Aldercreature Revolt?

Seems the City Council is sensing the sweet sunlight of freedom peeking through the dark shadow that is the Daley Machine. And they seem to be liking it. They are openly defying Daley on a number of issues and it's amusing to see.

Unfortunately, none of them seems to be blessed in the brains department (they're Chicago aldercreatures for pete's sake and democrats to boot) and the things that they are running counter to Daley are either unimportant or economic suicide. For instance:

• The entire "foie gras" incident. Why a major metropolitan city council would even spend a moment debating whether people with too much money should spend it at ten restaurants that serve goose liver is beyond us.
  
• Monday, Ed Burke wants to ban cooking with trans fats at Chicago restaurants. What in the hell is he thinking? We bleed convention business, are billions short in pension obligations and Eddie wants to stop people from spending money?
• The City Council demands the mayor hire more cops and the mayor essentially says "Screw you." This has yet to play out. Can the Legislative Branch force the Executive to bend to their will, which is essentially the will of the people? This could be interesting shortly.
• And now, the mayor is trying to get aldercreatures to back off of a number ordinances that will make it difficult for Wal-Mart to open a couple big box stores in town. These include "living wage" and benefits packages.

This is hilarious. And great theater. The aldercreatures don't have a brain among themselves in regard to economic realities and are slowing killing this city on the national stage.

• Mandating "living wages" will keep Wal Mart out of the city. But city residents are still going to go work there - there goes the City's "head tax" they so dearly love.
  
• Wal-Mart, for all it's alleged faults, supplies things that people want and want at a price they are willing to pay - there goes the City's sales taxes.
• City stores will be driven out of business as the people flock to the surrounding suburbs that are happy to have Wal-Mart there - goodbye to even more head taxes and sales taxes - the death spiral tightens
• Here's the best part - the aldercreatures are beholden to the unions who are demanding Wal-Mart submit to their will and their insane economic shackles. Wal-Mart probably won't. So the unions contribute to driving more union people out of jobs as businesses shut and support services disappear.

And if you really want a laugh, the City is declining to enforce immigration statutes, becoming a "sanctuary city" of sorts. More illegals show up and the illegal job seekers increase. Illegals are doing jobs at lower wages, further damaging and eroding the unions membership. Illegals don't have a lot of money, working these lower paying jobs, where are they going to shop? Wal-Mart!

God help us, we love this stuff.

Final Post About Sergeants Exam

We've run the gamut from serious to not so serious posts about the exam. We even gave full coverage to the amusing story making the rounds about a box of missing tests that provoked a flurry of late night phone calls among some of the exempts who surf the board. A last question for others who took the test along with some of us here.

What was the most effective study group that you joined? Was it the Robert's Study Group? Was it the Bernstein people? Or was it a group of coppers who got together and actually studied on their own? We heard a bunch of good things about one of the paying groups. Did anyone have a preference?

That's Not an M&M!!

Making us rethink our sweet tooth, the following coverage from Channel 2, Channel 7 and the Sun Times, M&M Mars is shut down for health code violations. Not only shut down, but shut down for refusing to make corrections following an earlier inspection.

Color us cynical, but we still like to think of our candies made by little orange Oompa Loompas in a magical chocolate factory somewhere far away. Mouse crap and fruit flies just doesn't cut it for us.

Daley to City Council: F#$% You

Looks like we won't be seeing a specialized traffic unit or a minor alleviation in the manpower shortage we all know exists and the Superintendent has admitted exists. From the Sun Times:

• Last week, a City Council committee defied Mayor Daley by agreeing to hire 100 more police officers for traffic enforcement with $7.5 million generated by red light cameras.

  On Wednesday, Daley defied them back.

  Minutes after the City Council gave final signoff to the police hiring, the mayor denounced it as "a useless act" that lacks the weight of law. He said he has no plans to hire more police officers to crack down on what aldermen call an "epidemic" of dangerous driving, including speeding, red-light running and blowing through stop signs.

The mayor wasn't ever going to spend the "windfall" money generated by the red-light cameras on anything as trivial as more police officers. And he certainly isn't going to be laying off any of his precious TMA's and Traffic Aides when he can pay them part time wages and no benefits rather than what actual sworn coppers can earn. And now with the $1 billion dollar property tax hike foisted on us by the Chicago Public Schools, Daley needs every dime he can squeeze from the cameras more than ever.

The Insanity of Aldercreatures

This is getting ridiculous now. It's the "nanny state" out of control:

• Chicago restaurants already prohibited from selling foie gras would be forced to start cooking healthy - without oils containing trans fats linked to obesity, stroke and heart disease - under a crackdown proposed Wednesday by the City Council's most powerful alderman.

  Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) followed through on a promise to make Chicago the first big city in the nation to prohibit restaurants from using oils containing artificial trans fats in food preparation.

Um, Eddie? Maybe the reason people LIKE eating foods like this is it tastes good? Trust us, if the food tastes like crap, no one is going to buy it. Chicago is a city based on great tasting food. You want tasteless, bland crap, move to L.A. or Seattle. Not here though. You want to drive convention business away even faster than normal, eliminate the great tasting food.

And guess what else? No one is forcing people to eat this stuff. They WANT to eat it. And if they care about their health, they'll do it in moderation and exercise regularly and take care of themselves. But to completely eliminate food that tastes fantastic just because someone somewhere down the line is going to have "the big one" isn't just stupid - it's completely asinine. Chicago has a long tradition of aldercreatures and mayors who couldn't fit into regular size clothes and died of dietary related ailments.

Stop thinking you know what's good for us Eddie. Don't you have some conflict of interest votes to change somewhere in the Council record somewhere?

Compared to Last Year?

Anyone have the homicide numbers? We've got to be neck and neck, right? Because we can't be below last years numbers, can we?

A "two-fer" on the southside.

Hahahahaha

From Channel 2 News:

A would be burglar was shot in the head. With his own gun! Hahahahahahahahahaha. You gotta love it.

Encore!

Stroger to Step Aside?

Sun Times report:

• Three months after suffering a serious stroke - and winning renomination in spite of it - Cook County Board President John Stroger is expected to withdraw this week and ask Democratic ward bosses to replace him on the November ticket with his son.

But the hereditary politics of Cook County live on:

• Ald. William Beavers (7th), self-declared spokesman for the Stroger family, has already started lining up votes for Ald. Todd Stroger (8th) and appears to be well on his way to securing a majority of the weighted votes of 80 ward and township committeemen to place the younger Stroger on the ballot, sources said.

Great. A member of the most crooked legislative body in recorded history is about to be handed the reins of one of the biggest political patronage machines in existence. All because he's daddy's boy. If this isn't a reason to be really disgusted with Illinois politics, we don't know what is.

Another Cop Doing Their Job

Via Channel 7 News (the Sun Times has the same story):

• Police have reports of two people shot, Wentworth District Lt. Joseph Berry said, but he could not provide additional information.

  Apparently, a police officer witnessed the shooting, then chased down and apprehended one of the two suspects involved and the weapon, Langford said.

Too bad we don't get more coverage of stories like these. We're sure it happens a lot more than anyone hears about. The 24 Hour Report doesn't give the boys and girls enough credit for going out there and just doing the job day in and day out. Stories like these are overshadowed by headlines about cowardice or crooked cops getting swept up in narcotics operations. But then, "Dog Bites Man" stories never sell as many papers or commercials as "Man Bites Dog."

