Aloha!

We were checking out some of our visitor stats and we're getting visits from Hawaii of all places. How someone from the Aloha State found this website, we have no idea. Maybe it's a retiree? We've heard some people retire out there once in a while. Perhaps it's one of our Vegas readers on vacation.

Anyway, We topped 1,500 hits for Monday, we passed 196,000 total visitors and 960,000 page views. The one million mark looms ever closer and should be reached in the next 6 days or so, and 200,000 visits by weeks end - maybe. Thanks again to all our readers. We appreciate it.

Now, we took down the comments in the "Pension Questions" for a few hours because it had degenerated into a bullshit pissing match about something that had NOTHING to do with anything posted. KNOCK OFF THE BULLSHIT! We were attempting to address a serious issue and maybe get some information, not just for us, but for everyone. We are --><-- this close to instituting a fully registered or moderated comment area. Do we really have to keep explaining what a registered comment area means? A LIST. A list that is tracable and a list that can be subpoenaed in a civil court. Knock of the crap people. Fun is fun, but what was happening earlier was ridiculous.

Fred Hampton Avenue

If we had known that the Slum Times was going to run this story on page 1 today, we would have posted something about it early. As it was, just about everyone covered it - Tribune; Channel 5; Channel 7. Our feeling are as follows:

Fred Hampton was a gang banging scum bag. Any good he might have performed was merely a cover for other unlawful activity. He was merely a darker version of Al Capone, who used to run soup kitchens for the poor and indigent during the Depression while killing and maiming his way to power in the bootlegging industry. Or a precursor to Gator Bradley who purports to register voters and support jobs programs while attempting to consolidate holds on west side drug markets. That being said, if some insignificant scumbag supporting aldercreature wants to name a street after someone who did far more harm to their community than any imagined good, far be it from us interfere with the democratic process.

HOWEVER, we would propose the following resolution (and anyone who wants to steal this idea, aldercreature, superintendent, reporter or FOP president, have at it). How about we rename the 0-100 block (or longer blocks) of Oakley the Honorary Cook County State's Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan Avenue? After all, Mr. Hanrahan honorably served the people of Chicago and Cook County for many years, prosecuting cases and imprisoning many dangerous individuals. He lived a full life and had many hundreds of friends. We mean, if we're only focusing on the "good" that the scumbag Hampton did, we can surely focus on the good that a State's Attorney did during his long and illustrious career.

And as someone said a few months ago, an indictment is not a conviction.

Pension Questions

We've been getting a rather frustrated individual in the comments section who is claiming that our pension fund is in trouble, the city is draining it, we're all doomed and other complaints.

We'd like to address the issue, but we admit a lack of accounting and actuarial knowledge to do it even remotely well. Does anyone have any concrete evidence that our pension fund is in anything but decent health? We realize that certain private pensions have been going under. We are also aware that the Feds have stepped in to regulate and control a number of other funds, many times shorting pension recipients of what they had been promised by previous contracts and companies.

Anyone who can do it intelligently and in a simple manner is welcome to try here in this thread.

How NOT to Win an Election

From the Channel 2 website:

• In a new political bombshell, leading African-American legislators and others said Monday they may support an independent third-party candidate against Rod Blagojevich this fall.

Wow. Black legislators refusing to support a democratic candidate. Could this be the begining of a falling apart of the Machine and the lockstep voting of a significant minority block?

• But State Sen. Meeks and others were infuriated last week when Rod Blagojevich told reporters in Springfield that, if re-elected, he would refuse to raise either the sales tax or the income tax.
  “If the governor does not take back his pledge, and if the governor is not willing to work with the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, it's a third candidate that I'm hoping will step forward,” Meeks said.

Did you catch that? Meeks and the Black Caucus WANT TO RAISE sales taxes and/or income taxes! Holy Shades of Walter Mondale Batman! Of course, it's all for the children, but we've been pouring money into the money pit known as "public education" for years and there has been little or no improvement - at least not in direct proportion to the amount of money given. Maybe instead of raising taxes, we ought to look into alternative means of fixing schools - like a voucher system. Regardless, Republican chances look a little bit brighter with Meeks and company promising to back a third party candidate and promising ot raise taxes. It's almost "Rovian."

Foreign Control of Ports

We held our fire during the current controversy regarding foreign "control" of US ports. We were dragged into it by a commentator who was upset we hadn't jumped in with both feet on one side or the other. It seems we were correct in withholding judgment until more information became available. First of all, the issue has switched from "ports" to "terminals." That's a HUGE shift in focus. From National Review:

• "“Senator Menendez and I don'’t think any foreign government company should be running our ports, managing, leasing, owning, operating. It just raises too many red flags. That is the nub of our complaints,"” said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaking via teleconference in response to Bush'’s announcement.

From USA Today:

• At the massive Port of Los Angeles alone, 80% of the terminals are run by foreign firms. And the U.S. Department of Transportation says the United Kingdom, Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China and Taiwan have interests in U.S. port terminals.

And most of these port deals took place when Hillary was "co-president." So it's obvious that she is again attempting to stake out the middle ground and position herself as a centrist. And anything Hillary is opining on, immediately raises red flags in our world.

The most amusing part of this entire enterprise? Democrats hammer police officers constantly about "racial profiling." And this entire incident is an example of ..."RACIAL PROFILING!" Are democrats guilty of hypocrisy now or when they were telling us that profiling doesn't work?

Rumor Mill Starts Up

Rumors of exempt movement are on the horizon. It's been a couple of months since anything happened and there are a few openings. Also, keep in mind that Lieutenant "meritorious" letters were due in last week AND the Sergeants are set to graduate around St. Patrick's Day AND the "meritorious" detective letter is due in sometime in March.

So, who has a list of what's open? Who has the dirt on the size of the Lieutenant class? How about Detectives? And can the academy keep up with the shortages that will be generated by pulling all these people out of the districts and an estimated 600 retirements this year?

Even More Seiser

More craziness over at Rue St. Michel's Bienvenue. If this keeps up, Seiser will supplant our favorite Sergeant-to-be in the category of bad photoshopping.


But probably not. Perhaps they could share the title?

How About a Quick Hits

To close out the weekend:

• Man charged with selling viagra to under cover officers. Now, knowing that the media has no clue when it comes to telling tact from gangs from actual narcotics officers, who has the low down on this story? We were going to write something the guys at Homan Square and suspicious bulges, but it doesn't work unless we have all the info. Channel 5, Channel 7 and Channel 2 coverage.
• Five of the six suspended sheriff's employees alleged to have taken part in the escapes are back at work, but have been "de-deputized" as the story reads. Is that even a word?
• An arrest made in a string of robberies of pizza delivery men. Didn't Lt. Farrell kill some fool who was doing this years ago? Why didn't they just put him on the case?
• Mega Millions is up to $256 million. Just so everyone knows, if we win - we are SO out of here. We'll turn over the blog to one of our compatriots and vacate the premises. You won't see us for the dust we leave behind.

Good Old American Knowhow

Nice house in Tennessee:

A secret closet:

Leads to an underground bunker:

And a giant marijuana farming operation!


