Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

Ted Kennedy's quest to destroy America continues:

• 1965: "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."
  

  1986: "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."

  2007: "Now it is time for action. 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system."

The only time this ass told the truth was 1986 - "We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this." He must have meant an amnesty as "small" as 1.3 million. The current bill threatens to legalize well over 10 million people.

Comments Back On

Little glitch in the posting of comments. Comments are now opened in the below posts

Essay Question #2

For some unknown reason, the previous links to the Application for Superintendent of Police have been altered slightly. This means our previous links to the Police Board website are currently dead until we change them. We would hate to think that this tiny little website makes the people who run the Police Board website nervous enough to actually go and alter web addresses to divert traffic.

Anyway, on to the second essay question:

• What specific steps would you take to continue to address allegations of police
  misconduct and to build greater public trust of the Police Department?

And we answer:

• Address the misconception, perpetuated by the politicians and aided by a complicit media, that every single misstep by police officers is willful, felonious and grounds for gratuitous payoffs from the city treasury.
• Allow Seiser to show everyone what serious misconduct might really look like - and why he never allows it to occur.
  

Officer Down - Kenosha

Traffic stop gone really bad:

• A Kenosha County, Wisconsin, sheriff's deputy was shot and killed during a traffic stop Wednesday night. Police are questioning a suspect taken into custody after a massive manhunt. The deputy was shot during a traffic stop.

Prayers and thoughts only

Lawsuit Filed

No surprises here:

• Chicago officials botched the scoring of the police lieutenant exam in January and have devised a retest plan that is unfair to the 660 test-takers, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
• City officials are offering a retest on June 23 to anyone who took the January exam. But the sergeants are uncertain whether to sign up because city officials won't identify whose exam answers were lost, according to the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
  
  The sergeants also allege that the retest will feature the same videotaped scenarios and questions as the Jan. 6 exam, giving repeat test-takers an advantage.
  
  "It's almost ludicrous, that you're going to give the same scenarios again," said John Pallohusky, president of the sergeants group. "It's like giving people the answers to the test beforehand. A lot of our people put so much time and effort in, it's just demoralizing."

Typical City shenanigans. SecondCitySarge and the Sergeant's Association have coverage.

Daley's $10 Million Shortfall

The first we're hearing about this:

• Mayor Daley has ordered 3,250 city managers to take one unpaid furlough day, cut off non-emergency overtime and suspended hiring unrelated to public safety to plug a $10 million hole in his 2007 budget.

  The question is whether those belt-tightening measures will be enough to close the mid-year gap -- or whether Chicagoans must brace for a post-election tax increase.

  "I can't tell you that at this time. What we're doing now, rather than look at tax increases, is controlling expenses through the end of the year," city Budget Director Paul Volpe said today.

The article goes on to say how the budget projections were off by a bit here and there, like the increase in the cigarette tax that we predicted would result in a massive shift of revenue to surrounding suburbs, counties and Indiana (and we were 100% correct). And then there was the cold snap that resulted in massive overtime charges against the Water Department when long neglected water mains and pipes burst. When you neglect infrastructure and spend the "savings" on crooked construction deals, land deals and Olympic proposals, you're going to get hammered down the road.

Good thing the mayor can order people to eat vacation days, eh?

Why Even Have a Border?

Or laws? Or rules? Or procedures? On the bright side, maybe the government can save money by completely disbanding the INS, Border Patrol, and any other bureaucracy that was once dedicated to securing and protecting the borders. As it is, we seem to have a blanket amnesty every 15 years or so which only encourages more illegals to flood the border.

You want to see a meltdown in progress? Check out the following links from the right side of the blogosphere:

• Michelle Malkin - Amnesty could cast the US $2.5 trillion - trillion with a "T"
• Hugh Hewitt - "comprise" means no meaningful fence will ever be built to protect the borders
• Red State reveals that there ISN'T even a bill in existence! The Senate will be voting on a bill that doesn't exist and won't even be reviewable until some time AFTER the vote on Monday
• Ace of Spades on denying contributions to the Republican party, Ace of Spades on the $2.5 Trillion, Ace of Spades on switching parties, Ace of Spades on Fred Thompson; Ace is all over this.
• National Review sees this as a disaster
  

The Republican base is furious over this collapse. McCain has probably just lost any shot at the nomination by throwing in with this bill. Nothing in this bill promises border security. It does nothing to dismantle so called "sanctuary cities" (hello Chicago!). It immediately legalizes upwards of 12 million illegals. It will doom our already sagging social safety net to years of tax increases to cover shortfalls.

