasury or FDIC will accrue for any of the “bailout programs”.

The ability of the Obama administration to find a savings of $100 million dollars in this vast tsunami of spending is a testament to their commitment to reduce government waste.

He’s a train wreck

The National Legal and Policy center has been pursuing an investigation into Al Sharpton’s political fundraising:

http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2009/04/19/sharpton-fined-285k-fec-result-nlpc-complaint

This quote from one of Sharpton’s supporters is revealing:
The wiretap picked up Hawkins telling White he believed they had raised more than $140,000 for Sharpton in the previous quarter, but Hawkins worried because Sharpton had reported only about $50,000 on his federal election filing. “He’s a train wreck, a plane crash waiting to happen,” Hawkins reportedly told White about Sharpton.

Help Me, Uncle Sam

This Barrons article discusses the next phase of our governmental meltdown:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123941269948510457.html

If States and Municipalities are allowed to borrow from the US Government or have the US Government guarantee their debt there will be no fiscal accountably left at any level of government.

Sensible Drilling: Gone With the Wind?

A recent article in Barrons questions the policies of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123940740006410093.html

Success in Iraq

Here is one way to measure our success in Iraq:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/18/Baghdad-residents-re-embracing-old-ways/UPI-77181240079790/

Liberty

The following quote is from a new book by Louis E. Carabini, Inclined to Liberty:

“Liberty is not a battle that requires the conversion of others in order to win. Liberty is won when you accept the idea that you are the sole master of your life; when your life is subordinate to none, and no other life is subordinate to yours. When you accept that idea, you are liberated. There will always be those who will claim to be your master, but you will know otherwise.”

Auto workers union

One of my friends sent me this video:

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/15908257/index.html

The behavior depicted in this video is not unusual for union officials. For more on this subject see the following:

http://www.unionfacts.com/articles/crimeFraud.cfm

"without African-American votes, there is no Democratic Party in Illinois"

This article gives us a inside look at the dilemmas politicians must endure:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-dems-19-apr19,0,4492305.column

You have to love this bit of news:

“In a seriously stupid political move, Dunnings bailed her young protégé out of jail with a credit card.”

To understand why Senator Roland Burris received the nickname “tombstone” see the attached photos. (Yes, it is true that Burris has constructed his own mausoleum with his accomplishments engraved below the State of Illinois seal. Note that he left room under the seal for more engravings.)

No He Can't

The following is a link to an interesting essay that was recently emailed to me:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/wortham1.html

For more information about Dr. Wortham:

http://www.sociologyanthropology.ilstu.edu/profiles/default.aspx?q=BM200809310042

The softer side of Big Al

I find this hard to believe, but the story is filled with interesting trivia:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-talk-capone-songapr17,0,5066098.story

"she has always tried to reach out and help people whenever she could"

You may remember a recent email concerning the Stroger family (the 3rd political dynasty of Cook County, Illinois). This family has suffered another tragedy:

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/stroger-cousin-resigns-from-county-post.html

Donna Dunnings must be a true humanitarian based on this paragraph:

Stroger said he could not provide details of the relationship between the man and Dunnings, but said she has bailed the man out of jail several times over a month’s long span.

For more on Donna Dunnings warm and caring personality please see the following:

http://chicagoist.com/2009/01/17/stay_classy_donna_dunnings.php

I felt an immediate empathy for Donna after reading the quote from her in the last sentence of the above article.

Bennie Thompson

The following article relates Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s response to criticism of her departments recent intelligence assessment on Rightwing Extremism:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-napolitano-right-wing-extremists,0,2028786.story

This paragraph contains a response from Representative Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security:

The senior Democrat of the House committee with oversight of the department said the most recent report raises privacy and civil liberty issues. "This report appears to have blurred the line between violent belief, which is constitutionally protected, and violent action, which is not," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote in a letter to Napolitano.

