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Illinois
Polls

* SurveyUSA’s latest monthly tracker has Gov. Blagojevich’s job approval rating at 38, with his disapproval at 59. Those are the worst job approval numbers of all Democratic governors in America and the fifth worst for all governors in the USA. Yet, he’s still leading in the polls. Go figure.

* The Tribune has cranked up their bloggy type thingy “Trail Mix” again. And the Daily Herald’s bloggy type thingy “Animal Farm” has gotten a wee bit bloggier lately with the addition of permalinks, but still no comments and no blogroll. I should point out, though, that they did link to me this week. Thanks, boys.

* Sun-Times: Outsider vs. insider in 6th Dist. - But tall odds don’t faze Duckworth

* Hey, Wumpus and Animous. You’re famous. Kinda. If you consider being buried at the bottom of a Tribune bullet-point piece without an actual hyperlink to your comments or this blog even though the story is on the Internet famous. Also, I didn’t even know the item existed until I ran into a subscriber at the local Chinese restaurant last night. So, OK, not really famous. But props to you both anyway.

* Neil Steinberg says the Cook County Forest Preserves are going to hell: “To be blunt, the preserves are returning to nature — the paths overgrown, choked with buckthorn, that invasive species of trash tree that pushes out native vegetation and looks like hell. There’s uncollected garbage and a general sense of neglect and decay. And that’s in a hoity-toity suburb — I’m sure it’s worse elsewhere.”

* Sun-Times: Black aldermen repeat fury over 9% of contracts - Portion of city construction deals even lower

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 9:46 am

Comments

Thanks for the shout out Rich. Looks like I may need a staff and secret service protection.

Comment by Wumpus Maximus Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 9:52 am
Blagojevich still leading - Go figure? This is no surprise and no mystery. We have a 2-party system and the redhead is a terrible candidate. She should have stayed put as Treasurer. She has very few ideas and her campaign consists of sneering & making snarky comments which reflect her shallow reactive attitude which the voters can see through easily. Outcome: Blagojevich wins.

Comment by Not surprised Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 10:07 am
The survey you mentioned above asks the question to voters if Blagojevich is worthy of re-election. The vast majority says, “NO!”

The polls on the other hand, play comparison games instead. This is the political game that $50 million dollars in campaign slush funds can fix. Polls can be manipulated in various ways. Blagojevich has been carpet bombing Topinka since March with negative ads. Thanks to his contacts in the netherworld, Blagojevich still has millions to go to smear Topinka, and he will continue to do that. Blagojevich’s administration has hit an iceberg and it is going down. The trick at this point is to keep the ship looking level as it sinks. Blagojevich at this point believes that if he is re-elected, then Fitzgerald and all the criminal investigations will just magically go away. That is what the Devil promised Rod when he sold his soul to him.

In a little less than three weeks, after Levine has his time to squeal, and Blagojevich creates new excuses to plead ignorance, voters will have to decide whether Blagojevich deserves re-election. Right now, 39% are saying NO.

That means more than any poll.

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 10:09 am
The Trib and Daily Herald can’t devote 24/7 to blogging, so that’s probably why they don’t live up to the high standards set here.

Duckworth is an outsider? You mean outside the district? Does being picked by Rahm make someone an outsider? I’m confused.

Comment by Jim Leland Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 10:29 am
Steinburg is on the money on the Cook County Forest Preserves. What a mess! They raise our property taxes every year, and this is what we get? I wouldn’t take my dogs in there, let alone my kids.

Comment by NW Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 10:34 am
What the forest preserves actually need is a couple of real botanists, such as can be found at the Morton Arboretum and a whole lot of willing workers willing to do the grubby work of picking up trash, removing invasive species before they seed and spread the problem further. To some degree, I’m encouraged that the ones in the burbs look like heck too. Once upon a time, the suburban ones and ones in better-off neighborhoods looked OK while the ones in poorer areas looked like heck. Maybe now that they all look the same, some will can be found to cure it. Getting rid of all the heavy dead wood up at the top (the admins not the trees) could be a good start. Then get rid of those workers employed for reasons other than their fondness for nature and good, hard, honest work.