Railroad Killer Executed

and other Quick Hits:

• Channel 2, Channel 5 and Channel 7 cover the execution of one of the more prolific serial killers in history. At least his death gurney statement was "I deserve what I am getting."
  
• Only saw this story at the Sun Times of all places. Seems 19 people got arrested at a free DJ led concert at Daley Plaza Sunday night. Nothing happens at Daley Plaza without City approval and it usually has "Presented by Richard M. Daley" somewhere on the literature. So the mayor must be presenting mini-riots downtown now so the media doesn't have to venture into Garfield Park on the weekends. Why no coverage?
• Continuing a long democratic tradition of throwing money at problems, Danny Davis wants more money to treat heroin addiction. We've already expressed our views on this. We'd rather see the money earmarked for D-3 out of grade expenditures.

Lost Test?

Track this one down people. Lots of comments in the "Lost in the Clutter" post about a box of tests going missing on the way to being graded. More City shenanigans? Or more BS rumors at SCC Blog? Let us know.

UPDATE: Rumor appears to be just that - a rumor at this time. But it is amusing to see how many of us are willing to give credence to the story in that we ALL know how the city truly works. Qualifications mean almost nothing in the day and age of Daley. We say "almost" because there is that rare occassion when someone qualified is needed (like Paul Vallas) and they are hired or promoted until such time as the Machine can safely backstab them to put another political hack into place.

More Money Pissed Away

This is still one of our favorite photos (via Channel 7 News):

It sums up the complete and utter arrogance of the mayor. Sure, there was really no reason for having an airstrip on the lakefront. It was loud, pointless and served maybe 10 people a year (or something similar). So did the mayor follow established procedures for shutting down Meigs? Nope, In the dead of night, he turned spotlights on fixed camera positions, shut down traffic and tore it all up.

Now, to fight a $33,000 fine for not giving 30 days notice, the City has spent $200,000 in legal fees. We think we're entitled to ask, "What the F$%^?" The mayor owns this town and all it's departments lock, stock and barrel. If he tells the Park District to plant a tree, they fall all over themselves to find a tree meeting exacting requirements and promptly send out a crew of 11 to dig, plant and water the tree. Every day if necessary.

Why didn't he just tell the Parks District not to renew the airport lease, wait 30 days, then close the airport and tear it up? What would that have delayed? The whole thing sat for months afterwards anyway. Seem the only people getting rich here are the lawyers. Damn, we hate lawyers.

Closing Arguments

Coverage of the Sorich trial at the following links: Sun Times, Channel 2, Channel 7, Tribune.

The entire defense wrapped up in 2 days. Closing arguments involved a lot of name calling, including the defense calling a prosecution witness who pled guilty a "pig." A best case scenario would be numerous findings of guilty, then a prosecution of the mayor's lawyer and her getting disbarred for her various excuses on the stand. Then the mayor himself getting called a few times at various trials and losing the next election before he can saddle taxpayers with the billions of dollars to be spent on an Olympics.

But we're just dreaming aloud here.

Lost in the Clutter

There were hearings in Washington last week regarding the Midway plane crash this past December (Channel 5 and Channel 7 coverage). One of our regular readers attended the hearings and mailed us some photos from the event:
Surprise witnesses:
Even protestors:Just a typical Washington circus.

Timely Reminder

Russia, which claimed to be in negotiations with islamic terrorists who had kidnapped 4 of their diplomatic workers, is reeling in shock and horror at the murder and beheading of all four hostages. Coverage at Powerline, Gateway Pundit and Michelle Malkin. WARNING: Disturbing video at the links.

Why Russia (which didn't support the Iraqi War) figures that they can negotiate with people who want them dead is beyond us. Russia has it's own islamic problems in Chechnya and has been none too gentle in addressing them. Their support of Saddam and the Iranian nuclear efforts are even more mind boggling.

The old Chinese adage "May you live in interesting times" is certainly apt here.

More Insanity from Democrats

Isn't this special?

• MIAMI -— American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.

The democratic party - rooting for America to lose since Vietnam. Murtha has gone around the bend and the dems keep throwing him out in front of the cameras as their spokescreature. Rue St. Michel has a recent post up with a couple of links documenting Murtha's descent into insanity. Keep it going Mr. Rove. Your genius knows no bounds.

The Clout Story Continues

Sun Times tracks Clout "slugging percentage".

Daley Besieged?

We're relaxing after the test day. Posting light until this evening.

Anyone See This Piece?

Can't find it on the Channel 7 website yet, but they had a story on tonight about an alleged plot to kill a police officer in Garfield Park. Two arrests were made and a couple of guns recovered. Anyone have details?

UPDATE: Sun Times coverage here.

What Goes Around ...

... comes around evidently via Channel 2 News).

• (AP) CHICAGO Romarr Gipson got $2 million from the city after he was wrongfully accused of killing 11-year-old Ryan Harris when he was just 7 years old.
  
  Now, one of the two men that Gipson's accused of shooting at a Calumet Park gas station is suing the 15-year-old for unspecified damages.

If there is any Karma to be balanced out in the universe, this is the case to do it. Additional coverage at the Sun Times.

A Serious Post About the Test

You can use this post to ask LEGIT questions about the test and hopefully, someone has looked up the answer or sought out the correct information so we can all see how close we were to what they might be looking for.

Please try to refrain from other stuff here. There are plenty of other posts for you to run amok in. Let's see if we can keep it on subject.

A Not So Serious Post About the Test

Use THIS post to tell stories about proctors, stories about alleged cheating and general screw ups that accompany every single test. Like the massive trip to the bathroom in 1997 where about 800 hundred people were trading answers at the break in the Merchandise Mart. Now THAT was a joke of a test.

Quick! ASK FOR THE WAGON!

Seems the squadrol is about to become the place to be. Rumor has it that an order was cut this afternoon ordering District Commanders to take an inventory of body bags on hand because the "Body Snatchers" removal service is about to go belly up. Wagons will once again become the primary body transport vehicles citywide. The good news is that if you move ONE single body, you are entitled to out or grade D-3 pay for the day.

A small request of the wagon crews - if you go to a call and there are two bodies there, leave one for the next crew? You got yours, let the other guys get a bit of the action? We know of a few wagon crews that were moving bodies as if they were getting paid by the unit and screwing the other watches. Share the wealth - it's like $40 extra for the day.

Get Ready for a Boondoggle

Chicago to host Olympic Games? (Channel 2, Channel 7 and Sun Times coverage). Actually, it's only the chance to present a proposal to possibly host the Games. Could it be done? Sure. We have the facilities, the hotel space, incidental support and the capability to host a big event like the Olympics.

Should it be done? That's a matter of opinion. A lot of building improvement would have to be done. That means contracts which means "the Chicago way" of doing things, which coincidently, seems to be the Olympic way of doing a lot of things (bribes, payoffs and the like.) And that doesn't take into consideration that Olympics usually lose money. Taxpayers get stuck with more than a little bit of the construction and improvement costs while foreigners demand all sorts of freebies, concessions and the like. After the Olympics leave, communities are stuck with clean up and a number of unusable buildings (how many times have you visited a velodrome?)

If only we had a website that could solicit that kind of insight into whether or not a city so mired in corruption and sleaze should be allowed to play around with the billions of dollars an Olympic sized event would involve. Oh wait ... we do!

