41 Comments - Pat Hickey - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 7:28 am: Kristen McQueary shaves all the non-sense out of Rep. Fritchey’s bill to absent parental consent and shore’s up, for this low watt-age citizen anyway, the loophole that opens the lane for Planned Parenthood’s drive to keep abortion a viable industry. Kristen McQueary again proves why the Daily Southtown is the best newspaper in Chicago. - So-Called "Austin Mayor" - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:11 am: “* Eric Zorn: Putting Illinois Cars Back in the Clean Plate Club” Nice. - Cassandra - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:20 am: So, at the end of the day, Devine might lose 45 to 55 prosecutors, even fewer if they can persuade some of the oldsters to retire. Maybe this will inspire the Cook County justice system to reform itself by ceasing the practice of putting first time drug offenders in jail as a way of bolstering the county and state civil service population. They can dust off those diversion programs they have been hiding. Wouldn’t do for the taxpayers to find out about diversion. They might actually demand it. Maybe if there are fewer prosecutors in Juvenile Court, the DCFS, noted for its inability to make the right decisions for kids under any circumstances, will stop putting kids in foster care who don’t need to be there. Sure, foster care makes for lots of DCFS and Juvenile Court jobs. But is it the right choice for the kids? And how is it that the CC Sheriffs are helping Ford Heights and other suburban communities with routine police patrols. Did the suburban taxpayers know that in addition to paying for their own police departments, they also had to help Ford Heights and other communities pay for theirs. Why can’t Ford Heights pay for their own. Or get a federal grant if they claim they are too poor, deprived, and so forth. On what basis is “help” from the sheriff given out to these communities ? Could politics possibly play a role? Perhaps the occasional campaign contribution? Meanwhile over at Cook County Hospital, the payrollers haven’t given up, still hoping to save those low-stress, lucrative jobs by scaring us with visions of the poor dying in the streets because Cook County hospital got a little smaller. One problem over at the county may be full time physicians who actually work part time but receive a full time salary. This allows them to hold jobs elswhere, perhaps even full time jobs elsewhere. No wonder the doctors are complaining. - Just Wonderin" - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:37 am: Eric Zorn is right on target…let’s get back to license plate basics! - Ravenswood Right Winger - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:40 am: McQueary knows her stuff. Also Rich, thanks for the link on your former Alderman, Burt Natarus. I think this is the year he finally gets the boot out of office. - Pat Hickey - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:46 am: Burt Natarus. I think this is the year he finally gets the boot out of office. . . .And then - Broadway! - Johnny USA - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 9:01 am: So Zorn wants to cut funding to breast cancer awareness, with a very compassionate ‘Tough’ Nice guy. Hope his wife never succumbs to breast cancer. - Wumpus - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 9:02 am: How much did Rod give to Toddlers campaign? I know he had the tin cup out, but did anything come of it? See what happens when you don;t play ball? - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 9:32 am: My favorite part of the Natarus profile is when he embraces his status as the City Council “baffoon.” I’m sure his constituents are choking on their coffee this morning. Hats off to his handlers for trying to spin one of his biggest weaknesses into a strength. Can’t wait until they role out the circus-style campaign posters with Natarus in his clown suit. Regarding Madigan: the Madison County Record is a known extremist front group for big business, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute is a front group funded by Big Oil, among others, with views so extreme that Republican Senator Olympia Snowe refered to them as “global warming deniers.” CEI actually rgues that the Kyoto Protocol for reducing greenhouse gases is a big threat to humanity than global warming. Bottom Line: Who cares how CEI and the Madison Record rank anybody? - Anon - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 9:45 am: Did anyone see that New Lenox mayor Mike Smith’s “stripper gate” made CNN’s 101 Dumbest Business Moves of 2007? He is ranked ahead of Jessica Simpson but one spot behind Paris Hilton. Too funny. Here is the link: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0701/gallery.101dumbest_2007/44.html - Skeeter - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 9:54 am: This is why Natarus will be gone: The pedestrian underpass at Ohio and Lake Shore Drive has been flooded for about a week. That is a main route for tourists getting from Michigan Avenue to Navy Pier. People in the area are pretty angry about it. Natarus will be judged based on his performance, and when people can’t even walk around, they will not accept his performance. - NW burbs - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:05 am: “AG Madigan among nation’s worst:”… Please. Dog bites man. The Madison County Record (funded by the US Chamber of Commerce and run by a Chicago-area conservative) is hardly better than Insight Magazine with its right-wing biases… Of course they’re going to editorialize against a Democratic AG. - Stuck with Sen. CPA - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:29 am: I hate to pile on here, but the Madison