Please be True

From Sneed a few days ago:

• Is the Chicago Olympic bid in jeopardy?

  • • To wit: Sneed is told the growing controversy over China's treatment of Tibet and U.S. presidential candidates threatening to boycott the opening of the Olympics in China has Olympic insiders biting their nails.

  • • Translation: Sneed hears insiders fear International Olympic Committee members may take out their frustration over U.S. defiance by voting against Chicago's Olympic bid.

  • • The buckshot: Mayor Daley, who has pulled out all the stops -- including choosing a new police superintendent -- would have a conniption.

Wow, talk about your world wide irony - Dictator Daley, who has been making every attempt to turn Chicago and Illinois into a "worker's paradise" reminiscent of Stalin's USSR might get his Olympic dreams dashed by a backlash against the largest remaining communist dictatorship.

Great, Another "Panel"

First we have the mayor's "Blue Ribbon" panel that was exploring how to properly fund the police and fire pensions that are currently as some anemic number like 50% or less. We offered to save the taxpayers a boatload of money by pointing out the problems we saw:

• stop deferring payments to fund road projects and bloated social programs;
• as you sell off city assets, funnel the money to pensions.

Unfortunately, the mayor decided to spend more tax money and go with the "experts" who will no doubt say something like "raise taxes again."

Now, the mayor wants to study youth violence:

• University of Chicago researchers will interview victims, offenders and parents -- with a particular emphasis on single moms -- to get to the heart of youth violence and devise “out of the box” strategies to prevent it, Mayor Daley said today.
• “I asked myself the question: ‘What about these young men? Who are they? Did they drop out of elementary school? Did they drop out of high school? Do they have any brothers or sisters? Were they in the juvenile justice system? What happened to them?’ We have to look at it completely different. We have to look at things we’ve never talked about,” Daley told a news conference at the U of C's School of Social Service Administration, 969 E. 60th Street.
• The study will be led by U of C professor Jens Ludwig, who hopes to have “early results” — including new “intervention policies” -- within six to 12 months. The city would then launch a series of pilot programs to test those strategies.

Ludwig has already come up with an interesting hypotheses, one that any Chicago cop with more than one shooting scene under his or her belt could tell you:

• Ludwig said interviews with those who have pulled the trigger would be critical. His analysis of Chicago homicides shows that “75 to 80 percent” of both offenders and victims have prior arrest records.

Wow. What a fucking brainiac this guy is. Thank heavens he teaches at the University of Chicago - the doorways there are extra wide for his over sized brain so they won't have to make any capital improvements for Professor Ludwig to traverse the hallways.

Can we attempt to save everyone some money again? Please?

• stop having kids if you can't support them
• stop having kids if you don't have a stable family structure
  
• yes, that means TWO parents
  
• stop having kids if you don't want to take an interest in them
• discipline
• personal responsibility
• get a job
• pay your own way
• set an example worth following

We can see Professor Ludwig's solution already:

• raise taxes
• hire some more political idiots to run it
• more studies

We are so doomed.

Liberal Socialist Elitist

And decidedly un-American:

• Sen. Barack Obama was criticized Friday by his two fellow presidential candidates for statements he made recently at a San Francisco fundraiser that could be viewed as derogatory toward rural America.
  
  "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said Sunday, according to the Huffington Post web site.
  
  "And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not," Obama reportedly continued. "It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

"...cling to guns"? Isn't that a Right enshrined in the United States Constitution?

"...or religion"? Again, a Right. People are free to worship or not as they see fit. And if religion is the touchstone that helps them live their lives morally, ethically and properly, who is Obama to claim they are "bitter"? We wonder why Obama seems to "cling" to the Trinity Church where an obviously deranged "reverend" claims the CIA invented AIDS and 9/11 was deserved.

"...anti-immigrant"? How about "anti people breaking the laws of the United States to come here, drain the economy and demand protections due only to actual citizens of this country"? Everyone here today is descended from immigrants, but most of our ancestors did it properly.

Hillary is circling the drain, but the more Obama speaks, the more people realize he's nothing more than an old-time big-government liberal elite who's going to raise taxes, kowtow to special interests and pretty much destroy the economy by implementing gigantic social programs on a level unseen since the 1930's.

Barring a disaster, it's McCain in November.

Go 010th District!

Say what you want about the 010 District, they keep on trying until they get better at it.

Thursday, they fire a few rounds at an honor student running around with a gun, miss him, but get the gun and his sorry ass.

