Effective August 1, I will be resigning as the Executive Director of the Chicago Republican Party to pursue other interests. It has been a great honor to serve and be a partner to Chairman Eloise Gerson.
I leave with a great deal of respect for all those who I have come in contact with during my tenure. I have a great deal of respect for Chairman Gerson who is a tireless promoter of the GOP and Republican principles and ideals. She has been a loyal partner and friend.
Though I will not have any official capacity, I will be available to any who need assistance or advice. I will be partnering with others to continue preaching the principles and values of the Republican Party as they are the principles and values of America.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) dealt from the bottom of the race card deck in.
"I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president, only this president, only this one has received the kind attacks and disagreements and inability to work. Only this one," Jackson Lee said on the House floor this afternoon.
"Read between the lines." Video here.
Really? Only this president? Only this president? Only this one? How short Congresswoman Lee's memory is. President George W. Bush was treated with extreme disrespect from the time he took the oath of office until the day, eight years later, when he left. The Democrats, the progressive merchants of poison, the entertainment industry, and their propaganda organ, the media, spent eight years deriding, debasing, insulting, abusing, and dehumanizing Bush. They maliciously maligned him daily. They did not consider him the President of the United States. From day one he was continually under assault and totally and completely disrespected.
Ronald Reagan was treated to the same fate, though not as harshly. Both men were treated like they were mentally deficient and unworthy of high office. The intellectual idiots, Mensa morons, and cerebral cretins came out of the woodwork like cockroaches on a daily basis. It was malicious, brutal, and purposeful. Like cockroaches, there was no way to get rid of them either.
There is probably not even an accurate count as to how many times President Bush was called a liar. Try that with this president and see where that gets you. Probably investigated by Eric Holder for a hate crime.
Why is this president different and should he be? Not just no, but hell no. It is too late to close the barn door of disrespect, debasement, dehumanization, and insult that Congresswoman Lee and her ilk on the Left have opened. They unleashed holy hell on the office of the president. Now they expect this president to be treated differently?
Congresswoman Lee has aptly demonstrated that her party, like the media, is hypocritical. Bereft of ethics. They besmirched the office of the president. Now they want its reputation back because of this president. Because he is Black. He should be treated differently. There should be affirmative action criticism.
This president is not special. He was elected to serve the people. He has failed miserably. Ms. Lee should be ashamed of herself. But people like her have no shame. They also have no decency, ethics. or morals.
They just keep cheating and dealing from the bottom of the deck. The race card deck is all they have left.
“As President of the United States, I am the last man standing in the current economic and debt crisis. The buck stops with me. I stand alone against forces who would destroy our country. I saved the economy they destroyed.
They are the carnival barkers and the circus clowns. They represent the billionaires and millionaires; those folks who make over 250 thousand dollars a year. The Republicans.
They built a wall around the economy. They put a moat around the wall. They put alligators in the moat. We need to borrow more money to spend. We need to cut spending. We need to tax you more to spend more money to help the economy create jobs to generate revenues to cut spending. It’s all about the jobs.
I made the Republicans an offer they can refuse. I want a big, bold, historic, comprehensive plan. That is who I am. Big, bold, comprehensive, and historic. America can afford it. We are not some banana republic.
America is not broke. We are a rich country. We can raise taxes and print more money to get out of the mess that Bush and the Republicans made. How much do you need? When is enough enough? We are in this together. All of us.
I won the election. They lost. They made this mess. I am the only one standing up for the American people. The American Way. It is time for us to be adults and eat our peas. With forks and knives. We must all grow up.
We owe it to the world to go deeper into debt and spend more money, even if we don’t have it. I have apologized for our country’s greatness to the rest of the world. Now is the time for action. Now is the time for every American to share the pain, suffering, and sacrifice needed to save our nation.
I saved this nation from a second Great Depression. I did nothing less than save the whole free world. America needs a big deal. America needs more money. Americans can afford it.
So, I stand before you today. Alone. I am asking the Republicans to act now before it is too late. They built that wall with the moat and alligators.
Mr. Boehner, tear down that wall.
The American people demand it. Tear down that wall. Stop bringing Jim Crow back to America. Raise taxes. Raise the deficit. Raise the debt.
America is not an exceptional country. It is no better than any other country in the world. I have said so many times to world leaders. They all agree. In order to prove this we must go deeper into debt and raise spending, especially entitlements, to be just like the rest of the world.
Americans want more taxes. They want more spending. They want more debt. If not now, when?
It is the patriotic thing to do. The whole world is watching Mr. Boehner. The whole world is waiting.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
235 years ago 56 men placed their signature on a document. These men risked their lives, their liberty, and their possessions- everything they had and held dear. Their action was bold, comprehensive, and historic. It was an act of necessity. It was an act of desperation. At that point in history it was also an act of extreme foolhardiness.
They knew this. Yet they signed. They pledged their sacred honor. Sacred honor was considered a virtue in the Eighteenth Century.
These men, by placing their signature on a piece of parchment, stated unequivocally, enough is enough. They threw the gauntlet down against the most powerful nation on earth. They challenged Great Britain to an international duel.
Little did they know they were about to create the greatest nation on earth. The biblical and mythical land of milk and honey. A land where freedom and liberty come before anything else.
On the 4th of July we celebrate the signing of that document. We may not remember the men who signed it. We may no longer even remember why it was so important. But we still celebrate.
We celebrate our freedoms and our liberty. Our individual rights to live as we choose without the interference of an overbearing government. We celebrate the dream.
In a world where the merchants of poison would have us believe there are two, three, or more Americas, we are one. One people. One country. They would have us believe there is a White America, a Black America, an illegal immigrant America, a poor America, a rich America, a corporate America, etc.
They are the separatists and enemies in our midst. Many are elected officials who ostensibly represent us. They are the the spin doctors, the negative ad peddlers, the hate speech media talking heads, who embrace the politics of anything goes, the politics of hatred, the politics of poverty, the politics of personality. They are the elected officials who embrace the politics of my way or the highway and the people be damned.
So while you are stuffing your face with hot dogs, ribs, chicken, and potato salad washed down with cold beer remember this.
There is only one America. One United States of America. There is not a liberal or a conservative America. There is not a Black, White, Asian, America or ethnic America. There's only the United States of America.
There is not a rich America or a poor America. There is not a powerful America or a weak America.
We are one country and one people with a common purpose. Freedom.
There is only one America. There is only one American people.
The American ideal may have been created by the 56 famous men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Men who were bold and comprehensive in their ideas.
