Swiping Rumor True?

From all corners of the city, reports that some fax came out about the Swiping In/Swiping Out rumor. Some people say it's about to start, some say it has no numbers of signatures on it. Could it all be an elaborate hoax? Or reality as determined by short thinking bean counters?

Who's got the straight story?

Dana Starks

Today, 31 January 2008, is Dana Starks last day on the CPD. According to the AdminFax, cake and coffee will be served at 1100 hours in the multipurpose room.

We're not going to wax eloquent on his career or repeat stories we've heard both praising and blasting the man. We're sure the comments section has covered that pretty thoroughly.

He wasn't Cline's choice for First Deputy and Cline demonstrated his displeasure by stripping his office of all meaningful power soon after the appointment. Sneed took up the slack after Cline was forced out by spending days at a time ripping Starks during the search for a new superintendent, pretty much ensuring Starks was never a serious contender.

But we do owe him a small debt of gratitude that J-Fed would be wise to pick up on that might change Department-wide operations. Starks proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that Headquarters is still overstaffed beyond belief. Even after Cline ordered "massive" reductions in "non-essential" personnel to cover the Districts after TRU was expanded not once, but twice, Dana was still able to restart Operation Closed Market. OCM as it's called, requires that all remaining "non-essential" personnel spend 20% of their time on the streets.

Has anyone noticed any reduction in the quantity of BS paper coming out of HQ? If anything, it's increased in the past year to even higher planes of insanity. If HQ can still increase it's output of useless directives, faxes, and miscellaneous paperwork even while allegedly 20% shorthanded, then another housecleaning is in order - say somewhere on the order of 50% reductions.

If anything, it would increase the amount of automation and decrease the amount of useless statistic gathering.

Black Widow?

Has anyone else noticed the spooky trail of death that seems to follow our favorite sergeant? Anyone she appears in photographs with seems to end up dead.

It's True! Examples:

Saddam Hussein:

Heath Ledger:

Lee Harvey Oswald:

And then there is an entire series of pictures (that you can find at this link here) depicting the sergeant with Lincoln, Kennedy, Washington, Julius Caesar and whole boatload of people from the Titanic, all of whom are now dead according to reliable sources.

Should we tempt fate?

War on Terror News

The international wires are humming. Something good may have happened this week:

• Twelve suspected militants died in a missile strike on a home in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said.

  The attack occurred after midnight in Khushali Torikhel, a village in North Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, an intelligence and a government official in the region said.

  There was no immediate official confirmation of the attack. The two officials who spoke did so on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make media comments.

  Pakistan has been trying to tamp down on militancy in its border regions, where elements of Al Qaeda and the Taliban are believed to operate.

And this little update:

• Pakistani intelligence sources say they believe a "high-value" al Qaeda target was killed in a missile strike yesterday in the country's tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

  U.S. officials said there was no indication that the target was Osama bin Laden or his deputy Ayman al Zawahri, but one senior official told ABCNews.com the strike was aimed at one particular figure

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm."

Thanks to ConfederateYankee and Strata-Sphere for the story links.

Swiping Here?

Latest rumor.

Everyone will be swiping in and out starting 01 February. This is from Personnel and not J-Fed.

A few points:

• As we understand it, Kronos stopped servicing city machines months ago. Who is running these machines? Who is maintaining them? Where is the print out going? Who verifies?
• Swiping out is when? Top of the hour? Quarter after the hour? Or 22.5 minutes after the hour? If it's 22.5 minutes, then maybe the FOP ought to re-open that half hour paid lunch lawsuit that got turned down years ago. With documentation that you're being kept for the half hour AND recent court decisions saying that the time you spend getting dressed for work should be PAID time, labor law is definitely on our side now.
• If you swipe out 7.5 minutes after any quarter hour, you are entitled to the entire 15 minutes paid according to the contract. If the W/C won't be signing slips for 15 minutes, where do we get the physical verification for grievances?

And the most important question - Who has to swipe? Because if it isn't everyone and it isn't city wide, someone is going to raise holy hell at some point. Tact? TRU? Hour at the end for doing a really good job? Court tomorrow? Late lunch? "Hey boss, if I get you 10 hazards, do you think...?" What about HQ casual days...casual as in no one really looks at the clock as long as you beat the boss in?

Does anyone have any idea how much quid pro quo is about to go out the window?

Cops as Parents - Again

More work for shorthanded watches:

• A measure that would bump up Chicago's nightly curfew by 30 minutes was advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee after a police official predicted it would help potential young crime victims by reducing their exposure on the street. Proposed by Mayor Richard Daley, the legislation would establish a curfew of 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
  

Here's the truly humorous part:

• Police Committee Chairman Isaac Carothers (29th) expressed similar concerns about overburdened police officers, even as he supported the rollback.

  “It may prevent a kid from being a victim. But we really use a lot of police resources when you get involved with curfew. That’s a car that’s off the street….Curfew is very serious. But at the same time, you do have aggravated batteries. You’ve got robberies. You’ve got shootings going on,” he said.

  “We have to figure out a way to try to get more police on the street. That will be the most effective tool in trying to deal with — not only curfew, but all the other crimes we deal with every single day.”

So even though aldercreatures recognize we're operating shorthanded and there are dozens of different and more serious crimes that ought to be addressed, they're still going to put this on our plates, manpower be damned.

Unless J-Fed is going to be allowed to gut headquarters, redraw the Districts and clean out the house mouses? Maybe the shortages are about to be solved.

Tell the Truth, Get Blasted

Poor Brian Sexton. He's the unfortunate supervisor of the State's Attorney gang crime unit and he thought it might be good for the voters to know that one of the judicial candidates likes to hire convicted gang enforcers to campaign for him. Guess who's the asshole now?

• A dozen supporters of judicial candidate Michael Hyman held a news conference to denounce the Sun-Times and Hyman opponent Brian Sexton for a Monday story that quoted Sexton criticizing Hyman for paying former gang member Wallace "Gator" Bradley $11,500 to campaign for him in African-American neighborhoods.

  Bradley, a former Gangster Disciples enforcer who has run for alderman himself, offers his services as an "urban translator," facilitating communication with those who have been involved in the gang culture. He has worked on the campaigns of Cook County Clerk of the Court Dorothy Brown and Ald. Carrie Austin (34th). Brown spoke at the news conference in Hyman's and Bradley's defense.

  Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) called Sexton "a despicable individual" for raising the issue.

Of course, aldercreature Stone has his own problems with honesty:

• Eapen, a member of Stone's political organization and Democratic precinct captain, was charged Monday after an investigation into alleged voter fraud in the ward. Eapen, 37, faces charges of official misconduct, absentee ballot fraud and mutilation of election materials.

And still, no one has touched on Rivkin-Carothers being connected to Larry Hoover. Why is that? Why can Machine approved judges hire felons, associate with people who have ordered countless murders, and accept money under the table for all sorts of stuff, but if you speak of it, you're ostracized and a trouble maker? And why does the media help?

State's Attorney Endorsement

We think we've figured this one out.

The Tribune endorsed aldercreature Tom Allen on the democrat side. They tout his Public Defender background, "standing up" to the mayor, and say he represents change. The Times endorsed Larry Suffredin, based on his anti gun rhetoric and supposed outsider credentials, conveniently overlooking the fact that Suffredin is a paid lobbyist in Springfield while he is also a Commissioner on the Cook County Board.