Saturday morning, they catch someone firing a gun, and when he won't drop it, they wound him before taking him into custody and recovering the weapon:

• Police wounded a person in a shooting early Saturday on the Southwest Side’s Little Village neighborhood.

  Police shot a person in the 2600 block of South Kedzie Avenue about 2 a.m., police said. Police observed a person firing a weapon, and then fired shots.

And once again, no drama. Great job all around.

St. Jude's

We've noticed, as have a large number of our readers, an upsurge in comments advocating a boycott of the St. Jude's march. We've allowed these comments for the same reason that we allow most of the other comments - we don't censor out of hand and it's important to keep readers aware that these sentiments exist. We were also hoping someone would write something eloquent and heartfelt to counter the anti-march feelings.

• In reference to anonymous: regarding the St. Jude Tribute March. Today is April 10th, and 54years ago today, a very special person was born into this world. This very special persons' name is Chicago Police Officer Donald J. Marquez. My brother Don's End of Watch was March 19, 2002.
  
• To the few officers' who say let's boycott the St. Jude March, to make a statement to the new Supt.: please let me explain that this St. Jude March is not about the new Supt. It is not about the Mayor, nor any other politician. It is a very special day for us, the Chicago Police Departments' Gold Star Families. It is one day out of the whole year when about 8,000 or more officers come together and show honor, respect, support, and love to our families. They march to let us know that our loved ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice, will never be forgotten. There are partners and co-workers who worked with our heroes, and they too still come out to show us their support.
  
• My phone just rang, it's about 11:30pm, I said, "who would be calling me this late?" It was my brother Don's close friend, Officer Fernando Alonzo. He called me to tell me he and his family have been thinking about my brother Don all throughout the day. I told him, you would not believe what I am doing, I told him I am on the police blog trying to explain what the St. Jude March is all about, what are the chances that he would call me at this exact moment. He shared how he and his family miss my brother. If my brother was alive today, he would be having a celebration with his buddy and pal Alonzo right now. So you see Officers, we need to see you in unity out there on Sun. morning May 4th. You make us feel so proud that we are still a part of the police family. We look forward to seeing the officers march in loving memory of our fallen heroes. Some Gold Star Families come from across the United States to be a part of this special march. Sgt. Mark Golosinski (16th) and a few other officers' who commented and said, "the only people you would be hurting are the families of our fallen officers". They are absolutely correct. Today my brother Don would have turned 54 years old. He served and protected this city for 20 years, he had just become a brand new grandfather for the first time. Just as he was so proud to be a brand new grandfather, he was also so proud to be a Chicago Police Officer. His life was taken from us, from a 77 year old who opened fire on my brother as he was serving a warrant. Officers, you never want your family to ever become a Gold Star Member. It is so true when someone said, "this is one organization you wouldn't want to belong to". This pain in our hearts is real, it never goes away, how could it, we loved them, we miss them and til the day we reunite in heaven with our loved ones, we will never, ever forget why they died, they died doing something they loved, and that was serving and protecting their city.
  
• I encourage you to look beyond all the changes that are happening, just for one day. We lost our heroes in the line of duty. You see, when we lost our officer and our loved one, all of our lives changed. I tried not to cry today, but I miss him so much. I wish I could just call him one more time and hear his voice, and tell him Happy Birthday. If you knew my brother Don, you were so blessed, he was the greatest brother that ever lived. I would like to personally say thank you to each one of you for coming out and showing your respect and support. You are a very big part of our healing process. We appreciate you and we honor you the living. We are extremely proud to be part of the greatest police department in the world. Believe me, we never stop praying for you and every officer. Go home to your families tonight, tell them how much you love them while there is still time left.
  
  Donna Marquez
  President of The Gold Star Families
  
  any comments please feel free to email me at donnamarquez8620@yahoo.com

Long time readers of the blog will remember we took a number of people to task for advocating a boycott a few years ago over the Hampton sign controversy. Our opinion then, and our opinion as it remains to this day, is that the march is for our dead. We don't march for the mayor, the superintendent, the brass, the media or the citizenry. We march for the men and women who can't march anymore and we remember the sacrifices they made.

A boycott of St. Jude's is a lazy boycott. People are attempting to take a well known event that honors our dead and twist it into something it should never be instead of creating their own event, developing a following, and making a statement there.

