From Peach Pundit...

PeachPundit.com is a community political blog from the Peach State, Georgia. Almost like Georgia's version of Illinoize.

Anyway they report that a State Senator whose wife is from Colombia is being sought by immigrations authorities. This is what happened...

In the statement, [Sen. Curt Thompson of Norcross] said his wife is the victim of a “notario.” In some Latin American countries a “notario” is an esteemed lawyer; in the U.S. it translates into notary public. Some U.S. “notarios” misrepresent themselves as lawyers and often file incomplete and improper immigration applications for unsuspecting clients.

Wow, if you're not on the ball, WATCH OUT!!!

I was watching Dorothy Brown on a podcast...

Of a cable access show I never get to see Jeff Berkowitz' Public Affairs. I have no idea of it is seen on CAN-TV, but I got a nice helping of this show thanks to the Illinois Channel's streaming of some episodes as web exclusive content during the recent elections.

He was interviewing Dorothy Brown, currently Cook County Circuit Court Clerk who is seeking to replace Mayor Daley next year as Mayor of Chicago (You can see more podcasts here). When they got to the issue of education it was interesting how Berkowitz broke is down to Ms. Brown and the audience. I'm going to attempt to illustrate that here.

Berkowitz take out a wad of cash from his pocket, then he pulls out a backpack. In illustrating his point for school voucher he places the cash into the backpack illustrating that the child's parents can take this cash with them and use it towards a private school. So I guess Berkowitz was saying public money not for the schools but the kids.

Well, this is something I support. I should be able to use my tax dollars and that money that would otherwise go to a public school should go with my child if I decide that s/he will go to a private school.

Now according to Berkowitz vouchers and choice are said to be popular in the black community. Not to say I'm skeptical but I would honestly like to see a poll indicating this fact. At that point the politicians and others should listen.

Perhaps at some point, I'll take more about this subject.

US Currency unfair to blind people...

This was a ruling from a US federal district court. It doesn't say what circuit but Judge James Robertson has ruled that the government has denied blind people meaningful access to money. The Department of the Treasury has 10 days to find ways to allow blind people to differentiate the denominations of bills. Here's a little of the story from FOXNews.com...

He said he wouldn't tell officials how to fix the problem, but he ordered them to begin working on it within 10 days. The American Council of the Blind has proposed several options, including printing bills of differing sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper or using raised ink.

"Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations," Robertson wrote. "More than 100 of the other issuers vary their bills in size according to denomination, and every other issuer includes at least some features that help the visually impaired."

Government attorneys argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the size of the bills or add texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Robertson was not swayed.

"The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable," he wrote.

He said the government was violating the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs. The opinion came after a four-year legal fight.

This just means that the Treasury just have to find ways to make it more easier for the blind to use money but make sure that counterfeiters can't be able to copy US Currency.

How did Patrick Fitzgerald come to Illinois...

Watch former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald talk about the process of nominating Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation) as the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. A real interesting story Patrick didn't take it seriously at first, he thought it was a joke. Anyway take a look at this video from the Illinois Channel.

I had written a little about the US Attorney on Saturday.

How Republican Are You?

Here's another political blogthing. I posted one a couple of months ago or so. Remember people this is just for fun. Which ever political party you may belong too, it's not that serious.

You Are 44% Republican

You aren't a full fledged Republican yet, but it's probably the party that fits you best. You probably consider yourself an independent Republican. You usually support the party, but you also think for yourself!

How Republican Are You?

Patrick Fitzgerald for Governor???

The US Attorney for Northern Illinois has been in office since 2001. He's originally from New York (Brooklyn in fact) and indeed was involved in many high profile cases in that part of the country. I mean look (thanks to Wikipedia)...

After practicing civil law, Fitzgerald became an Assistant United States Attorney in New York City in 1988. He handled drug-trafficking cases and in 1993 assisted in the prosecution of Mafia figure John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family.[4] In 1994, Fitzgerald became the prosecutor in the case against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others charged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[5]

In 1996, Fitzgerald became the National Security Coordinator for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There, he served on a team of prosecutors investigating Osama bin Laden.[6] He also served as chief counsel in prosecutions related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

And then he comes to Illinois. Successfully convicts a former Governor and went to Washington to be involved in an investigation of the Bush Administration (see the Plame Affair). And then I look at the post election analysis of the recent state elections in Illinois by Russ Stewart and I find this line...

The slam-dunk winner in 2010 would be U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, if he ran for governor as a Republican.

This has been thrown out there a lot. I kind of question why he would being that he is from New York. I don't know, it seems like an intriguing prospect. The question is will it happen?

I get the feeling that it won't. He doesn't seem like he's really interested in running for a political office. And I imagine he'll have some enemies thanks to his activities as a US Attorney in Illinois.

If he does the only asset he has right now is that the public really doesn't know him. The only thing those of us might know about him is not his political ambitions but his activities as US Attorney. He isn't very boisterous for sure and that's OK especially for a prosecutor with the ability to put away some powerful people. Then again we'll see what he does when he makes the switch to politics.