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 10:42 am
The fact that he won the first time shows the lack of leadership in both parties, but certainly the GOP has shown it’s inability to develop and then back strong leaders that can win in November.
We seem to care about making the right set of money people happy and bad campagin management.

Comment by frustrated GOP Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 11:01 am
Steinberg should try reading his own paper:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/82528,CST-NWS-burn04.article

http://www.fotfp.org/

“President Bobbie Steele issued an Executive Order during the Forest Preserve of Cook County Board meeting today to end the moratorium on restoration activities.”

Todd’s campaign site:

http://stroger.sitebuilder.completecampaigns.com/news/newsitem.php?section=ACM&id=4609&showcat=3&seq=4

“In 1996, a number of articles were published in the Chicago Sun-Times accusing many of Illinoisâ€™ County Forest Preserves of destroying forests to create prairies, leading then-President John Stroger to issue a moratorium that stopped all land management in Cook County. Although I understand what he was trying to achieve, I disagree with the actions my father took, and vow to lift the moratorium and to appropriate necessary funds to manage the land as required.”

Comment by HappyToaster Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 11:11 am
Rich, When are you going to highlight the Daily Herald endorsements in heated legislative races?

Comment by suburban Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 11:22 am
Believe it or not, Blagojevich is an anagram for Gray Davis.

Comment by Boone Logan Square Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 1:36 pm
It is interesting to note that these same African-American Aldermen who are griping over the miniscule percentage of city contracts awarded to black businesses are the same leaders who blindly support Todd Stroger’s candidacy for County Board President. this despite the fact that Todd’s sole attribute is that he is the son of the African-American political figure who has shown blind loyalty to the Daley family, often at the expense of his fellow African-Americans.

Comment by fedup dem Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 1:59 pm
Stienberg is right on about the deplorable state of the FPD. I believe the feds raided the FPD a few weeks ago. The FPD is filled with 8th Ward hacks, that Todd “not ready for prime time” Stroger will no doubt protect. THe fact that Stroger’s people think that the voters are so stupid as to believe that Stroger is a “reformer” is a joke.

Comment by Candid Voter Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 3:24 pm
when are the black alderman going to wake up in chicago? each year, the same thing. Less than 10% of contracts going to minorites, they complain, budget is passed, they become mute. Where are Aldermen like Haithcock in this? Her community gets shortchanged and she always votes with Daley.

Comment by Mike Williams Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 5:14 pm
Ditto on the state of the cook county forest preserve district. Where did they find the money to build a new “Peace Officers Memorial” in Cermak Woods, but the pool at the same location has been closed for years. It has a beautiful stone poolhouse/fieldhouse..also closed–and a stone fence dilapidated and falling down.

Comment by NoGiftsPlease Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 5:31 pm
Steinberg’s head is up his rectum. And so are most of yours.

Call the Friends of the Forest Preserves, Friends of the Parks, the Sierra Club and anybody outside the “I HATE EVERYTHING” fold and maybe, just maybe, you will get informed opinions.

Not some blowhard spewing crap with the ignorant blog chorus doing his back-up singing.

You people are idiots.

By the way, NOGIFTS, TONY PERAICA WAS THE LEAD ON PUSHING FOR THE PEACE OFFICERS MEMORIAL!!!!!

There is so much to say, yet the rank stupidity spewed here is too far beneath anything resembling truth that I would even bother.

CHEERS!

Comment by The Picolo Player is a... Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 5:47 pm
I took my son into the Forest Glen Forest Preserve to hunt for frogs in the ponds on the northwest side about 3 weeks ago. The paths were almost paved in broken glass. There was garbage everywhere. After having no luck in finding any frogs and disgusted by the cans and trash suspended in the thick algae on the pond surface we went hiking into the depth of the forest. Here we stumbled upon a concealed area fenced off with green camoflage mesh that contanained a picnic bench, fire pit and tons of beer cans. On our way out we stumbled upon a group of teenagers trekking toward there party fort-no doubt.