Who says hillbillies don't have ingenuity? More photos and story here. This was a small operation that could harvest every 60 days. Quite a bit of effort on the dope dealer's part and a 5 year investigation by Nashville PD to wrap it up.

Captains, Lieutenants Reading the Blog?

We just read in the Sun Times that Captains, Lieutenants and other city workers got the shaft big time with their retro checks being taxed at a higher rate.

• Instead of taxing retroactive pay at a flat rate of 25 percent, Acting City Comptroller Steve Hughes lumped the supplemental check in with the rest of employee earnings, kicking them up to a higher tax bracket. If they want the money back, they'll have to wait until they file their 2007 tax returns.

Any bosses care to comment? Because the Sergeants who are about to receive almost 3 years of retro pay might be a bit interested in how the city is calculating their raises and their withholding.

Midway Expansion Rumors

From Channel 2 News:

• City officials have issued a cease and desist letter after a real estate agent sent out notices to homeowners near Midway International Airport saying their homes might soon be condemned. The Department of Aviation said the notices were sent to homeowners by a broker from a Northwest Side Century 21 office who offered to help homeowners find a new residence.

The city officials also asked Century 21 to stop parking bulldozers in the alleys and driving front end loaders up and down the block.

RIP Don Knotts

AP report via Channel 7. Seiser can now add Mayberry to the list of places he is undisputed boss as Deputy Fife was the only thing keeping him in check.

More Hints of an Attack?

Long time readers (who actually read the site and check out the articles we link to and don't just run to the comments section to post bullshit) may recall a few months ago when the student in Oklahoma blew himself up outside of football game and the media and university officials tripped all over themselves saying it wasn't terrorism related, even though the dead guy attended a nearby mosque.

It's happening again.

• Two female students from Moore-Hill dormitory were still being treated late Friday for Ricin exposure after coming into contact with the toxin Thursday afternoon, law enforcement and UT officials said. Students began evacuating the dorm shortly after 11 p.m. when University Residence Hall resident assistants began knocking door-to-door evacuating residents...
• U.T.'s associate director of Student Health Services, Theresa Spalding, says:"There is no threat coming from this... the authorities do not believe there is any type of terroristic plot against the University of Texas." [emphasis added - SCC]
  

Right. Ricin just happened to make it into a roll of quarters that the girls were using for laundry. Talk about your head in the sand. Ricin has to be created AND processed from castor beans to become a toxic substance. This is another one of those incidents that make us think something big is brewing somewhere. Go read the entire post at Generation Why. He's got a bunch of good photos up of the Haz-Mat incident.

UPDATE: False positive? Prairie Pundit says the whole incident may have been triggered by a false positive test on the substance. Roll out your conspiracy theories now.

Are These People for Real?

We found this little gem of a website mentioned over at Powerline.com and just had to surf over there and take a peek. Among the sample pages published were these:

Sharing is good, right? Nothing bad about sharing. Unless the other kids think they're entitled to our toys even though they did nothing to earn them. Remember all the sacrifices and extra work we did to afford those toys? We made some difficult choices to be able to afford that toy. Now you want it just because we have it? What are you, communist? Oh wait - you are.

Not too subtle political jab here at the big bad elephant, right? But wait! The elephant is actually going to confront the child molester on the background who was eyeballing the kids! Maybe elephants aren't so bad after all! Mommy can tell the kids that everything will be all right while not actually doing anything to protect them and the elephant does the heavy lifting - how very much like the democrats.
Unless, of course, you are actually looking for results. Then mommy has to make nice with the powerful teacher unions. Sorry that you can't read or write little squirrel. And if someone comes up with a voucher idea so other parents who aren't happy with the education their kids are receiving, we can help try to kill it lest the unions actually be expected to educate you to get a job to afford more toys when you are older.

"No Duh" Headline of the Day

No Bond for Six Inmates Charged in Escape.

Gee whiz, why not? They seem like honest boys. We're sure they wouldn't miss a court date. Well, not on purpose anyway. Maybe if they overslept or something, right?

Channel 5 and Channel 7 join in the "Masters of the Obvious" stupidity. Must have been a slow news night. Maybe they could have expounded on the WGN hit job on the 016th District Thursday night?

And ANOTHER security lapse at the jail. What are they doing over there? Besides nothing we mean.

Was Seiser in Wisconsin Lately?

Just wondering after seeing this story.

And on an unrelated note, we will be hosting a little get together in Wisconsin this weekend. Bring your own food. Beer will be free (stop asking questions - it was Seiser).

UPDATE: Channel 5 has picked up the story. Drink faster please, we've got to have this stuff gone by tomorrow morning.

Oh Please, Let This be True

Every so often, we pray and hope that a rumor might be true: that certain city officials get indicted, that long lost relative may have won the lottery, that someone qualified actually got a spot/promotion they deserved. This is one of those times:

• According to Dick Morris, former Vice President and lunatic-for-hire Al Gore may have enough momentum to steal the nomination away from Hillary Clinton in 2008. Morris postulates that Gore has picked up enough credibility on the Left that he can make himself the frontrunner by just entering the race.

Go read the entire post at Captain's Quarters and surf some of the links embedded in the piece, especially the Dick Morris article. Morris is one of the architects of the Clinton presidency and is an astute political observer if nothing else. If he is picking up these signals, there is something to them. Al Gore would drive Hillary away from the centrist positions she is staking out and drag her into a bruising primary fight. This could secure a Republican majority for the next 20 years if Gore gets into the race. Karl Rove couldn't make commercials fast enough to completely destroy the democrats as a political entity. Run Al Run!

Media Distortion?

WGN has a video clip on their website of the 9 o'clock news tonight. The entire story is based on 2 photographs and the story told by an arrestee of a beating at the hands of police in the 016th District. We can't seem to find a way to link directly to the video but a quick summary - domestic with mother, police respond, man gets into verbal altercation with police, man is arrested while resisting. A single photograph on the news shows the arrestee bleeding from a head wound sustained during the fight. The arrestee claims to be bi-polar, is suing the city and police and claims to be scared of the police now.

We wish we could say that it never ceases to amaze that the media can just take 2 photographs and make a story out of whole cloth without so much as an attempt at getting any other side of the story. WGN just describes the photo as four officers on top of the arrestee, but even Stevie Wonder would see that the cops are just standing around the handcuffed subject - no one is on top of anyone. The subject went right to the hospital afterwards, got cleaned up and processed. No violations of orders we could see - and we certainly wouldn't make that assessment based on the two photos we saw. Someone really ought to create some kind of standard rebuttal to crap like this.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Car crash on the Stevenson yesterday. Large amounts of cash and a check for $2 million dollars, along with multiple credit cards and ID's are leading to speculation that this could be related to terrorism or government corruption.

Others speculate that this could be tied into SCC's Bootleg Photoshop T-shirt business or an effort by Seiser to run the highways and byways of the city. The investigation continues.

Channel 2; 5; 7 coverage also

It wasn't Seiser

Anyone amused by the report of the TASER device igniting a suspect's clothing by Seiser in the comments section can read the real story here. It's still as humorous as before, even without Seiser running it.

