Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy discusses regional crime issues on Mornings with Ray Hanania this morning. The interview is podcast on iTunes.com and can be heard directly off the web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com. McCarthy, the secret service agent who was injured during the assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan, discusses a wide range of issues including regional crime trends. McCarthy, chairman of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, also notes talks about crime trends, noting that there were 39 homicides this year (in the task force region) compared to 50 in 2006. He said the Task Force has "cleared 75 percent of the homicides" compared to the national average which is 60 percent. He also discusses the coyote problem int he Southwest suburbs.
To find the show, scroll down to 12-30-08 on the virtual iPod on the web site (all shows are listed in Chronological order and can be heard online without leaving the web page). Or, go to www.iTunes.com and download the podcast to your own iPod.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Gaza Strip conflict is a major news story and topic on radio show this week
I have a variety of guests from all sides discussing the war in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Check out the list and podcasts at www.RadioChicagoland.com.
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Southtown Star has a good story on the Orland Park mayoral race today
The SouthtownStar has a good story by Nathaniel Zimmer on the mayoral battle in Orland Park between 16 year incumbent Dan McLaughlin and Gerald Maher, who is making his second attempt (last time was eight years ago) to unseat McLaughlin.
Here's a link.
What I found interesting was Mayor McLaughlin's response to Maher.
I don't think McLaughlin can blow off Maher the way he did before. In the 2001 race, McLaughlin was riding high and Orland Park was on its way up. The next year, very confident, McLaughlin imposed an increase of .75 percent in the local sales tax using home rule powers -- something other communities were doing. But McLaughlin also announced a property tax rebate to compensate residents so they would not be hurt by the sales tax hike which was intended to hit out-of-towners coming in to Orland Park to shop in Orland's then bustling retail community.
Since then, the economy has tanked, Orland Park is hit particularly hardbecause McLaughlin gambled everything on retail expansion and a dependence on the sales tax revenues. And he cut the annual resident property tax rebate down significantly to about 25 percent of what it was in the past (rebating about $4.5 million out of an approved property tax levy of $17 million ... which represents a hike, even though the levy covers a period slightly more than 12 months).
And, Orland Park has seen an array of local fees increased significantly.
The real problem, of course, isn't the conomy. The reality, as everyone in Orland Park knows, is that things are not well. Many of the programs originally offered by the village originally had fees. But in the past year, the village has imposed new fees and attendance has dropped significantly.
The economy has also put a serious damper on the Christmas Season in Orland Park. The reality is there are far fewer homes in Orland Park that have expansive Christmas lighting decorations. We go on the Holiday Trolley every year -- one of the few surviving free services -- and there were so few lit homes to see it was really rather boring and embarassing.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparkewr.com/
Here's a link.
What I found interesting was Mayor McLaughlin's response to Maher.
I don't think McLaughlin can blow off Maher the way he did before. In the 2001 race, McLaughlin was riding high and Orland Park was on its way up. The next year, very confident, McLaughlin imposed an increase of .75 percent in the local sales tax using home rule powers -- something other communities were doing. But McLaughlin also announced a property tax rebate to compensate residents so they would not be hurt by the sales tax hike which was intended to hit out-of-towners coming in to Orland Park to shop in Orland's then bustling retail community.
Since then, the economy has tanked, Orland Park is hit particularly hardbecause McLaughlin gambled everything on retail expansion and a dependence on the sales tax revenues. And he cut the annual resident property tax rebate down significantly to about 25 percent of what it was in the past (rebating about $4.5 million out of an approved property tax levy of $17 million ... which represents a hike, even though the levy covers a period slightly more than 12 months).
And, Orland Park has seen an array of local fees increased significantly.
The real problem, of course, isn't the conomy. The reality, as everyone in Orland Park knows, is that things are not well. Many of the programs originally offered by the village originally had fees. But in the past year, the village has imposed new fees and attendance has dropped significantly.
The economy has also put a serious damper on the Christmas Season in Orland Park. The reality is there are far fewer homes in Orland Park that have expansive Christmas lighting decorations. We go on the Holiday Trolley every year -- one of the few surviving free services -- and there were so few lit homes to see it was really rather boring and embarassing.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparkewr.com/
Friday, December 19, 2008
Governor Blagojevich deserves his day in court, not kangaroo court
Governor Blagojevich deserves his day in court, not kangaroo court
By Ray Hanania
It’s a tough choice between the lonely truth and the popular hypocrisy.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich deserves his day in court. Not in the kangaroo court contrived by the political lynch mob circling around his presumed remains, but in the light of the U.S. Constitution that every American is innocent until proven guilty and not one second, one legislative motion or one political diatribe too soon.
The events of the past 10 days since the governor was arrested and charged by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in an unprecedented guilty-until-proven innocent non-indictment have been stunning. Friday, Blagojevich, flanked by his attorneys, denied any guilt and insisted he is innocent.
Immediately, his critics in the legislature, who have been his critics for several years and who began impeachment proceedings long before Fitzgerald’s seemingly political accusations, ignored Blagojevich’s claim of innocence and stuck by their demands that he step down.
Attorneys for Blagojevich said that if the governor’s actions hurt the people of Illinois, he would step down, and his critics quickly jumped like kangaroos in a holding pen saying that the controversy has made Illinois the corruption laughing stock of the country.
Well, I have news for Blagojevich’s critics. Illinois has already long been the corruption laughing stock of the country. The state’s culture of corruption was here long before Blagojevich was elected governor six years ago.
And when Blagojevich is gone, that culture of corruption will remain, now heightened even more by a stampede of political kangaroos who hope to pounce on Blagojevich for their own political benefit.
First is House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, who has battled Balgoejvich incessantly. Despite some arguments that Blagojevich’s style has been unorthodox, and assertions in some cases illegal, Madigan has been after the governor for several years, acknowledging last week that he initiated the impeachment probe almost a year ago.
Next in line is Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, the do-gooder that no-one in the Democratic establishment liked, until he became their only immediate alternative to Gov. Blagojevich. Despite Blagojevich’s claims that he is innocent, and the lack of “real” evidence of guilt other than the one-sided assertions of a possibly politically motivated US Attorney trying to save his job as a new Democratic president takes office, Quinn again called for Blagojevich to resign.
Resign, Quinn said, so that Quinn could be named as the acting governor, something Quinn knows he would never get in any election contest outside of the current turmoil he is helping to foment.
Then there is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan who is seeking Blagojevich’s job, too. She petitioned the state’s highest court to throw her rival out of office, but thankfully the high court stuck by the laws of America and the United States Constitution that affords its citizens the right to face the evidence, witnesses and accusers, to review the evidence and see the facts that have been waved around by the political lynch mob.
I don’t know if Blagojevich is innocent or guilty. But I do know that his rights are being abused.
If Blagojevich does not step down, or is allowed to stay in office as Fitzgerald is forced to follow the nation’s laws, the political lynch mob has argued they will impeach him on the earlier high crimes. Those “crimes” include that Blagojevich implemented a health program to help needy families in Illinois without the blessing of the lynch mob and the kangaroo court justices.
Legislators blasted Blagojevich claiming that they support helping needy families, too, but the track record shows they’ve done nothing but line their own pockets with power and campaign cash from contractors.
Blagojevich stood by the people. He is trying to stand by the law.
If I have to chose between an unpopular governor who is alone with his demand to be treated like an American citizen and not an Iraqi prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, or to join the lynch mob kangaroo court jesters that more than Blagojevich has sullied the national image of this state with their selfish eagerness to remove someone illegally, I think I would rather stand with Blagojevich.
I would rather that I was wrong while standing rightly by our Constitution which gives Blagojevich rights the kangaroo court and political lynch mob seeks to deny him.
Gov. Blagojevich just may well be guilty of the charges. But there is a proper way to make the determination, and then there is the way of the kangaroo court and the state’s political lynch mob.
And even if it turns out they are right and Blagojevich is guilty, being in that company would have a feeling of shame that in destroying the governor we also destroyed our system of justice.
end
By Ray Hanania
It’s a tough choice between the lonely truth and the popular hypocrisy.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich deserves his day in court. Not in the kangaroo court contrived by the political lynch mob circling around his presumed remains, but in the light of the U.S. Constitution that every American is innocent until proven guilty and not one second, one legislative motion or one political diatribe too soon.
The events of the past 10 days since the governor was arrested and charged by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in an unprecedented guilty-until-proven innocent non-indictment have been stunning. Friday, Blagojevich, flanked by his attorneys, denied any guilt and insisted he is innocent.
Immediately, his critics in the legislature, who have been his critics for several years and who began impeachment proceedings long before Fitzgerald’s seemingly political accusations, ignored Blagojevich’s claim of innocence and stuck by their demands that he step down.
Attorneys for Blagojevich said that if the governor’s actions hurt the people of Illinois, he would step down, and his critics quickly jumped like kangaroos in a holding pen saying that the controversy has made Illinois the corruption laughing stock of the country.
Well, I have news for Blagojevich’s critics. Illinois has already long been the corruption laughing stock of the country. The state’s culture of corruption was here long before Blagojevich was elected governor six years ago.
And when Blagojevich is gone, that culture of corruption will remain, now heightened even more by a stampede of political kangaroos who hope to pounce on Blagojevich for their own political benefit.
First is House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, who has battled Balgoejvich incessantly. Despite some arguments that Blagojevich’s style has been unorthodox, and assertions in some cases illegal, Madigan has been after the governor for several years, acknowledging last week that he initiated the impeachment probe almost a year ago.
Next in line is Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, the do-gooder that no-one in the Democratic establishment liked, until he became their only immediate alternative to Gov. Blagojevich. Despite Blagojevich’s claims that he is innocent, and the lack of “real” evidence of guilt other than the one-sided assertions of a possibly politically motivated US Attorney trying to save his job as a new Democratic president takes office, Quinn again called for Blagojevich to resign.
Resign, Quinn said, so that Quinn could be named as the acting governor, something Quinn knows he would never get in any election contest outside of the current turmoil he is helping to foment.
Then there is Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan who is seeking Blagojevich’s job, too. She petitioned the state’s highest court to throw her rival out of office, but thankfully the high court stuck by the laws of America and the United States Constitution that affords its citizens the right to face the evidence, witnesses and accusers, to review the evidence and see the facts that have been waved around by the political lynch mob.
I don’t know if Blagojevich is innocent or guilty. But I do know that his rights are being abused.
If Blagojevich does not step down, or is allowed to stay in office as Fitzgerald is forced to follow the nation’s laws, the political lynch mob has argued they will impeach him on the earlier high crimes. Those “crimes” include that Blagojevich implemented a health program to help needy families in Illinois without the blessing of the lynch mob and the kangaroo court justices.
Legislators blasted Blagojevich claiming that they support helping needy families, too, but the track record shows they’ve done nothing but line their own pockets with power and campaign cash from contractors.
Blagojevich stood by the people. He is trying to stand by the law.
If I have to chose between an unpopular governor who is alone with his demand to be treated like an American citizen and not an Iraqi prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, or to join the lynch mob kangaroo court jesters that more than Blagojevich has sullied the national image of this state with their selfish eagerness to remove someone illegally, I think I would rather stand with Blagojevich.
I would rather that I was wrong while standing rightly by our Constitution which gives Blagojevich rights the kangaroo court and political lynch mob seeks to deny him.
Gov. Blagojevich just may well be guilty of the charges. But there is a proper way to make the determination, and then there is the way of the kangaroo court and the state’s political lynch mob.
And even if it turns out they are right and Blagojevich is guilty, being in that company would have a feeling of shame that in destroying the governor we also destroyed our system of justice.
end
Middle Eastern businessmen targeted by robbers in Southwest Suburbs
Tinley Park officials are reporting that Middle Eastern businessmen are being targeted by robbers who are following the businessmen as they leave their businesses to their homes int he Southwest suburbs, robbing them at their homes and even in their driveways.
Tinely Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki issued an alert Friday.
"Tinley Park along with several other suburbans have experienced some late night robberies of Middle-Eastern business men. These men have businesses in the city and take the day's receipts home with them. They are followed home and than either in the driveway or the home itself is robbed," Zabrocki said in his statement.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC Chicago) has reached out to Mayor Zabrocki to offer any assistance in helping to get the word out or any support that might assist the police in confronting the suspects and stopping the robberies, according to ADC Chicago President Fadi Zanayed.
-- Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com
Tinely Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki issued an alert Friday.
"Tinley Park along with several other suburbans have experienced some late night robberies of Middle-Eastern business men. These men have businesses in the city and take the day's receipts home with them. They are followed home and than either in the driveway or the home itself is robbed," Zabrocki said in his statement.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC Chicago) has reached out to Mayor Zabrocki to offer any assistance in helping to get the word out or any support that might assist the police in confronting the suspects and stopping the robberies, according to ADC Chicago President Fadi Zanayed.
-- Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com
Thursday, December 18, 2008
I'll take the mayor's word he did not ask for any special treatment
By the time Mayor McLaughlin returned home from work on Tuesday night, after a nearly 5 hour drive and in one of the worst snow storms we'ved had in a while, it was close to 10 pm, he explained in an email. He said he shoveled his driveway, the way everyone did, and he said the street in front of his house looked like it was NOT yet plowed.
He insisted that he does not ask for special treatment, and I believe him.
Still, when I drove by his house (maybe around 7:45 after shoveling my driveway and trudging through my street that wasn't plowed until very late, too), I saw his side of the street WAS plowed. I also drove past the home of the village manager, but his street wasn't plowed, although, like I wrote, a plow DID go by and do an unusual thing, plowing down the intersecting street and then turning left instead of right onto his street -- who knows, maybe they don't know where the village manager lives yet.
But, like I said, it could very well be some overzealous village employee -- I've run into a few, and by the way they are very rude (I'd use another adjective but this is a family-read blog) -- or who knows, a neighbor with a huge street plow.
I had wished I could have checked out the streets in front of the homes of all the trustees, too, because while I focused on McLaughlin, it's the trustees who I really don't "trust." They refuse to be accountable, are always contentious, can't deal with any form of criticism whatsoever, and think that their (here's another spot for a bad adjective) doesn't stink.
Well, it does stink. They're not doing enough to explain things to the public. They're happy with the "happy talk" coverage. (I can see them posing with their index fingers pointing into their cheeks with big cheshire cat grins). Meanwhile, property taxes HAVE gone up. Village fees HAVE gone up. Attendance at village board meetings -- according to the dozens of people who reach out to me -- HAS gone down. (I'm not interested in hanging out there and taking their attitudes, either.) And the accountability on the village HAS gone down, too.
Politicians always think it is personal. It's not. I just want answers. I want explanations. I also want the village board meetings broadcast live on Comcast Cable instead of that junk that is now broadcast (and I'll skip over one of the biggest attitude employees in the village for now) on the village's channel.
I love the Village Web Site. (Although the email address for the village manager doesn't work. But knowing the MIS staff there, they will get on it right away because that's how they have always been, one team the mayor, the trustees and the village CAN count on -- of course, I say something nice about someone, and suddenly their careers take a dive. I criticize some goof who think's she is a "big shot" and she gets a career promotion.)
We're not stupid, just because we village residents don't hang out at the little restaurant parties and the fatcat contributors. Most of us in Orland Park are working families who are worried about how to pay the bills. A few are even struggling with their mortgages. We know what's going on and just because the "unTRUSTees" don't feel an obligation to give us real answers instead of the blah, blah, blah they write in the village newsletter, doesn't mean we, the citizens in Orland Park, don't see what's happening. We see it.
I'll give McLaughlin the benefit of the doubt on this one, but if I were mayor I heard that anyone plowed my street before the rest of the streets, I'd be hopping mad. And I would call in the uncle of the brother of the 19th ward resident whose cousin probably leaned on a pal who probably works in the village or the neighbor with a plow to clean the street, and I would read them the riot act!
Because people do what they THINK the government officials want them to do. If employees think they are supposed to suck up, they will suck up. But if they think the government wants them to do a great job -- and there are MANY employees at the Village who do a GREAT JOB, a few even reach out) -- then everyone who works for the village will do a great job, too.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/
By the way, many residents in Orland Park like this blog, even if Jim Dodge and a few of the other trustees do not -- maybe he wants to get a local reporter from a now crippled dommunity newspaper that is slowly doing a vanishing act to unfairly attack me in print (without even calling me for a comment) the way he did the last time I authored an Orland Park blog ...
He insisted that he does not ask for special treatment, and I believe him.
Still, when I drove by his house (maybe around 7:45 after shoveling my driveway and trudging through my street that wasn't plowed until very late, too), I saw his side of the street WAS plowed. I also drove past the home of the village manager, but his street wasn't plowed, although, like I wrote, a plow DID go by and do an unusual thing, plowing down the intersecting street and then turning left instead of right onto his street -- who knows, maybe they don't know where the village manager lives yet.
But, like I said, it could very well be some overzealous village employee -- I've run into a few, and by the way they are very rude (I'd use another adjective but this is a family-read blog) -- or who knows, a neighbor with a huge street plow.
I had wished I could have checked out the streets in front of the homes of all the trustees, too, because while I focused on McLaughlin, it's the trustees who I really don't "trust." They refuse to be accountable, are always contentious, can't deal with any form of criticism whatsoever, and think that their (here's another spot for a bad adjective) doesn't stink.