The following link is to the press center for the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. The referenced press release is dated 4/19/05:

http://homeland.house.gov/press/index.aspID=119&SubSection=0&Issue=0&DocumentType=0&PublishDate=0
The following paragraph from the above press release is of interest:

Congressman Thompson stated, “As the Department of Homeland Security implements a plan to focus on risk as a means of allocating scarce anti-terrorism resources, it must consider the threat that right-wing domestic terrorists pose to critical infrastructure and America.”

It appears that Bennie Thompson is now criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for implementing a policy that he initiated.

High speed rail

The following article describes the Obama Administration’s funding for high speed rail:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMA_RAILSITE=OHWIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
The last 2 paragraphs discuss the current US high speed rail operation:

The only rail service that qualifies under America's lower high-speed standard is Amtrak's 9-year-old Acela Express route connecting Boston to Washington, D.C.

The trains are built to reach speeds up to 150 mph, but only average about 80 mph because of curving tracks and slower-moving freight and passenger trains that share the route. On the densely traveled line from New York City to the nation's capital, the Acela arrives just about 20 minutes earlier than standard service, at more than twice the cost during peak travel times.

The current high speed rail line in the USA does not run on a dedicated track. It shares it’s track with other passenger and freight lines. The existing track right of way in many locations is “at grade” and require railroad crossings at streets and highways. Sharing the tracks with other trains and railroad crossings cause delays and slowdowns for the high speed trains. This leads to the situation described above where the high speed service does not provide a large enough improvement in travel time to justify the additional cost of the ticket.

Successful high speed rail projects in Europe and Asia all use dedicated right of ways that are separated from crossing by elevations or tunnels. This means that the high speed trains are not required to wait for slower passenger or freight trains and the high speed trains do not have to slow down for railroad crossings.

The cost to upgrade existing passenger rail to dedicated, grade separated right of ways is enormous. The $8 billion budgeted in the “Economic Stimulus Bill” would be consumed very rapidly (most likely on one short rail line) if high speed rail is to be built based on the successful models in other areas of the world.

Passenger rail in the USA is operated by Amtrak which was created by congress in 1971. Amtrak depends on subsidies from the congress to operate each year. The most current annual report from Amtrak reported a 2007 net loss of $1,120,900,000. A link to the annual report is provided here: http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/AmtrakAnnualReport_2007.pdf

Congress will play the defining roll in the development of any new high speed rail routes. The pressure to grab the money and spend it now will assure that any new high speed route will have the same deficiencies as the Acela Express route connecting Boston to Washington, D.C.

its black and white

This article describes politics in Cook County Illinois:

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/04/stroger-now-wants-sales-tax-cut-but-cant-explain-how-it-would-work.html

The following quote gets to the heart of the political debate:

County Commissioner William Beavers (D-Chicago), a key Stroger ally, said the tax increase had been necessary.

“People are screaming, but they don’t realize that the money went to the county hospitals,” Beavers said. “People on the North Side think it’s all poor black people going to those hospitals. There are more white people that use those hospitals. They don’t seem to understand and that’s why they don’t want to pay.”

For more on William Beavers follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/d34sen

Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger’s replaced his father John Stroger as president of the Cook County Board. Todd’s rise to the presidency is an interesting story:

The 2006 election was among the most controversial in the colorful history of Cook County politics. Despite suffering a severe stroke just a week before the primary election, John Stroger still managed to secure his party's support by a final margin of 53 percent to 47 percent over Claypool. The severity of Stroger's condition was concealed from voters both before the primary election and for three months thereafter, possibly allowing his primary victory and preventing independent opposition to the replacement Democratic candidate in the general election. Although he had overcome health complications in the past, questions still lingered regarding his ability to serve another term as Cook County Board President.

