At Issue - CBS Radio Chicago Plays Softball with Cook County Crypt Keeper Toni Preckwinkle

Toni tells another of her disarming knee-slappers.

Catholic school testing begins this morning and in order to get the young scholars' sugar supply honing their brain-pans as sharp as their # 2 pencils, this old boy picked up a whole mess of Dunkin Donut  Long Johns and Donuts and orange juice early this AM.

Kareem and the crew at the 104th Street Station had the load ready to go and I enjoyed the cruise to Leo with WXRT's broadcast of CBS Chicago's At Issue with Craig Dellimore and his guest Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Now, to be perfectly fair, I believe that Mrs. Preckwinkle is as sharp as a bowling ball and as bright as our sun when fully eclipsed.  Hey, I'm just sayin'!

You see, Dame Preckwinkle is a member of the untouchable political caste of Progressive darlings: The Debs ( Mell and Shore), Doyens like Hit The Help Jan Schakowsky,  Red Dawn Clark Netsch, office roving mendicants Forrest Claypool,  Mike Quigley, silly goose Joe Moore, or the malocclusion varietals Sheila Simon, , Dave Orr & etc.  These folks get a pass universal from the media . . .until they become roadkill like Sandy and Jesse Jackson.

A Progressive fallen from grace's past due date is usually marked by a Carol Marin piece. GREEN LIGHT! - Indicted IL Rep. LaShawn Ford is still officially off-limits; until Rep.  Ricky Hendon -Emeritus points to the kittens in LaShawn's basement freezer.

Prior to such time, they belong to the Ain't They Great narrative

This standard and compelling narrative holds that Toni Preckwinkle, a Progressive pet-politician,  as quick on the draw as Django Unchained and smarter than Rachel Maddow on payday. Sadly, I have yet to experience anything, empirical or in public record, to support this meme.

My last personal encounter with the tardy and dour Dame Preckwinkle, occured during the waning days of her campaign for President and Pat Quinn's hoodwinking of the workers rally in Mount Greenwood.  It rained cats and dogs and hundreds of Union men and women from the real trades, Electricians, Carpenters, Engineers, Pipe-fitters and Laborers, many who would be laid off by Dame Preckwinkle months after she took Todd Stroger's seat, waited in the downpour - Replacement Governor Pat Quinn arrived shortly before the start of the rally, but Toni Preckwinkle was running late . . .real late. . . .she'll be there when she gets there. . .!  The perfect person for a grey rainy day, Toni Preckwinkle -late, unapologetic and unsmiling.

Folks got wet. No apoplogies.  Just Vote for Toni and Governor Squeezey! We did, more dummies us.  Hey, I'm just sayin' . . .!

Anyhoo, . . .Toni  is in the driver's seat at the Cook County Board - boss of St. Roger Hospital, All the Forest Preserves, Cook County Jail, the Sheriff and of course the Cook County Morgue and Craig Dellimore joined the President in her office for a chin-wag.

Give this AM's At Issue show a listen.  Mr. Dellimore asks about

•  the Cook Count Budget and Toni's bullet taxes
• Slot machine taxes
• Gay Marriage and religious intolerance and why black ministers are like Cardinal George
• Springfield
• Alderman Mell's movie reviews
• Props to Todd's sales tax

Softballs all and tossed under-hand  with mucho simpatico; all to which The Crypt Keeper answered with the metaphorical bat never leaving her globose shoulder

• "I don't have the figures( 4Xs by my count on budget items along with an odd equine gafaw concerning the budget extent)
• "Can't say at this time"
• Right Side of History from a history teacher
• " I don't know no Springfield!"
• " Nice Man, but I hate him."
• " As if . . ."

Toni was Toni, snarky, disdainful and as interesting as a dial tone.

Toni's Crypt - AKA -Cook County Morgue

The Late Mr. Khan

Most shocking, given the fact that a recent Lotto Winner became morgue-friendly, news hound Dellimore asked not a jot about the Cook County Crypt Kept by Dame Preckwinkle nor the state of the score of stiffs stacked like Chesty Morgan.?

Craig Dellimore no way asked "How's the Morgue, Toni?  How's she stackin'  there, Tee?"

No way he'd ask about the Crypt Keeper's Manchild Kyle going all Vanecko on some homeless dude.

Those questions are for the unprotected species of public and private person.

Hey, I'm just sayin'!

Dennis Byrnes' Caveat Cives, or Fiscal 'All-In Stupid!"

 

If this doesn't outrage Americans then I doubt that anything will. It'll make Americans look as complacent or ignorant as Illinois voters who habitually elect irresponsible politicians to run our state government. And then wonder how we got into such big trouble. Dennis Byrne -" The Same Old Fiscal Train Wreck"

In 2008, ESPN experimented with the idea of a delayed final table. This idea presented greater sponsorship opportunities and notoriety, culminating in a recap of the Main Event and the conclusion of the 2008 Main Event final table. In 2009, ESPN announced they would again move the final table to November 2009. The WSOP also decided there would be no rebuy events in 2009. The decision was reached because of complaints that rebuy events provided an unfair advantage to professionals with no limitation on how much money they can spend for an event. There were 57 bracelet events that year. The 2010 WSOP had the same number of bracelet events as in 2009, again with no rebuy events. WSOP

It seems to me that America's fiscal crisis coincided with the expansion of the Word Series of Poker genre on cable television.  Then again, it seems to me that Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois is such a fiscal steward that he needs to get naked in order to count to 21; Forrest Claypool is such a valuable asset to Illinois/Chicago commonweal that it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes and that Toni Preckwinkle is so whip-smart that she believes "The Queen's English" is a gay man's grammar and composition guide.

Yep, America's fiscal sense went 'all-in stupid' just before the election in 2008.  Like the cable shows where obnoxious louts and laconic ladies click and stack chips worth a house payment only to be cast into the ever-growing piles of a very few persons, America is all-in stupid. GE, Goldman Sachs and Planned Parenthood the Condom Manufacturer's Association and Green Anything all  have seats at the final table.  Middle class families voted all-in on the Obama River Card!  Holding Dueces and Trays. "Thanks for playing folks and keep playing on-line!"

We kick cans down the road, while getting on the right side of history.

Give Dennis Byrne's sobering assessment of our bridge-jumping culture -

Here are some examples of how Washington worsened America's deficit and debt problems by creating new (or extending old) corporate tax breaks, thus reducing the revenue stream.
GE, Caterpillar, J.P. Morgan and other business giants will escape paying taxes on income earned from some overseas lending practices. Tax breaks and subsidies for Goldman Sachs' New York headquarters, for mining company worker safety training, for railroad track improvements, for auto race tracks, for growing algae as feedstock for biofuel, for Hollywood movies made in the United States and low-income areas, for drivers of electric scooters, for rum production in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and for industrial research and development.
The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation figures the loopholes inserted into the final deal will cost about $67.9 billion in 2013. If you make the deal's increased spending a part of the equation, the complete package over the next 10 years would put us $3.9 trillion more into debt. Our only hope is that this lunacy is quickly corrected.

On the River!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!