Lynn Sweet Sweet on Bloomberg? Big Beverage and Little Voters Bad.

The Cook County pop tax: Conceived Nov. 10, 2016, when Cook County Board members approved the one-cent-per-ounce Sweetened Beverage Tax. Born on Aug. 2, 2017, its effective date. Date of death was decreed by a 15-2 repeal vote on Wednesday. The tax dies at the end of the county fiscal year, midnight on Nov. 30.
Bloomberg is crusading for higher taxes on sugary drinks as a way to reduce the obesity epidemic in this nation, with allies including the American Heart Association, active in the Cook County fight. Lynn Sweet Chicago Sun Times Cheerleader

Lynn Sweet really has a sweet gig.  Hang with the mighty and do their bidding.  Many of us out here in the fly-over land of helots are not so fortunate.

Lynn Sweet lists every government that took Mike Bloomberg's coin to kill Pop USA, as if any of these bought agencies matter to any of us.

Referendums in Oakland and Albany in 2016 approved the beverage tax, aligning these California East Bay cities with Berkeley, with a tax in effect since 2015.
Boulder and Seattle also have sweetened beverage taxes.
In 2017, however, Bloomberg’s team is hitting a rough patch when it comes to beverage taxes. Will the Cook County repeal give the beverage industry anti-tax drive momentum?

It do seem to be the case!

• Michigan state lawmakers took notice of the uproar in Cook County and last week, in a pre-emptive move, sent a bill to the governor to ban local governments from imposing soda taxes.
• On Oct. 4, the St. Helen, Oregon, city council voted down a sugar-sweetened beverage tax.
• On May 2, voters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, defeated a proposed 2-cents-per-ounce tax on sodas.
• Last spring, West Virginia state lawmakers dropped a beverage tax proposal.

Yeah, that Oakland CA is one head's up burg, Lynn, and Berkeley sends me too.

Not a bit. Not a sugary bit.

Try running a family owned gas station in Morgan Park, like Kean, and then have something like the Glorious Sugar Tax imposed upon your filling station, that also depends upon a steady flow of customers who not only gas up, but purchase pop, sweetened tea, Slurpees and sports drinks, as well.

A small fortune in revenue was lost over the past months thanks to a social engineering scam dressed up as a health issue to shore up political budgetary screw-ups.

Fat kids were not responsible for Cook County spending sprees:

. . . Preckwinkle sweetened the deal by giving each commissioner control over $500,000 in gas tax revenue to spend on transportation projects in their districts. She also rallied public health advocates to point out that downing fewer Mountain Dews could lead to a drop in obesity and diabetes.
Commissioners deadlocked, and Preckwinkle cast a rare, tie-breaking vote to impose the tax. If it hadn't gone as smoothly as Preckwinkle hoped, at least the new tax had passed, the budget was balanced and the heat was mostly on her.
Then it all started to unravel.
While the vote was taken in November 2016, providing plenty of distance from the March 2018 primary election, the tax wasn't scheduled to take effect until July 1.
The vagaries of federal law, the Illinois Constitution and state statutes meant it took months to come up with the rules of how the tax would be put in place, and changes were still being made late in the game.
For example, county officials at one point planned to tax low-income folks receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, but the state later told them that could not be done.

Not mention a sugary carrot to union County employees"

 However, it's worth noting that Teamsters Local 700 endorsed passage of the penny-an-ounce tax on sweetened beverages, saying at the time that it would "guarantee job security for hundreds of people that work for Cook County." The levy passed with Preckwinkle casting a tie-breaking vote.
It's also pertinent that Local 700 has been one of Preckwinkle's main campaign donors in recent years, with the Local and an affiliated Teamsters group using the same Park Ridge address giving her campaign fund at least $68,000 since 2014.
In the memo, Robinson is trying to build support for ratification and perhaps exaggerates a bit if only to look good.
The proposed pact includes some things taxpayers may like, with wages frozen the first year and then rising 2 percent across-the-the-board in each in the second and third years. "Step," or experience-based raises, also would be frozen for two years, but then be fully implemented.

Like the Proco Joe Chick Fil A Purge, Chicago and Cook County Values are not spun from Marilyn Katz's MK Communications, but born in the neighborhood values forge by faith and family.

Lynn Sweet of the Sun Times,  a very dependable Cook County, City of Chicago and Democratic Party cheerleader makes the argument that the Beverage Tax was merely a victory of Big Soda over Big Nanny Bloomberg. Not so.

People have had enough of this nonsense coming from political and media hacks.

People beefed loudly, because the steady streams of kids from St. Cajetan's, Clissold, Morgan Park and Chicago Ag School, as well as Mount Carmel, St. Rita, Mother McAuley, Brother Rice, Morgan Park Academy, Leo, Marist and legions of tradesmen, teachers, cops, firemen, retirees ad even an Alderman could not buy a bottle of pop, a Slurpee, or an Arizona Iced Tea without hitting a Pay Day Loan Center.

It is nice that some Cook County Commissioners were not totally tone deaf.

What would be nicer is a repeal of Cook County Ofiice Holders universal.

Sweet.

POP! . . . goes to Will County

"The beverage tax is not the cause nor the solution to Cook County's financial challenges," said Brian Jordan, president of the Illinois Food Retailers Association.

Didn't sound like much back in July, but now this could be slogan of a Cook County counter-revolution.  Store counter, that is.  The irony of the photo above is just magical.

The Signs of a Cook County tax are everywhere! Bi-lingual of course, but printed in non-union shops to save costs.

A Radical Idea from Your Betters!  -Idea radical de tus superiores!

Way to Tax! Viva!  -Larga vida a los impuestos!