The Plot Becomes Clearer

From Friday's Sun Times:

• Sounding a lot like a mayoral challenger, state Sen. James Meeks (I-Chicago) demanded Thursday that Mayor Daley fix a problem with a "strong hint of racism": poorly qualified teachers concentrated in black and Hispanic schools.

Now we get it. Meeks is being used by the Machine. First, the Meeks generated a bunch of headlines for a non existent "racial profiling" incident that just screamed of "opportunity." He starts agitating for changes in state law and all sorts of nonsense.

Next, he begins exploring a run for governor as an independent. He goes so far as to almost beginning to collect signatures after skipping the primary, finally dropping out after blackmailing the governor into concessions on school funding. The conspiracy theorist in us says he was sent by the Machine to drag Blago back into line over money issues and the possibility of a semi legitimate Republican contender winning the election. Rod can rest easier now.

The next act has him challenging an embattled mayor. But he's working for the Machine again by threatening to split the minority vote away from Jesse Jr and Gutierrez and keeping the mayor in power long enough to salvage part of his legacy. The tired old saw of "racism," this time in the schools is his cry. It's almost Rovian in it's fiendishness.

Sergeant Exam Time

Rumors continue to pop up about a final class from the old list - maybe 75 people. Since we won't be on it, we don't really care.

In the meantime, good luck to everyone who is taking/has taken the test this Saturday. Hopefully, a deserving bunch of people score high enough to get promoted. Yes, the 30% will deprive other deserving people from getting promoted, but hopefully it won't out outlast the current political regime and we can move beyond the damage it is doing to our Department.

A Message to Our Readers

First of all, the Comment Sections have been getting out of hand. We're regularly deleting a third of the asinine comments that appear there. To the tiny brains that can't seem to follow a topic or contribute anything to the conversation other than some twisted misogynist garbage or other BS, knock it off. You obviously have a lot of trouble getting laid. You really ought to get that repair kit for your inflatable woman before you do some real damage.

To the softballs who keep posting the names of people, stop. We go out of our way to keep names off of the blog. We speak in vague generalities almost all of the time unless it's an obvious public figure/boss or named individual.

And finally, to those who object to our heavy handed censorship - too bad. We delete what we want and leave what we like. You don't like it, we're sure you can find some place that meets your needs. Maybe you can make your own site.

More Meeks Madness

Hasn't this guy lost all credibility yet? He screams "racial profiling!" when there isn't any. He threatens to run for governor (as an independent of all things) when he has no realistic shot. Why is he still getting any ink? Now he's turned his sights on the schools and comes up with these brilliant observations:

• State Senator James Meeks is calling on Mayor Daley to put better teachers in Chicago's poorest schools.
• Meeks cited a recent report by the non-profit organization called "Education Trust." It found unqualified teachers are more likely to be placed in poor and minority school districts.
• "There's absolutely no way our poor and minority school districts will ever have an opportunity to pull themselves up with a poor quality of teachers," said Senator Meeks.

Not published was his proposal to give "better" teachers a combat pay bonus of $5,000 to teach in "non-performing" schools. Gee whiz rev, could it maybe be because of archaic union rules that won't let anyone fire incompetent teachers? Or maybe the fact that teachers don't want to work in dangerous environments? Or how about the ... ah, screw it. Welcome to your own personal "Catch-22" situation reverend. Either you piss off the unions who pour countless millions into the Machine's pockets or you piss off your constituents who blindly give you votes you neither earn nor deserve. Good Luck!

Masters of the Obvious

Gee whiz Channel 2, welcome to Chicago!

• Did Clout Play A Role In Fatal Porch Collapse? Deposition Suggests Politics Trumped Public Safety

Um, how about ... YES! Someone get a "clue-bat" and beat Channel 2 with it. Why do we feel we're surrounded by media morons?

Cops Fired, Cop Indicted

Yes, we know. Old news. Sometimes, when we post, we are a little behind the curve. We have a limited amount of time lately (got to be ready for Saturday) and sometimes the Comments Sections just run with a subject. We mentioned that posting would be a little behind this past weekend. But here are the links in case anyone still cares:

• Tribune, Sun Times, Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7
  

And another Officer on the way to prison for getting caught up in a heroin operation. We were told that she was actually stripped a while ago as part of the ongoing investigation, but they didn't pick her up until the big sweep went down. More links to this story:

• Tribune, Sun Times, Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7

More for Lefty

From GatewayPundit.com, as of Thursday afternoon, CNN, Yahoo News and the BBC still haven't had any mention of the 500 artillery shells loaded with chemical weapons on their websites. Neither has the LA Times (via patterico.com).

Also, he tracks the attempted "goalpost moving" being carried out by the democrats (and by leftisthebest on this very site!), who are insisting that House Resolution HJ 114 didn't specify anything about these "degraded" weapons.

We're seeing the mysterious powers of Karl Rove behind all this.

Hey Lefty? Just for You

Just a quick little 5 minute Internet search:

• "The United States needs to lose the war in Iraq as soon as possible. Even more urgently, the whole world needs the United States to lose the war in Iraq. What is at stake now is the way we run the world for the next generation or more, and really bad things will happen if we get it wrong.” - Gwynne Dyer, leftist author
• Biden says we must win the war. This is precisely wrong. The United States must learn to lose this war - Jonathan Schell, AlterNet.com
• The United States has lost the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing. - Robert Jensen, college professor and author

So all of the above (and tens of thousands more leftists) are actively cheering for a US defeat and the only way to defeat is more dead soldiers - or is that leap a little much for you? Surf any of the threads at Daily Kos or the Democratic Underground. Kos himself even said "Screw 'em" when four US citizens we're killed, burned, hacked to pieces and hanged from a bridge. They literally cheer for more deaths and celebrate "milestones" of 2,000 deaths and 2,500 deaths, belittling everything our military has done. And how about this sign in San Francisco this past summer?You and your hippie ilk want to relive Vietnam and drag this country backwards into the cesspool that was the 60's and 70's, but don't question your patriotism?

Jihad in Chicago

How about this breaking story:

• Dateline Miami: Seven people were arrested Thursday in connection with the early stages of a plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and other buildings in the U.S., including the FBI office here, a federal law enforcement official said.

Expect more in the coming hours and days. The mayor will be all over this to distract from the Sorich deliberations.

UPDATE: Captain's Quarters has a boatload of links around the Internet that are following this story. Click on his site and follow the information still coming in.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Local coverage begins in earnest: Tribune, Sun Times, Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7

You be the Judge

From the comments section of "Recognizing the Enemy:"

• leftisthebest: More tripe pushed by the right. No leftist is cheering for any U.S. soldier to be killed, that's plain crazy.

From TODAY'S Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Let's see, there's an al-Qaida terrorist with a serrated knife (violation of Geneva Convention), black hoods (no doubt a slam at the abu-Grhaib situation - for which a number of soldiers were convicted and sent to prison), A whip (violation of Geneva Convention), and on the t-shirt of the figure to the right, AN AMERICAN FLAG! Golly, the American seems to be teaching the terrorist "Torture Etiquette."

So let's review - According to this cartoon (and the Left), barking dogs, naked pyramid, leashes EQUALS cutting of the heads of US prisoners and booby trapping the bodies. Ok Lefty, your people aren't cheering for American deaths - YOU'RE SAYING THEY DESERVE IT.

