2008 - Page 16 of 27 - Turning Left

Mayor Daley: The Buck Stops There

Posted on July 11, 2008 by TL

Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley is an impressive and formidable politician. The man has incredible support in the city and elsewhere throughout the Chicagoland area.

The secret to his success? Govern-by-Whining. And it’s never his fault.

The latest incidents that have left Daley bewildered are the gang-related shootings last week at the Taste of Chicago. From the Sun-Times:

Mayor Daley and a ranking alderman were demanding answers for the gang-related shootings that left one dead and three wounded Thursday night.

And the department itself now acknowledges it needs to do a better job next year.

“I don’t know if he blew it, but I can tell you that there was unprecedented violence at the Taste of Chicago, and it was on his watch,” Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th), chairman of the Police and Fire Committee, said of police Supt. Jody Weis.

Alderman Carothers wants to blame someone for gun violence in Chicago. He and Mayor Daley are “demanding answers.”

Pols love to point fingers. Somebody has to take the fall. Daley is pointing the finger at Police Supt. Jody Weis. The Sun-Times again:

The mayor held a heated one-on-one meeting with his new superintendent Monday — followed by at least two sessions that included other agency chiefs — to find out why police were apparently overwhelmed by gangs and crowds at Taste of Chicago.

“It wasn’t quiet,” a mayoral confidante said of Daley’s tone.

It was clear, even to the rookie superintendent, that “things didn’t go as planned” after the shooting of four people — one fatally — as the crowd from the city’s July 3 fireworks and concert was dispersing.

But, Weis was “searching for reasons other than police work” for the violence and, what patrons have called, an “intimidating atmosphere” at this year’s Taste that threatens to destroy a marquee event and burst Daley’s Olympic bubble.

“He was trying to say, ‘We did everything we could’ to control the problems. The response [from Daley] was, ‘Like hell,'” the source said.

“Why weren’t large groups dispersed more quickly? Why did it get to a point where people felt intimidated? In years past, the same groups came to the Taste. But police work was such that the bad guys didn’t get a chance to act out. Why did it get to that point this time?”

When Daley is at his best, he makes it clear there are no easy answers, and there are no easy answers here. Sadly, Daley’s focus is on the 2016 Olympics, not the underlying problems that contribute to violence. Why else would he be so upset about shootings at the Taste when this kind of thing happens every day in neighborhoods south of the Loop? Where has his outrage been hiding?

The police are the first line of defense, and, all too often, the last line. But what can we do to lessen the need for this defense?

The problem of violence in America is much more complex than a lack of police. We can’t solve the excessive violence in this country by passing more laws, and we can’t blame the men and women in blue because there are bad guys and gals on our streets. As I’ve said before, we have serious problems with guns in this country. I will not be naive and suggest that we ban guns. That discussion will go nowhere, and I don’t believe it will ever happen.

Rather, we must explore the reasons we shoot each other. We can talk about poverty. We can talk about drugs. We can talk about domestic violence, and gangs, and lack of family values. We can talk about gangs, why people join gangs.

And we should. We should seriously have numerous discussions about all of these things. We have to realize that we all are part of the gang. Gang members are not the nebulous “others” from Lost. Many leaders of gangs already live among us in the suburbs, outside of Chicago. They take care of their lawns, feed the dog, and run a gang. They are already our neighbors, and we don’t even know it.

We are all part of the problem. We are all part of the solution. The buck stops here, with all of us.

Blaming the police for gang violence is, well, a copout.

Pennsylvania Democrats take a hit

Posted on July 10, 2008 by TL

Pennsylvania State Rep. Ramaley, Mike Veon, a former staffer to Rep. H. William DeWeese and ten others have been charged in what WTAE in Pittsburgh is calling, “Bonus Probe.”

The defendants named in Thursday’s indictment include Rep. Sean Ramaley, a Beaver County Democrat; former Rep. Mike Veon, who served as Democratic whip; and Michael Manzo, a former chief of staff to Democratic Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, of Greene County.

