Illinois McDonough Contract - The Progressive Random Purg

 This is the common manner Progressive Democrats employ when saying thank you to a benefactor. - Pat Quinn gave James McDonough a random send off for his charity and support.

"The actions being taken against McDonough grew out of a random audit of McDonough last year in which officials examined a wide range of state engineering contracts the firm won between 2000 and 2009."

Some one in Governor Pat Quinn's Illinois Government decided to randomly examine McDonough Construction.

I wouldn't know James McDonough ,if he walked on me.

I have heard about the generous gifts showered on hospitals, universities, charities and especially St, Xavier University and St. Ignatius.

Mr. McDonough is one of the successful people that Directors of Development want to address as "Jim" after months of cultivation, golf, lunch and moist kisses to the McDonough rump and pry open the family wallet.

I do that, but I do not golf, tend to eat with gusto sans conversation until perspiring and then tend to pick my aging teeth and pucker-up only to secretaries, as they are the genuine engines of power in all matters of corporate citizenship.  The less time a Seven Figure and Change Prospect spends face-to-face with Patrick Francis, the more that person is  inclined to write a husky check for benefit of Leo High School.  Make the case, present the documentation and make yourself scarce are the three legs of Hickey's Development Tripod.

Common sense also dictates - never rub another man's rhubarb - Don't Poach Prospects Not Your Own.

James McDonough has never heard his executive secretary say, " A Pat Hickey from Leo High School keeps calling and sending drawings by him of happy students at Leo who would have bigger smiles, if you send lots of money. Do you want to talk with him?  Jim O'Connor* said he is harmless.  Okay, I'll tell him to . . . what is it he should do with himself?"

Mark Brown wrote a very balanced assessment of the ritual throat-cutting, in my estimation, of James McDonough in today's Sun Times. Mark Brown's commentary follows the fine investigative report by Chris Fusco and Tina Sfondeles that detailed to State of Illinois cast breadcrumbs leading to James McDonough. The Master-key word in this report is "random."

If allowed to stand, the cascading effect of the contract bans threatens the very existence of the firm, which is expected to go to court to challenge the state’s ruling.
Now, you may have noticed from time to time that newspapers will hype a story just a bit to get your attention.
Well, this is the flip side of that coin: a story so significant we can hardly put it in proper perspective in the space allotted.
McDonough and his company have been a major part of the fabric of this city and its politics for more than four decades since he left a post as Streets and Sanitation commissioner under Mayor Richard J. Daley to enter the engineering world in 1974. . . . In short, McDonough is a major player to be wiped off the board so suddenly, not that there won’t be any number of engineering firms vying to replace his company.Mark Brown Chicago Sun Times ( emphasis my own)

Mark Brown's nose smells blood in this random throat-cutting of McDonough.   I have seen this movie many times before - follow the bones to Dawn Clark Netsch. Mike Quigley, Forrest Claypool, Toni Preckwinkle. Jan Shakowsky, or Pat Quinn and you will be able to construct the dinosaurs tossed in the tar-pits.

Nothing is random - especially any full blown departmental  forensic audit of a random cash cow.


n.b.  -

John Carroll University Receives
$1 Million Gift from Chicago Couple

John Carroll University alumnus Jim McDonough and his wife, Jacque, have made a  $1 million gift to John Carroll University to be used for The President’s Opportunity Fund. 

The President’s Opportunity Fund was created in 2006 and is intended to enable JCU President Robert L. Niehoff, S.J., to strategically allocate resources to academic programs, service projects, and capital improvements.

Father Niehoff praised the Chicago, Illinois, couple for their support, stating, “We are very thankful for their generous investment in our future.  Jim and Jacque epitomize our mission of developing individuals of intellect and character who lead and serve in their own communities and around the world.”

“We are delighted to make this gift to the University because of its commitment to educational excellence in the Jesuit Catholic tradition,” remarked Mr. McDonough, a 1955 John Carroll graduate.  “John Carroll University was a formative experience in my own life, and Jacque and I are especially pleased that our daughter, Maureen, is a graduate of the University.”