Fight Fat Asses!  No más culos gordos!

Think of the Children, Bitches!- ¡Piensa en los niños, putas!

Let's Give Toni Some Sugar! -Vamos a darle a Toni un poco de azúcar!


Well, Supersize my cynicism!  Toni Preckwinkle, the most humorless and gormless of all government goons, shopped for an found a judge to jam this Sweetened Beverage Tax up, down  or into any orifice considered by individual Cook County residents the most . . .uncomfortable.

CHICAGO — Diet Coke heads, take note: just because the sugar in your pop is fake, you'll still be paying more for it starting Wednesday as Cook County's sweetened beverage tax finally goes into effect, adding a penny per ounce to the cost of bottled drinks.
The tax will hike the price of a 2-liter bottle by 68 cents and a six-pack by 72 cents.
Though often dubbed the "pop tax," the fee, narrowly approved in November 2016 by the Cook County Board, actually applies to hundreds of beverages beyond soft drinks.
The tax is expected to raise $200 million a year for Cook County, which the county needs to keep its books out of the red, according to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Every ounce of sugary liquid sends a penny to the Cook Coffers.  Gee, what could go wrong?

Pennies from heaven?  Nah, more like corpses stacked high in Toni' crypt until carted off to some subterranean cold storage.  I imagine the 40 oz slurpees purchased  at Kean Gas Station by County, City and State workers added to the larder until . . .Friday.

Then, like so many Chicago residents did with the idiotic plastic bag tax, residents will hop in the Prius and hybrid over to County Line road south, west and north to pick up cases of Mountain Dew, Fanta, Wildwood, Dr. Pepper and his collegaues Dr.s Bold, Skippy and Becker, Sweetened teas and all manner of Gatorades.

At the 7-11 on 111th & Kedzi,  a 28 ounce frozen drink (Slurpee, Slushie, or Whatever) bounces up from blue collar $ 1.75 to the Majestic price of $ 2.03.

Do the math. 12 ounces = 12 more cents and on and on.

Buy a Cook County Case of Coke and that is 288 pennies to Toni! $2.88 on top of City and County taxes already stamped to your receipt.

I expect Slushee sales to sink.

Will, DuPage and Lake Counties can expect a spike in sales of sugary drinks and the State of Indiana will be selling pop like fireworks.

Cook County residents voted all too happily for the obtuse Xanthipe, who ran poor old Zeus off to the Zamboanga, knowing that Todd Stroger could not do worse, will spend more gas buying pop in Peotone and Palatine, in the dim hope that they might come out a bit ahead.

Can't happen, Neighbor. 

We screwed our beds and must lay in them.

Pop goes the weasels like clockwork.

You Won't Ever See Rahm Emanuel Helping Out A Neighbor -Ald. Matt O' Shea Will Pump Gas and Clean Windshields at Kean Gas

19th Ward Aldermann Matt O'Shea -Doing; Not Talking = Facta Non Verba and likes his neighbors, because he is one.

"Rather than doing the kind of fact-checking that normally goes with a story, you ran with certain stories for not wanting to get beat. There's a pressure that exists in your profession. I would be surprised in any honest exchange that you say that doesn't exist."   Rahm Emanuel
“To learn real human nature you have to go among the people, see them and be seen. I know every man, woman, and child in the Fifteenth District, except them that's been born this summer and I know some of them, too. I know what they like and what they don't like, what they are strong at and what they are weak in, and I reach them by approachin' at the right side.” George Washington Plunkitt

Last Friday at around 3 PM, the Morgan Park Temple of 'Didn't See You at Mass on Sunday. Hickey' - Kean Gas at 111th & Talman was robbed.  The neighbors wondered why no news of robbery had been enough to nterest the Chicago media in doing a clause, or two.  Many said, " Rahm's up for the vote this month and 'don't you know' crime is way down and we have way too many cops on the job?"

Cynical, but well earned; especially these days, when Chicago is run by a Hollywood-dollar fueled misanthrope with 9.5 fingers and zero capacity for neighborhoods.

Our alderman responded as he always does, by going in up to his elbows.

As many of you may know, Kean Brothers' Gas Station, 2632 W. 111th Street, was the victim of an armed robbery last week. The Kean family has operated a business in our community for more than 70 years, supporting countless charitable, civic and parish causes along the way. I am asking that we rally in support of them by visiting the station tomorrow, Wednesday, February 4th to fill up your tank or purchase a few things inside the station. Kean is open from 5:30 am - 10:00 pm. I will be there pumping gas between 3:00 - 6:00 pm, I hope to see you there. Matt O'Shea

Matt is only one of 50 City Council officers, called alderman by real Chicagoans, and the only one who actually works, sleeps and plays with his neighbors.   I catch Matt O'Shea at it all the time - My brother picked me up from surgery on Monday ( SnowMaggedon '15), we took 95th Street east from Christ Hospital to Westen Ave. and Western Ave south - past 103rd the Bro says, " Who's that guy digging the Old Bat ( elderly woman) out of the drift?"  Digging furiously and cheerfully mear the old KODA and the 19th Ward office was . . . .

Ald. Matt OShea -the anti-Rahm.

Rahm's War on Neighborhoods is One of Attrition - Make Everyone Tired of Living Here

I live in a great neighborhood. great people who keep an eye on your home and most especially your kids.   The problem is that my neighborhood is in a city run by a guy who absolutely detests everything about living in a neighborhood.  His people do not live in bungalows, raised ranches, Georgians, or Flats - Rahm Emanuel's people have addresses, residences, places to end a busy day accumulation.

Rahm's people accumulate power in business, entertainment, political grifts, academics and most of all policy.

