“The court order requires that we build sustainable communities that are economically integrated and that will lead to racial integration as well. That's how my grandfather's vision will be realized,” Jarrett says. Affordable Housing Finance11/01/2008
Yep, Valerie Jarrett is circling this corpse of a city looking for tasty parts that have as yet gone to rot - Jefferson Park, Albany Park Morgan Park. Parkway Manor has problems and folks neeed to find affordable housing away fro O-Block, Roseland and of course Englewood.
Valerie Jarrett is coming home, sort-of. Ariel Capital Investments, where Daley socked millions of pension dollars owed to City workers, just announced the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to its board of directors.
Chicago-based Ariel Investments is one firm that got a lift from the state's effort to direct pension dollars to minority-owned firms. It received its first million-dollar investment from the Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago in 1984 and today it manages $123 million for the pension. It also manages money for a number of other state and local pensions.
“Illinois is doing a terrific job in this area,” said Ariel Chairman, CEO and Founder John Rogers, noting just a few exceptions among local pension funds that “don't get it.”
Illinois could use some help from other states to advance the cause, Raoul said. “Illinois shouldn't carry that burden,” he said. “We're not the only diverse state in the country.” Crain's Chicago Business
Neighborhoods where cops, firemen, CTA & CPS employees, Streets and Sanitation workers live and raise families are being eyed-for such development.
One might think that the Chicago Media's Investigative Teams would be all over this boondoggle that runs from Obama's White House to our State Budget Mensa Team in both Houses in Springfield, with stops at City Hall and Hyde Park, might be worth a gander.
One might, if one were a silly goose.
Nope. The news media is in on it, Dopes.
Cops are not dopes, nor are they grifters. Some are better writers than Sun Times purse puppies and Tribune ink-slinging lambikins.
Second City Cop directs us to the creeps setting the table for Val, Ariel and the elite-players.
In the meantime, Ed Burke used a procedural motion to temporarily stall the CHA project building Arena (and Rahm) is trying to bring into 016 to lead to the latest round of "block busting:"
A plan to demolish a vacant food distribution site in the heart of Jefferson Park and replace it with a storage facility and apartment complex failed Monday to win the support of the City Council's zoning committee.
Although the council typically defers to the alderman of each ward when it comes to matters of zoning, Ald. Edward Burke (14th) stepped in during what had already been hours of contentious testimony about the plan to build a five-story, 68-foot warehouse at 5150 N. Northwest Highway.
Burke demanded that a roll call vote be taken to determine whether enough members of the committee were present for a vote to be valid. When it became clear that there was not enough members of the committee still present for the seventh hour of the meeting, the session was adjourned — much to the delight of opponents of the development.
No idea what pressure was brought to bear on Burke for this action - he doesn't seem to care that often. Perhaps he saw the north side going renegade and voting republican for generations instead of kowtowing to the Machine.
More drama next month.
Make book on it. That middle aged buzzard Valerie Jarrett does not wing into town for snacks; she's ready for a feed.
"The public has a right to know precisely how Obama and his senior White House advisors Emanuel and Jarrett responded to Blagojevich's corrupt attempts sell Obama's Senate seat."
Hell, yes, I want to know. More than this, I want to know President Obama's academic records. I have been under the impression that the man is a dim-bulb from my first encounter with him back in 1997. Subsequent person-to-person encounters, chats and directions through the ropes of a boxing ring ( 2004) upheld my impression. My empirical experiences conflicted with the approved narrative that the young man from the Choom Gang was none other than Solon, Moses, Jack Marshall and Bill Moyers wrapped in flesh. Could I have been wrong in my assessment? It would not be the first, or the last time.
I believe that we would see a rather weak set of records for the efforts of a lazy, callow, ambitious, but not overly energetic, disinterested and less than bright student. Poor attendence, sloppy work, more excuses than pregnant nun will be noted in some columns.
However, I am pleased that Judicial Watch continues to shovel the heavy coal for skeptical old me.
Judicial Watch's lawsuit asks the court to order the interview reports' release, noting:
[U]nder the circumstances it cannot be said that release of the requested records could reasonably be expected to interfere with whatever is left of Blagojevich's criminal prosecution. The public should not be forced to wait any longer to review the FBI 302s of President Obama, former White House Chief of Staff and now City of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, or Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett while Blagojevich pursues his second, plainly futile appeal.
"The FBI interviewed Barack Obama eight years ago about the selling of his Senate seat. The American people should finally get to see these FBI interview reports," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The public has a right to know precisely how Obama and his senior White House advisors Emanuel and Jarrett responded to Blagojevich's corrupt attempts sell Obama's Senate seat."
Short of seeing the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Laurette's report cards, I will be satisfied to read Senate Seat baiting and Valerie Jarrett's negotiations with the incarcerated Great White Smelt of Patrick Fitzgerald, former Governor, WLS DJ, Elvis Impersonator and Mell Family public money Master Key, Rod Blagojevich.
The Obama Legacy, might, just might be found in the ink transcripts and notebooks of F.B.I. investigators. This inquiry , subsequent to the release of documents, will be the first peel of the Valerie Jarrett Vidalia! Madame Jarrett has been Obama's chief handler long before Rahm Emanuel, Dave Axelrod and Bill Daley acted as his Kevlar.
This should be interesting. I getting big jar of Salted and Black Pepper Cashews when it happens.
I know that pork is the cheapest cut of meat these days and that Bruce Dold of the Chicago Tribune has goaded Senator Dick Durbin into action that will have pig prices skyrocket in no time.
I know that Obama says the cargo planes packed with 400 million dollars in cash sent to Iran the minute four hostages were released is just a distraction. Lifted from the Washington Post
Anything else? The usual. Whitey is evil. The Obama Library is in Jackson Park.
Trump is bad. Clinton is a woman. Daley kicked pensions down the road. Cops are really bad;worse than Whitey.
Lynn Sweet completely ignores the pallets packed with dollars and euros for Valerie Jarrett's clients in Tehran and giggles about the looming Obama Library and tweets that a Republican hates Trump. Who don't?
I can't stand Trump, but at least he is not Hillary.
The Chicago editorial boards ( and too many of their opinion writers) are political stooges. We are much better served by the rumor mill at Dunkin Donuts, or Kean Gas.
At least rumor-mongers think for themselves.
I learned this from Reuters -
The Obama administration said on Wednesday that $400 million in cash paid to Iran soon after the release of five Americans detained by Tehran was not ransom as some Republicans have charged. The five, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, were released on Jan. 16 in exchange for seven Iranians held in the United States for sanctions violations. The prisoner deal coincided with the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran. At the time, the United States said it had settled a longstanding Iranian claim at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, releasing $400 million in funds frozen since 1981, plus $1.3 billion in interest that was owed to Iran. The funds were part of a trust fund Iran used before its 1979 Islamic Revolution to buy U.S. military equipment that was tied up for decades in litigation at the tribunal. . . .
White House spokesman Josh Earnest rejected suggestions the money transfer to Iran was ransom or a secret.
"The United States, under President Obama, has not paid a ransom to secure the release of Americans unjustly detained in Iran and we're not going to pay a ransom," he said in response to a Wall Street Journal article that said Washington secretly organized the cash airlift.
Uh, huh. Earnest Injun? News to me.
Well, you can bet there will be nothing about cash to Tehran on the shelves of the Obama Library despoiling the landscape in Jackson Park so artfully designed by Freddie Law Olmstead in 1871.
I took a sound beat down every day from Sisters Doralese and Gertrudis, ( Sisters of Mercy ,bye the by) through Sixth and Seventh Grades at Little Flower Grammar School in the mid-1960's, due to my profound inabilities where numbers are concerned.
Pay attention, or I'll give something to whimper about . . .' take the sum of any . . . .' and shave that mustache, Boyo!
In Eight Grade, I took B Honors, because the nun I had thought that I was someone else and graded accordingly.
I did learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide and fractions.
The Editorial Board of the Chicago Sun Times? I would have been proud to have them sit around around me in those swell desks bolted to the hardwood of Little Flower. I would have been spared a few cuts and thrashings, from the two Irish women, my Bogman Grandpa Hickey called 'Life's Unplucked Flowers,' when women were present, or 'hairy-faced old Galway Bitches,' between the two of us.
The Chicago Sun Times thumps its Saltine-like chest and thunders like Governor Le Petomane in Blazing Saddles, because the Workers Compensation Payouts are not like New York City's and that the Finance Committee is operating according to the rules of its charter.
The City paid out a whopping 115 million dollars 2011, but no where in the editorial is proof of illegality.
What the editorial amounts to is this - the City is bleeding dollars from the public schools, the CTA and special relationships like this between Friends of Richie Daley and Valerie Jarret in real estate swindles that add up actual theft.
In same edition is Watchdogs ( Tim Novak who investigated Obama/Rezko/Jarret/Allison Davis slum real estates in 2008, but magically vanished around election day), but appears again with Vanecko lad, in keeping with the paper's Kochman bleatings.
