Dan Ryan Construction

Is anyone else getting as sick of the Dan Ryan construction coverage as we are? Look at this:

• Channel 2
• Channel 5
• Channel 7
• Channel 9/Tribune
• Channel 32
• Sun Times

And if you've caught any of the news casts, the media is having a field day with this: every news outlet is having "driving tours" of the Ryan. Helicopter coverage is rampant. Everyone is telling us how miserable we're going to be for the next two years.

Big deal. The news does the same thing whenever there is a big snow storm, or rain storm, or wind storm, or any other run of the mill phenomenon. Chicago has weather. It changes sometimes 3 times a day. Chicago has construction - it's almost its own season. Chicago has corruption - and there sure is a lot of it coming to light nowadays. Isn't there any real news to cover? Like our illegal immigration problem? Like the booming economy and record low unemployment rates? How about the successes in Iraq or the fact we are about to begin bombing Iran shortly after the fall elections if not sooner? We really don't need to be told traffic is going to suck. It does every summer when they roll out the construction barricades.

Well Would You Look at That!

Someone went and instituted Registered Comments. Who could that have been?

Listen up knucklehead. Congratulations. You've driven us to do something we said we hated doing because it was too much work for us and our readers. You must be so proud. You are upholding the fine tradition of ruining what could be a good thing for other coppers. Bravo.

As to content, this isn't a democracy. This isn't even communist rule. This blog is a dictatorship. We run it, jokes about Seiser be damned. If we find it annoying, we delete it. If we find it offensive, we eliminate it. If we find it even remotely objectionable, we kill it. And if we get e-mails from people wanting certain stuff deleted, we try to accommodate the requests within OUR rules. On this blog, WE ARE SEISER. Fair game is what we say it is. You want to engage in masturbatory fantasies about Area 2, certain bosses sexual proclivities and the oral abilities of certain policemen and women, have at it - ON YOUR OWN BLOG. Stop polluting our atmosphere.

Days like this make us wonder whether it's even worth continuing the blog.

Spring Forward

Just in case everyone forgot, this Sunday morning at 0200 hours, clocks move forward 1 hour. So don't be showing up an hour late for roll call and telling everyone you forgot - be warned, we shall all laugh at you. Midnight guys, remember to set your watches and cell phone alarms so you aren't an hour late for check off. Afternoon guys are out of luck as all they loose is an hour sleep.

Posting will be sporadic today, but we are keeping an eye out for any lists. Rumors are dying out slowly and we read that the "merit" board hasn't met yet. Has anyone received phone calls from Personnel? That's the BIG tip off.

Promotions?

Rumors abound about a dicks class or lieutenants class tomorrow. The lieutenant "merit" picks have been downtown for more than a few weeks now. The "merit" letter for detectives hasn't been there nearly as long (if it's even in yet - anyone have the due date for it?).

If anything comes out, we're sure our readers (who happen to be the greatest readers in the world, except for the jackasses constantly posting about A/2) will notify everyone and might even type the list if they get it ahead of us.

If nothing comes out, it just means that we've covered all possibilities and maybe something will come out next week.

Unbelievable!

The man is everywhere:

Is there anything this guy can't do?

Bush Was Correct - AGAIN

From the Washington Post:

• A panel of former Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges yesterday told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Bush did not act illegally when he created by executive order a wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA).
• The five judges testifying before the committee said they could not speak specifically to the NSA listening program without being briefed on it, but that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not override the president's constitutional authority to spy on suspected international agents under executive order. [emphasis added - SCC]

But will you hear about it in the liberal media? Not a chance.

Fight at City Hall

Tom Allen was as good as his word. Thank you Alderman.

In the meantime, the Fred Jr., Bobby and a whole bunch of loudmouths behaved ... well, exactly like you think they'd behave:

• Dozens of activists taunted Chicago police for nearly an hour Wednesday morning in a tense confrontation in the hallway outside of the City Council meeting.

An anonymous citizen took us up on telling Bobby Rush (D-scumbag) to keep his nose out of City business:

• Rush was shouted down by a megaphone-carrying activist who refused to give his name. The man accused Rush of pirating an issue that wasn'’t his to begin with.

Far be it from these folks to stop at mere theatrics though:

• On Wednesday afternoon, Fred Hampton's friends and family took matters into their own hands, putting a makeshift street sign up in the 2300-block of West Monroe, naming the block Chairman Fred Hampton Way ...

Here's the current coverage (Channel 2; Channel 7; Sun Times). We need to keep this issue at the forefront and ensure that in a month, this thing dies an ignominious death.

Being a Democrat

Part of being a democrat means you have to be able to hold contradictory positions in your head and then pretend that everything you've said before supporting one position doesn't really mean anything. And if a Republican points out your hypocrisy, then he's a big meanie. And god forbid he actually uses your own words against you.

For the past few years, all we've heard from the left is "get out of Iraq NOW." The drumbeat of defeatism from them and the media gets louder and louder as US casualty rates continue to fall to low levels and the Iraqi security forces step up to the plate so that when we actually DO begin to scale back forces, the left will claim victory.

Today, the democratic party will announce a new policy statement:

• In the position paper to be announced Wednesday, Democrats say they will double the number of special forces and add more spies, which they suggest will increase the chances of finding al-Qaida's elusive leader. They do not set a deadline for when all of the 132,000 American troops now in Iraq should be withdrawn. [emphasis added]
  

So, after spending the 1990's slashing espionage funding, they now propose to double it and after spending almost 3 years demanding Bush set a timeline for withdrawal, they somehow neglect to do so themselves. Not only that, but they propose to "eliminate" Osama by what can only be described as an "invasion" of Pakistan - a shaky ally in the best of times. Amazing. They still think slogans and flower power can win a war. Unfortunately, the war they're planning on fighting isn't against terrorists - it's against republicans with no regard to the safety of the American people.

Today is the Day

We get to see if Alderman Tom Allen is as good as his word. So far, all signs point to "yes." We also get to see day 30 of the "exempt brass" not say a word about naming streets after persons who advocate the killing of police officers.

Any single one of these bosses who shows his or her face at the St. Jude's march ought to be ashamed. They'll pat you on the back and tell you "good job" at an awards ceremony; they'll "encourage" you to buy all sorts of memorial t-shirts, pins, bricks and pretty much fund our own memorial just so they look good; they'll tell you that you are the best, brightest and bravest in press releases and speeches.

But if you step out of line, they'll hang you; if you don't buy the memorabilia, they'll ostracize you and threaten your spot; and when it comes down to actually speaking out in support of officers killed by criminal organizations, they're all as quiet as churchmice. Shame on all of them.

Oh, Give Me a Home

Just thought we'd lighten the mood here for a bit with a nice picture of a moonlit evening:

Who's the guy on the horse? Could it be ... Seiser?

Please Please Please - Part II

Give us $1 Billion Dollars or Else!

reverend Meeks and his "posse" of aldercreatures are demanding a promise of $1 Billion dollars a year for 4 years from Governor Blago or they might run Meeks as an independent. In all likelihood, this is a play by the rev to embarrass Blago into concessions that he wouldn't otherwise make. But we are cheering him on. Nothing like blatant extortion and extremist rhetoric to completely derail an entire movement and hamstring a voting bloc. All those Southern Illinois Democrats that almost put Glen Poshard in the Governor's mansion are about to shift their allegiances to the Republicans what with Meeks and crew promising to raise taxes and the Blago/Daley crew looking to snatch all their guns.

Run reverend! Run!

Please Please Please

We're not usually given to begging, but in this case we'll make an exception.