The FOP went with Allen for the primary, too. We're going to go out on a limb and make a guess at this one, since every candidate has verified that locking up cops will be high on their list of priorities. After the Hampton sign controversy, Allen demonstrated to the FOP that he would bend to pressure from police groups.

No one else has even made a show of pretending to listen that the police might be innocent until proven guilty, the police might be doing their jobs correctly when they shoot armed felons, and the police might not be a bad thing to have on their side if the shit hits the fan.

Allen, though part of the Machine, might actually be prone to listening to reason, a very big surprise. But we still don't know if we'll be voting for him.

TRU Arrests Cicero Commander

A LOT of activity in yesterday's posts about this little incident. TRU does what they do and manage to pop a Cicero Police Commander with weed. Various comments hint that this isn't the first time the Commander has been suspected of being a little too close to the gangs and pot heads of Englewood. And the interesting comments about his "Mr. Clean" tattoo opens a whole raft of questions.

Regardless, TRU should be given the benefit of the doubt in this case. They are a numbers driven unit (and what unit isn't nowadays) and unless they're completely dense, there's no way they're running around locking up people by dropping dope on anyone. If they say they found it, we're taking them at their word.

What if it was a set up? Or some weird "integrity check" that IAD supposedly runs every so often? If these coppers called a supervisor, you can be sure the supervisor is going to tell them to go through the whole process. There isn't a supervisor around who doesn't know what the score is and what's going to happen with the first sergeant or lieutenant who manages to step on their dick. Not for a dime bag of weed. Not in a gas station full of video cameras and lots of witnesses.

Not today.

There's J-Fed!

A number of people report that he was in town the same day Sneed took a swipe at him for not meeting the Command Staff. And some commentators took swipes at Senora Sherlock for being attached to him while he toured HQ Monday (we have eyes everywhere). On to the real post...

Everyone has an opinion. Some have already written the new Supe off because of who he's already listening to or who he might be considering for top spots. Others are asking to give the new guy a chance. We'll be watching closely and so will our readers. And every step will end up being analyzed, criticized and opined on. It's the CPD way. But we'd like to address a comment that popped up recently and since it's our blog, we'll do it.

Someone stated that two things J-Fed wants to change are firepower on the streets and physical fitness standards. We have no way of knowing if these are actually aims of his or just someone wishing aloud. But we'd like to use this comment as a springboard to a larger issue:

• Weis should change things that he actually has the power to change and leave other stuff alone.

Getting long guns on the street is a symbolic step. J-Fed is supposed to be a tactical guy. The fact that the political administration is frightened of guns and treats cops as children when it comes to carrying a pistol and trusting them with shotguns and rifles is a shortsighted and dangerous to police and citizens. We could write essays and essays on the merits of long guns, the refusal of the city in not authorizing training days to hone skills and introduce policy changes and the sad state or morale and equipment it what has been bragged about as the most "technologically advanced department" in the nation as recently as two years ago. It's a joke. We still use carbon paper for god's sake and arrests that used to be a five page form set are now seven page monstrosities with numerous copies needed and we need 5 extra officers off the street to sort out the increased paper in Huberman's "paperless" Department pipe dream.

These are things that J-Fed can change. He can also reorganize bureaus, eliminate redundant and outdated spots, decentralize Area functions, introduce technologies, etc. In other words, make the Department run a little smoother with less waste.

But contract issues? Feds don't deal with contract issues.

No matter how hard you try, you can't dictate physical fitness. It's a contract issue. Chicago has never had continuing physical fitness standards and probably never will. Is it right or wrong? We're not going to judge. If people want to live longer, more comfortably and save themselves heart problems, fatigue, diabetes, liver damage, they'll do it on their own or in the face of financial incentives. Nothing else is going to work.

Uniform means standard. But the City authorizes so many "alternates" for a reason - requiring something means the City pays for the first issue. You want everyone to carry the same small rubberized flashlight that barely lights up a room instead of the big heavy Mag-lites that were like a miniature sun? The City had to pay for that once and they still haven't stopped bitching. Ever since then, everything has been labeled as "alternate." ASPs, dickies, turtlenecks, sweaters. Even the new winter jackets - the City stopped authorizing the corduras and will phase them out in favor of the Spiweks (don't know if we spelled that right). They won't make you run out and get one, but they'll let you wear the reefer, the leather, the cordura, the sweater, the Spiwek, and if you're old enough, the three-season pops up now and then. Same thing with retention holsters and such. Requiring uniformity means the City pays out money and that isn't going to happen easily.

Pick and choose those battles carefully.

State's Attorney Race

Never have so many talked so much about so little. Or at least so little that matters. Did anyone else waste their time on this Sun Times piece?

• Seven candidates for Cook County state's attorney sparred at a community forum Sunday, but the biggest presence in the room was the spectre of disgraced former Police Commander Jon Burge.

  Attorney James Montgomery, who was on a panel questioning the candidates and who has won big settlements in police misconduct cases, drew shouts of approval as he focused on Burge before the African-American crowd at Trinity United Church of Christ. Special prosecutors have concluded Burge and his underlings tortured suspects.

  Burge's "activities" were not unique, Montgomery said. To cries of "You go, Jim," he asked, "Do you feel that police misconduct is a serious problem, and if you do, how will you address that problem?"

Burge was fired 15 years ago. And still, the myth lives on. How many people are left on this job that even remember who or what Burge did? How many people actually had contact with anything Burge was accused of doing? Burge was a single commander from one of six different Detective Areas. The number of people who had actual contact with a commander of detectives on a regular enough basis to even be considered part of an alleged conspiracy would be under 10.

And yet, here's comes the Burge train, running over all comers in a State's Attorney race, painting an entire Department as out-of-control torturers jailing an entire generation or two of innocent citizens. What a crock of shit.

Seven idiots spending time debating how to overcome the Statute of Limitations and other nonsense:

• Career prosecutors Anita Alvarez and Robert Milan said they had tried and convicted rogue officers. Both were still in college in the Burge era.

  Touting a fresh start were Ald. Tom Allen (38th); defense lawyer Tommy Brewer; Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), and Cook County Commissioners Larry Suffredin and Tony Peraica.

  Brewer said police perjury is as serious as unjust force. Suffredin said he would reorganize the office to guard against "too cozy a relationship" between certain police and prosecutors.

But gun grabber Suffredin has nothing to say about too close a relationship between gangs and judges evidently. Read the post right after this one.

Break Down the Damn Door

Quickly, before she becomes another cause célèbre.

• Saying she hoped the fear of God would keep federal agents away, undocumented immigrant Flor Crisostomo said Monday she plans to stay in a Humboldt Park church as long as necessary to fight for immigration reform.

  “In this moment, I am not leaving,” a tearful Crisostomo cried out in Spanish. She later said through an English translator that while she understands she may be imprisoned for her actions, she will return one day to her children with her dignity.

  Crisostomo, 28, left her three children ages 14, 11 and 9 in the care of her mother in Guerrero, Mexico seven years ago to work illegally in the United States. Arrested in 2006 during an immigration raid at a pallet factory where she earned $300 a week, she was scheduled to turn herself in for deportation today.

