Monthly archives: September, 2010

Family: Evanston Man Killed By Bomb Committed Suicide

September 15, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandEthicsIllinoisLegalViolence
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How sad.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The family of a man who died when a pipe bomb blew up in an Evanston park declared Wednesday that his death was a suicide.

“We are devastated that our beloved son, Colin Dalebroux, lost his 15-year battle with depression,’’ the family said in a statement issued through a school district in Madison, Wis., where the family lives. “We know that Colin committed suicide.’’

Evanston police, however, said Wednesday they weren’t ready to draw that same conclusion until further FBI forensic tests on the Dalebroux’s computers are completed.

Police did confirm that Dalebroux, 21, struggled with mental health issues, and said investigators will speak with his mental health providers.

Evanston Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther said Dalebroux was acting alone at the time of the incident.

“There is no immediate danger to the public,” he said in a statement.

How sad.

Simply Put: Google Kicks Ass

September 15, 2010
BusinessEconomyJobs
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I don’t know any other way to put it: No matter what they do, Google Kicks Ass.

I just switched to GMail from Yahoo! Compared to Yahoo!, GMail is lightening fast, and Yahoo!, in comparison, looks like it was created by a bunch of Yahoos, right out of Gulliver’s Travels.

Google Docs is awesome, and may, indeed, put Microsoft Office out of business some day.

You can now make phone calls for free to anyone in the United States and Canada on Google (if you live in the USA or Canada). "Free" won’t last forever, but, for now, it’s nice.

And Mom and Dad tell me the quality is better than calls from my cell phone.

The Android operating system is awesome. I love the ability to use my phone for my calendar, then go to Google Calendar to add or delete things.

I love Google.

Everything they do on the Internet works.

Wonderfully.

Ann McLane Kuster Defeats Joe Lieberman’s Presidential cCampaign Co-hair Katrina Swett

September 14, 2010
Democratic NewsElections
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From Progressive Change:

We did it!! No, wait…WE DID IT!!!

Just minutes ago, bold progressive Ann McLane Kuster defeated Joe Lieberman’s presidential campaign co-chair Katrina Swett in tonight’s New Hampshire congressional primary — winning by double digits.

Annie ran a superb campaign — and PCCC members made thousands of phone calls and chipped in nearly $100,000 toward her people-powered victory.

We formed the PCCC to achieve big progressive victories just like tonight’s. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Can you chip in $4 so the PCCC can continue helping progressive candidates win in 2010? We need your help to win more elections in November.

Here’s what Annie wrote to PCCC members yesterday:

The PCCC has been a great partner and has helped progressive candidates like me run effective, people-powered campaigns.

Phone calls from PCCC members to voters were a tremendous help. Many PCCC members donated $3, $4, or $10 as well, allowing us to continually expand our grassroots effort.

Thank you for being part of the “people power” that is changing this country. Your efforts are noticed and greatly appreciated.

Together, we’re making a big difference. But we need your help to continue winning progressive victories in 2010 — chip in $4 here.

We’ll help Ann Kuster defeat Tea Party Republican Charlie Bass in November — and help other progressive champs like Bill Hedrick (CA-44), Elaine Marshall (NC-Sen), and others.

It’ll be a big job — but we can do it with your help. Please chip in $4 to help progressives keep making history in 2010. Click here.

Thanks for being a bold progressive,

Stephanie Taylor, Adam Green, Jason Rosenbaum, Michael Snook, Forrest Brown, Keauna Gregory, Julia Rosen, and the entire PCCC team

Where Are The World’s Billionaires?

September 12, 2010
AmericaEconomyJobs
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From VisualizingEconomics.com:

Each circle represents a billionaire but when appropriate the company that they associated with is labeled. And of course United States leads the way with number of billionaires. I liked seeing the data presented on a map; having a geographic distribution shows off the number of non-US billionaires. It would have been nice to see their net worth included in the infographic.

map of billionaires in world

Personally, I am of the opinion that billionairs are bad for the economy. Global or local. Macro or micro.

A cesspool of wealth sitting still does nothing.

Bring back the 90% tax bracket. Please!

Motion Filed Accusing Todd Stroger of Political Hiring and Firing

September 11, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandCook CountyJobsLegal
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For a while, I was actually feeling sorry for Todd Stroger. I was concerned he might lose his home, and, much as I disagree with the manner with which he has conducted himself while in office, those differences are political. Then he paid his taxes.