Mr. and Mrs. McDonough are among John Carroll’s most loyal and generous benefactors and have long been enthusiastic supporters of the University. Mr. McDonough is president and chairman of McDonough Associates, Inc., a full-service engineering architectural consulting firm with a worldwide client base. In 1990, Mr. McDonough received the University’s Alumni Medal, the highest honor given by the JCU Alumni Association in recognition of an individual’s distinguished service to their profession, exemplary family and personal life, contributions to their community, and service to the University. 

I mentioned only Mr. McDonough's philanthropic gifts, because like any  person in Chicago with two nickels to rub together Clan McDonough is politically taxed by all and sundry.

Are there any random audits of Personal Pac associated gifters and captains of industry?  Cable News?  Print Media? Advocacy Industrialists?

Governor Pat Quinn does not exercise his sphincter without the say-so of Terry Cosgrove, e.g.  No random eructations for sensible Pat, let alone bill support and signage, or the random forensic audit of traditional political ally of the Old Guard.

From the slightly cracked steps of my front poarch, it looks like Old Time and Dependable funding-sources to Old Guard Democrats are being purged by the Personal PAC, Abortion, Gay Marriage Progressives funded by people who do not give to schools, hospitals and charities linked to a Saint's name. Fred Eychaner comes to mind.  I am sure that Pat Quinn and Dick Durbin have spilled more than a few fun-toddies and flat-breads heaped with caviar on Fred's carpets and couches.

Why?  Power needs to be demonstrated.  Nothing says power, like the very public execution of the powerful to signal the purges to come.  Play nice with a Progressive if you must, but expect to be kicked to death with a random act of kindness and show of Good Government.

Read and follow -Mark Brown and the Sun Times investigative team on this purge and the death by of thousand cuts awaiting Mr. McDonough.


* Jim O'Connor - St. Ignatius graduate, philanthropist founding member of The Big Shoulders Fund and gentleman to the backbone.  No doubt Jame McDonough is as good a man as Mr. O'Connor and I imagine the polar opposite of a Governor Pat Quinn.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/13071894-452/theft-accusations-against-mcdonough-associates-a-huge-deal.html

http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/13040609-761/state-clout-firm-committed-theft-billed-idot-for-bonuses-outings.html

Chicago Ward Guinea Pigs - Urban Center Chicago Breaks Ground

                 Five Guinea Pigs 40th, 46th, 48th, 49th and 50th - Forty-five to follow





Wee Lad -Dad, can I have five dollars to get Guinea Pig?

Old Dad - Absolutely not, Son. Here's ten! Go get a nice Irish girl.

Five North Side wards have been chosen as guinea pigs for a change Mayor Rahm Emanuel hopes will save the city $60 million a year at the risk of alienating homeowners and aldermen — by switching from a ward-by-ward to a grid system for collecting Chicago’s garbage.
Last summer, Emanuel asked consultants to “develop a route system” for garbage collection that creates an “equitable workload for drivers” without regard to ward boundaries. The goal was to bring Chicago’s $225-per-ton cost closer to the $135 per ton spent in other major cities. Two months later, the mayor incorporated the grid into his 2012 budget, pegged the annual savings at $60 million, but counted on only $20 million the first year because he planned to start slowly.  Fran Spielman

Fran Spielman announced the shovel-ready ground tossing marking the end of Chicago and the coming of Urban Center Chicago.

For well over a year, I have been posting about the planned end of the City of Chicago, which will follow the arrival of the Garbage Grid.  The Garbage Grid is means by which City Services, under Chicago's Charter as a 'weak mayor' form of municipal government, are stripped from the hands of Aldermen and given to a private contractor - Waste Management n'cest ce pas?   Ward services will be as invisible as Rosie O'Donnell on the Oprah Channel.

The Skyway, Chicago Street Parking, Water Rates and Public Education have become luxury items where once they were boons to citizens.  Since the University of Chicago became the ex officio government of this city, which I happen to timeline start on either of these two dates in Chicago history December 10, 1993 - the day Richard M. Daley moved from Bridgeport to 16th & Indiana, or October 22, 1997 - the resignation of Alderman and City Council Floor Leader Patrick Huels - with that the Old Hamburg SAC was eclipsed by University of Chicago.  You can move a south side neighborhood guy out of McKinley Park ( St. Maurice's), or Wrightwood ( St. Tommy More) and place him in Moscow, but he will never leave his roots and return without any noticeable change. However, when anyone turn your back on the very  people who shaped, assisted and backed every decision and pick up associations, values and associations diametrically oppossed to them, that person is a New Man, or in Latin Novus Homo et novus civis.