BTW, when 2010 rolls around who might come out the woodworks to take on Blagojevich. A little early, but thank goodness that 2008 is coming around. That's when Americans WILL be looking for a new President.

Happy holidays everyone.

Should we be surprised???

Todd Stroger, the President-elect of the Cook County Board said he was going to fire Gerald Nichols who was John Stroger's (his father and former Cook County Board President)Patronage Chief, but now the Sun-Times reports that Stroger is going to keep him on the payroll...

"I'm going to bring Gerald on to help me figure out who's who and what's what," said Stroger, who takes office next week. "He obviously knows everybody in the county, I don't care what people say. Tell me somebody who doesn't know who Gerald Nichols is."

Stroger insists Nichols, a longtime boss in Stroger's 8th Ward political organization, will still be fired in January. But until then, "I don't see any reason not to find out what he knows about what's going on."

[Bobbie]Steele earlier said Nichols, as special assistant to President John Stroger, would sort mail and similar duties, but "we were unable to verify a real job description" for him.

This is what his former opponent Commissioner Tony Peraica and Commissioner Mike Quigley had to say and Todd's response to that...

Commissioner Tony Peraica, who ran against Stroger, said bringing Nichols back, no matter how briefly, breaks a campaign promise.

"It's the first sign showing the deception played on the voters," he said. "Gerald Nichols knows how to take advantage of county government and its taxpayers to perpetuate the political machine."

Commissioner Mike Quigley, who backed Stroger, said "there are plenty of other folks who know how the county operates and could probably advise him for free."

Stroger is unwavered.

"Maybe they ought to be president," he said of critics.

The OJ Simpson special is cancelled...

The first I saw of it was at the Illinois Channel blog.

Then FOX News Channel has a story up.

And before I saw that there was a post over at BareKnucklePolitics.com.

Rupert Murdoch the CEO of NewsCorp, the parent company of FOX News Channel and the FOX Network to name a few properties was right when he said this was an ill considered project. And I would point at OJ Simpson himself and say that he probably should let this go. Maybe he's enjoying the infamy a little too much.

BTW, I knew there was to be a TV special had no idea another NewsCorp property Harper Books was to publish to book presenting a hypothetical situation about if OJ murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. In the 10 years since the OJ Simpson trial has concluded it still manages to get press.

What is up?

Michael Richard's racist act...

Well check out this act by Michael Richards. He must have been out of the spotlight too long since Seinfeld went off the air in 1998 because he just so happened to have thrown some racial epitaphs around in his act. And the aftermath cause some in the audience to get out of that club on this night. And I can't say I'd blame him. Check the video out.

EDIT: FOXNews.com has the story.

PS: I posted it here at first. Whenever I'm not able to post here (thanks to some problems with Blogger) look there. Blogger Beta is proving to be a little bit more reliable.

UPDATE: From BareKnucklePolitics.com and the same video and hopefully more lasting than the other link.

I found another great video blog

Video Journal from the Spokesman Review. A photographer tries his hand at making videos. Check out his first post. And check out this recent piece of video. I think you will like most of what is presented here.

The Spokesman Review is based in Spokane, Washington and I found this videoblog on VlogMap.

County GOP Calls For Bipartisan Election Committee

I saw the video to this as well. And I found this article from CBS2Chicago. Should there be a bi-partisan committee to oversee elections in Cook County essentially stripping away the job of David Orr, the current Cook County Clerk?

They talked about Commissioner Tony Peraica and his antics on Election night when he lead a march to the County's election headquarters. The chairman of the Cook County GOP says it wasn't a good idea.

Still I wonder if there are problems with the voting machines in Cook County and if there needs to be another system put in place. We shall see but for now the Clerk will continue in his capacity for the forseeable future. And that means the Cook County GOP will have to put some teeth into what they seek.

Star Trek fan films...

Well I got turned onto this with the fan film, Starship Exter. There are now to be three episodes with the second one in only it's second act with the conclusion coming soon (hopefully). I was pretty impressed with it.

Then I got turned on the Star Trek: The New Voyages. A new take on the original series. I like it but to be honest I can do without the embellishments of the original series characters. They seem to do imitations rather than a fresh take on these characters. I can honest do without that bad wig on the man who plays Captain James T. Kirk.

Rest assured though these are the only criticisms that I offer. If you thirst for Star Trek beyond what is produced from Paramount Pictures. The next film is to be released in 2008 and who knows when the next series might be launched. There are always DVDs of Star Trek films and TV episodes but for something original you've got Starship Exeter and New Voyages.

I haven't seen them all but I would recomment the episode from New Voyages, In Harm's Way. With this episode we see Kirk's predecessor Capt. Christopher Pike take on a fight with Kirk but on two different episdoes. See how.

Two items from Rober Feder's Column

This is Robert Feder's column here.

First off I barely remember when Roy Leonard would host some holiday special on WGN for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I didn't notice when he retired back in 1998. But at 75 he's back but this time on WGN radio. I never knew that for 31 he was also at WGN radio.

Well he's coming back to bring back his feature "Turkeys of the Year"...