Ryan Hides Behind Wife's Skirt

Anyone who doesn't at least give credence to the speculation that Dan Webb sent Lura Lynn Ryan out to give a speech to the media hours after Ryan said he wouldn't testify has rocks in their head. Even the Federal prosecutors are quoted as saying the move was "orchestrated" according to the Sun Times article. Mrs. Ryan is being used to make her husband look like a martyr instead of a corrupt, bribe-taking accomplice in the murder of six children and a general scum bag to boot.

There's a reason the word "lawyer" sounds so much like "liar."

See the Sights

We were driving along today, minding our own business, searching the various rail yards for new hiding ... um, we mean, searching for miscreants and evil doers when we ran across this. Click for a larger image:
Someone has WAAAAAAY too much time on their hands. Seriously.

Foreign Control of US Ports

We've been asked in the comments section why we haven't commented on George Bush handing over control of US ports to the United Arab Emirates. We assume it's a left leaning questioner as it's phrased like those "When did you stop beating your wife" questions. A few quick facts and related opinion about the port controversy:

• Port security will still fall under the jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security. Should that make anyone feel better? Not really. DHS is becoming a bloated government bureaucracy, exactly what led us into the complacency that culminated in 9/11. And the USCG still only inspects 5 to 8% of the intermodal containers entering this country.
• The ports are currently operated by a foreign government - the British. Yes, the Brits have been steadfast allies for many years. But terrorists have shown they can infiltrate ANY open and free western society, government, armed force, etc. Although this deal would be a paper move, it is a paper move that makes Americans uncomfortable.
• "the review of the deal was conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a body that was created in 1975 to review foreign investments in the country that could affect national security"(from the NYTimes). Unfortunately, the President and Secretary of Defense do not seem to have been in the loop on this decision. More bureaucracy gumming up the works.
• Democrats are moving to the right of the president, trying to outflank him. Various arab groups are screaming racism, which further marginalizes their input. Republicans are in a tizzy trying to make the Administration switch directions.

In short, it's complete FUBAR. We can only imagine that the White House is waiting for an opinion poll before making a move, which is stupid. It's Clintonian for pete's sake. The funniest thing about this is that all the screaming to keep the ports in American hands will mean the only firm capable of running a system this big will get the contract for years to come. That company is called Halliburton and we can hardly wait for the screaming to begin once that happens.

Now excuse us while we reorganize our stock portfolios to reflect that of the Vice President. (thanks to Captain's Quarters and Michelle Malkin for doing a lot of heavy lifting on this)

925,000 Views

In about 4 days, we went from 900,000 page views to over 925,000 page views. Granted, many of these visits are by the same people checking back to see what havoc they may have wrought by posting goofy stuff, but it's still pretty impressive.

One million is right around the corner. Any more predictions on the exact day? So far, we have ... well, we have one prediction total. Way to stay on topic people!

The Land of Fruits and Nuts

Trust California to screw up a perfectly good execution:

• The planned execution of a man convicted of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl was delayed until Tuesday night after two anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns.

First of all, we're hoping Arnold doesn't let us down here and he actually flies to San Quentin to manually strangle this turd at some point in the near future. Secondly, what were prison officials thinking by hiring two new guys to assist in the process?

And now:

• State officials on Tuesday postponed indefinitely the execution of a condemned killer, saying they would be unable to comply with a judge's order that a medical professional administer the lethal injection.

Here's a free suggestion to California - you don't need a medical professional immediately on hand if you hang him. Or electrocute him. Or put him up against the wall and shoot him. You just need a medical professional on hand to say, "Yup, he's dead" afterwards. This scumbag raped and murdered a 17 year old girl with a hammer and a knife over 25 years ago. The worry here is that the asshole may suffer "excruciating pain from the last two chemicals if he isn't fully sedated." Fine, skip the sedation. If Arnold wants us to come out to California and beat this jagoff to death with sledgehammers, we'll fly out on our dime. But spare us the "excruciating pain" excuses. What about Terri Winchell's "excruciating pain"?

Hey Clout People!

Or at least Clout Sergeants. Today is the day the "meritorious" letter is due in for the career service rank of Lieutenant. Did you get it in on time? Did you make your phone calls?

Supposedly, this is the last class off the list and a new test is going to be announced in March or April. Who has info?

More Hired Truck

Just when you think a story is dying out, Warmbir and Novak pull you back in (with some help from Fran Spielman).

Remember the scandal at the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs where a 19 year old was hired as a fully qualified building inspector in spite of the fact that you need 6 years experience to even be considered for such a position? That means little Andy Ryan was a fully qualified tradesman at the tender age of 13. Three other younger, politically connected inspectors were fired or resigned shortly thereafter.

If we were the Feds (which we aren't) and we were halfway intelligent (which we are), we'd be squeezing these four kids like tomatoes at a sauce factory. Think about it - you're under age 25 and you've got (A) your life ahead of you: chasing girls, marriage, kids, etc. Or (B) a Federal racketeering indictment looming over your head, a short stint in Club Fed and a lifetime of half assed jobs available only to people with criminal records. They'll be giving up their own grandmothers to stay out of jail, let alone their fathers and the politically connected people who got them jobs.

Keep squeezing those tomatoes Mr. Fitzgerald.

Economy Keeps on Trucking

From Yahoo News:

• A key forecasting gauge of the U.S. economy posted its biggest jump in seven months in January in a positive sign for economic growth

And as the New Orleans reconstruction hits its stride ... well, we're sure we only have to spell it out for Lefty and a few other communists.

What Once Was Lost

Bart has been located.

Channel 5; Channel 7; Tribune coverage.

Now how about that GPS collar?

Jail Guards Blame Bosses

Inmates finger guards, guards finger bosses, bosses will blame the county government. Soon, no one will be to blame any more and we can all get on with our lives paying outrageous taxes to a corrupt and outdated political entity.

We can hardly wait!

Read My Lips - No Tax Hikes

And so Governor Rod Blagojevich begins his reelection campaign by making that most fleeting of promises - the no tax hike pledge. Can someone tell us, is Rod running as a republican or a democrat this time? Republican on tax hikes, Democrat on gun control. Republican on job creation, Democrat on road building.

Of course, the media had to ask him SEVEN times if he was going to stick to his "no tax hikes" pledge of 4 years ago before getting an answer. And if you read between the lines, the answer appears to be, "I'll let the mayors and county officials raise every tax and service charge they can think of, but I think raising state taxes is a bad idea."

But that doesn't mean he wouldn't object to being "forced into it" by a democratic controlled legislature.

Missing K9

Bart is missing.

There is no further info than that. Links to the story at Channel 2 and Channel 7. Maybe this would be a good time to look into Global Positioning Systems for dogs? If they can make a system small enough to fit into your kid's backpack or small enough for an ankle bracelet, they ought to be able to put one into a dog collar.

Maybe we can argue for "first issue" so the mayor doesn't make you pay for it?

Cameras Cameras Everywhere

Watch yourselves boys and girls. All the following links are from Drudge. All the following links appeared on his website TODAY!