In ancient Rome the patrician class, the betters, was depleted by war, dissipation, or political proscription. After telling the plebeians, the tax-payers, that the rights of citizenship belong only to one class of people - the bonni - patricians, or the betters - the patricians realized that they had no one to fight for them, make their goods, sweep the streets, collect their garbage, purify the waters of the Tiber River, as if, or from whom to collect more taxes their came about the the Conflict of the Orders 367 -287 BC) followed by a grudging admission of some plebeians or New Men, who had some dough, ability and a desire to turn their backs on the old neighborhood. Marcus Tullius Cicero is the best example of the new man -"how the lowly born but inherently worthy man may properly rise to eminence in the world" Seneca.

It seems to me that Richard M. Daley was washed in the Blood of the Maroon by moving out of Nativity Parish, the Hamburg, Bridgeport, Canaryville with a Mastercard, and was confirmed in the Faith with his summary shunning of Patrick Huels.  1993 and 1997 mark the beginning of the Progressive Chicago Policy Doctrines now being enacted and enforced by Archbishop Rahm Emanuel.

The Garbage Grid did not pop up over night. You can trace this Acts of the Apostles odyssey through the rise of Hyde Park, University of Chicago and our anonymous leaders.  In the old faith, one could identify the chieftains and the gallowglasses of government - George Dunne, Ed Vrdolyak, Charles Chew, Wilson Frost.

Make way for the anonymous Urban Center!

Now, the city has chosen five North Side wards to be the first to take the plunge: the 40th, 46th, 48th, 49th and 50th.
In the ward-by-ward system, city crews begin garbage collection on Monday and finish on Friday. The pick-up day is different, depending on where in the ward you live. Under the new system, the entire ward will be picked up on the same day.


That could make for a rocky first few weeks, with loads light in some areas and overflowing in others. It will also make community outreach essential.

“They’re gonna have is to get used to a new garbage day. That, for the public, should be the biggest difference and, frankly, the only difference,” said Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s City Council floor leader.


“Chicagoans are savvy. If there’s a little bit of discomfort in the transition and they realize we’ll end up saving significant money, they’ll be okay with that. Bugs should not last long.”
Some aldermen have been dead-set against the grid for fear that it would deprive them of their ability to respond to special requests for services. They’re determined to maintain control over housekeeping services that are an alderman’s bread-and-butter.

How about that?  Stroke the plebeians and tell them how savvy they are if they act like the City Council -“Chicagoans are savvy. If there’s a little bit of discomfort in the transition and they realize we’ll end up saving significant money, they’ll be okay with that. Bugs should not last long.”

Did you pick up any condescension in that?  Any veiled contempt? Of course not.


Pre- 1993-1997 Chicago Ward Committeemen, Alderman and Precinct Captains connected with the citizens.  No more. Without Daley's move from Bridgeport, but especially the exile of Pat Huels, a singularly good man in my estimation, there could be no place at the trough for Mike Quigley, Forrest Claypool, Toni Preckwinkle, G. Flint Taylor, Locke Bowman, Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Joe Moore, Allison Davis, Judson Miner, Terry Cosgrove, Marilyn Katz, and most significantly President Barack Obama.  In pre 1993 Chicago, these worthies would be as welcome to political dialog as skunks to a flower show.

Imagine anyone in Cook County Government or City Hall prior to Mayor Daley making a call to Peoples Gas on behalf of Desiree Rogers for any position other than . . . dang!  I'm stumped. Only in this age of Novus Homo/novus cives politicians - Catholics who play with Planned Parenthood money help abort infants - can a dim-witted cutie pie jump the vocational gradus from Lotto Ball Spinner -to President of Peoples Gas-to White House Brander -to CEO.

The end game is to make Chicago and Urban Center -when services go, so go the plebeians.  The Urban Center will be haven - gated community - that is childless, Green friendly and very affluent. 

Unless the Guinea Pigs die in the cage that is. God willing.


http://www.suntimes.com/12132592-417/new-garbage-pick-up-system-to-debut-in-five-north-side-wards.html

Progressive Polonius -Thundering Dick Simpson on Corruption? When the Statutes of Limitation Run out?