The editorial deals with John Dewey Math (there might be theft Q.E.D. there is!) and Watchdogs in math that Archimedes could understand.
Now, Lookee H'yar!
Here’s how the Davises and Vanecko handled the pension money, according to documents obtained over the past nine years from the five pension funds.
• $9.9 million was lost on the purchase of the 344-unit building at 1212 S. Michigan Ave. Using pension money, Davis and Vanecko paid $65.2 million in September 2006 to buy it — and sold it about five years later for $65.5 million. The pension funds never got any money from the sale.
• $2.8 million was lost on two loans to the owners of the Chicago Defender’s former home, a boarded-up building at 2400 S. Michigan Ave. It’s unclear why DV Urban lent pension money to developers Brian O’Connell of LaGrange and his partner, Matthew A. O’Malley, a politically connected restaurateur who has been battling City Hall over a sweetheart deal to operate the Park Grill restaurant in Millennium Park. After a bank foreclosed on the Defender building, O’Connell and O’Malley sold the property in 2014. The pension funds didn’t get any money from the sale.
• $2.65 million helped DV Urban pay $11.7 million in 2007 for a commercial building at 217 N. Jefferson St. The building was sold last year for $14.5 million — one of the deals that helped the pension funds recover $6 million.
• $6.5 million was used by DV Urban toward $11.5 million it paid for a 162-unit apartment building at 7100 S. South Shore Dr. It was sold last year for $6.75 million, helping return some money to the pension funds.
• $3.5 million went toward $4.2 million DV Urban paid for the stores at 3508 S. State St., part of the CHA’s redevelopment of Stateway Gardens. The pension funds hope to sell the land this year.
• $16.9 million went to loans to developers of 3030 N. Broadway, where a Mariano’s store is being built, and to buy adjacent land at 3013-17 N. Waterloo. The property is expected to be sold this year.
• $4.2 million was invested with the firm Sydney Partners, which paid $10.5 million for a 15.6-acre industrial property at 3348 S. Pulaski. DV Urban leased part of the space to the city. But, beset by environmental problems including polluted soil, the property was sold for just $5.4 million in 2014, and the pension fund money was lost.
• $4.5 million was earmarked to buy the former headquarters of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Chicago branch at 1411 S. Michigan, next door to the Chicago Firehouse restaurant owned by O’Malley. The deal ended up in court when DV Urban backed out of the deal, asking the letter carriers to return the money — which the union had used to build its new headquarters. The lawsuit was settled out of court, but the pension funds lost all of their money.
Now, I was taught round off decimals at .5 and adding these here figures comes to -
$30 M in losses from City Worker Contributions to Pension Funds - no how about that? Might call for a old timey stem-winder of an editorial!
Instead, Michael Shakman beefed that he was not getting his cut from Ed Burke's Finance Committee and the harrumphing went viral.
$ 30M is a not, to be sure, a whopping 115 million dollars paid out to workers compensation claims according to the existing law and rules, but $30M in real loss to people who trusted politicians and had their savings picked clean by Progressively Approved Valerie Jarrett slumlords, just might be investigation worthy of city newspaper. Nah. Gentlemen, we goota protect our phoney baloney jobs!
Now, here is smelly part. While cops and school teachers took an investment beating that would have warmed cold-hearts of the two above-mentioned Sisters of Mercy.
Valerie Jarret's slum-lord partner ( Valerie is somehow absent from Tim Novak's investigation) Allison Davis and one of the Vanecko boys made out like porch-climbers.
“The investment was effectively a total loss for DV Urban,” says Miller-May of the teachers pension fund. DV Urban was paid $8 million in management fees between 2006 and 2012, when the pension funds got permission from a Delaware judge to fire the company. A little over $1 million, for property-management fees, went to a company owned by Cullen Davis*, another Davis son, who oversaw some of the apartment buildings bought with pension money.
Another $1.7 million went to two companies, including Newport Capital Partners, to manage the DV Urban portfolio and sell off the assets in an effort to recover as much money as possible for the pension funds.
Beyond the money lost on the investments with DV Urban, the pension funds also had to pay $2.5 million for attorneys who fought the firm for two years in courtrooms from Chicago to Delaware over control of the real estate investments.
That's $13 million in money looted from City Workers and tucked in the wallets of slumlords added to $30m in losses comes to a very real $ 43 M beat down of City Workers, not a possible boondoggle.
Where is the editorial on this one? Somethings don't add up. Like editorial three-monte providing cover for Rahm, while doing absolutely nothing.
Alderman Ed Burke is playing according to the rules approved by the City of Chicago and he does seem worried a bit nor should he. He knows this is not newspaper, but a daily political fog machine.
* Like the Ayers/Obama papers held hostage at Cement City, better late than never.
Whenever I am near a Progressive Do-Gooder, I throw both hands over the Left check of my ass to protect my wallet.
Whenever a Progressive Do-Gooder gets near poor people, they rake in millions, properties get boarded up, and people die.
Anyone who hates Israel, demands that Iran should get The Bomb and understands why Obama lie, naturally will want to sell the Ukrainian people back into slavery under Vlad Putin.
John J. Mearschiemer is a University of Chicago apologist for all things Valerie Jarrett. Get this crapola from another rarefied air breathing professor -
Sending weapons to Ukraine will not rescue its army and will instead lead to an escalation in the fighting. Such a step is especially dangerous because Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons and is seeking to defend a vital strategic interest.
There is no question that Ukraine’s military is badly outgunned by the separatists, who have Russian troops and weapons on their side. Because the balance of power decisively favors Moscow, Washington would have to send large amounts of equipment for Ukraine’s army to have a fighting chance.
But the conflict will not end there. Russia would counter-escalate, taking away any temporary benefit Kiev might get from American arms. The authors of the think tank study concede this, noting that “even with enormous support from the West, the Ukrainian Army will not be able to defeat a determined attack by the Russian military.” In short, the United States cannot win an arms race with Russia over Ukraine and thereby ensure Russia’s defeat on the battlefield.
I can almost see that other fatuous ninny David Brooks with brow a-knit nodding his doughy noggin with amiable accent on the PBS News Hour -'Yes, yes,'
Obama has already sold out
the American Middle Class
African Americans Citizens
Black Youth in America
Mexican American Citizens
Organized Labor (sans public sector unions and SEIU)
the Syrians
the Libyans
the Egyptians
the Crimea
Fort Hood
Boston
Coptic Christians in particular
Christian universal
Israel
Jews universal
NATO
Nebraska
Chicago Obama Library bidders
Hillary Clinton
Vlad Putin a tin-horn bully who scares the poop out of Choom Gang Barry, was given a license to steal by President Obama and his White House. Obama eco/petro fuel policies all but saved Putin from certain economic implosion.
Valerie Jarrett, it seems, has called out her reliable academic shill John J. Mearsheimer to set the scenery for another dagger plunged in the back of the brave Ukrainian people. Obama and Putin dance to the same jig fiddled by George Soros - you must crack a few skulls to make brain salad.
Obama is a screw up. He is a very calculated screw-up. He listens only to a very few people. John J. Mearsheimer is one of them.
White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said Obama's primary objective in meeting with Holder is to find a way to end the violence in Ferguson, which is now in its second week.
"I think our immediate goal is to make sure the residents of Ferguson are safe, that the looting stops, that the vandalism stops, that the people in the community have confidence that justice will be done," Jarrett said. "And that's the president's primary objective right now."he president is particularly concerned about children in Ferguson, according to Jarrett. Four schools districts in the area havedelayedthe start of classes because of the unrest. . . .
"Making sure that all the residents of Ferguson are safe, particularly the young people, are paramount in the president's mind," Jarrett said.
"He looks at this — I just spoke with him this morning, his concern was thinking about it as the perspective of a parent,” she continued. “You want to know when you send your kids to school, when they leave your home, they're going to be safe."
Asked if there was concern the Ferguson situation would require a broader federal response, Jarrett said the White House would evaluate "next steps" after calming the situation in Ferguson.
"Let's get through the next few days and make sure that happens in a responsible way, and then the days and weeks ahead will determine the next steps," Jarrett said.
The Justice Department said last week that FBI agents and attorneys from the department's Civil Rights Division had interviewed witnesses on the scene of the shooting, and would canvass the neighborhood to discuss the incident with neighbors. Federal officials are also working with local and state police in an effort to de-escalate the situation.
Obama last spoke publicly about the situation on Thursday, calling for "peace and calm on the streets" and a "transparent investigation" into the shooting.
Here's the breakdown -White cop shoots and kills black kid. White Cop Kills Black Kid - No Good.
Ferguson Cops -No Good -send in the County lads
County Cops - No Good - send in the State Highway Patrol
State Highway Patrol - Jumps the Shark by Sunday - Send in Missouri National Guard
MO National Guard - tic-tock.
