It Just Never Ends

Once again, from the Sun Times:

• As a Chicago Police deputy superintendent, James Whigham battled the problem of people misusing police identification. Later, he came under investigation for contributing to the problem as U.S. marshal in Chicago, the Sun-Times has learned.

  In 2001, when he was the marshal, Whigham passed out a special deputy marshal badge and a U.S. Marshals Service raid jacket to a bar buddy who wore the jacket while bouncing a check at a florist. Whigham's gifts put him under federal scrutiny for violating U.S. Marshals Service rules. He was not charged.

Here's the pictures that accompanied the article:

Gee, Townsend and Beavers. Who'd have thunk it? The most amusing part of the entire article seems to be that they call Townsend the "No. 2 police official in Chicago." Everyone who counts knows Townsend ran this department for years for a number of figurehead superintendents. Now we find out he was accepting bullshit "special deputy" badges from his former minions? It's amazing the Feds haven't indicted half the brass for all the favors and other crap that goes on.

Quick Hits

Because we like to share the stories we read:

• Marine Unit gets busy - Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7 and the Sun Times about the freaky little microburst that flipped over a boatload of ... well, boats. Fourteen rescues and lots of good publicity.
• Plane crash into the Lake. Again 2, 5, 7, the Sun Times and Tribune cover it. One of the tens of thousand of small planes coming from the Oshkosh Air Show no doubt and the pilot is still missing.
• Interesting Tribune investigation on how the City Administration use City services to boost the visibility of certain candidates, especially in tight races. We suppose it's just a natural progression of how the Machine used to buy booze for the winos and chickens for the hungry in order to secure votes and keep everything running. Now it's garbage cans, graffitti removal and paved alleys.
• Don't go to Miami - this seems to pop up every couple of years with tourists getting jacked and killed. Miami is just another big city that really ought to be leveled. We've never heard anyone say anything positive about Miami, even during spring break

Seatbelt Checkpoint Incident

Channel 2, Channel 7 and the Sun Times cover a little escapade where someone didn't want to stop, probably over drugs, and how it led to a chase, something the Department wants to avoid at all costs.

Can anyone say "new procedures?" Because this time, we were lucky no one got killed.

Night Off

We're taking a night off here. Got to catch up on a few things and the blog ain't one of them. We shall return later Sunday for another go at things. Open posting in the meantime. Behave.

The Wild West Side - Still Wild

Four shot, one dead. And it appears that once again, a rifle of some sort (7.62mm) was used. We wrote about a spate of shootings about a month ago in which a number of fatalities were attributed to an AK-47 type rifle in the North Lawndale area. Be careful out there boys and girls.

GPS - Truth or BS?

From our letters:

• It has been learned that the new ICLEAR PDTs in the patrol vehicles have a GPS (24hrs a day) that track you & a recording device that records audio in the vehicle- now no none knows if it is activated when the siren & lights is turned on or just when the computer is turned on. This is very important info that the troops should know about, could you start a topic thread on this? A cop in 025- [name removed - SCC] already got nabbed on a CR for the GPS.......I think it should be a important thread. Thanks

Who has some definitive answers about this? We wrote months ago that the CTA, Park District, Streets and San and Fire Department already use GPS for their vehicles. It's only a matter of time until the Police Department follows suit - everything is accountability and putting police "on the hot spots" as quickly as possible. We heard some cars in certain districts are already getting "trackers" - can anyone confirm or debunk?

Ex-Squeeze Me?

Are they serious?

• FRESNO, Calif. -- Corpses piled up at the morgue Thursday, and aid workers went door-to-door, checking in on elderly people in hopes of keeping the death toll from California's 12-day heat wave from rising.

  California coroner's offices said the number of deaths possibly connected to the heat wave climbed to 90.

  In Fresno County's morgue, the walk-in freezer was stuffed with bodies, with some piled on top of others, said Coroner Loralee Cervantes. With limited air conditioning, employees worked in sweltering heat as they investigated at least 22 possible heat-related deaths.

Ninety? NINETY? Bwahahahahaha. This is in the ENTIRE state of California - a state with something like 36 million people in it. Call us when they have a dozen or more refrigerated trucks parked outside the morgue filled to capacity because 600 bodies turned up in 5 days.

Not Worried About Convictions?

From the Sun Times:

• Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said Thursday that his office isn't concerned about the number of convictions it notches as much as whether it's bringing the right people to justice.
• "Contrary to the belief of some, at least I do not judge our performance by the number of convictions that we have or how many people go to prison, but by whether we obtain accountability for the person who actually committed the offense," Devine said.

In our experience and in the experience of many of our readers, the only thing that matters is the conviction rate. Getting an ASA to approve felony charges of any substance involves jumping through hoops no normal human being would tolerate.

If you grab an armed robber, get the gun, get the victim, get half a dozen witnesses who all saw the mutt who did it, why in the hell would you need the victim's second cousin on his mother's side who once delivered a pizza to the offender's ex-wife's house to shed any light on a felony approval? We don't know and the above might be a slight exaggeration, but it isn't far off the mark. We've heard some of the horror stories and experienced a few ourselves and the only thing we can figure is Felony Review doesn't know their jobs very well or it's all about the conviction rate, especially after all of the cases getting thrown out from the Daley years.

Friday Open Post

Rumors. Questions. Answers. All in one convenient place for you to read.

Time to Write Some Letters

Write to Wal-Mart. Write to Target. Encourage them to stick to their guns and build new stores outside the city limits. Screw these aldercreatures and their backasswards understanding of economic reality. These goofs need to know they just cost the city jobs, tax revenue and infrastructure improvements. Of course, a legal challenge is anticipated, so only the lawyers will be getting rich again.

Coverage at the Sun Times, Channel 2 and Channel 7.

Contact Wal-Mart here. Contact Target here.

I Don't Recall

From the Sun Times:

• "I don't recall," Mayor Daley said 16 times to special prosecutors investigating whether police under former Cmdr. Jon Burge tortured prisoners for nearly 20 years without getting caught.

  Daley also said "I don't know" four times, "I wouldn't know" three times, "I can't comment on that" twice, "I couldn't speculate on that" twice, "I forgot," "I don't have a recollection," "I wouldn't recall," "I don't remember" and "I've never heard of that."

Sounds like a number of depositions we've heard about. We especially like the one where he said, "I don't remember today." We're sure he'll let everyone know the day he does happen to remember the answer.

At Least We Aren't in California

From Channel 2:

• Gripped by a 10th straight day of 100-degree heat, California sweated out the possibility of more blackouts Tuesday as the number of suspected heat-related deaths climbed to at least 56 and the rotting carcasses of thousands of dairy cows and other livestock baked in the sun.
  
  Some communities faced their third day without electricity as the record-breaking temperatures strained transmission equipment.

And St. Louis isn't much better with almost 150,000 people still without electricity going on a week now following a huge batch of thunderstorms taking out transmission lines all over Missouri and southern Illinois.

But it's still hot out there.

Sniper Apprehended

A 17 year old shot putter who loves "hunting, hunting and more hunting" and lists the Klan as one of his heroes on his web page. Also with a juvenile arrest record and neighbors who say he's always been nuts. Soon, we'll start hearing the "loner" profiles that always seem to accompany these oddballs.

Channel 2, Channel 7 and Sun Times coverage.