Now, Here's A Pair of Aces to Draw to! Simpson of UICC follows Shaw of BGA -"Two Guys Corruption Plumbing" - Open for Bids!

‘Hath there been a time — I would fain know that —
That I have positively said ‘ ‘Tis so’,
When it proved otherwise?’ Polonius - The Master P of Hamlet

Alderman Dick Simpson was 44th Alderman between 1971 and 1979 - the tumultuous fin de siècle of Mayor Richard J. Daley's Rule of Chicago.

Eddie Vrdolyak and Ed Burke were the Young Turks. Billy Singer and later Marty Oberman ran the 43rd Ward. Radical eminence gris Leon Despres, who, along with Marty Oberman were the last lions of genuine integrity claimed by Progressives, continued as the voice of Hyde Park. Ald. Depres was the real deal and genuine gentleman.


Dick Simpson was part of the 44th Ward encompassing Lakeview from Diversy to the Cemetery and the Lake to Clinton - jogging in and out some. It is an affluent, transient land of restaurants, amusements, nightclubs and apartments, so attractive to single, childless and cash-handy professionals, students, activists and boutique capitalists.


The 44th was run at one time by John Merlo who could trace his political lineage back to Al Capone, which Dick Simpson artfully noted in his latest 'study.'

Dick Simpson tossed off the mortal coils of politics in 1979 and paved the way for Bernie Hansen, who begot Tom Tunney at the say so of Mayor Richard M. Daley, in order to don the gown at Cement City - University of Illinois Chicago Campus UICC -in order to articulate his political wisdom to kids needing a Poly Sci credit.

Dick Simpson, whose public record is buried Googlishly somewhere in the cybersphere, or in the dusty but pricey archives of our great metropolitan newspaper, surfaced on occasion to burnish his Progressive Street Cred and take picture s with Billy Ayers. Dick Simpson wrote pieces for the Sun Times under Cheryl Reed's Spanish Civil War Reenactment phase and occasionally trotted out studies of his own, like that dandy one a few years ago trumpeting the new age of Aldermanic Independence in 2006.

For frame of refernce, dear reader, Ald. Joe Moore is Dick Simpson these days, at least until he gets that new gig with the State. See? Okay.

The always accurate Russ Stewart noted Daffy Dick's fatuous 2006 study of Chicago's Fighting Bob LaFollete City Council, after Stewart had noted that the Joe Moore-varietal aldermen were as compliantly perky as the hungry puppies under Daley Père ( 1954-1976):

Dick Simpson, a University of Illinois professor and a former 44th Ward alderman, thinks otherwise. He has released a seriously flawed study that heralds a "newly found" council independence. Citing resolutions on such nongermane matters as the Iraq War, slave reparations and the Patriot Act, the Simpson study mixes the symbolic votes with the substantive. "We're the Chicago City Council, not the Council on Foreign Relations," said Alderman Tom Allen (38th). "It is not our job to make foreign policy."

Wasn't That a Time? A Veritable Golden Age of NPR Goodness! Brought Bush to his knees and added more Vitamin C to our diets!

Now, thunderous Dick, post Daley Le Fils of course and no doubt with the tacit nodding approval of current Mayor Racoon Eyes, proclaims that Chicago is the Most Corrupt City in America! Thunderous Dick trots out the glaringly obvious with his latest Jeremiad bouillon.

Simpson and Jim Nowlan, a senior fellow with the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs, released the report as Mayor Rahm Emanuel's ethics task force prepared to hold its first public hearing Wednesday night.

Simpson generally praised Emanuel for early steps on ethics, but said the city's top attorney should release documents he has refused to provide to the city's inspector general on the basis of attorney-client privilege.

The professor also wants the inspector general to be able to investigate aldermen and their staffs. And he would like to see better city ethics training.

"The city's ethics training is a joke," Simpson said during a City Hall news conference. "We need real ethics training because people in this building don't seem to have it."

(emphasis my own)

ETHICS TRAINING???????? Gee, could our Progressive Polonius have a pre-packaged Political Ethics Adjunct Professorship cum Grease and Lube Job behind the curtain . . .'for a fee, always for a fee . . .Pestas! Siempre!'

