WE REMEMBER THOSE WHO FOUGHT AND DIED FOR OUR COUNTRY

ILLINOIS HAS A FIFTEEN PERCENT CORRUPTION TAX

The Actual State of Abe's State
Andy Shaw
Executive Director, Better Government Association
• Illinois is a legendary state in so many ways - from its architecture to its food; from its famed blues music to its political scene. One of the states more infamous residents happens to be the ex-Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, who also holds the title of being the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached. Sadly, he is also the fourth Illinois governor since 1970 to be indicted on federal charges.
• While innocent until proven guilty needs to remain forefront, Illinois is just one example of government gone amok and it is the citizens of the state who are left paying for the corruption every day through a "corruption tax" - a fee paid by taxpayers when government is run for the benefit of the politicians and insiders, not for the public. The corruption tax in Illinois is a staggering 15%. That is money that could have been otherwise appropriated to services such as public aid, public health, museums and parks and even new roads and bridges.
• Though Illinois may be an extreme example of a corruption tax, it is not unique. Sadly, many of our cities, counties and states are run by a select few people who are simply taking advantage of taxpayer money. The truth of the matter remains that we allow it to happen. Every day. For a culture of corruption to survive, you need enablers and minions who just go along with it and do nothing about it.
• More people need to say "enough is enough" by blowing the whistle or getting involved with watchdog, anti-corruption organizations such as the Better Government Association, committed to identifying and ultimately reporting on taxpayer waste. Time and time again, we vote for a candidate we know nothing about - but liked their picture on a campaign ad, or the promises they made on a television commercial. Or maybe we didn't even vote at all because we just don't think it matters. Each one of us needs to take responsibility for the corruption occurring before our eyes. We are paying a tax for it daily. We need to vote responsibly and report what we know is wrong. Only then will we ever have a chance at restoring faith in government at all levels.

That's great. We pay corruption taxes while they refuse to fund our pensions. If the corruption tax in the state is fifteen percent imagine how much it is in Chicago. Twenty five percent? Thirty percent? Mr. Shaw suggests voting the politicians out of office but there are no good alternatives. The other candidates are as bad or worse. I don't blame people for not voting. Why can't we get good viable candidates to run for office in Illinois? It's discouraging.

EMAIL

I received this email. I do not have the info but maybe one of my readers does.

I was wondering of you had any information about the status of the new hires for call taker. Personnel isn't saying much on the time window for hiring. I'm also trying to stay anonymous which I'm sure you would appreciate and understand.

Hope to be there soon.

RIP OFFICER WORTHAM

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

ARE CRIME STATS BEING MANIPULATED?

THE HUFFINGTON POST
JANET TAVAKOLI: U.S. RECESSION BREEDS ESCALATING VIOLENT CRIME
• The Wall Street Journal reported that violent crime is down in the big cities in the U.S., saying this breaks the pattern between economic downturns and an increase in crime. Supposedly this is because policing has advanced, not because human nature has changed. I do not believe the article is plausible.
• If Chicago is any indication, it is much more likely the statistics are being doctored and that the public is being lied to in a profound way. Many cities and states are strapped for cash and the public doesn't want to hear that crime is up while police budgets are being cut.
• Chicago wasn't mentioned in the article, but violent crime is way up, and the police force has been cut. I believe this increased violence is related to the economy, and it is not mere crime, it is civil unrest. The city of Chicago is being wrecked, and tourist attractions like Navy Pier are unsafe and lack police support.

Last Summer Was Bad, This Summer Will Be Much Worse

• Last summer gang violence ruled the night at Leland and Sheridan, a neighborhood in the process of gentrifying.
• In the upscale Lincoln Park area, just a little further south of this unrest, men alone at night were accosted by groups of three to six men and severely beaten, robbed, and hospitalized. Seven muggings occurred in a five-day period from July 30 to August 4, 2009.
• This kind of activity was unusual for these areas of Chicago until last summer.