Fuck each and every one of you leftist scumbags that supports cartoons like this through your silence, excuse making and inaction. We know more than a few Chicago coppers who are or have served in harm's way and this is a slap at them and every other service man or woman in history.

The Clout List

Tribune has it up. Here's a link (you have to jack the magnifier up to 200% on Adobe Acrobat). All sorts of interesting stuff there. Let's try running a few random searches on the document:

• Search for "policeman" reveals only 3 entries - one for a Joseph Pizza who will soon be retiring; one for an Adam Zelitsky from 012 who wants to be transferred to the canine unit; one for a Robert Hartman who wants to be assigned to Corp Counsel.
• Search for "police" reveals 13 entries - some highlights include Chester Batey Jr promoted to Sergeant thanks to Rev. Clay Evans; Anthony Carothers, brother of aldercreature Carothers promoted to Detective; Kevin Gyrion wants a transfer OUT of Englewood to a Unit, specifically Narcotics; Daryn Brown was discharged from Police? Who knows what that was about?

These are only people who decided to use their political connections - this doesn't even touch the family tree of Department members. John Kass and the Tribune want readers to drop a dime on any names you recognize on the list or names that haven't made the list yet. There seem to be a few relatives of persons who met untimely ends in the trunks of cars according to Kass. And the complete list covers 59 pages. It certainly isn't the only list in existence. In fact, we had our own list in a thread titled "Who Made Who? Who Made You? (A/C D/C)" back in October. Anyone think the Trib is ripping us off?

More WMD's in Iraq

Thank goodness for Fox News - otherwise, the main stream media and the democratic party would still be sitting on this info and trying to slap around the Administration with baldfaced lies.

• WASHINGTON -— The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.
  
• Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."
  
• The weapons are thought to be manufactured before 1991 so they would not be proof of an ongoing WMD program in the 1990s. But they do show that Saddam Hussein was lying when he said all weapons had been destroyed, and it shows that years of on-again, off-again weapons inspections did not uncover these munitions. [emphasis added - SCC]

Hello? Lefty? Democrats? Material Breach. Trigger for war. Violation of MULTIPLE UN Resolutions. 500 devices and more bound to be located. Your serving of crow is fresh, hot and waiting. Dig in!

Recognizing the Enemy

So, have the screams from the Left died down yet in regard to the recent capture, torture, murder, beheading and bobby trapping of two American soldiers?

What? No screams of outrage? No cries of "Geneva Convention! Geneva Convention!"? No calls for the impeachment of the Iraqi government? Nothing? Nothing at all?

Nope. Because the left is cheering for the US to lose, plain and simple. The only thing they live for is the dream of a Bush impeachment, a Democratic take over of the House and Senate, closing Gitmo and a complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq before the job is done. What a great agenda! And if we proposed the summary execution of all terrorists caught hiding among the civilians, not in uniform and not signatories to any international treaties, we'd be labeled as "war criminals."

Oh well. We hereby propose that all prisoners currently held in Gitmo be executed as fast as humanly possible. Anyone captured on the field of battle not in uniform should be shot on the spot. Anyone hiding among or launching attacks from groups of civilians should, upon capture, be hanged from the nearest lampposts and left to rot. What we propose is not only legal, it is established practice of armies around the world.

Remember, islam doesn't mean "peace," it means "submission." And if you don't submit, you are their enemy and are treated exactly like these soldiers were.

Almost a Darwin Award

But not quite:

• One juvenile is hospitalized, reportedly with a broken neck, after he tried to escape police and jumped from the roof of a building he was "“tagging"” with two other juveniles who were in police custody early Wednesday on the Near South Side.
• The juveniles were scrawling graffiti symbols atop a tire remanufacturing company near the railroad tracks at Cermak and Western about 3 a.m. when one of them jumped from the building to avoid police capture, said Ogden District Lt. Sam Cozzo.
• "One of them got real stupid [and jumped]," Cozzo said.

Well said boss. Now, any bets on how soon until mommy and daddy sue the police for their delinquent child? We give it 30 days.

Burge Report to be Published

Batten down the hatches. We're going to be recognizing a whole boatload of names no doubt. We'll be interested to see if there aren't a few final retirements occurring just before or after this gets published. And what kind of hit is the mayor going to take as he was the State's Attorney while all this allegedly went on.

BINGO! Indicator Number Two!

In our Un-F#$%ing-Believable post just below, we pointed out the "Cruelty to Animals" charge as one of the three "classic indicators" of behavior that is common in all serial killers.

We now have indicator #2:

• [Gipson] said [RoMarr] wet his bed years after the 1998 arrest, chewed his fingernails until he drew blood and dove to the floor of a car if he saw a police car approaching.

Cruelty to animals (usually as juveniles) and age inappropriate bedwettting are two of the three behaviors traditionally associated with all serial killers. The third is a propensity toward arson. Not all people who do this are serial killers, but all serial killers exhibit many of these and other behaviors. Every one of them. Even the big ones - Gacy, Bundy, Gein. Since then, other indicators have been noted, including theft (ding!), absent father before age 12 (ding!), cruelty to children (Ryan Harris anyone? ding!), among others.

This kid is a walking case study in how to create a serial killer.

$7.5 Million for Traffic Cops

From Tuesday's Sun Times:

• Defying Mayor Daley, a joint City Council committee agreed today to spend $7.5 million generated by red light cameras to hire 100 more police officers to enforce the city's traffic laws.

We wrote about this before (post #1, post #2) and we think we suggested making a traffic task force. Traffic is notoriously understaffed and the radar equipment is out of date and functions poorly. Deputy Chief of Patrol McCotter says it's only 2 officers per district (we think it's 4), but if they're part of a task force (like TRU), they can saturate problem areas, do sweeps for improperly licensed vehicles, and hammer hot spots, DUI's, and seatbelt enforcement. We offered this up as an idea someone could steal and get promoted from - is anyone taking us up on the offer?

Quick Hits Sun Times Special

So many fun headlines, so little time for our wit and humor:

• Since CH-33 has been grounded for extensive maintenance for how many days now, maybe the City ought to look into a few of these? Unmanned drones in LA. $20 to 30 thousand apiece instead of how many millions for a single chopper. The city would save millions and milli...oh wait, we see the flaw already.
• We warned everyone wildlife was getting out of hand, not knowing it place as either food or clothing. It's spreading. Bears breaking into Canadian houses to find oatmeal like some bizarro world version of Goldilocks.
• Former judge, sexual harasser and woman beater Oliver Spurlock is suing the CPD for answering a domestic at his house and then claiming a sergeant wandered around inside his abode. So we guess we'll have to stop looking for evidence, other wounded subjects or additional offenders when we respond to calls inside houses.
• One charge dropped against Sorich and crew. Not too big a deal as they are facing numerous counts but you still hate to see it - it means the government went to trial with a weaker case than usual. Hopefully, something sticks.
• Stroger out of the hospital - for now.

World's Worst Parents?

Probably not, but they're definitely in the running:

• Stockton, California; California authorities said a mother watched in horror as her 6-year-old son fell from the top of a Ferris wheel to his death. Ruben Castillo was riding alone in his gondola at the San Joaquin County Fair on Sunday when he plunged 90 feet, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Officials said Castillo tried to climb out of his seat and fell. A fair spokesman said the rides have no age restrictions, only a height requirement which Castillo met.

