The Children attending Chicago's Ag School at 3800 W. 111th will no longer be in danger of death while crossing from their lessons to get a slice at Wise Guys Pizza.
" "I think that you've got to understand that if you save even one life, you are saving the whole world," lllinois Governor Pat Quinn February 6, 2012
One life is the whole world? Now that is a headscratcher . . .and very bad math.
An Italian bugler (Giovanni Martini 7th Cavalry 1951-1922) was the sole survivor of US 7th Cavalry's encounter with Native America in the summer of 1876; I venture to say that the historical analysis of the event was less than positive. Slow down, Gen Custer! Ease up, there Crazy Horse!
Custer -"Here, Trunk-stuffer, take this message to the whole world!"
Bugler Martino - "Grazie Colonnello! Spero che quelli indiani sterminati voi palle così come quei riccioli. Subito il colonnello!"
There have been other historical events, air traffic misfortunes these days, featuring the One Life Saved meme that falls flat even to this day - Governor Quinn notwithstanding. Hey, a sole survivor!
There are all kinds of statistics for the body counts due to anthropogenic or cosmic events in history. From the Last of the 300 Spartans, Aristodemus in Herodatus, to the Beloved Apostle John of the Gospels, right on down to the last surviving member of the original 2008 Brand Obama White House --Valerie Jarrett. Axelrod and Bagdhad Bob, Desiree Rogers and and Rahm - Ubi Sunt?
Non fraudantes, quantum adhuc iaculis - they are still at it . . .you know, . . .The Public Grift.
Rahm Emanuel was saddled with the debts amassed following the terms of Richard M. Daley. That he knew. He also knew that he needed revenue from revenue paying squares. Thus! Speed Cameras! Speed Cameras are intended to boost City coffers via $50/$100 over the speed limit times the many motorists who can not apply the cruise control mechanism in bumper-to-bumper urban traffic. Bikes will shoot by stop signs and cameras, but cars will be arrested by the unblinking eye of the Department for Revenue on the other side of the lens. Cameras are being dispatched ( 12 locations before Labor Day 2013) in tax revenue rich zip codes throughout the city.
Red-light cameras generated $69 million for the city in 2010, and speed cameras likely would grow that number considerably. Speeders going 6 mph 10 mph over the limit would face $50 fines. Those going 11 mph and over would face the full $100 ticket.
Under the new law, the "safety zones" where cameras could operate would cover nearly half the city, the Tribune found.
In addition, a Tribune analysis of federal data on crashes showed that Emanuel's proposal would have a limited impact on reducing fatalities. Of the 251 pedestrian deaths in the city between 2005 and 2009, fewer than half occurred in the "safety zones" and less than one-quarter of those involved speeding.
The cameras would run in school zones from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday. The cameras would only operate on school days in school zones. The cameras near city parks would still run one hour before opening until one hour after closing. Emanuel had to agree to those compromises to win approval last fall.
Money would go toward increasing school safety and school transportation, with some earmarked for after-school programs.
The administration envisions a retrofit of speed detection equipment onto many of the city’s 190 existing red light cameras, which are located almost exclusively on busy arterial streets.
In my community the first of such cameras is being positioned at the Chicago Agricultural High School located at the intersections of Alsip/Oak Lawn & the City of Chicago. We are expected to nod with conviction when told by fatuous but practiced grifters like Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm that we are saving but one child with each ticket.
Shortly after Labor Day, we can expect columns of cameras lining Western Avenue from 119th Street South to Howard on the North, saving one child a citation, like the crucifixes set on the Appian Way by Mayor Marcus Licinius Crassus in 71 B.C., in order to save the life of just one child. To paraphrase Pat Quinn, 'Crucify One! Make Believers of the Rest!'
I always try to drive the posted speed limits. If I do not, I expect that I will be crucified in $ 50 range and will pay like a good citizen; but will be damned if I am going to believe that if I save one life, I am saving the whole world.
Save it, Grifters.