Well, it does stink. They're not doing enough to explain things to the public. They're happy with the "happy talk" coverage. (I can see them posing with their index fingers pointing into their cheeks with big cheshire cat grins). Meanwhile, property taxes HAVE gone up. Village fees HAVE gone up. Attendance at village board meetings -- according to the dozens of people who reach out to me -- HAS gone down. (I'm not interested in hanging out there and taking their attitudes, either.) And the accountability on the village HAS gone down, too.
Politicians always think it is personal. It's not. I just want answers. I want explanations. I also want the village board meetings broadcast live on Comcast Cable instead of that junk that is now broadcast (and I'll skip over one of the biggest attitude employees in the village for now) on the village's channel.
I love the Village Web Site. (Although the email address for the village manager doesn't work. But knowing the MIS staff there, they will get on it right away because that's how they have always been, one team the mayor, the trustees and the village CAN count on -- of course, I say something nice about someone, and suddenly their careers take a dive. I criticize some goof who think's she is a "big shot" and she gets a career promotion.)
We're not stupid, just because we village residents don't hang out at the little restaurant parties and the fatcat contributors. Most of us in Orland Park are working families who are worried about how to pay the bills. A few are even struggling with their mortgages. We know what's going on and just because the "unTRUSTees" don't feel an obligation to give us real answers instead of the blah, blah, blah they write in the village newsletter, doesn't mean we, the citizens in Orland Park, don't see what's happening. We see it.
I'll give McLaughlin the benefit of the doubt on this one, but if I were mayor I heard that anyone plowed my street before the rest of the streets, I'd be hopping mad. And I would call in the uncle of the brother of the 19th ward resident whose cousin probably leaned on a pal who probably works in the village or the neighbor with a plow to clean the street, and I would read them the riot act!
Because people do what they THINK the government officials want them to do. If employees think they are supposed to suck up, they will suck up. But if they think the government wants them to do a great job -- and there are MANY employees at the Village who do a GREAT JOB, a few even reach out) -- then everyone who works for the village will do a great job, too.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/
By the way, many residents in Orland Park like this blog, even if Jim Dodge and a few of the other trustees do not -- maybe he wants to get a local reporter from a now crippled dommunity newspaper that is slowly doing a vanishing act to unfairly attack me in print (without even calling me for a comment) the way he did the last time I authored an Orland Park blog ...
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Hey, McLaughlin is the mayor I guess -- when it comes to getting your street plowed in Orland Park
(I'll be talking about this one on my radio show this morning. WJJG 1530 AM Radio, and on the Internet ... click HERE to listen ... 8 - 9:30 am this morning)
I guess when you are the mayor, people tend to do favors for you. Like, when you are an employee of the Public Works Department and you are a) told to plow the mayor's street or b) you do it because, hey, he's "da mayor."
You know where I am going with this, right?
I came home last night around 6:45 pm and saw that my street wasn't plowed. (It was plowed later on that night, one side, across from my side.)
So I figured, I'd go check some of the other streets in town, like the one in front of Village Manager Paul Grimes' house, and also the street in front of the mayor's house. Well, a plow went past Grimes block, but not in front of his house. (Grimes is new, so maybe the drivers don't know where he lives.)
But Mayor McLaughlin has been around for a while, on Oakley Street, and they know where he lives. And so do his neighbors. I drove down 143rd and when I got to Oakley I turned and saw it wasn't plowed. Neither side. I kept driving to 144th street. Same thing. In fact, those two blocks were much like the rest of the village. Very few streets were plowed at all.
And I then I got to 145th Street, the start of the mayor's block. Wow. I couldn't believe it. I looked and saw that his side of the street -- let me repeat that -- his side of the street was plowed clean. The person who plowed the street didn't do the whole street, but started at 146th street and plowed north on the right (east side). You could see the clumps of snow that form when plowed snow splashes on the curb side. The street was smooth, easy to drive on.
(My street when I went to check on McLaughlin's street.)
Whomever plowed continued to the end of the street to 145th, and then crossed but then stopped plowing right at the beginning of the corner of the block.
Now, in fairness to the mayor, his driveway wasn't plowed. And I didn't see the plow truck, although a neighbor who tipped me, did. Big. Red. Village property.
Did the mayor order his street plowed? Or, was it just an enthusiastic employee trying to suck up. It's an election year, after all.
But you would think that a good mayor would want to make sure that before his street is plowed, maybe you might try plowing at least half of the rest of the side streets in Orland Park, which were a real mess.
Keep in mind that 159th and 143rd are plowed by orange Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) trucks, not red Village of Orland Park (VOP) trucks.
"Usually, they plow the whole street, both sides," one neighbor near the mayor said as he snowplowed his own driveway. "Yep. That's the mayor's house. Right there. Two stories. Beautiful, huh?"
Just my thoughts exactly. Beautiful!
(I emailed the mayor asking for his comments. If I get a response, I'll post it, in fairness, after all. Until then, I have to go out and finish cleaning the street in front of my house. Although who knows, after I'm done cleaning the driveway, a plow will come by and pack it back full of snow.)
(McLaughlin's street.)
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
I guess when you are the mayor, people tend to do favors for you. Like, when you are an employee of the Public Works Department and you are a) told to plow the mayor's street or b) you do it because, hey, he's "da mayor."
You know where I am going with this, right?
I came home last night around 6:45 pm and saw that my street wasn't plowed. (It was plowed later on that night, one side, across from my side.)
So I figured, I'd go check some of the other streets in town, like the one in front of Village Manager Paul Grimes' house, and also the street in front of the mayor's house. Well, a plow went past Grimes block, but not in front of his house. (Grimes is new, so maybe the drivers don't know where he lives.)
But Mayor McLaughlin has been around for a while, on Oakley Street, and they know where he lives. And so do his neighbors. I drove down 143rd and when I got to Oakley I turned and saw it wasn't plowed. Neither side. I kept driving to 144th street. Same thing. In fact, those two blocks were much like the rest of the village. Very few streets were plowed at all.
And I then I got to 145th Street, the start of the mayor's block. Wow. I couldn't believe it. I looked and saw that his side of the street -- let me repeat that -- his side of the street was plowed clean. The person who plowed the street didn't do the whole street, but started at 146th street and plowed north on the right (east side). You could see the clumps of snow that form when plowed snow splashes on the curb side. The street was smooth, easy to drive on.
(My street when I went to check on McLaughlin's street.)
Whomever plowed continued to the end of the street to 145th, and then crossed but then stopped plowing right at the beginning of the corner of the block.
Now, in fairness to the mayor, his driveway wasn't plowed. And I didn't see the plow truck, although a neighbor who tipped me, did. Big. Red. Village property.
Did the mayor order his street plowed? Or, was it just an enthusiastic employee trying to suck up. It's an election year, after all.
But you would think that a good mayor would want to make sure that before his street is plowed, maybe you might try plowing at least half of the rest of the side streets in Orland Park, which were a real mess.
Keep in mind that 159th and 143rd are plowed by orange Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) trucks, not red Village of Orland Park (VOP) trucks.
"Usually, they plow the whole street, both sides," one neighbor near the mayor said as he snowplowed his own driveway. "Yep. That's the mayor's house. Right there. Two stories. Beautiful, huh?"
Just my thoughts exactly. Beautiful!
(I emailed the mayor asking for his comments. If I get a response, I'll post it, in fairness, after all. Until then, I have to go out and finish cleaning the street in front of my house. Although who knows, after I'm done cleaning the driveway, a plow will come by and pack it back full of snow.)
(McLaughlin's street.)
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
Statement from Congressman Jesse L. Jackson on Blagojevich scandal
"As a responsible citizen and elected official, Congressman Jackson has in the past provided information to federal authorities regarding his personal knowdedge of perceived corruption and governmental misconduct.This was completely unrelated to the current federal investigation regarding the U.S. Senate appointment. And it is absolutely inaccurate to describe the Congressman as an informant." Kenneth Edmonds, spokesman for Congressman Jackson.
"Throwing" my shoes at President Bush, too
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC, 20500
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC, 20500
Monday, December 15, 2008
Protest President Bush by mailing your shoes to the White House
I just came back from the post office and mailed an old pair of shoes to President Bush at the White House in protest of his policies.
Arab journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Kanye West of the Arab World, has started a trend that I think is great. Let's face it, he didn't go there and blow himself up. That's progress in a region where violencebecomes the protest form of choice.
But al-Zaidi, who was brutalized by guards (one reportedly yelling not to kick him in the face"), is a hero. Instead of violence, he used a cultural form of protest that is popular in the Arab World, and that one many American came to know when American soldiers during the invasion of Iraq, pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in front of one of the dictator's palaces in Baghdad, (trying to make it look like the "people" did it) and then those civilians who were brought there by the military started to express their disdain for Saddam Hussein in the way they knew best, by throwing their shoes at the statue.
How ironic that more than five years later, Iraqis are now throwing their shoes at President Bush?
And I want to help, as a fellow Arab American journalist who believes that violence is NEVER the right choice, NEVER a good choice, and NEVER a strategy for success, the symbolic throwing of my shoes at Bush (courtesy of the US Postal Service) is the most powerful expression of free speech today against the Iraq war possible.
I hope you will join me and others.
Here is the information on the White House, where to mail your packages:
The White House
President Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington DC., 20500
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Arab journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Kanye West of the Arab World, has started a trend that I think is great. Let's face it, he didn't go there and blow himself up. That's progress in a region where violencebecomes the protest form of choice.
But al-Zaidi, who was brutalized by guards (one reportedly yelling not to kick him in the face"), is a hero. Instead of violence, he used a cultural form of protest that is popular in the Arab World, and that one many American came to know when American soldiers during the invasion of Iraq, pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in front of one of the dictator's palaces in Baghdad, (trying to make it look like the "people" did it) and then those civilians who were brought there by the military started to express their disdain for Saddam Hussein in the way they knew best, by throwing their shoes at the statue.
How ironic that more than five years later, Iraqis are now throwing their shoes at President Bush?
And I want to help, as a fellow Arab American journalist who believes that violence is NEVER the right choice, NEVER a good choice, and NEVER a strategy for success, the symbolic throwing of my shoes at Bush (courtesy of the US Postal Service) is the most powerful expression of free speech today against the Iraq war possible.
I hope you will join me and others.
Here is the information on the White House, where to mail your packages:
The White House
President Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington DC., 20500
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Coyotes getting brazen in Orland Park region ...
I was driving down 82nd Avenue near the Silver Lakes Country Club heading south to 151st Street when I looked to the west and saw a pack of coyotes looking startled, I guess. They stood out with somewhat orangish coats although that may have looked that way from the bright snow they were standing on that covered the entire golf course.
Coyotes are everywhere and the Village and the Police Department are doing everything they can to deal with them, but it would help if we didn't feed them or put out food for other wild animals that end up on the Coyote's menus, says Orland Park Police Chief Timothy McCarthy.
Coincidentally, McCarthy said he was planning to address the issue in the next issue of the Orland Park Public when I asked him about the problem and how big of a problem it is.
"We have many reports of coyotes and see them often ourselves. They go where the food is and we are over run with rabbits squirrels etc. We have also had reports of people feeding them and have an article that will appear in the next 'Public' about this issue. There are no reports of coyotes ever biting a human in the state of Illinois other than when people tried to feed them. The coyotes do not know the difference between the food and the hand giving it to them. It’s all food to them," McCarthy wrote back in a email.
"We occasionally attempt to trap them (however they cannot be relocated and must be euthanized) when we get substantiated reports that they have attacked a domestic animal or have come close to humans which are generally unusual. It appears to be caused by the fact that some people are feeding them and they learn this new behavior of going up to humans."
Watch for Chief McCarthy to be on my radio show in the coming weeks to talk about this and other topics. He is one of the most responsive leaders we have in the Southwest suburbs and region.
-- Ray Hanania
www.radiochicagoland.com
Coyotes are everywhere and the Village and the Police Department are doing everything they can to deal with them, but it would help if we didn't feed them or put out food for other wild animals that end up on the Coyote's menus, says Orland Park Police Chief Timothy McCarthy.
Coincidentally, McCarthy said he was planning to address the issue in the next issue of the Orland Park Public when I asked him about the problem and how big of a problem it is.
"We have many reports of coyotes and see them often ourselves. They go where the food is and we are over run with rabbits squirrels etc. We have also had reports of people feeding them and have an article that will appear in the next 'Public' about this issue. There are no reports of coyotes ever biting a human in the state of Illinois other than when people tried to feed them. The coyotes do not know the difference between the food and the hand giving it to them. It’s all food to them," McCarthy wrote back in a email.
"We occasionally attempt to trap them (however they cannot be relocated and must be euthanized) when we get substantiated reports that they have attacked a domestic animal or have come close to humans which are generally unusual. It appears to be caused by the fact that some people are feeding them and they learn this new behavior of going up to humans."
Watch for Chief McCarthy to be on my radio show in the coming weeks to talk about this and other topics. He is one of the most responsive leaders we have in the Southwest suburbs and region.
-- Ray Hanania
www.radiochicagoland.com
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Orland Park has one of the region's best web sites
Although Orland Park may suffer from Elected Official arrogance and lack of accountability, it does have one of the best and most informed web sites in the region.
The web site is: http://www.orland-park.il.us/
The latest service among much of the information available on the site includes a new feature that allows you to sign up for notices from very specific village agencies and interests. I went there, signed up, and immediately got confirmation that I was now subscribed to 25 services -- notified by 25 emails, which might be much.
Yet, the web site offers comprehensive menu of information. It's well designed. Efficient. Full of information.
Of course, the web site can only offer what the village officials want it to offer, and th efact is the village is not vewry good about being honest or forthright about issues and controversies int he village, like the property tax hike that will soon take effect because most residents don't seem to really care about the rising property taxes, and rising village service fees across-the-board.
Still, you can't blame the web site managers or the MIS department for that. They do what they can with what they have and they are doing a great job.
If you need information, visit the web site.
Someday soon, hopefully, the Village Clerk David P. Maher will do a better job of providing public information through the web site. Right now you can get the agendas of meetings online. But, the minutes of meetings seem scant, and run about a month behind the actual meeting. And, in truth, as a journalist for 32 years, I have found that village officials always skewer what they report about controversial public meetings, always making themselves look better than they are.
Hey, maybe instead of the excessively repeated self-promotion ont he village Comcast Channel that we get over and over an dover again, maybe we could have a live broadcast and repeat broadcast uncensored or our village board meetings. So few people attend now, why would they? It might open doors to all kinds of problems if you watched how our Mayor Dan McLaughlin conducts his meetings. It might push citizens to want to get involved, and I don't think that is really what our elected officials want.
(Most of the trustees are so arrogant and unresponsive. They only respond to those who support them and like them, not to those who question their actions. Why should they, right? They are working for themselves, not the best interests of the village or its citizens.)
You can't trust your elected officials to be honest. You have to force them to be honest by vigilant monitoring of what they do. And for most of us who work for a living, also policing our politicall unscrupulous elected officials can be a fulltime and unwanted job.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
The web site is: http://www.orland-park.il.us/
The latest service among much of the information available on the site includes a new feature that allows you to sign up for notices from very specific village agencies and interests. I went there, signed up, and immediately got confirmation that I was now subscribed to 25 services -- notified by 25 emails, which might be much.
Yet, the web site offers comprehensive menu of information. It's well designed. Efficient. Full of information.
Of course, the web site can only offer what the village officials want it to offer, and th efact is the village is not vewry good about being honest or forthright about issues and controversies int he village, like the property tax hike that will soon take effect because most residents don't seem to really care about the rising property taxes, and rising village service fees across-the-board.
Still, you can't blame the web site managers or the MIS department for that. They do what they can with what they have and they are doing a great job.
If you need information, visit the web site.
Someday soon, hopefully, the Village Clerk David P. Maher will do a better job of providing public information through the web site. Right now you can get the agendas of meetings online. But, the minutes of meetings seem scant, and run about a month behind the actual meeting. And, in truth, as a journalist for 32 years, I have found that village officials always skewer what they report about controversial public meetings, always making themselves look better than they are.
Hey, maybe instead of the excessively repeated self-promotion ont he village Comcast Channel that we get over and over an dover again, maybe we could have a live broadcast and repeat broadcast uncensored or our village board meetings. So few people attend now, why would they? It might open doors to all kinds of problems if you watched how our Mayor Dan McLaughlin conducts his meetings. It might push citizens to want to get involved, and I don't think that is really what our elected officials want.
(Most of the trustees are so arrogant and unresponsive. They only respond to those who support them and like them, not to those who question their actions. Why should they, right? They are working for themselves, not the best interests of the village or its citizens.)
You can't trust your elected officials to be honest. You have to force them to be honest by vigilant monitoring of what they do. And for most of us who work for a living, also policing our politicall unscrupulous elected officials can be a fulltime and unwanted job.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
LETTERS: Jane Byrne does deserve credit
I absolutely agree that Jane Byrne deserves credit and recognition for her many accomplishments as Mayor of the city of Chicago.
She was the first to envision Chicago as a “world class” city and her “Taste of Chicago” and the summer neighborhood festivals are an important part of her legacy. She served during a very challenging time for big cities – the late 1970s and early 1980s saw many of the big American cities in decline due to the dire national economy.