If this doesn't prove the "catch-and-release" method of immigration enforcement is a complete farcical waste of time, we don't know what does. Just kick in the door and drag her off to a waiting bus and ship her out. She is a criminal and in violation of a Federal Court order.

Gangs and Judges

We must be psychic again. We do a little piece on how Judge Anita Rivkin-Carothers (auntie to aldercreature Ike and recently made CPD Lieutenant Anthony) is connected to Larry Hoover and not even hours later, this article pops up in the Times:

• A former Gangster Disciples enforcer is a paid consultant for a Cook County judge running for election -- a relationship that one of the judge's opponents calls disturbing.

  Michael B. Hyman was appointed in 2006 to fill a vacant judgeship and is running for election Feb. 5 against three opponents, including Brian Sexton, supervisor of the Cook County state's attorney's gang crimes unit.

  Last fall, Hyman's campaign paid former gang enforcer Wallace "Gator" Bradley $11,500 for "community relations" and consulting, state election records show.

Bradley, a convicted felon and admitted enforcer for the gangster disciples, in bed with a judge. Now why doesn't Frank Main do a little more leg work and find another judge with the same connections, but a little higher up on the food chain? Once again, Frank is demonstrating by his inaction and half story that the Chicago media will do nothing to upset the status quo and show anything that might be interpreted as pointing out who's really pulling the strings in this town.

Where's J-Fed?

This could be a good sign. From Sneed's droppings:

• New Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis, a tough former FBI taskmaster who reports to work this week, still has not talked to any of his top brass.

  "His office is vacant, no special requests have been made, and everyone is just waiting for the next shoe to drop after he gets sworn in at police headquarters," said a police source.

So if he isn't meeting with anyone downtown, he isn't letting anyone kiss his ass. He could be calling certain people to meet with him elsewhere, away from prying eyes, and conducting interviews with people he thinks he can trust. He might also be ignoring the whole thing and be coming in as a whirlwind to keep everyone off balance.

And just maybe, those hits we keep getting from Pennsylvania might be J-Fed taking a break from all the packing Mrs. J-Fed is making him do for the big move and he's just trying to keep up with what the hell he's walking into.

Judge Up for Election

Can this be true?

• The current judge is Anita Rivkin-Carothers, who lists director of the 29th Ward (Ald. Ike Carothers) as past employment. She of course was recently "appointed" and is "highly recommended," whatever that means. Not his wife, but I would guess she is his sister.
  
  --------------------------------------
  
  Anita Rifkin-Carothers was /is Larry Hoover's girlfriend. She has visited him over 50 times in prison and that was while he was in state prison. The feds picked her up on the wire in prison. Great choice for judge. My fucking ass.

Can someone verify? If true, why isn't this everywhere in the media? Cops can get fired for associating with felons - in fact, a Superintendent was forced out over that very thing, remember?

A quick Google search reveals that Rivkin-Carothers is Ike Carother's auntie. She also unsuccessfully defended Larry Hoover in 1997 and continued to be his publicity flack for a few years afterwards. Those two facts alone ought to raise more than a few eyebrows. We expect to see the relative thing - it's a statewide disease. But defending a criminal enterprise and then making a judgeship out of it...

Oh wait, she's just working for a BIGGER criminal enterprise now.

Quiet Dignity

Those words were used at Gerald Ford's passing to describe his handling of the country after Nixon resigned. Now someone has sent us a story about Eugene Sawyer that might use the same words:

• The passing of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer brought back the most heart warming memories for my wife the night I was shot in the throat while at this moment it was also the most terrorizing time for her and family members. April 24th, 1988 after I responded to a domestic call in the 016th district, I was ambushed and subsequently shot in the throat. Putting the drama aside, I learned several weeks later from my wife that this night, Mayor Sawyer arrived at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, waited outside as the exempts who showed up were inside giving family members their business cards like they were a piece of candy, then headed back home.

  Mayor Sawyer then sat with my wife, apologized for arriving late because he was not familiar with the northwest side and stayed with her the entire night into the the following morning. My wife Mary had related that he was one of the most genuine, kindest person she had the privilege to be with. Two days later, flowers arrived from the Mayor with a note of kind words.

  Through my next four months in the hospital, Mayor Sawyer kept tabs on how I was progressing. Back in '88 City Counsel was up for grabs at times, but Sawyer was a class act as I recalled news reports back then and finally six months later met him in person as I sat in a wheelchair. Our conversation wasn't about me, it was me thanking him for keeping my wife and two daughters who were 1 1/2 and 3 years old at the time under his watchful eye.

  The purpose of me posting this note is the hope that perhaps all of us should take a little of Mayor Sawyer's charm, kindness, honesty and class with us each day when we leave the house heading off to work or out on your days off. Say what you will about him, but I'm telling you first hand, Sawyer respected the police and sadly, you just don't see it now a days because "it's all about me" within our ranks from top to bottom.

  Stay Safe

  Thank You

  Mike Lappe 016/120

The Rezko Bomb

But will it backfire?

• Once Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton uttered the name "Rezko" at a Democratic presidential debate last Monday, she moved to center stage and shined a spotlight on Tony Rezko, facing a Feb. 25 trial on federal corruption charges. Sen. Barack Obama's long relationship with Rezko is a major political problem for him in the primary, and in the general election if he wins the nomination.

  Until the debate, Rezko's complicated ties with Obama mainly were contained in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, with the national press only occasionally visiting the story of a career patron of Obama who raised money for his state and U.S. Senate campaigns.

Once Hillary brought this up, someone leaked a photo of her and Bill standing with Rezko at some 1996 fundraiser. So the missiles flew both ways.

It remains to be seen how in depth the national press is willing to go to see where Rezko raised money, who he funneled it to and what ties Obama has to the Chicago Machine. Hillary has her own fund raising problems with Hu in California and an entire laundry list of contributors tied into China.

Obama's South Carolina trouncing of Hillary was too soon after the Rezko allegations surfaced to see if they stick and weigh down Obama going into Super Tuesday. There are eight days until that primary and that should cut the field down to two when Edwards drops out. How long the rest of the bloodletting goes on, who knows?

Is This Here?

Did this marketing disaster ever hit Chicago?


We imagine that it didn't get as far as Chicago. The media would have jumped all over the hundreds of club and concert goers being paraded in front of Narcotics Court judges after overnighting in County lockups (CPD Can't Tell the Difference Between Candy and Dope!). And the tens of thousands of dollars and countless man hours spent on negative labs would have brought Lisa Madigan out of the woodwork in her quest for the governorship.

Original story can be found here.

Royko's Ghost

From someone using the name "Royko's Ghost," truer words were never spoken:

• Funny thing is, if the Sun-Times were to do a complete 180, print the many things their reporters' researches have discovered over the years, and that the editors have suppressed, they just might save their business.
  
  Because, I'm sure that there's been a mountain-sized amount of verifiable dirt dug up on all the usual suspects, more than enough to make the Sun-Times the most popular paper in town.
  
  Apparently, those in charge would rather have the paper go bankrupt, than to use what they've got to keep it afloat.
  
  It's not like reporting the truth has been a priority for them, but, it may not be too late for that to change.
  
  All they would have to do is print what they've chosen not to print in the past.
  
  If they had the balls.

