Marathon Pundit

Sunday, June 29, 2008

More East St. Louis blues: Questionable cops hired

Well, I broke down in East St. Louis.
Tom Waits, "The Train Song," 1987.

More trouble from a troubled Illinois community: East St. Louis. Even Chief Ralph Wiggum of the of The Simpsons would hang his head in shame over this episode.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

After swearing in 10 police hires this month, Mayor Alvin Parks proudly told the audience "you are as safe as anybody now, in this city, in this room."

He praised a city committee for choosing the officers from a pool of 29 candidates and for performing background checks.

But documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch revealed that two of these new officers had criminal histories, and one of the two even took the oath of office with an outstanding arrest warrant for domestic battery.

The top recruit — the son of Police Chief Michael Baxton — had been released from the Army for misconduct. The records of several new hires are marred by arrests for misdemeanors, extensive traffic citations and multiple bankruptcies.

More East St. Louis posts:

Vote fraud news: Obama, ACORN, and East St. Louis
Hypocrite Obama won't tolerate election theft
East St. Louis vote fraud update
E. St. Louis hires two ex-cons with vote buying convictions
East St. Louis vote fraudster found guilty of improper asbestos removal
Convicted vote thief joined by top local Dems at his pre-prison going away party
East St. Louis blues

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legal

Mississippi River at Vicksburg

When I was in Vicksburg, Mississippi last month, residents were complaining about the high river levels there. My guess is that the water level there is high, and will get even higher.

Here is the Mississippi River at Vicksburg at a happpier time.

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

More on the Barack Obama gun control flip flop

Then...

I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturer's lobby.

Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, page 215.

And now...

I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures. The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view.

What view? The great orator is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association has filed suit to repeal the gun ban in Chicago, where Barack Obama lives, as well as the one in Morton Grove, Illinois--where I reside.

Related posts:

Flip flop: Obama in 1996 survey supported gun bans

Morton Grove: My hometown's first-in-America gun ban in jeopardy

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law

NRA

My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Vicksburg Battlefield, Part Two, State Memorials

Vicksburg of course was the most important battle in the western theater of the Civil War, so it's not surprising that the military park is populated with memorials dedicated not just to individual regiments, but also to entire states that sent troops to the 1863 battle.

Of the border states, Confederate states, and states that remained loyal to the union, as far as I can gather, each state that sent troops to fight in this pivotal battle has a memorial at Vicksburg. Ohio is the exception, which is surprising, because many Ohioans fought there.

Within the military park, there are two main roads, both crescent shaped. Union Avenue closely traces the Northern lines of the Vicksburg siege, it's faced by Confederate Avenue--which of course serves the same purpose for the onetime rebel positions.

Up on top is the Wisconsin Memorial, with Old Abe, the bald eagle mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Old Abe was captured in northern Wisconsin in 1861, and accompanied the Wisconsinites in numerous engagements until 1864, when he returned to his native state. The eagle died in 1881, but is immortalized as the eagle whose profile makes up the insignia of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles."

Since my last travel series featured Kansas, there is no way that I could overlook the memorial, pictured on the right, to soldiers from the Sunflower State. Arguably, the Civil War began not at Fort Sumter in 1961, but a few years earlier in "Bleeding Kansas."

On the lower left is the Massachusetts Memorial, erected in 1903, the first state monument built within the park. What appears to be a cross below the soldier is actually discoloration from a placard. However, the Arkansas Memorial has a cross.

Where are the Confederate Memorials? I spent the next morning on Confederate Avenue, and it was dark and cloudy--and my pictures didn't turn out very well. So on the right is another view--I included the column in my first Vicksburg post--of the Louisiana Memorial. The blue sign in the foreground marks the line of Major General John A. Logan's Union line.