I do believe there was at least some element of sexism in the treatment and coverage of Jane Byrne. Imagine if it was Mayor Jane Byrne instead of Mayor Richard Daley who bulldozed Meigs Field.
Byrne was a hard –working mayor and had a lot more charisma than the average Chicago politician of the 1980’s.
Amazingly, almost 30 years after her election, she is still the one and only female mayor to be elected in any of the three largest US cities.
Thanks again for reminding people that Jane Byrne is an important part of Chicago history. She deserves our recognition and appreciation.
Take care -
CH
Chicago
She was the first to envision Chicago as a “world class” city and her “Taste of Chicago” and the summer neighborhood festivals are an important part of her legacy. She served during a very challenging time for big cities – the late 1970s and early 1980s saw many of the big American cities in decline due to the dire national economy.
I do believe there was at least some element of sexism in the treatment and coverage of Jane Byrne. Imagine if it was Mayor Jane Byrne instead of Mayor Richard Daley who bulldozed Meigs Field.
Byrne was a hard –working mayor and had a lot more charisma than the average Chicago politician of the 1980’s.
Amazingly, almost 30 years after her election, she is still the one and only female mayor to be elected in any of the three largest US cities.
Thanks again for reminding people that Jane Byrne is an important part of Chicago history. She deserves our recognition and appreciation.
Take care -
CH
Chicago
Does Blagojevich Campaign Co-Chair Mike Madigan Support Impeachment?
Andy McKenna sent a message to the members of Illinois Republican Party.
--------------------
Subject: Does Blagojevich Campaign Co-Chair Mike Madigan Support Impeachment?
IL GOP Press Release:
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna today called on House Speaker and Blagojevich Campaign Co-Chairman Mike Madigan to come forward and let voters know whether he supports the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich.
“Illinois government is in crisis,” said McKenna. “Speaker Madigan owes it to the people of this state to let them know if he supports the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich”
In the wake of Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on federal corruption charges, numerous state leaders, led by Chairman McKenna, called for the General Assembly to move swiftly with impeachment proceedings against the Governor should he not resign.
However, Madigan indicated he was only prepared to discuss the suggestions from Republican Leader Tom Cross that impeachment proceedings begin.
“I do not understand why Speaker Madigan will not act decisively on this issue,” said McKenna. “Voters are fed up and ready for change and the sooner we get Rod Blagojevich out of office, the sooner we can bring real change to Illinois.”
According to published reports Speaker Madigan issued a memo earlier this year to members of his own caucus that there was already enough evidence to impeach Rod Blagojevich.
--------------------
Subject: Does Blagojevich Campaign Co-Chair Mike Madigan Support Impeachment?
IL GOP Press Release:
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna today called on House Speaker and Blagojevich Campaign Co-Chairman Mike Madigan to come forward and let voters know whether he supports the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich.
“Illinois government is in crisis,” said McKenna. “Speaker Madigan owes it to the people of this state to let them know if he supports the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich”
In the wake of Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on federal corruption charges, numerous state leaders, led by Chairman McKenna, called for the General Assembly to move swiftly with impeachment proceedings against the Governor should he not resign.
However, Madigan indicated he was only prepared to discuss the suggestions from Republican Leader Tom Cross that impeachment proceedings begin.
“I do not understand why Speaker Madigan will not act decisively on this issue,” said McKenna. “Voters are fed up and ready for change and the sooner we get Rod Blagojevich out of office, the sooner we can bring real change to Illinois.”
According to published reports Speaker Madigan issued a memo earlier this year to members of his own caucus that there was already enough evidence to impeach Rod Blagojevich.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Congressman Rush declares Blagojevich "politicall unfit" to appoint Obama Senate seat successor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2008
Congressman Rush Declares Gov. Rod Blagojevich
as Politically Unfit to Appoint Senate Successor
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, on Capitol Hill, Congressman Bobby L. Rush provided the following statement in response to press queries about the shocking arrest, this morning, of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on charges that he tried to benefit, financially, from his constitutional duty to appoint a replacement for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.
“Like the people of the great state of Illinois, I was shocked and angered by the disturbing news, this morning, that Governor Blagojevich had been arrested for what federal prosecutors describe as “a political corruption crime spree.”
“I believe that the acts that are alleged to have been committed by the Governor are so heinous that he has forfeited his right to appoint someone to fill the seat of President-Elect Barack Obama. My bottom line is that the Governor should not be the one to make the appointment to this important office.
“I also do not necessarily believe that holding a special election is the right way to go either for the basic reason that when the President-Elect is sworn into office on January 20th, my colleagues and I in the House will be called upon to vote, almost immediately, on several important pieces of legislation ranging from an economic stimulus package to health care reform. Illinois deserves to have its two Senate votes in place by January 20th and a special election would, at the earliest, occur in the spring of 2009.
“I want my constituents to know that I am in urgent counsel with attorneys in our state to suggest a remedy to this crisis in leadership that addresses the concerns I and others have raised about the importance of keeping African American representation in the United States Senate and, certainly, our important second vote from our state.”
# # #
December 9, 2008
Congressman Rush Declares Gov. Rod Blagojevich
as Politically Unfit to Appoint Senate Successor
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, on Capitol Hill, Congressman Bobby L. Rush provided the following statement in response to press queries about the shocking arrest, this morning, of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on charges that he tried to benefit, financially, from his constitutional duty to appoint a replacement for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.
“Like the people of the great state of Illinois, I was shocked and angered by the disturbing news, this morning, that Governor Blagojevich had been arrested for what federal prosecutors describe as “a political corruption crime spree.”
“I believe that the acts that are alleged to have been committed by the Governor are so heinous that he has forfeited his right to appoint someone to fill the seat of President-Elect Barack Obama. My bottom line is that the Governor should not be the one to make the appointment to this important office.
“I also do not necessarily believe that holding a special election is the right way to go either for the basic reason that when the President-Elect is sworn into office on January 20th, my colleagues and I in the House will be called upon to vote, almost immediately, on several important pieces of legislation ranging from an economic stimulus package to health care reform. Illinois deserves to have its two Senate votes in place by January 20th and a special election would, at the earliest, occur in the spring of 2009.
“I want my constituents to know that I am in urgent counsel with attorneys in our state to suggest a remedy to this crisis in leadership that addresses the concerns I and others have raised about the importance of keeping African American representation in the United States Senate and, certainly, our important second vote from our state.”
# # #
Full text of the Charges and press release on Rod Blagojevich
Click HERE to open the press release issued by US Attorney Patrick Fiztgerald on the corruption charges against Gov. Rod Blagojevich (Bla-Bleep-ovich).
Click HERE to read the actual charges and full "Complaint" filed by the US Attorney's Office.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
Click HERE to read the actual charges and full "Complaint" filed by the US Attorney's Office.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
US Attorney's press release on Gov Blagojevich's corruption charges
Click HERE to open the press release issued by US Attorney Patrick Fiztgerald on the corruption charges against Gov. Rod Blagojevich (Bla-Bleep-ovich).
Click HERE to read the actual charges and full "Complaint" filed by the US Attorney's Office.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
Click HERE to read the actual charges and full "Complaint" filed by the US Attorney's Office.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
Beware of Window's Vista and also Best Buy stores
I have to say I am shocked at how Best Buy takes advantage of consumers. Last month I purchased a new computer from them -- a Windows Vista 64 Bit "entertainment" system from HP, to help my radio and TV broadcasts expand on the Internet.
(The solution to the problem is listed at the bottom of this Blog Entry, if you are searching for answers to the same problem.)
I ALSO purchased the two year warranty plan -- must have been about $200 more.
Last week, the DVD/Blue Ray player on the laptop disappeared completely from my system. Just vanished.
I took the computer back to Best Buy and asked if they could help restore my DVD player ont he alptop I JUST PURCHASED FROM THEM. They said sure, for $139 and five days. But if I wanted a rush, it would be about $150 more and they could have it back maybe in one day.
So much for Best Buy's Warranty!
It took three days of research to discover it required some real technical work on the Windows Registry. I checked the Vista Manual -- it doesn't exist either. The new computers don't come with printed manuals. It's all online. And they are worthless. I tried their suggestions of reverting my system to an earlier date to correct the problem. (Didn't work).
I then downloaded several Free Trial Registry programs, Like Registry FixIt. WORTHLESS. It doesn't work with 64 bit systems, but they don't tell you that until you donwload it. I then downloadedClean My PC Registry software which said I could try it for FREE for 15 days and then decide to purchase it.
I downloaded it and then ran it. It said I had 170 registry problems. And when I went to "fix" it using my 15 day FREE trial, of course, they took me to a web site and forced me to either purchase it or suffer. So, the bottom line is they lied. There is no 15 FREE Trial at all.
I ended up purchasing it for $29.95 believing that maybe that would solve my problem. It did not. It fixed the registry errors, it said existed. But did not fix the problem with the AWOL DVD/Blue Ray system on my HP Windows Vista 64 Bit piece of garbage laptop.
I tried for three days to research the issue online and there were a lot of complaints but no real answers, but I discovered one clue. The issue of the AWOL DVD/Blue Ray player has to do with High and Low Filters on your registry -- which registry fix programs don't address.
Of course not.
I went back to Best Buy and explained what I thought the problem was. They said I was wright. But wanted $139 and five days or an additional $150 to get it done right away.
Yikes!
So I went back home and low and behold this morning, I stumbled on this site ont he Internet. It is from Sequim Personal Computer Repair Service. They walked me through the problem step by step. And low and behold, it solved the problem. It took all of 5 minutes, following their directions carefully.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
(The solution to the problem is listed at the bottom of this Blog Entry, if you are searching for answers to the same problem.)
I ALSO purchased the two year warranty plan -- must have been about $200 more.
Last week, the DVD/Blue Ray player on the laptop disappeared completely from my system. Just vanished.
I took the computer back to Best Buy and asked if they could help restore my DVD player ont he alptop I JUST PURCHASED FROM THEM. They said sure, for $139 and five days. But if I wanted a rush, it would be about $150 more and they could have it back maybe in one day.
So much for Best Buy's Warranty!
It took three days of research to discover it required some real technical work on the Windows Registry. I checked the Vista Manual -- it doesn't exist either. The new computers don't come with printed manuals. It's all online. And they are worthless. I tried their suggestions of reverting my system to an earlier date to correct the problem. (Didn't work).
I then downloaded several Free Trial Registry programs, Like Registry FixIt. WORTHLESS. It doesn't work with 64 bit systems, but they don't tell you that until you donwload it. I then downloadedClean My PC Registry software which said I could try it for FREE for 15 days and then decide to purchase it.
I downloaded it and then ran it. It said I had 170 registry problems. And when I went to "fix" it using my 15 day FREE trial, of course, they took me to a web site and forced me to either purchase it or suffer. So, the bottom line is they lied. There is no 15 FREE Trial at all.
I ended up purchasing it for $29.95 believing that maybe that would solve my problem. It did not. It fixed the registry errors, it said existed. But did not fix the problem with the AWOL DVD/Blue Ray system on my HP Windows Vista 64 Bit piece of garbage laptop.
I tried for three days to research the issue online and there were a lot of complaints but no real answers, but I discovered one clue. The issue of the AWOL DVD/Blue Ray player has to do with High and Low Filters on your registry -- which registry fix programs don't address.
Of course not.
I went back to Best Buy and explained what I thought the problem was. They said I was wright. But wanted $139 and five days or an additional $150 to get it done right away.
Yikes!
So I went back home and low and behold this morning, I stumbled on this site ont he Internet. It is from Sequim Personal Computer Repair Service. They walked me through the problem step by step. And low and behold, it solved the problem. It took all of 5 minutes, following their directions carefully.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Friday, December 5, 2008
Letters: Jane Byrne's coat was Not tattered
Jane Byrne's daughter Kathy sent me a very nice email pointing out that the coat her mother wore when I first saw her in 1978 was "not" tattered. She might be right. It was 30 years ago. She was responding to my column remembering Jane Byrne, 30 years later.
Jane Byrne was a "tough" mayor. Sometimes, too tough. But, she was our mayor. And it is unfortunate that she has not been remembered for some of the good things she has done. Sure, as a reporter often at the end of her conflicts, she came across vindictive and even tough. But, as I've pointed out many times, she was not that unusual as politicians go, except that she showed her feelings in the public while our current Mayor Rich Daley is actually MORE vindictive than she was and more vicious. The difference is he hides his viciousness while Byrne celebrated it in public. Daley does the same things Byrne was criticized for and sometimes gets away with it. Not from all the media, but from the public. Like with Byrne, the media is critical. That's the nature of the beast. A reporter and a columnist can never really be a "friend" of a politician, even though the relations can be cordial or cold.
Byrne did many good things. There was controversy. She is a major part of Chicago's history but she has not been given the recognition she deserves. Navy Pier and Taste of Chicago really would not be what they are today, had it not been for her. And Navy Pier is a major city asset.
Anyway, I hope Mayor Jane Byrne has a great Holiday and Christmas. And I hope that one day the city will recognize her role in shaping this city, controversies and headlines and even columns aside. She should have been treated better than she has been by the Daley administration and accorded a high profile public role in city events.
But then again, little Richie is not his father, a towering figure of decency. Richie Daley is a mean, vindictive hypocrite who cries about all his problems and then quietly abuses his power. So why is he better than Jane Byrne? He's not.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Jane Byrne was a "tough" mayor. Sometimes, too tough. But, she was our mayor. And it is unfortunate that she has not been remembered for some of the good things she has done. Sure, as a reporter often at the end of her conflicts, she came across vindictive and even tough. But, as I've pointed out many times, she was not that unusual as politicians go, except that she showed her feelings in the public while our current Mayor Rich Daley is actually MORE vindictive than she was and more vicious. The difference is he hides his viciousness while Byrne celebrated it in public. Daley does the same things Byrne was criticized for and sometimes gets away with it. Not from all the media, but from the public. Like with Byrne, the media is critical. That's the nature of the beast. A reporter and a columnist can never really be a "friend" of a politician, even though the relations can be cordial or cold.
Byrne did many good things. There was controversy. She is a major part of Chicago's history but she has not been given the recognition she deserves. Navy Pier and Taste of Chicago really would not be what they are today, had it not been for her. And Navy Pier is a major city asset.
Anyway, I hope Mayor Jane Byrne has a great Holiday and Christmas. And I hope that one day the city will recognize her role in shaping this city, controversies and headlines and even columns aside. She should have been treated better than she has been by the Daley administration and accorded a high profile public role in city events.
But then again, little Richie is not his father, a towering figure of decency. Richie Daley is a mean, vindictive hypocrite who cries about all his problems and then quietly abuses his power. So why is he better than Jane Byrne? He's not.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Village of Orland Park plans whopping 17 percent property tax levy hike
The front page of the Orland Park Prairie, my favorite newspaper, reports what can only be called a real Christmas Miracle:
"Retail Vacancies filling up in Orland."
According to the story, while the rest of the nation is seeing retail businesses closing and abandoned space increasing, "that's not completely the case in Orland Park."
Now, I started laughing because I thought, wow that is one of the funniest jokes I have heard in a long time.
Imagine, two businesses plan to expand and an estimated 15 have closed in the past year. In fact, when you drive around Orland Park, all you see are empty storefronts. In practically every mall.
According to Orland Park Village Clerk David P. Maher (father of Patrick Maher who jacked up ambulance fees mainly for senior citizens at the Orland Park Fire Protection District, but not related to Gerald F. Maher who is running for Orland Park Mayor on a reform hold-the-line on taxes platform), property taxes in Orland Park are going to increase -- significantly.
I'll repeat that. They are going to increase, significantly.
Oh, but that's not even the biggest story of the year. The biggest story is that while the members of the Village Board have been spinning yarns about how they "saved" the property tax rebate, it turns out that the rebate is actually far less than they even admitted it would be.
Now, again, I have to rely on Clerk Maher's numbers. Maher states in the apparent paid advertisement in the paper that last year's property tax rebate was $15,303,532, and that this year's property taxes to be levied for 2008 are $17,905,671. (The Ad is framed in a thick black border, much like a funeral notice.)
That is a $2.6 million increase in property taxes, for starters.
But what is really significant? Well, Mayor Dan "Happy talk" McLaughlin announced that because of the village's financial problems, they would be short $4.8 million. To compensate for the shortfall in spending -- which means the village is spending more than it receives in revenues (which are all taxes) -- they would cut back on many things, including reducing the annual Property Tax Rebate.
The local newspapers reported that village officials are sighing relief that the "Property Tax Rebate" is "intact" -- remember that cute little word? Intact!
Wow.
Do the math folks.
They "capped" the rebate at $4.5 million this year. In fact, as I was writing this, I received a automated telephone call from the village reminding me that I had to get my tax rebate forms in by Dec. 13. They even have a hotline (708-403-6116) if I had any questions. And I do.
So, if the property tax rebate is being capped at $4.5 million, and the property taxes actually being levied for 2008 are $17,905,671 ... duuuh! ... that means the "Property Tax Rebate" is far from being "intact."
It means that the village is only rebating exactly 25.1 percent of the village property taxes.
They are KEEPING 74.9 percent of the property tax that they used to rebate every year.