But, the United States of America was created by ordinary people. The men and women who suffered through the Revolutionary war. They fought and supported the ideas of freedom and liberty. The pursuit of happiness.
They were the farmers, artisans, and ne’er do wells. They were ordinary people from all walks of life. Rich, poor, powerful, weak, literate and illiterate. The same ordinary people who fight in all our wars.
America was preserved by the ordinary people. Ordinary people whose sacrifice is remembered on tombstones in military cemeteries all over the world. Ordinary people who are fighting today.
We put too much faith in the so called great people. The rock star politicians, the over paid under educated talking heads in the media, and the celebrity idols with more money than intelligence.
We forget the ordinary people. The cop who patrols the beat to keep us free and safe from predators. The fireman who runs into burning buildings and the paramedic who treats us on the street.
The nurse in the emergency room who holds our hand while we are in extremis. The janitors who clean our buildings. The construction workers who erect the creations of architects and engineers.
We forget the cooks, waitstaff, dishwashers, and bus boys in restaurants. We lose track of the cab driver and bus driver. The street sweeper and the utility company worker.
This list can go on. One fact remains constant in America. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Rossevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, or Barack Obama are not great Americans. They are no better than the rest of us. They are just ordinary people.
The American ideal is one of equality. Where all of us are one people, one nation, one country. We forget that every time we put someone on a pedestal and idolize them. We forget that every time we heap adulation our so called leaders.
We, the ordinary people, have allowed an elite to create multiple Americas. It is time we, the ordinary people, remembered that those elitists are no better than the rest of us. America is not about the elite. It is of the people, by the people, for the people. It is not about the elite’s dreams of glory or their audacity of hope. It is about our dreams, hopes, fears, ambitions, and anxieties. It is not about their history. It is about ours.
We allowed the elitists, the merchants of poison, the carnival barkers and circus clowns, to con us into false ideals. Social justice, economic justice, economic social equality, wealth redistribution, and all the other phony scams and schemes to divide us, create deep hatred, and curtail our freedom, liberty, and equality.
We forgot America is about all its people.
There is only one America. One people.
If we, the ordinary people, forget that, there will be no America.
Rod Blagojevich went out with a media bang. He was convicted of 17 counts plus the count of lying to the F.B.I. from his first trial. He could get a maximum sentence of 305 years, though 7- 10 years is more likely.
The outside of the Federal Building in Chicago was a circus. There were media from all over the world along with passersby, rubberneckers, and tourists. It was a great show.
Rod Blagojevich arrived with his wife and a retinue of what appeared to be body guards. For a guy who is supposed to be broke he sure knows how to travel in style.
He greeted the crowd as he walked into court. When he walked out of the building he did not appear "stunned" as he had claimed. He appeared like Rod Blagojevich the media maven.
He waved and blew kisses to the crowd. The stunned act wore off once he was out in the public.
There should be no pity or mercy for Blagojevich. We can empathize with his wife and children, but there are plenty of other convicts with wives and kids too. He, and he alone, caused them whatever grief they will go through. If anyone is to blame it is Rod Blagojevich.
He also left a stain on the state of Illinois. His trials showed the world how corrupt this state is, especially the Democratic Machine. Make no mistake. Rod Blagojevich was nothing more than a Machine Hack. He was part and parcel of the Machine.
He will now join over 1000 elected officials, political appointees, and workers who have been convicted since 1970. Illinois and Chicago are cornucopias and cultures of corruption. Blagojevich was no better than some inspector with his hand out for a lowly cash bribe. He just pretended to be more sophisticated.
Now he is going off to the gray bar hotel, where he belongs. He will be nothing but a number. No one special. In prison they don’t care who you were. You are no better than any other convict. Everyone gets treated the same. Like criminals.
That will be the worst form of punishment for an egomaniac like Blago. He will be just another number in an orange jump suit. No more media frenzies, no more interviews, no more people hugging him or shaking his hand.
He will be a low level worker bee. He will have to do what he is told when he is told to do it. It makes no difference if he likes it or not. There will be no running routes, running tights, hairspray or hair dryers. No mirrors to adore himself in.
He will also have to eat what they serve him. Or starve.
All the privileges will be gone. There will be no red carpets for Blago for a long time. Rod Blagojevich will finally learn he is nobody. He is no tragic heroic figure.
He is just a grubby political hack who finally got his.
Are we better off now than we were in 2009? Are we better off since Barack Obama became president?
Obama didn't cause the recession. There are plenty of directions to point fingers at for that. Obama and the Democrats just made it worse.
Obama claims we need to turn to “nation building here at home.” Um, someone someone should tell Obama we have a nation. We do not need to build a nation here at home. This nation was built and is solid. What he wants to do is raze a nation. Tear it down and build it to his own Utopian dreams.
...“now, we must invest in America’s greatest resource – our people,” by creating new jobs, rebuilding infrastructure and finding new sources of energy.”
How about reforming regulation and taxation. That would do more to stimulate the economy than empty weasel words. That would do more to invest in our greatest resource- the people.
New energy? We don’t need no stinking new energy. We have all the oil, gas, and coal we need for centuries. If the government would just get out of the way, we not only would have enough for our needs we could even sell it to other countries at a profit; creating real lifelong jobs here at home.
We also have the safest nuclear power plants in the world and the ability to build even safer ones. Of course that will not happen. Obama wants to shove untested, unreliable, and over expensive greenie weenie energy sources down our throats.
This president, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of them just do not get it. Government creates nothing. It was never intended to. There can be no government jobs bills.
Business creates jobs. Industry creates jobs. Manufacturers create jobs. These are the three entities Democrats have been destroying for 45 years. They have been destroying jobs and the middle class. There is only one reason for stagnant job creation- the Democratic Party
The bottom line is that Democrats should join Republicans to focus on creating business opportunities that create real jobs, instead of spending all their time blocking industry, manufacturing, and investment legislation while continuing their plan to end the American Free Enterprise System. They should spend time reforming the tax system instead of trying to raise or create new taxes. They should spend time on reforming the regulatory system instead of creating more incomprehensible regulations.
The economy has not come out of the deep recession. It is going deeper. The jobless rate is too high, gas prices have returned to sky rocket levels, and the debt and deficits deepened over the past two years.
For the past two and one half years this president and his party have done more to harm America than any other enemy we have. We are now faced with the prospect of being a third rate economic power; behind India and China.
We are worse off than we were. Worse will soon get worst if this president is reelected.
It was fitting that Barack Obama was out of the country on the day when a leader walked into a joint session of Congress and spoke the way an American President should.
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech extolled America and the ideals for which it stands...