Roy Leonard, who served up Chicago's "Turkeys of the Year" every Thanksgiving Day for decades on WGN-AM (720), is bringing them back with relish. The legendary broadcast personality, who retired from the Tribune Co.-owned news/talk station in 1998, has agreed to return with a new crop of gobblers, bestowing his honors on the overhyped show-biz bombs and pop-culture flameouts of the past year.

He'll turn up from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday with host Nick Digilio as part of "The WGN Thanksgiving Buffet," an array of special programming (and highlights from the station's archives), airing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Well Mancow has been around since his show is no longer aired in Chicago. Over the summer Q101 decided to take him off the air and work on a new morning program for their station, while Mancow continues to be heard nationwide. Not that this has slowed him down. He's still busy. Check out his latest project...

As hinted here, William Shatner will turn up on "Planet Mancow," the one-hour special on Fox News Channel hosted by Chicago-based radio personality Mancow Muller. It will air at 8 and 11 p.m. Saturday.

In addition to Shatner, who'll talk about the legacy of "Star Trek," Muller's guests will include a 9/11 conspiracy theorist and a New York firefighter who was at Ground Zero.

A 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Hmm that sounds like Mancow to me.

I was looking on LexisNexis today and I found this...

I rarely read John Kass but from what I have seen I generally like his columns. Unfortuately this isn't timely enough. This column was written back in June.

Still I really like this column. Let me set it up for you.

Over the summer a Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy was driving while intoxicated and was stopped by police after hitting a barricade near Capitol Hill in Washington. Here's a story about that from BreitBart.com.

So apparently Rep. Kennedy wants to be treated no different that a black person who just so happened to be in the Washington neighborhood of Anacostia. He said so. Look it...

He said he's prepared to endure "bookings, in terms of mug shots, fingerprints, whatever they might have me do."

"It's what anyone else would have done to them if they were an African-American in Anacostia," Kennedy said.

Near the end, he just so happened to talk to a former felon, Wallace "Gator" Bradley...

Wallace "Gator" Bradley, the former felon (since pardoned) and former muscle guy for the Disciples street gang. Gator has since gone into politics, and he remains a friend of imprisoned Disciple kingpin Larry Hoover.

"Kennedy wants to be treated like a black man by the police?" Gator asked me.

Yes.

"You're crazy," Gator said.

Maybe, but that's what he said.

"If he wanted to be treated like a black man, since he smashed up the Capitol, he should be prosecuted by a federal prosecutor. How you think he'd like that?"

Not very much.

"If a black man smashes up the Capitol, he's treated like a terrorist, and the feds would be all over him. But they didn't even give Kennedy a Breathalyzer. So he didn't get treated like a black man. He got treated like a Kennedy, dig?"

Word up.

"And there was Ted Kennedy and the woman drowned and he took off. A black man would still be in prison. Instead, he's a senator. How does that work?"

If you can read please do so. Perhaps you might like the dig he takes at Cynthia McKinney towards the end. It was pretty good.

I was trying to find some information...

On the black sub machine of years past.

Well you may want to know what that means. In the beginning of the Chicago Democratic Machine roughly when Anton Cermak became mayor of Chicago having started the Democratic Machine it was considered unacceptable for blacks to actually join the regular Democrats so somewhere along the way developed a submachine of the regular machine. William Dawson who was a congressman was a head of this machine and his influence went beyond his ward in Bronzeville. It went to other black areas around the city.

Eventually Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was seeking power decided to break Dawson's power as head of the black submachine and disperse it amongst other blacks. But I wanted to do a little bit better than this little blurb going on some knowledge that I have read in books or even using google. It was interesting to see the machine develop and evolve reading the biography of Mayor Richard J. Daley.

Either way I found something more interesting. Reading Mayor Harold Washington talk about Chicago politics. I just ran across this site from e-Black Chicago. It's some interesting reading and he touches upon the Democratic Machine and Williams Dawson then goes on to talk about blacks as a voting bloc up until his time. It made for interesting reading unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the videos.

Perhaps at some point I will do some further research of this black submachine.

Blog news as of November 14, 2006

So if you can tell I've been making some subtle changes. If you click on the permalinks (in this case the blog post's time of posting) you will be able to see the item page of the post. Above the date of the post you will see a pair of links that will either point you back to the blog's homepage or to a later post. I would like to thank Blogger-Templates for that.

Also an old feature has made its return. The blog was for the most part up until the summer graced with a clock and a weather widget. Well when I couldn't help but experiment with some Blogger-Templates, I felt that I haven't any room until now. So for this minute you can tell what time it is. And I do believe the time is in central time so figure your time from there.

Also you can look to the bottom of the blog's home page and see a series of links. Links to the blogs I currently post to (let me preferace this by saying that I don't own Illinoize, I just post there currently). Also links to my bookmarks at Digg, Del.icio.us, and Magnolia. I've been thinking about changing the actual bookmark service to be places in my Feedburner feed. Digg's categories proves itself to be inflexible for my taste. I like Del.icio.us and Magnolia better although I use Del.icio.us for more frivolous links and Magnolia has a similar system but I have yet to use it (and that will change).