Has anyone at the Slum Times (or even the Trib) even tried to take a fine tooth comb to some of the stuff that goes on in our comments section? Once you filter out all of the BS, you end up with some real gems of scandal regarding the political shenanigans in this town. And we're just a bunch of dumb coppers running a free website.

Imagine if there were real investigative reporters with the time and backing of their editors to expose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of waste in the Chicago Machine. We've pointed out the store rooms full of books and computers in the CPS. Our readers have pointed out the strange connections between Fleet Management and "connected" salvage yards. How about the City's Hearing Officers which are just quasi-legal means to steal money? Or the CTA which can't even exist without massive cash subsidies funneled in from around the state?

Once in a while, you see flashes of the old fashioned, hard hitting reporting that used to be a hallmark of Chicago journalism; Hired Truck; Family Secrets; the arrest last Friday of a couple of reverends swindling the County out of a few million bucks.

But nowadays? They put Mope-rah on the editorial board, give her a stage for her cult of victimhood, make nice with the "ministers" who are supporting gangsters over the rule of law and then they wonder why circulation, subscriptions and ad revenues are down.

Our Future Leaders

Just think, these kids will be running the country in 20 or 30 years:

• CHESTERTON, Ind. - Two fourth-grade boys mimicking a scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" wound up with their tongues stuck to a frozen flagpole.
  
  Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander were serving on flag duty at Jackson Elementary School Friday morning, with the job of raising and lowering the school's flags. They decided to see if their tongues really would stick to the cold metal.
  
  "I decided to try it because I thought all of the TV shows were lies, but turns out I was wrong," Gavin said.

We'll be taking up a collection shortly to send these kids some BB guns. Just as an experiment.

Inner Circle Takes Shape

From the Comments:

• Off topic: You heard it here first SAIC P. Brest (friend of J-Fed) retires on 02Feb (Same day as J-Fed) and is coming to Chicago per his own statements. Possibly to run IAD.

We have also heard, second hand, that no less than three of J-Fed's inner circle will be non-CPD former fed types.

The Federal takeover of CPD would seem to be here, albeit hired on as "civilians" to make it all look legit...that the Machine isn't in charge. And for all we know, the Machine (Daley Inc) might still be in charge and is still pulling all the strings.

Drew is Still Innocent

This means nothing:

• Authorities said Friday they have found human remains near the Illinois Sanitary Ship Canal.The body of a woman was discovered -- along with a blue garbage can.
• The blue garbage can has raised some eyebrows, Martinez reported. Former Bolingbrook police Sgt. Drew Peterson, who is the sole suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Stacy, was seen carrying a blue container shortly after her disappearance last October.

Innuendo and speculation. The Channel 2 report has this:

• Unconfirmed reports said the remains were found near a blue barrel in a field near the Chicago River. Mullins said when Chicago Police arrived there was no blue barrel on or near the scene where the remains were found.

See? It's all a game. In the meantime, open post to start the weekend.

Fans Downtown?

Seems the Chief of Detectives is a big fan of ours. Fan meaning reader - we don't think she'd buy us coffee.

Just so you know SCC, Maria Maher was heard ranting and complaining about the comments about her on the blog! She almost stroke out with the child booster chair post! We could hardly hold back the laughter watching her go ape shit!

Thank you! We LOVED it!

One of her exact quotes, They think saying I need a booster chair is suppose to f&*ckin funny? We wanted to say YES so bad! And tell her, even though you do need one, We don't think they make child booster chairs that WIDE!

Anyone else know of any readers among the brass? We see 35th Street IP addresses popping up all the time in the stats, so we know the filtering is done selectively at HQ. We've even been informed of a certain IP address from a Pennsylvania computer that seems to reside in the current hometown of one JP Weis.

What are the odds?

Get Well Officer

From 015 a few days ago:

• Bond was set at $375,000 Thursday for man accused of running over a Chicago Police officer and fleeing the scene Tuesday night. The officer remains in serious condition Thursday.

  Marcus Stanley, 25, of the 5200 block of South Honore Street, is charged with one count of aggravated battery to a peace officer in connection with Tuesday’s hit-and-run, according to a release from police News Affairs.

  Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan set bond for Stanley at $375,000, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin.

Update as able.

Another Reason to Hate Lawyers

And old joke, but still one of the best lawyers jokes ever:

• A rather well to do gentleman was nearing the end of his life and had made many bequests to various charitable organizations. He still harbored a thought though - what if you could take it with you? Some of it at least.
  
  So he called for his priest, his doctor and his lawyer and gave each of them an envelope with $100,000 in it. At the graveside service, they were to throw the envelopes into the casket prior to burial so the elderly gentleman would be comfortable in the afterlife.
  
  The man passed away and the three persons he had summoned followed his final instructions by tossing the envelopes into the casket just before the hole was filled. On the way back to the cars, the priest broke down and announced he had a confession to make.
  
  "The church needed a new roof, and we were $25,000 dollars short of our fundraising goal. My friends, I shorted our benefactor's envelope that $25,000 and can barely bear the shame.
  
  The doctor said, "As this appears the time to be completely honest, I too, have a confession to make. The hospital at which I work needed a new x-ray machine and we had to have it soon. $50,000 was the price and I had $100,000 in my possession. I must confess that I shorted the envelope that amount.
  
  The lawyer shook his head and exclaimed, "Gentlemen, I am ashamed of the both of you. We were trusted to take care of this man's last wishes and he wished us to ensure his continued comforts in the afterlife. That money was for his comfort alone, which is why I threw in a check for the full amount.

Slow Death of the Sun Times

What's the over-under? We figure two years.

• Seventeen Chicago Sun-Times union newsroom employees were laid off in a flurry of phone calls Wednesday, while another two accepted buyouts, according to union officials, bringing the final total of union and non-union reporters, editors and others in the editorial department shed in this reduction to 36.
  
  That's about 10 percent fewer jobs lost than what the paper originally projected for a newsroom that numbered 221 employees in its attempt to cut its editorial payroll by around $3 million, part of parent Sun-Times Media Group's effort to cut $50 million in operating costs in a bid to return to profitability.

Keep canceling subscriptions. Every little bit helps.

Plus, it's good for the environment!

SCC Scoop?

Word trickling in from one of our regular contributors that a Cook County Task Force has arrested upwards of 4 west side reverends for financial crimes. Perhaps the "men of god" have been playing a bit fast and loose with public funds?

HUGE Scoop by Crimefile

We can only hope that this is true (Frank Main, if you work this story, you damn well better credit Crimefile):

• A new investigation is expected to be launched into the criminal activities of Chicago Alderman Edward M. Burke and his wife, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Anne M. Burke. The Burkes are accused of fixing murder cases and at least one high profile child molestation case.
  
  There are some serious issues involving statutes of limitations that won’t affect State Bar and judicial conduct matters. There are plenty of matters recent enough to bring indictments.
  
  Payoffs in the form of contracts awarded for Chicago’s legal work, Chicago Mob ties, new ghost pay-rolling allegations, along with fixing a court appeal to help the Emerald Gambling Casino regain their revoked license will all be under a new government microscope.

Please please please let this one be true.

Read the whole thing here.