...a man of stature stood before them and announced something they haven't heard during the last two years, namely, that America represents the best the world has ever seen. Unlike President Obama, who has reminded us that American values may not be suitable for most countries, Mr. Netanyahu spoke of his pride that his country, Israel, mirrors the idealism and nobility of America. Contrary to Barack Obama, Netanyahu believes in American exceptionalism.
...When speaking of justice and liberty, Netanyahu spoke about them as enduring principles of the American personality, as opposed to the current President who speaks of them in terms of class warfare, not to mention an America at fault for those within our country he claims have not yet received justice or liberty. He spoke with awe when referring to our Founders and their inscriptions on the monuments that line the Potomac, America's River Jordan... Read full article here>
It is very sad that a foreign leader had to take up the mantle of American exceptionalism, while our own leader travels the country apologizing for it and claiming we are no better than any other country. It is a pity that our own leader allowed a foreign leader to insult America on the White House lawn in his presence- the President of Mexico who gave a scathing anti-American speech.
It is disgusting, deplorable, despicable, and detestable that we have an anti-American president in the White House. A president who hates his own country so much he declared the end to the American era in the world.
Worse is his party, who agree with him. The Democratic Party backs him up. They enable his anti-American diatribes. They defend him at all costs. This only means one thing. Sedition. The Democratic Party is the party of traitors and seditionists.
It is time we exposed them for what they are. They are not patriots. They have no love for this country. No love for America. They would see us humiliated on the world stage.
It is time for us to stand up to this sedition and blasphemy. It is time for us to bring back pride in America. One of the messages the GOP needs to get out is we are the party of patriots. We are the party of America, American ideals, and American exceptionalism.
The president and his party are the party of traitors and blasphemers. They hate America and all it stands for. The would extinguish the beacon that beckons people to freedom, liberty, and prosperity. They would deny us our inalienable rights. They would shred the Constitution.
We have a choice. To live in the age of light, freedom, liberty, and enlightenment or to enter the new Dark Age.
House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi started her press conference today by saying- since the GOP took the House majority they have yet to introduce a jobs bill.
She ended the presser with- “Don’t forget: jobs, jobs, jobs.”
There is a good reason why the GOP hasn’t introduced a jobs bill. There is no such thing. There is no such legislation. Unless, they are proposing a bill to increase federal jobs.
Government does not create jobs. Since 1965 this government has done everything to inhibit jobs. Since 2009 this administration and the Democratic Party have done everything to kill employment in America.
The only way to create jobs is to create an economic infrastructure and environment so businesses can grow and thrive. So new businesses can start and sustain themselves. The only thing this administration has created is uncertainty.
Businesses have been adamant that the tax and regulatory situations are untenable. They can not sustain any economy. Commerce cannot survive. They did more damage by refusing to recognize the trade wars and doing nothing about them.
Instead, this administration promised other countries America would buy their goods and resources. He has steadfastly refused to reform the draconian regulatory system and their Inquisition style enforcement that tortures and kills businesses.
He refuses to order regulatory agencies to even rewrite regulations in plain simple English, so any person with an average reading level can understand them and easily comply with them.
He and the Democrats refuse to reform a tax system that strangles business, investment, and working families. The income tax is an abomination. The corporate tax needs to be cut in half. Other taxes need to be eliminated or drastically lowered. IRS regulations need to be reformed too.
Government must level the playing field between organized labor and management. So far Big Labor sends big fat bribes- campaign contributions- and they are the only voices heard. They are the only ones who count. Big labor hurts working families.
This president has refused to be a raving cheerleader for America and the Salesman in Chief. Instead he has traveled the globe groveling and apologizing for America, its economic system, and its greatness. He declared an end to American Exceptionalism and the American Era. By doing that he executed the American Free Enterprise System.
As long as there are progressive liberal Democrats in office there will be no major gains in employment. There will only be major gains in entitlements.
The only thing government can do to create jobs is to get out of the way. No- get the hell out of the way.
America is the land of invention, innovation, dreams, and future thinking. We are a people with a work ethic that rivals none. Our economic system should be the beacon for the world. Thanks to Democrats we are now a dimming bulb.
Business needs certainty. It needs stability. This president and his party have created instability, uncertainty, and chaos.
Instead of hope Obama created despair. We got change for the worse.
Those are weasel words. Only a Democrat talks like that. The topic of discussion is fiendish depraved behavior- a pervert sending photos of his privates for all the world to see. It is also very stupid.
Chicago and Illinois know a lot about stupid. Look who gets elected over and over again. Look at the Democratic Machine. Look how many wind up in prison.
The last thing we need is another stupid politician being paid with our tax dollars. Especially a stupid sex fiend.
Mr. House Democrat’s statement demonstrate the true values of the Democrats. Everything and anything goes. Laissez les bons temps rouler. Take bribes, pay for play politics, friends and family schemes, sex scandals, perversion, ethical violations, and a panopoly of immoral conduct. All on public display. All justified because they are working for the people. Tolerate anything. It is for the common good.
Mr. House Democrat, we do not need or want stupid or immoral people in office. We do not want people who cannot control their fiendish impulses in office. We especially do not want people who excuse stupidity, immorality, depravity, and fiendish behavior. Weasels like you.
If some politician is having trouble making ends meet in this rough economy and takes a few bribes, should we accept that immoral and stupid behavior? If some elected official does not pay his taxes should we excuse that? Poor guys, they are suffering just like other working families. So what if they help themselves? As long as they are helping the people who cares? Is that your attitude?
Mr. Democrat be very careful about discussing morality. It is not confined to sexual hijinks and escapades. Morality covers the whole spectrum of human behavior. Just like stupidity does.
From the responses to Weinergate it is clear. The Democratic Party, overall, is corrupt and depraved to its very core. It is the party stupid, immoral, crooks, liars, thieves, degenerates, weasels, and perverts.
It is the party that will excuse any behavior, no matter how degenerate, to keep their people in power. It will tolerate and accept the basest forms of behavior from their members.
There is a reason Democrats are referred to as the D. There are actually four reasons. Despicable, disgusting, deplorable, and detestable.
We just witnessed stupid and immoral behavior on trial in Chicago. Rod Blagojevich, another depraved Democrat who thought he was too important to fall.
He was only behaving like a modern man under economic and political pressure. He was only trying to excel and succeed. He shouldn’t be faulted for his immoral stupid actions just because he wanted to achieve something. Right?
People who justify stupid immoral acts are lower than those who commit them.
Someone should tell governor Quinn that companies do give something back to the people of Illinois. The give the people jobs which enable them to be tax payers.