In late June 2006 John Stroger was removed from the Democratic ticket for Cook County Board President and replaced by his son, Todd Stroger. John Stroger also resigned as Cook County Board President effective August 1 and was replaced by interim president Bobbie L. Steele. Republicans and some Democrats saw the move as nepotism, and Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool even told the Chicago Sun-Times that he would not vote in the November general election. Todd Stroger faced a challenge in that race from Republican Tony Peraica, a vocal critic of the John Stroger regime. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley blasted Claypool, his own former chief of staff, and warned that Claypool risked "destroying [his] political career" by not backing Stroger against Peraica. While Peraica did very well in suburban Cook County, Todd Stroger received strong support from the powerful Mayor Daley and the Chicago Democratic machine. Stroger's strength among Chicago voters allowed him to win the election with 54 percent of the total vote.

For more information about Todd see the following: http://tinyurl.com/d39dtz

April 15th

This news article contains a quote that brightens my day on April 15th:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-geithner-tax-0415-apr15,0,6037514.story?track=rss

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told reporters Monday that there is no discrimination when it comes to tax enforcement.

"The American people are pretty smart," he said. "They understand that people who are nominated for high office are going to be put under a level of scrutiny. They also understand the tax code is incredibly complex."

The IRS Commissioner has given us an excuse for underpayment of our income taxes, “the tax code is incredibly complex”.

Rightwing extremism

I received an email that referred to this Department of Homeland Security Threat Assessment:

http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf

The following abbreviations are used in this report:
(U) = Unclassified.
(U//LES) = Unclassified//Law Enforcement Sensitive Information.
(U//FOUO) = Unclassified//For Official Use Only.

The first paragraph discusses the threat that DHS is concerned about:

(U) Key Findings
(U//LES) The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.

The asterisk (*) after the word “rightwing” leads to the following footnote:

* (U) Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

It is no surprise for me to learn that I am now an extremist because I “reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority”. I will wear this label as a badge of honor.

“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue.” – Barry Goldwater, 1964.

honor killings

The following is a current news article from the BBC about the Taliban enforcing their own version of religious law in Afghanistan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7997749.stm

This type of execution is described in the following paragraph:

Extrajudicial "honor killings" have been widely carried out in Afghanistan since then by conservative families angered by a relative who has brought them shame - usually by refusing to marry a chosen partner.

When the Taliban are described as enforcing a “middle ages existence” this type of behavior is referenced as an example. Was this a common practice in Europe during the middle ages?

It's Your Country Too, Mr. President

One of my friends emailed me this article by Charles Krauthammer:

http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2009/04/10/its_your_country_too,_mr_president

If you are not familiar with Charles Krauthammer his resume may surprise you. He is a psychiatrist with a MD from Harvard. He retired from medicine and became a speech writer for Walter Mondale (!). He later became disillusioned with big government and became a journalist.

Mayor Richard Daley on fighting big-city corruption

This is so ironic that they should have held the meeting on April fool’s day:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-mayor-daley-teaches-ethics-0apr09,0,7417399.story

Unreal! The first paragraph of this article sounds like the story line for a Second City skit:

“Coming from as far away as Azerbaijan, dozens of corporate executives and government bureaucrats gathered at a downtown hotel Wednesday to hear Mayor Richard Daley share his tips for preventing corruption.”

Tenth Amendment

One of my friends alerted me to following subject.

32 state legislatures have state sovereignty resolutions before them:

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/02/23/state-sovereignty-resolutions/

You can read the text of the sovereignty resolution currently in the legislative process in West Virginia and Indiana by following these links:

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Text_HTML/2009_SESSIONS/RS/BILLS/hcr49%20intr.htm

http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2009/SRESF/SC0037.html

It is encouraging to learn that some state legislators have had enough of the Federal Government’s unconstitutional expansion of power. When “the bill of rights” is referred to it is usually the first 5 amendments to the constitution that are discussed. I think that amendments 9 and 10 may be the most important:

Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The preamble to the “bill of rights” is also important in that it explains the reason that these amendments were proposed (highlights added):

The Preamble to the Bill of Rights:

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

This illuminates the fundamental intention of the US Constitution. The Constitution was not written to grant certain rights to the people, it was written to limit the rights that government could claim for itself. This is the highest law of the land. When our presidents take the oath of office they repeat the following (highlights added):

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Also everyone who enlists or re-enlists in the Armed Forces of the United States is required to take the oath of enlistment (highlights added):

“I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

lots of wind

Our Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has a vision for energy generation that would require an amendment to the laws of physics.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYPThxv2IqnjxnLF7V9Omy7dmjCAD97D6NB80

“Windmills off the East Coast could generate enough electricity to replace most, if not all, the coal-fired power plants in the United States, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday.”