Worst Case Scenario

We've noticed that the Department is sending out people to the Districts again preaching the virtues of safe vehicle operation. Part of this is because of the no pool car situation that comes from the City not paying it's bills and we have to drive whatever is available. Another part is that there are no cars on order for the 2008 budget year (if the rumors are to be believed).

Another part is this:

• A sheriff's deputy who drove through a red light with his emergency lights and sirens on has been charged with homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle after he hit another car, killing a woman.

  Portage County Sheriff's Deputy Ken Tschudy, 53, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison after an investigation concluded he failed to slow down before speeding into an intersection Oct. 29.

  He struck the vehicle of 18-year-old Mindy Erickson, who was killed.

  Tschudy had been responding to a hit-and-run accident in Plover when he drove through a red light with his emergency lights and sirens activated.

Responding to a hit-and-run. He's 53 years old. If he gets convicted, where does he start over? His life is over. And if he gets off, he still killed an 18 year old girl. For a traffic accident.

A Sad Note

From the Tribune:

• Cook County sheriff's police Wednesday were investigating whether a Chicago police officer found dead at a cemetery near Willow Springs shot himself.
  
  The 49-year-old officer was found about 1:40 p.m. in his Chevrolet Impala, which was parked with its engine running in Fairmount-Willow Hills cemetery, near 91st Street and Archer Avenue, Cook County sheriff's police spokeswoman Penny Mateck said.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please, please, please - seek help. It's there, it's free, and it'll save your life.

Clearance Rate

At least according to the paper:

• Chicago Police detectives solved 36 percent of murders committed in Chicago last year -- about the same percentage cleared in 2006.

  Of 443 murders committed across the city, 162 -- or 36.6 percent -- were cleared. In 2006, 36.2 were solved.

  In addition, detectives working cases from previous years cleared 102 cases, bringing the total number of Chicago murders solved to 264, according to department statistics.

  The police cleared 42 percent of murders in 2005 and 47 percent the year before.

Chief Maher blames the "no snitching" culture. Anyone else want to chime in?

What's This?

We saw a little blurb in the comments about this incident:

• Prosecutors charged two men with trying to kill a Chicago police officer after a South Side shoot-out Sunday.

  Javier Fernandez, 32, and John Gonzalez, 30, are charged with attempted murder of a police officer in connection with the incident in the 1900 block of South Union.

But what really caught our attention was this paragraph:

• According to Assistant State's Attorney Mary Innes, the off-duty officer was on his way to church at 10:45 a.m. Sunday when he heard glass breaking. He then saw Gonzalez breaking into a car, Innes said.

  "The victim approached defendant Gonzalez, saying 'stop,' displayed his badge, and announced his office twice," Innes told Judge Maura Slattery Boyle.

Who is this Mary Innes? She actually called the police officer a "victim" like we and dozens of others have been saying for years! And who in the name of all that is holy is this reporter Eric Herman? He actually reports the word "victim" in his article!

How did the editors miss this? This never would have happened if Frank Main or Fran Spielman were taking notes in court and getting their marching orders from City Hall. We're going to guess that Herman is going to be schooled by the veteran reporters shortly so his balanced reporting doesn't upset the slide into oblivion.

Gun Buy Back Purchases...

...More Guns!

From Illinois Carry, this little story from July of 2007. How much of it is true and how much is embellishment, we don't know. For certain, the alleged $300 bonus and vacation day for each gun is an urban legend, and some of the gratuitous swipes at the cops working the "turn-in" are unwarranted. But they've got the before and after pictures or some seventeen pieces of crap guns and the seventeen $100 Visa cards, so it looks like it checks out:

• He took all ten, including the starter pistol, as real guns. Not my problem that he gave us $100 for that starter pistol. He was just glad and happy I could show him empty cylinders, as he was initially taking about two or more minutes per gun to check them (until I started fumbling and sweeping) and there were lots of folks waiting outside.

  They gave me my ten credit cards and thanked me profusely, falling all over themselves to tell me what a great thing I was doing and I reciprocated, encouraging them to do it again!. I stuffed the envelopes into my back pocket after folding them.

• So, Guns Save Life ended up netting $1700 worth of MasterCards from the event. The club is in the process of selling some of the cards to members for cash and five of the cards are going to be spent at Darrell’s Custom Guns in Cayuga, IN for two CZ bolt-action .22s to be given away to two lucky kids participating in the NRA Youth Shooting Camp coming up over the first weekend in August. The rest of the money (and then some) will be spent purchasing ammo for the kids to use during the camp. The camp, located in Bloomington at Darnall’s, is the longest running NRA Youth Shooting Camp in the nation.

So at least $1,700 of the buy back money bought a few functional rifles (in Indiana) and quite a bit of ammo to train more responsible shooters. Good job.

That Didn't Take Long

So much for IPRA not giving out info following a shooting:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer working security at a public high school shot and wounded a young man Tuesday morning near a South Side train station.
• It ended when the juvenile was shot at the CTA station at 300 E. 43rd St., according to Rosenzweig. The youth was taken to a nearby hospital and a gun was recovered at the scene, Rozenzweig said.

Anyone figure that they were under pressure by someone political to at least state that a gun was recovered? Otherwise, the only people speaking are the ones with an ax to grind. Can the return of Skeletor and the Orange One be far behind?

By the way, the copper is fine and the offender is expected to make a full recovery, be charged, and spend zero time behind bars so he can go out, illegally acquire another handgun, fail to register it, never qualify with it and then wreak mayhem across the city streets once again. Thank goodness for all these gun laws!

Newsflash!!

IMPORTANT MEDIA ALERT!!!

** Frank Main MUST credit SCC **

Following the recent deaths of John Stroger and Eugene Sawyer, the "reverend" Al Sharpton flew back into Chicago today amid unconfirmed reports that somehow, Chicago Police were killing old black politicians and passing it off as part of the "circle of life."

Sharpton called for human shields to be in place around the homes of Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Danny Davis and a number of lesser known Machine politicians. William "big hog balls" Beavers is said to be "disappointed" he didn't make the short list. "father" Michael Pfleger was said to be outraged at his omission from the list and vowed to shut himself in his church until such time as "reverend" Meeks shared his human shields with him, which for some reason seem to include a number of on-duty Chicago Police Officers directing traffic around his mega-church.

Old News is New Again

When your circulation is dropping, your ad revenues plummeting and your entire industry is circling the sewer like a particularly nasty turd on the way down, PLUS you don't know one day to the next if you won't be out in the real world trying to actually earn a living with a worthless J-school diploma, we suppose recycling old stories looks like a good thing at first.

This gem from the Slum Times Monday:

• New Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis will take a "hard, close look" at taking further action against an officer suspended after a surveillance camera captured him beating a man handcuffed and shackled to a wheelchair, a police spokeswoman says.

A case that has already been adjudicated before the State's Attorney, a judge, a previous Superintendent and heard before the Police Board. We won't make any judgments as to how a conclusion was reached, but it was reached and a two year unpaid suspension was the end result.

The fact that this entire finished and finalized investigation can be reopened at a whim should be more than a little disturbing to everyone. It's politics writ large and it looks like this is going to be the "test" case that will set the tone for the new regime. We're also assuming that the officer will appeal any further action based on the fact that he, too, signed off on the punishment and the agreement in place has standing in a court of law.