Current Escalating Violent Crime and Chicago's Prime Lakefront Areas

• Shootings are way up in Chicago, and ordinary citizens -- along with shorthanded police -- are angry. Chicago has a gun ban, yet on Wednesday, May 19, Thomas Wortham IV, a Chicago police officer and Iraq War veteran, was shot when four gang members attempted to steal the new motorcycle the officer had brought to show his father, a retired police officer. Shots were fired, and his father saw the skirmish, ran for his gun, and managed to get off a few rounds. Two gang members were shot while two sped away dragging his fallen son's body some distance in the process.
• Nine people were shot on Sunday night (May 24), and Chicago is currently in the grips of a massive crime wave that has overwhelmed our under funded police force.
• Gangland violence and shootings now occur up and down Chicago's lakefront. An anonymous Chicago policeman reports what most of the mainstream media fails to report at secondcitycop.blogspot.com. The comments under the section titled "Lakefront Problems" are particularly illuminating.
• I don't believe that Chicago is alone in having a recession-related escalating crime problem. High unemployment combined with under-funded shorthanded police forces make for a toxic brew. No matter how "advanced" the police force, men cannot outrun bullets.
• During a recession, the police force requires a larger budget, not budget cuts. Since the money has been spent, I suspect the public will be fed cooked statistics instead of being given the facts.

Coming Soon to a City Near You: Additional Comments added May 26, 2010:

• Violence in Chicago public schools and minority neighborhoods has been well-publicized in recent years. After the September 2009 beating death of Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old Chicago honor student, rapper Nas's Open Letter to Chicago's Young Warriors was posted at CNN, MSNBC and media sites. Nas, who is from Queensbridge, New York, stepped up for Chicago.
• The problem has festered and recently spread due to what appears to be a lack of resources. ("Chicago Violence: Is the National Guard the Solution?" CNN - April 26, 2010):
• A violent crime wave in Chicago prompts a call for the National Guard to step in. Two Illinois lawmakers, State Reprepresentatives John Fritchey (D) and LaShawn Ford (D), are urging Governor Pat Quinn to deploy troops following a recent surge in violent crime. "We're not talking about rolling tanks down the street," said Fritchey. "If we bring them in to fill sand bags and pick up tornado debris, we can bring them in to save lives."
• Previously relatively crime-free minority neighborhoods like Chatham, where police officer Thomas Wortham IV was killed, have experienced new recession era violence. Moreover, violence has recently spread to Chicago's prime lakefront and tourist areas.
• This escalation and geographical spread of violence is new, and I believe it is related to our Great Recession and budget issues. I don't believe that Chicago is alone in its budget problems. If new patterns in Recession-related-violence have not yet affected other major cities in the U.S. the way they have affected Chicago, they may affect them soon. It is also likely that crime is being underreported as crime-fighting budgets are cut.

Chicago is being held up as an example of what's wrong in this country. Way to go Dick. The whole world knows you're failing as Mayor of Chicago. Give it up. It's time someone else ran this town.

Looks like some national media are reading Second City Cop. Impressive.

TASER SPOKESPERSON

Speaks for itself.

TASERS WORK

It's a slow news day. Thought you might enjoy some entertainment.

FIREFIGHTERS DISCRIMINATION CASE

What kills me about this case is how stupid the city attorneys and leaders were. They new the test was discriminatory. They knew they could not win that case in court. Instead they tried to crawl out from under the lawsuit using a technicality. The lawyers for the plaintiffs offered to settle. All the city had to do was start hiring African American applicants from the original list. Lower the cut off to the pass/fail mark and the lawsuit goes away. It would not have cost the city anything. Now they will be hiring some black firefighters from the list and giving the rest back pay! They will have to pay 40 million dollars to all the black applicants who were never called. These moronic city attorneys and leaders should not be allowed to run a kindergarten class, much less a major U.S. city.

COPS UNDER SIEGE

NBC Reports:
• Normally police are the ones fighting crime in Chicago, but this week there were numerous instances which cast police officers as victims instead.
• Just days after Chicago Police Officer Thomas Wortham IV was killed in an attempted robbery on the South Side, reports of arson and burglaries perpetrated against police officers emerged.
• In one example, two Chicago police squad cars were torched in what appears to be arson, according to the Chicago Tribune.
• At around 2:15 a.m. Saturday someone set a marked 2006 Crown Victoria K-9 afire in the Big Oaks neighborhood on the city's north side.
• Literally minutes later an unmarked squad car was set ablaze in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, Chicago police news affairs officers said. No one was hurt in either instance and its unclear if they were related. But police are treating both as arson investigations.
• Hours earlier on the city's Southwest Side, thieves were pilfering gear -- including badges, guns, vests and uniforms -- from the homes of two Chicago cops, a police source told the Chicago Tribune.
• The first robbery occurred between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., at an undisclosed location when the female officer who lived there was away. The thieves stole a .9mm handgun, ammunition, gun belt, several television sets and her police star.
• In the second instance, which occurred between 4:30 and 7 p.m., burglars entered the garage of another officer's home. They broke in the two parked vehicles and took away a Police Department uniform shirt with a name plate, a pair of handcuffs and a car stereo.
• Chicago police declined to comment on the burglaries.