• First up, Chicago! USA Today reports that the mayor wants cameras everywhere. The only thing remotely interesting is that the mayor wants businesses to pay for the cameras themselves AND THEN give the police access. Civil libertarians are appalled, but the democratic party has yet to scream "Eavesdropping! Eavesdropping!"
• Houston wants cameras in "apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers. [...] (I)f you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Harold Hurtt told reporters Wednesday [emphasis added - SCC]. Nice sentiments - we nominate the Chief's house to be the first "volunteer"
• And Santa Monica Pier and Promenade are due for cameras soon.

Be aware people. Be very aware. Remember, even hospitals have cameras and retail security offices are all wired. There's a time and a place to act the fool, and nowadays isn't the time and just about everywhere isn't the place anymore.

Happy President's Day

Enjoy the holiday if you're fortunate enough to be RDO. Enjoy the extra pay or hours if you're lucky enough to be working.

And if you don't enjoy anything else today, enjoy this lovely picture that we located. Standing from left to right: Cpl. J. Evans, Continental Army; Gen. G. Washington, Continental Army; Cpl. C. Owens (with flag), Virginia Irregulars; Sgt .... now wait just a damn minute. WHO keeps sending us this stuff?

You'll Never Take Me Alive!

According to AP, osama bin laden has vowed never to be taken alive. OK. We shall agree never to take you alive then.

Osama also says that the US has resorted to the same repressive tactics employed by saddam. Well, we didn't know that saddam had been making naked prisoner pyramids and putting underwear on prisoner's heads, but in the case of osama, we'd consent to using an industrial sized plastic shredder just to prove a point.

We hope that US Special Forces may be getting close to fulfilling osama's vow if he is preparing his followers for life without his leadership.

What the Media Doesn't Report

Remember Harry Reid bragging to the media "We killed the Patriot Act"?

Well, they cleaned it up and the Senate voted to end the democratic led filibuster on it this past Friday 96 to 3. Among the 96 "yea" votes were Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Dick Durbin.

Amazing. A few cosmetic changes AND plummeting poll numbers and suddenly everything is hunky-dory for the democrats who screamed loud and long about the erosion of civil liberties, illegal detentions and unauthorized wire taps (without actually backing up any of these claims with hard data).

Democrats - the party of knee jerk reactionism.

Wildlife Intrusions

The Sun Times reports today that the Chicago area is the largest urban refuge for coyotes. The population is estimated to be over 2,000 at this time and increasing. We've heard stories of them living out at the water filtration plant (ask the Marine Unit guys about the one they captured) and we hear stories of them chasing geese at various golf courses.

The attack on a poodle in Oak Brook last week is only the beginning of an upswing in incidents we'll hear about in coming years as coyotes slowly lose their fear of humans and start preying on household pets. Because you know, those deer are hard to catch - Fido in the yard is easy.

How soon until they attack a child? A jogger? Not long if we had to bet money on it. Does anyone know if coyote fur coats warm?

Good Doggie?

A story about what is being billed as the first time a Chicago Police canine has sniffed out evidence that was later used in DNA testing to tie someone to a crime.

Now don't get us wrong - canines are an excellent asset. They can sniff out dope, money, hidden criminals or corpses, and it is amusing as hell to see someone try to out run a dog when they're hiding in the weeds and the handler gives the command "Find them!" That by itself is worth the price of admission.

But is this really news? A decent cordon of coppers searching gangways with flashlights probably could have turned up this "do-rag" with the mook's DNA on it. The only question is, would the coppers have recognized it as evidence? Because if there is one thing that this department is sorely lacking in, it's evidence recognition skills. ESPECIALLY in light of recent scientific progress in isolating and identifying DNA profiles.

Any other opinions? Any detectives want to weigh in on evidence collection?

Hillary, Meet Lexus/Nexus

In the face of massively declining poll numbers, Hillary Clinton continues to try to solidify her left wing while alienating swing voters everywhere else. Blasting the White House, she said:

• "The refusal of this administration to level with the American people on matters large and small is very disturbing, because it goes counter to the way our constitutional democracy . . . is supposed to work," said Mrs. Clinton
  

This from a woman "who as first lady withheld subpoenaed documents from Whitewater investigators for two years and refused to turn over a suicide note from a top aide after he had killed himself" according to NewsMax.com.

It was a hunting accident. ACCIDENT. "Not on purpose." Closed investigation and no prosecution. And Harry Whittington was released from the hospital and actually held a press conference where HE said "accidents happen" when hunting. Tempest in a teapot.

Even Criminals Hibernate

Glad to see someone finally told the press that when there are more people on the streets, there is greater opportunity for misbehavior and malfeasance to take place.

Next up for the media - most burglaries occur when people leave their houses and go to work. And Tuesday - more cars on the roads lead to more traffic jams and fender benders.

Masters of the Obvious.

If We Had A Nickel ...

... for every time we dreamt this headline after seeing what alcohol does to your brain, we'd be trillionaires:

• Accused of Driving Drunk with Pig

and the story doesn't get any better for this poor bastard after that:

• When the deputy searched Zahn's vehicle, he found a pig in the backseat, an empty fifth of vodka, an unopened 12-pack of beer and an insulated cup.
• When asked what he was doing in the parking lot, the complaint said Zahn told the trooper, "I had a fight with my woman and didn't want to cause any trouble." A strong odor of intoxicants was coming from inside the vehicle.

This is a true story. What's unbelievable is the shellacking this guy is going to get at work for the next 20 years. He must be a real winner if after leaving, all he could get was livestock. Hat tip to Ace of Spades

900,000 Page Views

Sometime in the next few hours or so, we will pass 900,000 individual page views. Not too shabby for eight and a half month of work. Thanks everyone.

Time for a contest! Who can predict what day we'll hit One Miiiiiiilion Page Views? Can you narrow it down to AM or PM? Let's brush up on those actuarial skills!

Anyone who can predict the date and hour will receive a free lifetime membership! Anyone who can predict the minute has waaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands.

Kofi, Shut Up

The UN has decided that we ought to shut down Guantanamo Bay and either release the prisoners or bring them to trial. We, on the other hand, advocate summary executions for individuals captured on the field of battle who hide among civilians, do not wear uniforms, and regularly violate the protocols of war.

This from a world body that has no standing armed forces, receives something like 20% of it's funding from the US, is complicit in numerous sex slave and child rape endeavors where ever it sends "peace keepers," helped steal 10 billion dollars from the starving Iraqi people while Saddam built palaces, is still in Kosovo 12 years after NATO removed another mass murderer and can't seem to finish up the trial of that same mass murderer after 3 years!

When is John Bolton going to remove the top 10 floors of that building like he promised he would?

Religion of Peace - Hahahaha

A cleric in Pakistan today offered a bounty of $1 million dollars on the cartoonists who drew the "offending pictures" of muhammed along with a car and other sundry items.

Sure is a peaceful religion you got there boys. Other items of note:

• islamic law does not forbid the use of nuclear weapons in a recent fatwa issued this week
• female reporter stoned in Turkey for not wearing a headscarf
  
• even the French are aware that Iran is developing nuclear weapons

But hey, it's all the fault of the Crusades, don't you know? Just give them back Spain and all will be forgiven (until they want Britain; and Portugal; and Alsace-Lorraine ... oh wait, that was another war).

Super Sheriff is On the Job!!

Right. Mike Sheehan caught an escaped prisoner. All by his lonesome. OK. Truth may just be stranger than fiction.