Also the last update I made is that you can subscribe to some items I bookmark when I use Google Reader. The link is to a feed, because when I link to the actual site which shows my links it never seems to work and I'm never able to see everything. So if you want to see what I read subscribe to what I read through Google. Hopefully you'll find it interesting.

That should do it. Enjoy.

EDIT: Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I added some Feedburner flare near the post of each post. Hopefully it will make it convient to either bookmark the blog posts or to subscribe to the feed. Take advantage while you can.

Hmm, another videoblog related post...

Well check out my "videoblog" over at My Mind's Eye. A video experiment of sorts except that it's actually original. I made good on my promise to provide some video of my California vacation in 2005. And expect there to be more video, I just can't tell you when I will be finished editing the video and when I'll actually post them online.

Hopefully I'll do more video and not just of vacations. Indeed not just for the sake of frivolity. Right now I'm just in the stage to experiment and really figure out what I need to do with video. I probably won't show off like I've seen so many out in the vloggosphere.

BTW, one of my favorite videoblogs from last year The Southern Video Blog hasn't posted but one video this year. A good one with a message. He seemed to have a good year in 2005 and then all the sudden he stopped posting video. And since August of last year he's only posted two including one back in June of this year.

So for those of you reading this blog, I want you to have a look at the archives. If you like what you see let him know that YOU want to see more. Hopefully he will respond. If he doesn't well there must be some other things going on in his life.

I really hope that you enjoy what he presents.

A TNA Show Cancelled in Connecticut

I saw this on 1Wrestling.com. It is often my favorite source for wrestling news. I haven't gotten into TNA wrestling but if you believe this report perhaps WWE is threated. BTW, I should mention that WWE is based in Stamford, Connecticut. Check out this blurb...

Tonight's TNA show in Connecticut has been cancelled after building inspectors showed up and refused to allow the show to take place. Several police cars were also dispatched to the show. Fans outside the building are chanting "F*** Vince McMahon".

TNA is filming fan reaction outside the building. Several TNA wrestlers who had arrived at the building early are outside signing autographs and talking to fans.

The cancellation of tonight's show follows the move yesterday from the original building after a similar problem with building inspectors. The problem with tonight's building involved a different inspector from a different town. Among the violations he cited was a crack in one of the Exit signs.

It's not clear who made the phone calls to building inspectors, but one of the police officers told one of the TNA officials on site, "You know you have a competitor up here who isn't making your life easy".

Tonight's show was scheduled to be the first show run by TNA in Connecticut.

Of course I should add that WWE is denying that they had anything to do with it.

The world of video blogs

I've been looking at this type of blogging since the spring of 2005 and the links in the Vlogroll basically reflect that. Most of those "vlogs" I have discovered during that time. The others I have found much more recently.

Lately I've been going through links from VlogMap. It always seems to be an expanding universe and even better I like how these sites are designed and indeed the talent of those who are videoblogging. It's about as much substance as it could be style.

From this point on I want to make picks of those that I think you might enjoy. Yeah they're over in the vlogroll and a few I have annouced to be added and while I'll still add a few to the vlogroll there are some that I will pick out here. OK.

So let's get started...

Josh Leo's Vlog
The Sports Vlog
RST and V
90 Seconds of Dave
Vlogging All-Stars

Oh yeah if you wanna know more about vlogging there's a website that will give you a few pointers FreeVlog.com.

Hmm, I wonder how they find me

I just found out today that I'm linked at this website CommunityExtra.com. The system is difficult to decipher but I was able able to find the exact page that had a link to my blog. I found them using my site meter on this blog.

It seems like this site serves the south side neighborhoods of Morgan Park, Washington Heights, and East Beverly. Well if you are here though that website please let me know by leaving me a comments OK. It helps if I know who exactly is reading this blog.

Today is Veteran's Day!!!

Yeah I didn't even realize it until I saw a post commemorating this day over at Instapundit. So far this blog has actually seen it's first election day and it's second Veteran's Day. I'd probably would notice this more if this hadn't of been a Saturday. Not that it would have mattered since Beyond high school (especially in the public schools) or in certain industries this wouldn't have been much of a holiday or a day off.

Either way think of our veterans today. And have a good one.

Black L.A. firefighter served dog food gets $2.7 million

This is so messed up. I was going to just link to this but no, I'll just post it and make sure this is seen. This seems like a practical joke, even if it was racially motivated. Have a look, this from a Sun-Times article...

In his lawsuit, firefighter Tennie Pierce, 51, said after he took a bite of the meal two years ago, he noticed other firefighters laughing. He demanded to know what was in the food after a second bite but nobody answered.

Pierce said he suffered retaliation for reporting the incident and verbal slurs, insults and derogatory remarks, including taunting by firefighters ''barking like dogs [and] asking him how dog food tasted,'' the lawsuit said.

David Wellman, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz hired by Pierce's attorney, said the association of a black man and dog food ''resonates with the deep historical roots of slavery and the corresponding dehumanization.''

''It's not just silly stuff. It's racially motivated,'' he said.

As part of the settlement, the two captains involved were given one month off without pay, and a firefighter was ordered off work for three days without pay.