Please reverend Meeks. Please run for governor. From the Channel 7 website:

• A big show of support Monday for a Democratic state senator who is considering a bid for Illinois governor. James Meeks met with more than a dozen of Chicago's African-American aldermen. The aldermen say they would support Meeks if he ran for governor as an independent.
• Meeks met with 14 of Chicago's 19 black aldermen Monday morning, and the result of that meeting exposed what could become a huge crack in the Democratic party's foundation.

If we were Republican (which we are) and we ran the state party (which we don't - yet), we would be offering Meeks' people all sorts of help on the sly, from cash to whatever he needed to run. Because Meeks running would almost guarantee a Republican win in November. Meeks is running on a platform of higher taxes - that's right, he wants to RAISE your taxes. So right away, he alienates about 80% of the voters and ALL of the Republicans. He also takes away the largest source of uncontested votes for Blago. Combined with the liberals who will swallow Meeks' "higher taxes for education" crap, it all adds up to a big win for Judy and Joe. Meeks isn't Harold in this equation - Meeks is Richie Daley.

Headline You Will NEVER See

At least not in Cook County:

• Aurora cop cleared; accuser charged
• A 27-year-old Aurora man has been charged with felony counts of perjury and disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report accusing an officer of injuring the man during a search for narcotics, according to a release from Aurora police.

We know of at least one case where coppers (from 011 we think) who filed a civil suit against their accuser and won a civil judgment against the knucklehead. The judgment attached the settlement that the city had made and they did it on their own with ZERO support from the city. Does anyone know if they actually got their money?

Listen, the "sworn affidavit" is a wonderful thing for an intelligent investigator to use as a means to kill a certain percentage of BS beefs, but until the ASA's actually file perjury charges and jail a few people for this nonsense, it's all bark and no bite. Has anyone ever actually heard of an Cook County ASA going for charges like Kane County did?

In Case Anyone Was Counting

Today (Monday) marked 28 days without a single word from a single exempt member that naming a street after a person who called for the slaughter of police officers (and whose organization actually succeeded in killing quite a few officers) is WRONG.

Wednesday, 29 March, we get to see if an alderman keeps his word and can keep this atrocity from happening with a mere procedural maneuver.

Has the world gone completely mad?

Once Again, From the Comments

STARTINGTO FEEL SHAME SEZ: Dear SCC between your extended bouts of patting yourself on the back, and telling us how great you are maybe you could clean up your little porno site here. wadddya tink?

Where did we pat ourselves on the back? By saying we did good on the test? Puh-lease. How about instead of taking us to task, you take our compatriots (and the trolls that skate in) to task for the crap they post here? We check the site a couple times a day and clean it up when we get here, but it runs unmanned 22 hours a day MINIMUM. We've got better things to do than monitor what adults type on a computer 24/7 - play with the rug rats, study for part two of the test, kill brain cells with alcohol, photoshop a new picture, etc.

If you go back to our very first posts, this is a HOBBY for us. We aren't pouring our hearts and souls into it. We have a life outside of blogging and being the police. We made a conscious decision to post ONE worthwhile thread a day. Go through our archives and some days, we've posted 3 or 4; some other days, maybe a single half-assed post. But we'll bet we're averaging slightly above the one we said we would.

We've said it before and we'll say it again. We understand the allure of the "bathroom wall" mentality here. We count on it in a way in that we can tell stories that might otherwise never get told. Part of the trade off is the bullshit that you read in the stalls. We clean it up as we're able but we aren't sweating it. And when we run through with our broom every so often, we take out what irritates us - our site, our rules. You don't like it, go elsewhere.

Our only other options involve (A) registered users and (B) fully moderated comments. We hate choice A because it means there is a list in existence. A list is subject to subpoena. A list is traceable. We don't like lists. Choice B has it's allure, BUT it involves a bit of work for us and a LOT of patience for our readers. In a nutshell, we'd get to screen EVERY SINGLE COMMENT before it gets posted. But since we only can get to the blog twice a day, that means all of your insightful commentary sits around for 8 to 12 hours in an e-mail box until we screen it then post it. No more give and take. No more breaking news out of 35th Street. No more of what makes the board a good read. So we use what we have here and deal with it as we can.

If you're the ass who keeps posting the slander, libel and other crap, thanks for nothing. Coppers can always manage to ruin a good thing for other cops. SCCN went away for this reason and the owner of NYPD Rant lost his job for a while over similar shit. Hope you aren't doing it from Department computers (many of which have keylogger programs running) because they will fire you for it. All they have to do is prove you were on the computer at the time stuff was posted - hell, your IP addresses are logged on our SiteMeter. We on the other hand, have a measure of protection as we are doing this off duty, in our spare time and from our own computer. We have a number of legal opinions in our possession should it ever come to a defense so we sleep easy at night.

But She Could Kick Ass

Marines recruit a 78 year old woman. If she was set loose with her string bag and walker, she'd be whomping some major ass on the beaches. And if you cut her loose in the mess hall, no more MRE's.

Beyond the Headline

Sunday's SunTimes:

• City hopes new measures keep asphalt from disappearing
• Construction season in Chicago neighborhoods is starting early this year, with strict controls to prevent a repeat of last year -- when hundreds of tons of missing asphalt cost a transportation commissioner his job.

It's hard to steal a few hundred tons of asphalt without someone noticing just like it's rather difficult to steal the hundreds of tons of concrete that went missing from a couple other city projects. We don't know why the media doesn't do a little exploring on this topic - the material more than likely never existed except on a work order or a bill of sale. You either short a bunch of loads a fraction of a yard or you over count a delivery. You do this because (A) it's just too damn hard and heavy to steal tons of stuff that has to be used when it's mixed and (B) no one, not even a ward boss, can line up enough side jobs to use the amount of material that was stolen.
But this isn't the story we're talking about. Buried in a few paragraphs is this little tidbit that will affect the job of every copper out there:

• This year, the 50 aldermen have $1.32 million apiece to spend on infrastructure in their wards. They each get to choose from everything from street, sidewalk and alley repairs to traffic circles and speed bumps. This year's choices even include extra surveillance cameras - beyond the 100 Chicago Police have positioned in high-crime neighborhoods.

Aldercreatures are getting the ability to "purchase" cameras for their wards, above and beyond the ones the Department has. We've heard they will be wired into the Ops-Center down at OEMC so they can be remotely viewed 24-7. We haven't heard what type of cameras they will be and whether or not they'll have the flashing lights to let everyone know (including us) that we're being watched.

Big Brother is here and unfortunately, sometimes he's going to have an agenda that isn't necessarily ours. Watch yourselves boys and girls.

Sunday Night

At least Tony Soprano is out of his coma. That story line was running just a wee bit too long. Now he's got a bunch more plot lines to wrap up before the series runs its course. Anyone else think Paulie Walnuts is getting a new nickname (Flat-nuts? Sore-nuts? We laughed pretty hard at his misfortune) and might be getting whacked soon?

Three Words

Child Safety Locks.

Little switches. Underside of the passenger doors. People usually stay where you want them to when you engage them, thereby sparing everyone a bunch of useless paper and embarrassing explanations.

Just thought we'd let you know.

A Long Time Coming

We don't know why the Bush Administration waited so long for this recent document dump, but we're glad they finally got around to it. About 2 million articles, papers and documents have been sitting in warehouses across the country, untranslated, and gathering dust while the Administration took hit after hit after hit for things most (sane) people agreed were probably true.