 Criminals are becoming bolder every day. They no longer fear the police or the prospect of spending time in jail. We are all in danger when the lower members of society feel free to attack the people who protect our lives and safeguard our property. The leadership in this town has failed at every level. Maybe we should bring in the National Guard. They could use city hall as their headquarters and the present occupants could be dropped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan where their greed and corruption would spread to the Taliban and insure victory for America and her allies.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS WIN WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP AND ADVANCE TO THE STANLEY CUP FINALS

Congradulations to the Chicago Blackhawks!!

POLICE BEAT 624

This article has an interactive map showing crime statistics in all the police beats in Chicago. Interesting.

FRANK COCONATE WORKING FOR ALERMAN WAGUESPACK

• Almost five years after the Daley administration fired Frank Coconate from the Water Management Department for allegedly loafing and lying about it, the unrelenting mayoral critic is again sticking his shaved head into the city’s plumbing system and wearing a yellow safety vest. Except the name written on the back of the vest is not Mayor Richard M. Daley, but rather Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward), who pays Mr. Coconate about $100 a week from campaign funds for part-time help as an “infrastructure consultant.”
• Mr. Waguespack is among the more vocal mayoral foes on the City Council, and he said this week that he did not fear angering Mr. Daley by giving a job to one of the most notorious political naysayers in a town of yes men. “I can’t believe the mayor had such a vendetta that he fired him,” the alderman said, describing Mr. Coconate, 52, as a good employee.
• Mr. Waguespack said he engages in these acts of vigilante city service to help constituents whose complaints have not been addressed by the cash-strapped city administration. The alderman, who was first elected in 2007 when he defeated a Daley ally, declined to address rumors he is mulling a run for mayor next year.
• Mr. Coconate is happy to again egg on a potential challenger to Mr. Daley. “He’s a very vengeful person,” Mr. Coconate said of the mayor. “I might not be a threat to him, but he wanted to send a message to anybody who thought of questioning his management style.”

Click here for article
It's good to know a credible candidate is thinking about running against Daley. I hope Mr. Coconate can talk him into it. I would vote for any challenger just to see Daley booted out of office.

OFFICER THOMAS WORTHAM IV - A HERO

 
The more I learn about Officer Wortham, the more I admire him. He was a police officer and a soldier. He was very active in his community. He worked on some of the greatest challenges we face in America today. He fought against gangs, crime and the social problems in our neighborhoods. He also fought for his country in Iraq. We have very few heroes like him in this city. This is a devastating loss. God bless him. God bless the CPD and the military. God bless his mother and father and his entire family. This is a tragedy not only for his family and the CPD, but for the city and the entire country. May he Rest in Peace.

HE'S LOST IT

Daley talks about shoving a rifle round up a repoerters ass. It's time to put this lunatic away.

R.I.P. OFFICER THOMAS WORTHAM IV

WEST SIDE STORIES

Some good interviews.

RIDE-ALONG PART 2

Part 2 preview of a show being filmed in Chicago

RIDE-ALONG SNEAK PREVIEW

A show being filmed in Chicago.

CEASEFIRE

I don't care. I said it before and I'll say it again. This is the only program that I have ever heard of that does anything to stop the violence and killing in Chicago. I know it sounds like liberal bullshit. But there are alot of statistics coming out that show this works. Just sayin'. I keep seeing article after article about it.
Click here for one article.
Click here for another article.