Some village observers estimated that you would get about 60 percent of your property tax rebated. But, as you can see, that's not true. In fact, if two thirds of the homeowners failed to file their rebate forms in time before the village deadline, you stll wouldn't get that much in a rebate.
The $4.5 million "cap" will be divided based upon how many homeowners file for rebates. Let's assume that will be the same as last year? Which means that you WILL get only 25 percent of what you paid.
Nevermind the other OBVIOUS story, that the village is increasing property taxes on residents by a whopping $2,602,139. That represents an increase in your property taxes of 17 percent.
The Village of Orland Park is going to raise our property taxes 17 percent.
The village plans a special meeting on Dec. 15 at 7 pm to discuss all this.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
"Retail Vacancies filling up in Orland."
According to the story, while the rest of the nation is seeing retail businesses closing and abandoned space increasing, "that's not completely the case in Orland Park."
Now, I started laughing because I thought, wow that is one of the funniest jokes I have heard in a long time.
Imagine, two businesses plan to expand and an estimated 15 have closed in the past year. In fact, when you drive around Orland Park, all you see are empty storefronts. In practically every mall.
According to Orland Park Village Clerk David P. Maher (father of Patrick Maher who jacked up ambulance fees mainly for senior citizens at the Orland Park Fire Protection District, but not related to Gerald F. Maher who is running for Orland Park Mayor on a reform hold-the-line on taxes platform), property taxes in Orland Park are going to increase -- significantly.
I'll repeat that. They are going to increase, significantly.
Oh, but that's not even the biggest story of the year. The biggest story is that while the members of the Village Board have been spinning yarns about how they "saved" the property tax rebate, it turns out that the rebate is actually far less than they even admitted it would be.
Now, again, I have to rely on Clerk Maher's numbers. Maher states in the apparent paid advertisement in the paper that last year's property tax rebate was $15,303,532, and that this year's property taxes to be levied for 2008 are $17,905,671. (The Ad is framed in a thick black border, much like a funeral notice.)
That is a $2.6 million increase in property taxes, for starters.
But what is really significant? Well, Mayor Dan "Happy talk" McLaughlin announced that because of the village's financial problems, they would be short $4.8 million. To compensate for the shortfall in spending -- which means the village is spending more than it receives in revenues (which are all taxes) -- they would cut back on many things, including reducing the annual Property Tax Rebate.
The local newspapers reported that village officials are sighing relief that the "Property Tax Rebate" is "intact" -- remember that cute little word? Intact!
Wow.
Do the math folks.
They "capped" the rebate at $4.5 million this year. In fact, as I was writing this, I received a automated telephone call from the village reminding me that I had to get my tax rebate forms in by Dec. 13. They even have a hotline (708-403-6116) if I had any questions. And I do.
So, if the property tax rebate is being capped at $4.5 million, and the property taxes actually being levied for 2008 are $17,905,671 ... duuuh! ... that means the "Property Tax Rebate" is far from being "intact."
It means that the village is only rebating exactly 25.1 percent of the village property taxes.
They are KEEPING 74.9 percent of the property tax that they used to rebate every year.
Some village observers estimated that you would get about 60 percent of your property tax rebated. But, as you can see, that's not true. In fact, if two thirds of the homeowners failed to file their rebate forms in time before the village deadline, you stll wouldn't get that much in a rebate.
The $4.5 million "cap" will be divided based upon how many homeowners file for rebates. Let's assume that will be the same as last year? Which means that you WILL get only 25 percent of what you paid.
Nevermind the other OBVIOUS story, that the village is increasing property taxes on residents by a whopping $2,602,139. That represents an increase in your property taxes of 17 percent.
The Village of Orland Park is going to raise our property taxes 17 percent.
The village plans a special meeting on Dec. 15 at 7 pm to discuss all this.
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Letter to the Editor at Radio Chicagoland: who is remembering the little people in bailout frenzy
Hi Mr. Hanania:
Here is the life of an average American middle class family.
My husband lost his job in February again due to downsizing. He fills out a 100 resumes and gets no response, jobs are not available in this economy. We decided to try and open our own business. After much research we decided to open a Cici’s pizza buffet. Something that would cater to the average middle class, that is family orientated and something that we can own as a family and have a pay check. It would also create jobs in our neighborhood. We have been dealing with this adventure since April.
We were pre qualified in June and started investing our own money into this project, right now we have $50,000 invested.
In June we got dropped on our butts by "Cit Bank" -- in an e-mail, which is worse -- that they will no longer give us a loan.
At this point we go to a broker and request help for a loan. Told again we were pre qualified. We start proceeding with the site that we are going to open this store, we begin lease negotiations and now they want full commitment that we are going to get the loan. We call the broker that said hey no problem on the loan and we are told, expect a small refund from the broker fees because we can’t help you.
Hello, this is a broker if he can’t find me a loan who can? Which leads me to my next point. During all these months that I am struggling I turn on the t.v and hear about all this junk on bail outs.
I sat there saying don’t do it, I’m going to be the one paying for these banks that made their own mistakes, why should we bail them out, what about us. Then I hear how it will benefit the middle class people with loans and the economy.
BULL, I have been rejected from 2 banks, a broker and have made about 20 phone calls to banks that say sorry can’t help you. I have been trying for an SBA loan and have even resorted to conventional.
My house that was worth $450,000 is now only worth $220,000. My profit sharing that I can’t touch with out penalties was $80,000 and is now down to $50,000. I needed only 20% down for a loan, now they want 30% down. So now I have $50,000 invested, can’t get a loan, can’t walk away because I will lose all my invested money, no job, no income and no where to go. My children have sacrificed which is hard for a 12 and 15 year old but figured in the long run it would pay off.
This Thanksgiving while families were getting together, we were home filling out more loan applications only to be denied. So please tell me this? Why did we bail out these big wigs? How did I benefit? Where do I go from here?
There are three other people doing the same adventure that I am, in Illinois and they are having the same problem.
We talk about this economy being bad but then again we won’t help the people that want to create jobs for themselves and for other people. Nobody is willing to help. And you know what’s worse? It’s when someone says talk to your politicians, express your concerns; let them know how you feel.
Again, BS. I have NEVER heard back from a politician when I have voiced my concerns, I’ve only did it a couple times but in my opinion they don’t care. This economy is going down the tubes and everyone is in denial.
Thank You
LM
Burbank
[Ray Hanania comments: LM, I completely sympathize with you. No one cares about the average American, the middle class. They don't care about the small business people, either. It's all about the big companies who have made the big donations and partied at the big suarees with the bigshot politicians and their pals who are being helped. Not us. I am so sorry to hear about all these hassles. Rather than help the banks and bamking industry, they should help business people like you.]
Here is the life of an average American middle class family.
My husband lost his job in February again due to downsizing. He fills out a 100 resumes and gets no response, jobs are not available in this economy. We decided to try and open our own business. After much research we decided to open a Cici’s pizza buffet. Something that would cater to the average middle class, that is family orientated and something that we can own as a family and have a pay check. It would also create jobs in our neighborhood. We have been dealing with this adventure since April.
We were pre qualified in June and started investing our own money into this project, right now we have $50,000 invested.
In June we got dropped on our butts by "Cit Bank" -- in an e-mail, which is worse -- that they will no longer give us a loan.
At this point we go to a broker and request help for a loan. Told again we were pre qualified. We start proceeding with the site that we are going to open this store, we begin lease negotiations and now they want full commitment that we are going to get the loan. We call the broker that said hey no problem on the loan and we are told, expect a small refund from the broker fees because we can’t help you.
Hello, this is a broker if he can’t find me a loan who can? Which leads me to my next point. During all these months that I am struggling I turn on the t.v and hear about all this junk on bail outs.
I sat there saying don’t do it, I’m going to be the one paying for these banks that made their own mistakes, why should we bail them out, what about us. Then I hear how it will benefit the middle class people with loans and the economy.
BULL, I have been rejected from 2 banks, a broker and have made about 20 phone calls to banks that say sorry can’t help you. I have been trying for an SBA loan and have even resorted to conventional.
My house that was worth $450,000 is now only worth $220,000. My profit sharing that I can’t touch with out penalties was $80,000 and is now down to $50,000. I needed only 20% down for a loan, now they want 30% down. So now I have $50,000 invested, can’t get a loan, can’t walk away because I will lose all my invested money, no job, no income and no where to go. My children have sacrificed which is hard for a 12 and 15 year old but figured in the long run it would pay off.
This Thanksgiving while families were getting together, we were home filling out more loan applications only to be denied. So please tell me this? Why did we bail out these big wigs? How did I benefit? Where do I go from here?
There are three other people doing the same adventure that I am, in Illinois and they are having the same problem.
We talk about this economy being bad but then again we won’t help the people that want to create jobs for themselves and for other people. Nobody is willing to help. And you know what’s worse? It’s when someone says talk to your politicians, express your concerns; let them know how you feel.
Again, BS. I have NEVER heard back from a politician when I have voiced my concerns, I’ve only did it a couple times but in my opinion they don’t care. This economy is going down the tubes and everyone is in denial.
Thank You
LM
Burbank
[Ray Hanania comments: LM, I completely sympathize with you. No one cares about the average American, the middle class. They don't care about the small business people, either. It's all about the big companies who have made the big donations and partied at the big suarees with the bigshot politicians and their pals who are being helped. Not us. I am so sorry to hear about all these hassles. Rather than help the banks and bamking industry, they should help business people like you.]
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A letter remembering Dolton Mayor Bill Shaw
I want to thank you for writing that article about Mayor Shaw.
I am teary eyed while writing this.
It is nice to see kind words written about the Mayor; no you won't see a memorial on his life on the popular news broadcasts.
I remember having nowhere to live or to go. I was at odds with my family and was sleeping in my car, looking for a job.
I went to the Village and asked if there was anywhere I could eat and find shelter. I was turned away by police officers and even the trustees.
One day, I wrote a letter. The letter was to mayor Shaw.
In the letter were my grades, a resume, and a letter asking him for a job.
Instead of going to the village I ran up to his door step that was guarded by a police car. Ms. Deborah, took my letter and the next day the Mayor called me personally to test for a job at the village. I passed and worked there for 2 ½ years.
That Job put me and my son back on our feet!
Mayor Shaw was the only Mayor you could walk up to and he would actually take the time to listen. People say what they want. But the Mayor couldn’t do it all by himself. It is up to each individual to make a change.
He saved my life.
L. H.
I am teary eyed while writing this.
It is nice to see kind words written about the Mayor; no you won't see a memorial on his life on the popular news broadcasts.
I remember having nowhere to live or to go. I was at odds with my family and was sleeping in my car, looking for a job.
I went to the Village and asked if there was anywhere I could eat and find shelter. I was turned away by police officers and even the trustees.
One day, I wrote a letter. The letter was to mayor Shaw.
In the letter were my grades, a resume, and a letter asking him for a job.
Instead of going to the village I ran up to his door step that was guarded by a police car. Ms. Deborah, took my letter and the next day the Mayor called me personally to test for a job at the village. I passed and worked there for 2 ½ years.
That Job put me and my son back on our feet!
Mayor Shaw was the only Mayor you could walk up to and he would actually take the time to listen. People say what they want. But the Mayor couldn’t do it all by himself. It is up to each individual to make a change.
He saved my life.
L. H.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Military veteran Gerald F. Maher to challenge Mayor Dan "Happy Talk' McLaughlin in 2009
THE SCOOP: Longtime Orland Park residen
t Gerald F. Maher will soon officially announce his candidacy for mayor of Orland Park, challenging incumbent Mayor Dan "Happy Talk" McLaughlin in the April 7, 2009 municipal elections. Maher will run under the Concerned Citizens of Orland Park independent party.
Maher challenged McLaughlin once before in 2001 and while he did good, McLaughlin was riding high and won. Maher will do better this time.
Immediately after his election, McLaughlin imposed a .75 % home rule sales tax increase and then bought off citizen outrage by promising to rebate homeowner property taxes. That, McLaughlin promised, would off-set the increased sales taxes we would have to pay and put the tax burden on outsiders who shopped in Orland Park.
But the McLaughlin tax Hike is back, and the rebate has been trimmed significantly. Not only will you not get it rebated AS WAS PROMISED by McLaughlin, but if you miss the deadline, you will no longer have a chance to qualify. How much will be rebated? Far less than promised, and even less depending on how many people apply.
WHAT’s IN A NAME?
Don’t confuse Gerald F. Maher with McLaughlin’s cohort, Village Clerk David P. Maher, who has a problem with the fundamentals of the Illinois Open Meetings Act – he can’t seem to understand it. Gerald F. Maher is the brother of Robert J. Maher the Orland Township Supervisor. Remember, Gerald Maher supported his brother while the do-nothing Orland Township Republican Committeeman Elizabeth Doody Gorman backed Tom Mahoney, the Democrat, who lost re-election.
It’s David Maher’s son, Patrick Maher, who is the president of the Orland Park Fire Protection District.
Clearly, Gerald F. Maher is from the right political side of the popular family name.
McLAUGHLIN’s BROKEN PROMISES
McLaughlin also promised a new vision for the village of Orland Park, but over the years the reality has plagued that vision with cataracts, and the village has “seen” a series of backdoor property tax hikes, fee increases, lack of accountability and the Chicago Machine’s stranglehold on local politics. (His chief ally, trustee Brad O’Halloran is a relative of Chicago 19th Ward powerhouse and former alderman and legislator Jeremiah Joyce.)
The rebate plan, despite watered down news reporting, has been cut back to off-set the mayor’s failed leadership. In fact, the property tax rebate reduction isn’t even an honest dirty back-door property tax hike. When you promise voters to off-set a sales tax you impose by rebating their property taxes, and then renege on the rebate, that’s a TAX INCREASE.
Maher, though, plans to change all that. He promises open and accountable government that will speak to the voters and citizens of Orland Park, not to their political backers or to their slacker pals in the news media.
TIME TO BE ACCOUNTABLE
There are many issues that we face in the village:
• The tax rebate fiasco – you are only getting a portion of that tax rebate and you are still saddled with McLaughlin’s .75 % sales tax hike.
• The 143rd Street TIF District fiasco. I thought a TIF district was for blighted property, not property that a poor mayor blights with bad talk and bullying? How much money was wasted on that project that the mayor plans to salvage by shutting down so many family-owned businesses?
• Fees have continued to skyrocket with no accountability from anyone in McLaughlin’s Machine Organization – Orland Park is often referred to as Chicago’s 51st Ward it is so much under the control of the 19th Ward and relatives and friends of Brad O’Halloran.
• The village bought several homes allegedly severely damaged by flooding several years ago, and then lost a fortune by re-selling them far below the purchase price. AND, how much money was spent to refurbish them? (Why didn’t the village save money for the taxpayers by simply giving the beleaguered homeowners interest free loans to fortify and salvage their properties instead of dumping millions into the properties only to lose money?)
• What about open government? The village is using Comcast Cable TV to broadcast their Happy talk propaganda, instead of trying to inform the residents about important issues. They continue to rebroadcast over and over and over again these soppy interviews with the mayor and his allies discussing why they are so great, ignoring issues like back door property tax increases and fee increases. We need live broadcasting of the village board meetings so that the village activities are brought directly to the public, rather than forcing the public to attend the uninformative, political village board meetings.
I am elated that Gerald F. Maher is running. He is a military veteran. (I can’t remember, did Dan McLaughlin serve in the military or does he just surround himself with veterans and exploit their service in Iraq and Afghanistan to make himself look good in village press releases?)
Maher has already launched a web site and I urge you to visit it and read the information there. It is very informative. It is www.CCOP.us.
Here is Maher’s Bio:
(You can read McLaughlin's background in the taxpayer funded newsletters that saturate the village and have more pictures of McLaughlin and his named mentioned than real issues.)
• Orland Park Resident of 29 years
• Husband, father of 4, and grandfather of 4
• Attended Moraine Valley and Northwestern University
• Previous Business Owner:
- International Transportation
- Financial Consultant
• Politically active for more than 40 years incl.:
- Campaigned with President Ronald Reagan
- Campaigned with President Gerald Ford
- Campaigned with Senator Chuck Percy
- Ran successful campaign in 2005 to elect Robert J. Maher as Orland Township Supervisor, defeating the heavily endorsed incumbent
• Veteran - 82nd Airborne
• Member, American Legion
• Previous coach:
- OYA - Varsity Boys Basketball
- Beverly Little League Baseball
Wake up Orland Park. It’s your tax dollars. Why are you allowing some Chicago Machine hack to run this village to the ground, offering excuses, patronage, clout and insider deals to his pals while making you pay the bill? It is your hard earned tax dollars that are at stake in this election.
Maher's slate will also include:
Kenneth Houston for Trustee, Orland Park
Orland Park Resident of more than 20 years; Graduate of Robert Morris College.
Previous Business Manager and UPS Employee for 15 years.
Kenneth Wzorek for Trustee, Orland Park
Orland Park Resident of 18 years
Graduate of Governor's State University BA Public Administration; Business Owner
Husband and father of three, grandfather of three
Active member of St. Michael's Church
Veteran US Army; Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 15014; American Legion Member Orland Post111 ; Member Elk's Lodge No. 2254
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
t Gerald F. Maher will soon officially announce his candidacy for mayor of Orland Park, challenging incumbent Mayor Dan "Happy Talk" McLaughlin in the April 7, 2009 municipal elections. Maher will run under the Concerned Citizens of Orland Park independent party.Maher challenged McLaughlin once before in 2001 and while he did good, McLaughlin was riding high and won. Maher will do better this time.