Now that they've released a large portion of these documents, democrats are getting uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. And Friday, Bob Kerrey, former Democratic Senator and 9/11 Commissioner is saying that:

• ..."a recently declassified Iraqi account of a 1995 meeting between Osama bin Laden and a senior Iraqi envoy presents a "significant set of facts," and shows a more detailed collaboration between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

... and ... :

• The new documents suggest that the 9/11 commission's final conclusion in 2004, that there were no "operational" ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, may need to be reexamined in light of the recently captured documents.

... of course ... :

• Bob Kerrey, was careful to say that new documents translated last night by ABC News did not prove Saddam Hussein played a role in any way in plotting the attacks of September 11, 2001

but everyone already knows that and Bush has never said that Saddam played a role in the attacks - that's just a media and leftist lie that has circled the world a hundred times and is accepted as truth even though no one can prove it. We're still debating whether this is another Rovian plot to unhinge the dems once again. It looks likely.

The Ryan Trial - Take 2?

We're going to go out on a limb here and predict a mistrial sometime this week or next. Two jurors with possible arrest records? Who checks these juror questionnaires - Ray Charles or Helen Keller? What the heck is going on people? And this is a federal trial, so we doubt that Cook County had anything to do with it. Additional coverage at Channel 2; Channel 5; Channel 7.

That $10 million dollar legal gift from Winston & Strawn is looking like a good investment for Jim Thompson. But will Winston & Strawn pay twice for the same defense?

Sergeant Test

Any good stories about the test? Is the next Sergeant of Police reading this blog today? Well, probably not THE next sergeant off the new list because they're still supposed to make one more class off the old list. But maybe the class after that.

Personally, we think we aced it.

Here Comes the Complaining

Here's the Sun Times story on the massive police presence in Englewood. SOS, TRU, Closed Market, Area Gang Teams, District Gang/Tact Teams and more are all flooding the 007th District. And here's Channel 7's take on the whole thing:

• Teenagers we met Friday afternoon say they keep moving and don't loiter on Englewood streets during the police crackdown.

  "When they grab you, they going to talk all types of ways," said one.

  For years, many Englewood homeowners have demanded an increased police presence in the neighborhood. But 64-year-old Richard Dunn is having second thoughts after an encounter he says he had with a policeman last week.

  "He stuck a gun up my nose," Dunn said.

One wonders how long Channel 7 had to hang around to find the one 64 year old citizen who had something bad to say about the police. But not to worry:

• Dunn says he did not file a complaint with the Chicago Police Department following the alleged incident.

Because maybe it was bullshit? Say what you will about the Department, but just about everyone being deployed to 007 knows that they are under a microscope. No one with an ounce of sense is going to be sticking a gun in a 64 year old man nose.

From the Comments Section

This has got to be a joke, right? No way this could be true, right? Please tell us it's a joke:

• A prisoner at the county was on a writ to A/5 for an investigation. The investigation concluded and the prisoner, in full DOC uniform, was placed in the 25th lockup on new misd charges. The Desk Sgt. I-bonded the prisoner on his new charge and let him walk out the door in his DOC uniform and jacket. How in the world could this happen???

A joke? Someone? Bueller?

Controversy Burning Out?

As reported here a few days ago, Alderman Tom Allen (38th), chair of the Transportation Committee has decided not to call the Hampton street sign for a vote this month and his procedural move looks to have hamstrung the entire effort at the moment. From the Sun Times:

• Allen's legislative maneuver leaves Haithcock with only one option: Wait 60 days after the Feb. 27 committee approval date and then try to round up the 26 votes needed to "discharge" the committee over Allen's objections.

  That's a tall order. Proponents have acknowledged they don't have 26 votes. And they might even lose a few on the procedural vote.

Of course, Bobby Rush (D-scumbag black panther and racist) who is so free with the advice when telling the Superintendent to shut up and run his department, continues to jump on a local matter that has NOTHING to do with the US Congress. From the Tribune:

• "I intend to fight this to the bitter end," he said. "We will get 26 votes, but I want to meet with [Allen] first."

So kudos to Tom Allen for at the very least, throwing a wrench into the works here. Too bad the officers of this Department have to look to a civilian for a little support and inspiration rather than their own supervisors who can't be found within a mile of controversy unless it involves them paying $250 bucks a month for their cars.

The Wrong Boycott

Some readers are advocating a boycott of the St. Jude's Memorial March. This is silly. We haven't missed a St. Jude march in our entire careers and don't plan on doing so in the future either. We don't march for the bosses. We certainly don't march for the mayor (who hasn't been seen at a St. Jude parade in years) or aldercreatures (we couldn't identify them if they did show up).

Simply put, we march for the dead. Because someone has to. Because someone should. Because some of us feel it is our duty to remember, because too many people don't. Fortunately, most of the people who don't remember are not police officers. The Chicago Police Department is blessed with a very long collective memory. And we are a part of that memory, having been on the scene of and acquainted with more than one line of duty death.

Boycotts only work in cases where economic pressure can be brought to bear. All other movements benefit from a large physical presence. If we want to make an impact, then we have to stick together, show up as a whole, and present a united front to our opponents. Retreating from the field does nothing but dishonor the dead.

Mary Mitchell Does it Again

Once again, reading her column so YOU don't have to.

Does this woman even read the tripe that she types? Do her editors? Can someone tell us where the hell she came from, because no one this ignorant of Chicago politics could possibly be local. Get a load of her Wednesday column (just a couple quotes - we don't want readers to hurt themselves):

• I used to wonder how Stroger got so far in the world of politics. (do a little research Mary, it's an interesting story)
• He's old school because he learned from the best of the old-school politicians: Congressmen William L. Dawson, Ralph Metcalfe and Mayor Harold Washington. (and do you have any idea what those names have in common?)

Stroger came up north with nothing, and he joined the Machine. And the Machine is loyal to it's people, more so it's old timers than anyone else. Stroger is such an insider, he actually DIDN'T support Harold Washington. He didn't support current media darling Obama either. He has backed the Daley administration for years over his own community and yet, Mitchell holds him up as some paragon of black political might.

Saying he learned from William Dawson? Good Lord is this woman ignorant. Dawson rose to power running the "policy wheel" for the Mafia in the Chicago ghetto. For Mary's benefit and anyone else who doesn't know, the "policy wheel" was a numbers racket that the poor communities (mostly black at the time) would bet money on. Illegal, but a HUGE source of revenue for the Mafia and in turn, the Machine. Dawson ran three wards and actually hamstrung and brought down Mayor Kennelly (who had ordered police raids on black "policy wheel" operators), thereby setting the stage for old man Daley to take the reins of the Machine 4 years later. Dawson blatantly and openly bought votes with money, alcohol and live poultry. Alderman Benjamin Lewis, who opposed Daley, Dawson and the "policy wheel" operators was found handcuffed and shot in the head in 1963 - draw your own conclusions.

Stroger's public service is a textbook example of how to get ahead in an existing political structure - suck up to the people who have power and maybe you can name a building after yourself. He would do well to avoid such comparisons as Mitchell makes in her column. Here's a hint Mary - read "BOSS" by Mike Royko. Everyone who attempts to write about Chicago politics ought to memorize it. And then maybe you wouldn't come off as so ignorant of history.

FOP Board

From the comments section:

• so why are the two sergeants still trustees for the fop? why hasn't this issue been raised? scc, we need to address this issue and address it quick. it is a joke that we have retirees and sergeants leading us. donohue should speak on this problem and ask the two sergeants to step down

As long time readers of this site know, the issue HAS been raised. Numerous times. Here AND elsewhere. And the answer remains the same - "because there is no rule against it." There is also precedent - a previous member made sergeant and didn't resign, and although he was not permitted to run again according to the bylaws, if it had been challenged, he would have won based on the National Bylaws. Besides, at least one national office holder is a boss (captain or higher) in his respective local agency.

