Chicago -
Tells Jon Stewart That Money Changes Everything
Also reveals Gang of Six initiation rites.
1. Republicans Like Waging War But Don’t Want To Pay For It.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive – Dick Durbin Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
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Posted on August 10, 2011
Banks vs. School Supplies
From the alderman’s August 4 e-mail newsletter (all bolds are his):
Reading this article in Chicago magazine yesterday made me angry.
At the last City Council meeting we passed the Vacant Buildings Ordinance, which Alderman Dowell sponsored. This Ordinance has a simple purpose, as the article says, it’s “designed to get mortgage lenders with a financial stake in vacant foreclosed properties to help keep them from falling into disrepair.”
Everyone knows that vacant properties are a magnet for crime; a blight, which has a detrimental effect on all the other buildings around it.
The 1st Ward has around 60 of these buildings. Some of these buildings are secure and maintained, but some are not. My staff and I work with the police and the relevant City Department to secure or, in extreme cases, demolish these “problem” buildings.
City-wide our vacant building problem is nowhere near as bad as many south and west-side communities. Regardless, I don’t want even one vacant “problem” building in our community.
A representative of Moody’s Investment Service, argued in this article that banks may now lend less because they have to spend money on maintaining vacant properties. This is outrageous.
This argument belies a larger problem with the dialogue happening nationwide about where we’re going as a country. The recent debt ceiling fiasco was absolutely shameful. Austerity can work, but the burden and the pain must be shared and, once again, it wasn’t.
Personally, I don’t think we should even be talking about deficit reduction during such a tepid economic recovery. I’m no populist. I like to think of myself as a realist, but the way the super-wealthy seem to have hijacked our country in recent years is deplorable.
Posted on August 9, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
“The likely loss of unemployment benefits for 3.71 million Americans in a few months will only add to an economy edging ever closer to recession, according to analysis that puts the chances of another downturn at better than 1 in 3,” CNBC reports.
Ever closer to recession? The only way that statement could be true would be if we were on our way back up from a depression.
Another downturn? We’re still down. I don’t understand this talk of a double-dip recession because we’re still in the first dip – and it’s a lot deeper than a dip. In fact, it’s a lot worse than our experts thought.
Posted on August 4, 2011
By Southside Together Organizing For Power
Clip, sign and send – or download your own letter.
And come to our Town Hall Forum this Friday at Mercy Hospital, 2525 S. Michigan Ave., in the Joyce Auditorium (2nd floor) at 5:30 p.m.
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Dear Mayor Rahm Emanuel:
I write you as a taxpayer and voter in the City of Chicago who is very concerned about the sparse mental health services in our city and the constant threats of closure and privatization. As you prepare to balance the City’s budget, we need you to know that closing our clinics because of budget difficulties or any other reason would be dangerous, irresponsible, unnecessary and immoral.
Posted on August 3, 2011
By Kiljoong Kim
In today’s discussion of increasing economic inequality, the rich are usually represented in the media by celebrities, athletes and entrepreneurs with extraordinary incomes and consumption habits. But scores of the super-rich live amongst us without getting their names in the newspapers or their faces on TV.
Just who are these people? Let’s take a look.
Posted on July 29, 2011
By The Beachwood Bobblehead Affairs Desk
“The White Sox already have Mullet Night and Dog Day. Now add ‘Mayor Daley Night’ to the list,” the Sun-Times reports.
“The South Side club announced Tuesday that it will honor one of the team’s most prominent fans at the Aug. 3rd game against the New York Yankees.”
The Beachwood has learned the following events are planned:
Posted on July 27, 2011
By Steve Rhodes
It was interesting that the Sun-Times saw fit to publish U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley’s remarks on Tuesday on the floor of the House about the debt ceiling, in which he cited Ronald Reagan’s admonishment to Congress in 1983 to raise the ceiling or face drastic consequences.
In fact, Quigley says, Reagan asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling 18 times during his presidency.
Interesting, because our current president once faced the same question as a United States Senator and his response was quite different than that of Reagan, Quigley or his present day self.
Posted on July 21, 2011
By Russia Today
With alleged whistleblower Thomas Drake on trial for leaking classified info to the media, why is the Obama administration cracking down on disclosing the truth when the Commander-in-Chief has long lauded running a transparent presidency?
Posted on July 18, 2011
A Reality Check
“In the heart of Lakeview, the soul of Boystown is roiled,” Laura Washington wrote this week for the Sun-Times amid a flurry of commentary about the neighborhood.
“Over the July 4 weekend, a midnight street brawl among a dozen or so young people hospitalized a 25-year-old man and fed fear and outrage among community residents and business owners. It was the third violent attack in the area in recent weeks, according to news reports.
“It’s been a long time coming. For years, the neighborhood has been plagued by security concerns, racial antipathies, transgender intolerance, economic divides, business consequences, political gamesmanship and dysfunctional behaviors.”
Posted on July 15, 2011
By Gerry Mander
“Surrounded by fields that grow corn, soybeans, melons and potatoes, this tiny rural village is 65 miles from Chicago but light years away from the big city. Still, St. Anne and a lot of the farm country around it has now been dragged into the metropolis as part of an ambitious political strategy focused on the 2012 national elections,” AP reports.
“A new census-based political map drawn by the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature, and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, has taken swaths of suburban and rural Illinois and added them to the districts of veteran Chicago Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Jackson Jr., who could be St. Anne’s next representative.
“The move was one of the boldest by the national political parties this year as they sought to benefit by changing political boundaries.”
Let’s let C.G.P. Grey explain.
Posted on July 14, 2011