Immediately after his election, McLaughlin imposed a .75 % home rule sales tax increase and then bought off citizen outrage by promising to rebate homeowner property taxes. That, McLaughlin promised, would off-set the increased sales taxes we would have to pay and put the tax burden on outsiders who shopped in Orland Park.
But the McLaughlin tax Hike is back, and the rebate has been trimmed significantly. Not only will you not get it rebated AS WAS PROMISED by McLaughlin, but if you miss the deadline, you will no longer have a chance to qualify. How much will be rebated? Far less than promised, and even less depending on how many people apply.
WHAT’s IN A NAME?
Don’t confuse Gerald F. Maher with McLaughlin’s cohort, Village Clerk David P. Maher, who has a problem with the fundamentals of the Illinois Open Meetings Act – he can’t seem to understand it. Gerald F. Maher is the brother of Robert J. Maher the Orland Township Supervisor. Remember, Gerald Maher supported his brother while the do-nothing Orland Township Republican Committeeman Elizabeth Doody Gorman backed Tom Mahoney, the Democrat, who lost re-election.
It’s David Maher’s son, Patrick Maher, who is the president of the Orland Park Fire Protection District.
Clearly, Gerald F. Maher is from the right political side of the popular family name.
McLAUGHLIN’s BROKEN PROMISES
McLaughlin also promised a new vision for the village of Orland Park, but over the years the reality has plagued that vision with cataracts, and the village has “seen” a series of backdoor property tax hikes, fee increases, lack of accountability and the Chicago Machine’s stranglehold on local politics. (His chief ally, trustee Brad O’Halloran is a relative of Chicago 19th Ward powerhouse and former alderman and legislator Jeremiah Joyce.)
The rebate plan, despite watered down news reporting, has been cut back to off-set the mayor’s failed leadership. In fact, the property tax rebate reduction isn’t even an honest dirty back-door property tax hike. When you promise voters to off-set a sales tax you impose by rebating their property taxes, and then renege on the rebate, that’s a TAX INCREASE.
Maher, though, plans to change all that. He promises open and accountable government that will speak to the voters and citizens of Orland Park, not to their political backers or to their slacker pals in the news media.
TIME TO BE ACCOUNTABLE
There are many issues that we face in the village:
• The tax rebate fiasco – you are only getting a portion of that tax rebate and you are still saddled with McLaughlin’s .75 % sales tax hike.
• The 143rd Street TIF District fiasco. I thought a TIF district was for blighted property, not property that a poor mayor blights with bad talk and bullying? How much money was wasted on that project that the mayor plans to salvage by shutting down so many family-owned businesses?
• Fees have continued to skyrocket with no accountability from anyone in McLaughlin’s Machine Organization – Orland Park is often referred to as Chicago’s 51st Ward it is so much under the control of the 19th Ward and relatives and friends of Brad O’Halloran.
• The village bought several homes allegedly severely damaged by flooding several years ago, and then lost a fortune by re-selling them far below the purchase price. AND, how much money was spent to refurbish them? (Why didn’t the village save money for the taxpayers by simply giving the beleaguered homeowners interest free loans to fortify and salvage their properties instead of dumping millions into the properties only to lose money?)
• What about open government? The village is using Comcast Cable TV to broadcast their Happy talk propaganda, instead of trying to inform the residents about important issues. They continue to rebroadcast over and over and over again these soppy interviews with the mayor and his allies discussing why they are so great, ignoring issues like back door property tax increases and fee increases. We need live broadcasting of the village board meetings so that the village activities are brought directly to the public, rather than forcing the public to attend the uninformative, political village board meetings.
I am elated that Gerald F. Maher is running. He is a military veteran. (I can’t remember, did Dan McLaughlin serve in the military or does he just surround himself with veterans and exploit their service in Iraq and Afghanistan to make himself look good in village press releases?)
Maher has already launched a web site and I urge you to visit it and read the information there. It is very informative. It is www.CCOP.us.
Here is Maher’s Bio:
(You can read McLaughlin's background in the taxpayer funded newsletters that saturate the village and have more pictures of McLaughlin and his named mentioned than real issues.)
• Orland Park Resident of 29 years
• Husband, father of 4, and grandfather of 4
• Attended Moraine Valley and Northwestern University
• Previous Business Owner:
- International Transportation
- Financial Consultant
• Politically active for more than 40 years incl.:
- Campaigned with President Ronald Reagan
- Campaigned with President Gerald Ford
- Campaigned with Senator Chuck Percy
- Ran successful campaign in 2005 to elect Robert J. Maher as Orland Township Supervisor, defeating the heavily endorsed incumbent
• Veteran - 82nd Airborne
• Member, American Legion
• Previous coach:
- OYA - Varsity Boys Basketball
- Beverly Little League Baseball
Wake up Orland Park. It’s your tax dollars. Why are you allowing some Chicago Machine hack to run this village to the ground, offering excuses, patronage, clout and insider deals to his pals while making you pay the bill? It is your hard earned tax dollars that are at stake in this election.
Maher's slate will also include:
Kenneth Houston for Trustee, Orland Park
Orland Park Resident of more than 20 years; Graduate of Robert Morris College.
Previous Business Manager and UPS Employee for 15 years.
Kenneth Wzorek for Trustee, Orland Park
Orland Park Resident of 18 years
Graduate of Governor's State University BA Public Administration; Business Owner
Husband and father of three, grandfather of three
Active member of St. Michael's Church
Veteran US Army; Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 15014; American Legion Member Orland Post111 ; Member Elk's Lodge No. 2254
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
Didn't know I was "needed" at Orland tree lighting
I usually go every year to the tree lighting ceremony that Orland Park has. It's usually packed with parents and especially with the children.
But this year, I had too many things I had to finish and my wife and son went. They came back with a discouraging report. Like many of the events in Orland Park, fewer and fewer citizens are attending. This was the lowest turnout of any prior year, they said. And, the village offered far less for the kids. There was so much more to do last year and the years before. But this time, it reflects the times.
Now, I think it reflects the deteriorating leadership of the Village Mayor Dan McLaughlin and the village board, which is unaccountable to the public.
Yes, there is a small clique of pals and friends and their family who show up for everything to put on the happy face to give the impression to the local news media that everything is fine. But it's not fine. The majority of Orland Park residents are not engaging in the system and what it has to offer, because the system is set up to benefit the Mayor and his pals and their friends.
Everything has a political ring and purpose to it in Orland Park. From the theater group all the way down to the public events. It's all about getting re-elected. Meanwhile, the village is going to hell in a handbasket and taxes and fees are increasing. The worst part about it is that not one -- NOT ONE -- of our elected officials has the courage to be a leader and admit that things are tough. They want to pretend everything is fine while the real people out here are struggling to make ends meet.
Mayor Dan doesn't have to worry about anything. He has this great cushy union job downtown. None of the village trustees have to worry about anything.
Do you EVER hear anything of SUBSTANCE from the village trustees? Ever? Seriously? Forget about the Happy Talk they mumble about how great things are here and how great they will be. (I cal them the STEPFORD TRUSTEES.) I am a big booster too, but I also know the truth is more important and recognizing and addressing problems is more important than pretending the King is wearing clothes when this village is naked. Everyone knows it.
Turnout to village events has been DOWN but the department heads and their bosses who feed on the public taxpayer trough pretend everything is fine because they get a paycheck that comes out of our taxes. When you even DARE to raise a question about, say, Orland Days, which was far less in quality than it has been in past years, everyone who is involved takes it so personally AS IF IT IS ABOUT THEM. It's NOT about them. It is about US. It is about leadership. If you can't take the criticism then you ARE NOT A GOOD LEADER.
Leaders are people who listen to the public, not their own egos and their pride or are quick to rip open the pay check enevlope to see their reward. Good leaders are those who really care about what people feel in Orland Park and the truth is there are very few really Good Leaders in Orland Park these days. Just a lot of greedy, selfish people more concerned with how they look than with how the village is running.
Our taxes could jump 100 percent and the Mayor Happy Talk and his Happy Talk Village Board would be out there saying the village should be grateful for what it has and that everything is fine.
It's not fine. And the low turnouts at public events is PROOF.
So many village employees email me saying that what I write is true but fear the political vindictiveness of Mayor Happy Talk because when it comes to criticism, he is far from happy and far from accountavle or responsible.
I am glad we had the tree lighting and the wonderful lights that line the streets around the Village Hall. But how about some community accountability and honesty for once, Mayor Happy Talk. How about a real admission that things are tough and that as good leaders, you had to take tough decisions innstead of always worrying about the spin?
I met the mayor when he first started. Years ago. I was a big fan. I understand that friendships between journalists and politicians are doomed. They rarely last. But I had so much hope for this one. Like he was going to be different. Turns out he's no different than the rest of the politicians out there, more concerned about themselves and how they look than the truth.
Then again, maybe that's what unaccountable politicians want? A public that doesn't care and stays home and is afraid to question their poor leadership and their lack of accountability?
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
But this year, I had too many things I had to finish and my wife and son went. They came back with a discouraging report. Like many of the events in Orland Park, fewer and fewer citizens are attending. This was the lowest turnout of any prior year, they said. And, the village offered far less for the kids. There was so much more to do last year and the years before. But this time, it reflects the times.
Now, I think it reflects the deteriorating leadership of the Village Mayor Dan McLaughlin and the village board, which is unaccountable to the public.
Yes, there is a small clique of pals and friends and their family who show up for everything to put on the happy face to give the impression to the local news media that everything is fine. But it's not fine. The majority of Orland Park residents are not engaging in the system and what it has to offer, because the system is set up to benefit the Mayor and his pals and their friends.
Everything has a political ring and purpose to it in Orland Park. From the theater group all the way down to the public events. It's all about getting re-elected. Meanwhile, the village is going to hell in a handbasket and taxes and fees are increasing. The worst part about it is that not one -- NOT ONE -- of our elected officials has the courage to be a leader and admit that things are tough. They want to pretend everything is fine while the real people out here are struggling to make ends meet.
Mayor Dan doesn't have to worry about anything. He has this great cushy union job downtown. None of the village trustees have to worry about anything.
Do you EVER hear anything of SUBSTANCE from the village trustees? Ever? Seriously? Forget about the Happy Talk they mumble about how great things are here and how great they will be. (I cal them the STEPFORD TRUSTEES.) I am a big booster too, but I also know the truth is more important and recognizing and addressing problems is more important than pretending the King is wearing clothes when this village is naked. Everyone knows it.
Turnout to village events has been DOWN but the department heads and their bosses who feed on the public taxpayer trough pretend everything is fine because they get a paycheck that comes out of our taxes. When you even DARE to raise a question about, say, Orland Days, which was far less in quality than it has been in past years, everyone who is involved takes it so personally AS IF IT IS ABOUT THEM. It's NOT about them. It is about US. It is about leadership. If you can't take the criticism then you ARE NOT A GOOD LEADER.
Leaders are people who listen to the public, not their own egos and their pride or are quick to rip open the pay check enevlope to see their reward. Good leaders are those who really care about what people feel in Orland Park and the truth is there are very few really Good Leaders in Orland Park these days. Just a lot of greedy, selfish people more concerned with how they look than with how the village is running.
Our taxes could jump 100 percent and the Mayor Happy Talk and his Happy Talk Village Board would be out there saying the village should be grateful for what it has and that everything is fine.
It's not fine. And the low turnouts at public events is PROOF.
So many village employees email me saying that what I write is true but fear the political vindictiveness of Mayor Happy Talk because when it comes to criticism, he is far from happy and far from accountavle or responsible.
I am glad we had the tree lighting and the wonderful lights that line the streets around the Village Hall. But how about some community accountability and honesty for once, Mayor Happy Talk. How about a real admission that things are tough and that as good leaders, you had to take tough decisions innstead of always worrying about the spin?
I met the mayor when he first started. Years ago. I was a big fan. I understand that friendships between journalists and politicians are doomed. They rarely last. But I had so much hope for this one. Like he was going to be different. Turns out he's no different than the rest of the politicians out there, more concerned about themselves and how they look than the truth.
Then again, maybe that's what unaccountable politicians want? A public that doesn't care and stays home and is afraid to question their poor leadership and their lack of accountability?
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
A tougher holiday season than when I was a child
A tougher Holiday Season
Life was easier when I was younger. It seemed that way. We had the same desire for material things but less of a need, back then. Today, computers and computer related things make up about 30 percent of my life and spending. That's a lot of money being spent. And a lot of headache, too. Do I really need it all? I don't even want to ask myself that question.
Worse, the software programs don't run properly. The gadgets we buy don't work the way they were promised. You have to buy a "warranty" just to make sure they work more than a few weeks.
Society is all about buying.
So, when we start to buy less, suddenly it's the economy that's bad, not our spending habits? Maybe we need to be reminded about the value of a dollar.
I don't know. If I had to pick one calamity of this generation, I'd say it is the credit card. They said credit cards would be great in emergencies. Immediate bank loans, of sorts. But they have become doorways into debt. We buy things we can't afford. No wonder what should be great experiences are now the routine. There is no excitement in buying something special. We just buy things and buying is not special any more. Doesn't matter that we don't have the money. We have a credit card.
Which is one reason why, for the past several years, I've been less and less enthusiastic about the Christmas Holiday season, a religious holiday that has become more of a spending spree. Actually, for years, I would fear the holidays. I knew that after the New Year, I'd be looking at credit card bills that would make me very sick and depressed. And millions of other Americans, too. Spending is an addiction, today, not a moment of unusual excitement or something special.
I have changed my spending habits and I have to say I feel better, even if the money I am saving is not helping the economy. It's helping me. It's not easy eliminating credit cards but I am doing it. I have changed how I spend money.
So this year, my New Year's Resolution won't be about promosing to not spend money. It will go back to the other challenge, promising to go on a diet. Who knows, maybe spending less will also mean eating better, too. Wouldn't that be a great Christmas present for a change?
-- Ray Hanania
(from my weekly radio show newsletter ... you can subscribe for free at
www.RadioChicagoland.com/newsletter.htm)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Media pundits Monroe Anderson and Dan Proft tear into each other over Obama appointments
Dan Proft and Monroe Anderson tore into the issues in discussing the preliminary appointments and possible appointments by president-elect Barack Obama, including the rumor that US Senator Hillary Clinton will become Secretary of State. What impact with former President Bill Clinton have on the decision. The controversies surrounding former Congressman and now Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the son of a former member of the terrorist organization the Irgun, and also the appointment of Eric Holder.
Check the 11-19-08 audio podcast on the Flash iPod player on this blog, or go to www.RadioChicagoland.com for more information. Also, watch a live video and audio broadcast of the radio show live on the internet off the web page, too.
-- Ray Hanania
Check the 11-19-08 audio podcast on the Flash iPod player on this blog, or go to www.RadioChicagoland.com for more information. Also, watch a live video and audio broadcast of the radio show live on the internet off the web page, too.
-- Ray Hanania
Great debate on Obama: Dan Proft and Monroe Anderson podcast now online
Dan Proft and Monroe Anderson tore into the issues in discussing the preliminary appointments and possible appointments by president-elect Barack Obama, including the rumor that US Senator Hillary Clinton will become Secretary of State. What impact with former President Bill Clinton have on the decision. The controversies surrounding former Congressman and now Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the son of a former member of the terrorist organization the Irgun, and also the appointment of Eric Holder.
Check the 11-19-08 audio podcast on the Flash iPod player on this blog, or go to www.RadioChicagoland.com for more information. Also, watch a live video and audio broadcast of the radio show live on the internet off the web page, too.
-- Ray Hanania
Check the 11-19-08 audio podcast on the Flash iPod player on this blog, or go to www.RadioChicagoland.com for more information. Also, watch a live video and audio broadcast of the radio show live on the internet off the web page, too.
-- Ray Hanania
Bail out the auto industry? How about some help for consumers first
Even if they give the auto industry $25 billion in bailout assistance -- where are they coming up with all this money anyway? -- it won't mean the auto industry will not layoff another round of workers. They will. This bailout is to save the greedy CEOs and Executives who are making millions and don't deserve it.
Why is the American auto industry in trouble? Becuase they make bad cars. They knew in 1974, after the Arab Oil Embargo, that Oil was going to be a problem. And still, they refused to make better and cheaper and more gas efficient cars. Instead, they made cars that appealed to the macho-image of some. Gas-guzzlers that cost a fortune and padded the profits of the auto industry CEOs and executives.
Now, because they did a lousy job of running their companies, they want the American taxpayers to bail them out? Are you kidding me? If the CEO of a company -- even the owner -- mismanaged a company so bad that it was on the verge of collapse. THEY WOULD BE FIRED. So, fire them first before you get them one red cent.
Foreign car makers are doing what American car makers were to greedy and arrogant to do. They make better, more reliable cars. And, you can bet the first real energy efficient cars that make real progress in conserving gasoline usage will come not from the US but from the foreign countries. American auto makers are producing "energy efficient" cars that are barely energy efficient and that have been designed for profits not performance. The so-called energy efficient cars cost $5,000 more than the junk the industry is now selling to us.