Promotions at Last

Captains named:

• 006 O'Donnell, James
  013 Denk, Edward
  126 Forlenza, Brigid
  141 Bay, Roger
  253 Pilipuf, Cynthia
  384 Thompson, Diane
  601 Gibson, James
  650 Batrich, Richard

Only two from Districts. Amazing.

And does anyone know what J-Fed thinks or feels about being saddled with another set of bosses that he had absolutely no input on? Word from 35th Street is he's still smarting about that class of twenty Lieutenants rushed through before he made it to town.

An Unfortunate Union

Don't you just hate when this happens?

• A couple fighting about which gang their 4-year-old toddler should join caused a public disturbance that resulted in the father's arrest, Commerce City [Colorado] police said Thursday.
• His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman said.
• "They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would 'claim,'" Sandoval said.

How is any amount of money thrown at whatever social programs you can imagine ever going to solve a problem like this? It isn't.

It's Only Money

We mean, what else does Daley have to spend it on?

• After launching a study of youth violence by the University of Chicago, Daley said today he would like to change the city's motto.

  “I'm passionate about children. We put too many other things above our children. Children, to me, should be what we stand for here in the city of Chicago,” the mayor said.

  “We’re the city of flowers. We’re the city of trees and gardens and all that. I’d like to maybe change that motto to, ‘City of Children.’ I really believe that.”

It's not like there are any potholes up and down the length of Lake Shore Drive slowing traffic to a crawl. Or an entire fleet of squad cars in disrepair. Or how many separate unions without contracts who are going to be owed at least a year, maybe 18 month of retro pay. And that graduation rate - did it climb above 51% yet? Maybe all the way up to 52%, which by itself is double the homicide clearance rate.

SCC CONTEST:

• Who can come up with a truly spectacular "City Motto"?
  

And don't forget - to be authentic, it should be in Latin.

Sneed a Day Late, A Dollar Short

What is this woman smoking? Because it seems to slow down her brain function so badly, she's moving backwards:

• The Name Game: The popular cop blog titled "Second City Cop" refers to new top cop Jody Weis as . . ."J-Fed."

Does she even read her own paper? 30 March, the Sun Times editorial cartoonist publishes this cartoon:

Did Higgins get it from SCC? Probably not, because way back on 01 March, Fran Spielman quoted Greg Bella as follows:

• “Let’s bring some broccoli and cauliflower and let us boil it. Let’s get healthy. Maybe J-fed [Weis, a former FBI agent] would like to stock the fridge for us so we can have healthy food,” Bella said.

Did Bella get it from the blog? Probably. But it's been around for a while now. 11 February, we had this Chicago Enquirer front page:

And this blog started using the term on 10 January in this post here. And we didn't even start it - it was one of our readers in an anonymous submission.

We guess if you can't be timely, read the Sun Times.

Hey, that could be their new motto! Copyright SCC 2008, All Rights Reserved, Hands Off - Intellectual Property of SCC and all affiliates. Frank Main, this means you!

Pat, Come Work for Us

Evidently, it's true. Pat Camden is no more.

And if the rumors are to be believed, Skeletor herself is to be eased out shortly.

In the meantime, we'd like to make this offer:

• Pat, come work for us.

Obviously, we can't match your recent salary over at media affairs ($118,260), but we can offer you the chance to tell your side, mingle with the rank and file again, and redeem yourself after that horseshit job you and John Henry were doing at the "official" police department blog.

What have you got to lose? Your pride?

K-9 Sniffing in 016?

From two different comments, we have word of an outside unit being used to sniff locker rooms in the 016th District.

Please tell us this isn't another scandal?

Mette Bus Trip

According to the website, there is a bus trip being arranged:

• The Mike Mette Defense Fund is setting up a bus trip to Iowa for a protest of Mike's injustice. Currently the date is being set for July 22nd, 2008. We plan to March on the County Courthouse and possibly the Dubuque County Fair, during their opening ceremonies...Further info and details will be posted on our website regarding meeting location and time.. All are welcome to join us.

CLICK HERE for the website. We'll try to update as able.

Shots Fired

No one hit, cops ok, gun recovered and once again, no comments by IPRA or Monique:

• Chicago police officers fired shots at a 15-year-old boy who allegedly started to point a gun at them during a chase Wednesday morning on the West Side, but no one was hit, police said.
  
  The incident occurred about 10 a.m. near 23rd Street and Millard Avenue, police said. The teen was suspected of selling drugs and was running from officers when he raised the gun toward them and they opened fire, police said.
  