As we understand it, the Department Rules & Regulations state that you can't be a member of two bargaining units, which the sergeants aren't - they are FRATERNAL members only, just like a retiree. The sergeants on the Board (and the retirees) all won an election. Members were free to choose who would and wouldn't represent them. Six retirees (the additional retiree was active when elected) and a number of people who happened to be eligible for sergeant won. Are they "leading us" as the anonymous commentator suggests? Well, all of the day-to-day operations and field reps are current bargaining members. The sergeants and retirees can't vote on active issues and can't be part of negotiating a labor contract so they aren't really "leading" anyone. Is it efficient to have a full third of the Board unable to vote on labor issues and other concerns? Probably not.

The solution? Probably a separate lodge for Sergeants (and above) and a ceiling on the number of retiree representatives (3 tops). Is it going to happen? It'd take a new bylaw at the very least.

A Moot Point

It was about this time Tuesday, while watching the election returns, that the lawyers and assorted hangers-on from the Stroger camp started their press conference with a bald accusation of vote stealing, fraud and other underhandedness:

• Speaking to Stroger supporters early Wednesday, State Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, said many of the areas were predominantly black communities that would back Stroger. "Our community has been disenfranchised," Trotter said. "This process has, at this point, has been a farce because we ... have not been recognized in this political process."

• The Stroger camp even went so far as to charge that votes from predominantly black precincts were purposely being withheld.

Claypool's people responded with accusations of incompetence on the part of precinct workers:

• "The administration of this election was a train wreck," said Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool..."

First of all, only 34% of the ballots had been counted at the time Stroger's people started casually tossing out accusations of fraud. As the momentum swung back the other way, these grandstanders faded into the background. Most people never even saw it happen, but we did. We stayed up reasonably late to see which way everything was going. Just because your candidate is losing or loses an election, doesn't mean it was fraud. It means they ran a lackluster campaign, they didn't connect with the voters or maybe, they just sucked at their job. Cook County Board President isn't some hereditary throne that only John Stroger can hold and the rapidity to which Stroger's people switched to a cry of race based fraud is disgusting. It's demeaning. It's stupid.

And as any student of Chicago and Cook County politics knows, you always hold back the results in the Machine wards. It makes the outcome more dramatic. Old man Daley used to hold back Alderman Dawson's wards until the very end because Dawson's precincts (and the 3 Wards he controlled) usually turned out something like 14 to 1 for the mayor and the Machine.

Another Lawsuit to be Settled?

Channel 7 is reporting that the family involved in the Midway plane accident who didn't lose a family member is suing Southwest Airlines AND the city.

• The suit contends that Southwest failed in its duty to operate, maintain and control the 737 so as not to cause injury to people. Southwest also breached the duty of care owed to Galindo by negligently and carelessly failing to properly assess landing conditions, the suit claims. The suit also alleges that Southwest was negligent and careless in its failure to abort the landing after the plane had bounced back into the air on touchdown.

  The city is guilty of negligence, the suit alleges, for not closing down the airport on a night when conditions were unsafe, and for failing to provide a safe runway area.

Correct us if we're wrong, but isn't the FAA in charge of setting standards for whether of not a runway can be utilized? We're curious on this one - we really don't know the answer. The Dept. of Aviation is in charge of clearing the runways, but we always thought air traffic controllers and the FAA made final determinations on usage. Is this another "deep pockets" attempt to get money? We can see suing Southwest, but the city?

Too Early?

Bears get another backup quarterback, so now they have like 3 backup QB's: Griese, Orton and Grossman. Any chance of getting a healthy high-quality QB? The defense looks good for another few years.

From the FOP Meeting

According to sources who attended the meeting Tuesday (we didn't), Alderman Tom Allen will not be calling the Hampton sign issue up for a vote this March 29th and any effort to bring it up for a vote would be "out of order." So we're looking at the April meeting at the earliest.

We're also looking at another 40 days or so without a SINGLE EXEMPT MEMBER speaking up for the deceased members of the Department.

FOP website has more.

WAY too Serious Stories

too serious about lawn care:

• BATAVIA, Ohio -- A man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn was charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.

too serious about mail delivery:

• CHICAGO -- A West Side man allegedly got upset with his mailman over the weekend for failing to personally hand him his mail.

too serious about alcohol sales:

• INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana residents by a narrow margin prefer keeping state laws that ban most Sunday alcohol sales, according to a newspaper poll.

Folks? It's Indiana. On a Sunday. We'd NEED alcohol just to get through until Monday.

Hmmmm

Not that we're going to stay up all night reporting on it, but Claypool just jumped out to a 2,000 vote lead in the latest numbers. Only 18% of the precincts are reporting, so it doesn't mean much, but it's enough to make us wonder.

UPDATE: 2152 hours - Eisendrath concedes to Blago. No surprise there.

UPDATE: 2225 hours - Claypool up by 9,000 votes, but no one is reporting where the votes are being counted from. No idea if these are north, south or west side votes. But 32% of precincts are reporting.

UPDATE: 2309 hours - Claypool maintaining a 12,000 vote lead that he's held for almost an hour now. Still only 34% of precincts reporting.

UPDATE: 2355 hours - Claypool up to an 18,000 vote lead. We're getting ready for our midnight posts and bed, so we guess we'll be surprised along with everyone else in the morning when we read the result.

UPDATE: 0000 hours - here come the lawyers and the Stroger campaign claiming fraud and vote stealing is underway, especially in the black community. Stroger's people ought to know, seeing as how they are part of the greatest source of manufactured votes in modern history. God save us from lawyers and race baiting assholes. Good night readers.

OK, Knock of the Ridiculousness (Again)

Out of 114 comments, we deleted 55 in the "Election Day Advice" thread. About half. We're happy that members of the department are learning to use the computer so well. Now if they could just learn what "appropriate commentary" means, we'll be good to go.

Listen. We understand the allure of "anonymous." It's a powerful thing. But this is still a public board, frequented by members of the public, other city departments, members of the media and foreign guests. This is the only impression a lot of them get of the CPD and the juveniles are ... well ... kind of embarrassing. We're sorry you couldn't get laid in Washington. We're sorry you have issues with your genitals. We're sorry Father What's-his-name damaged you beyond repair and caused you to question your ability to satisfy women (or other men), but you are really starting to be a little beyond annoying.

Knock it off. Go start your own blog (they're free you know). Go pollute someone else's atmosphere for a bit. Thanks.

Working Less for More Money

So if you only worked 97 days a year, who would you be?

You said "a fireman," didn't you? Admit it!

Ok, ok. So who would you be if you only worked 97 days AND made $165,200 for the year? And you can't answer "a fireman" again.

You'd be a US Congressman. A typical work week for them runs Tuesday through Thursday. Which, of course, makes them crazier than firemen who would never be caught working three days in a row under any circumstances.

SCC's Election Day Advice

Go. Vote. Participate.

Blago probably has the democratic nomination for governor wrapped up. Eisendrath is a pipe dream, nothing more. Same for Judy Barr-Topinka on the other side. Everyone else is a pretender to the nomination.