 Rahm's people do not shovel snow, cut grass, pick up empty beer cans tossed on the lawn by America's youth, nor do they agonize over ballooning taxes, revenue grifts and where to send the kids to school.  Neighbors do that.

Rahm Emanuel wants neighbors gone from Chicago and voters limited to dependable communities.

Rahm Emanuel is a smart-size city guy.  Reduce the city to lovely areas where affluent constituents and investors can walk and bike along streets free of traffic.  Reduce the number of benefits available to Chicagoans and raise the costs out of this world. We have one of the largest inland seas on the planet and it is potable water - you can drink it.

God's Lake on Chicago's shoreline.  Our water bill jumped a whopping 86%, because . . .. ?  Rahm can.

Chicago has the best police force on earth.  Yet, they are undermanned and out gunned. Thugs know - go and rob, beat, even murder, where there are no cops on patrol - in a safe neighborhood.  Big time crooks and grifters hitch their star to politics and government cash.   CPS alumni and drop-outs have the will to steal big, but lack the intellectual heft of a Northwestern education and must eke out a livlihood in a safe neighborhood in a an undermanned neighborhood.

On Friday afternoon at about 3PM, a gas station that serves as a neighborhood temple of good fellowship, Kean Gas at 111th & Talman *was robbed. Kean is place to grab a paper, coffee, candy for the kids and the real news, as well as top-off the gas tank.  Black, Mexican and Caucasians congregate like neighbors, do.

A black kid might rob a store, or grab a kid's cell phone, but it also common knowlege that 3rd generation Irish American might be doing Rahm's bidding and some Mexican St. Rita guy at the Merc could put them all to shame.

There seems to be a news embargo on what happened at Kean Gas on Friday.

No one is talking but the neighbors.

• No news casts
• No news features in print or on the web
• No nothing

Yet, Kean Gas was robbed. Here is what the neighbors know - on Friday, "around 3PM there was an armed robbery at the Kean gas station located on 111th and Talman. The offender is described as a black male in his 20s that possibly fled in a black mini-van."

Rahm is up for re-election.  Chuy Garcia has all of pension gobblers and Willie Wilson has $$$$$$$$$, Ald. Bob Fioretti has a mane of hair the hue of which resides outside of nature.  Chuy is all populist. Willie Wilson is all new.  Bob Fioretti is all about Bob.

Rahm is 'all about our suffering middle class,' . . . no really.

The skilled trades who howl at the sound of Bruce Rauner gave him the endoresement, the firemen gave him their nod, the business suits

There is no news about the robbery at Kean Gas in our neighborhood, because there must be another in the legion of embargos on news.  No one is talking, but the neighbors.

* You may remember Kean Gas as the staging area for the L'il JO-Jo mourners.

Lil JoJo Mourners and Gang-Banger Funerals at Mt. Hope Cemetery

The late Lil Jojo, BDG (dec.)

Yesterday, I paid  a very uncomfortable visit to my doctor at the office on 103th & Pulaski - the fruits of aging and subsequent taxes on the Hickey Meat Bag.  Another such intimate visit scheduled for morning of Monday Sept. 24th and I could not be more pleased.

I am a healthy 59 year old, for no Godly reason at all, but somethings really make my soul sour.  This summer Leo High School buried a freshman, Antonio Davis, who had been murdered by gangsters at 75th & Union, because he bore a resemblance to a thirty-something dope dealer.  Dan McGrath helped the family - Leo paid for the grave site and enlisted the Great Leak Family to cover the burial.  Leo Parents Club paid for an conducted the repast at Leo High School for 400 people.  All of this was done with dignity, grace and respect.  Nearly, every day of the week kids are killed by thugs.

Sometimes, not nearly often enough, a thug catches a round or two, or twelve.  Bothers me not at all; however the celebration of thugs for a thug corpse bothers me no end.  Here are some photos by the Chicago Sun Times Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Konkol who took the time to cover one of the seemingly endless Gang-banger ( Black Gangster Disciple (BGD) funeral in my neighborhood.  God Bless you, Mark! God Bless all Chicago Police Officers!






On the way home, after dropping off the prescription order at CVS.  I noticed a police or media helicopter hovering over what appeared to be Mt. Hope Cemetery from  115th & toward 111th Street east to Talman.  That could only mean that the much anticipated funeral of Rap Artiste and Gang Songster the late Lil JoJo, BGD (dec.) had impacted on the neighborhood.



CPD had scores of Lil JoJo mourners lined up at Kean Gas at 111th & Talman for weapons searches after shooting up the nieighborhood in celebration of the departed Lil Jojo.

That morning, having picked up my twelve Bronzeville and Canaryville Leo Men, I was regaled with yarns and snappy comments on the demise of the young Rap Star Ascendant.  I told the guys to knock off the commentary and say a short prayer.  " Remember, this kid has a mother and family."

We are all going to ground.  However, most of us live our lives and conduct ourselves according to the will of God, because we believe that what we do in life will ride with us into eternity.  That is the only way one can live a happy life.  The poor stupid kid going to Mt. Hope with a number of holes in him would be celebrated by other stupid people in a manner equally as stupid.  They are unhappy people.  One can not be stupid and happy.  One can laugh, act out, fire the 9 out of car windows, smoke blunts, guzzle 40s, offend and violate the sorrow of a family, but they can not be happy.

Mt. Hope Cemetery was an old Dutch burial ground.  The only real man on the 1919 White Sox Team, Buck Weaver, is buried at Mt. Hope.  Buck Weaver received the exact same punishment from that unctious hypocrite Judge Kennesaw Landis as those meted out to the disgracefully ignorant and greedy Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other scandalous Sox.  Buck Weaver was pure, never took a dime; but knew of the larceny and refused to kop a plea.  Buck Weaver was a stand-up guy and he died beloved and mourned by thousands of his neighbors in St. Sabina Parish. Buck Weaver was a Protestant buried from a Catholic funeral home.