TEACHING KIDS WHEN TO DIAL 911

I saw this article about a program that teaches kids when to dial 911. It should be a mandatory requirement at CPS.
Click here for article

OLYMPIC EXECUTIVES MADE A KILLING

• Chicago's first-round flame-out in the 2016 Olympic sweepstakes was still a boon to 13 six-figure executives -- with one compensation package worth $483,713-a-year plus a housing allowance and monthly cleaning service.
• A federal tax filing released Monday shows that Chicago 2016 spent $5.9 million on salaries and benefits in 2009, including $28-a-month health club subsidies for roughly 100 employees.
• The so-called Form 990 shows Chicago 2016 spent $34.5 million in 2009. That includes $3.45 million for travel, $6.6 million on advertising and promotion and $3.3 million on fund-raising events.
• Although Chicago was knocked out in the first-round of International Olympic Committee (IOC) voting and attracted just 18 first-round votes, the bid committee spent $736,025 on "relations with international sports federations and the IOC."
• On Oct. 2, thousands of volunteers jammed Daley Center Plaza for what they thought would be a celebration. Instead, Chicago suffered a knockout so stunning it took the city's collective breath away. The 2016 Games would be held in Rio de Janeiro, the sentimental favorite all along because the Olympics have never been held in South America.

Well, now we know. It's just like we thought. They wasted tens of millions of dollars on the bid. We were being threatened with layoffs if we didn't accept pay cuts. These executives were making hundreds of thousands of dollars to fly around the country and the world eating at the best restaurants, staying in the best hotels and kissing IOC members asses. They received free health club memberships and free cleaning services. Where are they now? Who knows? They took the money and ran. Meantime we're still dealing with our pay cuts and there are rumors of more give backs to come. I was hoping Daley would be defeated in the next election and have to retire. Now I'm hoping he gets defeated by someone with a score to settle who gives up the evidence that sends him to jail for life.
Click here for article.

ALDERTHIEVES GET FREE TRIP TO BEIJING - IT'S ALL LEGIT

Six Chicago aldermen who traveled to Beijing last summer on a weeklong Olympics fact-finding trip paid for by a Chinatown business group didn't report it on their annual ethics disclosures.
They didn't have to, according to the city's Ethics Board.
And that illustrates the vagueness of standards for elected officials to report such activities with business leaders, one watchdog group says.

Who are they kidding? A fact finding mission after the 2008 olympics and before we lost the bid. There was no reason for this trip. The businessmen in Chinatown saw a way to buy off some aldermanic votes and these weasels jumped right on board. If it was a legitimate deal they would have filed it on their ethics statements. Of course the ethics board let them off the hook anyway. The ethics board has never found an alderman in the wrong. Even the ones that are in jail were never investigated or even accused of wrong doing by this bullshit ethics board. Like the lady said - all us aldermen are hos. Alderhos.

VIOLENT CRIME DROPS... IN BALTIMORE

Why can't we have innovative crime stopping initiatives in Chicago? Why are all the headlines about effective policing appearing in other cities. I'll bet none of those towns pay their police superintendent more than we do. Why do we have to pay so much and get so little in return. Weis's new strategy is to send police to where the murders are happening. Hello? The police have been doing that since Chicago was incorporated. The criminals move to the next block. This is what we get for $300k a year? It's time to dump J-fled.

CHICAGO MURDERS MAKE NATIONAL NEWS AGAIN

Watch CBS News Videos Online
Since Jody Weis has become superintendent the murder rate in Chicago has gone up. The murder rate in the rest of the country has gone down. Weis was paid $300k per year to take the job. He has been a miserable failure. His contract is up soon. That would seem like a good thing. We could get a new superintendent to do the job right. The only problem is Mayor Daley is hinting that he will renew Jody's contract. My personal opinion is that the mayor knows the police despise Weis and Daley is petty enough to renew the contract just to piss them off. There has been alot of bad blood there and it's only getting worse. What does that say about Daley? You might find it hard to believe that he would jeopardize public safety in order to settle a score with the police. Then you don't know Daley. We are on our way to becoming the murder capitol of the world.