Channel 2; Channel 5; Channel 7; Times; Trib.

One of the candidates is at least as skeptical as we are, but we think if they were that desperate for good headlines, they'd let Dart grab someone instead of Sheehan, who isn't running for anything at all.

Al Gore Becomes al-Gore

The elder statesman of the democratic party has thrown his hat in the ring with the islamofascists who wish to destroy America. From his recent speech (13 February) in Saudi Arabia (all emphasis is added by SCC):

• Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment.
• "The thoughtless way in which visas are now handled, that is a mistake," Gore said during the Jiddah Economic Forum. "The worst thing we can possibly do is to cut off the channels of friendship and mutual understanding between Saudi Arabia and the United States."
• Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been "indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable."

Ok Al Gore. Could you possibly make a list of the "terrible abuses" suffered by Arabs in this country? Because the way the media keeps bringing up 2 and 3 year old Abu Ghraib photos, we think they'd be begging for new material.

Or maybe Al, you could tell us what's so horrible about revamping the entire visa process, seeing as how it was a number of the 19 hijackers who had overstayed and violated "student" visas that permitted them to hide among us before slaughtering thousands.

And again with the rounding up? Could you document this? If white supremacists had blown up a Federal building in (let's just say) Oklahoma City during your tenure as Vice President, wouldn't you want to look at white supremacists? You did? And you caught them? Golly, then why shouldn't Bush order the law enforcement apparatus of the United States to look at muslims posing as students who are currently in violation of their visa restrictions?

And who paid Al a couple of hundred thousand bucks to come to the Jiddah 2006 Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia and rip on American treatment of arab nationals? We're wondering if one of the contributors wasn't the bin Laden Construction Company. Hat tips to Powerline, Michelle Malkin, Tigerhawk

Update to Previous Post

We were just thinking over some of the comments that we saw in the posts about some young kids not acting right at the funeral. We were there and didn't see any misbehavior, but if there was, we'd hope a boss comes down on them like a ton of bricks (you know, like how they won't with certain almost sergeants near airplanes).

That being said, perhaps the kids weren't taught how to act at funerals. If you happen to be unfortunate to attend more than a few, you learn real quick. Second, they had all the kids stacked along the block with no veterans among them. So here they are, green as can be, confronted with a guy not older than they are, being buried after dying doing the exact same job that they are signing up for - what would most coppers do? A little bravado? A little nervous joking? A little childishness? Probably.

Nothing brings home your own mortality than burying someone your age or younger. The young aren't supposed to think about death as much as the old. Life looks a lot better and promising from the young side of 40 or 50. But not when burying a 26 year old cop. If the kids were a little out of line, correct them, don't slam them. Once they march in a few St. Jude's parades or (god forbid) attend another funeral with some regular guys and gals in the districts, they'll learn. We all did.

International Appeal

Seems we have friends across the pond. We are actually linked at a site called "The Policeman's Blog" based in the United Kingdom. It seems to be a regular coppers blog from England, with a lot of the same gripes we have and a few different ones (like massive muslim protests about some cartoons).

Nice to see international folks visiting and linking. Makes the whole police fraternity a little more real. And it was especially nice to see in the comments section about that police officer from Germany taking time out of his vacation to attend the funeral of Eric Solorio. Someone be sure to buy that gentleman a shitload of beer, even if weak American brew can't even get him toasty. A heartfelt "Thanks" to our German brethren.

Move Along People

Is anyone else surprised that this story isn't getting more play in the media (hat tip Ace of Spades)?

• Secret audiotapes of Saddam Hussein discussing ways to attack America with weapons of mass destruction will be the subject of an ABC "Nightline" program Wednesday night, a former federal prosecutor told Cybercast News Service.

No, no weapons of mass destruction here. Nothing to see here. Move along people. Bush, Cheney, Blood-for-Oil, Halliburton, Lied/Died, stop wiretapping, close Gitmo, down with the USA. Any of this sound familiar to our resident leftists?

And how about avowed America hater and communist Cindy Sheehan being shouted down at a Chicago area appearance today? Channel 2 and Channel 7 coverage of her appearance at St. Xavier University. We were just wondering - since more American citizens were killed in Los Angeles in 2005 than in Iraq, were Cindy and other leftists going to protest out on the west coast and drive the democrats out of power?

Funeral Today

There is, in our considered opinion, almost no musical piece that sounds better on bagpipes than "Amazing Grace." There is also no sadder piece of music than "Balmoral," the traditional funeral march of the Chicago Police Department.

The Pipes and Drums of the Chicago Police Department put on an impressive performance today just as the skies opened up on the Solorio funeral procession exiting Holy Cross Church today. And the Emerald Society did another good job at the cemetery.

Funeral coverage at Channel 2; Channel 5; Channel 7. We must admit, we didn't see any of the alleged less than respectful behavior pointed out in some of the previous comments section. But it did seem less crowded than at previous funerals. Part of that could have been weather related. Part of it may have been Performance of Duty/On Duty rather than Line of Duty (do we have that right?). Part of it may even have been that not as many people heard about the incident - there were a bunch of comments on this site that said people hadn't even heard about the accident last month.

Regardless, the entire event seemed to have gone off without a hitch, which is both impressive and depressing: Impressive that we can do it well; depressing that we have had so much practice that we are able to do it well.

Sure, he's Happy Now ...

... but what about in a few months, especially after Laski makes his deal? Anyone with an ear to the ground know who or suspect who the former City Clerk is going to flip on? ANd whatever happened to those aldermen that were going to be indicted? We NEED an alderman indicted - it's like a tradition.

Australian Predicts the Future

From our 07 February ramblings:

• Trust a guy from "Down Under" to explain to the western media organizations what two faced, biased outlets of "news" they truly are:
  
• "They won't publish cartoons, but they will run anything they can get out of Abu Ghraib. Both sets of images provoke Islamic anger; note how the media behaves when that anger is directed at them."

Sure enough, today, the media digs up more Abu Ghraib photos and releases them. This incident occurred more than two years ago. People went to jail over it. There were trials and everything. Why keep bringing it up? Oh yeah, it incites muslims! And that might make BushCo look bad! And the "blame America first" crowd gets a shot in the arm!

So, it's wrong if we bring up Ted Kennedy, Clinton, Carter, etc., because we are living in the past and won't just "move on" with our lives, but the left can bring up a closed case where actual people went to jail for actual crimes for the next decade and blame Bush/Cheney for everything that is screwed up in the Middle East - right?

And speaking of hypocrites, the vice president waited almost a full day to notify the Washington press corps about his hunting accident? Big deal. Harry Reid, minority leader of the senate waited 3 FULL DAYS to tell anyone he had suffered a stroke. We can relate hundreds of incidents where CPD did all sorts of stupid shit and didn't once notify the press. It was an accident people - hell, Lefty should be happy a Republican lawyer got shot. There is no regulation that says anyone has to do a reporters work for them and tell them everything that happens every minute of every day. If the reporters were doing their job, they should have been near the hunting area and noticed that the ambulance that follows Cheney everywhere WENT TO A DAMN HOSPITAL and started asking questions about the VP that might have, oh we don't know, revealed this information a little sooner? Maybe? Hey media? Do your jobs and quit whining.