Sadly, Mt. Hope has become the final resting place of street lice -Gang Bangers -murderers, felons and thugs.  To be sure every person should have grave - Mt. Hope is the urban Boot Hill.

As I headed up Kedzie toward 111th, I noticed that a great number of blue strobes were a blinking and racing to 115th & Kedzie.  The L'l JoJo mourners must be up to the standard of mischief associated with burial at Mt. Hope -gunfire, racists taunts to Cracker homeowners, threats to toddlers,  the tossing of empty 40s on well-kepy lawns and Crown Royal and Bumpy Face jugs shattered on sidewalks, driveways and streets, and very high speed threats to pedestrians - "#$%^ Y'all, Bidches! WOOOUP! WOOOUP!"

This urban cultural exchange takes place almost daily.

My neighbors are angry. They are not considered worthy of advocacy because they are white, Catholic and ethnic.  The meme being "That is what they deserve for being White Flight Bigots"  That is Evanston-speak - Lake County Lingo - Oak Park Oratory. It has nothing to do with truth.

Today, people in my neighborhood will meet at Kennedy Park on Western Ave. - Alderman Matt O'Shea of the 19th Ward has been positively heroic and out-front in condemning this blight on the community from the many manifestations and enclaves of Gang-banger Culture.  This is not a black v. white flight bigot issue.  This neighborhood is diverse though largely white and Catholic.  My neighbors are African Americans who fled Gresham, Grand Crossing, Englewood and Roseland.  They are neighbors who care for their children and their property.

The owners of Mt. Hope have seemed to dodge any and all responsibility for the Gang Parades to Glory. The cemetery is static - it don't move, of course.

Someone must wear the jacket and take fiduciary responsibility for the clientele.  The owners of the E2 Nightclub certainly did.  They got fines and jail time as I recall and E-2 did not have wheels on it.

What is the responsibility of the Funeral Directors*?  They are contracted.  I know I buried a few loved ones. The problem seems to lie with the funeral procession once it departs form its funeral home and passes through the gates of Mt. Hope.

Here is a funeral director cop-out clause that should be challenged mightily -

This Section 6 shall not apply if the death, personal injury, or property damage allegedly arose from the negligent acts or omissions in the operation of a vehicle by the funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort, or their employees or agents. The operator of a vehicle in a funeral procession shall not be deemed to be an agent of the funeral director, funeral home, or funeral escort unless such operator is an employee of the funeral director, funeral home, or funeral escort and is acting in the course of their employment, or unless the operator was retained as an independent contractor of the funeral director, funeral home, or funeral escort and is performing services thereto.

Perhaps, lawyers in our community should form a coalition and bring suit against any and all funeral directors who make a mockery of mourning, while taking the corpse to Mt. Hope.

NFDA Model Funeral Procession Statute

Section 101-01. Definitions

1. “Funeral director” and “funeral home” shall have the same meanings set forth in Sections _____ - ______ of the State Code*.
2. “Funeral procession” means two or more vehicles accompanying the body or the cremated remains of a deceased person, in the daylight hours, including a funeral lead vehicle or a funeral escort vehicle.
3. “Funeral lead vehicle” means any motor vehicle, including a funeral hearse, properly equipped pursuant to subsection 101-02(a), leading and facilitating the movement of a funeral procession.
4. “Funeral escort” means a person or entity that provides escort services for funeral processions, including, but not limited to law enforcement personnel and agencies.
5. “Funeral escort vehicle” means any motor vehicle properly equipped pursuant to Section 101-02 and which escorts a funeral procession.

Section 101-02. Equipment

1. All non-law enforcement funeral escort vehicles and funeral lead vehicles shall be equipped with at least one lighted rotating or oscillating lamp exhibiting an [amber]** light or lens visible under normal atmospheric conditions for a distance of at least 500 feet from the front of the vehicle. A funeral escort vehicle or a funeral lead vehicle may illuminate a rotating or oscillating [amber]** light only when the vehicle is in use in a funeral procession.
2. Any law enforcement funeral escort vehicle may be equipped with a red, blue, or amber flashing light which meet the criteria established in subsection (a) of this Section.

________________________
* Those sections from the state funeral licensing statute that define “funeral director” and “funeral home” would be inserted here.

**States may substitute red, blue or purple lights for amber lights.

Section 101-03. Driving in Funeral Procession

1. Operators of vehicles in a funeral procession must exercise due care when participating in a funeral procession.
2. A vehicle in a funeral procession shall follow the preceding vehicle in the funeral procession as closely as is practicable and safe. Any ordinance, law, or regulation requiring that motor vehicles be operated to allow sufficient space between them to enable another vehicle to enter and occupy that space without danger shall not be applicable to vehicles in a funeral procession.
3. The operator of a motor vehicle in a funeral procession may not drive the vehicle at a speed greater than:
   1. 55 miles per hour on a highway where the posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour or more; or
   2. 5 miles per hour below the posted speed limit on other streets or road.
4. A vehicle being operated in any funeral procession must have its headlights and tail lights illuminated.
5. The turn signals must be flashing simultaneously as warning lights on a vehicle that is the first vehicle in a funeral procession and which the operator has reason to believe is the last vehicle in the funeral procession.