''I truly hope that my case will make a difference for African-Americans in the Los Angeles Fire Department,'' Pierce said in a statement.

I posted three public questions...

Over at Illinoize on November 1st. These questions are ideologically loaded. I kind of wonder how they got on the ballot. The first one was really designed to cause a particular result...

For the health and saftey of children and the entire community, shall the state of Illinois enact a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, sale, delievery, and possession of military style assault weapons and .50 caliber rifles?

Well anyway there's another post about these questions from the blog Second City Cop. It is outright called a "waste of ballot space". This is what was said about the first question...

The first one read "For the sake of the children..." should Illinois ban .50 caliber weapons? We'd like to present a list of all the children killed in Illinois by .50 caliber weapons: [ ]

Now we'd like to present a list of all the adults killed by .50 caliber weapons in the state of Illinois in the past 100 years: [ ]

And just to give everyone a sense of proportion, he's a list of every single United States citizen killed by a .50 caliber round upon US soil: [ ]

If this ballot "initiative" doesn't prove that Representative and Chicago cop Edward Acevedo is nothing but an empty suit seeking headlines and antigun credentials, we don't know what is. Hey Eddie? Legal firearms don't kill people. Look it up.

And this is what he had to say about the three questions in general...

How about we have a couple referendums about pension funding? Low bid contracting? Having the wife of the governor rack up a cool hundred grand for selling 4 houses during the course of the year, one or more to close political allies who landed jobs for relatives shortly thereafter?

You know, something that might make a difference?

He got almost 17 more responses than I did in posting these questions at Illinoize. But the good thing is I'm definitely not the only one that felt that way when I saw this.

The Stroger Beat

Well it appears that the nomination of the former County Board President John Stroger back in March and the nomination of his son over the summer to replace him on the ticket may have some ramifications for the mayoral election next year. I'm gonna lift a quote from The Capitol Fax Blog...

Peraica’s loss, or, rather, the sight of the Chicago machine hauling first John and then Todd Stroger across the finish line undoubtedly contributed to the decision by Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Luis Gutierrez not to run for mayor next year, no matter what they say. If the machine can nominate a stroke victim and elect his not exactly over-qualified son, then doze guys can do just about anything… Except evade the feds.

A federal grand jury is demanding records from City Hall regarding injury claims of city workers, a move that comes two weeks after the Sun-Times reported Chicago patronage workers claim to be hurt at a rate that exceeds the nation’s most dangerous jobs.

Also noted was that Peraica lost his race for the county board presidency by about a 100, 000 votes. Much better than Topinka for Governor who lost by 470,000. He did retain his county board seat though.

I just had to add the additional stuff about the feds. This was what the election should have been about, but voters had to have held their noses in this election. A lot of people complained about Peraica's antics during that time the count appeared that he was losing. Some even going so far to say they're not that disappointed he lost.

One thing I can say is this guy came out swinging. Something I wouldn't mind seeing a lot more politicians do. I suppose the question is that you have to know when.

Michael Steele for Republican National Chairman?

Thanks to the Washington Post political blog The Fix, I read that defeated Republican US Senate Candidate Michael Steele may become a candidate for the Republican National Committee Chairmanship. This would be an interested development for the Maryland Lt. Governor who lost his Senate bid last night to Maryland Rep. Ben Cardin. It should be said that this is an interesting development.

For me last night Steele's defeat wasn't the first disappointment. Seeing the defeat of Ken Blackwell for Governor of Ohio and Rep. Harold Ford for US Senate in Tennessee. Deval Patrick has won his election for governor of Massachusettes, however.

Todd Stroger

It appears that 2006 is his time. He won his cloase race against Peraica. Very disappointed but what can I say the nature of our system. People who shouldn't win or isn't qualified to be in a certain office will get in. I try not to complain.

I still tend to believe he's a lightweight but believe Mary Mitchell's column today race trumped all the negative that the Alderman has against him. Democrats really held firm with their nominee for County Board President just like they did no doubt with Governor Blagojevich. But it was going to be a victory for them.

So at the County, this is going to be an interesting four years. Let's see what President-elect Stroger is going to do with his position now that he's got it. And just think in four years we'll do it all over again.

So I guess congratulations to President-elect Stroger is in order. I really didn't think he'd make it. He should really bless his lucky stars.

To expose my biases here...

A disappointing night. It's not the end of the world. There were some races I wish were won, but there not and what can I say that's politics. I just know that in a few years there will be another election and hopefully the right people will succeed in ways they couldn't this time.

To start Topinka was never my first choice as far as Republican challengers go, but she was going to be the one to beat Blagojevich. I get the sense that a lot of people around the state don't like him but most of them voted for him. This was not a landslide by any means. It seems he started off very high but as time went on it was almost 49 to 40 percent for Blagojevich for re-election. He didn't get one more than half for a majority, which doesn't indicate to me that he's very popular, but what counts at least in Illinois is that if you get a higher percent than your opponent you win your race.