New Nickname

We've helped a few people get nicknames for which they've been suited:

• "Mope-rah" Mitchell
• "Dope-rah" Turner Trice
  
• "The water carrier" Spielman
• "Skeletor" Bonds and the Orange One
  
• J-Fed

There are others. We've seen one recently in the comments about Frank Main that just might stick shortly. Here's another one:

• Laura "the prostitute" Berman

Not that we'd ever accuse Ms. Berman of selling sex for money. How crude! We prefer the following definition:

• One who sells one's abilities, talent, or name for an unworthy purpose.

If you caught Monday's column by Ms. Berman, you were treated to the following letter to J-Fed from a "lifestyles" columnist:

• I am particularly excited by your promise to bring law enforcement to the law itself. During your Jan. 7 speech to the City Council, you stated: "I want to institute policies that help prevent misconduct in the department whenever and wherever it occurs and restore public faith and public trust."

  With this intent in mind, I would like to know if you will address one of the the most egregious issues of misconduct on the police force: officers who use their position of authority to force women to have sex with them.

  As I am sure you have heard by now, a recent study found that Chicago prostitutes perform 3 percent of their total sex acts on Chicago police officers in order to avoid arrest. This study, which was led by University of Chicago professor Steven D. Levitt and Columbia University professor Sudhir Venkatesh, found that prostitutes routinely perform "freebies" for Chicago police officers in exchange for their freedom.

Berman quotes a "study" that appears on the U of C website. The "study" itself is labeled as "extremely preliminary and incomplete" and the authors asked the findings not be published as it was still a work in progress. Yet Berman treats it as gospel. We would point out that Levitt's work "Freakonomics" ended up being corrected by the author after finding a coding error. Levitt's appeal that this not be quoted or published carries some hefty weight that Berman ignores completely.

Is anyone else disturbed that the "study" paid sex workers $150 a week? If the economic realities of prostitution are as stated in the "study," then the working girls might have a vested interest in keeping the money flowing. After all, it's easier to spout bullshit to a professor to keep the money flowing than to be turning tricks in an alley in Pullman.

That 3% number reeks of bullshit.

After all is said and done, if Ms. Berman doesn't like her new nickname, we have another standing by:

• whore - A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

But then, as a member of the Sun Times, we doubt she ever had any principles worth selling.

Mass Retirements?

We're getting rumors that up to seventy lieutenants and above are ready to drop their papers at a moment's notice once the new guy comes in.

That's a LOT of movement to be had in the course of two full years, let alone over a changing of the guard in the Ivory Tower.

Let's start with some names people! Who's in, who's out and who's going to be demoted and stick around?

Frank, Where's Our Check?

Once again, Frank Main keeps stealing from the site and not attributing his articles:

• Is Corey Flagg just a dirty cop or a lawman at heart?

  Flagg is a former Chicago Police officer headed to prison in about two weeks to serve a 9½-year sentence for robbing drug dealers.

  But on Jan. 11 -- while free on bond -- he was playing cop again.

  Chicago Police think he made an anonymous 911 call tipping officers that a car parked near 107th and Wentworth contained drugs.

  "That is the car," Flagg yelled to officers from a white Ford Thunderbird before driving off, according to a police report.

  The officers searched the car, but didn't find any drugs or make any arrests. They recognized Flagg and reported him to their superiors, who notified the feds.

We suggested that Frank sign over his paycheck to us as a thank you. We're still waiting.

SCC Endorsements

Someone has been bugging us for political endorsements as of late. We're flattered that anyone would think our opinion of politicians important enough to actually take direction from us.

We're of the opinion that everyone should form their own opinions. We read everything we can lay our hand on or pull up on a computer screen and form judgments based on those items. Most of our votes (obviously) trend rightward. That makes it an awfully short day in the voting booth for us as most times - there aren't any republicans running for anything in this town.

We have a habit, though, taught to us by coppers far older and wiser than we are. It's been used a few times to get rid of a few particularly irksome judges back in the day. It goes like this:

• Vote "NO" on every single judge up for retention

Because every single "NO" note forces the judge to get about three more "YES" votes to be retained. Granted, if there are too many vacancies, the Chief Judge will just appoint more judges to fill up the spots, even some of those judges that just lost. But it makes the Chicago Machine work harder and the Machine hates to work. So get every one of your friends, every member of your families, every single person eligible, living or dead, to vote "NO" if you can.

Other than that, anything that shakes up the order is a good vote.

Note: We don't know if Judge William O'Malley is up for retention or on the ballot at all. After his ruling Friday, we'd break our streak to throw him a "YES" if we had to.

We Owe it All to Seiser

This month's issue of Chicago Magazine:

You'll never guess what's listed on page 59.

On a related note, welcome to all those new readers. We'll expect a bunch of North Shore liberal arguments supporting Hillary, the nanny state and endless control of the lives of lesser mortals than yourselves to be popping up in the comments daily.

And maybe even a few closet republicans will come out of the woodwork.

Inspectors

We're getting all sorts of stories, via comments and via e-mail that the Inspectors are out trying to justify their existence again, writing up dozens, sometimes many dozens of violations in a single sitting. We received word from a few people about thirty (yes, 30) violations written up in a single roll call.

A few examples we've heard quoted here, in e-mails and in bars (we swear, we were only drinking seltzer water):

• A certain Inspector who sits at 26th Street and logs the time a Squadrol leaves after dropping of prisoners for the AM court call. When the wagon doesn't come up clear immediately, he writes them up. It doesn't matter if the wagon is heading back to 016 or 006 - both about a 45 minutes ride away. He writes them up as if they could have responded to an emergency job in seconds rather than being on the other side of the world.
• Another Inspector who follows Canine Officers around and writes them up for leaving their cars running and unattended as a violation of state law. Never mentioned is the fact that leaving the car running with heat or A/C is necessary for the dog not to suffer or die. Or the fact that all Canine vehicles are equipped with the same safety devices used by State Troopers to leave their cars running on the sides of the highway.
• Yet another who rolls on 10-1 calls and writes up anyone he can find not wearing a hat - as if a hat would help anyone in an emergency situation. Decorum falls by the wayside when someone is fighting.
  

We're sure there are hundreds more stories. Inspector is one of the first positions J-Fed ought to look into cutting. Sergeants, Lieutenants and Captains ought to be held accountable by their respective Commanders for the appearance standards of their watches. And they ought to lead by example...but that might be too much to ask.

Oh Fudge! Packers Lost

ESPN covers here.

The last career pass Favre threw ends up being an interception.

Giants and Patriots for the whole ball of wax in two weeks.

And baseball is a mere 2 weeks or so after that.

Kill All the Lawyers

Once again, proving why no one likes lawyers:

• For a quarter of a century, defense lawyers Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz were bound by the rules of law to hold onto a secret that now could mean freedom for a man serving a life sentence for murder.
  
  The secret -- memorialized in a notarized affidavit that they locked in a metal box -- was that their client, Andrew Wilson, admitted that he shotgunned to death a security guard at a McDonald's restaurant on the South Side in January 1982.
  
  Bound to silence by attorney-client privilege, Kunz and Coventry could do nothing as another man, Alton Logan, 54, was tried and convicted instead.