A six year old? Alone? 90 feet in the air? In an open gondola? This is not just stupid, it's insanely stupid. We feel sorry for mom watching him fall and such, but this was beyond 100% preventable and not just by the carnival operators, but by the parents, too. Sorry, but our sympathy meter is set a little to high for this to register.

Un-F#$%ing-Believable

How does anyone publish this tripe with a straight face?

• Shannon Gipson says her son, Romarr, will never escape the horror of the Ryan Harris case.
  
  The young man's psyche has been tortured by the interrogation and jail stay that occurred in August 1998 when he was 7, she said. He and an 8-year-old boy were accused of raping and killing the 11-year-old girl.

Jail stay? We don't think it's legal to house anyone under the age of 9, regardless of the crime committed, but maybe someone with a bit more knowledge than we have can confirm or deny Romarr was ever "jailed." As to the rape and murder accusations, the witnesses and the boy's own statements of knocking Ryan Harris off her bike with a brick to the head and penetrating her vaginally with a stick have still never been made public. Anyone wondering why?

• Shannon Gipson also decried Monday what she sees as a pattern of harassment by the police against her son.
  
  "The fact that they continue to harass him is an issue with me," she said, adding that he had recently been accused of stealing a bicycle by police, even though he had borrowed it.

Gee whiz "Mom," your son has a pattern of stealing bicycles. When bikes go missing and people identify him, it's little wonder the police actually go out and find him with stolen bikes. Little wonder too that the victims suddenly change their stories after getting their bikes back - they know what your son is, even if you don't.

• The most recent charge that Romarr Gipson and his brother shot two men at a Calumet Park gas station Wednesday is not the teenager's only run-in with police.
  
  At 14, Gipson, who lives with his brother and mother in the 10700 block of South King Drive, was charged with accidentally shooting a 15-year-old friend. He was later placed on home monitoring.
  
  Prosecutors said during a bond hearing in Cook County Circuit Court Sunday that Gipson was previously charged with cruelty to animals and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Well, let's see here - a history of guns, previous charges of PSMV, bike thief and aggravated batteries with bricks and now firearms. Quite the little Rhodes scholar in the making, eh?

More disturbing is the "cruelty to animals" charge. As any student of profiling will tell you, depending on the actual elements of the "cruelty" charge, this is one of the three hallmarks of a potential serial killer. Taking into consideration his propensity for violence and history of theft, we don't think we're too far off the mark labeling this kid as a Grade-A psychopath and future Gacy or Green River Killer. Every year this asshole is off the streets is an unknown number of lives saved. Pure and Simple.

Look Ma! No Gear!

Plane carrying 136 passengers and crew lands safely at O'Hare this morning. Good job by the pilots. You can use this as an open thread in the meantime for Tuesday. Don't forget to study study study.

Sergeants Test Countdown

It's only 4 days away! PANIC! If you've noticed a slight dip in the quality of posts, we've been kind of busy pre-packaging a couple posts when there's time and hanging onto them until we need to publish. If you haven't noticed, well then that's on you.

Anyone have last minute advice for the exam? We know the ones about getting a full nights rest, eat a decent breakfast, review certain orders that are sure to be covered, etc. How about a few answers? We'd be grateful.

Laser Sights

In the previous Quick Hits post, the pros and cons of Laser Sights are being debated, so we thought we'd give it it's own thread. A point or two.

First of all, we weren't second guessing the LA County guys having to use 70 plus shots to take down a bad guy. You fire until the threat is subdued, dissipated or deceased - no question about it. Ammo is free if expended in the line of duty (unless it 's an alternate/auxiliary weapon - but that's another story). Our thought was more shots on target would disable the threat quicker. If it takes 70, it takes 70. If it takes 100, we can deal with the fallout. The shootout in 010 a few month back took well over 50 rounds if we recall, and the gunman survived over 20 hits. It happens.

Secondly, if merely displaying a laser dot on someone is frightening or excessive, how come all the TASERS have them? There is a check box on the TRRs for "painting" a subject with the laser - it is treated as if there was a weapon discharge itself. If there is a "spark display" a TRR will be completed as well.

If it improves marksmanship, we're all for it. If "painting" a subject with a laser makes them surrender quicker, then it ought to be used, regardless of the paperwork involved. And we fully support shooting more than just once a year. If you don't use your skills or training often enough, you forget things and your reactions become rusty. This Department isn't penny-wise and pound-foolish - too often we're penny-foolish, pound-stupid, especially where training is concerned.

The Gang Book

Much is being made of "The Gang Book," a new publication from the Chicago Crime Commission. It profiles 100 gang leaders, covers 70 gangs, runs 272 pages and has lots of nifty pictures. It could prove a boon to numerous suburban departments finally coming to grips with the influx of gangs moving out their way. (Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times, Tribune)

Somehow, we think, that the book is going to ignore the largest and most lucrative crime syndicate in the tri-state area, and possibly even the entire midwest. We're talking of course, about the Chicago Machine. It's tales of graft, corruption, voter fraud, influence peddling and bribery dwarf anything the street gangs could come up with. And if you scratch deep enough, you'll find they are part and parcel of a large number of gangs from years past.

Monday Quick Hits

Starting slowly. Recovering. Don't talk too loudly.

• Murder numbers down 2.5%! Hooray! Of course, looking at the actual numbers, we see that its down from 160 killings last year to ... well ... 156. Four fewer. Whoop de freakin do. Four killings is a 6 hours span of "catch up" in Englewood or Fillmore or even Marquette on a hot day. Seems a little premature to celebrate just before the hot months, but we suppose the mayor and his people need any positive headline they can get.
• Maybe a refresher trip to the range is in order? LA County Sheriffs shot and killed a motorist. No big deal there, but it took them 70 shots to do it. An unusual occurrence? Not really - it's the third time in 13 months that they've fired more than 50 rounds at a subject. Once they fired 50 rounds at a suspect in a house and last spring they unloaded 120 rounds at a subject. We've heard of a few similar instances in town here, but they are few and far between - anyone know the average number of shots fired by CPD in a deadly force encounter?
• From Channel 7: "Less than half of Illinois' plans for handling a catastrophe got a passing grade from federal analysts Friday, contradicting the state's own, far more positive assessment." Imagine that - a state report sounding more positive than a federal committee providing oversight to federal funds. We still don't know what the City's plans are or where they're stored or how they're to be executed. But we are sure it'll all be the Department's fault if it all goes to hell.
  

Solving the Immigrant Problem

All the whining on the Left AND the Right about how we can't deport 12 million illegals? Seems that you don't really have to actually physically deport 12 million. From the Channel 2 News website:

• Fewer parents are walking their children to school in this border city's Linda Vista neighborhood. The crowd of day laborers huddled in a parking lot outside McDonald's has dropped by half.
  
• A sense of unease has spread in this community of weather-worn homes since immigration agents began walking the streets as part of a stepped-up nationwide effort targeting an estimated 590,000 immigrant fugitives. Other illegal immigrants are being rounded up along the way.

A few raids, a few deportations, a little enforcement of existing rules and suddenly "A sense of unease" grips the illegals. Start cracking down on businesses that employ illegals and they'll start running back across the border and applying for citizenship properly. Now if only Karl Rove will bend W's ear and provide a little support to what 80+% of all Americans want (including democrats), November will be a complete nightmare for Lefty, William, Malcolm and the rest of the fever swamp leftists.

