13 Comments - reformer - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 10:00 am: The Cook County judicial retention ballot is the best argument for merit selection. One of the 60 judges seeking retention is Cynthia Brim, who has been removed from all judicial duties following her arrest in March for battery to a sheriff’s deputy. Not a single Cook County judge has been non-retained in more than two decades. If the Democrats follow their usual practice of supporting all judges for retention, then chances are that Brim will keep her job. - Fed up - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 10:07 am: Nice that year after he is gone that articles about how corrupt Daley is are coming out. All he did was spend money we don’t have and enrich his friends and cronies. Incompetence would be a kind description - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 10:08 am: Owen - I didn’t see the Tribune’s poll (reported yesterday) that Chicagoans overwhelming support CTU’s position that teachers should be paid more for working a longer school day. That’s a biggie politically and will likely shift Rahm’s attention from pension reform to school funding. Other than that, I appreciate the round-up of NATO coverage. The closures and costs associated with the conference lead me to believe that this is going to be, at best, a p.r. wash for The Mayor. Several critics have blown holes in the “independent” study claiming $128 million economic boost for the city. I think that protests aren’t going to be nearly as severe as some predicted, but if they do get out of hand, Rahm’s gonna have egg on his face. He seems to understand this already. He’s backing away from any attempt to claim credit for the conference and instead yesterday was pretty much positioning himself so that any blame would fall on Obama. With friends like that…. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 10:19 am: YDD, if you’d just waited a few minutes, you would’ve seen that I used that story in another post. Morning Shorts contains stories that I probably won’t post about today. So, patience, please. - Both Sides Now - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 10:37 am: So…. while the State is broke the Attorney General is going to sue the IHSA because there isn’t a disabled category in the championships for a swimmer who’s going to be a senior next year to compete in? Boo, Hoo. Frankly, I’ve never understood the disabled who want to “be treated like everyone else” but then “want special accomodations”. Since she can swim in the same pool, why doesn’t she compete now? If she wins, she wins, if she loses, she loses. More importantly, the IHSA is already looking at ways to better accomodate those with disabilities, and has made some changes; so there is no valid reason for Ms. Madigan to get on her high horse and spend the state’s money at this point. Could it be that this is all because the student is from Fenwick High School - from which Governor Pat Quinn graduated and where his brother, John Quinn, is the head basketball coach? Mmmm…. makes you think, doesn’t it? - Wumpus - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 11:14 am: Way to show some backbone, Bridgeportians! Don’t let the trash ruin your neighborhood! - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 12:05 pm: @Rich - Like instant coffee and ATM’s, its too easy to take the convenience and high performance of Capitol Fax for granted. Thanks for reminding me just how lucky we all are! YDD - Small Town Liberal - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 12:14 pm: - I’ve never understood the disabled who want to “be treated like everyone else” but then “want special accomodations”. - Yeah, those darned folks who would like to treated in a dignified manner but could use a hand once in a while. They really ruin my day too… - from which Governor Pat Quinn graduated and where his brother, John Quinn, is the head basketball coach? Mmmm…. makes you think, doesn’t it? - Yeah, those Madigans are always bending over backward for Quinn. - wordslinger - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 12:32 pm: The Army’s arrived. Three giant Chinook helicopters just came roaring low out of the east as I enjoyed the beautiful day outdoors in my bucolic west suburban village. Looked like they were headed for O’Hare. VIP motorcade vehicles, perhaps? At least I hope it’s the Army, and not those New World Order chopper guys we used to hear so much about. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 12:40 pm: @Both Sides Now - When de jure discrimination fails, institutions fall back on de facto discrimination, the most common being that creating a non-discriminatory environment will either be too expensive or take awhile, which soon becomes forever. I don’t doubt that IHSA is well-meaning in this case, but I do suspect as the AG does that ending discrimination in state competitions by providing reasonable accommodation is not a high priority for them. This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with sound public policy. - Both Sides Now - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 3:46 pm: @STL &YDD - my point here is she’s already swimming/participating in the meets. The IHSA isn’t keeping her out. It’s her/the team’s choice to not have her scores included in the regular meets. What she’s asking for is special accomodations through a specific swim championship for those who are disabled. So obviously she wants it “both ways”. Even if a disabled championship swim meet was instituted, how many students would it potentially affect, and at what financial cost? And would they all be paralyzed from the waist down or would some be paralyzed from the waist up, or some be missing an arm or leg? And if so, how are they going to compete against each other or are you going to have to have separate classes? I’m really not trying to be insensitive here. I’ve had times when I was temporarily disabled and yes, it was tough to get around. I learned a lot. But POLITICAL CORRECTNESS has gone so overboard to make sure no one’s feelings get hurt and as Governor Quinn says “everybody’s in - nobody’s out” to the point that it is financially driving us in the ground. The Medicaid crisis is a prime example of the effects of trying to appease everybody. - Small Town Liberal - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 5:11 pm: BSN - You mean it might be complicated to accomodate this young person? Well never mind then, I agree we should only undertake easy projects… As to Medicaid, I never realized trying to provide basic medical care to those who can’t afford it was just “appeasing”. I do think the doctors and big pharma have been pretty “appeased” by it though. And in case you hadn’t noticed, Quinn is taking a lot of heat for all of the cuts he’s proposing, so I’m not sure how his political correctness is “financially driving us in the ground”. - Independent - Wednesday, May 16, 12 @ 5:22 pm: @Fed Up: So true. Kass is a favorite whipping boy of this board but at least he had the guts to criticize Daley before it became chic to do so. Most of the Chicago MSM inhaled the “Greatest Mayor in America!” line from Daley’s PR team for 22 years. 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