Next up. Valerie Jarrett will order President Obama to turn Ferguson over to Homeland Security . . .it is near St. Louis Airport after all.
Ferguson Timeline: FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A timeline of key events following the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. AUG. 9 — Brown and a companion are confronted by an officer as they walk back to Brown’s home from a convenience store. Brown and the officer are involved in some kind of scuffle, followed by gunshots. Brown dies at the scene. AUG. 10 — After a candlelight vigil, people protesting Brown’s death smash car windows and carry away armloads of looted goods from stores. In the first of several nights of violence, looters are seen making off with bags of food, toilet paper and alcohol. Some protesters stand atop police cars and taunt officers. AUG. 11 — The FBI opens an investigation into Brown’s death, and two men who said they saw the shooting tell reporters that Brown had his hands raised when the officer approached with his weapon and fired repeatedly. That night, police in riot gear fire tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse a crowd. AUG. 12 — Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson cancels plans to release the name of the officer who shot Brown, citing death threats against the police department and City Hall. The Rev. Al Sharpton and President Barack Obama both plead for calm after two nights of clashes between police and protesters. AUG. 13 — Another night of violence wracks Ferguson, with some people lobbing Molotov cocktails and other objects at police, who respond with smoke bombs and tear gas. Two reporters are detained at a McDonald’s. Images of the standoff, showing police using armored vehicles and pointing assault rifles at the crowds, are widely shared on social media. AUG. 14 — The Missouri Highway Patrol takes control of security in Ferguson, relieving local police of their law-enforcement authority after four days of violence. Within hours, the mood among protesters becomes lighter, even festive. The streets are filled with music, free food and even laughter. AUG. 15 — Police identify the officer who shot Brown as Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old man who had patrolled the St. Louis suburbs for six years. They also release a video purporting to show Brown robbing a convenience store of almost $50 worth of cigars shortly before he was killed. The video draws anger from protesters. After nightfall, officers and the crowds clash again. Some people in the crowd storm into the same convenience store that Brown was accused of robbing and loot it. AUG. 16 — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declares a state of emergency and imposes a curfew in Ferguson. The first night of the curfew ends with tear gas and seven arrests, after police in riot gear use armored vehicles to disperse defiant protesters who refused to leave.
AUG. 17— Attorney General Eric Holder orders a federal medical examiner to perform another autopsy on Brown. The Justice Department cites the “extraordinary circumstances” surrounding the death and a request by Brown’s family members.
“I love coming to Asheville,” Obama said at a Linamar factory plant, where he stumped today on his post-State of the Union tour. He told the crowd that “after this whole presidency thing,” he and Michelle Obama will be “looking for a little spot, you know, to come on down, play a little golf, do a little hiking, fishing, eat barbecue.” February 2013
The Oval Office: Sometime in not all-to-distant future, or about all the future that will be left . . . "Well I'm gonna to go then! And I don't need any of this. I don't need this stuff, and I don't need *you*. I don't need anything. Except this.
[picks up an ashtray]
And that's the only thing I need is *this*. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game. - The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control. - The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp. - The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That's all I need.
[walking outside]The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, and this magazine, and the chair.
[outside now] And I don't need one other thing, except my dog.. . . I don't need my dog."
One day President Barack H. Obama will depart the White House, but there is so much to occupy Americans like myself.
Zimmerman? Meh. My old ear drums are still bleeding from our National Discussion on Race, when old Henry Lou Gates lost his keys and President Sparklefahrts dipped his toes in the quiet waters of Cambridge Police 911 call. Stupid! A few beers later and all was forgotten . . .by this Nation of Cowards.
Snowden? I hope the poor SOB can get some Mitchum in that Moscow Airport. Man, he's gotta be ripe. Well, it is Russia and Old Shirtless in Saint Petersburg don't seem to mind.
Rolling Stone? A great cop took care of that one.
Metra Illinois? Already in the Illinois memory hole.
Motown? President Al Green has left the building.
Cairo? In the national memory hole
Benghazi? Getting warmed up.
IRS? Boiling like a pot of Englewood napalm and set to burn some scamps. R. Emmett Tyrell writes about the last six months of scandals oozing out of the pores of Brand Obama
Congress also ought to be looking into the Obama Administration’s subpoenaing of journalists’ records and the allegations of a State Department cover-up of irregularities by our ambassador to Belgium. Then there is the NSA disaster. It now appears that the dimwit Edward Snowden walked off with a vast horde of intelligence. We are even hearing that he has in the cozy confines of the Moscow airport the manuals for keying into NSA intelligence gathering projects. How did he get them? Who is responsible?
All of this incompetence took place under President Obama’s watch. Now comes word that the president is popping off about Trayvon Martin again. Initially he blustered, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” With the acquittal of George Zimmerman he is saying we can “honor Trayvon” by putting an end to “gun violence.” Still worse is his outburst this past May on sexual assault cases in the military. Commenting on them he — the president of the United States and commander in chief of the military — pronounced that the accused should be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged…” You can be sure that his outburst put in jeopardy sexual assault cases all over the country. Thomas J. Roming, a former judge advocate general of the Army, told the New York Times, “His remarks were more specific than I’ve ever heard a commander in chief get…. Every military defense counsel will make a motion about this.”
Yeah, but didn't Motown Barry look just smashing back in Denver, betwixt those swell Attic columns, though? He did. Wasn't that a time?
For NPR and Bill Moyers, I am sure, but have never cottoned to national figure who demands that goons like Dr. Kermit Baron Gosnell ( Dr. Talented 10%) be allowed to spin the spinal cords of living children in defense of women.
Of all of the indications of the hapless misanthropy that is Brand Obama, nothing takes the cheese like IRS scandal. Any self-respecting meth-head with a rudimentary understanding of English and a GED, like Eddie Snowden, knows that IRS was unleashed upon the Tea Party, Pro Israel, Anti-abortion, or America-Ain't- Bad 501 (c) 3 applicants to show Americans the might of the Brand and the lash waiting all dissenters. That means, Valerie Jarrett, Chicago Slum Queen, Obama Minister Without Portfolio Bully-Broad.
President Obama doesn't waffle-up in the AM without Valerie Jarrett's say-so. Why Ms. Jarrett has become such a powerful force in American public life is easy to explain - politicians need access to money. She is a crazy aunt with oodles of boodle that a daffy family will allow to not only pick out the curtains, but schools for the kids, cable shows, menus and toilet paper. Valerie Jarrett operates off-camera, but pushes Commie Sit-com stars of the future into the full focus - Anita Dunn,Van Jones, Kevin Jennings, EPA Mini-Czar Salazar and IRS general counsel and White House go-to-guy William Wilkins. No less a past-Obama fan than Peggy Noonan writes:
The IRS chief counsel is named William Wilkins. And again, he is one of only two Obama political appointees in the IRS.
What was the chief counsel's office looking for? The letter to Mr. Werfel says Mr. Hull's supervisor, Ronald Shoemaker, provided insight: The counsel's office wanted, in the words of the congressional committees, "information about the applicants' political activities leading up to the 2010 election." Mr. Shoemaker told investigators he didn't find that kind of question unreasonable, but he found the counsel's office to be "not very forthcoming": "We discussed it to some extent and they indicated that they wanted more development of possible political activity or political intervention right before the election period."
It's almost as if—my words—the conservative organizations in question were, during two major election cycles, deliberately held in a holding pattern.
So: What the IRS originally claimed was a rogue operation now reaches up not only to the Washington office, but into the office of the IRS chief counsel himself.
At the generally lacking House Oversight Committee Hearings on Thursday, some big things still got said.
Ms. Hofacre of the Cincinnati office testified that when she was given tea-party applications, she had to kick them upstairs. When she was given non-tea-party applications, they were sent on for normal treatment. Was she told to send liberal or progressive groups for special scrutiny? No, she did not scrutinize the applications of liberal or progressive groups. "I would send those to general inventory." Who got extra scrutiny? "They were all tea-party and patriot cases." She became "very frustrated" by the "micromanagement" from Washington. "It was like working in lost luggage." She applied to be transferred.
For his part, Mr. Hull backed up what he'd told House investigators. He described what was, essentially, a big, lengthy runaround in the Washington office in which no one was clear as to their reasons but everything was delayed. The multitiered scrutiny of the targeted groups was, he said, "unusual."
What happens in the White House does not stay in the White House. Detroit Happens. Syria Happens. ObamaCare should not happen. Things happen because almost twenty years ago, Barack H. Obama, community activist, Woods Fund Executive Director, and neighborhood guy of Bill Ayers attached himself to Valerie Jarrett,Real Estate player and Slum Queen. She's the crazy aunt who makes uncle Jeremiah Wright seem like Justice Clarence Thomas, in my humble opinion.