Wednesday Vote

The anti-free market forces line up in earnest today for the vote on the big name retailers who promise to bring jobs and prosperity to blighted areas of the Chicago neighborhoods that haven't had a either jobs or prosperity since the King riots in 1968. Amazingly, the mayor seems to be coming down on the side of the free market forces.

• Mayor Daley on Monday denounced as "redlining" a proposal to establish wage and benefit standards for Wal-Mart and other retailing giants and suggested that aldermen who don't want big-box stores simply "opt out."

  Daley played the race card, flanked by some of Chicago's most influential black ministers, two days before a City Council showdown on an ordinance that could change the economic landscape in Chicago.

Pretty out of character stuff for a mayor who has been elected on the free money and "volunteers" that the unions regularly provide. But the main point here is that a job, any job, looks good to a community without many opportunities. Should be an interesting finish to the week no matter how it goes.

Calling All Veterans of 1968

The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and harbinger of the Weathermen are returning to the scene of their greatest defeat next week in an effort to recapture the glory days of yore:

• Students for a Democratic Society, the "New Left" organization whose numbers swelled on college campuses in the 1960s, has resurrected itself and is planning its first national convention in 37 years. Next week, on August 4-7, the reconstituted group returns to Chicago, the same city where SDS had its headquarters and where rioting erupted at the 1968 Democratic Party convention.
• To announce the convention, an SDS member from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Geoff White, 21, adapted the design of a red fist from an old poster announcing the "Days of Rage" in 1969, when an SDS faction, the Weathermen, rampaged on Chicago's streets in response to the trial of the "Chicago Seven," who had been indicted for inciting the riots a year earlier.

Guess it's time to break out the batons and axe handles and paddy wagons and finish the job our forefathers began. Hopefully we're up to the task. Thanks to Captain's Quarters for alerting us to the return of the student menace.

"Darwinism" in Action

One would hope they manage to kill themselves before they manage to pass their stupidity on to a future generation:

• Lou was going 168 mph on his Kawasaki 1000 motorcycle last year when he noticed the flashing lights of a State Police car behind him on the Bishop Ford Freeway.

  Figuring he'd be hit with hefty fines if he pulled over, Lou, a 33-year-old Englewood resident who asked that his full name not be used, took off instead.

  "[The trooper] hit his lights, and I was gone," he said. "I never looked back because I knew I had him."

Not that we would ever pretend to hit the lights and sirens to encourage bikers to flee at a high rate of speed in the hopes that they'll wreck somewhere down the road, but wouldn't it be humorous if we did? And if troopers did? Because the minute you decline to enforce certain laws, there are people who will take advantage of the situation EXACTLY as described above and the only justice they'll probably ever face is running into a bridge abutment at some point.

Officers OK, Offender Wounded

Behind the curve on this one as we were quite busy all day. Channel 7 and the Sun Times provide the coverage. Story is sort of amusing actually:

• Spokesperson Pat Camden told ABC7 News that when the officers got out of the car they took cover, they announced who they were and told the suspect to drop the gun.

  "The individual turns, keeping shooting down the block. He turned with the gun. At the officers at this point. They fire and in defense of their lives. The subject is hit I believe twice in the leg," Camden said.

Seems to us that the subject may have been deafened by the sound of his own gunshots and didn't hear the police announce their presence behind him (from cover - very wise move) and he kept shooting down the block even after the cops said they were behind him. Too bad for the knucklehead. Good job guys.

Indiana Sniper

Along I-65, bullets hit a number of vehicles and one person is killed (Sun Times; Channel 2).

There are many things to be aware of when driving - traffic, animals, weather. Bullets aren't usually at the top of anyone's list. And with the physics involved in actually hitting a moving vehicle at any sort of distance, let alone a person within the vehicle, are so astronomically small that it probably shouldn't be an everyday concern.

Unless you're approaching or moving from an overpass. On long stretches of highway, the road to and from an overpass is straight and flat, providing a reasonably competent rifleman a pretty easy shot. Anyone have any idea how to be situationally aware of a highway sniper?

Living Wage Ordinance

The so called "Big Box" ordinance comes up for a vote Wednesday and we for one are hoping Wal-Mart and Target stick to their guns in the event of passage of this bill. The only way to break this city and the union strangleholds on the democratic party is to keep their stores on the periphery of the city, staffed by citizens from the city and citizens from the city shopping there, but the city and the unions reaping no benefits from head taxes, sales taxes and the like.

From the Tribune article:

• "Expanding retail companies are not going to invest their money in a community that doesn't respect their right to operate their business in a fashion that's OK in 99.9 percent of the rest of the country."

If people don't want to shop there, the store will close. If employees don't want to work there for $7 dollars an hour, they are welcome to look elsewhere. We'll bet plenty of illegal immigrants will step up to the plate.

Homicides Down Some More

From the Sun Times:

• Chicago's homicide total is down slightly for the first six months of the year, police officials said Friday.

  So far in 2006, 201 people have been murdered, Supt. Phil Cline announced. At this time last year, there had been 210 murders.

  That's a decline of 4.3 percent.

Harrison/Fillmo'/011 continues it's torrid pace, up from 10 homicides in the first 6 months last year to 22 already through June this year. Let's buckle down a bit there boys and girls, eh? On the other hand, 4.3% sounds so much more impressive than a reduction of only 9 murders, doesn't it? Remember, it's all in the presentation.

Someone is Taking Time on This One

After all the video training, after all the speeches at roll calls, after the Department hammering it into everyone's head about getting from point A to point B safely, even in emergency situations, we still have one of these:

• Two Chicago police officers were hurt Saturday when their squad cars collided in Old Town. The collision happened Saturday morning on Chicago Avenue near Wells Street. The officers were responding to a call for assistance with their cruisers' lights and sirens on. Both were hospitalized in stable condition.

We understand it was a 10-1. Everyone wants to get to a 10-1 and make sure everyone goes home safe. But now we're two cars short at the 10-1 and god forbid you kill someone, or worse, get killed responding, because the Department won't back you a single iota if you are wrong.

How Did We Miss This Story?

From TheOtherSideofKim.com

• The ISRA-PVF is asking Governor Blagojevich to explain why one of his political allies is calling for house-to-house searches to locate and confiscate legally-owned firearms.

  Earlier this month, Cook County Board member Joseph Moreno stood before the county board and called for "...house to house searches to pull every gun out of Cook County." Moreno's statement comes within days of Blagojevich claiming that anyone in Chicago who owns a gun is a "gang banger" and is "...up to no good."

• "Normally, the Blagojevich and Moreno statements would be laughable," continued Pearson. "However, Blagojevich has the potential means for authorizing police raids on gun-owning homes. House Bill 2414 remains alive in a House committee awaiting a call for a vote. If passed into law, HB2414 would result in the banning and forced confiscation of millions of lawfully-acquired firearms from law-abiding Illinois citizens. The raids would be aided by a database of firearm owners being maintained illegally by the Illinois State Police."
• original news release at this link here
  

Actually, we know exactly how we missed it - the liberal media didn't cover it because they fully support outrageous bullshit like this. San Francisco tried to do this exact same thing a few years ago - encouraged everyone to register their guns, claiming the database would never ever be used to confiscate the guns and then used the database for exactly that reason. We believe the courts struck it down, but we aren't sure.