No, they only place where we can make any sort of impact (and it's not much of an impact) is the race for Cook County Board President. There's either Stroger (the consummate Machine career politician, more likely than not completely unable to fulfill his duties of office) versus Claypool (a purported reformer but in reality, a former Daley insider, an "outside" guy in the loosest sense of the word). The only thing you can say about Claypool is that he isn't Stroger and he isn't supported by the Machine. We suppose any change is good for a little while, until the indictments come down and shake the entire process out of it's stupor. So if you pull a Democratic ballot, vote Claypool - he's the lesser of two evils.

Karl Rove's Master Plan

Despite depressing media reports, despite missteps by the Administration and despite the best efforts of the irrational left wing, the economy is reaching a point known as "full employment." From Rueters (hardly a friend of a Republican administration):

• U.S. college graduates are facing the best job market since 2001, with business, computer, engineering, education and health care grads in highest demand, a report by an employment consulting firm showed on Monday.

  "We are approaching full employment and some employers are already dreaming up perks to attract the best talent," said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

  In its annual outlook of entry-level jobs, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said strong job growth and falling unemployment makes this spring the hottest job market for America's 1.4 million college graduates since the dot-com collapse in 2001.

And this isn't the dot.com type of boom. This is a steady growth, rock-solid economy built up over the past few years. Everything that has gone before will be forgotten as "It's the economy stupid" mantra comes to the fall election season. If the foreign policy picture comes into sharper focus, Rove is going to look like a freaking genius again.

The Lunatic Fringe

Via CoxAndForkum.com

This is how most conservatives (and most Americans) see the left. Especially the leftist protestors this past weekend. It's unfortunate that so many of these people are so blind to the truth and reality of the situation - that the freedoms which allow them to dissent in whatever manner they want, would be the FIRST thing stamped out by the very people and regimes they are protesting in support of. But they all know better than you and us, right?

Check your Money

Especially if you work on the south side. Counterfeit $20's and $100's have been popping up with increasing regularity. Some gangs are using a technique knows as bleaching:

• After his arrest last May, Folkes and the agents returned to his South Side motel room. As a video camera rolled, he bleached legitimate $5 notes and printed $100 fakes on the blank paper. Folkes admitted to providing a police informant with $8,300 in phony money in exchange for $1,900 in genuine currency.

The Sun Times article describes methods of determining a bills validity, but forewarned is forearmed.

The Silence Continues

It's been 20 days and we still haven't heard A SINGLE WORD from any exempts that naming a street after Fred Hampton is not just wrong, IT'S REALLY WRONG. Officer Gilhooly's family has a letter in the Tribune taking the entire street naming process to task. Wouldn't it be decent if a single exempt could stand up and stand with the Gilhooly family? The next meeting regarding this goofy move is fast approaching (29 March) and we haven't heard anything from any of the unions representing all ranks that leads us to believe that anyone is taking this seriously. Is everyone hoping it will all just go away?

We do have a picture of some pin designs that everyone should be wearing should this stupidity become reality:

We aren't sure if the creator of the pins wants to be identified yet, but he is one of our regulars. We'll let you know if and when the pins become available. In the meantime, the FOP meeting is this Tuesday - let's make an issue of this somehow. Otherwise, some other steps might have to be brought into play.

UPDATE: The pins are available at www.cfe-tagman.com.

A Quiet Sunday

Even our visitor numbers are down a little bit today (not quite 1,200 visitors so far). A couple of stories of interest - kind of a mini quick hits we guess:

• Not quiet Down Under - a HUGE cyclone battering Australia. Local and International coverage. Cool satellite pictures if you can find them.
• Quiet Saturday - The anti-war protests around the world were a bust. Sorry Lefty. Out of 6 billion people, all they were able to muster were a few tens of thousands. Chicago appears to have had one of the largest rallies that we can track. From GatewayPundit: Austria - 200 protestors; Berlin - 700; Greece - 600; Sweden - 1,000; Tokyo - 2,000; London - 15,000; Australia - 500. We're going to guess the anti-war, anti-democracy people have fallen out of favor as Chicago alone can draw a couple hundred thousand immigrant protestors but the world total against bringing freedom and democracy can't even crack the attendance figures at Bears game.
• It's so quiet, even The Sopranos lost a quarter of it's viewing audience over last season. These totals don't take into consideration TIVO viewers and such, so maybe the drop off is less.

Overall, it seems very quiet - is it the calm before a storm? County indictments? Tuesday elections? Exempt movement? What does everyone else hear?

Way to go Rod!

You moron.

• Gov. Blagojevich's unsuccessful battle to restrict violent and sexually explicit video game sales may cost taxpayers $644,545 in legal fees incurred by the software industry, according to court documents the group filed Thursday.

  The state also paid an unknown amount to its own lawyers to defend a state law prohibiting such sales to minors, a law that was declared unconstitutional last December.

We aren't even lawyers and we could have told Rod he was wasting taxpayer money. But Rod and the nanny state know what's good for you and good for your kids. Hey Rod? You want to keep violent and sexually explicit games out of kids hands? TELL THE PARENTS NOT TO BUY IT FOR THEM!

What About the Police?

Someone in the comments section suggested we link to and write about this:

• Chicago firefighters and paramedics who put their lives on the line every day are getting shortchanged: They're owed thousands of dollars apiece because of payroll mistakes that have dragged on for more than a year.

OK. So what are we - chopped liver? Our payroll issues have been dragging on for quite a while: promoted people not getting their raises; step raises not being awarded; CTA special checks being late or worse; not to mention the recent snafu of bosses checks being paid at higher rates than what they actually were and the assorted W-2 screw ups. If we recall, the union even sued to get interest on the missing CTA money.

Who else has a horror story? We haven't heard of people having to take out loans or such, but lives have been disrupted. Where is our publicity?

We are Tired

No, we won't tell you why or where we happened to be. But we never did get to wrap Lefty up in "W" stickers. It would have been amusing to say the least. Anyway, here's some coverage of the war protests. Funny how they seem to get smaller and smaller each year, isn't it? How is it that a protest over tightening immigration laws can garner a few hundred thousand people, but these people couldn't fill the upper deck at Sox park?

Good job by the police all around.

Channel 2, Channel 7, Tribune.

Here's a Thought

Anyone else think Stroger should just quit? It seem obvious to all but the most brain damaged that he won't be up to the job any more. Yes, we know, if the Machine can pull off a win, then they get to appoint a successor instead of actually having to win an election. Claypool is playing it straight by not attacking a hospitalized opponent, but you think he (or his people) would be out spreading the word that Stroger is physically unfit for office.

We would have loved to see those Federal indictments unsealed a few days ago. Too bad the Feds couldn't pull the trigger on them.

Stroger coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5 and Channel 7.

Protests Today

Big day today. We're going to go to the protests, hunt down Lefty, cover him head to toe in "W" stickers, then cut him loose during the march. We have a bet on the actual distance he makes it through the crowd - the over/under is 20 yards.

Preliminary coverage of the march is here at Channel 7 and the Tribune. Hopefully, it's a fraction of the size of the immigrant march and at least as peaceful. Not that we don't think the Department isn't capable of dishing out some 1960's style whuppings, but we hate to see coppers bruise their knuckles.

She Doesn't Get It

NOTE: Keep racial invective OUT of the comments section. This is not a rip job on Mary Mitchell because she is black - this is a rip job because she is ignorant. By the way, we read her column so YOU don't have to.

Mary asks a question in her latest column. She actually asks it a few times.

• "Where is Jesse? Where is Farrakhan?"
• In either case, their questions raise another: Where are today's black leaders?

She also promotes a few half truths and factual errors:

• And isn't the Nation known for its ability to turn around the lives of wayward young black men? Haven't they stood toe-to-toe with drug dealers and gangbangers in the past?
• Now, apparently, all black people can expect from the Nation and Farrakhan is controversy.