Who Has Details?

Weapons seizure on the southwest side. 300 or more guns confiscated as they were being loaded into a van. We had to call home and make sure it wasn't our arsenal that they were taking away as ours is set to detonate should unauthorized access occur. Channel 2 coverage also.

Good Timing or Something Else?

Someone at the FOP has a great sense of timing. We wrote about the lawsuit filed on behalf of retirees and their widows who may have been paying too much in insurance and today, Fran Spielman starts backpedaling for the City and publishing their excuses for the City's violating the terms of the lawsuit from a few years back.

We're going to assume the city knew they were screwing the retirees and the only reason they're settling up so fast is that they are 100% in the wrong and they can't take another publicity hit.

And speaking of publicity hits, how about that poll in the Tribune today? 56% of Chicagoans think Daley is doing a good job, but 70% think he knew about corruption and didn't do anything about it. Talk about your mixed bag of news. 7 in 10 think you are neck deep in corruption but nearly 6 in 10 think you're doing a good job? What the hell would people say if we actually had an honest politician in office running things?

Union Dinosaurs Dying Out

Over 1 million construction workers are leaving the AFL-CIO according to the New York Slimes (hat tip Captain's Quarters). The Laborers and Operating Engineers broke with the national organization and formed their own union, incorporating some of the previous five unions that split with the AFL-CIO last year.

We quoted this stat last year at some point: Unions gave $20 million to Republican candidates during the last election cycle. Over the same time period, the unions gave Democrats $225 BILLION. That is not a misprint - $20 million vs $225 Billion. And with 40% of union workers voting Republican, that $225 Billion isn't representing THEIR interests, which is what unions are supposed to do.

Sergeants on the Board

From the Comments Section:

• [...] SCC you are a little quick to toss roses and a little slow on the critical side. How about your feelings on having a merit sgt on the FOP Board; what do you really think?
  

What do we really think? Well, if you read the blog regularly, we've posted about it a few times. The last time was on 06 November in this post. There is precedent for keeping the spot (Kubik). There is precedent for supervisors to be on other boards across the nation (the national president of FOP is a boss, as are a number of the office holders). The only real problem we see is that when combined with the SEVEN retirees, fully one third of the Chicago FOP Board cannot participate in negotiating an active labor contract or issues that affect each and every one of us.

Do we think supervisors should be on the board? There seems a definite conflict, but not a rule violation. As to a merit spot, that would seem to be another conflict all together - what if (putting on our conspiracy cap here) the city offered merit spots to Board members in an effort to influence their votes? Now (taking off our conspiracy cap), a solution? Perhaps limiting the number of retirees on the board? Perhaps giving the sergeant's 2 non voting spots? There are something like 200-250 supervisors who are fraternal members of the FOP, including Phil Cline. Does Phil get a ballot in the mail? How does he vote? If he showed up during the constitution and bylaws voting meeting, and he voted at the meeting, does his vote count? What about retirees? They vote in HUGE numbers and got every single retiree candidate on the Board last year, but they cannot vote on an active labor contract.

The solutions seem many, varied and complicated, but ought to be addressed. Soon. Nine spots that can't do anything for the serving members seems a bit over the top.

Howard, Meet Jimmy. Jimmy, This is Howard

From the Washington Times:

• Former President Jimmy Carter, who publicly rebuked President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program this week during the funeral of Coretta Scott King and at a campaign event, used similar surveillance against suspected spies. [emphasis added - SCC]

So right after Carter used Mrs. King's funeral to rip on Bush's "warrantless eavesdropping" and compare it to what happened to Dr. King in the 1960's (even though it was Jack and Bobby Kennedy doing the illegal wiretapping ::GASP!:: in an effort to dig up dirt on MLK to embarrass and control him), the truth comes out that Carter did the same thing in the case of two men spying for a foreign power!

Keep on talking Jimmy. Keep on talking.

FOP Making Moves?

The Sun Times is reporting the FOP is suing the city over shortfalls in retiree health care benefits and the benefits paid to their widows. If this proves to be true, the FOP ought to use this as a hammer to beat the city administration to death with. There ought to be an entire publicity campaign built around the fact that the city is shafting people who served them honorably and the widows of those who served honorably.

We are very loud critics of the FOP when they drop the ball, so it's only fair we point out when they fight the good fight. This is one of those times.

Local Media Drops the Ball

Nothing on the Channel 5 site that we can find. Nothing in the Sun Times or it's archives. Nothing in the Trib. Only Channel 2 and Channel 7 have anything about the death of Officer Eric Solorio. Not that either channel does a great job:

• CBS had 5 sentences of 68 words.
  
• ABC clocks in with 6 sentences consisting of 93 words.

Color us underwhelmed. We guess officers in Chicago die every single day to merit such half assed coverage.

We will however, salute the Superintendent and the Chaplin for showing up at the ME's office with Eric. For all the crap Phil takes from the political end of things as well as from the rank and file (and sometimes this website), it's nice to see him remember who really runs this department (and it ain't seiser - not tonight at least). Let's keep this thread clean boys and girls - you did such a good job on the last thread about Eric. Keep it going for a bit.

UPDATE: We've probably got between 600 and 800 regular readers (we did 1,500 hits yesterday, figure everyone visits twice). EVERY SINGLE ONE of us ought to be wearing a mourning band AND reminding others to wear it. And every boss who reads this better be reminding the troops, too.

UPDATE #2: Tribune and Sun Times have articles finally. They don't update their sites until 3 or 4 in the morning, so when we post at midnight or slightly after, our rip jobs on them might be out of date by the time their papers hit the street. But since Eric died Sunday, two days seems a bit long for a fitting tribute.

UPDATE #3: Thanks to everyone for keeping it respectful and on topic.

The Blame Game

Well, now that we all know what a great job the sheriffs can do rounding up escaped inmates, it's time to start asking the hard questions - like how they all got out. Policies and procedures are obviously NOT being followed. Certain people are openly speculating that monetary bribes may have been involved. According to media reports, Stroger was ordered by a court to hire more guards and he has essentially told a court to go blow. And of course, the people running for the spot Sheehan is vacating are all over this, either "Wow, what a great job we did" or "What the hell is going on over there?"

In any case, it's going to make for a very interesting political season what with the city administration staggering and county government on the ropes. We encourage everyone to (A) be registered to vote in time for the election come November and (B) look in the papers and find out who the incumbents are (hint - they usually have a little "I" by their names) and then VOTE AGAINST EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. Seriously. Because if enough of these asshats lose their jobs, the rest sit up and take notice.

Channel 2; 5; 7; Times; Tribune

Congratulations!

A hearty congratulations goes out to the team representing "palestine," shown here following the short program of pairs figure skating:


They were ranked third, but immediately following the results from the judges, a mob of angry imams dragged the lady from the arena, buried her in a snowbank up to her waist and stoned her to death for appearing in public with a man not her husband AND daring to show a bit of ankle during the routine. The male is missing amid the wreckage of the Torino McDonalds which mysteriously exploded during the lunch rush.