Here's the funny thing about registered guns - they are seldom used to kill people. And if they are, it's usually in legitimate forms of self defense. Seriously. How about this story, also from TheOtherSideofKim.com regarding the proposal to discontinue the Canadian national gun registry:

• As proof of the registry's worth, CP referred to the killing earlier this month of two Mounties outside Spiritwood, Sask., as well as a handful of other police officer shootings in the past two years. But if anything, these tragic murders prove the opposite. They reinforce the criticism offered by those who argue the registry does nothing to stop crime.

  Not one of the shootings cited was committed with a registered gun. [emphasis added by Kim]

Wow. Who'd have thunk that a criminal wouldn't register a gun? The only reason for a gun registry is to disarm the law abiding populace. Always remember people - it isn't the big bad Republicans threatening to knock down your doors to confiscate legally owned and registered firearms. It's Democrats.

Burge Report Fallout

There is none.

Ok, maybe not "none," but damn little for anyone who really reads this thing to hang their hat on. Yes, Burge led a group of rogue detective who put the hurt on a number of bad people. But all in all? There was no widespread torture throughout the system that would indicate a policy of abuse. It was isolated to a small segment of Area 2. Anyone who claims it was "routine" or other such nonsense is blowing smoke. If you haven't read the report cover to cover, here's how you can tell in an instant that it contains almost nothing of substance:

• The mayor apologizing and taking "some" responsibility
• Jesse is quiet.

That's all you need to know. The mayor stepping up and the reverend keeping quiet means there isn't much there. Had the mayor shut up and the reverend was raising the rafters isn't necessarily an indication of wrongdoing, but rather an indication that settlement money could be located to keep the lawyers happy. Junior is making noises about how the mayor's explanation isn't "enough," but he's running a shadow campaign to counter an alleged Gutierrez campaign and has to say something.

Coverage at all the regular spots (2, 5, 7, Sun Times, Tribune)

Blago's Growing Problems

Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration continues to receive Federal subpoenas on what seems to be a monthly basis regarding ... what else? ... hiring practices. Only this time they've managed to keep them under wraps until a Sun Times investigation located an anonymous source to provide copies of the memos detailing the contents.

Last time a round of subpoenas came out, Blago took a large hit in the polls. It'll be interesting to see if Judy Barr Topinka can make any hay out of these latest ones.

TIN FOIL HAT CONSPIRACY TIME!

What if the Chicago Machine and the Illinois Combine are sensing they've gone a bit too far and pissed off more than a few voters and now they've decided to throw a few big names under the bus? The mayor has thrown dozens of little people under the bus to protect his inner circle and himself. What if the Machine as a whole (which is decidedly unhappy with Blago) has decided he's next to go? The Machine is gambling that even if Judy Barr Topinka wins, she can't govern effectively when the Machine still controls both houses, so she has to compromise - and compromise means the Machine still gets fat juicy contracts for its cronies and its people still get hired. The Machine goes on.

END TIN FOIL HAT EPISODE!

Mistaken Prediction

As we so often take more than our share of credit for predictions, we'll take the blame for a wrong one we happen to be mistaken. From our January archive:

• Bush's popularity will range in the high 50's low 60's all year, especially after Zarqawi and bin Laden are captured or killed. [prediction by SCC]
  

Since the year is way more than half over, we can't plausibly claim that the President even averaged a decent rating for the entire year. However ...

• For the second straight day, the PresidentÂ’s Job Approval rating has moved up to 45%. Just 53% disapprove. These figures, the best for the President since mid-April, include 22% who Strongly Approve and 37% who Strongly Disapprove of his performance. These numbers come as fighting escalates in the Middle East, a cycle of violence that most Americans blame Hezbollah for starting.

Gee whiz. World events remind Americans that there are people out there bent on the destruction of Western Civilization and suddenly, George Bush doesn't seem to be such a bad option. In fact, the world is slowing coming around to the realization that Bush has been right all along and everyone else is wrong. Even the Swiss are realizing something is amiss when plots are uncovered to shoot down airliners and blow up the federal courts in the world's most famous "neutral" country.

And this only spells trouble for the Democrats come election time.

We Have Made a Powerful Enemy

Evidently, we have a new fan. Someone took offense to what we wrote about Susy Schultz, the current reigning "Stupidest Human Being." The fan in question is Bill Dwyer, a "crime" reporter for the Wednesday Journal, a weekly newspaper that serves Oak Park and River Forest if we are reading the headers correctly, and the owner of the Chicago Parent Magazine article we linked. Bill was kind enough to contact one of our readers with the following comments:

• I just read your post on the cop blog regarding responses to the Suzie [sic] Schultz column, and I have to tell you, you're the only one who didn't come off as a raving fucking moron. Care to speak with me when I get back from vacation and start working on apiece [sic] about that online sewer? Or do you think the so-called law enforcement officers who spouted off on Ms. Schultz actually represent the average cop in Chicago? They don't need attention from Internal Affairs, they need psychiatric help. Oh, by the way, I'm a journalist. So I guess that means, if you believe SCC, I should be lynched. If you don't share that sentiment,, [sic] give me call [sic].
  

Then Bill contacted us personally:

• You got a name, SCC? I can see you've got opinions.

We replied:

• sure, everyone has a name. even us.

You see our rapier-like wit? Short, to the point, truthful. Bill wrote back to us:

• Uh huh. But only journalists have the guts to actually use theirs, apparently.

So evidently, we are soon going to be famous all over Oak Park and River Forest. Whoopee! In the meantime, we'd like to answer a little more to Billy. We have names Billy. We choose to remain anonymous for various reasons, not the least of which is the tendency for this city and its political masters to wreak havoc upon the private lives and careers of those who stray from the party line or criticize the powers that be. This is our little tweak at them. We know for a fact that the Superintendent has been briefed on the existence of this site and IAD trolls it regularly. We have stated numerous times (visit our archives) that we cannot prove anyone who posts is a Chicago cop, let alone a citizen of our fair city. We have readers from four continents and we are linked at numerous pro- and anti-police websites and a wide variety of the political spectrum of blogs.

We will repeat here for your benefit and the slower segments of our readership that we have never posted anything we are ashamed of, we have never posted anything from Department computers, and we doubt we've ever posted anything actionable. We monitor this site for maybe an entire hour or two a day and it runs unattended the rest. We delete what we find offensive, we delete names upon request, we delete stuff that might make our grandmother uncomfortable when she visits. Otherwise, it is what it is - a board where anyone can visit, anyone can post, and anyone can share info.

So, we look forward to Billy's article about us. We expect our hits will climb, maybe we'll get even more readers and we can start selling web-ads to make some money. Any traffic that Billy can steer our way is appreciated. But Billy? You aren't going to shame us. Susy was an idiot and the faster someone calls her on it, the better for her. Anyone, and we mean ANYONE, who picks up a hitchhiker, is a moron. We carry a gun and we wouldn't pick up a hitchhiker and certainly not outnumbered three to one. And if you don't recognize the sarcasm and silliness in our quote tag of "Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required," then we feel sorry for you. Good luck trying to be the Frank Main (a reader of ours) of the Wednesday Journal.

Someone Correct Us if We're Wrong

But wasn't there some sort of prohibition on Officers appearing in campaign commercials, campaign literature or political appearances in uniform so it doesn't seem that the Department endorses any certain candidate?

Could someone explain this then?