All ANYONE could ever expect from Farrakhan and his ilk was (and is) controversy. He thrives on it. It gives him a bogeyman to galvanize his base and gives his followers a convenient scapegoat to blame for what affects them (like the Klan and blacks; like Hitler and the Jews; like Mao and the Nationalists; like Stalin and everybody.) And we don't have to go far in our collective memories to remember when the bow-tie wearing "Nation of Islam" hoodlums would hold open project building doors for fleeing dope dealers and then bar the police entry. Toe-to-toe? They were standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

But Mary shouldn't be asking "where" the leaders are. They're out there, making their money, same as any other grifter. Mary should be realizing what most intelligent black people realized a long time ago - these aren't leaders, they're race baiters. How does one go about blaming "whitey" for the slaughter of two innocent children in a black neighborhood by black gangsters? It can't be done, so Jesse and Louis and Bobby and Haithcock just shut up and hope it'll go away. And the faster it goes away, the faster they can get back to exploiting the worries of their own community.

None of these so called "leaders" has any idea or concrete program to drag Englewood out of the morass it's in. So they generate controversy by drumming up an "issue" sure to rile up "whitey" and promote conflict by naming a street for someone who called for the killing of people who do more for a stable society than any other - police officers. And then when a real issue comes to the fore, like dead children, some call for gun control (even though the gun came from Indiana where no one here had any control over it), some call for a "cease-fire" (even though they won't point out their sons and neighbors hiding the guns and dope), and some just hope it'll go away so they can go back to what they do best - playing on the fears of their community.

PS: Mary also says "Others are only interested in rubbing my face in these horrible crimes." Do you think she might be reading the blog?

RIP Ray Meyer

Forget basketball, the man was just a class act and decent human being. In the modern age of huge egos, spoiled athletes at all levels and the mercenary attitudes of colleges, "Coach" stood out as an example of what sports once were and should be.

Sun Times; Tribune; Channel 2; Channel 5; Channel 7

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The boys over at the NYPD Rant are celebrating in a big way and have an entire thread devoted to jokes of, about, and at the expense of the Irish. Our favorites so far:

• Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey". Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."
• Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?" The man said, "I do Father." The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall." Then the priest asked the second man, "Do you want to got to heaven?" Certainly, Father," was the man's reply. "Then stand over there against the wall," said the priest. Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and said, "Do you want to go to heaven? O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father. The priest said, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?" O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now."

More CPD Problems and a Question

A civil lawsuit was filed Thursday regarding the arrests of CPD Officers Black, Hayes, Flagg and Jones. The plaintiff says:

• David Stewart alleged that the officers, Corey Flagg, Eural Black, Broderick Jones, Darek Hayes, as well as others, routinely burst through the door of a home on West 110th Street and demanded money.
  

Proving that the revolution can't some soon enough so that we can line up certain lawyers against the wall, the plaintiff's attorney says:

• "In civil RICO (Racketeer, Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), you can get treble damages, meaning that for the money that he took from the family, they can be compensated three times of the value of the money that they took," Horowitz said.

EVEN THOUGH THE NEXT LINE OF THE ARTICLE STATES:

• Officers allegedly targeted the house because one of the occupants, Larry Wilkins, admitted he was involved in drug crimes."I was currently doing something wrong," Wilkins said.

Crooked cops? OK, throw the book at them - convict them and send them away. But a civil RICO lawsuit? For TREBLE DAMAGES? FOR DRUG MONEY? Excuse us? What? God help us if this lawyer adds the City on as a defendant to recover illegal stolen drug profits. Because if this lawyer think these guys are going to have a penny to their name after a trial for official corruption OR have a hope in hell of selling their story to Hollywood, he's nuts.

016 District Adventures

Quick! Bid to the 016th District. Crime! Mayhem! Men throwing their severed body parts at you! Reports from various sources are that last night, an individual (drunk) was involved in some sort of altercation, possibly a domestic, and when responding officers arrived, they found he had mutilated his own body and he threw his severed penis at them. The individual had to be TASERed twice before they could take him to the hospital.

Yes, we just typed the words "severed penis." If we had a sense of shame, we would be ashamed. Since we don't, we're looking to see what this "person of now indeterminate gender" was charged with:

• battery, aggravated - other blunt object?
  
• assault with a dead weapon?

Someone has to have something better than our meager offerings. Where is this case report - 016? Area 5? Scan it and e-mail it. And how do you live down being the officer(s) that some psycho dude threw a penis at?

UPDATE: Here is the Sun Times Story. They say "severed organ" and "penis" a number of times, so we must be like real journalists since we know the lingo.

Ryan Trial Grinding On

This was our fear all along:

• Former Gov. George Ryan's jury completed its first four-day week of weighing the evidence at his racketeering and fraud trial Thursday and went home amid indications they may be having a tough time understanding the thick batch of instructions they were given.
  

And we're sure it is exactly what Dan Webb was counting on. If you bury a jury in enough BS, they're going to get confused, bored and eventually, simply eager for the whole thing to be over. We've read the Channel 7 report and even if most of the facts about the jury notes are accurate, this jury is extremely confused and that is NEVER of good thing in a Federal trial, especially one that relies on a lot of detail.

Here's what they should be concentrating on - (1) how the heck did Ryan survive on less than $700 dollars over so many years and (2) where was he getting the cash? Once they can agree that something illegal was going on, then they can fill in the other counts of influence peddling and racketeering, which is where the government accountants can really do their damage. Hopefully, our 01 January prediction comes true and Ryan is found guilty and will rot in prison. But right now, it's a coin toss.

Captains?

Post the list if you have it. We didn't hear anything.

UPDATE: Is there or is there NOT a list? Everyone is talking like there was something going on, but no one has posted a complete list.

More Foreign (and Local) Guests

We're getting a few hits today from the oddest places and we figure it can't be Chicago cops on vacation. Our first hit is from Albania. Albania? No one we knows goes to Albania unless they started in Italy and went across to do some smuggling, but what does Albania have to smuggle? Anyone?

The second odd hit is from Singapore and we KNOW that can't be a Chicago guy. They don't let you chew gum in Singapore and if you swear, they beat you with gigantic bamboo canes. No way a Chicago guy is going there with all the bad words we know: "Hey Johnny, how was your trip to Singapore and how come you're sitting so funny in the squad car? I heard you put in for a foot route for a few months? What's up with that?"

Anyway, Welcome to our foreign guests! We've been getting quite a few European visitors, usually in the early morning hours. We've also been getting quite a few visitor from a couple of local blogs that seem to have axes to grind over various neighborhood issues. Remember kids, this is an open public board and the public DOES wander in occassionally.

Quick Hits

Otherwise, we got nothing.

• Police shot a man on west side, just to see him die ... oh wait, he pointed a gun at them. Sorry. Our bad. Channel 2 and Tribune coverage.
• Cook County, which just raised taxes on cigarettes another dollar a pack, has now banned smoking in just about every open space in existence. How they plan to enforce it seems to be another matter and numerous suburbs are getting sick of the county dropping insane laws like this all over the place. Trib and Channel 2 cover the silliness.
• Terrorist surveillance of the Sears Tower? Could be. Turns out the car was rented under a fake name. Keep aware people.
• Stroger to be in the hospital probably past election day and his backers are vowing to campaign without him. Wasn't there a movie made about this once where they had the President in a coma and a body double took over? Was it "Dave"?
• And a woman and her chihuahua got drunk together and drove her kid to school Monday. She's facing child endangerment and cruelty to animal charges. Write your own punchline for this one.
  