Who’s responsibility is it to clean up the woods?

Have the forest preserve police ever actually gone into the forest? I have not seen them leave their cars except to lock the gate at sunset.

Who’s responsibility is it to regulate all the homosexual activity in the forest preserves? I have had friends of mine told to leave the Edgebrook Preserves because he was there with his wife and kids and the police ranger thought they might be shocked by what they would see.

I have no problem with gay people but there is a time and place for sex and it’s not lunch hour behind the big oak just off Central Ave. Get a room!!!

Comment by Ranger Rick Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 7:12 pm
Um, Picolo, I wasn’t getting my info from the Friends group or the Sierra Club. I can see with my own eyes. Miller’s Meadow is nice for a picnic area, but look at the adjoining Forest, and it’s a mess. It isn’t a healthy forest. Look at the Preserves along Harlem and you can see the garbage, not just along the side of the road, which is a constant maintenance thing, but further in. Look at the invasive species of plants coming in and crowding out native flora. Attention does need to be paid to the Forest Preserves. I don’t know who’s at fault, but I do know a healthy forest when I see it.

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Oct 20, 06 @ 7:15 pm
Cermak…

Therefore, I am sure you have volunteered to help clean up the forest preserves, right? I mean, you wouldn’t just jump on a computer and whine and complain about the problem but not do anything about, would you?

I mean, you said it yourself: you can see with your own two eyes.

The question is: have you moved your own two feet to a clean-up activity?

I KNOW STEINBERG HASN’T. HE DOES WHAT ALL BAD COLUMNISTS DO: SPOUT OFF AND WALK AWAY.

I read a couple of years ago that the Forest Preserves cut their staff in half. HALF! So, I don’t know this to be true, but I guess it stands to reason that getting them clean may be tougher.

On top of that, the thousands of animals in the forest preserves move trash out of receptacle, not to mention the nasty people that leave their stuff in the woods and throw crap out of their cars on the roadside that blows in.

Hey, I really don’t care, to be honest. I don’t. I think the people at the forest preserves that let stuff get so bad a while back need to do a better job. But the whining and stupidity that goes on here is so short-sighted and patently unintelligent that it can really turn one off to blogs.

Its easy to jump on a blog and talk democracy. Its altogether something else to avail yourself of it.

Comment by The Picolo Player is a... Saturday, Oct 21, 06 @ 12:09 pm
It is not whining and complaining to be unhappy about paying for service you are not getting. We are paying taxes to the Cook County Forest Preserve District and it doesn’t look like we’re getting our money’s worth. If there’s a good reason for it, maybe one of the boardmembers can log on and explain it. We are paying their wages and in effect we are their bosses. If I hire someone to clear the snow in my driveway and he only does 1/2 of if, you wouldn’t expect me to go out with a shovel and do the rest, would you? We don’t have to volunteer. I don’t understand what is stupid about paying for service you are not getting and being unhappy about that. I am a lifelong democrat, but I think the Cook County Board needs some shaking up and I’m going to vote for Peraica. He can’t do that much harm in 4 years, as far as I can see, and the democratic party jerked us around by hiding Stroger’s condition like a Chinese emperor (the chairman has a cold!) and installing his son. We are generally unhappy and we are availing ourselves of democracy by talking freely and voting in November. We feel like they lied about that and they’re probably lying about plenty of other things, too. By the way, I work for the state so I know what I’m looking at..ha ha ha..Cheer up and keep your blood pressure down.

Comment by NoGiftsPlease Saturday, Oct 21, 06 @ 4:43 pm
Hey at least Ezzie Higgelbottom and Victor Reyes are getting contracts
Empowerment for Minority sleazes

Comment by Javier T Sunday, Oct 22, 06 @ 12:02 am
Funny all the FPD haters don’t include Tony Peraica who was heaping praise on the way the preserves are run this morning on Channel 9’s morning show. Look it up!

Comment by hehehe Monday, Oct 30, 06 @ 2:06 pm