That appears to be a Chicago Police Sergeant in full uniform appearing on political literature for Congressweasel Rahm Emanuel. But if there's a prohibition in place, this isn't possible, is it? Of course, it's Rahm, the annointed carpetbagger from the Clinton Administration and one of the mayor's boys, so don't expect any sort of reprecussions should this actually be improper. Two sets of rules, don't you know?

Integrity? Hahahahaha!

From the Sun Times:

• Mayor Daley's embattled corporation counsel insisted Tuesday that her integrity remains intact -- and she can continue to function as the city's No. 1 lawyer -- even after a federal judge singled her out for ridicule.

  U.S. District Judge David Coar has dismissed as "incredible" Corporation Counsel Mara Georges' claim that she was unaware of hiring abuses until federal investigators raided the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs last year.

There is such a thing as "willful" ignorance, and it seems pretty close to "official misconduct" for civilians. If it isn't actionable, it ought to be. Disbarment is too mild a punishment for this goof.

Happy Anniversary Teddy

You pathetic excuse for a human being.

Quick Hits

For a Wednesday:

• Hereditary politics - why don't we just declare a perpetual ruling class in Cook County and stop pretending that we have an unbiased electoral system? At least with kings and queens, we could have the occassional palace coup and public beheadings when the mob actually rose up. Sun Times, Channel 2, Channel 7.
• Aldercreature Burke continues with his insane idea to make food in Chicago taste like the crap they serve in Los Angeles. At least the schools are fixed and City workers aren't going to jail while tearing down garages on City time with City equipment, right?
• Body Snatchers contract being re-bid again. One of these days, no one is going to bid for this thing and we'll be back to wagons carrying out the dead again.
  
• Burge Report today! Other coverage here. We heard that HQ has two cars standing by at the courthouse to pick up copies which will then be given a quick escort to Kinko's and then to all the exempts at 35th Street. Numerous PAR forms are standing by in the event of a need for mass retirements.

Lovely Day for a Parade

You have got to love the double talk and "newspeak" going on in the media today. They key in on certain words and phrases to conceal the true intent of events, agendas and leftist ideas to be forced upon the unsuspecting masses. How about this one that is all over the news nowadays from today's Sun Times:

• Chicago area immigrant-rights activists were not dissuaded from going ahead with plans to march for a moratorium on federal raids, arrests and deportations today, despite forecasts of punishing heat and suggestions from city officials that the event be postponed.

Immigrant-rights. Did you know that the government was denying the basic rights guaranteed by the US Constitution to immigrants that come here?

Yeah, we didn't either.

"Immigrant-rights" is a BS catch phrase begun by the left as cover for ILLEGAL ALIENS. It's a step up from "undocumented workers." We have stated before, we have no problem with immigration - controlled, lawful immigration. Everyone ought to be granted a shot at the American dream subject upon completion of a Citizenship test and basic proficiency in the English language. But the 11 million or so illegals that drain the economy, bankrupt the health care system and cost government far more in services than they could ever contribute in taxes has got to end. We are "enforcement first - secure the border" supporters. Then we can talk about "guest workers" and so called "immigrant rights." You have no rights beyond humane treatment if you are already illegal.

Few Heat Related Deaths?

We didn't hear much about anything except how well the City was doing during the current heat wave. Certainly a far cry from what happened 11 or 12 years ago where the Department was running what seemed like double shifts on the wagons just to keep up with the bodies. Any word on the total damage?

Of course, ComEd's wonderful infrastructure and capital improvments kept up with demand - barely. We eagerly await the day when the nuclear industy finally finds it balls, crushes the "green" opposition and environmental lefties and gets us away from coal and Mid-East oil - did everyone see they're predicting $4 a gallon gas? What's it going to take to get us off this roller coaster? Nuclear energy.

More City Shenanigans

Seriously, even after a raft of convictions in the "Hired Truck" scandal, the recent losses of the Building Commissioner's job for doing unauthorized work and the fact that 3 or 4 Federal Task Forces solely dedicated to rooting out City corruption, someone goes and does something like this:

• A $38.25-an-hour hoisting engineer for Chicago's scandal-plagued Streets and Sanitation Department said Monday he raised questions and contacted a supervisor before demolishing a "fairly new" Bridgeport garage. But he was ordered to take it down anyway -- and to remove the concrete to make way for a swimming pool and backyard deck.
• The garage reportedly belonged to a cousin of Christine Carpenter, a $37,800-a-year executive secretary placed in charge of the garage demolition program after only a few months in her current position with Streets and San. Carpenter was on the scene in late June on the day the garage was demolished, Julian said.

Amazing. Anyone else have a few stories like this? Because we're sure it goes on every single day, especially in that neighborhood. Like the fire truck stopping by to fill a pool?

Please Tell No One is This Stupid?

From today's Sun Times:

• In the wee hours of the morning, public streets are blocked off, crowds gather, and bets are placed. Two cars line up, side by side, engines roaring.

  From start to finish, they will race just a quarter mile but at speeds close to 150 mph. One winner. One loser.

• "My friends are all professionals," Djuric said two weeks ago, describing in an interview who the racers are. "I mean, there's a guy who is a vice president of a bank. There's a couple of police officers."

  When asked if Chicago Police officers were involved, he declined to say, but added he has seen off-duty State Police officers at races, as well.

Just what we need - coppers involved in illegal drag racing. Please say it isn't so. Knowing how coppers can screw up though, it might be.

Bomb Hoax

Yes, there are still knuckleheads out there who think it's entertaining to make a fake looking device and plant it around somewhere, make anonymous phone calls and sit around to watch the fun (Channel 2 and Channel 7 coverage.) But it just makes it more difficult to respond when the real thing actually appears.

Sox Sucks (this weekend)

First of all, whomever flamed us in the comments section about "What happened to your White Sox," we aren't fortunate to own any portion of the baseball franchise. We don't get a share of any of the beer sales, parking revenue or gate receipts.

We have also stated on numerous occasions that we dislike baseball. Heartily. We are cursed with the disease of liking hockey, specifically Blackhawks hockey. We hope someday to have a professional organization here in town instead of the minor league team now infesting the "United Center.

We don't know how the Sox are going to repeat if they can't lump the Yankees once in a while. Maybe dreams of a repeat are a little too far fetched.

City Sticker Day!

When you show up at work tomorrow, chances are better than even that there will be an Inspector driving in the lot to see if everyone has a City Sticker on their car, bike or truck. It's just about the easier mover they can write, it's worth a day off with no pay, and they regularly get a couple dozen coppers for it. Don't be the one with the short paycheck.

Copper Shoots Two

Another attempted hold up and two of three offenders get shot. Good job by the officer according to initial reports. Be careful out there people. Remember that "off duty" shouldn't mean "off guard."

Sparks of Sanity in La-la Land

Another overly liberal large town with a small conservative population, running into what we see every day:

• This homeless intellectual was lecturing the clerk* at my neighborhood store about why he couldn't pay, why he should be GIVEN his 40 ounce and most importantly why he would never get a job.

  I stood a good distance away until the liberal left. The man at the register quickly pulled out an aerosol can and "cleared the air" so to speak.

  The clerk began ranting about how this guy was in the store for 20 minutes explaining why he never wanted to get a job.

• The clerk was ranting about our local homeless intellectual. I bit my lip.

  Before I left, I looked the clerk in the eye and said, "You're a Republican, aren't you?"

  He responded with a quick, "F*ck yeah! I don't want to pay for those people. He can get a job, too."