I say hell with them. Let them clean up their industry first. And, the first auto industry CEO who says that this country will go down the tubes because of the collapse of their company should be prosecuted on federal charges of corruption and mismanagement and taxpayer abuse. FIRE THEM. And then, and only then, should we give them any money.
Listen to the podcast of my rant on this subject Tuesday and to the calls from callers on my radio show this past Tuesday by visiting www.RadioChicagoland.com. But you have not heard the last on this topic!
-- Ray Hanania
Why is the American auto industry in trouble? Becuase they make bad cars. They knew in 1974, after the Arab Oil Embargo, that Oil was going to be a problem. And still, they refused to make better and cheaper and more gas efficient cars. Instead, they made cars that appealed to the macho-image of some. Gas-guzzlers that cost a fortune and padded the profits of the auto industry CEOs and executives.
Now, because they did a lousy job of running their companies, they want the American taxpayers to bail them out? Are you kidding me? If the CEO of a company -- even the owner -- mismanaged a company so bad that it was on the verge of collapse. THEY WOULD BE FIRED. So, fire them first before you get them one red cent.
Foreign car makers are doing what American car makers were to greedy and arrogant to do. They make better, more reliable cars. And, you can bet the first real energy efficient cars that make real progress in conserving gasoline usage will come not from the US but from the foreign countries. American auto makers are producing "energy efficient" cars that are barely energy efficient and that have been designed for profits not performance. The so-called energy efficient cars cost $5,000 more than the junk the industry is now selling to us.
I say hell with them. Let them clean up their industry first. And, the first auto industry CEO who says that this country will go down the tubes because of the collapse of their company should be prosecuted on federal charges of corruption and mismanagement and taxpayer abuse. FIRE THEM. And then, and only then, should we give them any money.
Listen to the podcast of my rant on this subject Tuesday and to the calls from callers on my radio show this past Tuesday by visiting www.RadioChicagoland.com. But you have not heard the last on this topic!
-- Ray Hanania
Monday, November 17, 2008
Property taxes skyrocket -- local fees quietly increase too
After months of backdoor tax increases from the Village of Orland Park, my actual Water Rate did go up this last bill, 19 cents per unit of water I consume every two months, or about $1.61.
But the bulk of the increases reflect backdoor tax increases (fees) quietly approved by the Village of Orland Park while they have been telling the sympathetic local news media that they are not increasing taxes and are rebating our village taxes -- well, not all of it. But according to one paper, that's "good news."
No. It's mnot good news, especially when the other fees in our water bill, for example, increase quietly, too, with noe xplanation from Mayor McLaughlin, or, as I will be calling him from now on, King Dan. Under King Dan's Chicago Machine Manual of Politics, you don't explain anything. You just keep putting out press releases showcasing the positive news, and avoid any accountability or explanation on the bad news. And, when the media does hold his royal feet to the political fire, no wonder he is so arrogant and believes he can do whatever he wants.
Storm water and sewer service also went up. The others, went up already months ago.
On top of it all, it's just a drop int he bucket of how you, the naive sheep-like taxpayers, are being screwed. But that's the way you like, it right. Rough. And without warning or consent. Because in this Chicago Machine town, which is a satellite of the bigger Machine in Chicago and Cook County, raising taxes is just a part of the blame-game.
Have you looked at the letter from Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan this week, announcing a major increase in your property assessed valuation?
Oh yea. While your property values are dropping like federal indictments in a typical Chicago City Council year, your property assessments are skyrocketing. Most homes will increase about 15 percent in assessments, even though the actual value of the homes has dropped by as much as 30 percent and more in some regions.
Nayor Daley, Kig Dan's sponsor, says it is because of Houlihan. Daley -- I have to laugh every time I hear him speak -- says (that's being generous) that Houlihan is responsible because he is the "Assessor."
No, Mayor. The Assessor does not determine the assessments. The assessor basically translates the tax increases divide up based on the number of homes and properties being taxed, and that's how your assessment increases.
But Daley knows the blame game better than most. In reality, the reason for your property tax hike -- which will equal as much as $1,000 to $2,500 for many homes in Orland Park and across Cook County -- is that Mayor Daley has increased his budget and it is the increase in government spending that is driving up taxes. Daley's pal, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, also jacked up his own budget spending, and part of that spending will be covered by the humongous increase in the sales tax -- which combined with the King Dan .75 sales tax increase of 2001 (which King Dan said would be off-set by the village tax rebate, which is being off-set this year by his political arrogance and poor budget management to just over half of what it was promised to be) -- is making your depressed property on the free market look like a worthless piece of junk. But on the Chicago and county and Orland Park tax rolls, it looks like a mansion that has increased significantly in value.
The value of your home goes down. But not Mayor Daley's salary or Todd Stroger's salary. You pay more. And Daly and Stroger know of stupid you really are, so gullible you will believe anything they say and still vote for them in exchange for a new garbage can lid -- the bartering system set up when the Chicago Machine was first built by slaves in the 1950s.
And the taxes on your home go up.
And the lies and twist, and turns, and spin from the elected officials, including King Dan, continue. No accountability at all. They just decide they will break their promise to off-set the Orland Park home rule sales tax increase of .75 percent by rebating our full property tax. They did it just long enough to win your votes. Gain your confidence. And then. WHAM!
They shove it up your tax bill.
Merry Christmas everyone.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
But the bulk of the increases reflect backdoor tax increases (fees) quietly approved by the Village of Orland Park while they have been telling the sympathetic local news media that they are not increasing taxes and are rebating our village taxes -- well, not all of it. But according to one paper, that's "good news."
No. It's mnot good news, especially when the other fees in our water bill, for example, increase quietly, too, with noe xplanation from Mayor McLaughlin, or, as I will be calling him from now on, King Dan. Under King Dan's Chicago Machine Manual of Politics, you don't explain anything. You just keep putting out press releases showcasing the positive news, and avoid any accountability or explanation on the bad news. And, when the media does hold his royal feet to the political fire, no wonder he is so arrogant and believes he can do whatever he wants.
Storm water and sewer service also went up. The others, went up already months ago.
On top of it all, it's just a drop int he bucket of how you, the naive sheep-like taxpayers, are being screwed. But that's the way you like, it right. Rough. And without warning or consent. Because in this Chicago Machine town, which is a satellite of the bigger Machine in Chicago and Cook County, raising taxes is just a part of the blame-game.
Have you looked at the letter from Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan this week, announcing a major increase in your property assessed valuation?
Oh yea. While your property values are dropping like federal indictments in a typical Chicago City Council year, your property assessments are skyrocketing. Most homes will increase about 15 percent in assessments, even though the actual value of the homes has dropped by as much as 30 percent and more in some regions.
Nayor Daley, Kig Dan's sponsor, says it is because of Houlihan. Daley -- I have to laugh every time I hear him speak -- says (that's being generous) that Houlihan is responsible because he is the "Assessor."
No, Mayor. The Assessor does not determine the assessments. The assessor basically translates the tax increases divide up based on the number of homes and properties being taxed, and that's how your assessment increases.
But Daley knows the blame game better than most. In reality, the reason for your property tax hike -- which will equal as much as $1,000 to $2,500 for many homes in Orland Park and across Cook County -- is that Mayor Daley has increased his budget and it is the increase in government spending that is driving up taxes. Daley's pal, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, also jacked up his own budget spending, and part of that spending will be covered by the humongous increase in the sales tax -- which combined with the King Dan .75 sales tax increase of 2001 (which King Dan said would be off-set by the village tax rebate, which is being off-set this year by his political arrogance and poor budget management to just over half of what it was promised to be) -- is making your depressed property on the free market look like a worthless piece of junk. But on the Chicago and county and Orland Park tax rolls, it looks like a mansion that has increased significantly in value.
The value of your home goes down. But not Mayor Daley's salary or Todd Stroger's salary. You pay more. And Daly and Stroger know of stupid you really are, so gullible you will believe anything they say and still vote for them in exchange for a new garbage can lid -- the bartering system set up when the Chicago Machine was first built by slaves in the 1950s.
And the taxes on your home go up.
And the lies and twist, and turns, and spin from the elected officials, including King Dan, continue. No accountability at all. They just decide they will break their promise to off-set the Orland Park home rule sales tax increase of .75 percent by rebating our full property tax. They did it just long enough to win your votes. Gain your confidence. And then. WHAM!
They shove it up your tax bill.
Merry Christmas everyone.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Misleading book on USS Liberty pedaled by critic of Liberty veterans
When Ahron Jay Cristol, a self-described "amateur historian," showed up at the National Security Agency's (NSA) National Cryptologic Museum at Fort George C. Meade, MD., on Jan. 14, 2004, there was something almost sacrilegious about his presence there. ...
Read the historical story?
Read the historical story?
Hate crime declared in racist attack in Orland Park
Despite the local media's "Happy Talk" spin, thinsg are not so happy in Orland Park.
Read this story about the hate crime attack at Wenday's Restaurant on 145th and LaGrange Road.
Read this story about the hate crime attack at Wenday's Restaurant on 145th and LaGrange Road.
Former Frankfort Trustee behind Draft Tom Cross for Governor
Jake Parrillo, who now works for Google, is the designer behind the very popular web blog Draft Tome Cross for Governor at www.ItsTimeforTom.com which is promoting Illinois Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross to run for governor of Illinois against Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Parrillo discusses the draft and the use of the internet in such a very effective way in an election campaign on my radio show on WJJG 1530 AM Radio, which was broadcast live this morning at around 8:45 am. (You can hear the full podcast and other audio files by visiting www.RadioChicagoland.com.
but, it was interesting to catch up with Jake who was one of th estate's youngest elected officials, serving in Frankfort in the early 1990s. He moved when he married a to Elmhurst and now works for Google.
I hope you tune in to the interview.
And, as an aside, Radio Chicagoland is now not only broadcast live on the radio, we also simulcast the radio broadcast on the Internet.
But, beginning today, we started to also video and audio broadcast the radio show on our web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com so you can watch the show and hear it live.
I hope you check out the live video broadcast tomorrow morning. The show is broadcast on radio Monday through Friday from 8 am until 9:30 (until 9 on Fridays).
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
but, it was interesting to catch up with Jake who was one of th estate's youngest elected officials, serving in Frankfort in the early 1990s. He moved when he married a to Elmhurst and now works for Google.
I hope you tune in to the interview.
And, as an aside, Radio Chicagoland is now not only broadcast live on the radio, we also simulcast the radio broadcast on the Internet.
But, beginning today, we started to also video and audio broadcast the radio show on our web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com so you can watch the show and hear it live.
I hope you check out the live video broadcast tomorrow morning. The show is broadcast on radio Monday through Friday from 8 am until 9:30 (until 9 on Fridays).
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
radio interviews, internet and elections,a nd broadcasting radio show in video format
What a busy week. Great guests on the radio, as usual. We had author Caryn Amster discussing her book about the murder of his father "The Pied Piper of South Shore" on Monday, followed by a discussion with Democrat State Sen. Mike Jacobs from the Quad-Cities talking about forming an exploratory committee to look into his possible run for governor in 2010 against incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Tuesday, we spoke with Jay Paul Deratany, who had one of the BEST campaign commercials supporting his bid for the Cook County Board fo tax Review against Machine incumbent Joe Berrios,a nd the one-sided media coverage including on the Comcast Cable TV network where one host who does business with the county hosted Berrios on his show. (Shame!). And, Deratany discusses his new play performing through Dec. 7 at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago that discusses the execution of two 15 year old Iranian boys accused of being Gay/Homosexuals in Iran.
Later, we had a moving discussion with Ron Kukal, the chiefpetty officer of the USS Liberty which was attacked by Israel on June 8, 1967, 40 years ago. Till this day, extremist supporters of Israel have refused to allow Americans to know the truth, that the attack was intentional and that Israel wanted to kill every American soldier on the ship that day in order, it is theorized, to provoke the United States to enter the war in full force -- and with unrestrained vengeance -- and launch a nuclear attack against Egypt, Israel's mortal enemy back then. Kukal had to identify and supervise the recovering of the 34 dead American soldiers killed in several Israeli attack waves even though the ship displayed the American Flag.
The Ron Kukal interview is in honor of Nov. 11, Veteran's Day. Veterans who have challenged Israel's lies on this issue have been denounced, typically, as being anti-Semitic and haters. but the truth is they are American soldiers whow ent into the war to defend Israel and to help Israel, only to be abused, murdered and mistreated by Israel and later by Sen. John McCain's father, Admiral McCain who helped in the coverup of the Israeli intentional assault.
Wednesday, we again lightened up with a fascinating interview with Jason LaBrousse, a tour guide for the Chicago Trolley service downtown, taking Chicago downtown history and trivia.
And, we interviewed American Soldier Daniel J. Turner who is serving in Taji Iraq. That was followed by an eye-opener interview with Cook County Board Commission Mike Quigley who talked about how some county commissioners are abusing the "reimbursement" fund of $1,200 a month they each receive, treating it, possibly illegally, as income.
Today, I interviewed the Rev. Johnny Dodd who hosts a morning gospel program Mon-Thursday before my own morning show.
This was a special day as Mornings with Ray Hanania is now broadcast in live video and audio format on the internet. You can hear and watch the radio show by visiting www.RadioChicagoland.com. You don't have to do anything, just go to the web page and the broadcast starts automatically (when the show is being broadcast on the radio) right on the page.
As you know, we also podcast the audio files and you can use the Flash iPod player on the web site to review and then pick from every interview and play the audio file right from the web page without ever leaving. And, you can check out the list of individual interviews I have hosted since starting back in radio in September 2007.
I also interviewed Ray Long, who is celebrating his 10th year as the Chicago Tribune's Springfield bureau correspondent, talking about the ongoing battle between House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and other issues like Casino gaming and the state's deteriorating economy.
I also have a podcast reminiscing about covering former Chicago Mayor Jane. M. Byrne and talking about my friend the late Harry Golden Junior.
And, we end with an interview with Google's Jake Parrillo, a former trustee from Frankfort, Illinois, who is now living in Elmhurst and running the draft Tom Cross for Governor web blog at www.ItsTimeforTom.com. Cross is the Republican House Minority Leader in the Illinois Senate.
Today's show (Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008) was broadcast live on Internevt video and despite some initial minor complications involving some initial sound loss in the very beginning from our caller Ray Long, the show went off well. (The entire Ray Long interview is podcast on my web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)
Tuesday, we spoke with Jay Paul Deratany, who had one of the BEST campaign commercials supporting his bid for the Cook County Board fo tax Review against Machine incumbent Joe Berrios,a nd the one-sided media coverage including on the Comcast Cable TV network where one host who does business with the county hosted Berrios on his show. (Shame!). And, Deratany discusses his new play performing through Dec. 7 at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago that discusses the execution of two 15 year old Iranian boys accused of being Gay/Homosexuals in Iran.
Later, we had a moving discussion with Ron Kukal, the chiefpetty officer of the USS Liberty which was attacked by Israel on June 8, 1967, 40 years ago. Till this day, extremist supporters of Israel have refused to allow Americans to know the truth, that the attack was intentional and that Israel wanted to kill every American soldier on the ship that day in order, it is theorized, to provoke the United States to enter the war in full force -- and with unrestrained vengeance -- and launch a nuclear attack against Egypt, Israel's mortal enemy back then. Kukal had to identify and supervise the recovering of the 34 dead American soldiers killed in several Israeli attack waves even though the ship displayed the American Flag.
The Ron Kukal interview is in honor of Nov. 11, Veteran's Day. Veterans who have challenged Israel's lies on this issue have been denounced, typically, as being anti-Semitic and haters. but the truth is they are American soldiers whow ent into the war to defend Israel and to help Israel, only to be abused, murdered and mistreated by Israel and later by Sen. John McCain's father, Admiral McCain who helped in the coverup of the Israeli intentional assault.
Wednesday, we again lightened up with a fascinating interview with Jason LaBrousse, a tour guide for the Chicago Trolley service downtown, taking Chicago downtown history and trivia.
And, we interviewed American Soldier Daniel J. Turner who is serving in Taji Iraq. That was followed by an eye-opener interview with Cook County Board Commission Mike Quigley who talked about how some county commissioners are abusing the "reimbursement" fund of $1,200 a month they each receive, treating it, possibly illegally, as income.
Today, I interviewed the Rev. Johnny Dodd who hosts a morning gospel program Mon-Thursday before my own morning show.
This was a special day as Mornings with Ray Hanania is now broadcast in live video and audio format on the internet. You can hear and watch the radio show by visiting www.RadioChicagoland.com. You don't have to do anything, just go to the web page and the broadcast starts automatically (when the show is being broadcast on the radio) right on the page.
As you know, we also podcast the audio files and you can use the Flash iPod player on the web site to review and then pick from every interview and play the audio file right from the web page without ever leaving. And, you can check out the list of individual interviews I have hosted since starting back in radio in September 2007.
I also interviewed Ray Long, who is celebrating his 10th year as the Chicago Tribune's Springfield bureau correspondent, talking about the ongoing battle between House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and other issues like Casino gaming and the state's deteriorating economy.