County story should - at the very least - be identified by the source in the listing. It would be like linking a Kos story on Bush being the worst president ever without attribution. - Leroy - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:31 am: Introductions are in order: Mr. Zorn, please meet Mr. Slippery Slope. Now that you know Mr. Slippery Slope, feel free to call on him from time to time, mmmkay? And not just in your pet causes, but in all causes when it is appropriate. - VanillaMan - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:34 am: I could only rank the Madigan story as a “2″ on a scale of ten. Barely interesting information from a very biased source - however, they do say who they are, which is right and proper. I recommend that the pro-choice crowd come up with better excuses for their pro-abortion positions. They are like the NRA with gun control; extreme. Science and technology is exposing us to the ugly truth. We are no longer ignorant of what is happening at this stage of life. Thanks to 4D technology, we clearly recognize ourselves among abortion’s victims. Hands-off is no longer an acceptable answer to a growing majority of people. Just as gun lovers need to agree to restrictions on weapons, abortion supporters need to agree to restriction on who, how, when and where they kill too. Finally, the ICC reveals what we all knew; Ameren has been gambling with our electrical grids. When you cap rates, you disincentivize infrastructure investments. You cannot expect both, just because a government agency says so. The reports also reveal that Ameren wants to meet with the ICC regarding their report. By doing this they attempt to compromise with the ICC or define the report’s definitions to their benefit. I hope the ICC stands firm. What we have been seeing however, is a governor who has been too willing to roll over for power companies. His appointees have been too interested in using their political position for future employment within the companies they regulate, so are not eager to bite the hands they hope will feed them tomorrow. We have to stand firm for the non-appointed ICC staffers whose expertise is needed. - Bill - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:45 am: VM, You are absolutely right! I’m sure that Marty Cohen was really looking for a job with Peoples Gas! - VanillaMan - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:59 am: I loved Marty! He was not allowed to come on board. At the time, his appointment looked great for Blagojevich. Now, it seems he was a sacrificial lamb for Blagojevich. Marty never had a chance. How could Blagojevich NOT get Jones on board since they work so closely? Thanks to Blagojevich, not only did we lose Marty at the ICC, we lost him at CUB too. A double blow! Sorry Bill, you governor seems getting too much exposure with those emails in the press. As an ex-supporter of Old Grumpy Grandpa Governor, at least I had the decency to call him a rat when it was obvious. When will you? - VanillaMan - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 11:01 am: I mean lets face it Bill - you are a sweet guy. We are all starting to pity you. Blagojevich doesn’t deserve you at all. You and Hillary. - Pat Hickey - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 11:29 am: Vanilla, Really. Bill deserves 40 virgins, by Allah’s beard and Jesus’ craftsman set! Hillary’d scare a starving dog off a meat wagon! - amazing - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 12:40 pm: And now ladies and gentleman, in the center ring, the windbag of the windy city, the clown of the council, Burt “the baffoon” Natarus!!!! What an article. How could anyone vote for that guy? - Squideshi - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 12:47 pm: The thing that Democrats like Quinn keep missing is that being Green isn’t just about the environment–it’s about democracy–it’s about healthcare, it’s about education, it’s about peace, etc. To suggest that one only need address environmental issues in order to be Green demonstates a misunderstanding of the concept. If Quinn really wants to be a Green, he will do something to support majority elections in Illinois, either through a series of runoff elections or Instant Runoff Voting, eliminating the so-called spoiler effect. - Bill - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 12:53 pm: VM, I’ll call him a rat when it becomes obvious which has not happened. As much as I love Hillary,I’m gonna go with the next president of the US, Barack! - Bill - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 12:58 pm: Now Pat, What’s this about 40 virgins? - Jill Stanek - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 12:59 pm: McQueary is not known as a conservative, so her palpably angry column outting Fritchey as wanting to gut parental notification stands out. - jerry - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 1:01 pm: Interesting how CEI’s list of the worst AG’s include so many of the nations most popular AG’s. The nations longest serving AG in Connecticut. An AG who got promoted to Governor in a landslide. Another AG who won re-election in a landslide (Madigan). - Pat Hickey - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 1:08 pm: See the man at the window, Bill, and get your ticket punched! - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 1:48 pm: Okay, so having an abortion is such a serious decision that a teenager shouldn’t be able to make it without parental consent. Doesn’t it naturally follow that having a child or giving it up for adoption are such serious decisions that a teenager shouldn’t be able to make it without parental consent? Which begs the real question: who’s body is it, exactly? And I like McQueary, but