The news media today operates on collective memory loss and the repetition of memes and themes. We remember Dick Simpson as a camera happy ineffective hack of an alderman. The expensive media archieves should bear that fruit, children, if you care to partake of it.

Grey old gummers like me don't really need such reminders of the fatuous ninny, the Progressive Polonius whose mitts are now out trolling for more public dough - The Dick Simpson Ethics Coalition and Bed and Breakfast Summer Camp.

One Question,, Thundering Dick! Where the . . .where the . . . where the Helen Shiller were you back when the pies were getting cut up and dished up to every jackal with a tongue and teeth?

Shakman killed the Machine, Bub. Corruption is rooted in the Gordian knot created by the Progressive over the last forty years. Corruption . . . adds millions in Federal Housing dollars to lefty lawyers who now snatch up housing project bones and mill more fertilizer for Green Growth Industries, as well as pad sinecures for mopes who run our buses and trains off the rails, buy parking meter slot machines and one-eyed bandit traffic cameras.

Thundering Dick, our Chicago Progressive Polonius! He is a giggle. Unless of course you absolutely are void of any memory, historical and political context, or common sense . . .not to mention a smidgen of Ethics.

http://www.russstewart.com/2-06.htm

Portrait of Andy Thayer - Pan Pest and Utility Fruitcake

Chicago Sun Times reporter Kim Janssen does a complete work-up on one of Chicago's ubiquitous pests, who traditionally stays under scrutiny by the Chicago Media.

For the first time, that I can recall, a Chicago newsman has done a thorough work-up of the activities and the background on one of the Progressive Machine's utility loudmouths -Andy Thayer.

Mr. Thayer has been given more face and microphone time than Oprah Winfrey in the last couple of years, but like Hamas leader ISM's Kevin Clark, Radical PR mogul Marilyn Katz, the unctious and odius Bill Ayers &Bernardine Dohrn, police torture/abuse wildcatter G. Flint Taylor, and Thayer's employer Lawsuit Lotto Lawyer Jon Loevy, remains unanalyzed by our local news hounds.

Until today - Thayer prefers the fitted T-shirts, sensible glasses and neat haircut that befit a middle-aged gay man whose day job is office manager for the law firm Loevy & Loevy. He’s quick to agree that he’s only one of many organizers, and that G-8 NATO protestors will march for a plethora of causes, including an “Occupy” coalition that emphasizes collective action over individual leadership.

For all that, his whole life might have been building to this moment.

Raised in a small town in upstate New York by his father, who designed missile parts, and his mother, an activist who secretly helped Vietnam draft dodgers escape to Canada, he was a misfit from the start.

The Sun Times remains daffy at the editorial/columnist level, but is blessed with genuine news talent -Mark Konkol, Natasha Korecki, Tim Novak, Chris Fusco, Steve Metsch, and Abdon Pallasch. Chicagoans deserve to have the bullshit icing removed from the fruitcakes, sneaks, and bullies called activists. Let's get real, as Crown Heights Al Sharpton might say, in the fervent hope that it never actually gets real.

I hope that other journalists follow Kim Janssen's lead and give Chicago readers some insight into the people who play at Revolution and have been allowed to not only get away with crimes and misdemeanors, but manage to suck tax-dollars out of our pockets. It would be nice to see work ups on the goofballs and screw-ups trotted out at election time as "Ain't She Great/Ain't He Great" ballot choices. Look at the race between Dorothy Brown and Ricky Munoz as empirical evidence of that.

An informed public and electorate needs information, not propaganda.

More Cowbell! A Romney Victory in August; Obama Win in November

I must agree with John Kass in his very forthright and Chicago-savvy prediction that President Obama will win re-election in 2012. I vote primarily Democrat (locally)and but rarely for the GOP. I consider myself to be a conservative Catholic Democrat ( registered so)and vote for Real Labor (skilled trades and non-public sector labor) candidates with a track record.

For years, It has been my firm belief that the GOP ( local and national) is the Party That Blows Off Its Own Toes. They are best friends the DNC and Progressive Machine have in the world. They add, MORE COW BELL, to Barack Obama's Blue Oyster Cult!