You think the illegal problem is bad now? Starting tonight, the rush for the border is going to become insane as hundreds of thousands more people pour over the border to take advantage of this amnesty. We're not at all looking forward to the next few years - especially as Conservatives stay home and President Hillary takes over.

Essay Question #1

The first essay question on the application to become Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department:

• Describe and discuss the three most significant accomplishments in your professional
  career that you believe make you well-qualified to serve as superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

We answer thus:

• We run a reasonably well known blog that provides officers with timely gossip and information necessary to fill the 8 hours spent in a squad car with a partner who might not be in a position to fulfill the otherwise painful gaps in conversation;
• We put up with the garbage dished out by this City and political administration on a daily/Daley basis, served countless tours in surroundings that would make the EPA blush, in buildings that would overly excite an OSHA inspector, in vehicles often touted as having failed just about every Federal safety standard in existence, often with co-workers who would give the Psychiatric Association an attack of the vapors. Running the asylum would be a welcome break.
  
• We haven't pissed off Seiser that we know of - and he truly runs it anyway.

Sarcasm AND Silliness people. You know we appreciate every single one of you. But what makes YOU qualified to run the circus?

This is Goofy

First up, Daley claims millions in Federal "tutoring" funds are being well spent:

• Fifty million federal dollars for after-school tutoring to produce only negligible gains was money "well spent" by the Chicago Public Schools, Mayor Daley said today, arguing that, "You can't do miracles in one year."

  "Anybody can do a lot of gain. We've seen people in the past [tell students], 'You didn't take the exam this week. That's alright. We'll wait for another couple of weeks. We'll see how well you do. We'll put you on a list of working with you,'" Daley said, apparently referring to gains he viewed as inflated under the regime of former Schools CEO Paul Vallas.

Daley couldn't wait to sing Vallas' praises until Vallas almost upset the apple cart by running for Governor and upsetting the statewide combine.

Then later, we wonder about where all the money seems to go that is earmarked for schools and where the billions that Blago wants to tax us out of are headed. And we read this:

• Some public employees make more in retirement than they did on the job. Hundreds of them in Illinois are now being paid six-figure pensions.
• The top pension paid to a public employee in the state of Illinois last year was nearly $1,000 per day, more than $350,000 a year in retirement pay to a single public employee.
• "Ninety-four are educators," said Bill Zettler, state pension critic.

Now does everyone see how the teachers union manages to get residency issues brought to the forefront and can bully the entire state government into billions of dollars worth of tax hikes and any number of things that we can't seem to bring up anywhere?

Problems Solved!

All we need is a casino. And lucky for us, it's on the agenda. Again.

• A proposed casino for downtown Chicago is back on the table in the State Capitol Wednesday night.
  
  Mayor Richard M. Daley hosted a mini Taste of Chicago in Springfield. Earlier the mayor met the capital's top leaders.
  
  Sources told CBS 2 Daley signed off on a tentative deal that could, after years of discussion, finally bring a casino to downtown Chicago, as well as to south suburban Cook County, north suburban Lake County and a site still to be determined within 8 miles of O'Hare Airport.

We'd be more than willing to support a casino with the following condition:

• 50% of the projected $200 million annually that is to be the City's share is directed into underfunded municipal pensions until the pension is funded at a level considered acceptable by a reputable accounting firm.

Of course, Daley buddies and mob connected front companies will get all the money before our pension funds see a dime. As usual.

Apply Here!

Application for the position of Fall Gu... we mean Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.

You have until 12 June 2007 at 1700 hours to submit the application and resume (10 copies please).

Stupid Comment

We can't believe someone actually posted this in the comments section, but we thought we'd throw it out here for everyone to enjoy:

• I learned from a friend that a co-worker of his got locked up in 023. So I checked out the arrest, only to find that it was a GANG team who locked him up for .4grams of weed. That is about a $2.00 street value. Since when do gang teams start locking up professionals for bullshit. We wonder why we can't find a jury to side with us when we are victims. We give more breaks to shitheads every single day. Are these two P.O's afraid to lock up a gang banger??? I don't know a thing about these two coppers but unless there was something more involved these two should have a stern talkingto by their SGT and LT.

First up, isn't .4 grams of weed a crime? We didn't know that the City had enacted the "ANOV for Cannabis" ordinance already, but we'll be sure to look that one up real soon.