The county board race in Cook County we'll have to see. For President Peraica is losing and he's barely squeaking past his opponent for his county board seat (Thanks Capitol Fax Blog). It looks like though that he isn't willing to concede yet, so we'll have to see how this will look. I would be very disappointed if Ald. Todd Stroger wins this race for County Board President.

As for the US Congress, well the House of Representatives is called for the Democrats. I haven't really been following the Congressional Races, mainly because it's not my interest. But things are going to be interesting since Democrats have control of the lower house of Congress. And remember this is only for two years. If this election was a referendum on President Bush well it has been proven in the house. There are some things for sure to be concerned about especially the war in Iraq and other things.

If Republicans are disappointed in these results they should consider this a kick in the pants. Democrats should really not rest on their laurels. It's going to take more than this election for them to really gloat (at least the national Democrats). But I guess all I can say is watch and see.

Other than that I must say that for the most part this is the first election day this blog has ever seen. Perhaps not a very triumphant day, but the lead up was interesting. And guess what there's going to be even more speculation and predictions galore.

So I suppose until next election day. And I'm talking about the Chicago municipal elections and then the next Presidential election year both primary and general election. Bring it on.

An interesting Election Day Vlog

Well I wish there was some video from around Chicago or Illinois but for this moment I'll have to settle for Los Angeles California. Check out the blog Out on the Stoop. And these two posts that I have recorded at my Google Links. If there are any problems I plan to do something about this ASAP.

My Election Day - Part One
Election Anger - Part Two

She tries to vote at her polling place and doesn't get to because she just so happens to carry her camcorder with her. She explains it in detail.

Cobb: Black politics at the Tipping Point

I have got to share this article from Cobb. It's pretty good and I've been pondering this for a while. He talks about the five black candidates seeking important state wide offices in the nation this year (three running for governor and two running for the US Senate). He bounces of off a negative editorial from the Huffington Post.

Check out some of Cobb's comments...

None of these candidates are rookies. They have the qualities and experiences that have gained them the trust, support and money from their parties to be the leading candidates for these important offices in a mid-term election that is one of the most contested in decades. They aren't on a 'quest to be embraced by the mainstream', they're at the top of their game. They are seeking to be the top dogs of their states.

This seems to be beyond the ability of some to recognize. The expectations of these top dog politicians to guide the functioning economies of these states and to shape US policy is subordinated to the needs of those desperate few clinging to rhetorical hope?

This kind of position raises an important question about the crabs-in-a-barrel factor of black politics. Is African America at this point in our history willing to abandon support of these men for the sake of those who cannot graduate from highschool? I think that there are plenty more able candidates that will come forward in the years to come, but this year is a referendum on whether or not they should seek the support of the apparently sizeable fraction of the black electorate who see themselves in a zero-sum contest with the mainstream, whose focus in on inner-city crises and want to march and march and march.

Chances are that all those guys aren't going to realize their ambition to lead in the offices they have chosen to pursue. It won't be because they are not qualified. It won't be because they are black. But it may be because they don't have the support of an overwhelming majority of black voters. If so, it could be the death knell for black racial politics as we know it. Clearly, black folks are not united behind black candidates. The voices are clear who are saying that there should be different standards by which black candidates are judged and rewarded, and those voices are coming from the black electorate. That voice is saying, forget your America, deal with my America - the America of inner-city dysfunction. But the ghetto is not black America. That's a sad place for black political demands to be tied, especially considering that the majority of African Americans are already in the mainstream of the middle class. Apparently, there's not quite enough pride in that accomplishment, which is why folks like Lamell McMorris speak as they do - to remind black candidates, with a black voice, that the ghetto calls.

Civil Rights is done. Voting Rights are guaranteed. If anyone should know it, it is Deval Patrick who is not running for Civil Rights Commissioner, but Governor. He's already been in the Civil Rights business under Clinton. And now that Harvard lawyer has moved on. Shouldn't the rest of the black electorate?

There is a time and a place for everything under the sun. According to some blackfolks, the time for African American candidates to lead the country will not come until the ghetto is no more. Instead of being championed as leaders in the greatest nation on Earth, these candidates are rejected for not playing ghetto games. I think blackfolks will all come to regret the day in November 2006 when so many sat home pouting in antipathy to the uppity Negroes who dared to be great.

It's election day tomorrow...

I wish I had thought about this flash movie earlier. And it seems to have been around for a while too. I found this back in 2004 and it's still out there. This animation is courtesy of Glenn Beck. You should get a laugh out of it.

Garza picks up Jackson endorsement

Correction it wasn't Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. but his father Jesse Jackson. My goof and corrected accordingly.

Are you kidding me? Rev. Jesse Jackson (who was described in the Sun-Times article as a Democratic stalwart) has endorsed the Republican nominee for Cook County Sheriff, Peter Garza. He is running against Tom Dart who is currently chief of staff of the current sheriff Michael Sheehan. In Jackson's statement...

In a statement, Jackson pointed to Garza's accomplishments as an investigator in the state's attorney's office, including investigations that led to arrests of a child sex offender and three people for environmental crimes.