Attorney General Tom Corbett says he expects more arrests to follow.

The investigation centered on whether some of the bonuses paid to legislative staffers in 2005 and 2006 were illegal rewards for campaign work.

And so it goes.

Awe nuts, the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s off the deep end again

Posted on July 10, 2008 by TL

Let me begin by saying that I have tremendous respect for Jesse Jackson, Sr. if it is still 1988.

His speech at the Democratic Convention is electrifying and incredibly inspirational. I’m sitting in the living room of my parents’ house watching the convention, and I’m hoping against hope that Jesse Sr. could have won the Democratic nomination for president.

It’s 1988, and there’s a lot I don’t know about Jesse Jackson, Sr., except for that speech.

Two decades later, I know a lot more. And I don’t like what I see any more.

From the Chicago Tribune’s Swamp:

Not realizing a camera and microphone were live, Jackson whispered in a television studio on Sunday that Obama had been “talking down to black people” in his calls for more parental responsibility among blacks and an expansion of faith-based charities.

“I want to cut his nuts out,” Jackson added, gesturing as if grabbing part of the male anatomy and then pulling.

I get it that Jesse likes to make himself the story. Sometimes I can even accept that. This time, however, Jesse was off the charts. Consider this: Jesse was in a Fox News studio. How can any reasonable person conclude that the microphone might not be in a Fox News studio, or any studio?

Jesse rushed to apologize, but this time he looks downright silly:

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

“I offer apologies because I don’t want harm to come to this campaign,” Jackson said.

“I said something I regret was crude. It was very private. And very much a sound bite,” he said. “I find no comfort in it, no joy in it.”

Not, “I apologize because I was wrong.” This is, “I apologize because I got caught. That was meant to be private. But I meant what I said.”

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. was not pleased with dad:

Jackson’s son U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has distanced himself from his father before, offered an especially pointed reaction: “I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Rev. Jackson’s reckless statements about Sen. Barack Obama,” the junior Jackson said. “Reverend Jackson is my dad, and I’ll always love him . . . [but] I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.

I’ve heard Congressman Jackson take some playful, tongue-in-cheek jabs at his father in the past. During some friendly gatherings, the congressman would say he didn’t want to be the kind of guy who showed up just for the cameras. Then he’d pause thoughtfully, wait for the chuckles.

We all got it.

This time, however, the congressman was on fire, and spot on.

I enjoyed NBC’s Matt Lauer’s clumsily interview with Dr. Michael Eric Dyson on the Today Show this morning. How will the Black Community respond? As if all African Americans think in concert, like all whites, all men, all women, all gays, all lesbians, etc. Dyson carefully observed that “some” blacks will say this, “some” will say that. In other words, people might actually see things differently.

Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell calls the senior Jackson’s explanation absurd:

Jackson’s faux pas turned up the volume on a whispered conversation.

But there’s no need to worry.

Black Democrats have supported a long line of presidential contenders who had to walk the same fine line.

They are not about to abandon Obama because he finds more opportunities to talk about black pathology than he does white racism.

Besides, the reverend’s comments were so beneath the dignity of the cloth he wears on the road he has traveled, the Obama campaign won’t have to deal with them — period.

But if Jackson keeps making loud noises, he’ll find out how quickly even a civil rights icon like him can get left behind.

The weird right is enjoying this spectacle, but this will pass. It won’t be long until another far-right icon is forced out of the closet.

The media will want to stay with the distraction for a while longer, I’m sure. This is much more fun than actually doing critical thinking and writing about real issues. And I’m sure this will not be the last time the Rev. Jackson pulls a “Michael Richards.”

Senator Obama graciously accepted Jackson’s apology, and he’s moving on. This is just another distraction.