Solar, wind, wave, and tidal power generation all obtain power from intermittent sources. Solar produces no power on cloudy/rainy days or at night. If there is low wind or excessively high wind then no power is generated from wind turbines. Wave and tidal power does not generate power when seas are calm. Therefore all power that is generated from intermittent sources requires a backup generator of equal capacity that can be quickly brought online to meet power needs when the intermittent source goes offline. Currently and for the foreseeable future the backup generation capacity will be powered by fossil fuel (mostly coal).

When considering adding new generating capacity to a power grid, this required duplication of generating capacity will always make the intermittent source of alternative energy generation economically uncompetitive compared to energy generated by fossil fuel. The fuel costs saved when the system is running on solar, wind, or wave power will not cover the additional expense of construction and maintenance of the backup fossil fuel generators along with the cost of construction and maintenance of the intermittent alternative energy source.

In addition to the required duplication of generating capacity, the cost and complexity of transmitting electricity from far offshore wind turbines is a significant obstacle to this type of project ever becoming a reality.

I find it unlikely that the Interior Secretary would not be informed of these limitations. If he is intentionally promoting offshore wind power with the knowledge that it will never be cost effective then he is preparing a plan to force this policy upon the marketplace through regulation and government decree.

do as we say, not as we do

The following article outlines some of the personal wealth of the president’s advisors and staff:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-white-house-wealthapr09,0,3609518.story

I am impressed with the investment advice that we can garner from analyzing our nation’s top decision makers’ portfolios. These paragraphs are very educational:

Leading the Chicago pack in investment portfolio size is Emanuel. The White House chief of staff reported 2008 investment income of at least $168,107 on a portfolio worth between $4.5 million and $11 million.

After leaving the Clinton White House — and before running for Congress from Chicago's North Side — Emanuel made more than $16 million in 21/2 years as an investment banker.

Many of his investments are now in municipal bonds, a favored choice of the wealthy because their interest is tax-exempt. Emanuel has dozens of the bonds, whose issuers range from McHenry County to the Northeast Nebraska Solid Waste Coalition.

The moral of this story is to invest in municipal bonds so that you will not be affected by the orgy of new taxes that are being foisted upon the productive segment of our society.

Ford Motor Company and our money

This article describes Ford’s support for Al Sharpton:

http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2009/04/06/ford-bankrolled-sharpton-convention-featuring-biden

This may be part of Ford’s “retooling” plan.

"I got to get something for my people"

The following news story is a classic example of why the government should never be allowed to spend any of our money:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-quinn-state-school-grant-cutapr06,0,7694585.story

The subject of this article is an Illinois state grant program to aide after school activates for inner city children. Of course in reality the money does not go to help children it winds up in the pockets of politicians, and their friends.

These 2 quotes need no explanation:

The veteran lawmaker recently said that not every organization he helped abused the grants. "Even though everybody might not get it right, that's no reason to kill a program that we have to have," he said.

Hendon said he will fight to restore the grants to keep children busy after school. If lawmakers are going to raise the state income tax, then "I got to get something for my people," he said.

The following is a link to Senator Rickey Hendon’s official website, and while visiting this site you may want to apply for a grant:

http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?MemberID=988&GA=94

See how Chicago politics works?

John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He has the ability to explain politics and clout in clear language. The following is today’s column:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-04-apr03,0,5900624.column

The subject of the above article is the 2002 Illinois Elections, which resulted in Rod Blagojevich’s first term as governor. Paul Vallas ran against Blagojevich in the Democratic primary in 2002. Vallas was an outsider who was chosen to head the Chicago Public School system. He made many local politicians uncomfortable with his cost cutting and reforms in the school system and he was fired by Mayor Richard Daley. When Vallas decided to run for Governor the established political system backed Blagojevich. During the primary campaign Vallas was leading in the polls, especially in districts populated predominately by African Americans. To counter the Vallas threat Roland Burris enters the race for Governor.