Second, anyone who says in a public forum that they give out breaks for anything that isn't traffic related is as soft as baby shit.

Third, in this age of video, audio, camera phones, blue light cameras, GPS, squad car cameras, and IAD/OPS greasing the skids for ANYONE and EVERYONE who steps out of line, why in god's name would you even think about dumping .4 grams of weed anywhere except in an Inventory Envelope? If dumb ass was stupid enough to get caught with .4 grams and didn't have the presence of mind to eat it or dump it, he can sit in the back until his prints clear and get his I-bond like every other dumb ass that gets locked up. He'll beat it in court somehow.

And finally, if you don't have any idea that gang teams (and every other team in the city) is numbers driven now and this idiot was just another number, we wonder what inside spot you've been hiding in for the past few years. Their Sergeant and Lieutenant are probably happy that they aren't getting paged at 0400 in the morning for some really stupid shit.

Surprise Surprise

Anyone not see this one coming?

• Police executed a search warrant at the Plainfield home of Lisa Stebic, who has been missing since April 30.
• Officials said some items were removed from the home, which Lisa shares with her estranged husband, Craig.
• Police are also searching two vehicles owned by the couple.
• Stebic's family has offered a $20,000-reward for information leading to her return...

The husband did it! The husband did it!

We'll take the $20,000 in cash please. Forward it to SCC.

CPD Shoots a Few More

North side:

• An armed suspect who a detective shot in the legs following a reported gang-related shooting late Monday in the West Side's Humbolt Park neighborhood was in custody early Tuesday.
• "He [the detective] got out of the car and identified himself as a police officer and tells the offender to drop the gun," Camden said. "The offender turns and points his gun at the detective and the detective opens fire."

South side:

• In one incident that began late Monday night, South Chicago District undercover police officers saw three people standing on a corner near 78th Street and Burnham Avenue, said police spokesman Pat Camden. As the officers approached, the three began running. Police officers chased them and caught a teenage girl by the arm, Camden said.
  
  "She puts a gun to his chest and pulls the trigger," he said. "The weapon didn't fire."
  
  Camden said the officer knocked her to the ground and drew his gun. As she got up, she again pointed the weapon at him, he said.

This second incident especially could have been a very bad situation. According to this report and others, the offender's pistol made contact with the officer's vest. If this offender had actually chambered a round, the blunt trauma alone from a hit that close could have killed the officer even if the vest stopped the round.

The lessons learned here are numerous.

• Everyone on scene needs to be safely detained. The runners (or rabbits) are often just speedsters meant to draw off coppers from the people holding the actual work or, in this case, weapons
• We always hear about females being used to hold weapons or contraband. Welcome to reality
• We also hear from more and more coppers that females are much more likely to fight than not and we've observed the same thing. They are also more likely to be carrying an edged weapon of some sort and very much more likely to use it. Introduce some guns? In this case, the subjects unfamiliarity with the weapon probably saved a copper a world a hurt.

In any case, an excellent job by all parties involved. Watch yourselves.

Jefferson Tap

Coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5 and Channel 7.

Lori Lightfoot is representing one of the officers? Former OPS head Lori Lightfoot?

From Lightfoot's biography at the University of Chicago website:

• Perhaps it is this backbone that City of Chicago mayor Richard Daley recognized in Lightfoot earlier this year when he appointed her to work in the Office of Procurement soon after it came to light that certain companies that had been certified as Minority Business Enterprises or Women Business Enterprises were fronts, created in order to benefit from the city's "set aside" program.
• Lightfoot's reputation for fairness and integrity began to be widely known during her tenure as Chief Administrator of the Office of Professional Standards for the Chicago Police Department. Lightfoot said the biggest challenge in this position was "walking a difficult line between maintaining the integrity of the department and handling complaints against it." One memorable incident occurred in April of 2003, when a van was stopped by police because of an outstanding warrant. The occupants initially refused to get out of the vehicle and the situation rapidly escalated as several squad cars and a large crowd gathered. The police eventually broke the windows of the van and sprayed pepper spray inside. When the driver exited the van the police pushed him to the ground to handcuff him, and even though he was not resisting, excessive force was used. [...] Ultimately, OPS recommended the lead officer be fired, and he ended up facing criminal charges.
  