CME Group is making noises to leave the state due to the hike in the corporate income tax. Pat Quinn is expected to make the pilgrimage on his knees from Springfield to Chicago hoping to keep them here. That is what he did for Sears, Navistar, and other companies who threatened to leave.
He made them special deals to stay. He begged them. He is a disgrace. But, he is not alone. The biggest enemy of business in Illinois is the State of Illinois. It is time to change that dynamic.
Illinois has a draconian regulatory system and tax structure. It’s enforcement is beyond torturous. It is time to treat all businesses alike- from the mom and pop store to major global entities. It is time to treat businesses like welcome guests. Not unwanted pests.
Under the current long standing Democratic regime this will not happen. Too many friends and family and pay to play jobs are at stake. Too many bureaucrats would have to be let go.
Illinois should not have to make exceptions for individual businesses. Our governor or mayor should not have to beg businesses to stay here. Unfortunately, Illinois does everything in its power to make them flee.
High taxes, an out of control state budget, ridiculous regulations impossible to comply with and enforcement that goes beyond the pale. It is no wonder it is said the state is one of the largest contributors to business failure.
But, again, this is the fault of the voter. People elect and reelect the same corrupt poltroons, buffoons, macaroons, clowns, and dancing bears. The Democratic Party.
If Illinois is to survive there has to be real change in Springfield. Madigan must be toppled. Cullerton must be overthrown. Quinn must be marginalized and isolated. Then, maybe, some laws can get repealed, taxes can be lowered or eliminated, and regulations can be trimmed to the bare necessity- protecting the health and safety of the people. No more or less.
Illinois dropped from #17 to #48 ins busness friendliness. In every business, industry, manufacturing, and commercial metric Illinois has lost ground. It is the fault of the leader ship in the governor’s mansion and the State House. It is also the fault of the voters who put these anti-jobs politicians in office.
Make no mistake. Pat Quinn, Mike Madigan, and John Cullerton do not care about the people. They do not care about tax payers. They do not care about businesses. They do not care about creating or retaining jobs. They do not care about working families, unemployed families, or any families.
Except their own. They only care about themselves, their friends, their families, and the people who pay to play.
Contemptible aptly describes the race mongering by Democrats for partisan political gain. No issue, from ObamaCare to Voter ID, escapes being demagogue by Democrats with false accusations of racism leveled at Republicans who disagree with Democrats on policy. With not an ounce of shame, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz went on the African-American network TV One's program "Washington Watch" and accused Republicans of wanting to return America to Jim Crow segregation laws, merely because they are seeking to require photo identification to register to vote.
“...now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant," DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) told TVOne's "Washington Week."
This would be impossible to do. Jim Crow was created by the Democratic Party, as were all racist policies in America. It was the Republican Party that led the charge for civil rights and fought the Democratic White Supremacists. The Democrats have placed an incredibly stupid, ignorant, and dishonest woman in charge of the DNC.
Jim Crow was not the only racist product of the Democratic Party. The Ku Klux Klan was birthed out of the Democratic Party. Southern racism was a product of the Democratic Party. All the various racist schemes and scams used to keep African Americans from exercising their inalienable rights were initiated by the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party has a long proud history of racism, inhumanity, and human rights violations against people of color and others. The Republican Party was formed to fight against and abolish slavery, a practice the Democratic Party would protect to the death. The Civil War taught us that.
The whole concept of White Supremacy and anti-Semitism sprung from the Democratic Party. Lynching was the chosen method of terrorism for Democrats. Institutional racism is a Democratic Party policy.
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson implemented and strengthened segregation in Washington D.C., the military, and all government service. His Democratic administration was the most openly racist in modern history. He promoted Griffith’s movie, Birth of a Nation; a movie celebrating the Ku Klux Klan.
From 1870 to 1970- one hundred years- Democrats practiced the worst forms of racism in this country since slavery. They practiced the worst forms of man’s inhumanity to man. They fine tuned and perfected their racist machine.
Democrats have continuously devised barriers and obstacles for Blacks to exercise their rights as first class citizens. The are the masters of disenfranchisement.
It should also be remembered it was the great Democratic hero, FDR, who practiced the same policies as the Nazis- sans killing. He placed innocent Japanese, Italian, and German Americans in internment camps. He also ignored the plight of the Jews in Europe for many years. He just did not care, until he was forced to care. By then it was too late. Six million perished.
But being a Democrat means not having any shame. It also means you have no ethics, morality, decency, or standards of humanity.
The Democrats never stopped practicing the form of Jim Crow that Wasserman Schultz is now complaining about. They are just more sophisticated now. They call it progressive politics. The politics of poverty. The politics of victimhood. The politics of keeping people in their place.
It is apparent Wasserman Schultz never read history. If she had, she would be a Republican.
In a Chicago Tribune editorial, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky is advocating for raising taxes on higher income people. Again. She claims this is the patriotic thing to do.
Patriotism has nothing to do with taxes, paying taxes, or paying a so called fair share of taxes. Ms. Schakowsky is no patriot. She is a very loud advocate for class warfare. That is not patriotism. It is hate speech.
One of the principles of America is rewarding achievement and success. Ms. Schakowsky and her ilk believe in punishing achievement and success. They are anti-American.
Ms. Schakowsky decries the inequalities of income and wealth in America. Income equality, wealth equality, social justice equality, or any other economic or social equalities are fuzzy brained abstract concepts. They are not concrete realities.
There will always be poor people, people in the middle- who go up and down the ladder- and rich people. There is only one equal reality. We are all born human. It is what we do that determines our fate.
Income is tied in to your skills, knowledge, willingness to take on responsibility, and work ethic. Wealth is what you keep.
Wealth is not income. Income is what you earn by the sweat of your brow. Wealth is what you create through saving and investing. Socialists, like the congresswoman always equate wealth with income to generate hatred and class warfare. But she already has hers. What does she care?
Wealth and poverty are choices. Taxation is a choice. A free and equal choice.
Every single American can pay more taxes if they believe the government should have more money to spend and waste on financing more failures. Tax deductions and exemptions- those scams to redistribute wealth- are strictly voluntary. You do not have to take them. If you are a good, true, blue, believing progressive you can pay on your total gross income instead of your adjusted gross income.
You could pay on all your capital gains, and not subtract the losses. You do not have to take those deductions for charity. You do not have to take the exemptions for your family or any other deductions. If you run a business you can pay taxes on total revenue instead of just your profit. It is your free and equal choice. Stop being a hypocrite.