What is truly amazing to us is it seems these two scumbag lawyers look like they want to be praised for keeping an innocent man behind bars for 26 years because they wrote a notarized affidavit in 1982 and kept it in a locked box since then.

We'll say this - Doctor/Client privilege can be pierced in extreme circumstances. Under certain conditions, the doctor is obliged by law to report certain things. Husband/Wife privilege can be broken, most times voluntarily by one party or the other. You can't tell us that Lawyer/Client privilege is the only thing impregnable in all circumstances? The law needs to be reformed if so.

What if Alton Logan was sentenced to death? What if they were marching him up to "Old Sparky" or strapping him to the gurney and Andrew Wilson was still alive? Kunz and Coventry still would have kept their mouths shut? They had information to free Logan 26 years ago and didn't.

So who does Alton Logan sue now? Kunz and Coventry? Wilson's "estate"? Illinois?

We hope Logan runs into Burge at the cemetery and joins him in pissing on Wilson's grave.

Off Duty Officers Killed

Cook County Corrections Officer in a bad accident on the Dan Ryan:

• A Cook County corrections officer was killed Thursday night when her vehicle struck a pillar on the Dan Ryan Expressway, closing down all express lanes near the scene for about three hours, authorities said.

Someone posted that she was married to CPD - can anyone verify? Condolences to family and County for their collective loss.

Also, down south:

• DECATUR, Ga. — Investigators were questioning several witnesses and possible suspects in connection with the execution-style slaying of two DeKalb County police officers, a department official told FOXNews.com.

Each officer had four children.

Kass Summarizes Nicely

From the Sunday Tribune:

• Jay Grodner, the Chicago lawyer who keyed a Marine's car in anger because the car had military plates and a Marine insignia, finally got his day in court last week.
  
  Grodner pleaded guilty in a Chicago courtroom packed with former Marines. Some had Marine pins on their coats, or baseball jackets with the Marine insignia. They didn't yellor call him names. They came to support Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty, whose car Grodner defaced in December, but who couldn't attend because he's preparing for his second tour in Iraq.

And just in case anyone was wondering, here's what dumbass looks like on the dating website he used to patronize:
Man, we just threw up a little.

Beginning of the End?

Here we go:

• For the first time, Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama has surfaced in the federal [corruption] case against his longtime campaign fund-raiser, Tony Rezko, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

  The Illinois senator isn’t accused of any wrongdoing. And there’s no evidence Obama knew contributions to his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign came from schemes Rezko is accused of orchestrating.

• Obama is not named in the Dec. 21 court document. But a source familiar with the case confirmed that Obama is the unnamed “political candidate” referred to in a section of the document that accuses Rezko of orchestrating a scheme in which a firm hired to handle state teacher pension investments first had to pay $250,000 in “sham” finder’s fees. From that money, $10,000 was donated to Obama’s successful run for the Senate in the name of a Rezko business associate, according to the court filing and the source.

  Rezko, who was part of Obama’s senatorial finance committee, also is accused of directing “at least one other individual” to donate money to Obama and then reimbursing that individual — in possible violation of federal election law.

Part and parcel of the Chicago Machine as we and others have been saying for months. And even if the rest of the electorate doesn't recognize it, we don't need a sleazy Illinois politician who's in Daley's hip pocket running the country. Besides, Hillary is much more beatable.

Fox Watches Henhouse

Where the hell is this judge from? Does he even read the filed briefs? We're going to quote the article out of order, just to demonstrate how soft this judge must be:

• Following a rash of indictments and later convictions of top city officials for basing hirings and promotions on political considerations rather than job qualifications, Andersen appointed Noelle Brennan as an outside monitor to oversee hiring at the city.

  In her December report to the judge, Brennan called into serious question the city's ability to conduct its own investigation into hiring problems.

Brennan has already reported the City isn't following the rules set in place. In fact, they're backsliding at a pretty good clip. But the judge isn't going to let that stand in the way of anything:

• U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen bucked his own monitor Friday, agreeing to let Mayor Daley's administration create a new "Office of Compliance" to guard against patronage instead of letting the city inspector general handle it.

So once again, Hoffman loses out and Brennan is revealed as a toothless monitor. Expect more of the same old song and dance.

Bottom Feeder Guilty!

From BlackFive:

• from BlackFive comments - The update: At 1400 hours the defendant showed up, and was told that he was half an hour late. The Judge stated on the record that the defendant had done the same thing during the previous court date, and he said that the defendant called and said that wanted to wait for the media to leave. The Judge said "That is not the way I run my courtroom." He increased the bail and took him into custody and told him to try and work out a deal with the State. About 25-35 marines and assorted military were there.

  The case was recalled at 14:22, and the State said that the defendant had asked for permission to put his belt and such back on. The Judge said, "Treat him like all the other prisoners." The defendant was brought out and the plea deal that they had worked out was entered into the record.

  The Judge asked him if he had committed the specific acts he was accused of. The defendant hemmed and hawed, and the Judge raised his voice to make him say yes or no. The defendant agreed, and the Judge read the facts into the record. Several times, the Judge said if there were no deal, he would be given a court date just like any other defendant, and he could try and make bail soon.

  The deal: 1 year Social Service Supervision, restitution of 600 dollars to be paid to Social Services and which would go to the Injured Marine Semper Fi fund, to be paid by February 25th, 2008, and $50/month in supervision fees.

  The Judge then, in as angry a voice as I have ever heard him use, scolded the defendant, saying that the Marine license plates the complaining witness had were not vanity plates or about ego, but the proceeds go toward the Marine and Navy scholarship fund for the children of fallen soldiers, sailors and marines. These Marines protect his very existence "so people like you can enjoy their freedom." He further said that the reason there were so many in the courtroom and so much public interest is that the Marines have a tradition since 1775 that "No Marine gets left behind." Several Hoorahs in the courtroom.

  And then the deal was done, and he was taken away by the sheriffs to be released later.

BlackFive also thanked the CPD and CFD for their support of Marine Sergeant McNulty who is currently deployed. We're hoping that the ARDC complaints go the same way as this criminal trial did and Grodner has some sanctions against his law license. Maybe he even gets disbarred.

New Link

A very well run website dedicated to Illinois Gun Rights:

• IllinoisCarry.com

We've been mentioned a few times in various bulletin board topics. Go visit and see what responsible gun ownership looks like.

Bottom Feeders Back Out

Score one for the good guys:

• Attorneys representing the family of a man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Chicago police officer in April 2006 have dropped a wrongful death suit against the city and the officer.
  
  Officer [...] fatally shot Demetri Centera, 31, and his friend, Kenneth Elrod, after a dispute at a Northwest Side bar. The Police Department cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
  
  The Loevy & Loevy law firm declined to comment Thursday on why the Centera suit was dropped. A suit over Elrod's death, filed by another law firm, remains pending.

Now, if the officer could turn around and sue Andy Dick Loevy for anything said or filed that put the officer in a bad light for a completely justifiable shooting, perhaps the karmic scales could begin to realign a bit.

To see many posting on the whole incident, go back to the April 2006 archives around 07 April.

Let's Compare

Just as a little game we like to play sometimes:

• Case #1 - A former Aurora street gang leader was sentenced Thursday to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to two separate homicides, including the shooting of a Marine home on leave.