Kass describes this process brilliantly in these paragraphs:

“Vallas lost the 2002 primary to Blagojevich by about 25,000 votes out of 1.3 million votes cast. He lost in a squeeze play featuring Blagojevich and his loyal wingman, longtime political hack and current U.S. Sen. Roland "Tombstone" Burris.

Burris had no hope of winning, but he did an excellent job blocking for Blagojevich. Burris played the race card, saying he was more qualified than those "white boy" opponents of his, ham-handedly reminding constituents that he was indeed black. He also helped bring those votes to Lisa Madigan, a daughter of the machine, now the state attorney general who wants to become governor and share Illinois with her daddy.

There are no coincidences in politics. Burris came in third and later began receiving state contracts from Gov. Blagojevich, who, in a last desperate act before being forced out of office, appointed Burris to the U.S. Senate. See how Chicago politics works?”

The (bleeping) golden bargaining chip

The Blagojevich indictments have captured many of the former governor’s closest advisors and friends including his brother. Absent from the list of indictments is his wife Patricia.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-blago-whatnext-bd-05-apr05,0,7070058.story

The reporters who wrote the above story are naive in their speculation about the Justice Departments motives for leaving Patti out of the list of indictments. This speculation is summed up in the following paragraph:

“Many have speculated the government has not yet charged Patricia Blagojevich in a strategic move to offer Rod Blagojevich the chance to spare her by pleading guilty and avoiding a trial. Others have said they think sparing Patricia Blagojevich could be viewed as a good public-relations move because prosecutors do not want to appear to be threatening to take both parents from the Blagojevich children.”

I my opinion the US Attorney’s office could care less about the PR related to taking away both children. I think that the real plot here is whether or not the Justice Department will allow Rod Blagojevich to plea bargain for a reduced sentence by testifying against larger criminal targets. If the Justice Department is squeezing Blagojevich to testify against Mayor Richard Daley or President Obama then they will hold out the carrot of leaving Patti out of the indictments.

On the other hand if the Justice Department is being pressured to keep any higher level politicians out of this investigation they can use Patti as a bargaining chip to keep Rod quiet about Daley or Obama. Under this scenario the US Attorney pressures Rod to plead guilty, Patti remains unindicted and there will be no further investigations.

The other possible explanation for leaving Patti out of the prosecution is her father’s political clout. Patricia Blagojevich is the daughter of Chicago Alderman Richard Mell. Mell has been a Chicago Alderman since 1975. Alderman Mell played a significant role in organizing the field operations for Rahm Emanuel's 2002 election to Congress.

and you just move on with it

The news story below is a touching personal commentary from Chicago’s Mayor:

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/04/mayor-daley-illinois-has-moved-on-from-blagojevich-scandal.html

I feel better knowing that we can “move on” even though our elected officials are blatantly corrupt and have sold our government services and offices for personal gain.

executive salaries

The following article describes the sources of income for some of our president’s advisors:

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5326HC20090404

It appears that executive salaries are never excessive if you are connected to the White House.

For those of you who do not know Valerie Jarrett’s resume here are some interesting facts:

1987 - Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development City of Chicago appointed by Mayor Harold Washington.

1990 - Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Richard Daley.

1991 - Valerie Jarrett adds a new hire to her staff: Michelle Robinson, then engaged to Barack Obama.

1992 - Valerie Jarrett is named City of Chicago Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development.

1995 - Valerie Jarrett leaves city government is hired as CEO of The Habitat Company. The Habitat Company is one of the largest residential property managers in the Midwest. This company has a significant position in government subsidized housing. A large portion of this firms revenue is generated through contracts with the Chicago Housing Authority.