The Olympic Committee was unavailable for comment, but hinted that western values were to blame for misunderstanding the teachings of "the prophet" (picture shamelessly stolen from IMAO.com but our caption was better)

Who is Grant?

Someone is posting in the comments section of "What the Hell is Going On?" claiming to be investigating certain harassment beefs and listing a city phone number and a blog that was created today. We have no idea who this might be and to whom the number might belong. We deleted the posts.

Trust us when we say that there is no legit city department or investigator that would solicit this sort of information on a publicly accessible website. There is also no way a legit city department or investigator would publish his cell phone number on a website, let alone THIS website. This is probably a harassment attack of some sort on someone. Knock it off, because guess who is going to end up on the receiving end of that beef?

Things Overheard in Texas ...

... after Cheney shot the lawyer:

• PULL! Oh, was that the last lawyer? (NRO Online)
• Let's have no more talk about "independent counsels." ( NRO)
• Oh crap, not again! (from the Secret Service detail)
• Letterman & Leno needed some material - now they got some.
• Damn Harry, you zigged when you should've zagged.
• Hey, that SCC guys' idea about shooting lawyers was right on - it IS fun.

Laski Deal - A Bridge too Far?

Laski and his lawyer are expected to go to court Monday, plead "not guilty," then ask for more time to conclude a plea deal. Huh?

Whatever. But could Laski be the key to bringing down City Hall and County government? Laski was often at loggerheads with City Hall, yet involved with Tomczak at the Water Department, Huels, Reyes and Sorich in the Hired Truck scandal, and indicted with Briatta, John Daley's brother-in-law.

We still think Laski ought to be given at least a decade behind bars, but maybe, just maybe, he can tie City and County corruption together and bring down both? We'd settle for five years federal time if he could pull it off.

Officer Succumbs to Injuries

Officer Eric Solorio died today of injuries suffered a number of weeks ago in an on-duty traffic accident. Preliminary reports are that an honors funeral is being planned. Keep his family in your prayers.

What the Hell is Going On?

OK, we'd like to be among the first to demand the resignations of the warden of the jail, the Sheriff and the president of the Cook County Board.

• The warden because of obvious incompetence - how do you let a gun inside, an escape in a laundry truck, and then when everything ought to be locked down tighter than a drum, 6 MORE ESCAPES IN A SINGLE NIGHT?
• The Sheriff, not only because the buck stops there, but he's in charge of hiring, staffing and training, and it seems to have failed miserably.
• And Stroger, just because we dislike him so intently. If Claypool and his people have a brain in their heads, they are going to hammer Stroger with this. And rightfully so.

Coverage at 2, 5, and 7.

Fentanyl Follies

Hooray! Lab test have found that the suspected "bad batch of heroin" surfacing on the south side last month has been adulterated with Fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic now labeled as "hundreds of times stronger than heroin," which is up from the 80 times more powerful reported last week. Soon it will be in the thousands.

Three questions:

1. Could you describe a "good batch" of heroin?
2. So what if junkies are dying?
3. Who cares if junkies are dying?

To Northside

A reader named "Northside" asks some intelligent questions about blogging and we'd like to let others who have questions see our responses up front, rather than paging through a loaded comments section:

• ...I, for one, would prefer that SCC change from a chronological diary format to the reverse-chronolgical format as used in the NYPD RANT.
• Can anyone clarify the terminology in describing the format used here vs. the reverse-chronological format (a la NYPD RANT) where the most recent post is "bumped" up to the top?

Blogs don't operate that way. NYPD RANT is a bulletin board. Different system completely. The old SCCN was a bulletin board along the same lines as NYPD RANT and ANYONE could start a topic and the comments afterwards were underneath in a outline format. The Chicago Fire Department has a similar bulletin board up.

NEWSFLASH! The owner of NYPD RANT was fired from the police department for badmouthing the brass. Yes, he got his job back and at last report was attempting to get a disability pension of some form and (we think) damages for the firing. NEWFLASH! The CFD Board almost cost a firefighter his job also. He had to take down the board for a while and institute security measures and all sorts of crap. NEWSFLASH! The old SCCN board doesn't exist anymore because RMG sued BO for comments appearing on his board. Bulletin Boards are easily tracable because they have to send the bill somewhere. And if they know who's paying the bill, they can supoena a list of registered users. We don't feel like fighting a 1st Amendment suit that would take up the next 5 years. And you can bet there are dozens of people out there who love to test the Rules and Regulations portion about "bringing discredit" or obstructing "the mission" of the department even though it isn't US posting the bullshit.

Tinybrains Can't Handle the Truth

From the comments section:

• Comment #1: SCC, you don't what to read the truth either? What a disappointment you are to the readers who comment on you blog.

This after our threat to delete all duplicate entries regarding questions about the Union. Listen, you want to put up a comment about the union, knock your socks off. You want to put it up in every thread, fuck you. This is OUR blog. We run it. We give everyone quite a bit of leeway here and allow all sorts of off topic stuff. Maybe we ought to tighten it up a bit, but that isn't really in our plan at the moment. You don't like it, don't visit - plain and simple.

Why don't you go through our archives and see where we've taken the union to task. And the department administration. And the political animals. And the democratic party. And the religious establishment. And everyone else who gives coppers a hard time. Then come back and tell us we can't read the truth.

See that little "E" up in the top left corner of the main page? Click it and read (we assume you can read?) all about starting your own blog. It's quick, easy and free! Then post a link in one of our comments sections and see if people visit. If it's all sorts of half truth and innuendo, you're going to be lonely blogger. If it's funny, topical and interesting, you might get visitors. We don't claim to be the brightest bulb in the box or even the father of police blogging, but we seem to have inspired a couple of people who have managed to start their own blogs and we direct traffic their way on a semi regular basis. Let us inspire you to get your own blog. Now Go! Quickly! Go!

Keep on Talking

Howard Dean keeps dragging the democrats off into the fever swamps of the left wing. The latest?

• Dean: "All we ask is that we not turn into a country like Iran where the President can do anything he wants."

Wow. He sounds just like lefty and shady! Anyone remember the last time fundamentalist christians shut down newspapers for publishing cartoons? Or stoned women to showing a bit of ankle? Or hung a few gentlemen for playing "Brokeback Mountain" with one another? We didn't think so. Or how about this one:

• Dean: "This is a Republican scandal."

Then this story finally hits the mainstream media that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wrote 4 letters on behalf of Indian gaming interests and accepted $68,000. Does this absolve any republicans who took money illegally and improperly? No. If they can prove it, jail them all. Washington could do with a bit of a shakeup. But it makes the entire democratic party look like a bunch of hypocritical morons, especially as there are going to be even more revelations of democrats taking money from Abramoff's clients, not just republicans. Of course the republicans may have gotten more money - THEY'RE IN POWER! It makes sense to give money to the people who can help you. But claiming that Abramoff didn't give democrats money but directed his clients to do so is like arguing over the meaning of the word "is." The people will see through the semantics.

Another Bright Idea

Ever notice that all the bright ideas that seem to come from this city administration ALMOST ALWAYS end up being reversed in some way, shape or form?

