Tuesday, July 29, 2014

(Video) The anti-Obama: Reagan stands up for Israel in 1984 synagogue speech

In 1984 President Ronald Reagan gave a speech, yes it's fair to also call it a campaign address, to a New York state synagogue.

"And let's not kid ourselves, the so-called anti-Zionists that we hear in the United Nations is just another mask in some quarters for vicious anti-Semitism," Reagan told the congregation. "And that's something the United States will not tolerate wherever it is, no matter how subtle it may be."

Can you imagine President Obama saying that about Israel? Or can you imagine him wearing a yarmulke, as the Gipper did that day?


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(MSNBC video) Time's Halperin says Hillary lacks "strategic vision" in foreign policy

All presidential candiates have strengths and weaknesses. You would think that after four years as secretary of state  international affairs would be one of them for Hillary Clinton, but Time's Mark Halperin says she lacks "strategic vision" in foreign policy.

Other than--to some people--her last same, as well as her gender, just what are Hillary's strengths?



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Global warming news: Illinois towns struggle to buy road salt

Winter is coming
"Winter is coming," as they say on Game of Thrones. And many Illinois towns are finding it difficult to buy road salt.

From AP:
Nearly 200 Illinois communities are scrambling to find road salt after last winter’s record frigid temperatures and snowfall depleted supplies, according to local leaders and state officials who oversee a shared procurement process.

If local public works departments are able to find vendors willing to sell them road salt, the price likely will be much higher possibly double what they paid last year.

Earlier this month, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services informed many city and county officials in charge buying road salt that no vendors responded to their requests for bids.

More than 560 communities participated in the solicitation for road salt bids, said department spokesman Mike Claffey. Of those, 367 communities received bids from salt vendors and 195 did not. The department offered to seek new bids from vendors, while cautioning public works departments to explore other alternatives.
One of those options is to add limestone chips to the salt, which will probably leave interesting little marks on the finish of cars.

Of course if global warming was real we wouldn't need so much road salt.

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Monday, July 28, 2014

(Photo) Northern leopard frog

When I moved to Palos Heights from Chicago's South Side in the late 1960s, northern leopard frogs were everywhere. Some were green, some were brown, but all had black spots.

No one is sure why, but they became scarce about ten years later.

Earlier this month I began noticing leopard frogs at the restored tallgrass prairie within Morton Grove's Linne Woods. I hadn't seen any in years.

And yesterday one of them let me get close enough for this awesome pic.


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Warning: Illinois Freedom PAC is a union front group

Illinois flag on right
The Illinois Freedom PAC uses flag imagery and of course the word freedom in its name. So it's a conservative, or perhaps a libertarian group, right? Or a Tea Party organization?

Wrong.

From the Chicago Tribune:
A political action committee backed by public employee unions launched its first general election TV ad today, criticizing Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner over taxation of the elderly.

Officials from the Illinois Freedom PAC would not discuss details or the extent of the advertising buy. But files of one Chicago television station show the PAC has reserved commercial time for the next three weeks.

Illinois Freedom PAC is backed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers as well as the Democratic Governors Association.
A turd spraypainted gold is still a turd.

Anyone who votes for failed incumbent Pat Quinn for governor is a masochist. Luckily there is a far better choice for voters this autumn, Republican Bruce Rauner.

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

To contribute to the Rauner campaign, click here.

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On this day 100 years ago: World War I begins

Doughboy monument, Morton Grove
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana

The old order began its collapse 100 years ago today when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within a few days Germany, France, and Great Britain entered what became known as the Great War, later renamed World War I.

When it was over millions had died and four empires: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, and the Ottoman had collapsed. Nearly twenty years after the peace treaty was signed ending World War I, World War II, which historian John Keegan viewed as a continuation of the Great War, began.

We live in troubled times. I pray they don't get worse.

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Sunday, July 27, 2014

Feds pay nearly $3K monthly rent to house poor in luxury Chicago apartments

You too can live here!
Always believe your spouse.

My wife told me that a friend of hers lived in a very expensive apartment, the Aqua Tower, in downtown Chicago that included Section 8 housing tenants. I thought she was mistaken.

And at least in Chicago, the options are for some people damned good. Much better than your humble blogger who works about 50 hours a week and is just getting by.

From Crain's Chicago Business--free registration required:
The high-rise at 500 N. Lake Shore Drive is the second-most expensive in the city, with rents for a one-bedroom apartment approaching $3,000 a month, well beyond the reach of most Chicago residents.

But that's not too much for the Chicago Housing Authority, which has used federal tax dollars to pick up most of the tab for four lucky residents in the year-old building, with its sweeping views of Lake Michigan, a concierge and a dog-grooming center.

The tenants moved in over the past two years as part of a push by the CHA to expand its housing voucher program so that more low-income residents can leave the city's roughest neighborhoods and start a new life in places with low poverty and crime and close to good schools and jobs.

Yet some landlords say it's a mistake to use scarce tax dollars to pay ultra-high rents for a fortunate few when more than 15,000 people sit on the CHA's voucher waiting list.
Mistake? It's asinine!

According to Crain's, the CHA has approved of 706 "supervouchers" for fancy HUD-paid-for digs.

Back to my wife's friend at the Aqua Tower. The CHA tenants spent most of their time hanging around the pool and causing a ruckus. None of them had jobs, even though one of the goals of this ludicrously expensive program was to place people closer to where there are more jobs. And nearly everyone else living at there, my wife's friend told her, was afraid to say something to the management of the luxury building about the unruly residents because didn't want to be accused of being racist.

We live in a twisted society.

UPDATE July 29: ABC 7 Chicago ran a piece on this story. Click here to see for yourself some of these lovely buildings.

Or watch here.



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ILL-inois: Over 7,800 state employees made over $100K last year, up by 1,200

The State Journal-Register, Illinois' oldest newspaper, is reporting today that 7,800 state employees made over $100,000 last year--which is 1,200 more than did so in 2013.

Public-sector unions are a key force in electing Democrats.

My question is: Are taxpayers getting their money's worth from our bureaucrats?

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From Da Tech Guy on DaRadio: Gerrymandering, identity politics, and amnesty

John "Lee" Ruberry
My latest Da Magnificent Seven entry on Da Tech Guy and DaRadio blog takes a look at Chicago, the border crisis, and Luis Gutierrez. Oh, and a few more items: Gerrymandering, identity politics, and amnesty.
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Study: Graft costs residents in most-corrupt states $1,308 each

Corruption is not cheap, as Sauk Valley.com tells us:
Two professors recently performed that service for Illinois and other corruption-plagued states.

John Mikesell is an Indiana University professor of public and environmental affairs, while Cheol Liu is an assistant professor of public policy at City University of Hong Kong.

They studied public corruption cases across America between 1997 and 2008, named the 10 most corrupt states (Illinois easily made this rogue’s gallery), and calculated what that corruption cost taxpayers per capita.

The "corruption tax," as they dubbed it, came to an average of $1,308 a person in those states.
ILL-inois has high income and sales tax rates. Some states don't even have an income tax.

What a coincidence.

Not.

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