  This is Los Angeles.
  

Hope in the land of fruits and nuts. Go read the whole thing.

Open Post for Sunday

It's too hot to do much of anything ... including blogging. So we'll take the easy way out and just leave an open post here along with whatever else we can find.

Mid-East War Heating Up

Looks like our predictions are coming true once again. We really ought to play the market more because we are on fire this year.

We didn't expect this Middle East conflict to begin like this one has, but as it has begun, we really ought to encourage the Israelis to take out the Iranian A-bomb factories. We're going to end up doing it anyway, so why not encourage them to take the lead?

Fillmo' Open for Business?

We heard that the station is back in operation. No luck in getting a new station. Next time, start bigger fires boys and girls - more damage means a new station. Or at least more time in the 010th District.

Um, It's Summer

... and the media is all a twitter. Check out these headlines at Channel 2, Channel 5 and Channel 7. You'd think it never got hot in Chicago. And of course they all mention the heat wave of 11 years ago that led to almost 700 deaths.

Stay cool boys and girls. It's going to be a long weekend with not much of a let up in sight.

Target, Wal-Mart Play Hardball

Either someone at Target and Wal-Mart (A) read this board or (B) they just have intelligent people running their stores. We'd like to imagine it was (A) and our plan to take over the world is proceeding nicely, but in reality it's probably (B). From the Sun Times:

• Target is putting plans to build three South Side stores "on hold" -- and making veiled threats to close existing Chicago stores -- if the City Council mandates wage and benefit standards for "big-box" retailers, African-American aldermen warned Thursday.
• Minneapolis-based Target becomes the second retailing giant to threaten to pull out of the lucrative Chicago market in a last-ditch effort to stop an ordinance championed by organized labor that breezed through the City Council's Finance Committee 15-6 and has attracted support from 33 aldermen.

Bravo to Target and Wal-Mart and every other "Big Box" retailer. Hopefully they'll stick to their guns and break the City Council of their woeful concept of economic development. The faster these goofs lose the City jobs, the faster people will realize that voting for the same old song and dance of the democratic party handouts costs EVERYONE money.

A Posting of Interest

Interesting to us at least. From our buddies over at NYPD Rant, this gem:

• The Newark Police Department has fired two officers and is considering the dismissal of two others for anonymous comments they posted on a popular Internet blog.
  
  Officers Darious Smith and Yessenia Montalvo were terminated at the end of June after criticizing their superiors in messages posted on Newark Speaks, a blog widely read by public employees in Essex County.

Now, we aren't particularly worried for our own sakes. We can't say we've posted anything we're ashamed of. In fact, quite a bit of it is legitimate criticism protected by First Amendment, which happens to trump Department Rules and Regs, City Policy and all sorts of other nonsense. We've never used Department computers for any of our postings. The fact that the ACLU would leap in to represent us is irksome, but we could live with that. We could also live with the nice payday at the end.

That being said, we can't prove that anyone who posts here is a Chicago cop, let alone an Illinois resident. Check our site meter - we have visitors from all over the globe. That isn't to say that a determined hacker couldn't trace certain visits back to certain IP addresses that register to City Buildings and District stations. And the "keylogger" programs that run in the background of most Department computers can be a bother (do a file search on your Department workstations - they are there!) We mention this only as a warning to our more determined trolls that infest the board. Be careful.

Have We Mentioned This Lately?

We hate lawyers. We really really hate lawyers.

• What do you call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start
• What's the difference between a dead skunk and a dead lawyer? Skid marks in front of the skunk
• Why don't sharks eat lawyers? Professional courtesy.

And they lawyers representing the husband of the woman killed by her own cousin on the 3100 block of Walnut really really deserves hating. Coverage at all the regular places - Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times.

When is the Revolution due?

The World's Stupidest Human Being

This has got to be one of THE most insane pieces we've ever read. We couldn't believe it was for real when we read it. Here's the first few paragraphs:

• I pulled up to the stop light the other night. It was a crisp summer night. I rubbed the side of my head. My finger rested in a small dent and my mind went back to a night many years ago.

  I had pulled up to the same stop light and three boys, ages 10 or 11, called to me through the open windows. "Please, we need a ride. We don't know what to do. Our home is just a mile or two down the road."

  I was in Oak Park. Just a mile or two down the road was Chicago's Austin neighborhood - not a safe place to be at 11 p.m. on a Friday.

  But I looked at the boys - they looked much like my son when he wanted something, with those beautiful, big pleading eyes. What were they doing out so late? Where were the people in their lives who cared?

  I invited them into the van, drove on and began chatting. "Tell me your names, boys. How old are you?"

Can you guess where this story is going? A robbery? An ass kicking? A car jacking? All three? Bingo! And then, to top it off, she blames the police for not being sympathetic to her insanity. Go read the whole thing. Typical liberal bullshit. What a moron this woman is.

Funny Enough for the Front Page

This is just too funny. From the comments section:

• BREAKING NEWS, another great decision by our command staff. Police Officers had to put down a dog (animal) in the 008th District at approximately 1030hrs. today after it had attacked 2 little girls. Well, after doing the Miscellaneous Incident Exception Card ADS Sandra K. Day (Operational Services)arrived and demanded Detectives. A call to the A/1 was met with, no detectives are need and none are coming out. ADS Day called C.O. Walsh of A-1 who ordered a team of Detectives sent out on this Police Shooting!. A Police Shooting!, do these two dumb broads have any idea what they are doing. Day and Walsh wanted to know how many holes were in the dog and had the dog taken to Western Ave. to be checked out at Animal Control. These two dumb broads wanted and thought the gun should be inventoried and Crime Lab personnel sent out. Thanks to the Detectives, it was stopped. Come on Cline are you reading the reports Day and Walsh are submitting.

If true, this is hilarious. What the hell is being promoted nowadays? "Merit" by what stretch of the imagination?

Are We Prepared?

In light of the CTA fire and watching the Bombay train bombings (coverage from India Channel 2, Channel 7, and Sun Times), is anyone prepared to say that this City and it's public safety Departments are prepared for a disaster of epic proportions?

Granted, response gets better as time goes on. People on scene and with the ability to make a decision realize, "Hey we better get tow trucks here." Or "Maybe we ought to redirect a bit of this traffic another direction." Or whatever.

But it's not something you can shut down a major city for and practice on a busy weekday. You can make scenarios and plans all you want, but any military veteran (which we are not) can tell you that "no plan survives first contact with the enemy" and students of literature (which we pretend to be) can relate the "best laid plans of mice and men..."

In a disaster, nothing ever works as planned or practiced. And we don't seem to be practicing much - so either we'll be contributing mightily to the chaos or it'll be the best run disaster in the history of the world.

Open Post for Mid-week

A lot of interesting stuff out there. Brewing scandals, upcoming trials, pending indictments, the list is huge. Put some of it to rest here.

CTA Mishap

The Fillmore station fire probably would have been the top story on the news if the CTA hadn't managed to send over 100 people to the hospital following a fire. A derailment led to a smoky fire and commuters fleeing through the tunnel system. This incident may highlight what could be a catastrophic weakness in the even of a subway attack - evacuation. We'll read the after action reports with a wary eye

Coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times, Tribune.

Hmmm. Two mysterious electrical fires. What are the odds?

Fillmo' Closed!