Cowbell = Memes and Attacks -"Hateful, Islamaphobic, militarist, 1%-ers, Rich-lovers! Breeders!Homophobic, Divisive, Sexist, Racist, Sexist, Racist, cowbell, more cowbell!" AXELROD WALKEN - I GOTTA FEVER!!!!

Proof? Dan Proft is on WLS and not in Springfield.

The Illinois GOP could not 'get behind' Dan Proft because he is a bachelor. Instead, they allowed the unpainted furniture King of Bloomington/Normal and the man who makes the best ice cream in America suck the life out of the campaign.

With equal if not more self-loathing, the national GOP is going with our Bill Brady writ- large Mitt Romney.

President Obama is the same man he was when he was elevated to the purple by same Progressive Machine ( Democratic Party with a dash of Sen. Marque Kirque) that made the Woods Fund Activist and Hyde Park acolyte a State and United States Senator.
President Barack Obama will win re-election in 2012.

The reason he'll win?

He knows who he is. And the Republican politicians don't know who they are. They've forgotten what they're about, or perhaps like some isolated tribe, they've lost the language necessary to explain it to themselves.

Their voters know this and don't really believe them anymore.

And that's why Obama will win.

Only Rick Santorum could possibly beat President Obama, but only if he could withstand a public scourging not seen since Pilate ordered the cohort to give the carpenter's kid a tune-up.

LOTTSA COWBELL!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick Santorum is very much like my pal Dan Proft - he plays with five cards and the money boys play with six decks. Sarah Palin is a good person. I liked her. The worst thing that she did, as far I can see and that includes the Russian coast, was resigning as Governor. Other than that Ms. Palin was aces and worn down by the constant whippings from the likes of faux-thinkers Kathleen Parker, Christoper Buckley, David Brooks, Peggy Noonan and Steve Chapman who play in same sandbox as E.J. Dionne and the cast and crew at Saturday Night Live.

Abortion ( the full health package) and Gay (Civil Rights with less humor) issues are the COWBELL Cat-'o-nine-tails.

When President Obama visited Chicago, Pat Quinn, Dithering Dick Durbin and Lisa Madigan nudged their way into openly gay mega-million dollar ATM Fred Eychaner's open but expensive house party. I have no doubt that Pat Quinn's boss Terry Cosgrove nibbled cheese and quaffed some vino there as well.

The money goes only to suppliant hand-mavens and their public office mendicants. Rick Santorum is already getting scourged. MORE COWBELLS! IGOTTA FEVER FOR COWBELLS!

Mitt Romney is no different from the Illinois likes of Sen. Marque Kirque, Mike Quigley's new play pal. More so Mitt Romney is no differnt from the Bush Family which played nicely with the Chicago Progressive Machine.

In sum, it is up to individual voters -Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim, Atheist, Breeder, Gay (universal), to vote their hearts and minds.

Personally, I will vote for whomever runs against President Obama. I still feel that he is out of his depth. . .way out of his depth. So is Senator Marque Kirque, Mike Quigley, Deb Shore, Ricardo 'Rick' Munoz, Dorothy Brown, Sandy and Jesse Jackson, Dick Durbin, Jan Schakowsky, Sara Feigenholtz, Barbara Flynn-Currie, Toni Preckwinkle, Forrest Claypool ( anywhere), and so many, many, many more public plungers.

Don't forget, the same media and PR machines that gave us Roland Burris also created Blagojevich. Judy Baar Topinka anyone? Let's hear from the Greek again!

But Republicans smoke the opposite of Hopium. Their pipes are filled with Dopium.

One bowl of Dopium and you can listen to tough talk about budget cutting and deficits with one ear. And with the other ear, you can listen to talk of another war with Iran and why that's a good thing, and how we can't cut defense spending or the world is doomed.

If you tried doing this without Dopium, you'd go stark raving mad.

Sadly, since I belong to neither group, I've become hooked on another hideous substance: Kasshish.

It allows you to see reality and a bleak future.

And what I see is Obama winning in 2012.

Hopium and Cowbells Brother John!