she shouldn’t use the ear-piercing law as justification. Parents turned to lawmakers to enact that legislation because their kids wouldn’t obey them, not because teenage girls were in mortal danger. It was nothing more than a press hit and government getting involved in private family disputes. Ditto the false comparison to statutory rape. There’s no provision for parental consent in statutory rape, and it’s still prosecutable even if parents approve of the relationship. If McQueary wants to go down the road of statutory rape, she should just ban all teenagers from having abortions in any circumstances. - Bill - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 2:24 pm: Pat, Uh, no thanks! Ive got a few more elections left in me. - Nice Try YDD - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 2:40 pm: Yellow Dog - Of course it is the girls body. Should we allow her to pump it full of cocaine just because she wants to? And since when does pregnancy put a teenage girl in ‘mortal danger’? - You down with YDD? Yea you know me! - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 3:23 pm: Is this the same Josh Potts who worked for Topinka? And as for Zorn, funny how he decided to chime in on the plate issue once the choose life ones were approved…wow, I sound like Stanek! YIKES!!! - ASA X - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 3:46 pm: In Response to Cassandra: The State’s Attorney’s Office has maintained a very successful drug diversion program for nearly 30 years. Approximately 4,500 people a year are given the chance to go to drug school rather than face a conviction. Stroger has proposed eliminating it! First time offenders possessing small amounts of drugs do not go to jail. What you said is simply untrue and you are very uninformed. In the mean time, the Board recently (August, 2006 I believe) gave the Public Defenders cost of living adjustments (COLAs) of over 13% despite the fact that the average PD already makes $9,000 more than the average ASA. Along with the raises, the PDs received retroactive raises going back 3 years and a $500 bonus. This doesn’t include the annual “step increase” that PDs get every year on top of cost of living increases. ASAs do not get step increases or COLAs and have not received a COLA since 2003. The PDs say that they make more because they stay in the job longer. Wouldn’t you if you were paid so well? Wait, there’s more. In the new budget, funds for training PDs are four times the amount than the SAO training budget. Do you still wonder why Mr. Devine is so upset with the whole situation? - ASA X - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 3:50 pm: Oops, I made a mistake. The drug school used to take 4,500 out of the system every year. The County cut the budget by 30% and only 3,200 went through the program. Now, Stroger wants to completely eliminate it. Here’s an article- http://www.law.northwestern.edu/news/article_full.cfm?eventid=3022 - Cassandra - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 6:26 pm: ASA X. I appreciate the response. But I read Courtroom 300 (perhaps you should do so as well) and I’ve seen the stats. A large percentage of (mostly minority) offenders entering the Illinois prison system are there for drug consumption or minor drug sales offenses only. A boon for downstate public employees in the lavishly funded corrections system and, yes, for the prosecutor and public defender employment situation. But not good public policy. Go after the drug lords and earn the pay. - 42ndWarder - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 6:45 pm: who in the world is Brendan Reilly? And why would we want a hack tied with old school political boss Madigan as the alderman of our ward? Tell Madigan to stay in his own ward and leave his lackeys out of ours - huh - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 7:28 pm: over ten years of auditor general and he now sees the airfleet as not needed. This guy is to prejudice and if not mistaken i think he has used the plane himself. - Huh? - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:01 pm: Can anybody confirm that Tim Martin is out as Sec of Transportation? From what I heard, day for yesterday was his last day. - Skeeter - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 8:12 pm: - 42ndWarder - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 6:45 pm: “who in the world is Brendan Reilly? And why would we want a hack tied with old school political boss Madigan as the alderman of our ward? Tell Madigan to stay in his own ward and leave his lackeys out of ours ” Nice to see that Natarus figured out how to post here. Burton, could you please take care of that flooded pedestrian underpass, and stop worrying about internet posting? Thanks. - Igor - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:29 pm: I am not a Blago fan or defender but I find it hard to blame the Cook County guv mess on the State or Blago Rev. Jackson and Stroger really came up with a far fetched one to displace blame - Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:40 pm: Huh - see the end of the “Revelations” thread a few threads later than this one. I dare not mention the acronym that rhymes with “SPYDOT”. - Hip Hip Hooray! - Thursday, Jan 25, 07 @ 10:40 pm: Tim Martin gone and Bears win NFC Championship all in one week. Outstanding! - Sahims2 - Friday, Jan 26, 07 @ 12:48 pm: “Gov’s in-law allegedly tried to bite ring off fiancée’s finger” - her ring got caught in his mouth when she pointed her finger at his face? And then she hit his fist with her eye! It was terrible - he hit his stomach with her head, oh my! He then hit the sidewalk with his butt and it was all over! LOL Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.