All you have to do is some simple arithmetic and write a big fat check to your Uncle Sam. You can sing the Star Spangled Banner. If you are a progressive billionaire, you could also just write a check to donate money to the government. You could hold a press conference and wrap your self in Old Glory.
Better, you can get your progressive billionaire friends to leave the bulk of their wealth to the government when they die. That would be patriotic.
There is one other silly point Ms. Schakowsky raised. She is in favor of cutting spending and raising taxes. If spending is cut why is there a need for any type of tax increase?
At a news conference the other day, Governor Pat Quinn complained about the influence of lobbyists in "three-piece suits and fancy shoes." He was referring to lobbyists from Com-Ed.
Evil lobbyists are like evil special interests. Populists rage about them all the time. Unless the lobbyists contribute lumps of cash to their campaign funds. Those lobbyists are champions of the people.
Pat Quinn never complains about public employee union lobbyists in nice suits and shoes. Those lobbyists never show up wearing purple shirts, green shirts, or black satin ball jackets emblazoned with gold logos and running shoes. They show up in three piece suits with fancy loafers. Some show up in silk suits, fancy loafers with paper thin soles, pinky rings, and big cigars.
They are the good lobbyists. Every time Pat Quinn sees one of them his eyes light up. He sees dollar signs.
There are the lobbyists in the bespoke suits and fancy shoes who advocate unneeded tax increases. Pat Quinn loves those guys.
Don’t forget the lobbyists who push the state to borrow more money. They represent the bond companies and underwriters. They show up in bankers’ pinstripes and fancy brogans. Quinn adores those guys.
There are the lobbyists for the legal profession- a profession that contributed major bucks too Quinn’s campaign. They show up in expensive suits and fancy shoes too.
Lobbyists and special interests fall into two categories in Pat Quinn’s eyes. The evil ones and the ones who show up with checks or promises of checks to campaign funds. An evil lobbyist, like a penitent, can redeem himself. All he has to do is switch who he gives the check to. If it goes to Quinn, the lobbyist is doing nothing less than trying to save the free world. If it goes to anyone else, the lobbyist is evil. A fiend in designer clothing. A weasel trying to cheat the hard working people of Illinois. The people Quinn claims to represent.
Pat Quinn is no different than his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich. He is bought and paid for. He is owned by guys in three piece suits wearing fancy shoes. He would not talk to anyone else.
Can you imagine some poor mook who shows up wearing khaki work pants, a tee shirt, scuffed work boots, and a piggy bank with change in it? That guy would be hauled off for trying to bribe someone. Worse, police may think the piggy bank is really a bomb.
What is amazing is Pat Quinn is allowed to get away with making these inane statements. People actually believe him. People in the media rarely criticize him.
So, let’s get this straight. All lobbyists are well dressed and wear nice shoes. If they showed up wearing anything less they might be mistaken for a low paid intern, a bureaucratic hack, or a crank.
It is not the suit or the shoes that make the man evil or good. It is who the check is made out to.
N.Y. Congressman Anthony Weiner has a weenie problem. The media is calling it Weinergate. The New York Democrat is facing questions of how a lewd photo, supposedly of him, wound up on a 21 year old’s Twitter account. Weiner claims his account was hacked or it was a prank, or something else. It is known the two were following each other on Twitter. There is a real level of hypocrisy at play here. He is being given a pass and a great benefit of the doubt over this. If he were a Republican, his party would be up in arms crating headlines all over the world. Nancy Pelosi would be demanding he be burned at the stake. On an hourly basis. The shrill choir would never stop. The howls of protest would never end. Look what happened to Republicans who were in similar compromising situations.
This also demonstrates Republicans are not like them. Oh, the conservative media is atwitter about this. But, Republican pols are mostly silent. We do not practice the politics of personal destruction like the Democrats do. The Democratic Party strategy is one of personal destruction, unless one of them gets caught wagging their weenie. Then it is the strategy of silence is golden. Because he is a Democrat, he is being given a pass by his party. The party that can do no wrong. But, he is doing himself no favors, as he refuses to deal with the scandal. He is doing what Democrats do when they are accused of bad behavior; accusing Republicans of trying to destroy the country, accuse a Supreme Court Justice of corruption, and of course trying to handle the various crises our government faces.
But he will not address his weenie problem. It is the old "let’s just move on, we have important work to do for the people". Weenie problem, what weenie problem? But, Weiner is losing the Washington press corps. This could be a bigger problem for him. The more he elides the worse the story looks.
On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation! ~Thomas William Parsons
On Memorial Day we remember and honor those died in the military service of our country. Men and women who gave all in the name of freedom.
Originally called Decoration Day, it was originally enacted to honor Union and Confederate Soldiers after the Civil War.
Decoration Day was first observed in 1868, after Commander in Chief of the Grand Old Army John A. Logan issued a proclamation. The original date, May 30, was chosen because it was not the known anniversary of any battle.
General Logan is a well known historical figure in Illinois. He served as a Democratic State Senator, and a Republican Congressman, and U.S. Senator. Logan Square and Boulevard in Chicago are named after him. There is a statue of him in Grant Park.
America was bred in war. Since 1776 American military personnel have died so others may live free. They shed their blood all over the world. So, let’s take a few minutes from sports, BBQs, picnics, and shopping to remember them.
The bugle echoes shrill and sweet, But not of war it sings to-day. The road is rhythmic with the feet Of men-at-arms who come to pray.
The roses blossom white and red On tombs where weary soldiers lie; Flags wave above the honored dead And martial music cleaves the sky.
Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel, They kept the faith and fought the fight. Through flying lead and crimson steel They plunged for Freedom and the Right.
May we, their grateful children, learn Their strength, who lie beneath this sod, Who went through fire and death to earn At last the accolade of God.
In shining rank on rank arrayed They march, the legions of the Lord; He is their Captain unafraid, The Prince of Peace...Who brought a sword.
Joyce Kilmer
At the time of the War of Independence there were approximately 2000 known Jewish people living in America. Yet, this small group made a significant contribution to the cause of freedom. In Charleston, South Carolina every adult Jewish male fought on the side of freedom. The first patriot killed in action in Georgia was Jewish.
The Jews also provided significant financing for the the Patriot effort. Among them was Haym Salomon. He contributed $200,000.00. He was never paid back and died a pauper. A free pauper.
President George Washington wrote the following “Letter to the Touro Synagogue” in 1790 praising the Jewish people:
"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in the land continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants. While everyone shall sit safely under his own vine and fig-tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."