  The boy was not hit and did not fire back. He was arrested on the scene, and his gun was recovered. Charges were pending.

We had our doubts that putting the gag on the Orange One or Monique was going to pay dividends, but we'll admit to being wrong in a big way. This not releasing any info to the media is a huge plus for police shootings because anyone the media actually finds to comment seems like a freaking insane alien with no counterpoint from the Department, so nothing gets aired. It's a nice break from Camden's canned speech, which Monique couldn't deliver even if Camden used her as a ventriloquist dummy.

Understanding Miranda

So what's the liability factor for the Detectives who didn't explain what a lawyer was to a 15 year old juvenile who probably has more time in the justice system than in the classroom?

• In a blow to prosecutors, a Cook County judge threw out the confession of one of two teens charged with the May 2007 murder of Julian High School student Blair Holt.

  Judge Michael Toomin ruled that statements Kevin Jones made to police and prosecutors could not be admitted at trial, because Jones -- who was 15 at the time -- did not understand his Miranda rights.

  “The state has failed to show ... that there was compliance with the mandate of Miranda, that he understood the right to counsel, that he understood the right to remain silent,” Toomin said this morning.

  “It cannot be concluded that he really knew what an attorney was,” Toomin said.

So in addition to being social workers and marriage counselors, it falls on the police to teach the dropouts what they couldn't be bothered to learn in a fifth-grade civics class.

Anyone think we'll ever get to be the police again?

Thanks Toomin, you ass.

Quick Hits

Just a few.

Missing school again?

• Chicago Public School officials announced on Monday night that three more students had been shot. Now concerned school officials are looking to Springfield for funds to keep students safe.
• For school board president Rufus Williams, the drive to Springfield is an annual pilgrimage to get more money. But this year, Chicago Public School student bring a new urgency to this trip.
• Between now and the middle of May, as many as 16 high school groups were planned to go to Springfield to endorse safety for Chicago schools and stricter gun laws.

Because it's not the bats or the complete lack of family structure or a general disregard for rules, basic respect for the law and a willingness to abide by societal norms - it's the guns.

Suburban oddity:

• A 55-year-old Crystal Lake man was found chained by the neck in the basement of a burning home Tuesday, police said. After the man was rescued from the building, he told police that he had been confined in the basement of his own free will and was not a victim of a crime, Crystal Lake Police Deputy Chief Dennis Harris said. "He's not elaborating on the unusual circumstances," Harris said. "We have some doubts about the veracity of his story. We are still investigating why he was where he was and is saying what he says."

Uh huh. Right.

And as soon as the Supreme Court strikes down blanket gun bans, get ready for a whole bunch of these headlines:

• The parents of a 14-year-old boy say the teen was shot and killed while invading a home in north central Illinois.

  Authorities say 14-year-old Travis Castle of Durand entered the home along with two other young men. Police say the three wore white hooded sweat shirts as they broke a window and entered the house, located near the village of Stillman Valley.

  Ogle County Sheriff Greg Beitel says the owner wasn't there, but a house guest hid in a bedroom with a loaded handgun. The sheriff said the guest fired at one of the three in a narrow hallway before calling 911.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. At least we won't be paying for this jagoff's upkeep over the next six decades.

History Gone

More history lost to incompetent government and a lawsuit driven society:

• The last toboggan slides in the Cook County Forest Preserve District will come down despite an impassioned plea to preserve the historic attractions enjoyed by generations of city and suburban residents.
  
  The Forest Preserve Commission approved contracts Tuesday to demolish the storied, southwest suburban Swallow Cliff slides and a set of similar slides at Caldwell Woods on Chicago's Far Northwest Side.

On a brighter note, the Toddler promised to raise taxes again to fund a previously undiscovered branch of the Stroger family tree.

French Surrender - Again

Of course, we've never expected much from the French authorities:

• Paris' Olympic torch relay descended into chaos Monday, with protesters scaling the Eiffel Tower, grabbing for the flame and forcing security officials to repeatedly snuff out the torch and transport it by bus past demonstrators yelling "Free Tibet!"
  
  The relentless anti-Chinese demonstrations ignited across the capital with unexpected power and ingenuity, foiling 3,000 police officers deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and even inline skates.

The English police on the other hand, kept things in hand:

• LONDON (AP) - Police repeatedly scuffled with protesters as Olympians and dignitaries carried the Olympic torch through snowy London during a chaotic relay Sunday.
• Police Cmdr. Jo Kaye called the incidents minor. "It's going to be a long day but the torch is progressing on schedule," Kaye told British Broadcasting Corp. television.