Just right up in the election. If I recall correctly there was some grumbling about Tom Dart who just so happens to be a resident of the 19th Ward along with his boss Sheehan. Some black political players wanted to slate a black candidate for Sheriff but that wasn't to be and Dart got the nod. We'll see if this will get Garza elected.

Visit Garza's website.

Take a look at the Cook County GOP homepage...

Now this was even better than what I blogged about back in March of this year. I thought that the Cook County GOP was grandstanding back in March when they decided to go after Chicago Democrats over the political use of their alderman's ward service offices. This time they catch Ald. Todd Stroger's campaign snatching signs for his opponent Tony Peraica.

For right now it appears there isn't a direct link (check the homepage now) and hopefully there will be because this is actually a good story and this has caused me to do an about face on the Cook County GOP as far as their methods. There will be a few that may raise a few questions but this is probably needed to put some fight in an increasingly endangered species in Cook County, a Republican.

So who knows if this will work for the Cook County GOP or not. Here's a little excerpt...

CHICAGO - The Cook County Republican Party is making unannounced weekly visits to aldermanic service centers to determine if campaign activity is being conducted from taxpayer funded ward offices. During the rounds this week, the Cook GOP caught Todd Stroger's campaign red-handed stealing Tony Peraica signs.

With the dissolution of the patronage armies, the Stroger campaign has had to rent vans and hire staff to place political signs. These official campaign workers are apparently also told to remove Tony Peraica signs.

Pictures were taken of one of these rented white Ryder vans in front of Stroger's official campaign headquarters. A photo was also taken of the interior of the van with Peraica signs scattered on the floor.

Clearly the Cook County GOP is the upstart here. They've got plenty of work to do and they're on the right track on the issues of corruption. And we'll see how Peraica and the Cook County GOP ticket will fare on Tuesday.

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death

He's been on trial for it seems like for the three years since he's been out of power, and it's going on three years since he was captured after he lost control of Iraq. This morning I wake up and found that he was sentenced to be hung after his trial. He was tried for the 1982 murders of Shiites in the city of Dujail.

Of course this was one of many crimes of the Hussein's regime. There were plenty of mass graves found in Iraq. We saw video of how his regime treated people mainly the videos of men getting their fingers chopped and men getting thrown off of building (not very tall but they still got thrown off). Oh and there are those who allege that he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction, well he did kill some Kurds back in 1988 with some chemical weapons.

Agree or disagree with the current campaign in Iraq, I will say that the world is better off without him. After all they didn't call him the butcher of Baghdad for nothing.

How the Butcher of Baghdad was given free rein from The Age dated Jan 24, 2003

A legislative profile

This was a good program that thanks to the internet I get to see when I wasn't able to. This program was recorded in March of 2006. Illinois Channel interviews Sen. Frank Watson from Greenville, Illinois. He is the Illinois Senate Republican leader, who just so happens to be a pharmacist by trade.

I really like how he goes into some of his personal history. He even goes into how the two major parties are different. I really like how he articulates the Republican Party's vision as opposed to what is considered the typical Democratic Party Vision. I also really like how he goes into his leadership style. Dissent is allowed and his caucus in the Illinois Senate is very open.

Well whether you agree with him or not I have no doubt that you might like to see this. I do with there were more of these and hopefully there will be more of these programs from the Illinois Channel.

Oh yeah the duration of this program is about 35 minutes.

Checks and Balances...

I didn't know that some people would vote this way, but this is something worth looking at. Rush Limbaugh took a call on his show from a person who was talking about how people will vote for the opposite party of the President in Congress. Or that they will vote for someone of the opposite partys in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. So I'll just let some of this transcript do the talking...

CALLER: I have tried to explain this to friends and coworkers. I grew up in Ohio, but I also lived in Florida for about six years, and framingly [sic] enough I've heard from several different people the concept of, well, regardless of who is in charge of White House, whether it be a Democrat or Republican, that they chose to vote the opposite party into power in the House of Representatives for a checks and balances, without realizing that there's already checks and balances in place, so I thought maybe if it was coming from you it might be a little bit more persuasive to say, "Don't do that, it's not very smart."

RUSH: Well, see, I understand that sentiment. I don't think there are that many people out there. The media has put that notion out there, and they've done it for a number years. They tried it in 2002 and 2004 in the sense it would be good. "We have one-party rule. Why, that leads to corruption and leads to people becoming out of touch in Washington." They love one-party rule when it's them. The only reason they're against one-party rule is because they're not the party, and so they're trying to say it leads to all kinds of bad things. But that means they don't trust the democratic process. The democratic process delivers what it delivers, and if it delivers a Republican dominated House and Senate and a Republican president, then that's representative democracy at work.

That is what you get in a representative republic, and to sit there and complain about it is to complain about the system itself. I'll tell you what, Sean. I do not believe that Joe Six-Pack voter or Susie six-pack voter, when they walk into the voting booth says, especially in a congressional election, "We've got President Bush. I think we need Democrats to counter it," especially Republican voters. If Republican voters don't vote Republican this year, it has nothing to do with wanting divided government or checks and balances. That's not how people think when they vote. There may be some nabobs that do that, but it's such a small number as to be inconsequential.