Beware the Ides of March

Just found this one. Accomplice? Witness? Or disinterested party? Only history knows the truth.

New Sergeant Assignments

Just saw in the comments section that our favorite Sergeant made it to the 009th District. If anyone has the complete listing, post it here. If we get it, we'll type it and put it up shortly.

UPDATE: We have the best readers on the entire Internet. Someone went and posted all the names already about 10 or so posts in - Thanks! You just saved us a load of typing and searching for this thing.

Red Light Cameras Illegal?

For the second time in 8 months, a remote camera program has been made illegal, in this case because the city couldn't prove who was driving the car and merely assigning guilt to the owner of the license plate. Granted, this judge was sitting in Minnesota and their camera program seems to be a different version of the one in Chicago that tries to snap a picture of the driver AND the plate, but if a persuasive argument could be made that the driver of a vehicle is unidentifiable, we cannot see how these tickets would stand in court (well, actually we could - this is Cook County after all).

In July of last year, the Virginia legislature refused to re-authorize their camera act, in part because an outside agency was collecting money on what is essentially a government function.

Anyone want to volunteer to be the guinea pig?

Where's OUR Security?

Story in the Sun Times Tuesday:

• Most judges want government-paid home security
• Three quarters of the nation's 2,200 federal judges have asked for government-paid home security systems that Congress approved last year after the killing of the husband and mother of a federal judge in Chicago, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday.

No shit Sherlock. And in a related survey:

• 80% of Americans wanted the government to buy their groceries for them
• 86% of Americans wanted the government to get them a nicer car - with rims
  
• 93% of Americans wanted the government to assume their mortgage payments
• and 100% of Americans wanted a free bag of money, every day, for the rest of their lives

First of all, Joan Lefkow's husband and mother were killed by a psycho. And the Atlanta debacle was an administrative failure to secure a known violent offender with shackles and appropriate guards. NEITHER of these cases would have been prevented by a "Home Security System" that Attorney General Gonzales is talking about and that the US Congress authorized $12 million dollars for.

There isn't a cop in this country who wouldn't LOVE to have a "free" security system for their home. And we face quite a bit more in the way of threats than a judge does every single day. If the judges want protection, they seem adequately compensated for their work - they can pay for it. If they want to undergo the proper training, give them concealed carry. Expand the Marshall Service if a threat materializes. Otherwise, stop pissing our money away.

Can't Keep Their Mouths Shut

On 02 March, we ran this thread taking Howard Dean to task and quoting Napoleon about not interrupting your opponent while he is making a mistake. The democrats are at it again. Instead of letting Bush and the Republicans stew in their own juices regarding the recent Dubai Ports issue, the immigration/borders debacle, and other minor missteps, Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) decides now would be a good time to enter a "censure" motion that has ZERO chance of passing and basing it on a series of unproven allegations he attempts to pass as fact. And when the Republicans attempt to call the measure for a vote, the Democrats say, "well, just hold on a minute - we don't want to go on the record here, do we?"

All we can figure is that as Hillary moves right to set up a run for President, Fiengold is attempting to sew up the fever swamps of the Left. Why? We don't know, because an out and out leftist is never going to win the White House and might even drag down the national ticket. Which we would welcome. So keep on talking Russ. Howard needs all the help he can get.

Stroger ill - Time for Change?

Media outlets (Channel 2; Channel 5; Channel 7; Sun-Times; Tribune) report Cook County Board President John Stroger suffered a stroke last night. Although vehemently opposed to Stroger's re-election, we wish no specific ill upon the man and wish him a full recovery.

That being said, we'd like to encourage everyone reading today to vote next Tuesday for Stroger's opponent, Forrest Claypool. Yes, he worked for Daley. Yes, he's part of the Machine politics that infects every aspect of County and City politics. BUT, he isn't the status quo, and any change to the established political order is a good thing. Stroger is an old, broken down Machine politician who ought to step aside, particularly in light of the various scandals wracking his administration and the rather large scandal that is set to break any day now regarding the sheriff's training division. We're actually seriously considering taking a democratic ballot just to vote for Claypool. The last time we did that, it was to vote for Glen Poshard over Burris and we came pretty close to being on the winning side that time.

UPDATE: Post corrected for Burris.

Return of the Fleeing Felon Rule?

No, of course not in Illinois. What are you, nuts? But in Texas, this op-ed piece makes some good points about how the politicians and public are more willing to blame the police for when things go awry than the suspects and felons who actually cause the problems, be it car chases, foot chases or whatever. Some highlights:

• The same goes for police chases. These have been virtually halted in many places because instead of making it more perilous for a suspect to run, we have hampered the pursuit. The media should hammer on suspects who try to escape, pointing out that they endanger themselves, presumably innocent bystanders and certainly the police.
  
• And, no, it is not human instinct to run from cops when a person is not guilty (of something if not the immediate crime). It is actually perverse to resist arrest in civilized society. We need to stress this. One good way would be to make everyone afraid of being shot if they make police give chase.

Go read the whole thing. Then start looking for applications to police departments in Texas.

Ban Everything!

Someone made a funny in a comments section:

• I was at a crime scene where someone was stabbed to death. Lets outlaw knives!! Maybe when someone is beat to death with a bat, outlaw bats!! It's amazing how people can point the finger at anything when they do not want to address the real issue.

Guess what? In Britain, that's exactly what they're trying to do. After banning guns and seeing their crime rates skyrocket out of control, British doctors are pushing a knife ban. From The Scotsman.com
May 2005:

• LONG, pointed kitchen knives should be banned as part of a concerted effort to reduce the terrible injuries and deaths caused by stabbing attacks, doctors warned today.

From the BBC:

• Home Office spokesperson said there were already extensive restrictions in place to control the sale and possession of knives. "The law already prohibits the possession of offensive weapons in a public place, and the possession of knives in public without good reason or lawful authority, with the exception of a folding pocket knife with a blade not exceeding three inches.

Thank goodness this can't happen in America, right? Wrong!

• That was the case as well in the Boston area, where a rise in gang violence involving machetes occurred in the past several years. The surrounding towns of Revere, Everett, Lynn and Chelsea have banned machetes, and there is now a bill before the Massachusetts Senate that would prohibit the carrying, sale and manufacture of the tool-turned-weapon.

Ban guns, as Britain and Massachusetts have done (and Chicago), and guess what? Only criminals have the guns. They are already breaking the law, why would they care what politicians ban? All they are doing is disarming more and more law abiding citizens and denying them the ability to defend themselves. EVERY SINGLE LEGITIMATE STUDY shows that increased gun ownership REDUCES crime. And the minute guns are a more difficult to get, out come the machetes (as Britain and Massachusetts have proven).

Thanks to mAssBackwards blog.

Just a Thought

But since we are obviously going to be sending large numbers of police officers from SOS, TRU, Area Gang Teams, other district tact teams and Closed Market into the hotbed of the Englewood District where weapon fire is a daily occurrence ...

... could we finally get a boss, ANY BOSS, to say that naming a street after some scumbag who advocated the killing of Police Officers is wrong, wrong, WRONG?

Just a thought.

Thank You Tribune!

Hooray! The Tribune just destroyed - DESTROYED - one of the biggest myths of the Democrats and leftists in general regarding the run up to the Iraqi War. Three cheers for the Tribune!

• When the Chicago Tribune searched for Plame on an Internet service that sells public information about private individuals to its subscribers, it got a report of more than 7,600 words. Included was the fact that in the early 1990s her address was "AMERICAN EMBASSY ATHENS ST, APO NEW YORK NY 09255."