The IRS Scandal was far less bloody and foolish than Benghazi fiasco of 9/11/2011, but will prove mortal to Obama's last place finish in History's list of American Presidencies. It is not Obama's fault, nothing is. We voters drank the Cool Aid, Smoked the Hopium and felt the tingle up our thighs. We may soon realize the poor guys was just a Jerk with a sharp crease in his britches.
Listen to the hand! Let's get Real! The Truth. Moue Power!
I voted for Nixon. It was the the first vote that I cast as a citizen. I was a sophomore at Loyola University which meant that, like my schoolmates, I took the L from 63rd & Ashland ( Englewood & Howard) and got off at Chicago and walked to Lewis Towers Campus on Rush Street. Loyola was rigorous. The professors were dead-on serious and exacting. Everyone had a job outside of taking classes and many had two or three. If you were late for a class you often found yourself locked out of the room.
I helped out with the 18th Ward Regular Democratic Organization. 1972 was a very weird election. In the Illinois Presidential Primary votes were cast for individual delegates to the convention. They were not tagged as generic McGovern, Humphrey, Kennedy, or Ribicoff delegates.
A particularly oily gent by the name of Ald. Bill Singer, who won his Progressive spurs with Abner Mikva's imprimatur and would later rat-out Dr. Scholl Land Deal partners and avoid a Federal Time-out, was feeling his youthful oats and leagued up with the to-be Dean of American Shakedown Artistry, Rev. Jesse Jackson in voiding all of Illinois's duly elected delegates to the convention.and grabbing political power from the clutches of people who actually knew what they were doing.
I was young and disgusted with National Democratic Party. If George McGovern needed to steal the convention in order to get elected, why would I vote for someone with such low self-esteem? I held my nose and down my lunch and voted for Tricky Dick Nixon. Shortly, I began reading excerpts from the Washington Post's reports about Cuban burglars, black bags of dough, a crash near Midway*, CREEP, and GOP rat-sex-ting.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Woodstein, took Nixon to the woodshed. Shoe-leather reporting and pains-taking attention to facts and numbers unmasked a self-serving phony. Journalism became a sacred institution.
Oddly enough, the same institution that feted Woodstein would become the mask-manufacturers of self-serving phonies from the Chicago Wards all the way to the White House.
The 1972 Democratic Convention and its bloody Irish-twin Roe v. Wade (1973) was the nativity of the national and local idiocies identified as Progressive/Liberal Democrat policy. The term Liberal Democrat has faded into history and Democrat is too often associated with the power mad folly that is American Progressive thought. If it is Progressive it either encourages State-sponsored murder (abortion/euthanasia) or manages to screw up everything from budgets to traffic.
I am a Democrat; same as I was in 1972. 98% of the votes that I have cast have been for Democrats. I can not vote for a Progressive; especially after having voted for Pat Quinn and Toni Preckwinkle, as part of doing a solid for some pals.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is what being a Progressive is all about. He'd burn a library full of pre-schoolers to teach them a lesson about reading the fire code. Most Progressives in public office and appointed pay-rollers are "ain't she/he greaters" wealthy dopes with nothing much else to do - you find them running the CTA, serving as Lieutenants Governor, manning the seats on paid commissions, getting facetime on MSNBC while screwing up things in Congress, or at the Department of Education, or building a Sequester. The President and the Vice President-practiced Moue Men
Half of Woodstein, 50% of the guys who brought down Nixon, Bob Woodward has gotten himself in the jackpot with the Obama White House for getting his facts straight. President Obama talks out of whatever side of the mouth Val Jarrett tells him to use and it seems to me does not fully understand what he puts out from that side of his oral cavity. Rahm Emanuel became Mayor of Chicago, because he could no longer even suggest a moue from the President. Bill Daley found that out too. What's the point of being a progressive when you are not allowed to at least torch a village or two.Progressive is all about power.
Hence Mayor Rahm. Last night, true to the Progressive Code of Etiquette introduced Mr. Woodward at a Holocaust Museum event at the Hyatt with an attempted Hyde Park Pimp Slap. The Mayor made reference to the e-mails from Gene Sperling at the White House, warning Woodward to beware his 'Obama moved the goal-post' on Congress remarks.
I am a reactionary. I am never pre-emptively snotty. However, once the crack against me or mine is made for no other purpose than to denigrate, I am more than happy to oblige. e.g. A Progressive is the loudmouth who tries to embarrass someone -
Mr. Sumner Quickbritches of the IVI -"Hey, everybody here comes the Biggest Fat-assed Catholic, Racist Homophobic, Wrong Side of History, Breeder Loser in the world!"
Me, All of the Above- " Runner up."
Sumner Quickbritches of the IVI - " Hateful! Hateful, on so many levels . . .and sad."
Progressives never learn the sobering and wholesome effects of a slap in the puss, when an off-hand remark, fib, gross-exaggeration, lie or calumny gets blown forth. Most other folks learned the lesson early often that it does not cost you nickel one to be a good guy.
In response, Robert Woodward offered this salient truth - that Rahm was a player and his play helped cause the division in our nation. Here is nugget of Woodward's wisdom - “There is so little focus on what’s real, what’s true.”
From the 1972 Democratic Convention, to the Watergate burglaries, to Roe V. Wade, through Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Surf-Dog Millionaire John Kerry, Hillary's Benghazi, and Obama's moues, America lost much of its greatness to play the Progressive.
What's real - America is broke and it is being bullied by a fat kid in Korea and a hillbilly with a Koran in Iran; what's true is we can do so much better, but we will not for at least three more years.
* Down the block from my cousin Larry Hickey's home in Queen of the Universe parish - watch the neighbors help the firemen:
It was at 2:29 PM on Friday, December 8, 1972, during the height of the Watergate scandal that United Airlines flight 553 crashed just outside of Chicago during a landing approach to Midway Airport. Initial reports indicated that the plane had some sort of engine trouble when it descended from the clouds. But the odd thing about this crash is what happened after the plane went down. Witnesses living in the working-class neighborhood in which the plane crashed said that moments after impact, a battalion of plainclothes operatives in unmarked cars parked on side streets pounced on the crash-site [High Treason 2 (1992, Carroll and Graf); Harrison Livingston; p426] . These so-called 'FBI types' took control of the scene and immediately began sifting through the wreckage looking for something. At least one survivor recognized a "rescue worker"--clad in overalls sifting through wreckage--as an operative of the CIA [op. cit.; p428]
Nixon whitehouse asserts control of Investigation
One day after the crash, the Whitehouse head of Nixon's "plumber's" outfit--Egil Krogh, Jr.-- was made undersecretary of transportation, a position that put him in a direct position to oversee the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Agency which are both authorized by law to investigate airline crashes. Krogh would later be convicted of complicity in the break-in of Daniel Ellsberg's Psychiatrist's office along with Hunt, Liddy and a small cast of CIA-trained and retained Cuban black-bag specialists.
About a month after Krogh's new assignment, Nixon's appointments secretary, Dwight Chapin, was made an executive in the Chicago office of United Airlines [op. cit.; p429], where he threatened the media to steer clear of speculation about sabotage in the crash. On December 19th--eleven days after the crash--Nixon appointed ex-CIA officer, Alexander Butterfield, as head of the FAA. Students of Watergate will remember Butterfield as the Whitehouse official who supervised Nixon's secret taping system and who exposed the existence of the infamous tapes that ultimately would force Nixon to resign.
Ostensibly traveling with Mrs. Hunt on flight 553 was CBS news corespondent Michelle Clark who, rumor had it, had learned from her sources that the Hunts were about to spill the proverbial beans regarding the Nixon whitehouse and its involvement in the Watergate burglary; Clark also died in the crash.
A large sum of money (between $10,000 and $100,000) was found amid the wreckage in the possession of Mrs. Hunt. It was during this time that Dorothy Hunt was traveling around the country paying off operatives and witnesses in the Watergate operation with money her husband had extorted from Nixon via his counsel, John Dean. Hunt had threatened Nixon and Dean with exposing the nature of all the sordid deeds he had done.
Could it be that the fuel for Hunt's blackmail of the president had little to do with the so-called "third-rate burglary" of the Democratic headquarters? Could it have had more to do with the fate of John F. Kennedy and of Nixon's awareness of who was really behind the planning and deployment of his demise? In the Watergate tapes, Nixon displays a malignant paranoia to his chief-of-staff, H. R. Haldeman, concerning E. Howard Hunt and the Bay of Pigs operation. He decides to use this paranoia to force the CIA to help cover up the Watergate affair:
"...just say (unintelligible) very bad to have this fellow Hunt, ah, he knows too damned much, if he was involved -- you happen to know that? If it gets out that this is all involved, the Cuba thing, it would be a fiasco. It would make the CIA look bad, it's going to make Hunt look bad, and it is likely to blow the whole Bay of Pigs thing which we think would be very unfortunate - both for the CIA and for the country..."