Another chap, calling himself the Catholic Knight says this-

What we have right now is an entire section of the Republican Party (about 20%) that has rejected the status quo precedents set by previous GOP administrations and congresses. What we have is a political party that is now about 20% more 'libertarian' than it was just ten years ago. We have a party that is 20% more likely to embrace a non-interventionist approach to foreign policy. We have a party that is 20% more likely to want to abolish the Federal Reserve. We have a party that is 20% more likely to embrace states rights and decentralisation. This is why GOP icon Sarah Palin has warned Republicans not to alienate the Ron Paul supporters. For in alienating them, they risk the breakup of the Republican Party entirely. The only GOP candidate bringing in sizable numbers of young energetic voters right now is Ron Paul. It is clear, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the future of the Republican Party is going to reflect Ron Paul's thinking a lot more than any other political candidate. Paul has made his mark on the GOP, and it is a mark that is here to stay, unless of course the GOP rejects it. If they do that however, the GOP rejects its future and consigns itself to a generation of irrelevance.

Tru Dat, Sir Knight! More Cow Bell!

http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/obamas-visit-cboe-ceos-shame-kass-v-brown/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=obamas-visit-cboe-ceos-shame-kass-v-brown

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/quinn-durbin-obama-fundraiser-eychaner-137151703.html

http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/

CTA Can't See the Rail Cars for the Forrest Claypool

According to an October 10, 2005 Crain's Chicago Business article, three companies submitted proposals by the September 15, 2005 deadline: Alstom Transportation Inc., an American subsidiary of French firm Alstom S.A.; Bombardier Inc., the Montreal-based aircraft and railcar manufacturer; and Kawasaki Rail Car Inc., a subsidiary of Japanese company Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. According to Crain's, the three manufacturers all retained local consultants, many former CTA and city staff and officials, to help them hone their pitches and navigate the Chicago political waters.

from http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/roster/5000mkII.html

There's the trees in this particular Forrest. Care to identify each tree?

Is there a Marilyn Katz Elm? Perhaps a Dave Axelrod Larch? Mayhaps there be a mighty Judson Miner/Allison Davis Redwood, or a Dr. Quentin Young Acorn?

When a Progressive Protected Specimen like Forrest Claypool - one of many mind you ( Sheila Simon, Dawn Clark Netsch, Deborah Shore & etc.) - is placed in a position of authority troubles are many and owned by taxpayers. They always have the stamp of approval of coalitions a-plenty - Transgender Iwo Jima Flag Raisers, Brownies LUV Abortion, Friends of the Alligator Gar and Gator Bradley, Lawyers for Ne'er Do Wells, Miscreants and Scoundrals, Rush Street Cougars for Self Respect, and the I'm a Loser Because of Systemic Everything Task Force.

The "Ain't He/She Great" stamp of approval branded on the bald rumps of Progressive Protected Species is a passport to profitable paydays and munificent pensions. "Ain't He/She Great" signals an association to a politically necessary pile of street money on election day ( a policy PAC or public employee union), armies of community minded activists sporting XXXXL T-shirts in SEIU Purple, ACORN Red, or a Rainbow, or Progressive persons of wealth and influence.

The Ain't He/She great branded lady or gent pops out of nowhere and appears on election petitions in order to eliminate, or punish political rivals. The Ain't He/She Great phantom is generally armed and equiped with a Media columnist or a spot on the mast-head of Huffington Post.

The helots and worker bees in the precincts and Wards ask, "What'd He do? Where She come from?" Matters not; Ain't She Great? He's a Reformer and we're all gonna get a sweet deal.

Under the Ain't He Great rubric, no one is greater than Forrest Claypool. Try and find his salary among City Workers; you can't as he was appointed with an undisclosed salary - n'est-ce pas! You can hear the shouts though, Forrest can run a Mayoral Staff! He Can Run Parks! He Can Run a County Board . . .well, almost! He Can Run the Trains and Buses on Time Without Stopping for a Pee! Forrest can . . .lay blame.


On my birthday, I was delighted to learn that the CTA had purchased a fleet of state of the art train cars -

Mayor Emanuel and CTA President Forrest Claypool Unveil New Rail Cars

11/8/2011

The 5000-Series Car Scheduled to Make Official In-Service Debut on the Pink Line

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CTA President Forrest Claypool today unveiled new 5000-series rail cars, marking the first time there has been an addition to the rail fleet since 1992. The first of these new rail cars are entering revenue service on the Pink Line. Emanuel and Claypool were joined for the inaugural run at the Midway station on the Orange Line by representatives from Bombardier Transportation, the manufacturer of the cars.