Thanks for Nothing Cubbies

The White Sox owned Cincinnati this weekend. Owned them to the tune of 12-4, 8-6, and 8-1. And the Cubs couldn't even pull out a single win against first place Detroit and maybe help the Sox close the game and a half gap, getting swept themselves 5-3, 9-3 and 12-3.

If the Cubs could just find a team that scores two runs or fewer on a regular basis, their 3-peat of 3's this weekend would have them winning occasionally. And maybe helping the Sox.

Good Job; Corny Line Though

Good job by the Captain, but did he have to get quoted like this?

• Six hours after coming home from a ceremony Thursday that promoted him to Chicago Police captain, Gerard Carroll found himself in his Morgan Park alley, face to face with a knife-wielding man.

  "Don't do anything stupid, I'm the police," the off-duty Carroll warned before pulling out his gun and uttering a line straight out of the movie "The Untouchables."

  "You don't take a knife to a gunfight," Carroll told the man, identified by police as Edward Smith, 37, of Tinley Park. "Drop the knife."

Actually, the Untouchables line was something along the lines of "Just like a wop to bring a knife to a gunfight," but we're sure that Captain Gerard "don't call me Mr. Connery" Carroll was polite and politcally correct when placing the offender into custody. Good job.

Incident Up North

In this morning's comments, there are a few noting a possible police suicide near Irving and Cumberland. We hope it isn't true and we're a bit selfish hoping that if it is true, it isn't CPD. The chances of that seem remote, given the neighborhood.

This post is merely to inform our readers. Comments are closed and we ask that you refrain from speculating on the situation or naming names in the other threads. Thanks.

Gee Whiz

Remember back when the goof who was pardoned in George Ryan's (may he rot in hell for all eternity) last minute Nobel Peace Prize push was picked up again for dope and gun violations and sentenced to prison? We commented that maybe, just maybe, the cops got it right and Patterson shouldn't have been let out in the first place? Once a scumbag, always a scumbag?

We wondering again if the cops got it right years ago. Actually, we aren't wondering - we know from many accounts that the detectives DID get it right in the Ryan Harris case and this little asshole should have been behind bars years ago. We even wrote about it here. Now he's under arrest again for what will probably turn out to be murder when the victim is removed from life support (Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times, Tribune coverage).

The side of us that revels in dark humor says at least he'll be able to afford the best defense money can buy with his $2 million dollar settlement. The other side is more than a little pissed off that the City didn't decide to fight this and show that a 7 year old psychopath was capable of beating a girl into unconsciousness over a bicycle almost 8 years ago. Somebody ought to find Hillard and everyone else who dropped the ball on this one and go kick them in the nuts. Then someone go ask PJ if he feels vindicated all these years later.

A Tie? Holy Crap!

USA pulls off a tie with an Italian "own goal" leading the way. Unbelievable. Now if they can beat Ghana (a tall order as Ghana beat the Czechs and the Czechs already spanked the US 3-nil), they can actually advance.

We know, no one cares aside from us, Lefty, Rue St. Michel and 5 other coppers. Oh well.

Hot Day for Football

USA v Italia. Don't expect much from us today as we crank up the AC, leave the gardening to the hired help and kick back to watch the USA pray for a tie. We'll update this evening.

Anyone Have the Admin Fax?

According to various comments in a previous posting, two Probationary Police Officers were fired this week for ... let's get this straight ... cowardice? And another PO was stripped and sent to Call Back?

If true, we applaud the Superintendent. Not all of us have military type backgrounds, but to leave a fellow officer behind with an armed suspect is a crime in and of itself - ridiculous to the "n-th" degree. We've worked with maybe ten regular partners over the years and been with a few teams and we can state without reservation that we NEVER worried about any of our partners cutting and running during whatever crap we stumbled into.

Maybe we've been lucky. Or very lucky. But we don't for a minute believe that this is representative of the vast majority of Chicago Police Officers. Hopefully, this becomes some sort of training or evaluation or something down the line. We run TOWARDS trouble. We try to do it efficiently and intelligently and without any of us getting hurt. We don't need to be worrying about who's got our back.

Burge Report Delayed - Again

Once again, a judge delays the Burge Report from public view. Channel 5, Channel 7 and the Sun Times all have the EXACT same AP wire report on their sites. Not one of them could be bothered to do a little research and make the story their own - almost like the duplicate To-Froms IAD doesn't accept anymore.

Anyway, the usual cries of "cover up" erupt from the teaming masses and lawyers hint at knowing the identities of certain deposed parties who may have a reason to not want the report revealed. It all makes for an interesting debate as to who stands to lose the most if and when the report is finally released. Maybe it gives a glimpse into why the mayor hates the police so much when so many cops worked so hard to give him cleared cases to grease his run for office.

Human Punching Bags (Post #1201)

Twelve hundred and one posts - damn, we do seem to talk a lot.

On a serious note, once again the justice system has failed us. And not just locally where it is damn near impossible to get felony charges on people who strike, batter, attack or fight the police:

• A grand jury declined to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney on Friday in connection with a confrontation in which she admitted hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering a House office building. [emphasis added - SCC]

She admitted it and a grand jury (which will indict a ham sandwich if the State presents a reasonably competent case) couldn't come up with an indictment? This is just sad on so many levels.

We Aren't Holding Our Breath

From the Sun Times:

• Police made a key arrest Thursday in their investigation into the deadly drugs hitting the streets, nabbing a West Side dealer who could lead to a supplier of fentanyl-laced heroin that has killed more than 60 people in Cook County.

This is merely a distributor. But in order to look like they are doing something, anything at all, this becomes a "BIG DEAL" even if it's just a rung on a ladder. The suppliers are in Mexico. And even though the Feds claim to be working "with the Mexican government" and actually may have found a fentanyl manufacturing plant, the fact remains that the Mexican drug cartels pay WAY more than the government can and run most of the country anyway. If anything comes of this, it's merely a hic-up in the pipeline.

The funniest line in the whole article is this one though:

• [Lemont Police Chief Kevin] Shaughnessy said he hopes people realize no community is immune to a drug problem. "This is a pristine area," he said. "It can happen to anyone."

Um, boss? You're from the suburbs, so we'll excuse your over exuberance while pandering to your liberal population. But it can't happen to anyone. It only happens to members of the community who decide to commit felonies in order to put poison into their bodies. If that's your definition of "anyone," we assume Lemont is filled with 14,000 junkies and your hands must be full.

Open Post for Friday

Have at it.

How Do They Find These People?

Talk about your ambulance chasers. The family of the recently deceased Malcolm Lofton already has a lawyer out there as their spokes-creature. Of course, the story is that Mr. Lofton was merely trying to get help when he was brutally gunned down by an off duty female officer:

• Foutris said Lofton was being chased, and jumped in front of the officer's car in an attempt to get help.
• "There are witnesses who did see him being chased," Foutris said. "There is absolutely no way that Malcolm was trying to steal the car. There was no carjacking involved. He did not have any weapons from what we know. He didn't even have a driver's license."

OK, first of all, how about you present these imaginary witnesses. Seriously. Even one of them would be nice.

Second, people attempting to get help don't usually leap in front of cars and attempt to open the doors. And when they get thrown off of the cars, they don't usually climb back on the car and try to enter through the sunroof. AND they don't usually choose brand new cars that still have the dealer stickers in the windows driven by a lone woman.