So a lawyer involved in providing political cover for the mayor after the mob connected Duff family was found to be posing as a "minority" firm (as covered by John Kass in numerous Tribune columns) and providing political cover for the mayor as the head of OPS while dishing out what we've heard described as blatantly uneven disciplinary findings is now defending an officer?

We'll let everyone draw their own conclusions, but we're thinking, "Hmmmmmm."

Wrong Actions - Wrong Lessons

This is just plain silly:

• Hundreds of students walked out of a South Side high school this morning to honor a classmate who was shot and killed on a CTA bus last week, and to protest gun violence in their community.
  
  Three female students at Julian High School planned the demonstration, one organizer said. And others students e-mailed or text-messaged each other this morning to spread word of the walkout. At 10 a.m., they began streaming out of the school, blocking traffic as they walked in 103rd Street toward Lowe Avenue.
  
  "We will not lose another one of our friends to gun violence," said senior Brittney Reynolds, an organizer of the walkout.

Noble sentiments, no doubt. According to bishop Larry Trotter, 12 Chicago Public School students have been killed this year. Arnie Duncan says it's 20. But how does missing a day's worth of education honor Blair Holt? Shouldn't some of these reverends and school officials maybe be telling the kids and members of the community to cooperate with police in finding the illegal guns? Maybe they ought to step up and tell their sons and nephews to stop selling dope? Maybe they ought to be out there helping point the tact teams, gang teams, even TRU to where the bad guys are hiding?

And then, the liberal press helps spin the Brady propaganda:

• Describing their neighborhoods as "under siege," they called on lawmakers to enact tougher controls on the availability of handguns.
  

Can someone explain to us how a "tougher" law would have stopped these two criminals from wreaking the havoc they did? Neither had an FOID card. The gun was unregistered, probably stolen, and we don't even know if it's been recovered. The two offenders completely disregarded the laws that are in place, so what do they care if there's another fifty laws? That's why they're criminals - they ignore laws!

This knee jerk reaction is, once again, pathetic, and will do nothing at all to stop the next innocent from getting shot.

A Billion Here, A Billion There

Remember a few years back, the $1.5 billion dollar bond issue the City Council passed to improve the bottom line of connected construct.... oops, we mean improve O'Hare Airport?

And just a few months ago, the mayor promising about $500 million to the Olympics in order to guarantee certain construction comp.... oops, we mean certain capital improvements and venues could be built on time?

Now, the mayor is asking for another $1 billion bond issue for O'Hare, financed partly by a $4.50 ticket surcharge. Unsaid is that if air travelers don't flock to O'Hare (and they've been avoiding O'Hare more and more), then the local tax levies will guarantee the bonds.

Anyone else wondering why the mayor and his lackeys can't float a billion dollar or two bond issue to maybe bring our woefully underfunded pensions up to something over 48% or whatever insanely low number it's at lately?

We're just saying....

More Black Eyes

Yet again:

• A Chicago police officer was found guilty today of running down a 15-year-old boy with his Cadillac and later claiming the car was stolen.
  
  Cook County Criminal Court Judge Michael Toomin found Charlton McKay, 34, guilty of reckless homicide, leaving the scene of an accident and falsely filing a police report in the death of Edward Lucas.

The article says he's on administrative leave, but earlier reports last week said he had resigned over a year ago.

And now the Jefferson Tap incident reaches its culmination:

• Six Chicago police officers are accused of beating a group of businessmen at a bar in the Loop. On Tuesday, some of those officers will turn themselves in to face criminal charges.

And if the rumor mill is to be believed, another gun team is about to run into a buzz saw of its own and who knows what the casualty count is going to be on this one or who it's going to take down? Man, we hate this shit.

Pic From Washington

No description or explanation, but it looks kind of cool:

Send more if you got them.

Officer Shot

Detective chasing a subject:

• A Wentworth Area detective is hospitalized in serious condition after being shot in the back during a South Side pursuit early Monday.

  Meanwhile, a suspect was in custody for a separate police-involved shooting early Monday on the Near West Side.

  A Wentworth Area detective was shot in the lower back about 12:50 a.m. near West 50th Street and South Peoria Avenue, according to police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

  "The detective saw an individual and approached to conduct a field interview," Alfaro said. "The individual ran and the detective gave chase."

  During the pursuit, the detective was shot in the lower back, Alfaro said. It was unclear who shot him and nobody was in custody at 3 a.m., Alfaro said.

The article mentions a second shooting, but doesn't say officers were wounded. Any info?