John Adams, Second President of the United States, wrote the following letter to a fanatic Christian and anti-Semite defending the Jewish people in 1815.
“I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the other sect, who believe or pretend to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.”
The United States of America was the first nation to recognize the Nation of Israel. Israel has been our ally and friend since its inception. For some unfathomable reason, the Democratic Party, their Progressive base, and this president have been consistently anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian. This is nothing new. They have believed this for decades.
Last week President Obama made the reckless statement that any peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel should revert to the pre-1967 borders. This enraged the Israelis and Jews in America. Of course Obama later backtracked. Backtracking is a hallmark of the Obama administration.
During WWII the Palestinians sided with the Axis Powers. Many fought in battles against the United States military. Some were chosen for special training by the German SS. They were trained in special operations, unconventional warfare, intelligence, and propaganda.
Prior to Israel becoming a state, these specially trained operatives formed the core leadership and training cadre of the para-military force of Palestinians. They were the forerunners of the international terrorists of the 1960s. They were the Founding Fathers of Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda.
The Palestinians were allied with the Soviet Union during the 1950s until its fall. During the waves of international terrorism from the 1960s on they were funded and armed by the Soviet Union.
Israel has been our ally, friend, and partner. Why do we want to help those who worked for and with our enemies? Why are the Progressives, their party, their President and Secretary of State so intent and insistent on giving a people who have fought against our interests so much power?
All peace efforts have failed. Every United States President who has involved himself in the peace process has been stabbed in the back by the Palestinians. How many knife wounds does it take? The Palestinians do not want peace. They want the Jewish state wiped off the face of the earth. They will settle for nothing less.
Maybe the Law Professor in Chief should have studied history instead of creating his story.
“She knows the job,” Berrios, ... “We took her out of her old title and put her into a new title.” “Now, we’re giving her even more responsibilities to supervise more people,” says Berrios, “She’s entitled to that salary.”
“They’re very trustful,” he says of his family members. “They know their jobs. And I’m happy they’re there. At the end of the day, the taxpayers will benefit from all of this because the assessment will be fair.” Chicago Sun Times
There he goes again. Joe Berrios justifying giving his daughter a 10 thousand dollar raise and hiring the rest of his family in the Assessor’s office.
Even Mayor Richard J. Daley was not this blatant when he ruled the city. When does it stop? When is enough enough? Why is there no outcry from the so called reformers or the media?
Joe Berrios can do whatever he wants. He can hire whoever he wants. He is the man. What elections have the reformers won? How many patronage workers do the media have? Where is their army?
Joe Berios was nicknamed The Lobster due to his lobbying activities. The name is more appropriate now. He is using his claws to greedily grab every county job for his family. He is running the Assessor’s Office like his own personal fiefdom. He is the Medieval Lord of the Cook County Manor. Lord Lobster.
Berrios thinks this is 1961 instead of 2011. He thinks no one is paying attention. He is right. The citizens are apathetic and the media just does not care. So Lord Lobster creeps and crawls through life looking to feast on county jobs.
This arrogance and hubris knows no end. This is probably not the last relative of Berrios we will hear about. There are more in the pipeline. More to hire, more to promote, more to appoint to other cushy county positions.
At least Joe Berrios is up front, in your face, and open about this. He does not care about the perception of hiring his family. He does not care about the impropriety of it. He does not care what anyone thinks. He just does not care. He is Joe Berrios. J-O-E B-E-R-R-I-O-S! And no one, no one is going to stop him from doing whatever he wants.
Joe Berrios proves everyday the voters in Cook County are apathetic. They elected him with all his baggage. They knew about his family hiring schemes. They knew he had a total lack of ethics. Yet, they elected him.
You get the government you deserve. You deserve Joe Berrios.
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka will give a speech today urging the government to create jobs. He will also put the Democrats on notice. Big Government better give Big Labor what it wants or lose its support. Memo to Trumka. Government does not create anything.
Big Labor is very wealthy. They are non-profit corporations. The have no risk. They waste the big bucks they rake in by purchasing politicians instead of health insurance or pension plans for their members.
From his executive suite, Trumka told Politico his organization will not be inclined to support politicians who do not stand up for job creation, pension reform, and Universal Health Care.
Trumka’s mortal enemy is business. Big Labor and Big Government have been strangling the American Free Enterprise System for decades. Squeezing the life out of it. Squeezing so hard they make the American Eagle scream.
Business takes resources to create products and services for sale. Business must operate in the black- with profit. Only government is allowed to survive and thrive operating in an abattoir. Business can only thrive if it makes a profit. Maximum profit at minimum cost.
Big Government and Big Labor have driven up the cost of doing business in America. Made in America is nothing more than a quaint phrase harking back to better times. When the business of America was business. The people no longer know what the business of America is.
Instead of creating an economic infrastructure for business to thrive Big government has created a structure of tax and regulatory policies that erect barriers, obstacles, roadblocks, and moats. They put alligators in the moats. They put bureaucratic warriors around the moats. They partnered with mercenaries in Big Labor to help the warriors.
Trumka believes business has a social and economic justice obligation. No such things exists. There is no inalienable right to social or economic justice. Our rights are based on individual freedom not social serfdom.
The national debate is in a destructive place. The debate we should be having is over the economic character and survival of America. Big Labor executives, like Trumka, want to debate morality. Morality does not pay the rent or put groceries on the table. Trumka should open a church.
America is a rich nation. We have natural resources, human talent, and an unrivaled ethic of work, invention, and innovation. We used to have a system of government that enabled and abetted opportunity. Our current system punishes achievement with the generous help of Big Labor. Opportunity is denied. Achievement is evil.
Business is about taking risks. There is either reward or punishment. In the marketplace. Big Government and Big Labor take no risks. They just reap the rewards. If Trumka was serious he would work with business to share the risk, share the sacrifice, share the pain. He would encourage Big Government to lower the risk.
Richard Trumka is too big for his own britches. Streets all over America are named for him.
President Obama is demanding businesses start spending cash to hire people. He claims they have a responsibility to invest “hordes of cash” to put people to work. Business owes it to the country, since he did nothing less than save the free world from cataclysmic economic destruction.
He saved the auto industry. He saved the banks. He stabilized the economy. He leapt tall buildings at a single bound. There is a lot more work for super-hero government to do. But businesses owes now so they better pay up. They have this “responsibility”.
Like health care, immigration, the economy, energy, and other major issues, this president does not know what he is doing. He demonstrates this every time he moves his lips.