Now, however, we hear disturbing allegations of political hiring and firing based on political considerations:

An attorney who has battled political hiring and firing in government claims Cook County Board President Todd Stroger violated political hiring more than 150 times since the start of 2008.

In a motion filed in U.S. District Court, Michael Shakman said the Stroger administration altered the list of jobs not covered by a ban on hiring and firing based on political considerations.

Shakman alleges the Stroger administration has been hiring people and putting them in so-called exempt jobs, even though the positions do not appear on the court list.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Stirring Tribute to the Heroes of Flight 93

September 11, 2010
AmericaBarack ObamaConservativesDemocratic NewsEthicsLiberalsMichelle ObamaMilitaryPhilosophicalRepublicansWhite House
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Laura Bush and Michelle Obama

From First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the memorial of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania:

The men and women of Flight 93 were college students and grandparents. They were businessmen, pilots, and flight attendants. There was a writer, an antique dealer, a lawyer, an engineer.

They came from all different backgrounds and all walks of life, and they all took a different path to that September morning.

But in that awful moment when the facts became clear, and they were called to make an impossible choice, they all found the same resolve.

They agreed to the same bold plan.

They called the people they loved –- many of them giving comfort instead of seeking it, explaining they were taking action, and that everything would be okay.

And then they rose as one, they acted as one, and together, they changed history’s course.

And in the days that followed, when we learned about the heroes of Flight 93 and what they had done, we were proud, we were awed, we were inspired, but I don’t think any of us were really surprised, because it was clear that these 40 individuals were no strangers to service and to sacrifice. For them, putting others before themselves was nothing new because they were veterans, and coaches, and volunteers of all sorts of causes.

There was the disability rights advocate who carried a miniature copy of the Constitution everywhere she went.

There was the Census director who used to return to the homes she’d canvassed to drop off clothing and food for families in need.

There was the couple who quietly used their wealth to make interest-free loans to struggling families.

And to this day, they remind us -– not just by how they gave their lives, but by how they lived their lives -– that being a hero is not just a matter of fate, it’s a matter of choice.

I think that Jack Grandcolas put it best –- his wife, Lauren, was one of the passengers on the flight — and he said: “They were ordinary citizens thrown into a combat situation. No one was a general or a dictator. Their first thought was to be selfless. They knew ‘There was a 98 percent chance we’re not going to make it, but let’s save others’.”

The men and women on that plane had never met the people whose lives they would save -– yet they willingly made the sacrifice.

Hit the link above and read her entire, very moving presentation.

President Obama: Our War is with Al Qaeda, Not Islam

September 11, 2010
AmericaBarack ObamaCrime and PunishmentDemocratic NewsEthicsLiberalsMilitaryPhilosophicalReligion
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As part of a brilliant and erudite news conference yesterday at the White House, President Obama told reporters that the United States is not at war with Islam. Crediting President Bush with remaining clear on that point, the president stressed the need for Americans to stand together as the ninth anniversary of 9/11 drew near:

One of the things that I most admired about President Bush was after 9/11, him being crystal-clear about the fact that we were not at war with Islam.  We were at war with terrorists and murderers who had perverted Islam, had stolen its banner to carry out their outrageous acts.  And I was so proud of the country rallying around that idea, that notion that we are not going to be divided by religion; we’re not going to be divided by ethnicity.  We are all Americans.  We stand together against those who would try to do us harm.

And that’s what we’ve done over the last nine years.  And we should take great pride in that.  And I think it is absolutely important now for the overwhelming majority of the American people to hang on to that thing that is best in us, a belief in religious tolerance, clarity about who our enemies are — our enemies are al Qaeda and their allies who are trying to kill us, but have killed more Muslims than just about anybody on Earth.  We have to make sure that we don’t start turning on each other.

And I will do everything that I can as long as I am President of the United States to remind the American people that we are one nation under God, and we may call that God different names but we remain one nation.  And as somebody who relies heavily on my Christian faith in my job, I understand the passions that religious faith can raise.  But I’m also respectful that people of different faiths can practice their religion, even if they don’t subscribe to the exact same notions that I do, and that they are still good people, and they are my neighbors and they are my friends, and they are fighting alongside us in our battles.

And I want to make sure that this country retains that sense of purpose.  And I think tomorrow is a wonderful day for us to remind ourselves of that.

I support President Barack Obama, and wish to thank him and President Bush for remaining clear and consistent on that matter.

