Huge explosion - sound -- off 151st Street -- sound like gun fire at 4:30 in the morning

Strange noises in Orland, crime plagues area, CTA tax burden, dumb Daley

Lots of unusual sounds these days out in Orland Park. Last week, it sounded like a train driving through the community in the middle of the night, around 4 AM, from the direction of 159th and LaGrange Road. And this morning, a huge sound like two shot gun blasts in the early morning from the direction of the Orland Park Mall.

Okay. I figure the "train wreck" sound was the construction crews on 159th and LaGrange not giving a "S" about the people sleeping at that time in the morning. And the gun fire from the Orland Mall was probably gun fire. That place has not been very secure these days. Thefts fromt he kids areas. Lots of strangers driving around the neighborhood trying to pick up kids at Jerling High school off 151st Street and, well, you don't see the police out there as much as you used to.

I am sure the police are out there. But it seems they are not.

... So I am sitting at O'Hare Airport and waiting for a flight to Washington DC to perform standup comedy there at the www.FunniestCelebrity.org contest where some of the presidential candidates, staff and congress people hang out when they are not chasing pork. This place is a real dump. Dirty. The rail from the remote lot doesn't work properly, plagued by all kinds of delays, starts and stops.

The airport can't get it's act together either. Here we are on the day before the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 and no one stops me? That scares the heck out of me!

Now they are charging people to check their bags. You can hear the low murmur of grumbling from everyone as you walk through the airport. Lousy airline service -- United sucks -- and now they want more money for your bags. ADD IT TO THE TICKET MORONS and pretend you're giving me a deal. Don't pretend you're giving me a deal and then take it back in cash at the check-in counter.

Stupid idiots.

Last night I was at the WJJG studios setting up the streaming for the radio show so people in Jerusalem and Ramallah will be able to hear my show, and call in using GoogleTalk. It should be fun.

And then there was Mayor Daley blaming Gov. Blagojevich for the CTA's problems -- AGAIN! More tax increases not just for the Chicago fools -- er, I mean people. But tax increases for the already over-plagued Stroger-taxed-to-the-hilt suburbanites. We're the ones that have to bail out the lousy CTA.

It's the CHICAGO Transit Authority -- Mayor Daley! It's not the Orland Park transit authority, although that was one of the top suggestions people responding to a survey on this web site suggested. Every time the CTA has a problem, Daley comes whining to the state. Stop your whining, Mayor. It's annoying. Really. You're starting to sound worse than President George W. Bush. Bush doesn't whine. He's not smart enough to whine. He just sounds plane old stupid when he is lying. Do you ever watch how his eyes get closer together the more he lies about Iraq?

Hey, but I did see the Space Station moving across the sky in a Southwesterly direction at 4:30 in the morning ...

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

National Taxpayers United urges fight against CTA tax hikes

Please contact your state senator to say that you oppose House Bill 656 which will increase your sales tax to pay for a broken CTA system. Here is the letter we are sending to all of the state senators. They are voting in the next few days so tell all the people that you know to call your senator as well and show your disproval of any tax increase.

National Taxpayers United of Illinois
407 S. Dearborn, Suite 1170
Chicago, Illinois 60605 (312) 427-5128 FAX (312)427-5139
Web: www.ntui.org Email: ntui@ntui.org

January 14, 2008

Dear Senator,


Please vote “NO” on House Bill 656, which you will consider this week. It is a very bad bill for several reasons.

The CTA is a financial black hole that will not be made viable even with limited concessions by its overpaid union members. The bureaucracy is corrupt and incompetent, and needs to be replaced. Many buses carry less than half-a-dozen riders and the CTA Douglas line unnecessarily duplicates the service of the CTA Congress line on the Eisenhower Expressway. The so-called “doomsday” cuts are necessary and only the beginning of what is needed to restore viability. It will take more than cutting 81 bus routes and 2,400 employees before the CTA can survive.