“The CTA remains the primary mode of transportation for many residents of Chicago, and these new rail cars reflect the Agency’s commitment to its customers and to our city,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “In order for Chicago to grow, continue attracting new businesses and increase the quality of life for all Chicagoans we must continue to invest in public transportation, improving transit infrastructure and expanding service.”

After a successful prototype testing period, the first of 706 brand new, full production model cars will debut on the Pink Line. As more cars continue to arrive, they will be tested internally to ensure all components are operating properly before going into service.

“The 5000-series cars provide a more enjoyable ride for customers,” said CTA President Forrest Claypool. “These cars have wider aisles and roomier interiors, electronic destination signs and security cameras in each car for enhanced safety.”

The addition of these new cars to the fleet will allow CTA to retire some of its oldest cars which average between 32 and 41 years old.

“Modernizing the fleet is very important and is fiscally prudent because a younger fleet requires less maintenance and allows CTA to keep the trains on the system where they are needed and not in the repair shop,” Claypool said.

The rail cars feature an aisle-facing seating configuration which adds six inches to the narrowest portion of the aisle, allowing more room for customers carrying backpacks, packages, luggage, strollers and bikes. The aisle-facing seating also provides space for an additional wheelchair position, increasing the total to two per car.

The cars also have LED displays with larger text-size that will replace the scrolling destination signs on the exterior of the lead car. The LED signs on the interior will display the next stop, date and time. The same signs can also be used for a text display of the audio announcements made to customers in the rail car. Above the doors, there is a system map with LED lights that indicates the train’s present location as it travels along the route. In addition, the side doors have an opening/closing light in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.

Each rail car has multiple security cameras and will eventually transmit real time video to CTA’s Control Center, the Office of Emergency Management and Communication and the Chicago Police Department. CTA’s Control Center will also have remote access to signs, giving them the ability to make emergency audio and text messages inside the trains if needed.

After a competitive selection process, CTA selected Bombardier Transportation Corporation to manufacture the rail cars. Bombardier is a recognized leader in the manufacturing of mass transit vehicles.

The total cost of the rail cars $1.137 billion which is funded by two CTA bond issuances backed by sales tax receipts. The remainder is paid for by $150 million in federal funds.Link to the gallery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctaweb/...7627960132703/

Ain't He Great! The cars don't work! $1.137 billion less the $ 150 million Federal.

Only days ago, the Bombardier Cars - as painstakingly studied as the swell parking meters sucking in credit and debit cards all our Urbs in Horto - were lifted off the tracks.

The CTA Tattler of Chicago Now snitched -

"Now remember, the first set of 10 cars were delivered in April of 2010. They underwent rigorous testing on every rail line. And the manufacturer is just now discovering this "flaw"?

Interestingly, Claypool says: “This decision demonstrates an abundance of caution on our part as we work with Bombardier to address these issues.” Perhaps. And perhaps more complete testing should have been done in the first place."

Those darn Bombardiers!

Dang! But, Forrest Claypool, perhaps, can detail the oxen on the CTA Rails getting gored for our $1.137 billion less the $ 150 million Federal. Claypool will go on, if he really actually must do so, Chicago Tonight, WTTW doncha know, with Carol Marin tossing some under-hand softballs like,

" Gee, Ain't You Great?"

"Well, shucks Carol, now that you mention this - Yes. . .Yes I am. The Bosses need to go!"

" What about thos rail-cars Forrest? Are they really safe?"

" They sure are Carol! Why, I ran the Parks and that was much tougher than running a great city transportation system, where employees expect to be paid while they take a pee. Not on my watch, Carol. You know, Carol, I am an outsider and a reformer."

" Ain't he great? Tommorrow, I will ask a bus driver exactly how long he expects to be paid while taking a pee and how long that pee might be. The Pee Fee -Our Tax-Dollars Down the Drain - Thank you Forrest Claypool!"

The next time someone tells you so-and-so is great, ask the Ain't She/He Great-er, " Can You find a Chinaman on 22nd Street?" or direct that worthy to find his/her posterior lobes using both hands in one motion.

Epic Fail! Ain't He Great! Great. . .really great . . .really terrific . . .couldn't be better . . .the cat's nuts . . .