How to Speak Like a Republican

Posted on July 8, 2008 by TL

From Cait, one of my Young Democrat friends:

Bill Foster Goes to Bat for Veterans

Posted on July 8, 2008 by TL

U.S. Congressman Bill Foster from the 14th Congressional District in Illinois is quickly making a name for himself standing up for our military veterans. The 14th District is the seat vacated by former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert. According to the Daily Chronicle:

Beginning next year, veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces will have easier access to higher education.

But, effective immediately, the U.S. military will have a tremendous new recruiting tool.

Monday, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Batavia, delivered this news to a small gathering of war veterans at the St. Charles Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, lauding the recent passage of the so-called 21st Century GI Bill.

“Right after we have celebrated our independence for the 232nd time, we have a chance to honor and give back to the men and women who make sure we keep on having Independence Days,” Foster said.

Promoted by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, and signed into law by President Bush late last month, the GI Bill enhances college tuition benefits to active-duty service personnel who have served since Sept. 11, 2001. For veterans who have served at least three years, the bill guarantees that the federal government will fund 100 percent of tuition costs at public, in-state colleges and universities and 50 percent of private school tuition.

Veterans who served less than three years can also receive lesser benefits on a graduated scale, beginning at 40 percent of tuition and fees for at least 90 days of consecutive active duty service.

The bill also grants money for all fees, a new monthly housing stipend and $1,000 a year for books and supplies.

There was some opposition to this bill in both parties, but Jim Webb has a solid reputation among veterans, and the bill was supported by many of America’s leading veterans organizations, including the VFW, American Legion, AmVets and others. It had the support of Senator Barack Obama, but, amazingly, became the ill-advised punching bag of one veteran, Senator John McCain. Republicans did not stand with McCain on this one:

In a surprising rebuke to John McCain, 25 of his fellow Republican senators today approved a veterans’ benefits proposal that their presidential nominee has made a controversial decision to oppose.

The veterans’ plan passed today would strengthen education benefits for US soldiers that have not been updated since 1984. McCain, a Vietnam war veteran, echoes the Bush administration’s concerns that the plan could entice too many troops to leave the military for college.

But more than half of Republican senators disagreed, voting for the education proposal offered by Democratic senator James Webb — and against McCain’s stated position.

Bill Foster is turning into a unique blend. He’s spot on for the 14th District. While it might be expected of those of us on the left to continuously bash Republicans, the fact is Denny Hastert represented his constituents well for a very long time. Bill Foster is following that lead: he’s legislating, not politicking. And it’s very refreshing to see that coming from Congress these days.

Race in America: The Transplant Gap

Posted on July 7, 2008 by TL

The Chicago Tribune has an extraordinary piece on the disparity in treatment between African Americans who suffer from kidney failure vs. just about everyone else in America:

With transplant lists growing, it can be daunting for a person of any race to get a life-sustaining kidney. But many African-Americans face additional hurdles—whether it’s piecing together insurance to cover expensive anti-rejection drugs or searching for loved ones healthy enough to serve as living donors.

The result is a glaring racial disparity in which many black kidney patients remain on dialysis, a treatment associated with lower quality of life and higher death rates.

African-Americans account for 37 percent of people receiving dialysis but make up only 19 percent of the transplant population, according to the United States Renal Data System, a government database.

Think our healthcare system isn’t broke?

I know. Republicans and our other friends on the right will say that we all have to do our part, provide for ourselves, and the private market and charities are somehow supposed to respond and pick up the slack, miraculously insure everyone. Wealth is supposed to “tricke down” as Ronald Reagan once dreamed. Cut taxes, and people have more to give away.

Except they don’t give away. The rich get the tax breaks and buy more yachts. Government has to step in to make sure people find the basic treatment they need.

I’ll grant that the United States Constitution does not say we have a right to privacy — except for those rights guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment.

But we do have a right to life.