Section 101-04. Funeral Procession Right-of-Way

1. Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Section, pedestrians and operators of all vehicles shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle which is part of a funeral procession being led by a funeral escort vehicle or a funeral lead vehicle.
2. Whenever the funeral escort vehicle or funeral lead vehicle in a funeral procession lawfully enters an intersection, either by reason of a traffic control device or at the direction of law enforcement personnel, the remaining vehicles in the funeral procession may continue to follow the funeral lead vehicle through the intersection despite any traffic control devices or right-of-way provisions of State or local ordinances, provided the operator of each vehicle exercises reasonable care toward any other vehicle or pedestrian on the roadway.
3. Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Section, an operator of a funeral escort vehicle may direct the operators of other vehicles in a funeral procession to proceed through an intersection or to make turns or other movements despite any traffic control device. The operator of a funeral escort vehicle may direct and control the operators of vehicles not in a funeral procession, including those in or approaching an intersection, to stop, proceed, or make turns or other movements without regard to a traffic control device. Funeral escort vehicles may exceed the speed limit by 15 miles per hour when overtaking the funeral procession to direct traffic at the next intersection.
4. Funeral processions shall have the right-of-way at intersections regardless of traffic control devices, subject to the following conditions and exceptions:
   1. Operators of vehicles in a funeral procession shall yield the right-of-way to an approaching emergency vehicle giving an audible or visible signal;
   2. Operators of vehicles in a funeral procession shall yield the right-of-way when directed to do so by law enforcement personnel; and
   3. Operators of vehicles in a funeral procession must exercise due care when participating in a funeral procession.

Section 101-05. Vehicles not in Funeral Procession

The operator of a vehicle that is not part of a funeral procession may not:

1. Drive between the vehicles forming a funeral procession while they are in motion except when authorized to do so by law enforcement personnel or when driving an authorized emergency vehicle emitting an audible or visible signal.
2. Join a funeral procession to secure the right-of-way as granted by Section 101-04.
3. Pass a funeral procession on a multiple lane highway on the funeral procession’s right side unless the funeral procession is in the farthest left lane.
4. Enter an intersection, even if the operator is facing a green traffic control signal, when a funeral procession is proceeding through a red traffic control signal at the intersection as permitted under Section 101-04, unless the operator can so without crossing the path of the funeral procession. If the red signal changes to green while the funeral procession is within the intersection, the operator of the vehicle facing a green signal may proceed subject to the right-of-way of a vehicle participating in a funeral procession.

Section 101-06. Liability

1. Liability for any death, personal injury or property damage suffered by any person in a funeral procession shall not be imposed upon the funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort or their employees or agents if the funeral procession was operating in compliance with Sections 101-01 through 101-04 or would have been operating in such compliance but for the operator or operators of one or more vehicles in the funeral procession not exercising due care as required by subsections 101-03(a) and 101-04(d)(iii).
2. Liability for any death, personal injury or property damage that results from, is caused by, or arises out of any action or inaction of any operator of a vehicle in a funeral procession under the control of a funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort or their employees or agents shall not be imposed upon such funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort or their employees or agents if the funeral procession was operating in compliance with Sections 101-01 through 101-04 or would have been operating in such compliance but for the operator or operators of one or more vehicles in the funeral procession not exercising due care as required by subsections 101.03(a) and 101-04(d)(iii).
3. This Section 6 shall not apply if the death, personal injury, or property damage allegedly arose from the negligent acts or omissions in the operation of a vehicle by the funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort, or their employees or agents. The operator of a vehicle in a funeral procession shall not be deemed to be an agent of the funeral director, funeral home, or funeral escort unless such operator is an employee of the funeral director, funeral home, or funeral escort and is acting in the course of their employment, or unless the operator was retained as an independent contractor of the funeral director, funeral home, or funeral escort and is performing services thereto.
4. This Section 6 does not create a new cause of action or substantive legal rights against any funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort, or their employees or agents. This section does not affect any immunities from civil liability or defenses established by another section of the State Code or any immunities from civil liabilities or defenses available at common law to which a funeral director, funeral home, funeral escort, or their employees or agents may be entitled.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/15144333-418/tensions-erupt-at-wake-for-slain-teen-rapper-lil-jojo.html
http://www.nfda.org/government-relations-/model-laws-and-best-practices/254.html

Lo, He is With Us Always - Authority at Kean Gas on 111th & Talman in Morgan Park

NB - Gas Prices are are now $ 4.39 for regular - that was last year's photo.

Matthew 28: 16 - 20
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
17 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

I heard this gospel twice in the last two days. It is a reassuring and commanding nostrum from the Risen Christ, to the eleven of the Apostle line-up. Judas did the Dutch Act, after selling the Boss out, remember.

Yesterday, I listened to this gospel during Tom Roeser's magnificent send-off at St. John Cantius Catholic Church on Chicago Ave. and Sangamon on the north side of Chicago. The place was packed and con-celebrated by seven priests. The liturgical music was transcendentally beautiful, unlike the more pop culture ditties embraced by licensed liturgists at too many parishes.

The gospel matched the music. You have been chosen by Christ to use His authority to make disciples of all nations.

Authority comes from the Latin word auctoritas
derived from the word auctor - "planter-cultivator". The word meant to augment or making greater by adding on to something.

I raise money at Leo High School, because I have been give the authority to do so via the Archdiocese,the Mission of Leo High School, the President for Institutional Advancement, the Alumni of Leo High School and the 501(c)3 standing of the high school with the Office of Catholic Schools. The money I raise, by that collective authority, adds on to Leo High School supplementing tuition costs, new programs, meeting utility increases, adding to the campus.

Our authority comes from a greater authority. We are told to do something with that authority. Tom Roeser defended the unborn, the canon of Catholic doctrine, the Bill of Rights, and the canons of taste and wit. God rest this merry gentleman. Tom's spirit and soul will not rest long be assured.

