#ThrowbackThursday: Pat Quinn promised to live in governor's mansion

Pat Quinn's Illinois flag

It's Throwback Thursday--which means it's time to leap back into the past.

Today we go back to 2009, when Illinois' hapless governor, Democrat Pat Quinn, vowed to live in the Executive Mansion in Springfield, unlike his two-time running mate Rod Blagojevich.

It was probably Quinn's first lie as governor. In 2010 the Chicago Tribune reported on Quinn instead living in Chicago--as Blago did--and the Illinois Watchdog reached the same conclusion last year.

Springfield is still the capital of Illinois--the legislature convenes there and there are many state offices in the city Abraham Lincoln called home.

Republican businessman Bruce Rauner, who is running to replace Quinn, says he will live in the Executive Mansion as governor.

To follow Rauner on Facebook, click here. To follow him on Twitter, click here.

Colossal waste: Chicago public high school has just 12 students

Maybe Chicago Public Schools should tear down Dyett and replace it with a one-room school house?

From NBC 5 Chicago:

Chicago's Walter H. Dyett High School, in the city's south side Washington Park neighborhood, had just 12 students enrolled Tuesday, the first day of classes for Chicago Public Schools.

Dyett High School is scheduled to close next year, and CPS administrators allowed students who wanted to graduate from the school to continue to attend classes there this year.

"At the end of last year, ending 2014, there were 37 juniors who would have enrolled as seniors," CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey explained to NBC Chicago. "Before the start of this school year, 25 transferred to other schools."

More students could still choose to transfer to other schools but classes will continue through the entire school year, McCaffrey said.

This situation is so ludicrous even the Chicago Teachers Union favors closing Dyett.

What is the cost per Dyett student to operate heat, lighting, air conditioning, groundskeeping, and security?

Oh, Dyett has a swimming pool.

(Video) Obama flips-flops on Islamic State in one press conference

While in Estonia for a NATO Summit, President Obama declared, "Our objective is clear and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL so it's no longer a threat." Twenty minutes later Obama flip-flopped and said the goal of our miliary is to shrink the group so it's only a "manageble problem."

Do we destroy the Islamic State? Or do we just manage the group that is also known as ISIS and ISIL?

Where is American leadership?

No Dust Bowl yet, Al Gore: Record corn harvest across the globe predicted

During the brutal Winter of 2014, Al Gore told a Kansas City audience of global warming believers that the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, or something like it, would be returning to the Plains because of climate change.

Hold off on that Armageddon, Al. The Midwest--and much of the rest of the world will have a bumper corn harvest this autumn, says the Financial Times.

The End of the World is on hiatus.

Barbarians: Islamic State beheads another USA journalist

Pure and simple, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, are nothing more than a pack of barbarians. According to the Telegraph, the brutes beheaded another American journalist, Steven Sotloff.

Our failed president once called the Islamic State "jayvee," as in junior varsity.

As with so many other things, Obama was wrong.

Sadly, we have to endure two more years of Obama's misrule.

Unlike Quinn, Rauner says he will live in Illinois governor's mansion

Republican businessman Bruce Rauner vows that he will live in the governor's mansion in Springfield--unlike Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn, who despite what the excerpted AP article below says, resides almost exclusively in Chicago.

It's been more than a decade since an Illinois governor lived full time at the state's Executive Mansion, but once again a Chicago-area candidate's promise to make his home there has revived the question of just how important it is for the state.

Wealthy Republican businessman Bruce Rauner, who lives in the upscale Chicago suburb of Winnetka, has emphasized his intention to call Springfield home if he defeats Gov. Pat Quinn in the November election. The Chicago Democrat says he will continue to split his time between the two places after initially vowing to live downstate full time. The candidates confirmed their plans in Associated Press candidate questionnaires.

The last governor to live in the 1855 manor full time was former Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican and former secretary of state from Charleston who was already living in the capital. The last Chicago-area native to live at the mansion consistently was Jim Thompson, who spent considerable time there before moving back to Chicago for his daughter's schooling toward the end of his 14-year tenure.

While the duties of the job have shifted toward Chicago in recent years, the two former governors agree with political experts and many downstate residents that having a governor living in Springfield makes a difference. The state's chief administrator is closer to the state workforce and avoids at least the impression of giving preferential treatment to Chicago and largely-Democratic urban dwellers over the rest of the state.

Quinn, on the other hand, promised voters he'd live in the governor's mansion when he succeeded his two-time running mate Rod Blagojevich.

He lied.

To follow Rauner on Facebook, click here. To follow him on Twitter, click here.

To contribute to the Rauner campaign, click here.

Chiraq: 3 dead, at least 37 wounded over Labor Day weekend

The shootings in Chicago did not take a holiday over Labor Day weekend. Three residents were murdered and at least 37 other Chicagoans were wounded.

Also of note, a homeless man was beaten to death on the Northwest Side on Saturday night.

Labor Day sunset at Des Plaines' Big Bend Lake

Are the dominant blue clouds symbolizing the traditional ending of summer, Labor Day?

Regardless, this is what I saw at dusk at Big Bend Lake tonight in Des Plaines, Illinois.

(Photo) One canal, three bridges

Yesterday I stood on the Southwest Highway truss bridge over the Cal-Sag Channel in Palos Hills, Illinois. From that vantage point I was able to photograph three bridges. The most prominent is the Norfolk Southern rail bridge, beneath it is the Harlem Avenue bridge. And if you look very closely within the second one you will see a third--the Ridgeland Avenue bridge.

One canal, three bridges. Four--if you count the one I was standing on.

Related post:

Cal-Sag Channel sunset

Great day in the history of the labor movement: The 1970 New York City Hard Hat Riot

The American labor movement wasn't always dominated by leftists. For instance, on May 8, 1970, the New York State AFL-CIO mobilized dozens of construction workers who attacked and routed five times as many hippie anti-war protesters in lower Manhattan in what became known as the Hard Hat Riot.

Many of the patriotic union members held signs that proclaimed, "America, love it or leave it." That's a timeless message.

And that was a great day for the United States.

Happy Labor Day and God Bless America!