If people vote against Republicans who normally vote for them it's going to be simply because they're mad at them, and I think that misses the point, too. There's so many things that are consequential here, and I've heard a lot of people say, "Rush, it's a mistake to go out there, and you should have been leading the charge in telling people what Republicans stand for, the lower taxes and all that." I have, and those things are working, and it's been an effort to try to convince people the economy is in great shape precisely because of those policies that we conservatives have long advocated: low taxes. We haven't gotten the smaller government. But I can't go out there.

Well he goes on and on after this about what this election is about according to the Democrats and he mentions a foreign reporter in this too.

It hasn't been often that naturally we see some form of divided government. We can talk about the Republican Congress fron 1995 to 2001 while Bill Clinton was President. Perhaps we can talk about the Senate changing from Republican to Democrat (because Sen. James Jeffords switch from Republican to Independent resulting in a composition of 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and 1 Independent) during the first two years or so of the Bush Administration.

I can even point to the composition of the Illinois General Assembly. In 1995 and two years after that the Republicans were in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. While after 1997, Democrats regained control of the House and the Republicans retained control of the Senate. By 2003 though Democrats have had control of both houses of the General Assembly.

The thing is though it still illustrates the point that there is still a check and balance of the power of the two branches of government. Indeed the Democrats have control of the General Assembly and the Governorship and there is still conflict. Indeed some have complained that there isn't much being doing in Springfield even though one party controls the governorship and the General Assembly. That's a subject I'll get into later though.

A little real estate here...

Sometime I like to talk a little real estate especially if it affects black communities in the city. I just so happened to run across this article in Crain's Chicago Business about those neighborhood that are about to hit the $1 Million mark. One of those neighborhoods is South Shore. This was what was said...

Mr. Zaransky has his eye on South Shore, where he predicts a million-dollar home sale within the year. The Jackson Park Highlands landmark district, at 67th Street just west of Jeffrey Boulevard, is filled with gorgeous old homes a short walk from Lake Michigan. The South Shore train line gives commuters an easy trip downtown.

"If you closed your eyes and someone put you down in the middle of that neighborhood, you'd think you were standing in Winnetka," Mr. Zaransky says. "The homes are that ornate, that large and have that kind of style."

He's watching a home listed at $800,000; nothing, he says, has yet sold here at such a high figure. But just as the Near North/Lincoln Park boom spread to Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Lincoln Square and Buena Park, the Near South renaissance is spreading, too. Housing prices first started escalating in the Loop, then the South Loop and Hyde Park. South Shore may be next.

"You need existing older homes that people can rehab," Mr. Zaransky says. "You need homes with high ceilings, fireplaces, hardwood floors. That is the kind of property that can be turned into a million-dollar home."

South Shore is said to be the home of Jesse Jackson and Jesse Jackson, Jr. It is a mostly black middle class community that was once upon a time a white neighborhood that had a sizeable Jewish population. That change in and after the 1960s when the neighborhood turned black thanks to white flight. The neighborhood was run down but thanks to a bank ShoreBank, it is said to be a much better neighborhood now. It is also home to a Chicago Landmark district, the Jackson Park Highlands.

I've got another link for you...

I found this magazine today called Afro-lution. It is for the most part staffed by students and professors from the Atlanta University Center (comprised mainly of Clark-Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spelman Colleges). They even have a website if you want to check out the product.

My professor discussed this in class and distributed around. He says it's a good product that needs support. They mainly talk about international issues and they also talk about student life a little. I'm sure there's going to be a good mix eventually so give them your support. OK.

Squalid living at juvenile center

If any young person under the age of 17 is reading this story from the Sun-Times, I just want you to take this as a lesson. Whether it is run well or not, this is not somewhere you want to be. So with great respect, it's best to stay out of trouble. Why? Because this could be one situation you might wind up in.

Children staying at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center have been washing their underwear in toilets and sleeping without pillows on ripped mattresses.

These were among revelations from Cook County Board President Bobbie Steele and J.W. Fairman, new director of the center, which languished with inexperienced leadership for years. This year, however, outside administrators have taken over some operations.

New operators have found that hundreds of unpaid bills -- some almost three years old -- were stashed away.

They included bills for mattresses -- preventing new ones from being delivered.

"Clean towels, after-school snacks, enough underwear, a pillow, an extra blanket -- very basic things" were not being addressed, said one of those new administrators, Carl Sanniti.

Well changes are being made, thank goodness. There are parental visits up to once a week and now they get five visits a week. There are even going to be mentoring opportunites as well.

This is going to be a far cry from the story I heard last year that juveniles in custody were made to settle their disputes like men. If you know what I mean.

Oh yeah this story was also in time for the election next week. One last quote for you...

Even Commissioner Forrest Claypool, the loudest critic of center operations, said he was surprised by "one more in a laundry list of abuses there."

"It's just remarkable to me that we can have this sort of abuse of children and absolute chaos for so long, yet no one in authority would step in and deal with it," he said.

The revelations come after months of claims that staff members have abused children and that unqualified patronage workers dot the staff.

Outside observers have confirmed some of those claims, while federal investigators are digging deep into records.