Today, after Mass and hearing this same gospel, I hiked my way to Kean Gas on 111th & Talman for a 20 oz. Dark Roast. Kean Gas is one of the very last family owned, full service gas stations in Chicago. Jimmy and Roli Kean have managed to preserve something of value in this Blackberry world. They hire young guys to check the antifreese, wiper fluid, oil, tires, wash windscreens and windows as well as pump gas.

This allows drivers an opportunity to pop in for coffee and pastries from Wolf's Bakery on 95th Street, chat and pick-up items forgotten on the last visit to County Fair Foods. Kean Brothers Gas helps keep us human in a small but vital way. Kean Gas is an urban Salon.

This morning, I bragged up the Leo Track team with young Jack Leiser, who's old man Tom is contemporary of mine and a rock-ribbed Leo Man. Jack jumps out to service people at the pumps. " Man six State Titles and with only six kids." You may say.

We were joined in short-order by Joe Murphy, another Leo Man and member of St. Cajetan Parish, whose sister teaches at St. Walter's Parish. Joe and I talked near his truck, from which he services air-conditioners. Joe works with many of the CPS schools. We talked about the Leo banquet last April and the impressive turn-out of young African American Alumni shepherded to the event by Mike Holmes, Mike Anderson, Mark Lee, Curtis Cooper, Ken Mason and Noah Cannon. These Lions have helped make the biggest increase in freshman enrollment at Leo in years.

While we were gabbing, Bill Letz another Leo Alumnus, teacher, coach/referee and soon to be retired pipe-fitter stopped at the air-pump with his ten speed. He spotted the knot of coffee fueled gabbers, " The Old Kean Country Store . . .!" Spot on, William! Human contact, communication and following the commands of the gospel . . .with colorful language and the occasional sexist trope, mind you.

Which brings me back to authority.

Murph asked me to have Mike Holmes, Leo football coach and director of admissions, give him a call to set up a parent meet and greet to let parents at St. Walter's know about the success and value of Leo High School. I assured Joe that Holmes would call him Tuesday night at the latest, as I have jury duty on Monday. In mid-chat a very old gentleman approached us.

" I started my car after church, but now the engine will not shut off. Can any of you gentlemen help me?"

This guy had a serious auto-problem and it is a Sunday. No auto shops are open.


Jack Leiser only checks fluids and pumps gas. Joe is a skilled building engineer. Bill Letz a pipe-fitter. I read books and shoot off my mouth for a living.

Jesus, we're sorry sir.

Joe Murphy whipped out his cell-phone and tried to call a guy who fixes cars in Merrionette Park. Murph reached the guy, but he was at his place in Michigan. Then, Joe remembered, "Pep Boys! They are open seven days a week, sir. They do a great job and will give you fair shake. They are on about 130th & Cicero."
The poor man needed a higher authority than a gas pump, engineer, pipefitter, flannel mouth educator, but he came to the right place. Joe Murphy knew.

The old gentleman thanked us and took his still running old Ford west on 111th Street.

It believe the Gospel authority message was fulfilled. It was as easy as getting coffee at Kean with good people.

Mexico is Our Continental Indiana - $ 2.89 Gas at the Pump - How Much Are Smokes?

Mexico is now offering gas at $ 2.80 a gallon.

Such a deal! How would you like to be able to fill up at $2.80 a gallon? . . .Why is gasoline so much cheaper across the Rio Grande? Two main reasons. First of all, Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, controls prices with the assistance of the Mexican government, which is not keen to see the price of gasoline go up too high for fear of public unrest. Also, Mexican environmental laws are not as strict as laws in the U.S., and gasoline sold in Mexico is not required to have many of the special blends designed to hold down air pollution, which jack up U.S. prices.

Foster says he will organize his day so he can buy gasoline in Mexico.

“The other day, I was going to Zaragoza to show a ranch, and I needed gas, and I have no issue buying Mexican gas,” he said.

Traveling into Mexico to buy gasoline is not considered smuggling and is not against the law. The gasoline in the tank does not have be ‘reported’ to U.S. Customs officers at the border, and customs duties do not have to be paid on it.

“A lot of our community goes to Piedras Negras to buy drugs, and for doctor visits, and will incorporate a visit to the gas pump,” Foster says.

I just topped off my tank at Rollie Kean Gas on 111th and Talman at $ 4.19 a galoon.

For years, south side folks would take a run over to Hammond, Indiana and tank-up and grab a carton or two of smokes.

Really earnest pop-eyed geniuses like Chris Matthews, Rep. Jan Shakowsky, and the balance of the news media harp that Americans have great capacity for more taxes - damn those rich plutocrats.

Though it be a bargain, I don't think I'll be taking a run to the boarder to top off the 15 gallon capacity on the Malibu. Not unless, the smokes down Mexico way are a real value. It will probably be 2012 before the pump prices drop . . .no, 2013 around the end of January.

A Great Morning's Moon Dimmed

There is a magnificent full moon lounging just above the houses west on 108th Street.

The fat man's face reminiscent of the old Honeymooner's episodes is jolly and benevolent. I have a nice stroll up to Kean Gas for the 20 oz. Dark Roast and a chat with the heroic Ray Wenek, who helped catch a robber and give the louse a few clips in jaw as well, over the morning's paper. Gino Ford, Eddie Ryan and other usual Kean Salonistas should appear.

The moon recalls the majesty and care of God for Man. My lunatic love of poetry gets protracted by this magnificent moon to recall Pope - Alexander Pope.

First follow Nature, and your judgment frame
By her just standard, which is still the same;
Unerring Nature, still divinely bright,
One clear, unchanged, and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty must to all impart,
At once the source, and end, and test of art.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism



I get my coffee and chat with Ray Wenek, a Navy Veteran trying to get a job as a fireman having been a firefighter in his Country's Cause.