• City trucks are being under utilized - Let's sub contract it out to the private sector and save the taxpayers money! We'll call it "Hired Truck." Oops!
• We need more parking downtown - Let's build a huge underground parking garage and finance it with a bond issue! It'll pay for itself in a few years. Oops!
• Downtown is in danger from small airplanes - Let's bulldoze Meigs Field! No one needs a place to land helicopters anyway. Oops!

Do you ever get the feeling that the city government exists only to enrich construction companies? We do, too!

OK, We Withdraw the Apology

We had extended a conditional apology to the County the other day when it was discovered that we had made an unfair accusation speculating that it was probably a County jail guard that smuggled the gun into the jail. It wasn't. HOWEVER, it now appears that one or more guards turned a blind eye to the fact that there was a gun INSIDE the maximum security wing of the jail and may have taken bribes to overlook it.

That's insane.

And just when you think everything would be tightened up, everyone would be on their best behavior, and no one would step out of line, a prisoner escapes today.

The county is a broken and corrupt government body. We can only hope that Fitzgerald is looking into some of these goofs, too. Maybe the John Daley angle will pan out shortly and we can see a bunch more people headed to jail and singing stories to the Feds.

Tax Time Question

We use Al Capone's tax preparer. He came highly recommended, seems to know his way around things and we always try to emulate our political masters who are often caught hanging around members of "the Outfit."

In the latest FOP newsletter on page 6 (little red box in the top right), the union stated that "All Active Members Paid $414.00 in Union Dues For The Year 2006." Leaving aside that it should probably read "2005," we added up all of our check stubs, including the union dues out of the retro check and came up with a completely different number about $20 dollars higher.

Any explanations?

Big NON Story

Just so everyone doesn't think that we're too busy trying to fix our computer to respond to various crap from our resident left wingers - From Shady in the comments section:

• According to sources with firsthand knowledge, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.

This is quoted from an article titled "Libby: White House 'Superiors' OK'd Leaks" in the National Journal. What the National Journal and the AP wire didn't bother to do was check any of the facts of the case again. You think they'd learn. From PowerLine.com:

• The NIE has been declassified since the summer of 2003, and we have quoted from it many times since then. These proceedings from the House of Representatives show that the NIE had been declassified no later than July 21, 2003. So it's not exactly a mystery whether "that happened in this instance." There are only two alternatives here: either AP reporters are too lazy to spend 30 seconds on Google to educate themselves as to what happened during the ancient history of 2003, or they write articles that are deliberately misleading.

Oops. Nothing to see folks. Move along. What we have here is another example of a media meltdown. They can't stop Bush in elections, they can't stop the war and they can't stop his court nominees. So they drum up whatever BS they can in a desperate attempt to influence the November elections. So sorry again Shady, but you're listening to the ramblings of a dying dinosaur.

Airhart Shooter Gets Life

Couple of Quick Hits to amuse everyone while we work on fixing our computer (no, we still aren't using a Department computer - do you think we're nuts?):

• Life in prison for Daniel Salley. Good riddance to bad rubbish we suppose, but it isn't going to get Joe up and around. Keep Joe and his family in your thoughts.
• Former Alderman Pucinski's son found dead following a house fire up north. Anyone with info, post it here.
• Aldercreatures have noticed that the city seems to be paying out rather large amounts of money to people who sue Chicago. So they have done the only thing possible (aside from actually telling city lawyers to fight a few of these bullshit suits) - they formed a committee to study it. Wow - such leadership!
• Tracking Darts in place of car chases? Hey, if it saves officers and civilians lives and give the helicopter boys an easy target to follow, we're all for it.
• And the New York Times won't publish pictures of the supposedly "offensive" cartoons mocking muhammed, but reaches back 7 years to republish images of the virgin mary splattered with elephant dung. You know, if a few christians would run to NYC and behead a few editors, maybe the NYTimes would stop being so two faced.

Mayor Won't Commit

In a continuing series of articles about "the best qualified person for the job..."

The mayor won't promise the Clerk job to a hispanic and the aldercreatures are getting angry. How about he disband the office since it's pretty much useless anyway and run as a reformer? Too much of a stretch of the imagination?

How about finding someone qualified to run the office? Oh wait, qualified people avoid jobs like that because they might end up part of the problem and as the new guy, they'll end up in jail - kind of like that gangbanger running the "Hired Truck" scandal just before the Feds came in and started jailing people. Hmmm.

We're Back! No We Aren't!

"Borrowing" a computer here at the moment. No, it's not a Department computer.

We're looking into a loaner or new computer, so posting might be light for the next day or three while we assess possibilities. We've secured the use of this one for a little bit, but it's someone else's and we don't want to be greedy or abuse the favor.

Everyone catch this article? Another dead junkie? If people are determined to chase that elusive high, there's nothing the police or politicians can do about it. Just make sure we keep sending the body snatchers out there pick up the results.

Sergeant Contract Passes

The contract was approved something like 45 to 0, so we guess the mayor got everything he wanted out of the Sergeants. Congrats to the Sergeants.

We're experiencing technical difficulties tonight, so posting may be light or non existent. Use this as an open thread in the meantime.

Jackpot Justice Again

Sun Times; Channel 7. City to pay man hurt in Bulls celebration $1.75 million.

The up side? The injured party was asking for $9.5 million and the jury deadlocked. That is a tremendous happening. Perhaps juries are realizing that just because you get hurt doing something dumb doesn't entitle you to millions of dollars?

The down side? This quote:

• The settlement, a fraction of the $9.5 million the plaintiff was seeking, "reflects the officer needed to fire the weapon in self-defense at the driver who was trying to run him over, while providing compensation to a young man who suffered a serious injury," said James Sotos, an attorney representing the police department and city in the case.

If that isn't the biggest waffle since IHOP tried for a Guinness record, we don't know what is. If the officer needed to fire his weapon in self defense, then the car and everyone in it was guilty of attempted murder. We charge people with it all the time in drive-bys. Now we're giving them $1.75 million for acting the fool and getting shot doing it?

Drugs Are Bad!

Well, they're pretty sure the junkies have been ingesting pure fentanyl, a potent narcotic 80 times more powerful than morphine. We've gotten three or four e-mails from officers who say that they've pulled up on scene and the dead guy still has the needle in his arm. We wish we could drum up some sympathy here, but it just isn't happening - unless we think about the money saved by not having to treat them, incarcerate them, or replace all the stuff they stole over the years to support their habits. Then we get a warm fuzzy feeling.

Channel 2 reports it might be a batch of "tainted heroin." So the junkies are blameless? It wasn't their fault? Typical liberal ass-hatted-ness.

Sergeant Contract?

Rumor has it the Sergeant contract passed out of committee today with the blessing of the mayor. Expect the City Council to pass it tomorrow. Also expect the Sergeants to be driving to work in new cars and on new motorcycles over the next two months as their retro check come in. Also expect a big wave of Sergeant retirements soon.

Perspective From Australia

Trust a guy from "Down Under" to explain to the western media organizations what two faced, biased outlets of "news" they truly are:

• They won'’t publish cartoons, but they will run anything they can get out of Abu Ghraib. Both sets of images provoke Islamic anger; note how the media behaves when that anger is directed at them.

Go visit TimBlair.net - a guy with his head on straight.