We guess they were just too bad for their own good! Coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times.

From what we can gather, an electrical arc of some sort shut down the repeater tower and all of Zone 10. There is some construction going on at the station and the e-mails sent to us wonder if that might have caused the outage. In the meantime, 011 is operating out of 010. The RBT, HSG and SVU detective divisions have been moved to three different Areas and prisoner processing is all being done off site.

So Fillmore leads in homicides, aggravated batteries and electrical fires for the year. Congratulations!

Vest Saves PPO

Story from Channel 2 and Channel 7. Call us psychic, but we bet we know where the next DOC hot spot. Thank the powers that be that the officer is OK.

UPDATE: According to reports regarding the Kedzie and Walnut incident (see article below), someone was shooting at the police and hit the pregnant woman. Combined with the above incident and the Garfield Park incident 2 weeks ago, it looks like shooting at the police is becoming a frequent pastime. Watch yourselves.

Interesting Rumor

Sure, most rumors started here on the blog have absolutely no basis in fact and are essentially wishful thinking. Every once in a while though, we get a little gem or a nugget that turns out to be true somewhere down the line. One of the better ones turned out to be the manpower cuts at 35th Street. The 20% number ended up being high, but more than a few people lost their spots on short notice.

Now we have this coming out of Fort Kool-Aid (from the comments section):

• Word out of 35th is that Cline has asked all Commanding Officers of the units at 35th to identify their essential personnel, allegedly, all non-essential people will have their details cancelled and returned to their districts; this is in response to the surge in Homicides in 011, 022,009, but especially 011, what doesn't make sense is how exactly this will help. Unless all these people are from 011 very little manpower, if any, will actually make it there, well see....

Idle speculation? Perhaps. But then we got this e-mail from a frequent reader of ours:

• This just in: they want to move the injured back [from Alternate Response]to the district desks and leave this unit with slightly under 20 calltakers a day. That's about 5 calltakers a shift with RDOs and such. That would result in abandoned calls going from 8% to 60% and hold times going from 2 minutes to 45 minutes. Meaning those calls would have to have cars dispatched to do reports and the desk would receive more calls routed to it from 311. So the district gets about .7 more people in it, remember RDOs and such, and the time for patrolling will go drastically down with more reports being made on the street.

Two unrelated sources with similar information regarding the manpower shortages being experienced city wide and new efforts to alleviate the shortages. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Kedzie and Walnut

Another shooting Monday. Twenty-two year old pregnant woman shot on the west side and no one knows who fired the shot. There were police all around and of course, the media broadcasts the "witness" screaming the loudest about how the police killed her friend. The investigation isn't even over and already, we're taking heat for something that might not have even happened.

First of all, if anyone thinks this Department could cover up an accidental shooting in this day and age, you're nuts. That being said, there isn't anything at this point in time that indicates any police weapons were even fired at the scene. Even Eugene Williams (street deputy?) is on camera stating that no police weapons were fired. That would be a hell of a mistake to have to back track on.

As for the victim, who goes to a neighbor's house with 3 or more "friends" to confront someone about an alleged theft that occurred some time ago? A victim looking for a little revenge of their own is our answer.

These are all early reports - not many links around yet with the story.

UPDATE: Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times. Channel 7 continues to quote the friends of the victime as saying "the police shot her." Remember this crap next time you see a Channel 7 News crew.

Master of the Obvious - Mayoral Edition

How stupid does he think the voters are?

• Mayor Daley acknowledged today that he should have been aware of city hiring abuses and "should have exercised greater oversight" to make certain everything was on the square.

  But, the mayor categorically denied the portrait painted by federal prosecutors that resulted in last week's conviction of Daley's former patronage chief and three others: That there was wholesale rigging of hiring and promotions to reward pro-Daley armies of political workers.

  "It wasn't all a sham. It was not all a sham. There were some mistakes. But, it was not a sham," the mayor said.

Really? Maybe this little set of incidents in the late 90's/early 2000's should have tipped him off that all wasn't well:

• What Victor Chang had in clout, he apparently lacked in driving skills.

  In late 1997, Chang got a job driving a city garbage truck.

  He averaged an accident a year. It took six accidents in his city garbage truck before the city fired him.

It boggles the mind.

Another Crash

Coppers from 010 listed in serious condition following a crash near Douglas and Kedzie. Initial reports here via Channel 7.

Fillmo' is Number 1!

Sure, the year is only half done, but by golly, Fillmo' is number one in both homicides and aggravated batteries.

Now there are some things it's fine to be proud of: earning a legit promotion; reducing your handicap on the golf course; successfully raising kids; having a fulfilling life in general. All of these are actions one can be rightly proud of as YOU are the primary mover in the improvement.

There is also "reflected" pride: your hometown team winning the World Series; your ancestral homeland winning the World Cup; a Federal prosecutor sending numerous local officials to jail. But in reality, none of those things had anything to do with effort or talent on your part. Nothing you did affected teams winning championships or mayoral aides going to jail.

Did anyone working in Fillmo' really have anything to do with the homicide and shooting rates?

Why Does Anyone Live in Florida?

Hurricanes, humidity, no-driving fools, no-driving old folks, alligators, the list goes on and on. Now we have even more reasons to avoid Florida:

• I can't believe it's possible to make money selling animals most people want to kill with a hoe. I wonder if it's time for me to open a business, selling loathsome creatures I want to get rid of.

  GIANT FLORIDA COCKROACHES, $5 each, shipped to your door. No charge for eggs laid in transit. They fly and smack you in the mouth and eyes, they eat your food, they poop in your cabinets, and when they mistake you for food while you're sleeping, they even bite. Order now; at these prices they won't last long.

  FRISKY, BRIGHT-EYED NORWAY RATS, trapped in the cemetery down the street. Do-gooders cleaned up the cemetery, and the rats now have no place to live, so adopt one today and I'll mail it to you in map tube. These rats are very friendly, having lost all fear of man due to advanced rabies.

  ANNOYING CENTRAL AMERICAN MILLIPEDES, two dollars a gallon. They climb up your walls. They climb across the ceiling. They fall in your drink. Walk across your living room at night and listen to them crunch. They secrete hallucinogenic compounds, but I am not sure how many you have to eat to get a decent buzz. I would start with a generous handful and work from there.

And it only gets funnier from there. We wonder if the "whiz-quiz" tests for hallucinogenic millipede extracts? Someone let us know. All of the above posted at HogOnIce.com

How to Clean Up City Hiring?

From the Sun Times:

• After the guilty verdicts for the mayor's former patronage chief Robert Sorich and three colleagues, pundits are weighing in, analysts are holding forth, and questions abound.

We've got a quick answer for that one - there won't be any hiring reform while this political administration remains in place. Our only hope is regime change. And then there is this little bit of speculation by the Sun Times:

• Prosecutors are keeping mum, but the trial featured detail after detail about the alleged involvement of Sorich's boss in the case, Victor Reyes, who has refused to talk to investigators without a grant of immunity. Reyes has not been charged with any crime. His attorney, Thomas Breen, sat in on portions of the trial.

So who is the next to fall? We figured Reyes would be high on the list. Probably Degnan or another mayoral insider too. Anyone have any speculation? Maybe a name from the past - Teale perhaps? Hopefully, the judge and prosecutors can lean on people a little bit with the threat of a little more than 24 months - a few more years added on might loosen some tongues.