WATER DISTRICT RAISING TAXES AND HANDING OUT BIG RAISES

• In an era of layoffs, unpaid furloughs and reduced benefits at most levels of government, workers for the little-known, taxpayer-financed agency that deals with Cook County’s waste and storm water are a throwback to far better times: They continue to enjoy high salaries, big overtime checks and annual cash payouts for unused sick-leave days. The paychecks of many agency employees have grown by more than 30 percent in the past five years, far outstripping the pace in other local government agencies and the rate of inflation.
• An investigation by the Chicago News Cooperative and the Better Government Association found that the number of employees with six-figure salaries has more than doubled since 2005 at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The ranks of district officials with salaries exceeding $200,000 a year more than tripled — to 16 from 5 — during the same period, payroll records show. For Cook County taxpayers, the cost of financing the district has also risen. The owner of a home worth $200,000 pays about $135 a year toward the district’s budget, an increase of almost 30 percent in the last decade.
• Terrence J. O’Brien, the longtime district board president, defended the high wages as necessary to retain hard-working, skilled employees. Mr. O’Brien said the district would not grant cost-of-living pay increases this year, after recently raising its tax levy to help plug a $24 million budget shortfall. Besides cost-of-living increases, the district gives merit pay increases based on evaluations from supervisors.
• “Our people are not here because of who they know but by what they know, and that is different from other agencies,” Mr. O’Brien said. “Quality, professional, well-educated people do more than people who are watching the clock.”
• Critics question whether the big pay increases are justified in the midst of cutbacks elsewhere. “Do you really have to pay them that much to keep them from leaving or are you paying them so much because you can?” said David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “Just because a taxing body is recession-proof doesn’t mean you have to lavish those raises on employees.”
• “It’s just how we’ve treated our employees because of what they have to go through to get hired,” Mr. O’Brien said. “Who, when they get out of college, wants to take an exam?”
• One of the highest-paid aides is Donna McGowan-Watson, the daughter of Commissioner Barbara J. McGowan. Both Ms. McGowan-Watson and another aide to her mother, Lemuettia Hicks, a daughter of Alderman Carrie M. Austin (34th Ward), are paid almost $88,000 a year.
  “Sometimes they work on the weekends,” Ms. McGowan said. “None of our jobs are eight hours a day, five days a week.”
• Commissioner Frank Avila also employs his daughter, Audrey, as well as Mr. Longo, who in the last five years has seen his salary climb to almost $84,000 from less than $60,000. Mr. Avila noted that Mr. Longo’s vote fraud conviction was more than 25 years ago.
• Asked about the high salaries for top executives, Mr. Avila said the demands of keeping the environment clean required employees with higher technical expertise than many other local government employees had. He added, “Very few people leave the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.”

No shit very few people leave. These parasites at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District get raises when everyone else is taking a cut. I don't believe this O'Brien clown has the stones to say it's because his workforce is so much smarter than other government employees. Then he calls us all clock watchers! I'd like to see him or any of his top shelf employees come down to the OEMC for a 12 hour shift on the ops floor. We'd have to call an ambulance for them.
The bosses down there can hire their own family members to work in the same office with them. And then we're supposed to believe they get paid so much because they work long hours? Sounds like these rats have been drinking sewer water for too long.

Good work by the Chicago News Cooperative and Better Government Association to shine a light on these cockroaches. The city's election season is coming up. Let's hope this article puts some heat on the politicians. I'd love to see this O'Brien clown forced out.

ANOTHER TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD

May 12, 2010 (WLS) -- Nowhere is the increasing armed violence on Chicago streets worse than in a neighborhood known as "The Wild 100s."
The neighborhood is named for those three-digit streets on the far South Side, about 17 miles from downtown. The area is part of the Roseland neighborhood.

This is what our police force has to deal with on a nightly basis. Gangbangers drinking, drugging and shooting. At least this Ceasefire group is trying to do something to stop it. We need all the help we can get. They were recently the subject of a NY Times story. Click here for article.

TRAFFIC AIDE SHAKES DOWN DRIVERS AT O'HARE

Hughes, who is employed as a traffic aide with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, has been relieved of his duties and has been placed on administrative leave, said Will Knight, office spokesman.

What a bonehead move. Hughes will not only lose his job but probably spend some time in jail. For $10? Nobody ever accused these traffic aides of being intellectually overqualified. They are a complete waste of money. They were organized to replace POs at ball games and major events. It was touted as a cost saving move. It actually turned into a huge bureaucracy of its own. They have more cars and SUVs than any other department. They even have ATVs! They stand around on corners doing nothing. When they do get out and direct traffic, they do a worse job than the traffic light. The whole TMA department should be scrapped.