The government erected a high wall to repel business. They built a moat. They put alligators in the moat. They locked American businesses out. Those that slipped through were thrown into bureaucratic dungeons. They were bound tightly in the inhumane torture of bureaucratic red tape. Government squeezed so hard they made the American Eagle scream.
Obama is a circus barker running the greatest side show on earth. He believes businesses are like trained seals. He tosses them a fish. They gratefully bark, flapping their flippers on command. They are there for his amusement. To make him laugh. To entertain him. If they don’t there will be no fish.
Businesses have no responsibility to get Obama reelected by increasing jobs. They do not have a debt of gratitude to him for their profits. Businesses do not have a responsibility to him at all. Government did not create the profits.
Unlike government, businesses do not hire people they do not need. They do not create meaningless jobs for the sole purpose of spending money. They do not increase spending just because they can. Only government does that.
Businesses earn maximum profits and value at minimum cost. That is all they do. Government creates nothing at maximum cost. Except massive debt and deficits.
There is no debt. No responsibility. To him or the country. There is no social compact. This is not the Soviet Union. He does not command and everyone jumps through hoops to obey.
Obama did say he was going to help businesses reduce their costs. The cost cutting comedian in chief has a plan. He is going to reduce government regulatory paperwork.
Of course he is not going to reduce government regulations. He is not going to order them written in plain simple English. Simple enough that the average person can easily comply with them. Businesses spend hundreds of billions of dollars in vain attempts to comply with regulations no one can understand. Then, they are severely punished because they cannot comply.
Obama is not going to lower the corporate tax, one of the highest in the world. He is not going to do anything to remove the government erected wall that stops the growth of American Free Enterprise.
To paraphrase President Reagan. Mr. Obama- tear down this wall!
“You don’t have to be a high-minded critic or a journalism purist to find something disturbing about seeing people who are supposed to report the news selling out and sucking up at the same time. In fact, it’s downright creepy.
But publicly heaping praise on a politician and professing gratitude to the guy? What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
Sometimes columnists just go too far. So far they fall right over the edge. Robert Feder lashed out at T.V. newscasters for appearing in a farewell ad for Mayor Daley. The ad was produced and aired by Walter E. Smithe Furniture.
Where has Mr. Feder been? He was silent about the gushing celebrity treatment Rahm Emanuel got from the media. That was "creepy". They just tripped and fawned all over him. Kissing every surface of his body. There were even rumors of stories being edited or killed because Rahm called and complained. “What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
Feder does not care how the media supposedly criticizes Machine Democrats for their various sins and incompetence; then immdeiately does a U-turn and endorses them. “What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
What is creepier is the way the media treats the president. It is enough to make you blow chow. Most of the media are his PR flacks. When they do criticize, it is the mild avuncular criticism of advice. They never rip him a new one. The media controls the message and conversation for this president and his administration. They can do no wrong. “What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
How many times have they heavily edited articles or reportage per White House request? They are very good at criticizing the critics of the administration. What about the Fox News imbroglio? This was a perfect example of the media working hand in hand with the President. “What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
They did the same for Nancy Pelosi. She was treated like royalty. Her abuse of power never criticized. She was rarely reported in a bad light. She was the living embodiment of sainthood. “What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
The same media spent eight years ripping Bush and Republicans. They spent countless barrels of ink and gigabytes of digital media bashing or laughing at Republicans. Let’s not forget the attack dogs, Maddow, Olbermann, and Matthews who are considered "journalists" too. They are still around spewing toxic hate and sucking up to the White House. “What part of “unbiased reporting” don’t they understand?”
No one in the media criticizes the hypocrisy or lack of ethics by all this sucking up. There is no ombudsman to mediate, explain, or make things right. They are proudly in the tank. They don’t have “some splaining to do”.
There is "something disturbing seeing people who are supposed to report the news selling out and sucking up at the same time. In fact, it’s downright creepy.”
Minority business contract and vendor fraud, hired trucks, wrought iron fences, vacant lot cleaning, rigged O’Hare airport contracts, hiring and promotion scandals, sewer inspections, pension fund investments, Building Department bribery, phony workers compensation claims, stolen asphalt, towing program, cronyism, etc., etc., etc.
The growing list of corruption scandals and near scandals over the course of the past twenty years contributes to the waste, fraud, and mismanagement, bleeding the city coffers dry. These cost the city of Chicago about 500 million dollars a year.
The city faces a 575 million dollar budget shortfall next year. It would be impossible to root out all the waste, corruption, fraud, and mismanagement by then. These problems are embedded and entrenched in the Chicago system of government and politics. It is an arrogant political culture of corruption and a cornucopia of waste, fraud, and mismanagement.
This culture is not new. It has been the Chicago way ever since Chicago was settled. The Chicago way has been a running joke for decades. Even the employees used to wink, nod, and smile about it. It is not funny anymore. Their friends and relatives have been fired, imprisoned, or both. The tax payers are stuck with the growing bill. No one is laughing now.
Reform and reform movements have been around as long as corruption. They have fought a losing battle to clean up the “City that Works”. They root out corruption, waste rears its ugly head, They root out waste, mismanagement beckons. Mismanagement is exposed, fraud peeks around the corner. A continuous cycle of one feeding on or leading to the other.
Citizens have been paying higher and newer taxes to cover these continuous problems. The money is nothing more than a bandage on an aneurysm. Nary a word on stopping the bleeding.
Next week there will be a new mayor and many new aldermen. They, like their predecessors, will pound the reform drum beat. Many already are. It will not be long before the first scandals break. They may get a honeymoon period by blaming it on the last administration or aldermen. They may not, as the “I blame syndrome” is wearing very thin across America.
It is not just the elected officials and bureaucrats. It is a corrupt political system that no one seems to know how to fix, or wants to. The media exposes the problems and issues. Then, they turn around and endorse those same politicians, over and over again. The same politicians they named in the myriad scandals. Wash, rinse, dry, recycle.
We face severe problems in the year ahead. Loss of services, higher taxes and fees, or both. Not one politician has offered concrete solutions to the issues and problems facing the city. The new mayor and aldermen can’t. They do not know how deep the problems go. The old guard does and will not tell. The citizens will pay the price.
In 1955 Alderman Mathias Paddy Bauler proclaimed “Chicago ain’t ready for reform”. He was right. It may never be.
Oh the conspiracy theories they weave. Is there nothing to believe?
Oh how they shoot themselves in the hip. While shooting from the lip.
The lunatic fringe and the administration are on parallel courses of madness and bumbling.
The lunatic fringe has pushed the birther movement aside. They created the deather movement. They do not believe Osama Bin Laden is dead. They are being enabled and fueled by the media.