I also have a podcast reminiscing about covering former Chicago Mayor Jane. M. Byrne and talking about my friend the late Harry Golden Junior.
And, we end with an interview with Google's Jake Parrillo, a former trustee from Frankfort, Illinois, who is now living in Elmhurst and running the draft Tom Cross for Governor web blog at www.ItsTimeforTom.com. Cross is the Republican House Minority Leader in the Illinois Senate.
Today's show (Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008) was broadcast live on Internevt video and despite some initial minor complications involving some initial sound loss in the very beginning from our caller Ray Long, the show went off well. (The entire Ray Long interview is podcast on my web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Lipinski urges passage of Economic Recovery Package
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jason Tai
November 10, 2008
Brian Oszakiewski
REP. Lipinski Calls on Congress and President Bush to pass Economic Recovery Package with infrastructure investments
[Washington, D.C.] Today Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-03), a member of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, released the following statement urging President Bush and Members of Congress to put aside partisan differences and swiftly pass an economic recovery package that creates new job opportunities through investment in critical infrastructure projects:
“America faces very difficult economic times; middle class families are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet with many suffering terrible hardships. More than 1.2 million jobs have been lost over the past year, including 240,000 last month. In Cook County, the unemployment rate has soared above the national average to 6.8 percent and the number of people looking for work in Illinois has approached 500,000.
“At the same time, it is estimated that the United States is in need of a $1.6 trillion investment in the next five years to replace or restore old infrastructure. From aging highways and bridges, to antiquated railroads and water infrastructure, to inadequate mass transit alternatives and airport capacity, the needs are many and the current amount of investment is seriously lacking.
“Investment in transportation and infrastructure boosts our future economic growth, ensures our competitiveness in the world, and improves the quality of life in our communities. It means jobs, time, and money, and it is directly linked to our future. In Illinois – America’s transportation hub – our nation’s infrastructure needs are especially great.
“That is why for the past year I have made the case that an economic recovery package should include investments in public infrastructure and mass transit. Investment in infrastructure is a win-win for all Americans—funding is spent on projects that are desperately needed and good-paying jobs are created that cannot be exported to places like China. In fact, every $1 billion invested in American infrastructure creates and supports 47,500 American jobs.
“In September my calls for an infrastructure spending bill were heeded by the House of Representatives with the passage of H.R. 7110, the Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act of 2008. This legislation would provide $61 billion to help restore the economy, including $30 billion for investment in infrastructure and mass transit. I would have preferred a much larger infrastructure investment – especially in light of the willingness of Congress and the President to provide $700 billion for the financial industry bailout – but this was a good start. Especially important in this bill was the provision that a local match to federal dollars would not be needed, allowing projects to move forward immediately regardless of a state’s budgetary issues or the political climate. I fought hard for this provision because it is critical for the state of Illinois.
--Continued--
“For Illinois, H.R. 7110 would invest an additional $436.8 million for highway infrastructure, $271.6 million to expand accessibility to mass transit, and $290.3 million for sewer and water treatment projects over the next year. Unfortunately, the White House threatened to veto H.R. 7110 and Senate Republicans blocked movement of the bill prior to the September congressional adjournment.
“Next week, Members of Congress will return to Washington to begin administrative and legislative planning for the 111th Congress beginning in January. The economic news has only gotten worse in the past two months since H.R. 7110 was passed by the House, increasing the need for an economic recovery bill. Now that the presidential election is over, we have the critical opportunity to put politics aside and thoughtfully work together to put people back to work and invest in our long-term economic future and well being.
“Congress must come back into legislative session and pass an economic recovery package that includes spending on infrastructure and transit. The infrastructure and transit investment must be at least the $30 billion provided in H.R. 7110, but it should be even more. Once Congress passes this legislation, President Bush must sign it into law.
“Since I was first elected to Congress I have made the needs of middle class Americans my top priority. There is much work that must be done and we have a great opportunity to do it in the next Congress. But we must start putting middle class Americans back to work immediately. We need to pass an infrastructure investment stimulus bill, and we need to do it now. I look forward to working with President Bush and my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to pass an infrastructure spending package this year. We can’t afford to wait.”
###
Brian Freedman
Legislative Correspondent
Office of Congressman Dan Lipinski
1717 Longworth H.O.B
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5701
Fax (202) 225-1012
Please sign up for E-News updates at www.lipinski.house.gov
Contact: Jason Tai
November 10, 2008
Brian Oszakiewski
REP. Lipinski Calls on Congress and President Bush to pass Economic Recovery Package with infrastructure investments
[Washington, D.C.] Today Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-03), a member of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, released the following statement urging President Bush and Members of Congress to put aside partisan differences and swiftly pass an economic recovery package that creates new job opportunities through investment in critical infrastructure projects:
“America faces very difficult economic times; middle class families are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet with many suffering terrible hardships. More than 1.2 million jobs have been lost over the past year, including 240,000 last month. In Cook County, the unemployment rate has soared above the national average to 6.8 percent and the number of people looking for work in Illinois has approached 500,000.
“At the same time, it is estimated that the United States is in need of a $1.6 trillion investment in the next five years to replace or restore old infrastructure. From aging highways and bridges, to antiquated railroads and water infrastructure, to inadequate mass transit alternatives and airport capacity, the needs are many and the current amount of investment is seriously lacking.
“Investment in transportation and infrastructure boosts our future economic growth, ensures our competitiveness in the world, and improves the quality of life in our communities. It means jobs, time, and money, and it is directly linked to our future. In Illinois – America’s transportation hub – our nation’s infrastructure needs are especially great.
“That is why for the past year I have made the case that an economic recovery package should include investments in public infrastructure and mass transit. Investment in infrastructure is a win-win for all Americans—funding is spent on projects that are desperately needed and good-paying jobs are created that cannot be exported to places like China. In fact, every $1 billion invested in American infrastructure creates and supports 47,500 American jobs.
“In September my calls for an infrastructure spending bill were heeded by the House of Representatives with the passage of H.R. 7110, the Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act of 2008. This legislation would provide $61 billion to help restore the economy, including $30 billion for investment in infrastructure and mass transit. I would have preferred a much larger infrastructure investment – especially in light of the willingness of Congress and the President to provide $700 billion for the financial industry bailout – but this was a good start. Especially important in this bill was the provision that a local match to federal dollars would not be needed, allowing projects to move forward immediately regardless of a state’s budgetary issues or the political climate. I fought hard for this provision because it is critical for the state of Illinois.
--Continued--
“For Illinois, H.R. 7110 would invest an additional $436.8 million for highway infrastructure, $271.6 million to expand accessibility to mass transit, and $290.3 million for sewer and water treatment projects over the next year. Unfortunately, the White House threatened to veto H.R. 7110 and Senate Republicans blocked movement of the bill prior to the September congressional adjournment.
“Next week, Members of Congress will return to Washington to begin administrative and legislative planning for the 111th Congress beginning in January. The economic news has only gotten worse in the past two months since H.R. 7110 was passed by the House, increasing the need for an economic recovery bill. Now that the presidential election is over, we have the critical opportunity to put politics aside and thoughtfully work together to put people back to work and invest in our long-term economic future and well being.
“Congress must come back into legislative session and pass an economic recovery package that includes spending on infrastructure and transit. The infrastructure and transit investment must be at least the $30 billion provided in H.R. 7110, but it should be even more. Once Congress passes this legislation, President Bush must sign it into law.
“Since I was first elected to Congress I have made the needs of middle class Americans my top priority. There is much work that must be done and we have a great opportunity to do it in the next Congress. But we must start putting middle class Americans back to work immediately. We need to pass an infrastructure investment stimulus bill, and we need to do it now. I look forward to working with President Bush and my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to pass an infrastructure spending package this year. We can’t afford to wait.”
###
Brian Freedman
Legislative Correspondent
Office of Congressman Dan Lipinski
1717 Longworth H.O.B
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5701
Fax (202) 225-1012
Please sign up for E-News updates at www.lipinski.house.gov
Inundated with letters and thanks ...
I am humbled by how many people now read this blog in Orland Park and by all the email letters I am receiving. Thank you.
I try to reply to every email. I know that Orland Park is run by a vindictive dictator so I am careful when I do post a letter I will not post your name to protect you from Mayor McLaughlin's wrath. The guy is just mean.
But clearly, from the emails from within the and from the employees, there is a LOT of dissastifaction in Camelot.
Residents are upset about the rising fees, and the taxes, and the mayor's broken promise on the tax rebate. You should be. You deserve better.
If Orland Park is going to be the great town all the fluff and PR claims it already is, the mayor will have to do a better job of managing the excess waste in government and trim the fat, starting with his office.
It is amazing how the Mayor is responding directly to this little blog by pushing fluff press releases in the local newspapers that talk about how great he is and how great his programs are and how great everything he does is.
Congratulations Your Greatness!
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/
Also, sign up for my new newsletter for my radio show, columns and blogs. Go to
http://www.TheMediaOasis.com/tv/Newsletter.htm
I try to reply to every email. I know that Orland Park is run by a vindictive dictator so I am careful when I do post a letter I will not post your name to protect you from Mayor McLaughlin's wrath. The guy is just mean.
But clearly, from the emails from within the and from the employees, there is a LOT of dissastifaction in Camelot.
Residents are upset about the rising fees, and the taxes, and the mayor's broken promise on the tax rebate. You should be. You deserve better.
If Orland Park is going to be the great town all the fluff and PR claims it already is, the mayor will have to do a better job of managing the excess waste in government and trim the fat, starting with his office.
It is amazing how the Mayor is responding directly to this little blog by pushing fluff press releases in the local newspapers that talk about how great he is and how great his programs are and how great everything he does is.
Congratulations Your Greatness!
-- Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/
Also, sign up for my new newsletter for my radio show, columns and blogs. Go to
http://www.TheMediaOasis.com/tv/Newsletter.htm
Keeping up with the technology and the letters ...
I get so many emails but I do my best to answer everyone of them. I appreciate your writing and sharing your views. I will try to regularly post the best on the blog to share. Make sure to let me know if you do not want to share a view, although I leave out last names.
My new newsletter went out this week. Better design but complicated and difficult to use -- Constant Contact is not all it is cracked up to be. It's amazing how difficult some software companies make their product. Theya re written by geeks and never use the system in practical ways, so the systems often lack the fundamentals that are most wanted by the public. Theys hould hire normal people to test these systems out and make the changes to make the programs better.
Still, my biggest challenge is proofing the newsletter before it goes out. Some typos get in and I HATE typos ... but, what can you do?
Never let a typo trip you up from a great idea or thought. But I'll do my best to nail and then correct them.
I'm only going to send the newsletter out once each week. I'll update the web site with new guests and changes. State Sen. Mike Jacobs will be joining the show today to talk about possibly running for governor. And Thursday's guest looks like it's going to be Ray Long, the veteran Springfield correspondent now with the Chicago Tribune.
Anyway, I also lightened up a bit this week with interviews of guests from the theater and also some book authors. Not all politics. But politics is important.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
My new newsletter went out this week. Better design but complicated and difficult to use -- Constant Contact is not all it is cracked up to be. It's amazing how difficult some software companies make their product. Theya re written by geeks and never use the system in practical ways, so the systems often lack the fundamentals that are most wanted by the public. Theys hould hire normal people to test these systems out and make the changes to make the programs better.
Still, my biggest challenge is proofing the newsletter before it goes out. Some typos get in and I HATE typos ... but, what can you do?
Never let a typo trip you up from a great idea or thought. But I'll do my best to nail and then correct them.
I'm only going to send the newsletter out once each week. I'll update the web site with new guests and changes. State Sen. Mike Jacobs will be joining the show today to talk about possibly running for governor. And Thursday's guest looks like it's going to be Ray Long, the veteran Springfield correspondent now with the Chicago Tribune.
Anyway, I also lightened up a bit this week with interviews of guests from the theater and also some book authors. Not all politics. But politics is important.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Letters to the Editor: On the huffingtonPost column on Obama MidEast Peace, and on the USS Liberty murders
ON BARACK OBAMA, HIS APPOINTMENT'S AND HOPES FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ray-hanania/obamas-growing-pro-israel_b_141964.html
Dear Mr. Hanania,
I just want to thank you so very much for your article, "Obama's Growing Pro-Israel Cabinet Should Not Worry Allies of Just Peace." I know President Obama and First Lady Obama are surely the smartest people in the White House certainly in decades, probably centuries, and perhaps ever -- and at a time when we need it most. So I trust them. Even so, I really found your logic extremely helpful in showing the wisdom of these choices, which can look so "un-change" or change resistant. It looks as if he's surrounding himself with so many of the old, white, Beltway, male guard (and I'm white). I voted for him and worked for his election here in Minnesota precisely to get a different experience in the White House and leading the country and world. So what you wrote and the fact that you wrote it as a Palestinian is really, really valuable for me -- so very helpful. I will watch for your articles as we go along with this incredible new era.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Denise
Dear Ray
I just read your column on Huffpost and was rather heartened by it. I am British but have been living in the US on & off for nearly 10 years. I was delighted by Obama's victory, but I must admit I was quite disheartened when I discovered on another blog last night that Rahm Emmanuel has very close connections with Israel & pro-Israel groups. Although I follow American politics to some extent I hadn't known anything about him before. I hope you're right, and I think you are, that he is a very different creature from the awful Jewish neocons who to some extent shaped Bush policy (Perle, Frum & the rest). Personally I would like to see the US put more pressure on Israel to remove the settlements & work towards a peace that would be at least reasonably fair & durable even if not entirely just (that's probably not possible).
Your strong faith that Obama's heart is in the right place with respect to the Israel/Palestine problem, is very reassuring. Some of the bloggers commenting on your column were much more cynical. I tend to be a bit sceptical about what Obama can achieve, much as I admire his charisma & intelligence. So, despite the cynics & sceptics, let's hope you are right. Anyway, thanks for a very useful column.
Geoff C
For the record, I'm Jewish, I'm pro-Israel, and I agree with you.From a purely pro-Israel point of view I want a just settlement in the middle east. First because Jewish ethics do not allow any Jew to condone the plight of the Palestinians. And second because there are just so many times Israel can win a war against its neighbors. Unfortunately, you are correct in your fear of Benjamin Netanyahu. He is crazy. Unlike Sharon, he is neither able to see the big picture nor listen to anyone who does not agree with him. If he is elected batten down for further struggle.The most important thing Arabs could do to promote the type of just peace you support would be to say they supported peace -- in Arabic, on the Arab street. Netanyahu loves Hamas and Hezbulla because they give him a raison d'etre. Every time someone in the Arab world (and most Israelis understand that Iran is not Arab) threatens to destroy Israel, Netanyahu wins support. When someone talks about a just peace in Arabic, it wins support for Livni and the Peace Now community which the war in Lebanon has almost destroyed.Keep up the just struggle!By the way.
I do have one picayune quibble about your article. You began by saying, "Like all Arab Americans, I was disturbed when Barack Obama selected U.S. Senator Joseph Biden as his running mate." I agree that many were concerned, but not all. Because I live in Canada I do not know many Arab Americans, but I do know a lot of Arab Canadians, and I doubt they are all that different from there southern counterparts. Just as there are lots of Jews who support Hamas and the PLO, there are Arabs who support Israel, and even Isrrael's right wing. Perhaps both groups are fanatics, but they serve a valuable purpose by reminding others that this dispute is not really just about religion or ethnicity.
Sincerely,
Robert K
Dear Ray,
A cousin of mine, Jeff Baloutine, just forwarded your latest piece on the Obama emerging cabinet. I, too, was worried, at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I came into your line of thinking, one you explain with excellent detail in contrasting what Obama is arming himself with vs. the nuts Bush had in his tree.
I think you are right. You leverage a stubborn root with a shovel whose handle is made from the same wood.
As thanks, I'll send you a link for a long piece, "Obama and the Middle East" I just published in the Antioch Review in Ohio.
http://www18.georgetown.edu/data/people/gmo4/publication-37377.pdf.
Cheers,
Greg O.
ON THE USS LIBERTY ATTACK AND SEN. JOHN MCCAIN"S RESPONSIBILITY"
http://www.arabisto.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogEntryID=1318
Great article about senator McCain and killing of liberty.
WALID M.
Editor: I thank Ray Hanania for a great column on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967. The government wants us to forget parts of our history, in which some of our sons died in the hands of some of our "allies." This has been hidden and covered up for years and years. It is time to know the truth.
Mahmood M
Temperance, Michigan
Dear Hater:
Stop supporting bin laden and hamas. Stop supporting stoning of rape victims, strapping bombs to babies, non education of women and honor killings and people won't have a problem with you.
You have made it clear you support killing all jews by your support of Holocaust deniers and the leader of Iran who is Osama Bin Laden's closest friend, a child molester and leader of the 1979 taking of the american embassy.
you want all jews dead. You have made it perfectly clear.
The difference between you and civilized people is best exampled in what you'd do if your daughter came down in the morning wearing something inappropriate. to you anything short of a head to toe burqa is in appropriate of course.
Civilized people tell her to go up and change her clothes.
you take her upstairs rape her and chop off her head.
If someone like you has a child (by rape of course) you hold that child and say "My greatest hope is someday you'll blow up a schoolbus full of jewish preschoolers"
Civilized people want their children to grow up to be lawyers, doctors or maybe the starting QB for the Chicago Bears.