WHO DO THEY THINK THEY'RE ZOOMING?

The alternative creates a separate legislative inspector general. That person, who is yet to be named, would only investigate a complaint against an alderman if the city's board of ethics, which is appointed by the mayor, gives it the green light. Despite several aldermen who have gone to prison for corruption, the board of ethics has never taken action against an alderman before. Many members of city council call the new ordinance a sham.

So we have a board of ethics that we pay for that does nothing. Now they want to add an inspector general that we pay for who does nothing and reports to the do-nothing board of ethics. Are they kidding? Nobody believes they have any intention of becoming ethical. Hey alderthieves! Quit wasting our money with your charade. Just continue stealing and hoping the feds don't catch you. That wastes enough money already.

QUINN HANDING OUT $100k+ JOBS

SPRINGFIELD --The state's budget meltdown did not prevent the wives of two Democratic lawmakers from landing six-figure state paychecks thanks to Gov. Quinn and the Illinois Senate.
The spouse of Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Chicago) nearly doubled her state salary when Quinn named her to a $117,043-a-year spot on the Illinois Pollution Control Board.
The governor also appointed the wife of state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston) to another term as chairwoman of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, a position that will pay her $104,358 annually.

Same old story. Quinn comes up with a plan to help solve the pension crisis. It involves workers paying more and getting less. The crisis was caused by the State of Illinois not paying their fair share. So what is he doing with this budget? He's not funding the pension again. He and the other thieves in Sprigfield won't be satisfied until they can take all the pension money for themselves. But he has plenty of money to hand out big jobs to his friends and their wives. These are bullshit positions. They sit on boards nobody has ever heard of and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they got rid of all these bureucratic, worthless, do-nothing jobs; we wouldn't have a budget crisis. None of these horseshit politicians are worth a damn.

CHICAGO OUTREACH PROGRAM GETS NATIONAL ATTENTION

A study of CeaseFire’s efforts in Chicago by the U.S. Department of Justice found substantial reductions in homicides, ranging from 41 percent to 73 percent, in nearly all of the neighborhoods in which CeaseFire was operating.
Click here for article.

This is the first time I've heard of a program that actually works. Murders reduced 41 to 73 percent? You would think politicians would be throwing money at it. But no. It can't find funding. It was actually cut at one point. What the hell is wrong with our political leaders? I guess it's not a program that offers many kickbacks. But you would think some smart poitcian would grab onto this and make it their own. Being the first to back something like this that actually works could launch a political career. Yeah I know. Good luck finding a smart politician in Illinois.

CORRUPTION

I hope Alverez is serious about working from the ground up. Probably not. These investigations seem to go after the little guys. Maybe these guys don't turn over on their bosses. But I think all these investigators are playing politics. They want bigger offices. So they leave the heavy weight politicians alone. Hoping for their support. The invesigators arrest the guys who are stealing a few thousand dollars. Meantime the big fish who are stealing millions have nothing to worry about.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

OIL RIG EXPLOSION EXPLAINED

STATE LAWMAKERS DRAFT A LAW ALLOWING MOBSTERS INTO VIDEO GAMBLING

POLITICIANS ARE IN BED WITH THE OUTFIT. WE ARE SACRAFICING TO HELP SOLVE THE BUDGET CRISIS. THE POLITICIANS ARE STEALING JUST AS MUCH AS EVER. THEY NEED MOBSTERS TO HELP THEM STEAL MORE EFFICIENTLY. YOU WOULD THINK SINCE WE ARE EARNING LESS THAT THEY WOULD AT LEAST STEAL LESS. BUT NO. THEIR CLEPTOMANIA NEEDS TO BE SATISFIED. I ALWAYS THOUGHT LEGALIZING VIDEO GAMBLING WAS A GOOD IDEA SINCE IT WAS ALREADY HAPPENING ILLEGALLY. MOST BARS I'VE BEEN IN HAVE MACHINES THAT PAY OUT. WHY NOT LET THE STATE HAVE THE MONEY INSTEAD OF THE OUTFIT? NOW THE OUTFIT HAS TURNED THE SCREWS ON THE LEGISLATORS. THEY WANT IN ON LEGAL MACHINES TOO. BETWEEN THE MOB AND THE POLTICIANS THESE MACHINES WILL PROBABLY END UP COSTING TAXPAYERS MONEY. HOW CAN MOBSTERS HAVE SO MUCH CONTROL OVER LAWMAKERS? WE AS VOTERS CAN'T GET OUR REPRESENTATIVES TO DO ANYTHING POSITIVE. BUT THE MOB CAN GET THEM TO SNEAK IN LAWS THAT KEEP THE MONEY FLOWING TO THE OUTFIT. I GUESS IT'S NOT HARD TO BLACKMAIL THESE CLOWNS IN SPRINGFIELD. IT'S PROBABLY EASY TO FIND PICTURES OF THEM IN COMPROMISING POSITIONS WITH PROSTITUTES, DRUG DEALERS, BARN YARD ANIMALS... ETC.