Third of all (and this really kills us), there is nothing that says Vehicle Hijacking or Attempted Hijacking has to have a weapon involved (there is no charge for carjacking in Illinois). And what point (if any) does the former Mr. Lofton's driver's license status have to do with anything? Only licensed drivers are allowed to hijack people? We must have missed George Ryan signing that one into law.

Is this guy serious? We aren't lawyers, but we met one once (ran him over with our car - twice) and we know this lawyer is a moron. This is a direct result of (A) the City settling everything that comes their way and (B) not drowning lawyers at birth.

More Building!

We noted the push to build 4 new police stations along with along with other projects in a previous posting. Some of the projects include a "new North Avenue bridge over the Chicago River. A remote garage to relieve the parking crunch at O'Hare Airport. Crushable beds of concrete at the end of Midway Airport runways to halt planes that overshoot their landings."

The re-election push must be in full swing. Either that or the mayor is taking a page from his old man's book - when the indictments start flying, spend, SPEND SPEND! Now he has announced a $1 billion dollar spending spree to build 9 new high schools and 15 new elementary schools (Tribune, Sun Times stories). This despite the fact that school enrollment has been DECLINING for two years in a row.

Perhaps this "spare" billion dollars ought to be invested in say, oh, a pension fund or two that are notoriously underfunded at the moment?

The Worm Turns

Mark Brown, Sun Times columnist and occasional reader of this site (he wrote to us once), notes the Sorich defense in the Hired Truck scandal is turning on the mayor and his inner circle:

• There have been times during the past few weeks when you would swear that Thomas Durkin is as much Mayor Daley's lawyer as Robert Sorich's, so eager is he to put a pro-Daley spin on the evidence in the City Hall patronage trial, even though it's his client Sorich sitting at the defense table, not the mayor.

  Tuesday was not one of those days.

This makes sense of course. Durkin needs to paint Sorich as merely following orders, following an established pattern of misconduct in order to make the jury feel that convicting Sorich and Co. would just be a couple of "small fish," so why bother? And it's probably the only defense that could be plausibly presented at this juncture.

But we hope that the jury can see beyond curtains as the George Ryan jury did earlier this year. The mayor has been throwing "small fish" under the bus for so long, one would hope that eventually, some bait would land a larger fish. It seems the only thing holding the whole system together is a willingness for "small fish" to do 18 to 24 months in the pen for a Machine that shows them absolutely no loyalty in return.

Or should we be looking at what everyone who keeps their mouth shut is getting afterwards?

I Didn't Know Nuthin

The above title is one of the mayor's favorite phrases. For a notorious micromanager, the phrase is as laughable as it is ridiculous. Trib columnist John Kass dubbed it "fedheimer's disease" as it always seemed to be at it's most intense when questions were asked about FBI investigations that surfaced throughout the past few years.

Seems the mayor's lawyer is catching it, too:

• On Wednesday, aldermen were buzzing about Georges' claim she didn't know City Hall's worst-kept secret: that the IGA was involved in hiring -- even for jobs supposed to be protected by the Shakman ban.

  The see-no-evil claim was not new for Georges.

And this little gem:

• Also Wednesday, city Corporation Counsel Mara Georges finished testimony but revised a critical element under defense questioning.

  On Tuesday, Georges said she was unaware of allegations of irregularities in city hiring until the FBI raided IGA offices last year. But she grudgingly acknowledged she was aware of possible irregularities in the 2004 hiring of the 19-year-old son of a top union official for a city building inspector job.

  "Perhaps I was aware there was an allegation, yes," she said.

"Perhaps [she] was aware"? Perhaps? Perhaps she realizes the Feds might have her on tape admitting she knew a whole lot more than she's letting on? Sigh - the Revolution can't come fast enough. And for the cop/lawyer that keeps complaining about how he/she dislikes all the hate directed at lawyers? This is exactly why we hate them so. When the Revolution comes, we'll give you a ten minute head start and a fast horse just because you once wore blue - but only if we can find a horse.

I Didn't Know Nuthin

Duplicate post to the one above - deleted post. Left comments. Closed comments for this post

New Police Stations!

007, 009, 012 and 023 are on the drawing board.

We should see something in the next 3 to 7 years according to the way the City usually works. And if Kennedy-King College is any indication, they'll be 15 to 40% over budget, have the new City approved collapsing concrete floors within 18 months of opening and be obsolete with a decade.

Included in the plan is a 300 space parking garage for the Town Hall District, one third of which will be parking for the neighborhood. Huh?

Hegewisch Mourns

Fully 72% of Hegewisch's cultural heritage was destroyed Wednesday in a fire at a popular eatery (Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7 coverage). Rumor has it that Cousin's Restaurant was so named because many of the people who ate there ended up marrying close relatives at some point in time.

We're KIDDING!

Sort of.

Losing Track of Inventory

Think someone is getting their legs broken over this little snafu?

• SOUTHWICK, Mass. - For the fifth time in a week, a stash of drugs was found in a cabinet at a Home Depot store in Massachusetts or discovered after the fixture was brought home. A plumber in Southwick discovered 40 pounds of marijuana and three kilograms of cocaine stashed in a bathroom vanity he'd purchased at a Home Depot in Chicopee.

  A second stash was found at that store and at least two more were discovered at a Tewksbury Home Depot, Southwick Police Lt. David Ricardi said. One of the Tewksbury stashes was discovered June 8 after a homeowner brought home a cabinet and found 50 pounds of marijuana. Police also found drugs in a fifth cabinet. Ricardi would not say where or when it was discovered but said it was within the last week.

Oops.

Another Shooting

From Channel 2 News:

• A man was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer Wednesday evening on the city's Far South Side, according to police. The incident took place near 106th and Wentworth about 7:45 p.m., police said. The man was reportedly shot in the chest.
  

Oh Boy, Oh Boy

Here we go again. Big lawsuit on the horizon. Either everyone knows the mayor is selling everything he can get his hands on for cash or this City has the worst sense of timing for potential mutli-million dollar payouts.

• A Cook County Sheriff's log backs up a witness' claim that a 46-year-old woman charged with drug possession had sought medical attention before she died in a Chicago Police lockup.

Of course, a Cook County log doesn't mean anything without corroborating witnesses and they seem to have one:

• Barbara Flores, who was locked up on a traffic warrant early Saturday, said she was in a cell with Cobige and other women at the station.

OK, so they have a fellow inmate as a witness. Not exactly a paragon of virtue, right? Except putting one and one together, one has to wonder why when she was turned down by the Sheriff's, she wasn't sent to the hospital right away from the lockup. Hopefully, something else comes out that exonerates the Department (as the media and Frank Main are wont to leave out details that make us look good), but in the meantime, we would expect lockups to start turning down prisoners who have even the tiniest of wounds, minor aches and even headcolds.

Helmet; No Helmet

The debate continues, especially in light of Steeler's quarterback Ben Roethilsberger motorcycle crash yesterday. In Illinois, biker fatalities and serious injuries are way up.

On one hand, the amount and severity of injuries suffered by riders are monumental. Quite a bit of the cost of this damage is passed on to everyone else in the forms of higher premiums and taxes for those without catastrophic health care. On the other, we object strenuously to the "nanny state" mentality pervading this country whereby do-gooders decide what rules everyone else lives by.