The papers howl about the Hutaree Militia - sad and dangerous people - lunatics. Natasha Korecki of the Chicago Sun Times does her usual able and clean reporting. I am saddened and a bit creeped out about the young guy from Hammond, Indiana - what a great town. These unhappy and bitter people who embrace a core of belief that perverts the heart are our neighbors - Left Wing Right Wing matters not. They stand under the very same moon as the people they are purported to want to kill - police officers.

Sweet Jesus.

For Forms of Government let fools contest;
Whate'er is best administer'd is best:
For Modes of Faith, let graceless zealots fight;
He can't be wrong whose life is in the right:
In Faith and Hope the world will disagree,
But all Mankind's concern is Charity:
All must be false that thwart this One great End,
And All of God, that bless Mankind or mend.

Alexander Pope, Essay on Man

I take my coffee with me. It is going to be a very long day. The moon has dimmed and smiles not at all.

Thanks Gino Ford and the ComEd Crews Who Tackled the Storms!

Gino Ford is a man a half! Mr. Ford is a Charter member of the Kean Gas* Coffee Salon - a coterie of neighborhood worthies ( Boz O'Brien, Mary Therese Riordan RN, Capt. Eddie Ryan CFD, Eddie Carroll, Terry McEldowney - Lyric Opera, Det. Neal Mosh CPD, Frank Hodorowicz, Marty Tully, Billy Higgins, Mike Quinlan, Rich Doyle, Fred Riley, Eugenius Callahan, Smash McKenna, Joe Murphy, Jerry Schumacher, Pat Sheehan, and me self) who caucus at the gas station for coffee and bon mots between 5AM and 6AM most mornings.

It is with this diverse group of tradesmen, nurses, civil servants and venture capitalists that my insights to the economic, cultural, social and religious impact upon Patriots and Neighbors and their families is incubated and hatched - prematurely and full term.

We are blessed with such people as these. They have America's back.

Gino Ford services all of us with ComEd and is the vanguard warrior who returns electrical power to all of us.

ComEd is a bete noir with most of us helots - rate hikes and obscure billing protocols developed by sneaky bean counters and protected by some Legislators in Springfield - most notably the former leader of the Illinois Senate Emil Jones.


However, the crews who venture up on the high wires face injury and death ever day and most especially when our planet goes Gangster on us - Ice Storms and Hurricano Downpours- like yesterday.

Gino missed coffee, because he is out with the crews. Gino is sweating up a storm in heavy jacket asbestos gloves, helmet and harness with tens of pounds of gear pulling him to earth along with the buffeting winds and pelts of rain.

Yesterday evening when I travelled north to pick up the beautiful and talented Ms. Terry Sullivan for evening at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase to witness the electric performance of Jazz Diva Dee Dee Bridgewater* and her quintet, I counted more than twenty huge ComEd Utility and Cherry -Picker Rigs heading north in the express lanes of the Dan Ryan.

That was Gino and the Lads. They are still at it.

Here is the high power and exotic Ms. Dee Dee Bridgewater singing Sweet Rain for Gino and the Com Ed Helots - the High Wire and Pole Artistes! God Bless you all and watch over your labors!

Thanks!

Chicago's Dept. of Streets and San says the storms that ripped thru the city downed 350 trees and put out more than 60 traffic lights. 450+ basements have flooded and more than 500 streets have been made impassable by the runoff.
Spokesman Matt Smith says the department will work through the night to get things back to normal.
Com Ed crews are out in force in the Southwest suburbs. Tonight's round of storms knocked out powerline and downed trees.
No serious injuries were reported but it will some time before communities recover. About 36-thousand of the 120-thousand power outages are located in the South suburbs.

NZ-Weather

* Dee Bridgewater 'Sweet Rain'

Kean Brothers Inc‎ -
2632 W 111th St, Chicago, IL‎ - (773) 445-3626‎

'Who's To Say?' Part Tray - Situational Ethics: The Cop Out That Keeps Giving!

More on 'Who's To Say?' The Catch-phrase of the smarmy and the self-absorbed. This question is posed largely by people who are passive aggressive smart-asses when confronted with the reality that their agenda stands in front of Universal Truths that are too tough to follow. That is why well-to-do educated women use abortion as cosmetic surgery. 'Think of the poor unwanted Child! Kill It! - out of Love!'

Situational Ethics appeared at the same time Planned Parenthood and other wonderful folks decided to unleash genocide on the unborn and make it as easy as stealing donuts! 'Who's to say a Woman's Body is Not Her Own?'

Donuts.
I stole items from Kean Gas Station this morning ( hypothetically speaking for any District 22 CPD officers on Blog Watch) - Six French Donuts ( the ones that look like Tractor Wheels), three Hava-Hanks ( sets of Two), and four Two Bit Bags of Ranch Dressing Doritos, while Dawna was busy with Jerry Schumacher's gas can re-fill.

I stole these items because I had no cash and I love my children - Clare is nuts for Doritos and French Donuts and hates when my snot-locker runs in the cold weather - who don't?

Who's to say that I am a thief? This is a hypothetical. Dawna could kick my ass on the best day that I ever lived and Jerry Schumacher was an All American at Michigan and a Tony Lawless Award winning football great at Mount Carmel possessing a rock-ribbed ethical world view that roundly frowns upon sneaks - active and passive.

In the 1960's an Episcopal priest named Joseph Fletcher developed Situational Ethics that became a hot-button Get of Jail Free Card for people bothered by Universal Truths and the 10 Items Zapped into the Stone Tablets.