Got that? A known gang leader and double murderer. Twenty-six years. Next up:

• Case #2 -Chicago Police Sgt. John Herman was sentenced Friday afternoon to 25 years in prison for raping a woman while on duty.

  Cook County Judge Joseph Claps found Herman, 42, guilty of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and one count each of kidnapping and official misconduct on Dec. 10.

So let's get this straight...if the disgraced Sergeant had killed the victim, he'd have only been entitled to 13 years? Talk about your sentencing discrepancies.

And again, heading off people who are going to misinterpret what we typed, we are not defending Herman. We don't think he was a rapist, but Herman is a pervert who should have been caught by screening before hiring and probably should have been fired for previous actions.

Laughable Eulogies

Supposedly, snowplows, front-end-loaders and legions of payrollers with shovels have been stationed around the County Building tonight to help keep the streets clear of the bullshit that's pouring out of the place. We're not going to bother linking to all of it as it is truly stomach turning wretchedness, but we'll quote from Channel 2's report:

• The Rev. Jesse Jackson added in a statement: "President Stroger was a legendary public servant. He always made room in his politics for the common people. His first question was always, 'What can I do to help you?' rather than, 'What can you do to help (him).'"

Leaving aside the fact that every time Jesse opens his mouth, he lies, how many untruths can you spot in that entire statement? Stroger never helped anyone who couldn't help him. A quick list of cousins, nieces, nephews, and a son earning 6 figure salaries would run this post to two pages. Stroger was a consummate Machine politician, part and parcel of the Chicago Organization.

You don't believe us? Who did Stroger support for mayor back in 1983? We'll give you a hint - it wasn't Harold. And THAT will always be the legacy of Stroger.

Stroger Dead

Although we don't wish anyone any particular ill, John Stroger was emblematic of everything that is wrong with Cook County politics and will continue to be wrong with County government until such time as voters disband this thoroughly corrupt organization.

Hello? Fifth Amendment?

The right to not incriminate ones self? Anyone hear of this one?

• Bond was set at $75,000 on Thursday for a Chicago Police officer charged with aggravated DUI for allegedly crashing his SUV into a car last November, leaving two people dead.

  Cook County Circuit Judge Donald Panarese set bond at $75,000 for [JA], 33, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin.

You cannot be compelled to give testimony against yourself in criminal trials. Once you refuse a breath test, the automatic criminal suspension of your license commences. The Department can order you to blow for Administrative Charges, but it has already been recognized by the Supreme Court that this cannot be used against you as it was forced from you.

Unless liberal whack jobs are willing to admit that Burge had it right and "compelled" testimony should be allowed in criminal trials? Someone better put a stop on those check the City just cut.

Tax Hike Sails Through

Just wonderful news:

• After nearly a year of anxiety for close to a million riders, lawmakers on Thursday approved tax increases to stop looming service cuts and most fare hikes for Chicago's ailing mass transit system while providing free bus and train rides to senior citizens.
  
  Transit leaders waved off Sunday's so-called doomsday even as they noted it will be up to two months before they figure out how to provide free rides on the CTA, Metra and Pace for people 65 and older.The measure solves public transit funding for now, with a price tag of $530 million. On April 1, the sales tax will increase by a quarter-cent per dollar in Cook County and twice that in the suburbs. And Chicagoans are expected to face higher taxes on home sales.

This tax hike on home sales still has to be approved by the City Council and it's looking at mild opposition. But we don't foresee any of the rubber stamp get riled up enough to actually block this thing. Once again, democrats stick it to the taxpayers.

Drew Peterson - Innocent Again!

Once again, his lawyer has all the answers:

• Authorities investigating the disappearance of a former suburban Chicago police officer's wife have obtained a warrant seeking information to identify who sent a racy text message to her cell phone.
• Drew Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said Thursday that a message sent to Stacy Peterson's cell phone in September shows she was having an affair and lends credence to Drew Peterson's contention she left him for another man.

Yup, he's in the clear. Except for this little fact:

• Sprint Nextel spokesman Dave DeVries said anyone can use the company's Web site to text-message subscribers without being required to log in or open an account. He declined to comment on whether it is possible to track who sent messages.

In fact, we're sending "racy messages" to Stacy's phone right now. And half-a-dozen other people right now.

No, one of them is not Seiser.

Or Mope-rah.

Um, What the Hell?

What the hell is this?

• The newly-created agency that investigates allegations of excessive force and brutality by Chicago Police officers plans to hire outside help due to a backlog of complaints.
  
  The Independent Police Review Authority is an organization separate from the Police Department. It replaced the department-run Office of Professional Standards last year.
  
  Since its creation, the review authority has dealt with a growing backlog of cases, and the Chicago Tribune reported on Wednesday that the organization has had to turn over some cases to attorneys and private investigators.
  
  The outsourcing is temporary and will be tightly supervised.
  

We don't know about any of our readers, but we trust the City about as far as we can throw the fifth floor midget. We trust outside lawyers and PI's about half that distance and we trust IPRA maybe a third of the remaining millimeters.

We don't recall any contract language, Rule, Regulation, General Order or, in fact, any such directive that could conceivably allow outsiders not covered by agreements to investigate Police Officers in any way, shape or form. This is a ridiculous and dangerous precedent and should be dealt with promptly and harshly by the FOP.

Make a Phone Call

It must be nice, having a tame Urkel around to raise taxes on unsuspecting citizens while you drive legitimate businesses out of doing what they do best - generate sales taxes, income taxes and jobs. A case in point:

• Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners have proposed ordinances banning the sale of firearms, certain accessories and ammunition. If enacted, these bans proposed by Commissioners Larry Suffredin and William M. Beavers would, in effect, threaten to put Cabela's and other retailers out of business. This ban would not only negatively affect businesses that sell firearms and related items in the Chicagoland area, but also, and more importantly, outdoor and gun enthusiasts who wish to purchase these types of products.
• The Hoffman Estates Cabela's alone employs more than 300 people, of which two-thirds are Cook County residents. The future of these employees would be uncertain if the proposed ordinances pass. These employees command nearly $4 million in wages - and an additional $1 million in employee benefits - that the local economy would lose out on. Also at risk is the tax revenue generated annually by our Hoffman Estates store: $675,000 to Cook County; $1.8 million to Hoffman Estates; more than $3 million to the state of Illinois.

Here's the link to the protest site.

They've got handy links to locate your County thief Commissioner and a list of numbers to call. Remember, Cabela's is a national chain abiding by all laws Federal, State, County and local municipality. And Crook County wants to drive them out so they can tax YOU and us more along with putting 300 jobs at risk in a state that is bleeding jobs.

A True Heroine

From the 15 January Tribune:

• In the 26 years since former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal gunned down her cop husband on a Philadelphia street, Maureen Faulkner has often felt like a reed in a tornado.
  
  As death penalty opponents rallied to win Abu-Jamal a new trial, contending that he had been framed by police, Faulkner quietly fought back, one hearing at a time.
  
  She never missed a court hearing through the long appeals process, even after she moved from Philadelphia to Southern California. She's appeared at pro-Abu-Jamal events, handing out fliers to explain the evidence that led a jury to sentence him to death.

In the face of thousands of lies and endless celebrity BS, she has fought the good fight to keep Danny Faulkner's name and the truth of the circumstances of his death out of the darkness.