TWO PEOPLE KILLED AT OLD NAVY STORE ON STATE STREET

A murder-suicide in the middle of the day in downtown Chicago. Two people shot in the middle of the day on the Dan Ryan expressway. Things are going from bad to worse.

DALEY PUSHES FOR CAMERAS FROM HERE TO MEXICO

Mayor Richard M. Daley wants to take his beloved security cameras on the road.
The Chicago Police Department is leading a push to install nearly 200 cameras along interstate highways between Chicago and Mexico to take pictures of license plates and run them through a computer to identify suspected drug traffickers, gun runners and money launderers.
The city is touting the system, at less than $10 million, as a cost-effective way to catch criminals and even find missing children, according to a proposal for federal stimulus funding last year.
Project CrisCros would include 192 stationary cameras covering roughly 1,200 miles of highway across 13 states and connected to 50 mobile license plate recognition systems in vehicles. Pictures of license plates and the rear end of vehicles would be time-stamped with GPS coordinates and fed into a computer that would compare them against local or national "hot lists" of suspect vehicles, with the information shared by participating agencies.
In addition, the data would "be used to analyze trends and develop patterns of travel by vehicles suspected of trafficking contraband" between Chicago and the border of Mexico, according to the proposal.
But the growing use of license plate recognition technology could have a "chilling effect on social and political activities," according to a study last year by the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police. "Specifically, the risk is that individuals will become more cautious in the exercise of their protected rights of expression, protest, association and political participation because they consider themselves under constant surveillance."

They haven't done much to stop crime in the city. What's the solution? Take them nationwide. Won't he be embarrassed when they see his generals taking their M plate cars on vacation?

TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD

Gangbangers and the code of silence. This equation adds up to murderers who do not get caught. They walk the streets to kill again. Be careful out there.

MADIGAN HANDS OUT FAVORS AT U. OF I.

House Speaker Michael Madigan swayed the University of Illinois to admit the relatives of public officials, political allies and donors who contributed $115,200 to campaign funds he controls, a Tribune investigation has found.
Only five of the 28 applicants helped in three recent years by the state's most powerful lawmaker lived in Madigan's district, and many would not have been admitted on their own merit

Now, the Tribune has been able to identify 28 applicants to the Urbana-Champaign or Chicago campuses backed by Madigan, 23 of whom were accepted for undergraduate studies as well as the law school and graduate programs.

Their relatives made direct campaign contributions totaling $50,000 to Madigan and $65,200 in federal and state donations to the Democratic Party of Illinois, which Madigan chairs. In addition, applicants' relatives sat on the boards of organizations when the groups' political action committees donated another $36,700 to those funds.
The speaker's daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, also received $49,245 from those same individuals and PACs.
Combined, the donations totaled $201,145

At the time of the requests, the people Madigan helped included the relatives of a Chicago alderman, a high-ranking Chicago Police Department official, a Chicago comptroller and an Appellate Court judge. Two of the applicants are related to Madigan himself. About 16.5 percent of the university's operating budget comes from a state appropriation, and Madigan has significant influence over higher education funding.

Madigan's support, conveyed to admissions officials via university lobbyists, helped applicants in a variety of ways. The university reversed 10 denials or probable denials. It allowed four students to appeal, an unadvertised option given to rejected students with powerful patrons. Madigan's office also inquired about seven students who were on wait lists -- all of whom were eventually admitted.