In his memoir, The Ends of Power (1978), Haldeman claims that all the references in the tapes to "The Bay of Pigs thing", were coded references by Nixon:
In those Nixon references to the Bay of Pigs [in the White House tapes] he [Nixon] was actually referring to the Kennedy assassination...After Kennedy was killed, the CIA launched a fantastic cover-up...The CIA literally erased any connection between Kennedy's assassination and the CIA...in fact, Counter Intelligence Chief James Angleton of the CIA called Bill Sullivan of the FBI (Number Three man under J. Edgar Hoover, who later died of a gunshot would) and rehearsed the questions and answers they would give to the Warren Commission investigators."
In The Haldeman Diaries (1994), editor Stephen Ambrose wrote that Haldeman, in the latter years of his life, attributed the above revelations to his ghost writer, Joseph Di Mona; by 1990, Haldeman was repudiating the entire book. One must remember that from the time Nixon fired Haldeman (1973) until December 1978, the two men were not on speaking terms; it was during this time--coincident with his prison term--that Haldeman released his book.
Big Val Jarrett Wedding Do on Saturday and Brand Obama - The I in Team Regime will be there, but not the gal who minted the term.
But Desiree Rogers, the first African-American to become the White House Social Secretary, has been dissed. ◆Translation: Rogers has not been invited to the backyard Kenwood wedding this weekend for the daughter of the ultimate White House insider/Rogers’ former “closer-than-glue” best friend, White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett.
Dang. Neither me nor Desiree Rogers were invited to Val Jarrett's daughter's wedding. I did not expect an invitation, but I am sure that Desiree Rogers did. Allison Davis, the Slumdog Millionaire and Obama's Progressive Chinaman, will be there along with Brand Obama folks.
It is said to be a Hyde Park backyard affair, which in my experience tends to be about as fun and friendly as a Cash-bar Quaker Rage Encounter Group. I expect that Val will have pairs of Mormon Missionaries on the stools of the dunk tanks and MSNBC anchors blowing balloon animals for the kids.
Desiree will more than likely go to Millennium Park for the free concert on Saturday*. I'm going to soak up some Liszt, Schuman, Handel and Gandolfini - no not the guy from the Sopranos. Poor Desiree. I picture Ms. Rogers wearing her dependable yellow Wellingtons from her Peoples Gas days, walking sadly but stoically smiling above an elegant outfit and them knock-out Peoples Gas yellow-rubber boots strolling between blankets and porto-lounger chairs in a vain attempt to coax an invitation to join a parliament of culture vultures like me and my pals for some Triscuits, olive loaf and Velveeta Cubes washed down with chilled Country Club Malt Liquor. Brand Hickey is welcoming, but certainly not presumptuous.
Remember these two scamps and vamps? No longer BFFes.
Desiree minted Brand Obama and Brand Obama turned around and smelted** Desiree out of the Obama (MY) White House. Well she most be in pain over the slights to her efforts, but Desiree will never be caught dumpster diving. She's fine - CEO Will Travel and Has Traveled.
President Obama of Brand Obama calls it his White House. What happened to that lefty Peoples White House, or was it Some Peoples White House?
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I have never really cottoned to Barack Obama, though we have met more than a few times. I have been always 'underwhelmed' by the gent. Nice guy. There's millions of nice guys. He never struck me as an intellectual titan and reminded me of Flounder in movie Animal House -
As a State Senator, about 2003, I quess, I had to squire Mr. Obama to the ring in order to present trophies to two boxers. State Rep. Kevin McCarthy Leo '68) presented the previous bout's awards. The future White House occupant, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Chief Executive asked me upon approaching the square ring, "Where's the gate?"
Between the ropes Senator. Smartest guy in them shoes! Kevin McCarthy, and eight other VIPS as well as sixteen boxers had climbed through the ropes previously. I do pick a nit.
Well that's just pee in the Wheaties, as they say.
I have the same job I had when President Obama was stamping his name on Woods Fund and Annenberg Challenge stationary under the watchful eye of Billy Ayers, when lost both cheeks of his ass to Bobby Rush, when he was wedged in as State Senator and smoothed over Danny Hynes for U.S. Senator, when he eclipsed the then very tubby Jesse Jackson Junior at John Kerry's Run- DNC Convention, when he won the Presidency over John McCain, whom I backed- more fool me - and when he took the oath of Office and launched Desiree Rogers' Brand Obama. Yep, much work to be done for Leo High School.
Brand Obama 2012 has no room for Desiree Rogers. That seems just mean. Barred from a backyard fete in Hyde Park. Well, if I see her wandering around Millennium on Saturday night, I offer the poor thing a some olive loaf/Velveeta canapes and a frosty can of Country Club ML. (Note to Steve Jordan - DO NOT get Mickey's Big Mouths - get the Country Club - it matters)
So long as Barack "Where's the Gate?" Obama is my Commander in Chief, he can determine whom one should and may invite to any Hyde Park Hootenanny. It is His White House.
*
WHEN
Friday, June 15, 2012, 6:30pmSaturday, June 16, 2012, 7:30pmOpen Rehearsal: Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 3:00pm – 5:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Thursday, June 14, 2012, 10:30am – 1:00pm
Open Rehearsal: Friday, June 15, 2012, 11:00am – 1:30pm
Fundraiser: Friday, June 15, 2012, 8:00pm
Club 615: Saturday, June 16, 2012, 6:15pm – 7:00pm
WHERE
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
* Club 615: Choral Hall
WHO
Grant Park Orchestra And Chorus
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Christopher Bell, Chorus Director
**Smelting involves more than just melting the metal out of its ore. Most ores are a chemical compound of the metal with other elements, such as oxygen (as an oxide), sulfur (as a sulfide) or carbon and oxygen together (as a carbonate). To produce the metal, these compounds have to undergo a chemical reaction. Smelting therefore consists of using suitable reducing substances that will combine with those oxidizing elements to free the metal.
King Maker Andy Stern and King Imitator Rod Blago! Andy left the building only hours before Judge Zagel released the Blago Santiago Proffer, but Elvis is still in the Federal hotseat!
From the Folks Who Brought You (and Bought Others) - "Raise Our Taxes!" The SEIU! Andy Stern Presents Buy Your Senate Seat!
April 22, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Now he wants to butt heads with Barack Obama.
Rod Blagojevich today filed a motion in federal court to call President Barack Obama as a witness in the impeached governor's corruption case. The trial is due to begin on June 3.
Former Gov. Blagojevich's defense team issued a trial subpoena for the president to take the stand as a corroborating witness. "President Obama has direct knowledge to allegations made in the indictment. In addition, President Obama's public statements contradict other witness statements, specifically those made by labor union official and Senate Candidate B (Valerie Jarrett). It is anticipated that labor union official will be a witness for the government. His accounts of events directly related to the charges in the indictment are contradicted by President Obama's public statement," defense lawyers wrote.
Lawyers for former governor Rod Blagojevich said last winter they hoped to call President Obama to the witness stand to testify at the ex-gov's trial. They made that hope official today as they moved in court today to issue President Obama with a trial subpoena to have him testify. The feds interviewed Obama before he was sworn in to get any information he might have on the alleged attempt to sale his vacated U.S. Senate seat. Natasha Korecki reports for the Sun-Times:Experts have told the Sun-Times that while presidents are subject to be called to trial -- President Bill Clinton gave a videotaped deposition in a civil case -- the White House can cite everything from national security to schedule conflicts to avoid the witness chair. Blagojevich's lawyers would have to persuade Judge James Zagel that written or video testimony was no substitute.
From Chicagoist and featuring my favorite Sun Times Repporter!
Avec!
On the afternoon of November 3, 2008, Blagojevich met with Labor Union Official and another representative of SEIU. During the meeting, there was a discussion about a number of different candidates for the Senate seat. Both SEIU representatives expressed their view that Senate Candidate B would be a good choice for the Senate seat. Blagojevich stated that he assumed that if Obama was interested in Senate Candidate B being named to replace Obama, then Obama would be in touch with Blagojevich…
“On November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #255), Blagojevich informed Deputy Governor A that Labor Union Official, who was one of the officials who had met with Blagojevich on November 3, 2008 to discuss the Senate seat, was coming back to meet with Blagojevich to discuss the Senate seat. Labor Union Official was set to meet with Blagojevich the following day. Blagojevich talked through jobs he could request in exchange for naming a candidate to the Senate seat and noted that none of them would be attainable if it were not for the fact Blagojevich had the right to fill the Senate seat.
Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #261), Blagojevich talked to Harris. They discussed what Blagojevich should say to Labor Union Official regarding what Blagojevich wanted in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat… Harris stated that if Blagojevich’s goal was to trade the Senate seat for a job elsewhere, then Blagojevich needed to “put it on the table” with Labor Union Official…
Based on Harris’s prior conversations with Blagojevich, Harris informed Blagojevich that Harris had told Deputy Governor A that they were looking for a “reasonable ask” in exchange for the Senate seat that “takes care” of Blagojevich’s family and keeps Blagojevich’s future political ambitions open. Harris stated they were now looking at private foundations in which the president-elect might have influence and would not appear to look like a “deal” for the Senate seat. Harris suggested they look at private foundations that were “heavily dependent on federal aid.” … Blagojevich suggested to Harris and Deputy Governor A that it was difficult to see this kind of deal coming together, but told Deputy Governor A and Harris to find the foundations that SEIU funded. Deputy Governor A agreed that they should find the foundations SEIU funded because then SEIU could help broker the deal with Blagojevich. Again, Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A and Harris to “look into those ones that are funded by labor.”
Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #281), Blagojevich spoke to Advisor B about Blagojevich’s interest in getting a private foundation job. Blagojevich told Advisor B that SEIU and the president-elect could remove the head of a particular foundation and give the position to Blagojevich…
On the morning of November 6, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #317, 319, and 321), Blagojevich talked to Harris. Blagojevich had arranged a meeting with Labor Union Official for later that afternoon. Harris and Blagojevich discussed the meeting with Labor Union Official and how Blagojevich could ask for what Blagojevich wanted from Labor Union Official…
Later in the call, Harris suggested that Blagojevich request a position as the paid national coordinator for Change To Win, an organization partially funded by SEIU, in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Harris suggested to Blagojevich that the Change to Win idea might be better than a private foundation because the Change to Win job is controlled by SEIU and Blagojevich would not necessarily have to step down as governor to take it immediately, like he might have to do with a private foundation job. Blagojevich responded that the Change to Win idea was a “fucking great idea.” Later, Blagojevich stated he would like to be on some “corporate boards” in addition to taking the Change to Win job. Harris responded that Harris thought Change to Win would be a full-time job. Blagojevich asked “would I be able to get a little extra income though.” Harris responded that he did not think Blagojevich would want to sell himself to SEIU as a part-time employee. Blagojevich responded “No, but if I could sit on a couple a boards, that’s not much time, or teach a class.” Later Blagojevich asked how much the Change to Win job would pay. Harris suggested it probably paid at least what Labor Union Official made working for SEIU. Blagojevich responded “I betcha he makes, well he lives on the north shore, you gotta think he makes more than the governor, right?”
…Blagojevich informed his wife that Blagojevich was meeting with Labor Union Official that afternoon. Blagojevich talked to his wife about becoming the national director of Change to Win and that “hopefully you get paid decent.” Blagojevich also informed his wife that Change to Win would allow him to form a national network of low wage workers to help in his future political career. During the conversation, Blagojevich’s wife looked up information about Change to Win on the internet, in part to determine “what they paid their people in 2006.” Blagojevich’s wife had trouble finding the salary information on-line. Blagojevich responded “Don’t worry about it. Yeah, that’s, you negotiate that. I’d like a 4-year contract for a million a year or somethin’. . . . Or 750 or whatever. It’d have to be good. Obama’s got excess money, he just gives them more money.” Blagojevich told his wife he was not sure the Change to Win idea would happen, but it was one of several options.
On November 6, 2008, Blagojevich met with Labor Union Official alone… Thereafter, Blagojevich made clear to Labor Union Official that he would name Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat in exchange for being named Secretary of HHS…
Later on November 7, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #403, 405, 406, and 408), Blagojevich spoke to Harris and Advisor A, a political advisor, about, among other things, Blagojevich’s request for the Secretary of HHS position and the possibility of obtaining a job with Change to Win… Advisor A told Blagojevich that Advisor A liked the Change to Win idea. Blagojevich asked whether the Change to Win idea was better than trying to work out a deal to provide the Senate seat to Individual L. Advisor A indicated the Change to Win idea was better to help Blagojevich financially and his future politically. Blagojevich agreed…
Later on November 12, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #533, 535, and 537), Blagojevich spoke to Advisor A. Blagojevich explained his 501(c)(4) idea to Advisor A and stated it would be a place for Blagojevich to get a job after he was governor, like Change to Win. Advisor A told Blagojevich that Advisor A liked Change to Win better because it had “fewer fingerprints.” Blagojevich stated his concern with Change to Win was that it might not be there in two years while the 501(c)(4) was something Blagojevich could “control.” …
Around page seventy - well past the sordid stuff the Blago case gets meaty and stars SEIU's Andy Stern who exited the national scene -for a while -only hours before Judge Zagel granted the release of the Federal Case against former Governor Blagojevich.
He will not get cuffed or jailed for cussing his kids.
He will no doubt dodge sitting in the iron hotel altogether.
He will cause the Obama Administration, Dave Axelrod and Valerie ( Cody) Jarrett no end of trips to the Jumbo Sized Jar of CVS antiacid tablets for couple of spin cycles.
Andy Stern existed stage Left, but he'll be back folks! Big Ed, Rachel Maddow and Milkey Matthews as wellas the Chicago Media will parse and nuance the purple Red back to show-stopping and VAT concocting health.
Take a peak at a few pages 79-85.
On approximately November 3, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #117), Harris told Blagojevich that Harris had been informed that Barack Obama very much cared about Senate Candidate B and thought Senate Candidate B would make a good senator. Almost immediately after hearing that Barack Obama thought Senate Candidate B would make a good senator, Blagojevich indicated he was interested in getting a position as the Secretary of HHS in exchange for naming Senate Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 73 of 91 74 Candidate B as senator. Blagojevich told Harris to research who else had been Secretary of HHS. Blagojevich also indicated he wanted to leak to the press that he was considering Individual L as a senate option. Although Blagojevich was not seriously considering Individual L as a senate option, Blagojevich believed that if those interested in having Senate Candidate B named senator believed that Blagojevich was, in fact, seriously considering Individual L, then Blagojevich would have greater leverage to obtain personal benefit in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B as the senator. Later on November 3, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #149), Blagojevich talked to Harris again. During the call, Blagojevich stated his belief that individuals associated with Service Employees International Union (“SEIU”) were coming to meet with Blagojevich that day to push for Senate Candidate B’s appointment. During this same conversation, Blagojevich asked when Harris was going to talk to Individual M. Blagojoevich repeatedly referred to Harris’s conversation with Individual M as the “off campus discussion.” These conversations were follow-ups to conversations Blagojevich had with Harris earlier in the summer in which Blagojevich directed Harris to ask Individual M for Individual M’s campaign fund money in exchange for naming Individual M to the U.S. Senate Seat. Blagojevich believed that Individual M would provide campaign fund money to Blagojevich because Individual M could not use the money in a federal election since the rules are different for Illinois state elections and federal elections. During this same time period, Blagojevich had several conversations with his wife in which they discussed job options in addition to Secretary of HHS, such as ambassadorships, that Blagojevich might be able to get if he named Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Blagojevich expressed significant interest in what these positions paid. Blagojevich specifically tasked Deputy Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 74 of 91 75 Governor A with looking into ambassadorships that Blagojevich might be able to obtain in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the senate seat. On the afternoon of November 3, 2008, Blagojevich met with Labor Union Official and another representative of SEIU. During the meeting, there was a discussion about a number of different candidates for the Senate seat. Both SEIU representatives expressed their view that Senate Candidate B would be a good choice for the Senate seat. Blagojevich stated that he assumed that if Obama was interested in Senate Candidate B being named to replace Obama, then Obama would be in touch with Blagojevich. On November 4, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #218), Blagojevich talked to Deputy Governor A. Blagojevich complained that Advisor B, a former staffer who continued to advise Blagojevich, had informed Blagojevich that Blagojevich should not take the Senate seat himself. Blagojevich complained to Deputy Governor A that Blagojevich’s “upward trajectory” was stalled because of Obama’s election. Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A that Blagojevich had made “decisions at the expense of [his] family’s best interests for . . . [his] job as governor.” Blagojevich informed Deputy Governor A “now is the time for me to put my fucking children and my wife first, for a change.” On November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #255), Blagojevich informed Deputy Governor A that Labor Union Official, who was one of the officials who had met with Blagojevich on November 3, 2008 to discuss the Senate seat, was coming back to meet with Blagojevich to discuss the Senate seat. Labor Union Official was set to meet with Blagojevich the following day. Blagojevich talked through jobs he could request in exchange for naming a candidate to the Senate seat and noted that Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 75 of 91 76 none of them would be attainable if it were not for the fact Blagojevich had the right to fill the Senate seat. Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #261), Blagojevich talked to Harris. They discussed what Blagojevich should say to Labor Union Official regarding what Blagojevich wanted in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Blagojevich practiced with Harris his statements to Labor Union Official, including suggesting to Labor Union Official that Blagojevich was interested in naming Individual L to the Senate seat. Blagojevich and Harris discussed how Blagojevich could “make a play” for a job in Washington. Harris suggested that Blagojevich tell Labor Union Official that Blagojevich wanted to accommodate the president-elect, but also wanted to take care of the people of Illinois. Blagojevich responded by stating “Yeah. And, and, and my, and me, do I say me.” Harris stated “Right, by, by keeping me strong.” Blagojevich responded to Harris “But I don’t want that. I’m not looking for that. I’d like to get out, the fuck outta here.” Shortly thereafter, Blagojevich stated that “the objective is to, to get a good gig over there.” Harris stated that if Blagojevich’s goal was to trade the Senate seat for a job elsewhere, then Blagojevich needed to “put it on the table” with Labor Union Official. Thereafter, Blagojevich continued to practice with Harris his statements for his meeting with Labor Union Official. Shortly thereafter on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #262), Blagojevich again talked to Harris. Harris told Blagojevich that Harris did not think that the president-elect would provide Blagojevich with a cabinet-level job in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate. Thereafter, Blagojevich and Harris discussed whether Blagojevich could get an ambassadorship in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Blagojevich told Harris to do research with trading partners of the United States. Blagojevich questioned whether the president-elect could Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 76 of 91 77 do “something big” in the “private sector” for Blagojevich in exchange for the Senate seat. Blagojevich and Harris then discussed various private sector jobs Blagojevich might want in exchange for the Senate seat. Blagojevich directed Harris to start researching private foundations in which Blagojevich could get a job “right away.” In particular, Blagojevich told Harris to “see what they pay.” Blagojevich told Harris that either Harris or Deputy Governor A should do the research, but that word should not get around about the project. Shortly thereafter on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #263), Blagojevich had a conversation with Harris and Deputy Governor A. Based on Harris’s prior conversations with Blagojevich, Harris informed Blagojevich that Harris had told Deputy Governor A that they were looking for a “reasonable ask” in exchange for the Senate seat that “takes care” of Blagojevich’s family and keeps Blagojevich’s future political ambitions open. Harris stated they were now looking at private foundations in which the president-elect might have influence and would not appear to look like a “deal” for the Senate seat. Harris suggested they look at private foundations that were “heavily dependent on federal aid.” Deputy Governor A agreed to help with the research and asked whether Blagojevich was looking for this job now or after Blagojevich left office in 2010. Blagojevich stated “now.” Deputy Governor A and Harris discussed with Blagojevich various private foundations about which they were familiar. Blagojevich stated, “something like that would be great. What does that pay?” Blagojevich suggested to Harris and Deputy Governor A that it was difficult to see this kind of deal coming together, but told Deputy Governor A and Harris to find the foundations that SEIU funded. Deputy Governor A agreed that they should find the foundations SEIU funded because then SEIU could help broker the deal with Blagojevich. Again, Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A and Harris to “look into those ones that are funded by labor.” Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 77 of 91 78 Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #281), Blagojevich spoke to Advisor B about Blagojevich’s interest in getting a private foundation job. Blagojevich told Advisor B that SEIU and the president-elect could remove the head of a particular foundation and give the position to Blagojevich. Blagojevich told Advisor B that it was unlikely that he would be able to get a cabinet position in exchange for the Senate seat, but “Health and Human Service would be my . . . I’d take that in a second.” Later on November 5, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #284), Blagojevich again spoke with Deputy Governor A. Deputy Governor A reported back on research he had done for Blagojevich on private foundations. In particular, Blagojevich asked Deputy Governor A about a particular charitable organization that they had discussed previously. Deputy Governor A responded “So, it was founded by two guys one was an entrepreneur.” Blagojevich responded “No, but how much money does the guy make?” Deputy Governor A told Blagojevich it was hard to find salaries on-line, but Deputy Governor A was still looking into the issue of pay. Deputy Governor A also informed Blagojevich that Blagojevich could sit on other boards to make additional money if Blagojevich took a job with a private foundation. Deputy Governor A stated that the director of one foundation was “on two corporate boards and makes around $250,000 a year on the, in addition to her salary.” Blagojevich responded “Yeah, see that’s what we’d want. That’s it.” Deputy Governor A told Blagojevich that Blagojevich should make clear during the negotiations for the Senate seat that being on other boards “would be another part of the game.” Blagojevich responded “That’s right.” Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A to continue to research foundations. Blagojevich then practiced with Deputy Governor A what Blagojevich would say publicly about certain criteria he was using to fill the Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 78 of 91 79 Senate seat, including the future senator’s position on health care. In fact, Blagojevich was not using his publicly-stated criteria to fill the Senate seat. On the morning of November 6, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #317, 319, and 321), Blagojevich talked to Harris. Blagojevich had arranged a meeting with Labor Union Official for later that afternoon. Harris and Blagojevich discussed the meeting with Labor Union Official and how Blagojevich could ask for what Blagojevich wanted from Labor Union Official. Blagojevich stated he had heard that Senate Candidate B might be interested in a cabinet-level position. Blagojevich suggested he tell Labor Union Official that “they’re willing to give [Senate Candidate B] a cabinet spot so if that’s the case, then give me the cabinet spot and give her, we’ll give her the Senate.” Later Blagojevich asked whether they should have someone go to Senate Candidate B and tell Senate Candidate B that if Blagojevich received the Secretary of HHS position, Blagojevich “could appoint you in a second.” Later in the call, Harris suggested that Blagojevich request a position as the paid national coordinator for Change To Win, an organization partially funded by SEIU, in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Harris suggested to Blagojevich that the Change to Win idea might be better than a private foundation because the Change to Win job is controlled by SEIU and Blagojevich would not necessarily have to step down as governor to take it immediately, like he might have to do with a private foundation job. Blagojevich responded that the Change to Win idea was a “fucking great idea.” Later, Blagojevich stated he would like to be on some “corporate boards” in addition to taking the Change to Win job. Harris responded that Harris thought Change to Win would be a full-time job. Blagojevich asked “would I be able to get a little extra income though.” Harris responded that he did not think Blagojevich would want to sell himself to SEIU as a part-time employee. Blagojevich responded “No, but if I could sit on a couple Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 79 of 91 80 a boards, that’s not much time, or teach a class.” Later Blagojevich asked how much the Change to Win job would pay. Harris suggested it probably paid at least what Labor Union Official made working for SEIU. Blagojevich responded “I betcha he makes, well he lives on the north shore, you gotta think he makes more than the governor, right?” Later on November 6, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #345 and 347), Blagojevich talked to his wife. Blagojevich informed his wife that Individual N, a wealthy supporter of Blagojevich’s, had asked for the vacant Senate seat. Blagojevich stated that he “planted” with Individual N the issue of Blagojevich needing to figure what he was going to do after being governor in relation to the Senate seat. Blagojevich informed his wife that Blagojevich was meeting with Labor Union Official that afternoon. Blagojevich talked to his wife about becoming the national director of Change to Win and that “hopefully you get paid decent.” Blagojevich also informed his wife that Change to Win would allow him to form a national network of low wage workers to help in his future political career. During the conversation, Blagojevich’s wife looked up information about Change to Win on the internet, in part to determine “what they paid their people in 2006.” Blagojevich’s wife had trouble finding the salary information on-line. Blagojevich responded “Don’t worry about it. Yeah, that’s, you negotiate that. I’d like a 4-year contract for a million a year or somethin’. . . . Or 750 or whatever. It’d have to be good. Obama’s got excess money, he just gives them more money.” Blagojevich told his wife he was not sure the Change to Win idea would happen, but it was one of several options. On November 6, 2008, Blagojevich met with Labor Union Official alone. During the meeting, Labor Union Official advocated that Senate Candidate B be named to the Senate seat. In response, Blagojevich lied and informed Labor Union Official that Blagojevich was in “active” Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 80 of 91 81 discussions with Individual L and her father about making Individual L the senator. Thereafter, Blagojevich made clear to Labor Union Official that he would name Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat in exchange for being named Secretary of HHS. Labor Union Official told Blagojevich he did not think being named to Secretary of HHS was going to happen. On November 7, 2008, Blagojevich discussed his request for the Secretary of HHS position with several individuals, including Advisor B (Blagojevich Call #375). Although Blagojevich still thought getting the Secretary of HHS was a longshot, he thought that after the meeting with Labor Union Official the prospect was “a little likelier.” Blagojevich informed Advisor B, “So [Senate Candidate B’s] holding Health and Human Services and I’m holding a U.S. Senate seat. Okay? She’s holding hers with two hands, just kind’a clinging to, you know, little pieces of it. Me, I’ve got the whole thing wrapped around my arms, mine, okay? . . . I’m willing to trade the thing I got tightly held to her for something she doesn’t hold quite as tightly. How bad do you want what I have and can you get the other person [Obama] who’s really got the, this, you know, who’s, who had that, to do it. If you’re her, you’re [Senate Candidate B], I could be a U.S. Senator and a seat I, I can hold.” Later on November 7, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #403, 405, 406, and 408), Blagojevich spoke to Harris and Advisor A, a political advisor, about, among other things, Blagojevich’s request for the Secretary of HHS position and the possibility of obtaining a job with Change to Win. Advisor A suggested that it would be difficult for Blagojevich to obtain a federal government job that would require Senate confirmation, but that Blagojevich might be able to get a high-ranking federal job that did not require Senate approval. Blagojevich rejected Advisor A’s suggestion because the other high-ranking federal jobs did not pay enough money. Advisor A told Blagojevich that Advisor A Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 81 of 91 23/ November 8, 2008, was a Saturday, and November 9, 2008, was a Sunday. 