EMBASSY "COVER" IS NOT COVER AND NEVER HAS BEEN. YOU CANNOT BE A NOC AND HAVE SERVED IN AN EMBASSY. Anyone who knows anything about covert operations knows this. So everything Plame and husband Joe Wilson have been saying for years is bullshit! Hahahahahahaha!

The headline probably should read something like "Cheney Exonerated" or "Libby Innocent." Hat tip to Ace of Spades

Street Name Protest

We haven't seen anything posted about the Unit Rep meeting. Was this discussed? Was anything proposed? Are the reps taking a survey of people interested in going down to City Hall?

We still think that if this abomination goes forward, someone ought to get a hold of the company that makes pins for the Chaplain's and print up a couple thousand Gilhooly and Rappaport pins for the St. Jude's march. Give them away or sell them, we'd buy a few and wear them on our blouses proudly.

Just When We Thought We Were Out

They pull us back in. Yes, it's time for The Sopranos again and no one shall bother us on Sundays for the next few months between 8 and 9 pm. Last night's episode:

Holy crap! Nothing like dragging you right back into it, eh? We won't spoil it for everyone, but that one lady sure is turning into the Angel of Death, isn't she? Everyone she meets with ends up in a bad way. Even being gone for almost 2 years, the writing and acting is as great as it ever was. If you never watched The Sopranos, you've missed a great bit of entertainment.

You Gotta Love The City Bureaucracy

Once again, Chicago schools become a national punchline:

• CHICAGO - Most high school students eagerly await the day they pass driver's education class. But 16-year-old Mayra Ramirez is indifferent about it. Ramirez is blind, yet she and dozens of other visually impaired sophomores in Chicago schools are required to pass a written rules-of-the-road exam in order to graduate,— a rule they say takes time away from subjects they might actually use.

Anyone want to bet that the only reason the CPS keeps teaching Driver's Ed to the blind isn't because they're "following the rules"; they're probably keeping the student numbers up so they can keep getting money from state and federal programs to spend somewhere else.

Man, we'd love to see Fitzgerald take a crack at the schools after he finishes chewing up Stroger's people at County. And of course, our own little cesspool at City Hall.

Happy Parade Day!

We guess that they have the parades the weekend before St. Patrick's Day because everyone would be too tired (haha) to show up if they actually had it the weekend closer to the actual holiday. At least we guess that's the case. Here's a pic from the parade:


Someone please tell us he painted that on and he didn't just have a really bad cold? And what the hell is that in the background?

Welcome Foreign Guests!

We were just trolling around our visitor stats and noticed a few visitors from London, England, Altstockach, Germany and of all things, a Blackberry hit from Canada. We assume they wandered in thanks to "The Policeman's Blog" link over in the right hand column.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to contact us if you have any questions, comments or criticisms. Questions will be answered, comments will be appreciated, criticisms - well, we take constructive criticism well, but we ignore other rantings. It's a habit we picked up years ago.

Hey Ms. Mitchell?

• Gunfire kills another girl in Englewood. (Conflicting reports put her age at either 10 or 13 - SCC). 13 year old girl shot an killed in the 2600 block of West 70th Place, only a few blocks from where Starkesia Reed was killed last week. (a reader says it was actually the 2000 block - SCC)
  
• Twenty-eight people -- among a group of about 200 gathered on a South Side street Saturday night to pay tribute to a gang member killed last week [emphasis added - SCC] -- were arrested after throwing bottles and rocks at police.
• Friday night drive-by victim dies. Bernard Norevell, 25, of the 9200 block of S. Blackstone Ave., was pronounced dead at 4:23 a.m. Saturday at Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner'’s office.

And that's just from your paper this morning. You still want white people to "stay out of their business?" Are you going to push to have a few more street signs named for these killers? Because without black and white and yellow and red and brown working together dressed in blue, you are going to see a lot more headlines like this for a lot more years.

Now how about you start becoming part of the solution instead of the part of the problem?

Speaking of Selling Assets

Has the mayor looked into possibly selling the Police Department? Seriously. It would relieve the City of it's largest employee base. The City wouldn't be liable for all those big settlements they seem so eager to pay (a private company hiring it's own attorneys would be more likely to fight some of those cases anyway). We'd probably be able to live outside the city; we'd probably be able to strike if need be; equipment and training would be more up to date. We think this has been tried at least once before:

We think it worked out pretty well for the people over at Omni Consumer Products. At least at first. As long as it isn't low bid, we could work out some of the kinks.

If it Ain't Nailed Down ...

Sell it! That seems to be the attitude of the mayor as of late. Has anyone else notice this phenomenon? A few years back, Daley needs money to fill a huge gap in his budget, and ::bam:: the Skyway deal suddenly appears, giving him $1.9 billion dollars or so to spend on pet projects. Maybe even some trucking or construction projects for his pals?

Earlier this month, the Sun Times had this article about a plan to privatize some or all of the operations at Midway Airport, city owned parking garages, the Millennium Park garage and the recycling sorting centers. And this article in the Tribune just days later says that the management and running of harbors is also on the board for possible sale.

Now, we are proponents of getting the government out of running things that can obviously be run more efficiently by private contractors. We're just wondering aloud at (1) who's going to get these contracts to run the airports, parking garages, harbors, etc., and (2) where are the job cuts in city departments that MUST take place to actually SAVE the money generated by selling these assets? Are we going to start hearing rumblings from city unions about parking attendants being laid off, harbor workers being laid off, plow drivers and other workers at the airport being laid off? Because THAT is where you'll see the savings.

Daley's budget gets bigger and bigger each year and so does the gap he can't cover without selling assets and raising fines and fees. And we can't see it getting any better in coming years unless someone really takes a knife to a whole lot of bloated bureaucracy and departments - after all, how many assets can he sell until the cupboard is bare? And when the cupboard is bare, the only thing left is raising property taxes which is sure to kill the building boom.

SCC's Favorite Seiser Facts

We were heartily amused at the Seiser-isms in "Shake out Time" while we took a break from the street sign controversy. We like to keep them in one area so as to not distract from other thread issues (the old "stay on topic" routine). We thought we'd share a few of our favorite Seiser-isms with the board. Please ensure all spewable beverages are far from your computer as neither SCC nor Seiser can be held responsible for damage to computers, monitors or keyboards:

• Seiser plays racquetball with a waffle iron and a bowling ball.
• The 1972 Miami Dolphins lost one game and it was vs. Seiser and three seven year old girls as his offensive line
  
• "Brokeback Mountain" is not just a movie. It's also what Seiser calls the pile of dead fools in his front yard who pissed him off.
  
• In ancient China there is a legend that one day a child will be born from a dragon, grow to be a man, and vanquish evil from the land. That man is not Seiser, because Seiser killed that man.

Run with it. If we can't have fun, what's the purpose?

Quick Hits for Friday Night

• The second guessing begins. Were Police caught unprepared for such a HUGE demonstration? All signs seem to point to some sort of Intelligence failure by the Department, but due to some quick work and adapting, everything turned out OK. What does this mean had there been a violent demonstration or terrorist incident? We have no idea, but we hope it's being discussed somewhere.
• Firehouse sex? Again? Maybe not. But check out Aldercreature Beavers quote: "there's a number of uniform freaks out there. People -- especially women -- like to see men in uniform." Wow. And this guy is an aldercreature.
• Job creation beats expectations by tens of thousands and was way over the January totals. And summer constructions season is about to begin. And the first quarter estimates point to a 4.5% increase in the economy. And. And. And the positives are just stacking up all around this economy.