I do not hate all muslims. I hate terrorists and anyone who supports them by supporting Palestinians and Holocaust denial.
UNSIGNED
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Your article (and underlying point) was excellent. I lived through the
period in question, was aghast at the obvious cover-up, and have many
friends in the Navy who consider the ship and her crew's heroic resistance a
legend. Would that this episode with its heroism and villainy was better
known. Then we might also better discern what real support for the troops
is all about.
Regards,
Frank P
Ray,
Good job on the article the truth will over come the lies I was on C Span after the debate last night until they cut me off say the word USS Liberty and you are gone.
Thanks for keeping the story alive. Phil
Thank you Ray for the article that included the USS Liberty in its
body. As a survivor and the officer in charge of the body recovery
and identification I would love to see an investigation happen. I do
have some interesting information for you from my own senator. I will send in a separate email.
Ron K
Sheridan, Wyoming
Have been listening to your programs on the USS Liberty attack by Israel, particularly those with my friend, Phil Tourney as a guest. Many thanks to you for helping to publicize this massacre by Israel and the cover-up by two countries of the attack.
Just read your outstanding article on the SW News Herald web page:
http://www.swnewsherald.com/news_inside/2008/10/101708cs_rh_liberty.php
I made a tiny URL of the one above and am passing it around to my friends.
http://tinyurl.com/54y542
McCain's activities and support of A. Jay Cristol's book of lies really ought to be brought to the attention of the public... alas, the mainline media apparently is bought and paid for and congress damned sure won't help.
Thanks again,
John G
(ex-crew member of the Liberty, was
transferred just prior to the attack.)
END
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ray-hanania/obamas-growing-pro-israel_b_141964.html
Dear Mr. Hanania,
I just want to thank you so very much for your article, "Obama's Growing Pro-Israel Cabinet Should Not Worry Allies of Just Peace." I know President Obama and First Lady Obama are surely the smartest people in the White House certainly in decades, probably centuries, and perhaps ever -- and at a time when we need it most. So I trust them. Even so, I really found your logic extremely helpful in showing the wisdom of these choices, which can look so "un-change" or change resistant. It looks as if he's surrounding himself with so many of the old, white, Beltway, male guard (and I'm white). I voted for him and worked for his election here in Minnesota precisely to get a different experience in the White House and leading the country and world. So what you wrote and the fact that you wrote it as a Palestinian is really, really valuable for me -- so very helpful. I will watch for your articles as we go along with this incredible new era.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Denise
Dear Ray
I just read your column on Huffpost and was rather heartened by it. I am British but have been living in the US on & off for nearly 10 years. I was delighted by Obama's victory, but I must admit I was quite disheartened when I discovered on another blog last night that Rahm Emmanuel has very close connections with Israel & pro-Israel groups. Although I follow American politics to some extent I hadn't known anything about him before. I hope you're right, and I think you are, that he is a very different creature from the awful Jewish neocons who to some extent shaped Bush policy (Perle, Frum & the rest). Personally I would like to see the US put more pressure on Israel to remove the settlements & work towards a peace that would be at least reasonably fair & durable even if not entirely just (that's probably not possible).
Your strong faith that Obama's heart is in the right place with respect to the Israel/Palestine problem, is very reassuring. Some of the bloggers commenting on your column were much more cynical. I tend to be a bit sceptical about what Obama can achieve, much as I admire his charisma & intelligence. So, despite the cynics & sceptics, let's hope you are right. Anyway, thanks for a very useful column.
Geoff C
For the record, I'm Jewish, I'm pro-Israel, and I agree with you.From a purely pro-Israel point of view I want a just settlement in the middle east. First because Jewish ethics do not allow any Jew to condone the plight of the Palestinians. And second because there are just so many times Israel can win a war against its neighbors. Unfortunately, you are correct in your fear of Benjamin Netanyahu. He is crazy. Unlike Sharon, he is neither able to see the big picture nor listen to anyone who does not agree with him. If he is elected batten down for further struggle.The most important thing Arabs could do to promote the type of just peace you support would be to say they supported peace -- in Arabic, on the Arab street. Netanyahu loves Hamas and Hezbulla because they give him a raison d'etre. Every time someone in the Arab world (and most Israelis understand that Iran is not Arab) threatens to destroy Israel, Netanyahu wins support. When someone talks about a just peace in Arabic, it wins support for Livni and the Peace Now community which the war in Lebanon has almost destroyed.Keep up the just struggle!By the way.
I do have one picayune quibble about your article. You began by saying, "Like all Arab Americans, I was disturbed when Barack Obama selected U.S. Senator Joseph Biden as his running mate." I agree that many were concerned, but not all. Because I live in Canada I do not know many Arab Americans, but I do know a lot of Arab Canadians, and I doubt they are all that different from there southern counterparts. Just as there are lots of Jews who support Hamas and the PLO, there are Arabs who support Israel, and even Isrrael's right wing. Perhaps both groups are fanatics, but they serve a valuable purpose by reminding others that this dispute is not really just about religion or ethnicity.
Sincerely,
Robert K
Dear Ray,
A cousin of mine, Jeff Baloutine, just forwarded your latest piece on the Obama emerging cabinet. I, too, was worried, at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I came into your line of thinking, one you explain with excellent detail in contrasting what Obama is arming himself with vs. the nuts Bush had in his tree.
I think you are right. You leverage a stubborn root with a shovel whose handle is made from the same wood.
As thanks, I'll send you a link for a long piece, "Obama and the Middle East" I just published in the Antioch Review in Ohio.
http://www18.georgetown.edu/data/people/gmo4/publication-37377.pdf.
Cheers,
Greg O.
ON THE USS LIBERTY ATTACK AND SEN. JOHN MCCAIN"S RESPONSIBILITY"
http://www.arabisto.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogEntryID=1318
Great article about senator McCain and killing of liberty.
WALID M.
Editor: I thank Ray Hanania for a great column on the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967. The government wants us to forget parts of our history, in which some of our sons died in the hands of some of our "allies." This has been hidden and covered up for years and years. It is time to know the truth.
Mahmood M
Temperance, Michigan
Dear Hater:
Stop supporting bin laden and hamas. Stop supporting stoning of rape victims, strapping bombs to babies, non education of women and honor killings and people won't have a problem with you.
You have made it clear you support killing all jews by your support of Holocaust deniers and the leader of Iran who is Osama Bin Laden's closest friend, a child molester and leader of the 1979 taking of the american embassy.
you want all jews dead. You have made it perfectly clear.
The difference between you and civilized people is best exampled in what you'd do if your daughter came down in the morning wearing something inappropriate. to you anything short of a head to toe burqa is in appropriate of course.
Civilized people tell her to go up and change her clothes.
you take her upstairs rape her and chop off her head.
If someone like you has a child (by rape of course) you hold that child and say "My greatest hope is someday you'll blow up a schoolbus full of jewish preschoolers"
Civilized people want their children to grow up to be lawyers, doctors or maybe the starting QB for the Chicago Bears.
I do not hate all muslims. I hate terrorists and anyone who supports them by supporting Palestinians and Holocaust denial.
UNSIGNED
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Your article (and underlying point) was excellent. I lived through the
period in question, was aghast at the obvious cover-up, and have many
friends in the Navy who consider the ship and her crew's heroic resistance a
legend. Would that this episode with its heroism and villainy was better
known. Then we might also better discern what real support for the troops
is all about.
Regards,
Frank P
Ray,
Good job on the article the truth will over come the lies I was on C Span after the debate last night until they cut me off say the word USS Liberty and you are gone.
Thanks for keeping the story alive. Phil
Thank you Ray for the article that included the USS Liberty in its
body. As a survivor and the officer in charge of the body recovery
and identification I would love to see an investigation happen. I do
have some interesting information for you from my own senator. I will send in a separate email.
Ron K
Sheridan, Wyoming
Have been listening to your programs on the USS Liberty attack by Israel, particularly those with my friend, Phil Tourney as a guest. Many thanks to you for helping to publicize this massacre by Israel and the cover-up by two countries of the attack.
Just read your outstanding article on the SW News Herald web page:
http://www.swnewsherald.com/news_inside/2008/10/101708cs_rh_liberty.php
I made a tiny URL of the one above and am passing it around to my friends.
http://tinyurl.com/54y542
McCain's activities and support of A. Jay Cristol's book of lies really ought to be brought to the attention of the public... alas, the mainline media apparently is bought and paid for and congress damned sure won't help.
Thanks again,
John G
(ex-crew member of the Liberty, was
transferred just prior to the attack.)
END
Friday, November 7, 2008
Running for local office -- How to do it right
1 -- Hire an attorney. There is a good chance the incumbents are going to challenge your petitions for office and you will end up spending money later when the local office holders challenge you to kick you off the ballot. A lawyer can help you from square one to prevent that.
2 -- You must file a committee if you raise or spend $3,000 on your campaign ...
3 -- You also need to start the process NOW ... don't wait until it's too late or the elected officials start talking about the election. In most cases, the elected officials don't want you to know and hope you miss the filing deadlines so you can't run. Or, they hope you will rush to run at the last minute making a mistake that they can challenge.
Start now, go to our election help web page linked on www.RadioChicagoland.com
Call our election law specialist Dennis Brenna and visit his web site at www.DennisBrennanLaw.com
-- Ray Hanania
www.radiochicagoland.com
www.OrlandParker.com
2 -- You must file a committee if you raise or spend $3,000 on your campaign ...
3 -- You also need to start the process NOW ... don't wait until it's too late or the elected officials start talking about the election. In most cases, the elected officials don't want you to know and hope you miss the filing deadlines so you can't run. Or, they hope you will rush to run at the last minute making a mistake that they can challenge.
Start now, go to our election help web page linked on www.RadioChicagoland.com
Call our election law specialist Dennis Brenna and visit his web site at www.DennisBrennanLaw.com
-- Ray Hanania
www.radiochicagoland.com
www.OrlandParker.com
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Fun watching FOX Network News holding Shiva for McCain and the GOP
Fun watching the FOX Network News anchors trying their best to keep up a strong front as the GOP Titanic starts to sink and crack in half. It may not go all the way down, but it will float like flotsam and jetsam wreckage.
Brit Hume looks particularly pathetic. You could almost feel sorry for him if you were suffering from alzheimers and didn't remember his years of hatemongering and demagoguery.
And it will be fun to hear Sean Hannity explain the election results. Talk about a loser squirming.
Are they stuttering?
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Brit Hume looks particularly pathetic. You could almost feel sorry for him if you were suffering from alzheimers and didn't remember his years of hatemongering and demagoguery.
And it will be fun to hear Sean Hannity explain the election results. Talk about a loser squirming.
Are they stuttering?
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Chicago's free trolley service will come to an end
One of the great things about Chicago was the trolley system. You could get on downtown and ride to Navy Pier, where you could be insulted by employees at Navy Pier's many concession stands. But the paid trolleys will continue and although they are expensive, it was well worth the time and money to ride.
Sunday, I took my son downtown where I did an interview with Canada's CBC TV. Afterwards, we wandered around to Michigan Avenue and decided to grab one of those double decker buses. The one we picked was the Chicago trollye double decker service. The service makes about 13 stops throughout the downtown region using the double decker buses or the single deck trolleys. The cost was $29 for adults and I think $17 for children. (My son is 7.) Still, for $46, I figured, he would enjoy it and enjoy it he did. It was great. The drivers are well-informed about the city's history. I had forgotten much of the trivia about the city, like Michigan Avenue had once been a gravel street lined by posh homes that was designed to be a major shopping center. Michigan Avenue was rebuilt to specifically look like the Champs e lyse in Paris. It ended on the south end at the Chicago River.
Wolf Point, the intersection where the Chicago river divides into two legs of the river, is one of the city's most recognized symbols.
And, why do they bother to dye the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day when the Chicago River is already green?
It was a great trip. We got off at Navy Pier to eat. You can get on and off the trollers and the double decker bus at each stop and hop back on another trolley or doubledecker bus that comes by later. They run about 15 minutes to 20 minutes apart. Every other one is a trolley and a double decker bus. Sunday was warm so we sat ont he upper deck.
Grant Park has a prohibition to prevent any buildings there not because it was intended to preserve the park for the benefit of the public, but because the owner of one of the major stores -- was it Fields? -- didn't want a competitor to open a shop there and got the city to pass the law.
It went on and on, far better than I can do. (Although every May I lead four tours for the City (free as a volunteer) of Arab Chicago, based on my book "Arabs of Chicagoland" -- which is available at all major book stores including Borders and Barnes and Noble. (Ding. Ding. Ding. -- A plug for myself.)
At Navy Pier, though, we went to America's Dog where I bought some Chicago hot dogs -- no one puts ketchup on a Chicago dog, I was reminded during the tour. And Gyros is not a Greek invention but an invention of Greek Americans in Chicago. Created right here by Greek immigrants. (In Arabic, it is called a shawerma sandwich and they were invented in the Middle East and copied by Greek immigrants, renamed and sold in Chicago -- that's the real history but people hate Arabs so much we don't get any credit.) -- (By the way, November is Arab American Heritage Month but you wouldn't know it from the absence of any mention of it in the Chicago media -- further proof that the mainstream media is biased, bigoted and racist. But I digress.)
Anyway, when we went to get the hot dog order, the clerk at the concession hit the Sprite my son ordered an dspilled some of it. He just grabbed the top, slapped it back on and they swore using the F-word. In front of my 7 year old. he didn't care, of course. He was joking around with a female co-worker. I told him to keep the Sprite and I bought my son a drink someplace else. but I doubt I'll ever go back to America's Dog again, considering they have no class.
Really, the f-word in public? Pathetic.
The three hotdogs cost me $18 anyway. So it wasn't worth it.
Next week, I'll have a Chicago trolley guide on my radio show talking about Chicago's great history. No politics. Just trivia.
Despite the bad experience at Navy Pier -- maybe they should move the Children's Museum to Grant Park just to get away from the x-rated language at America's Dog -- I highly recommend the Chicago trolley tour. It's costly but it is well worth the time.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Sunday, I took my son downtown where I did an interview with Canada's CBC TV. Afterwards, we wandered around to Michigan Avenue and decided to grab one of those double decker buses. The one we picked was the Chicago trollye double decker service. The service makes about 13 stops throughout the downtown region using the double decker buses or the single deck trolleys. The cost was $29 for adults and I think $17 for children. (My son is 7.) Still, for $46, I figured, he would enjoy it and enjoy it he did. It was great. The drivers are well-informed about the city's history. I had forgotten much of the trivia about the city, like Michigan Avenue had once been a gravel street lined by posh homes that was designed to be a major shopping center. Michigan Avenue was rebuilt to specifically look like the Champs e lyse in Paris. It ended on the south end at the Chicago River.
Wolf Point, the intersection where the Chicago river divides into two legs of the river, is one of the city's most recognized symbols.
And, why do they bother to dye the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day when the Chicago River is already green?
It was a great trip. We got off at Navy Pier to eat. You can get on and off the trollers and the double decker bus at each stop and hop back on another trolley or doubledecker bus that comes by later. They run about 15 minutes to 20 minutes apart. Every other one is a trolley and a double decker bus. Sunday was warm so we sat ont he upper deck.
Grant Park has a prohibition to prevent any buildings there not because it was intended to preserve the park for the benefit of the public, but because the owner of one of the major stores -- was it Fields? -- didn't want a competitor to open a shop there and got the city to pass the law.
It went on and on, far better than I can do. (Although every May I lead four tours for the City (free as a volunteer) of Arab Chicago, based on my book "Arabs of Chicagoland" -- which is available at all major book stores including Borders and Barnes and Noble. (Ding. Ding. Ding. -- A plug for myself.)
At Navy Pier, though, we went to America's Dog where I bought some Chicago hot dogs -- no one puts ketchup on a Chicago dog, I was reminded during the tour. And Gyros is not a Greek invention but an invention of Greek Americans in Chicago. Created right here by Greek immigrants. (In Arabic, it is called a shawerma sandwich and they were invented in the Middle East and copied by Greek immigrants, renamed and sold in Chicago -- that's the real history but people hate Arabs so much we don't get any credit.) -- (By the way, November is Arab American Heritage Month but you wouldn't know it from the absence of any mention of it in the Chicago media -- further proof that the mainstream media is biased, bigoted and racist. But I digress.)
Anyway, when we went to get the hot dog order, the clerk at the concession hit the Sprite my son ordered an dspilled some of it. He just grabbed the top, slapped it back on and they swore using the F-word. In front of my 7 year old. he didn't care, of course. He was joking around with a female co-worker. I told him to keep the Sprite and I bought my son a drink someplace else. but I doubt I'll ever go back to America's Dog again, considering they have no class.
Really, the f-word in public? Pathetic.
The three hotdogs cost me $18 anyway. So it wasn't worth it.
Next week, I'll have a Chicago trolley guide on my radio show talking about Chicago's great history. No politics. Just trivia.
Despite the bad experience at Navy Pier -- maybe they should move the Children's Museum to Grant Park just to get away from the x-rated language at America's Dog -- I highly recommend the Chicago trolley tour. It's costly but it is well worth the time.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
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