Some say the raid was a failure. Osama was not there. The SEALS shot up a perfectly good Pakistani mansion. Others say he is being held incommunicado, under a rock. Being interrogated by enhanced methods. Some claim he is in the same ultra-secret ultra-posh nursing home as Elvis, JFK, and Jim Morrison. Sightings from the Enquirer to come shortly.
All because “I ain’t got no body”. No long form death certificate. No autopsy report. No photos. No video. No YouTube. Of course the media is joining the fray. Fueling it. Not out of some journalistic watch dog sense of transparency. It’s their business model; if it bleeds it leads.
On the other side, we have the Obama administration. In what only can be described as floundering. Their version of events has changed 26 times at last count. Ala Richard Nixon, there is even a 25 minute gap in the live feed video of the raid.
One would think they, of all people, could get a story straight. The most important story of the year. They could have waited for a full debrief of the raiders and others involved. All they had to say was- we got him, details to follow, stay tuned.
People would have stayed tune. While speculation mounted, the media would report disinformation from those oh so secret anonymous sources. Selling more dead trees and getting more eyeballs on the Internet.
But no. They had to come out with details. Facts. The details and facts changed. They changed again. They are still changing. This administration can’t even get one simple story straight.
The administration should have waited a day or two. Nailed the whole story with all the gory details. Then make the announcement. They could have originally said the raid occurred. Osama is in the bag. God bless our military. More to follow.
Now they look like fools. They are being ridiculed. They are scrambling for the next truth to change the last faulty misstep. They are dancing with two left feet in their mouths.
There is celebration, criticism, and the creation of wild speculation. No one has facts. We are told to believe whatever the administration tells us. They keep changing their story. Hour by hour. Day by day. Maybe this is the real change they promised.
Somewhere, between the fantasy of the lunatic fringe, the legends and myths created by the media, and an administration that cannot get a simple story straight, lie the facts. The details. The truth.
The critical issue is perception and credibility. Of President Obama and America.
On May 16th, Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in as the new mayor of Chicago. It will be Rahm this, Emanuel that. Overnight, city wide, signs will be changed. His name will replace Daley’s. A big eraser is coming.
On May 17th it will be Rich who? Rich Daley will be the forgotten man. It will be all about Rahm. A new personality cult will rise up overnight. Like Soviet Russia, the old leader will just disappear from memory. His name erased from everything. Never to be mentioned again. His image vanished. Poof. Gone. He never existed.
A new day will dawn. A new ruler will take up the scepter. A new king will wear the purple. The other guy was born on Arbor Day. He had an unnatural affection for trees. He had them planted all over the city, even in places people never knew existed. Emanuel was born on the same day as patent for traffic lights was granted. Does he have the same unnatural affection for traffic lights? Will he be planting them in places people never knew existed?
Hired trucks? Mob controlled city contractors and vendors? Hiring scandals? Miles of wrought iron fences? The great flood? The great gas explosion? The fractured and bumbling speech? Tirades? Indictments and convictions? The past will be scrubbed away overnight. History will be rewritten. The Emanuel era will begin. That other guy’s era will disappear.
We will forget it all. It will all be like fog. The fog of politics. On May 17th the sun will rise. The fog will burn away. The birds will sing and the flowers will bloom. A new day will dawn. A new leader will emerge. The other guy will be out of sight and out of mind.
Emanuel will ride in on May 17th and a new era will be born. The Emanuel era. Thou shalt worship no one else. There never was anyone else.
22 years of history will be wiped away. A clean slate. All the people and the media will gush over Emanuel. He will be the new center of the universe. He will be the new face of Chicago. We will have a new mayor to scrutin.
The past will be forgotten. Wiped away like sins in a confessional. The present is all that counts. Oh, books will eventually be written about the other guy’s 22 year reign. Some full of praise. Some full of detraction. Some full of both. Some full of...
Maybe, every now and then, a column or puff piece will be floated about that other guy. A thanks for the memories piece. People will read it. They will wonder. Who was that guy?
On May 17th Chicago will wake up to a new mayor. That other guy?
For three days the media has been filled to the gills with the Osama Bin Laden story. They have constantly pounded the drum. The courage, sacrifice, grit, and selflessness of those sweating it out in the Situation Room. The nail biting tension, the perspiration, the heroics, the men and women of action in the White House. The tough as nails team leader, Obama, trying to get Osama.
All while a highly trained group of military operatives spent just another day at the office. Dropping from a helicopter, infiltrating a heavily armed fortress, and taking out the bad guys. The usual. The mundane. The normal. It is what they do.
But, something was left out of the stories. Between the raw courage in the White House and the ordinary work day in Pakistan, a little known story slipped out. A curiosity. There was another hero in Pakistan. A courageous and well trained hero. A hero who would also make the ultimate sacrifice if asked.
A four legged hero. A Canine. A Dog. A floppy eared curbstone setter. Good old Fido, Spot, Old Yeller. Man’s best friend.
The U.S. Special Forces, ala the SAS, have been using commando dogs to assist in their operations. The dogs are highly trained to ferret out explosives, attack anyone holding a weapon, search tunnels and buildings, and are airborne qualified; able to leave a perfectly good airplane at 25,000 feet, wearing an oxygen mask, to enter a hostile environment.
They wear special body armor that can repel bullets and shrapnel. They wear head-cams, just like their two legged masters. The are roped down from perfectly good helicopters, tethered to their two legged counterparts.
There is a problem. We have the Army Green Berets, the Navy SEALs, Marine Corps. Force Recon, and Air Force Special Ops.
What do we call these brave elite four legged creatures? It has to be something catchy. Something that sings. Something to make them proud. It is surprising some bureaucrat in the runny bowels of government hasn’t come up with a catchy name yet. They were probably too busy with KMA, climate change, man made catastrophes, and quantitative easing to be bothered by naming heroic hounds.
What do we call these four legged heroes? Fighting fangs? Hell hounds? Paradogs? Comandogs? Special Hounds? Canine Commandos? Growling Guerillas? Nothing seems to sing. To stand out.
So, while our brave heroes in shirt and blouse sleeves were making the ultimate sacrifice in an air conditioned office under extreme adverse conditions. While a group of war fighters were having another mundane work day, commuting back and forth. A brave canine hero was ignored. It is hoped he left more than he brought. It is hoped he received a special treat for his bravery.
Rod Blagojevich went out with a media bang. He was convicted of 17 counts plus the count of lying to the F.B.I. from his first trial. He could get a maximum sentence of 305 years, though 7- 10 years is more likely.