Sunday Open Post

Just filling space - and the World Cup Final is today. We expect Rue St. Michael, Lefty, and ourselves will be taking in the game at various locations around the city along with maybe 10 other people on the Department and about 3 billion other earthlings. We will of course, be rooting against the cheese eating surrender monkeys of the French Republic. Go Italy!

A Very BIG Lie

It isn't really amazing that they lie - they're politicians - if they ever told the truth, their heads would probably explode. It's just amazing that they keep getting reelected and re-appointed after they get caught telling huge whoppers like these:

• Twelve weeks ago, Cook County chief of staff James Whigham -- running the county's day-to-day operations -- flatly denied the county was in such dire financial straits that it would have to borrow money to make ends meet.

  Friday, things changed. For the first time in more than a decade, Cook County must borrow to help pay the bills. According to an ordinance delivered to commissioners, they will be asked Wednesday to allow the county to seek a $200 million loan

This is what endless years of straight party line voting have brought us in Cook County - and it's only going to get worse. Doesn't anyone else think maybe we ought to give someone else a chance in Cook County?

Cook County having to borrow is especially amusing in light of this:

• WASHINGTON, July 8 - An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year, even though spending has climbed sharply because of the war in Iraq and the cost of hurricane relief.

  On Tuesday, White House officials are expected to announce that the tax receipts will be about $250 billion above last year's levels and that the deficit will be about $100 billion less than what they projected six months ago.

That's from a New York Times report pretty much reporting that the Bush tax cuts are working better than expected - much better than expected, even in the middle of a war. Anyone have any idea what tax cuts in Cook County would mean?

Violent Weekend

We heard that the City murder rate was trailing last years numbers by around a dozen or so. Considering what went up this weekend, we're might be on a bit of an upswing? Some turf wars have turned decidedly violent, both south and west:

• Six people were shot, three fatally, in the Washington Heights and Roseland neighborhoods from Thursday night to Friday morning. [...] All of the shootings happened in the Morgan Park District on the Southwest Side. All were suspected of being gang-related, department spokeswoman Monique Bond said.
• Multiple shootings in 010 and 011 involving a 7.62mm rifle according to the 24-hour report, including two fatals.

It has been one of the busier weekends of the year at least.

What Time is It?

Why, it's Friday night! That means it's time for the Department to strip Rapid Response cars from "lower" crime districts and send them all over creation to attempt to control Garfield Park. In light of a pair of homicides involving heavy weaponry in North Lawndale and three other gang related shootings down south, the summer seems to be heating up quite a bit. Perhaps this is the year the Department finally confronts the manpower shortage?

Nah, probably not.

Coppers Hurt in Crash

Squad car crash just after noon on Friday:

Any updates on how they're doing? Preliminary reports were serious, but stable. And then we heard nothing more.

Never Fear!

The Grammar Police are here!

We've noticed quite a few people in the comments sections taking each other to task for a lack of correct spelling, punctuation, verb tense and grammar usage. In this day and age of internet shortcuts and instant text message conversations, it is not surprising that some grammatical rules are discarded in the name of speed, but sometimes it is shocking how far the proper usage of "the King's English" has declined. For example, take this recent Traffic Alert issued by the Department:
It points out the roll over potential of the new Chevy Tahoes in side impact crashes and the importance of wearing seatbelts. No one can argue with that when the numbers of Law Enforcement Officers killed in crashes is surpassing the number killed by felonious actions. But when you look at the back of the Alert, you are treated to this little gem:
We handed this over to a "student of the English language" we know and they were appalled that this ever saw the light of day. Just a quick scan reveals over 20 serious errors in this bulletin. We don't purport to be the Dean of English at the University of Chicago, and sometimes we aren't sure where to put some punctuation, but we strive to at least convey coherent thought and complete sentences. This document does neither.

Lieutenants Exam?

In the comments section, someone has claimed that the notice came out for the Lieutenant Exam. We did hear it was coming this year. If you hop back to our January Archives, you'll see that once again, SCC predicted a Lieutenants Exam this year. Granted, predicting that one was like shooting fish in a barrel, bit you don't get to be recognized as a prophet by getting them all wrong.

We, of course, will be skipping the exam and going right to Exempt like so many of our fellow officers in recent years. Why waste time going through the ranks when you can just get a gold star for being buddies with the big guy?

Split Decision - Is It Enough?

Sorich was convicted on two counts and acquitted on two others. A second defendant was also convicted on two counts, a third on a single count and the final defendant faced only a "Lying to a Federal Agent" charge and was convicted (coverage at the Sun Times, Tribune, Channel 2 and Channel 7).

But what does it mean? We're going to have to wait and see with these latest convictions. The Feds are batting 41 convictions out of 44 indictments (1 died and 2 await trial, so they could conceivably bat 1.000 here). The trouble is too many of those convicted are willing to do their 18 months to 2 years for this Machine. And the Machine ends up rewarding their silence in some way, shape or form the way that the son of one convict got an $8 million dollar contract (or similar nonsense) immediately after daddy fled to Mexico.

Fitzgerald needs to figure out a way to hammer a few of these goofs the way they got "Quarters" Boyle on a seven year hitch. Seven years is a long time to spend away, even at Club Fed. And seven years far away from home instead of Wisconsin might loosen a few more tongues,

Too Funny

Write your own punchlines:

• A 19-year-old man shot himself in the groin while trying to holster his gun in his pants, police said Thursday.

  The teen was take to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and was listed in critical condition, according to the First Deputy Superintendent's office report.

  "He apparently pulled the trigger while putting the gun into his pants," police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.

  No further information was immediately available.

Wasted Manpower

Yesterday's article about how Dorothy "the Hat" has a squad car parked in front of her office overnight to deter vandalism is bringing up other incidents of manpower being diverted to "less than pressing" needs just because of who somebody is. How about these alleged incidents?

• From the same article: About two years ago, Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) insisted she was entitled to have a squad car parked outside her South Side home on weekends because she was the victim of two burglaries. Some cops groused that average citizens would not get such treatment, but Troutman said, "Deserve it? Damn right."
• From the comments section: In the 008th District, the Officers are assigned to the "CROE TV" - Muhammad & Friends television show on 71st & Artesian. We must sit in the parking lot from 6pm to 9pm and guard thier cars. That's right, a profit orgization gets free police protection. And this happens when the 008th District has a back log every day, Officers are assigned 4/5 jobs at a time, and people are getting shot. [sic]
  
• Also from the comments section: How about this just yeterday a unamed detective plus 3 other dics were ordered to protect tillmans office ordered by fred coffey unlimited overtime to protect this scumbag alderman! $$$$$$$$$$ Gone daley to afraid to not do it! [sic]

And from our own archives, we asked months ago if it was true that numerous marked squad cars from the 005th District are assigned to reverend Meeks' church for traffic control before, during and after services. Let's hear some stories people - there have to be more incidents that no one has heard about. Post them.

Quick Hits

Stories of interest:

• The Hat strikes again - ... some officers are allegedly complaining that [Dorothy Tillman] is demanding police protection that would be better used in fighting crime in her ward. [...] She also says that, contrary to what unidentified police officers told the Chicago Sun-Times, she did not request the police protection outside her office. “That was a decision that was made by the commander or the superintendent, but it was not my decision. I think it was a good decision,” Tillman said. [SCC says "hahahahaha - sure thing Dorothy"]
• Two male Calumet District officers were recovering at a hospital after a crowd gathered and threw rocks and bottles at them in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood on the South Side. [when is the City going to plow this project under?]
• Do you think our flag logo is in danger? Probably not, as it is the 1955 star design that the City never bothered to copyright and appears on every fundraising t-shirt in existence. [plus, it's obviously parody.]
• And the official CPD explanation of the "raical profiling study" can be found in part here at the Channel 7 report.
  