82 liked the Change to Win idea. Blagojevich asked whether the Change to Win idea was better than trying to work out a deal to provide the Senate seat to Individual L. Advisor A indicated the Change to Win idea was better to help Blagojevich financially and his future politically. Blagojevich agreed. On November 10, 200823/ (Blagojevich Call #451), Blagojevich discussed the Senate seat on a conference call with a variety of individuals. During the call, Blagojevich stated “Individual I thinks we can get [Blagojevich’s wife], uh, on some corporate boards, paid corporate boards. What do you think of that?” Individual I responded “Could Obama help on the private sector [Individual F], where it wouldn’t be tied to him? . . . So it wouldn’t necessarily look like one for the other but.” The majority of the call centered around how Blagojevich could use his ability to fill the Senate seat to help Blagojevich in his post-political career. Blagojevich noted he was not in a position to state he would not run for re-election again because he still had “to raise money for lawyers. . . .” Blagojevich was repeatedly told by individuals on the phone call that he needed to make the Senate pick and good things would happen later, but that he should not expect to receive a particular thing right now. In response to one of these statements, Blagojevich’s wife stated “I don’t think you live your life hoping that somebody is gonna help you down the line.” Blagojevich stated “Yeah,” and Blagojevich’s wife then stated “That’s a bunch of baloney.” Ultimately, Blagojevich stopped pursuing the Change to Win idea for several reasons. First, Blagojevich learned that Labor Union Official’s salary was not what Blagojevich had hoped and therefore a salary at Change to Win would not be at a level that Blagojevich wanted. Second, Blagojevich became uncertain that a Change to Win job would still be present in 2010 when Blagojevich left the governorship because the job was dependent on others being willing to give Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 82 of 91 83 him the position several years later. As a result of these concerns, Blagojevich began to conspire to trade the Senate seat to Senate Candidate B in exchange for millions of dollars in funding for a 501(c)(4) organization that Blagojevich would start from scratch, could control, and would provide certainty for a well-paying job after Blagojevich was no longer governor. On November 11, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #487, 489), Blagojevich mentioned the idea of a 501(c)(4) to Harris and that it was a place for Blagojevich “to ultimately be” but it would advocate for health care while Blagojevich was still governor. Later on November 11, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #493), Blagojevich told Advisor B that the 501(c)(4) would have “a Board that, you know, I’m comfortable with and then when I’m no longer governor I go over there.” Blagojevich also suggested to Advisor B that they should see if Individual N would fund the 501(c)(4) in exchange for the Senate seat. On November 12, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #521), Blagojevich informed Harris that CNN was reporting that Senate Candidate B was going to take a position in the White House. Blagojevich and Harris discussed the prospect that this was just a rumor meant to make it harder for Blagojevich to negotiate something of value in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Blagojevich returned to the prospect of asking for millions of dollars in funding for a 501(c)(4) in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Blagojevich told Harris that Blagojevich would name the Board of Directors of the organization so it would be controllable while Blagojevich was still governor, but that the organization would be without a “major player until I were to go there.” Later, in reference to associates of Senate Candidate A offering Blagojevich significant amounts of campaign money in exchange for naming Senate Candidate A to the Senate seat, Blagojevich stated “what [Senate Candidate A] got third parties saying to me is a heck of a lot Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 83 of 91 84 more substantial than what we’re getting from the Obama people, okay?” Blagojevich stated that his concern with Senate Candidate A is that Blagojevich does not trust Senate Candidate A to come through with the promise of campaign money. Shortly thereafter, Blagojevich again instructed Harris to have the “off campus discussion” with Individual M regarding getting campaign funds in exchange for naming Individual M to the Senate seat. Later on November 12, 2008 (Blagojevich Calls #533, 535, and 537), Blagojevich spoke to Advisor A. Blagojevich explained his 501(c)(4) idea to Advisor A and stated it would be a place for Blagojevich to get a job after he was governor, like Change to Win. Advisor A told Blagojevich that Advisor A liked Change to Win better because it had “fewer fingerprints.” Blagojevich stated his concern with Change to Win was that it might not be there in two years while the 501(c)(4) was something Blagojevich could “control.” Shortly thereafter on November 12, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #539), Blagojevich talked to Harris. Harris told Blagojevich that Harris had talked to United States Congressman A and that Senate Candidate B was, in fact, going to take a position at the White House. Immediately after learning that Senate Candidate B may have taken herself out of consideration for the Senate seat, Blagojevich made a direct effort to obtain money for his 501(c)(4) in exchange for naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate seat. Blagojevich called Labor Union Official (Blagojevich Call #541). During the call, Blagojevich informed Labor Union Official that “one thing” Blagojevich would be interested in was the creation of a “501(c)(4)” issue advocacy organization. Blagojevich stated the organization would be there if he were not governor anymore. Blagojevich stated that right now it would be run by people he trusts and it would be a health care organization. Blagojevich told Labor Union Official that certain wealthy individuals could put $10, Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 84 of 91 85 $15, or $20 million into the organization over night. Blagojevich then stated that he and the organization could “help our new Senator, [Senate Candidate B], go out” and push an agenda. Labor Union Official understood that Blagojevich was connecting the funding of the 501(c)(4) organization to Blagojevich naming Senate Candidate B to the Senate. Although Labor Union Official told Blagojevich that Labor Union Official would get back to Blagojevich regarding Blagojevich’s request for money, Labor Union Official never did. Thereafter, in a series of a calls on November 12, 2008, Blagojevich indicated that his choice to fill the Senate seat was based on three criteria. In order, Blagojevich indicated his first criterion was his “legal” situation, which he further indicated was the picking of a candidate whose appointment might help Blagojevich with his current legal situation in relation to the ongoing federal criminal investigation into Blagojevich’s actions. At times, Blagojevich indicated that naming himself the senator would help fit his “legal” criterion because Blagojevich believed he was less likely to be indicted if he was in Washington D.C. and because, as a Senator, he would have a “voice” in who the U.S. Attorney was for the Northern District of Illinois, although he would have to “officially” recuse himself from the decision. Blagojevich’s second criterion was his “personal” situation, which Blagojevich repeatedly indicated was premised on his and his family’s financial well being. Blagojevich’s third criterion was his “political” situation. Later on November 12, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #594), Blagojevich talked to Robert Blagojevich about filling the Senate seat. Regarding filling the Senate seat, Robert Blagojevich stated his advice was that Blagojevich “make sure it’s tit for tat, man you get something. I wouldn’t give anything away.” Case 1:08-cr-00888 Document 306 Filed 04/14/10 Page 85 of 91 86 After Blagojevich learned that Senate Candidate B was going to the White House, Blagojevich still believed that there were several candidates favored by Obama to fill the Senate vacancy and that Blagojevich might still be able to personally profit from a deal for the Senate seat. On November 13, 2008, Blagojevich participated in several calls with Advisor B in which he continued to push his idea of obtaining funding for a 501(c)(4) in exchange for naming a candidate favored by Obama to the Senate vacancy. In one call on November 13, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #624), Blagojevich stated that if Senate Candidate B could still get the Senate seat, Blagojevich thought she would take it. Blagojevich informed Advisor B that Blagojevich had mentioned his 501(c)(4) idea to Labor Union Official. Blagojevich suggested he still might have leverage to get what he wanted for the Senate seat because Obama would not want Blagojevich to take the Senate seat himself. Later on November 13, 2008 (Blagojevich Call #627), Blagojevich again spoke with Advisor B. Blagojevich asked Advisor B to reach out to Lobbyist A, who Blagojevich knew to have a friendship with United States Congressman A, to have Lobbyist A pass a message to United States Congressman A that Blagojevich wanted help with the funding of a 501(c)(4). During the call, Blagojevich stated, “the mission for Lobbyist A is to, essentially put it in [United States Congressman A’s] head that we would like them to help us, you know, fund it.” In response, Advisor B stated that while it was not said, this was “a play to put in play others.” Blagojevich responded that what Advisor B was saying was “correct.” It was clear to Advisor B that Blagojevich was saying that Blagojevich wanted to communicate to United States Congressman A that the funding of the 501(c)(4) would get Obama the person he wanted in the Senate.
Dad always said that I couldn't find my butt with both hands. I can. Allow me to add this imperative -“Defend the unborn against abortion even if they persecute you, calumniate you, set traps for you, take you to court or kill you." - Pope Francis to celebrate Pro-life Mass, Vatican
"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."
A peach of a guy with all the sweetness one could expect from a life well-spent and in good company: short on brains but a terrific dancer!
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Every Heart and Hand: A Leo High School Story
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