One student associated with Madigan who was admitted off a wait list received an F, two D's and 13 C's during his first three years in high school. Another applicant, who was "moved in" after appealing his rejection and described as "relatively important" by an admissions officer, had missed his first-period class nearly three dozen times in his senior year, according to university records. "The high school counselor was very surprised and not exactly thrilled that he was admitted," the officer wrote in an e-mail to the governmental affairs office.

In response to the latest revelations, Oak Lawn mother Sue Reppen, whose two daughters were denied admission to U. of I. in 2008 and 2009, said: "It is politics as usual. It is pay for play with everybody, even the universities."

Madigan is the most arrogant of all the corrupt politicians in this State. He allowed his favored students to be accepted at U of I in front of more deserving students. I can't think of anything more unfair. These kids worked their butts off in school. They were told if they worked hard they could go to the college of their choice. Then Madigan steps in and pulls the rug out from under them. Why? Because the parents of the favored students donated to his campaigns. He sold the other kids out for a few dollars. That changes the lives of these kids. Who knows what they could have done with the education they would have received at U of I. He gives his own children nothing but the best. But our kids can go to the back of the line. If I was a parent whose kid was rejected, I would not be happy until I saw Madigan behind bars.

CHICAGO GOODFELLAS

Nicholas Calace is a mobbed up city boss. He is using his position to steal from the city. It just goes to show you how deep the corruption runs in this town. We are taking pay cuts. We are about to get hit with a huge increase in our pension payments. We pay huge taxes and fees because we have to live in the city. Meanwhile these guys are stealing the money. Politicians, mobsters, Daley's nephews and friends and every other connected crook in this city are ripping us off. It reminds me of the scene from "Goodfellas" where merchandise is coming in the front door and going straight out the back door. It's all a front to steal from us.

TIMES SQUARE BOMB SUSPECT ARRESTED

GUTIERREZ TAKES HIS TURN IN THE CORRUPTION GAME

He got his daughter jobs and helped her flip an "affordable housing" condo for a profit of $84,000 even though she shouldn't have qualified for affordable housing.

With a $140,000 loan from her parents, Figueroa bought her new two-bedroom, two-bathroom affordable condo in Humboldt Park in June 2008 for $155,000, property records show.

Little more than a year later, she sold it for $239,900 -- $84,900, or 55 percent, more than she'd paid.

Had Figueroa's condo been part of a typical affordable-housing program, that wouldn't have been possible. City of Chicago rules, for instance, now bar affordable-housing buyers from turning big profits when they resell. The rules also require that affordable homes remain affordable -- they can be sold only to buyers who meet income-eligibility guidelines.

Figueroa, 30, referred questions about the condo at 1834 N. Kedzie to her father, the congressman. "My father knows all about that," she said.

For years, Gutierrez -- one of the country's most-prominent immigration reform advocates -- has been investing in real estate, making hundreds of thousands of dollars buying and selling homes in Chicago.

Two of his deals involved developers who have since been convicted of crimes: Tony Rezko and Calvin Boender. Gutierrez was never accused of any wrongdoing in their cases. He bought a condo from Rezko and flipped it for a profit. He also bought property from Boender, selling it at a loss.

When Figueroa bought her condo on June 9, 2008, she and her husband were making $93,828 a year -- $55,620 from her state-government job with the Illinois Commerce Commission and $38,208 from her husband's job with the city Aviation Department.

The 1,221-square-foot duplex is on the first floor, facing the alley. She paid 41 percent less per square foot than the next-cheapest unit, one that's 1,773 square feet and sold for $385,000

Ocasio said he doesn't know exactly how many affordable homes were created under the 26th Ward program, in part because his staff destroyed many of its records when he shut down his aldermanic office.

These HDO guys are the worst. They commit fraud and steal from the public without remorse. They're arrogant when they get caught. Anyone else would go into damage control if they had a story like this come out. These guys say they did nothing wrong. It's not wrong to take housing that was intended for poor people and give it to your daughter and her husband who are making almost 100k a year? Who are they trying to zoom?

STROGER STILL STEALING COUNTY MONEY

What? I thought we voted his ass out of office. Why the hell is he still allowed to steal from us. Eight more months in office? Who the hell came up with that idea? This clown needs to be put under house arrest until the feds can lock him up more permanently.