Evil People Being Honorable?

Once upon a time, people actually took responsibility for their actions. Honor was not considered a backwards concept. When something went wrong or someone did wrong, someone took responsibility and did the honorable thing - Stepped up. Confessed. Resigned. Sometimes they even fell on their sword - literally in the case of martial Japan.

Two cases come to mind today:

• Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, died Wednesday of a heart attack in Colorado. He was 64.

Lay faced decades in prison after being convicted of looting Enron of millions. It's hard to imagine that he did this intentionally, but poetic justice is justice none the less. It reminds us of Aldrecreature Bill Henry dropping dead right before "Silver Shovel" broke wide open. The feebs had indictments signed, sealed and not yet delivered when Bill was building a mountain of Dan Ryan concrete waste over on Kilbourn and Roosevelt. Something like 7 million tons of waste, all for $5,000.

The second case is even more shocking:

• A powerful aide to Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine resigned today less than one week after two family members she had previously recommended for jobs were criminally charged in a shakedown scheme involving the state's attorney's office.

A political animal? In Cook County? Taking responsibility for their actions? Unheard of! We are shocked. We talked to an ASA this week and evidently the aunt and sponsor of the alleged perpetrators, is a BIG wheeler dealer in County politics. A very big wheel in the Machine. Either this is bigger than we had thought or this woman made some very powerful enemies and they were just waiting for her to screw up.

The New Euphemism

Instead of coming right out and telling everyone that people are hired on the basis of who their relatives happen to be, the Cook County State's Attorney Office has come up with the following explanation for overlooking the criminal records of those they hire:

• Teri Sanchez sponsored her niece's employment, but she was not involved in the hiring process, Gorman said. Teri Sanchez also sponsored Rodriguez, her niece's husband.

You got that? It wasn't nepotism. It was "Sponsoring!"

We hear there is a blue ribbon panel researching similar euphemisms to cover up for the "merit" selection process that currently plagues the Police Department. Possible explanations include "earned," "politically reliable," "diversity insurance," and "well, I knew his daddy when..."

And Once Again, Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling is in the news again and we're going to use it as a prime example of how the left wing media sets the agenda in the City, State and Nation. Channel 7 and the Sun Times are running with what we will generously call "statistical bullshit." Here is the Channel 7 report in it's entirety:

• Minority drivers have a greater chance of being stopped by police in Illinois than white drivers. That's according to the latest numbers from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Minorities make up about one-fourth of Illinois drivers but they accounted for nearly one-third of police traffic stops.

  Of the minorities who were pulled over nearly 69 percent got traffic tickets. Less than 60 percent of white drivers were ticketed. I-DOT says police are also more likely to search cars of minority drivers.

That's it. No numbers, no explanation, just a statement that minorities make up 1/4 of drivers but 1/3 or traffic stops and 69% of them get tickets. Damn those racist police officers! Someone call Meeks and Jakes and Jesse - both Jesses in fact!

Now check out the Sun Times article, which parrots the Channel 7 report, but includes a helpful little chart with actual numbers. Here's a stunner - total traffic stops:

• 2004 TOTAL Stops: 1,676,043 whites
• 2004 TOTAL Stops: 817,644 minorities
• 2005 TOTAL Stops: 1,697,063 whites
• 2005 TOTAL Stops: 792,263 minorities

So TWICE as many white folks were stopped as compared to minorities. But since this doesn't fit the racial profiling angle, the media goes by PERCENTAGES of the population to create the impression of profiling. Now it shows that a higher percentage of minorities get tickets and have their car searched in relation to their population. Better call the reverends again!

You want to know our opinion of this all? Too fucking bad.

Here's a little information for the so called unbiased media. First of all, most coppers have no idea what race of driver is behind the wheel when they pull over a car. They don't even care. A law is violated, someone gets pulled over. Secondly, driver conduct determines quite a bit of how you get treated - the "Golden Rule" and treat others as you wish to be treated? If we pull over any driver and they are polite, respectful, have all of their paperwork in order and current license, sticker and insurance, guess what? THEY GET A BREAK! Seriously! It's called "discretion" and we use it all the time. Here's the flip side - you give us lip and attitude, don't carry a license, never had insurance on a car that isn't registered to you and when you rolled down the window it smelled like a cannabis packaging factory? You are getting tickets, you are getting your car tossed and you are going to jail if we find anything.

We'll let the good reverends explain where this whole attitude of "you're just pulling me over because I'm [insert color here]" comes from. Racial profiling our ass. Look at those numbers again - white people pulled over UP by 23,000, minorities DOWN by 25,000, all in the course of one year.

How About Those Property Taxes?

Keep voting straight party tickets people:

• Southwest Side residents got a jolt last week when their new property tax assessments arrived.

  Neighborhoods from Beverly to Englewood saw assessments skyrocket -- a warning of higher tax bills for homeowners next year.

  "My initial reaction was shock," said Scott Niekelski, 35, who watched the assessed value of his house in Garfield Ridge jump 41 percent. "They're looking at any way to squeeze anybody they can."

The tax-and-spend party of Illinois continues to soak the middle class. At least the northsiders are used to high property taxes. Southsiders are going to be in shock for weeks. Pretty soon, within 2 or 3 more taxes reassessment cycles, it's going to be awfully hard for a new copper to afford to live anywhere decent in the city.

Happy Fourth of July

A sight never to be seen again:

Don't know where we found it. Don't remember who it's from. Don't know when it was taken. It's been rattling around in our folders for a while. From the angle, it looks to have been taken from New Jersey? Any of our readers from the coast help out?

Happy Fourth of July everyone. 230 years. And still not a better place on earth. Play safe today.

Question on Our Minds

We were asking the same thing the other day:

• The Cook County state's attorney's office plans to review how two people -- including the niece of a high-ranking aide to top prosecutor Richard A. Devine -- got jobs in the office despite having criminal backgrounds.

Well, let's see if we can help out here. Teresa Sanchez has an extensive criminal background, including two felony arrests for aggravated battery. Her husband Jesus Rodriguez has retail theft convictions. Teresa's aunt, Teri Sanchez, is deputy chief of the Bureau of Administrative Services and ... Uh ... Stop the presses! We think we might have found something. Maybe.

Come on people. Perhaps a family connection is hinted at here? Perhaps Chicago and Cook County and even statewide hiring is based on who your relatives are? Or maybe we shouldn't be paying attention to Todd Stroger trying to take over for daddy? Or Beavers designating his daughter as heir to his aldermanic seat? Or the little guy on the 5th floor sitting in the same seat his father did years ago? Or any one of a hundred examples true students of the political scene could name.

SCC - International Phenomenon

Our traffic Monday morning:

Readers from all over the world coming to see what the fuss is about. We regularly get a dozen or more hits a day from Europe and the occasional Aussie wandering in, most likely from The Policeman's Blog link from the UK on the right side. Cops are cops the world over and sites like ours and theirs bring us together like never before.