President Bush: America has more than 300 people

Posted on July 4, 2008 by TL

In the midst of his remarks at a Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, today, President Bush said the following:

Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. (Interruption continues.) These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 [sic] people. They’ve made America a melting pot of cultures from all across the world. They’ve made diversity one of the great strengths of our democracy. And all of us here today are here to honor and pay tribute to that great notion of America. (Emphasis mine)

Add that to the incredibly long list of Bushisms. At least today we might presume the president was in his element, with many others who struggle with the English language as well.

Here’s to January 20, 2009.

Cheers!

Former Senator Jesse Helms Dead at 86

Posted on July 4, 2008 by TL

The Jesse Helms Center reports that former United States Senator Jesse Helms died at 1:15 a.m. this morning in Raleigh. Further details on funeral arrangements will be forthcoming. He was 86.

From the New York Times:

Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress, died on the Fourth of July.

Helms left quite a legacy as he worked to demonize anyone slightly to the left of Mussolini. Among other things, Helms opposed civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights, foreign aid and modern art. Helms led the Senatorial opposition to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in 1983. He rarely made a speech in the United States Senate without somehow managing to mention homosexuality, and was particularly vitriolic when speaking of blacks, gays and lesbians, blaming them for “the proliferation of AIDS,” and stating that he disliked using the word “gay” to refer to them since, “…there’s nothing gay about them.”

Jesse liked to sing, once serenading Senator Carol Mosely Braun:

Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into Mosely-Braun in a Capitol elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, “Watch me make her cry. I’m going to make her cry. I’m going to sing ‘Dixie’ until she cries.” He then proceeded to sing the song about the good life during slavery to Mosely-Braun (Gannett News Service, 9/2/93; Time, 8/16/93).

Two in Chicago won’t see July 4

Posted on July 4, 2008 by TL

I guess I don’t understand the charm of handguns.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Two people were shot, one in the head in the Loop late Thursday as thousands of people streamed out of downtown after the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display and the Taste of the Chicago.

Both shootings occurred about 10:40 p.m. roughly a block apart, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

This is as good as time as any to reflect once again on the proliferation of guns in our society. The clock has only recently passed the midnight hour here in Chicagoland, and already two are dead.

I spoke with a local member of our police force yesterday evening. I asked him, informally, what he thought of last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down the ban on handguns in Washington, D.C. Did he think there should be more gun control?

He said, as I might have expected, that the current laws should be enforced.

And I agree.

The problem in our society is not that we have too many guns. It’s that we use them too many damn times. We need to control ourselves. We need to find more effective ways of handling conflict. We need to learn how to channel the rage we feel sometimes.

Yes, the answers lie in the schools, in the media, in the churches, in the family, in the neighborhoods, in congress, in state legislatures…, and many other places as well.

But the answer to gun violence begins the next time any one of us feels angry, and every time after that as well.

Government Snoops on Celeb. Passports: Happy Independence Day!

Posted on July 3, 2008 by TL

This story from The Washington Post (in block text) is presented with appropriate passages from The Declaration of Independence (italics). Enjoy.

Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity’s records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The audit, by State’s inspector general, was prompted by the discovery in March that three of the department’s contract workers had peeked at the private passport files of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain and that a State Department trainee had examined the file of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

The report documented a widespread lack of controls on the personal data of the 127 million Americans who hold passports, finding numerous “weaknesses, including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance and training.” The State Department had maintained that its system worked when the candidates’ passport breaches were discovered.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

The audit also suggests that some workers were motivated by fascination with the private lives of celebrities, none of whom were identified. One employee told investigators he simply liked looking up the records of professional basketball players.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

Investigators found that 20,500 government workers and contractors had access to the electronic system that maintained the records. Most of them worked for the State Department or the Department of Homeland Security.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

Privacy Act violations could result in misdemeanor penalties or fines if workers disclosed personal information to a third party not authorized to receive it.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

Another law, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, could result in criminal penalties for unauthorized access to government computer systems.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

You get the idea.

Happy Independence Day! Do yourself a favor and read the Declaration of Independence sometime today.

And look forward to a great Indepencence Day on January 20, 2009.