The proposed $530 million tax hikes will harm the Illinois economy and low-income users. The window-dressing proposal to offer free rides to senior citizens makes no economic sense, and is strictly a media ploy. People over 65 don’t need free rides; only 17 percent are in the poverty range. In contrast, single female families have a poverty rate of 34 percent. The handicapped, students, and those on food stamps are needier—but then; why not offer free rides to everyone? Where do you draw the line?

The free rides for seniors will necessitate a fare increase that truly will hurt the poor under 65, to cover the anticipated shortfall of more than $30 million. The Chicago Tribune reports that 73 percent of those responding to its poll oppose giving senior citizens free rides.

The 200 percent RTA sales tax increase in the collar counties is grossly unfair to the residents of those counties, who use the CTA very little compared to the residents of Cook County, who will be asked to pay 25 percent more.

Furthermore, the huge hike in Chicago’s real estate transfer tax, which would raise it to $10.50 per $1,000, would give Chicago the highest real estate transfer tax of any large city. This is a 40% tax increase and will place a huge burden on not only home buyers, but also home sellers and small business owners in a depressed real-estate market.

I ask you to vote “NO” on HB 656. Chicago residents will be riled over the unconscionable increase in the real estate transfer tax. There very likely will be a political backlash against members of the General Assembly who support HB 656. Please don’t let yourself be duped by greedy union members and Chicago politicians who want to throw more taxpayer dollars at the moribund CTA. Thank you for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Jim Tobin, President
Established in 1976 NTUI is the largest taxpayer organization in Illinois.

Chicago media and politicians silent on tax but loud on free Senior CTA services

It's amazing that the debate in the "Chicago" newspapers is about criticism that Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to give senior citizens a free ride on the corrupt and inefficient CTA system, and the unreliable and sparse service of METRA.

It should be on the fact that Chicago's powerful politicians have once again bullied the six-county region into raising the sales tax .25 percent to bailout the CTA, rather than forcing the CTA to cut its waste, fire those loser bureaucrats and question the excessive benefits that CTA and all government workers get from taxpayer-funded government service.

The state and city revenues from the sales tax already go up, when prices go up. But the revenue isn't increasing fast enough for Mayor Daley or Mike Madigan, who is battling Gov. Blagojevich over who is and who isn't the governor of Illinois. Madigan wants to be the governor without running for office.

Here are some facts:

-- While residents of the suburbs are paying to bail out the bloated, corrupt, and inefficient CTA, residents of Chicago pay nothing to help the suburban public bus system. Yet, about 20 percent of the riders are Chicagoans, off-setting the claim that suburbanites "burden" the CTA and therefore suburbanites should share in bailing it out.

-- Half of the revenue from the increase in the sales tax, proposed by Julie Hamos who is a suburbanite whose district includes the only part of the CTA that goes into the suburbs. The remaining revenue would be given to the collar counties for "transportation needs or public safety." Yeah, right. More money for roads that should have come from the state but Chicago legislators won't approve increases for the suburbs. In reality, the suburbs will end up paying more to use METRA.

-- Oh yeah. Metra will be raising its rates by 10 percent. The 10 percent hike takes effect Feb. 1.

Governor challenges Madigan's cancellation of session

Sadly, it’s not surprising that Speaker Madigan would, at the last minute, cancel a scheduled session to consider a plan to fund the CTA. That unfortunately has been more the rule than the exception over the last three months. The Governor has taken unilateral action twice to prevent a CTA doomsday. We agree with Mayor Daley, the CTA, the RTA and the transit unions that the legislature needs to pass a plan that properly funds mass transit before the end of the year. That’s why we are continuing to work with the Senate President and the two Republican legislative leaders on a comprehensive plan to fund mass transit in the Chicago area and transportation needs across the whole state, with the intention of calling the legislature back into session next week to take action.

Abby Ottenhoff

Director of Communications
Office of Gov. Rod Blagojevich