And it's another month of protests before the torch even reaches mainland China. Today, the run goes through San Francisco and the police there are already publishing fake maps of the route. We can hardly wait for the 2016 Torch Run.

FOP Shakeup?

Someone commented that John Capparelli has been removed from his inside spot.

Originally, the field reps were each of the 7 inside spots (President, 3 VPs, Treasurer, Financial and Recording Secretaries). That all went out the window when Capparelli and six others won Board spots in the 1999 election against the Nolan team (the other 6 were trustees). Nolan denied Capparelli an inside spot and the Field Rep duties that went along with it. Following a disastrous contract negotiation by Bob Podgorny and the Nolan Team, the Citywide team rose to power in 2002 sweeping all 27 board spots. Capparelli was returned to the inside spot due a Treasurer and the Field Rep spot.

Now, if you read the FOP website biographies, Capparelli's biography has been removed and Trustee Rich Aguilar is listed as a Field Rep.

What's up with that? No explanation? Anyone have a scoop? Bad blood less than two months after an election? Capparelli was tight fisted with the finances after the excesses of the Nolan era. Capparelli was instrumental in uncovering tens of thousands of dollars in unethical expenditures by the previous office holders. The membership deserves an explanation.

Mette Hostage to Cash?

This is ludicrous. We got a letter from Mike Mette's father and the situation in Iowa is just defying explanations:

• Visited Mike over the weekend and he is in surprisingly good spirits considering the Iowa powers to be keep walking on his rights and messing with him.
  
  Going back to his trial, the pre-sentencing investigator completed a ten page report saying there is no way Mike deserved to go to jail on this case. Of course the judge, prosecutor Gallagher and Jacob's father Curtis Gothard saw it differently.
  
  His counselor in jail said he couldn't file for parole until he finished an anger management class where he was taught he shouldn't respond with force unless he was in danger of being attacked or as in his case he was hit three times before he responded with one punch as pointed out in the judge's ruling. He finished the course and his counselor put him in for a parole hearing on 4-16-2008.
  
  The parole board sent Mike a letter saying: "They didn't feel he was able or willing to full fill his obligations as a law abiding citizen. They didn't feel it was fair to society to release him on parole." How do they come to these conclusions having never interviewed Mike or looked into the facts of the case? They now want him to complete a victim impact course which doesn't start til August 2008 and in six months they will again consider him for parole. Who are they kidding? How many more times can the State of Iowa Violate Mike's Rights?

And part of the motivation Mike is getting fucked over?

• The parole board is either listening to the lies Curtis Gothard and prosecutor Gallagher have failed to prove in court, has no idea what this case is about or they are just playing the money game. You see the prison gets another $18,000 June 1st 2008 if Mike is still there and another $18,000 if he is there January 1, 2009.

Meanwhile Gothard has racked up two DUI's. Un-freaking-believable.

Another Crazy Rumor

This just seems like another goofy idea to distract everyone from some other boneheaded move. From the comments (lightly edited for spelling):

• Regarding the rumor that J-Fed is planning on putting all light duty officers assigned to headquarters into the districts to work the desk and then the desk officers in that district will go to the new school unit.
  
• The problem J-Fed would encounter with that is that in each district there are 1 or 2 bidded desk officers per watch. They can't be arbitrarily moved to a "new" unit and some light duty copper take their place. These bidded desk spots are part of the contract and he can't go changing things like that just because he gets a bright idea.
  
• If he needs more coppers for some new school unit maybe he could continue trimming the fat at headquarters and then start looking at the districts that have (3) commander's secretaries,(2) Tact secretaries, A P.O. and a civilian timekeeper, (2) Crime Analysts, and 12- 14 C.A.P.S. officers. If he really wants to look hard enough he'll uncover plenty of officers who could be better utilized.

You can't just create a unit and staff it with hand picked people. Well, scratch that - you can't create a unit that does EXACTLY what a previously biddable unit did in the past and staff it at will. There are rules in place that must be followed.

Again, J-Fed not being familiar with contracts and being advised by people who don't think much about rules (because they've flouted the rules since day one) serve to make J-Fed look incompetent and advised by fools. And after the grievances are filed and won, taxpayers will be on the hook again for overtime, damages and restitution. We're starting to think that certain changes are proposed only to make lawyers rich. Anyone else?