Fletcher developed an ethical dodge based upon Love! Agape - or universal brotherly Love as the end of all things. Smart guys call this a teleological ethic as opposed to a law based or outlaw ethic.

Thieves used to follow 'the outlaw' or antinomian ethic. Thieves steal.

Everyone else follows the Law.

Thus, if my sense of Brotherly Love makes me want to get to work as fast as I can, then it follows that I drive up on sidewalks to avoid traffic delays on Western Ave. or 87th Street with the pedal to the metal - 'Get the Hell out of MY WAY!!!!!!!! I am doing this out of Universal LOOOOOOOOOOVE!'


Here's Fletcher's Nut-shell:
There are four presuppositions that Fletcher makes before setting out the situational ethics theory:

Pragmatism - This is that the course of action must be practical and work
Relativism - All situations are always relative; situational ethicists try to avoid such words as 'never' and 'always'
Positivism - The whole of situational ethics relies upon the fact that the person freely chooses to believe in agape love as described by Christianity.
Personalism - Whereas the legalist thinks people should work to laws, the situational ethicist believes that laws are for the benefit of the people.

[edit] The six fundamental principles
First proposition
Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love: nothing else at all. Fletcher (1963, pg56)
Second proposition
The ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else. Fletcher (1963, pg69)
Third proposition
Love and Justice are the same, for justice is love distributed, nothing else. Fletcher (1963, pg87)
Justice is Christian love using its head, calculating its duties, obligations, opportunities, resources...Justice is love coping with situations where distribution is called for. Fletcher (1963, pg95)
Fourth proposition
Love wills the neighbour's good, whether we like him or not. Fletcher (1963, pg103)
Fifth proposition
Only the end justifies the means, nothing else. Fletcher (1963, pg120)
Sixth proposition
Love's decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively. Fletcher

The situation determines the course of the action! In China, toddlers squat to urinate and defecate where and when they are moved to do so! Love is the answer.

Forget the Sexist rules demanding that Women go to the Ladies Rooms and Lads to the Gents! Do as in China! Love is the end!

Who's to say?

BTW- I bought two donuts for Clare - standard glazed and a 16 oz. Cup of Dark Roast for $ 2.85. The Firemen had glomed all the French Donuts by 5:45 AM.

John McCain: With Nick Sarkozy, America & France Again Get Cozy: Women and World Affairs at Kean Gas

PHOTOS FROM REUTERS: Regular Guys married to stunning women and France and America - together again!


With wet snow making it easy to catch the Easter Bunny laying out baskets early tomorrow morning, Gino Ford and I debated whether or not a 'regular guy' could have Run-way Models of the female variety all over him like a cheap suit.

'Look, we are trolls. We make way under 70 Large a year, work long hours, got at least three kids in Catholic Schools and College, taxed up the ying-yang, then we come home bolt down dinner, get up to the gym, or the park, or where ever the kids are playing a sport, or maybe going to music, Irish Step Dance, Beverly Art Center lessons, getting honey-do stuff done and then catching a game on cable - plays hell on our looks - well yours anyway Hickey'

'True, my once drum-like taut and tawny skin has taken on a plucked turkey-like quality and my hair, what's left of it, is whiter than Obama's Granny, but a good guy can be attractive to a beautiful woman.'

'Sure, I'm married to one - hey, she might read this on line, don't be a smart ass, Hickey, and sneak in what we're saying. You will! I know you! You have always been a gold-plated a. . ; - No Really - Honey, this is theoretical stuff! My wife is gorgeous! Get that in. Look, we been going steady since she got out of St. Joe's in Canaryville. Don't get me in Dutch. All I'm saying is regular guys - good guys don't hook up with knockout covergirls. Those skinny broads with pissed off expressions and such!'

'How about Mike Cullen? God, he's a stand-in for Larry the Cable guy and he's married to a knock-out? How about John McCain? Ever see his wife?'

'Yeah. but he's a U.S. Senator. Still, our local politicians are mutts and they hooked some eye-candy. Joyce, Sheehan, Maloney, Dart and Hynes are all politicians and about as good looking as a burlap bag full of belly buttons and they married some good lookers. I see where you're going with this.'

'To France, Gino! Even a Frog can be a good guy. Their new President, Nick Sarko! He's been married to a string of Hotties and he's still a good guy. The First French President to actually like Americans - even when we liberated Paris in WWII, DeGaulle hated Americans. This guy is like he's from over by Hegewisch. He's got a Moogie name Sarkozy. I'll bet he's got tons of cousins over around 130th & Baltimore and a ll the alphabet streets.'

'Point taken. A Good guy can date and even marry a hottie. There's hope for you Hickey, yet. On second thought - you ain't such a great guy. If I take any heat from my bride over your typing on the Web, Bub, you'll find a little something from Gino in your Easter Basket. A Mount Carmel Kiss. You know how those feel.'

'Happy Easter Gino!'

John McCain and Nicholas Sarkozy met again in Paris. When John McCain takes the Oath of Office, France and America will once again live the promise and commitment to Freedom forged by Lafayette and Franklin. Vive la France!

Click my post title for an article about Mccain and Sarkozy - here's a taste:

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for the November election, was in Paris as part of a Senate Armed Services Committee fact-finding mission that also visited Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Britain.

He said he had thanked Sarkozy for French participation in combat operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan and said he had talked about climate change, including the importance of nuclear power in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

He praised Sarkozy, who has put great effort into improving relations with Washington after the falling out over the U.S.-led war in Iraq under his predecessor Jacques Chirac.

"I think relations with France will continue to improve no matter who is president of the United States because this president is committed to greater cooperation and values our friendship," he said.