Is America Ready for a Nuanced Discussion of Just War?

September 6, 2010
AfghanistanAmericaBarack ObamaChicagoChicagolandDemocratic NewsEthicsLiberalsMilitaryPhilosophicalReligionRepublicansViolence
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Writing about a lecture he attended at St. Irenaeus Church in Park Forest, Illinois, Park Forest Mayor John Ostenburg presents perhaps one of the most nuanced perspectives I’ve ever read on the Catholic Just War Theory. The lecture, given by Kathy Kelly, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, "covered a much wider scope of things. Really, her presentation should have been promoted with the old John Lennon song title, ‘Give Peace a Chance,’ Ostenburg says on his blog, The Outpost Observer.

What follows is a summary of the lecture by Kathy Kelly, and additional perspective by Ostenburg, including the following:

While I agree with Ms. Kelly in principle, that the sincere and consistent efforts of even a handful eventually can reap genuine rewards, I also am inclined to believe that it is extremely difficult to control the behaviors of any individuals — or even nations — who have hatred in their hearts. Turning the cheek is a personal act that any one of us can take (I might even say, should take), but those charged with the responsibility of protecting the public at large face additional responsibilities that reach beyond that. As Christians, Ms. Kelly and her compatriots do well to imitate the actions of Jesus Christ in how he showed love for those who extended ill toward him; however, even Jesus took up the whip to expel the money-changers in the Temple because of the social ill they were spreading.

As such, I find it difficult to accept that absolute pacifism is enough to effect the kind of change that Ms. Kelly would like to see. Lest we forget, law enforcement also was a necessary component of the changes that ultimately brought major controls on racial hatred in the 1960s and 1970s. People had to be arrested, sentenced, and sent to jail; federal officers often had to engage in strong tactics in order to bring the wrongdoers to their knees. And — even with all the combined efforts of peaceful protest and effective law enforcement — things today are far from perfect and the ugly head of racism still rises all too often and spews its hateful venom.

So, from my perspective, it is legitimate for the U.S. to seek to curtail hateful acts by Al-Qaeda and/or the Taliban. But I also believe the methods we employ in our efforts at self-protection must likewise be legitimate.

An explanation of the Catholic Church’s Just War Theory follows.

What strikes me as fascinating in all of this is this line from Ostenburg’s post, "Even Jesus took up the whip to expel the money-changers in the Temple because of the social ill they were spreading."

Yes, He did. And I never thought about that in connection to warfare.

Read this post in full, and ask yourself, is America, polarized as it is today, ready for a truly nuanced discussion of war — and peace?

Where Is The Army Of U.S. Census Protestors?

September 4, 2010
Democratic News
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Watching Tina Fae in a rerun on Saturday Night Live tonight made me wonder: where are all the people — G.O.P. and Tea Party — who were protesting the United States Census? This was a life or death issue, as far as they were concerned – or so it appeared.

They screamed bloody murder. Obama was asking too much! Here comes Socialism! And, most of all, the cry: DON’T FILL OUT THE CENSUS!!!

So the United States Census has ended.

Where are the protestors?

Todd Stroger Pays His Taxes

September 4, 2010
ChicagoChicagolandCook CountyDemocratic NewsEconomyElectionsHousing
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I really don’t want to comment on Todd Stroger any more. He will not be re-elected as President of the Cook County Board, and I’m happy with that. Some local pols are still fuming over that, angry at people like me who took Todd to task. However, from his first few weeks on the job when he fell more for the trappings of the office – remember the roped-off elevator? – it was apparent that Stroger was not ready for the big chair once occupied by his father.

That being said, I haven’t really paid much attention to President Stroger recently, but, sometimes, I feel like the Prophet Jeremiah:

I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it. Jeremiah 20:9

So I have to write.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Outgoing Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has paid his $11,668 federal tax debt.

The Internal Revenue Service recently filed a “certificate of release of federal tax lien” with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds that shows Stroger and his wife, Jeanine, paid the debt as of July 7. The payment settles what the Strogers owed the government since May 19, 2008, records show.

The IRS filed a lien on the Strogers’ South Side house in March 2009 — a move that usually follows multiple attempts to collect tax debts. The Chicago Sun-Times found the lien about two months later, and Stroger initially refused to discuss it, other than to say through a spokesman he’d worked out a payment plan to settle the debt.

I’m happy for Todd and his family. I don’t want to see anyone lose a home in this economy, and I certainly understand economic struggles.