Readers? Can you tell we're hurting for a topic?

More City BS

This is almost hilarious. Almost.

• Extra $62 million found for new Kennedy-King
• A $10 million city loan, $20 million from "tax-increment financing" (TIF) and $15 million in funds generated by putting off other City Colleges projects will help wipe out massive cost overruns at the new Kennedy-King College, a top mayoral aide said Monday.
• The original cost was $192 million. The new price tag is $254 million.
• Gayles did not explain where the rest of the $62 million would come from, except to describe it as "creative financing."

Whoever this Gayles is, he ought to be serving some Federal time next to James Laski soon. "Creative financing?" What a crock of shit. This isn't saving diddly squat. All the City is doing is robbing Peter to pay Peter - all of us taxpayers are getting the shaft on this one. Delaying a project doesn't mean it isn't going to get paid for - it only means it will get paid for at a higher cost later.

And a "loan" from the City is tremendous bullshit. Who finances the City? Taxpayers. Government is a non-profit entity. Should government show a profit, it's supposed to be returned to the citizens in the form of tax rebates or tax cuts.

This is ridiculous. Someone who has some sort of accounting background really ought to run as a reform candidate. They might actually garner enough support to rattle the Machine.

Another Liberal Talking Point Dies

Leftist talking point - "Saddam had no connections to terrorists. Saddam was a secularist; fundemental islamists wouldn't have anything to do with him."

Wrong again. From Fox News:

• A newly released document appears to provide evidence that in 1999 the Taliban welcomed "Islamic relations with Iraq" to mediate among the Taliban, the Northern Alliance and Russia, and that the Taliban invited Iraqi officials to Afghanistan.

Oops. But then, being a Liberal means never having to say you're sorry. Or mistaken. Or just flat out wrong. Thank goodness the alternative media is getting the word out.

More SCC Predictions Come True

In case you weren't paying attention, we did it for you. Two more predictions came true in the past 30 days or so and we neglected to point them out. We'll remedy that here:

• We predicted Zarqawi would be captured or killed back on 01 January. We also hoped bin Laden would also be neutralized. Still have six months on that one
• We also predicted Jimmy Hoffa would still be missing. It was tongue in cheek, but in light of the FBI still digging up farmland, we're looking good for another correct prognostication.

Not bad if we do say so ourselves.

"Fitzmas" Canceled

Excuse us, hahahahaha. Sorry Lefty. NOT!!!!!! No indictment for you! Hahahahaha. The Dark Lord lives! Long Live the Dark Lord!

We expect Keith Olbermann's resignation our desk tomorrow since he predicted Rove would be arrested no less than 26 TIMES on his MSNBC program according to a Nexis search. ZERO for 26. We won't even go into the Democratic Underground or Daily Kos totals. Thank (deity of your choice) you guys aren't picking stocks for us.

Now excuse us. We must return to our undisclosed location. There are plans to be made, potions to be brewed and human sacrifices to be offered. Dark powers such as Rove possesses cannot be appeased by mere mortal machinations.

Leading the Nation

Yes, Chicago leads the nation in at least one category - police shooting criminals. According to the Channel 7 story:

• Since January 1, 2006, Chicago police have shot 20 suspects. Nine of them were fatally wounded. In Los Angeles, which has an estimated one million more residents, police have shot only 17 suspects during the same period. Five of them have died. In New York City, with a population two and a half times larger than Chicago, police have shot only 15 suspects. Five were fatally wounded.

  A Chicago spokeswoman cautioned against comparing numbers from different cities. "In every one of the cases, a weapon was recovered and the offender attempted to use that weapon against the officer."

Of course, this doesn't matter to self styled "community activists:"

• The Reverend Paul Jakes, anti-police brutality activist, is outraged by Chicago's numbers and the police department's explanation for them:

  " I just can't buy every time that an individual has a gun or knife -- I just don't believe Chicago is as crazy as they say," said Rev. Paul Jakes, Anti-Police Brutality Activist.

Evidently, Channel 7 has decided it's time to beat on the police again in light of the Burge report on the horizon and Daley's mounting troubles with the corruption trials. When in doubt, slime the cops. You can trace all of society's ills to the police you know - if there weren't any police around, there wouldn't be any crime. Of course, you'd have to wade through piles of dead bodies to see it.

Violent Crime Up Nationwide

According to the FBI stats for 2005.

Table 4 lists Chicago statistics. Burglary and Robbery were up, everything else down. Most of it was fractional movement at best, aside from a 10,000 incident drop in the Theft category. How did we get 10,000 less incidents of Theft? Was there a revamping of the reporting criteria? Because we haven't noticed and reduction in calls on the radio recently.

Disappointed

Not that there was a realistic chance for them to go all the way, but the USA was roundly spanked by the Czechs in their opening World Cup match 3-0 (or nil as football fans say). And it isn't getting any easier when they face Italy on Saturday. If we recall, this was one of the "groups of death" from which only a single team (instead of two) was expected to emerge into the second round, but it would have been nice to see at least one US victory. Oh well, there's always 2010.

SCC's Identity Revealed

Or at least, one of our identities. Go over to Rue St. Michel for the full details. It had to happen eventually.

Send in the Clowns

The circus that will shortly be surrounding the soon to be release Burge report just got a whole boatload funnier. Wallace "gator" Bradley is appearing in court as a self styled "translator" for convicted/pardoned murderer and recently re-convicted UUW offender Aaron Patterson. Read this quote from the article:

• "Mr. Bradley and him come from a different subculture and they are familiar with each other's, let's say, emotional needs," Avila added. "So I'm using this analogy of having a translator in a different language. And I know that sounds kind of radical, but I think that's correct. And I think Mr. Bradley would be critical in communicating with my client."

Is that some primo, grade-A horse manure or what? Wow! Tell you what Mr. Avila - when we kill all the lawyers, we'll let you choose the manner of your demise, just as a small sort of "Thank You" for gracing us with that belly laugh. Damn, that was funny.

Another Classic Overreach

We understand the quote attributed to Machiavelli "Make no small plans for they have no power to stir the soul." But this proposal to add 500 miles of bike lanes to the City is just stupid. Where the hell are they expecting to get the space for this?

• Street parking is already at a premium everywhere we look.
• Parkways and sidewalks take up a lot of space already - is Daley going to remove trees and grass?
  
• We still think that the bike lane on Roosevelt Road is ridiculous. The elimination of an entire traffic lane on Elston ruined what used to be a good shortcut to get north. What next? Eliminate a whole lane on the boulevards?
• The City can't maintain a street for more than a year without potholes appearing everywhere. Now they want "raised bike lanes"? Pardon our laughter.

In short, this seems nothing but a political move to keep concrete manufacturers and road builders in business while inconveniencing everyone else. In other words, business as usual.

New Armed Forces Equipment

We are hereby proposing that all US Military personnel be authorized to carry the following on any raids or such in the Middle East involving high value targets (or any targets - we don't care):

Just a little something to press into the arms of the soon to be deceased to ease their journey into the afterlife. Imagine Zarqawi or bin Laden fading out to their twisted version of Paradise and then realizing they have a handful of bacon and won't be getting anywhere near it? Or in the event that bacon can rot in the brutal desert heat, an alternate proposal:

In a pinch, it'll spice up the MREs.