Andy Shaw close, but ...

WLS TV's Andy Shaw reported tonight that David Axelrod was probably playing basketball with Barack Obama tonight waiting for the election results ... close Andy -- weren't you the guy who once said Ed Vrdolyak would never be convicted? You were close. He wasn't convicted. He pled guilty to a kickback scheme today.

Actually, I stopped at Manny's Deli on Roosevelt Road after being turned away from the celebration for Barack Obama at Grant Park. And while chomping on a corned beef sandwich, potato latke and bowl of matzo ball soup, who do you think came up and said hello? David Axelrod. Axelrod, one of the real stars behind the rise of Barack Obama, was sitting with political consultant colleagues awaiting the results coming in. Axelrod and I covered Chicago City Hall together. He worked for the Chicago Tribune, before moving on to launch his very successful political consulting firm.

Congratulations to Axelrod. He deserves the accolades for managing the Obama campaign. There's no question that Obama's very successful efforts are the direct result of Axelrod's guidance.

As for Vrdolyak -- he once vowed during the Cicero battle in 1996 "I'll bury that Hanania" when he was manipulating the greedy Betty Loren-Maltese. When Maltese was accused of corruption, and she refused to answer my questions about the subpoenas, I quit/she fired me ... and she went on to jail, thanks to Vrdolyak's manipulation of the town. Who buried who Ed? Vrdolyak was one of the smartest politicians in Chicagoland history, but also one of the sleaziest. Sources say there were some terrible FBI recordings of him bragging about things that were extremely embarassing to his family. If it's true, it's out of his character to do the right thing! but he did.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Andy Shaw close, but ...

WLS TV's Andy Shaw reported tonight that David Axelrod was probably playing basketball with Barack Obama tonight waiting for the election results ... close Andy -- weren't you the guy who once said Ed Vrdolyak would never be convicted? You were close. He wasn't convicted. He pled guilty to a kickback scheme today.

Actually, I stopped at Manny's Deli on Roosevelt Road after being turned away from the celebration for Barack Obama at Grant Park. And while chomping on a corned beef sandwich, potato latke and bowl of matzo ball soup, who do you think came up and said hello. David Axelrod. Axelrod, one of the real stars behind the rise of Barack Obama, was sitting with political consultant colleagues awaiting the results coming in. Axelrod and I covered Chicago City Hall together. He worked for the Chicago Tribune, before moving on to launch his very successful political consulting firm.

Congratulations to Axelrod. He deserves the accolades for managing the Obama campaign. There's no question that Obama's very successful efforts are the direct result of Axelrod's guidance.

As for Vrdolyak -- he once vowed during the Cicero battle in 1996 "I'll bury that Hanania" when he was manipulating the greedy Betty Loren-Maltese. When Maltese was accused of corruption, and she refused to answer my questions about the subpoenas, I quit/she fired me ... and she went on to jail, thanks to Vrdolyak's manipulation of the town. Who buried who Ed? Vrdolyak was one of the smartest politicians in Chicagoland history, but also one of the sleaziest. Sources say there were some terrible FBI recordings of him bragging about things that were extremely embarassing to his family. If it's true, it's out of his character to do the right thing! But he did.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Suspect wanted in slaying of Rana Ishmail in Bridgeview

You can get information and photographs on the suspect wanted by the Bridgeview police in the murder of the young woman at 87th and Harlem Saturday by visiting:

Arab America's Most Wanted

or

Arab American Media Services

Information on the funeral services for the victim:

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihy Rajeoun

with deep sorrow, I inform you that the beloved daughter of Hajj AbuTariq Ismail, sister of AAAEA member Engr. Tariq Ismail, and niece of Dr. Mahmoud Ismail of the Aqsa School Board & Univ of Chicago, has tragically passed away yesterday in Bridgeview.

May Allah bless her soul and may Allah grant her family patience.

Condolences (Beit A'zaa) will be as follow:

Tonight, Sunday Nov. 2
At the Community Center (Youth Center) 2nd Floor, 7260 W 93rd St., Bridgeview, IL, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Tomorrow, Monday Nov. 3
Hann Funeral Home, 8230 S. Harlem Ave, Bridgeview, IL, morning before Thuhr prayer

Janazah prayer after Thuhr prayer at the Mosque Foundation, 7360 W 93rd St., Bridgeview, IL, then will proceed to burial at LaGrange

At the Aqsa School, lower level, 7361 W. 92nd St., Bridgeview, IL, Monday evening.

Tariq may be reached at tismail2000@yahoo.com

Suspect wanted in slaying of Rana Ismail

You can get information on the suspect wanted by the Bridgeview police in the murder of the young woman at 87th and Harlem Saturday by visiting:

Arab America's Most Wanted

or

Arab American Media Services

Information on the funeral services for the victim:

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihy Rajeoun

with deep sorrow, I inform you that the beloved daughter of Hajj AbuTariq Ismail, sister of AAAEA member Engr. Tariq Ismail, and niece of Dr. Mahmoud Ismail of the Aqsa School Board & Univ of Chicago, has tragically passed away yesterday in Bridgeview.

May Allah bless her soul and may Allah grant her family patience.

Condolences (Beit A'zaa) will be as follow:

Tonight, Sunday Nov. 2
At the Community Center (Youth Center) 2nd Floor, 7260 W 93rd St., Bridgeview, IL, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Tomorrow, Monday Nov. 3
Hann Funeral Home, 8230 S. Harlem Ave, Bridgeview, IL, morning before Thuhr prayer

Janazah prayer after Thuhr prayer at the Mosque Foundation, 7360 W 93rd St., Bridgeview, IL, then will proceed to burial at LaGrange

At the Aqsa School, lower level, 7361 W. 92nd St., Bridgeview, IL, Monday evening.

Tariq may be reached at tismail2000@yahoo.com

Kristen McQueary doing PR for Renee Kosel?

Kristen McQueary, the narrowly-focused hard-hitting writer for the SouthtownStar did a nice hatchet job on Dick Kelly who is running for the 81st house District against incumbent Renee Kosel. (The district is the same one I ran in 16 years ago).

Although I haven't had much contact with Kelly over the years -- and Kosel doesn't talk to "Democrats" -- it seems McQueary's attack against Kelly might be one-sided.

Click here for the link to the story.

Although McQueary picks and chooses who she hammers -- she's no different than most other writers -- she did a nice job of fist-bumping Kosel, the do-nothing Republican incumbent who has held the legislative seat for the past 10 years. (She makes her predecessor Larry Wennlund look like a genius.)

McQueary loves to dish out the criticism, but her colleagues report she has a very thin skin when it comes to any criticism of her. (They call her "Miss Touchy.") Too bad. Of course, maybe she's looking for something beyond as the SS is struggling like all community newspapers these days. A great newspaper squeezed by it's selfish owners -- Wow. Nothing's changed since I was last there in 1985.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Examples of Rightwing fanatics on radio ... this one involves hate-monger Bill Cunningham

On his Cincinnati-based radio show, Bill Cunningham asked a fictional Jewish character voiced by a fellow WLW-AM host: "Did you hear about this [Rashid] Khalidi tape where Obama is toasting a guy who wants to gas and fry Jews? ... This Obama guy loves the PLO. Can't you figure that out?"

Cunningham later added, "Jews for [Sen. John] McCain because Obama wants to gas the Jews, like the PLO wants to gas the Jews, like the Nazis gassed the Jews."

Read more about this on the MediaMatters web site.

Bill Cunningham is a low-life hatemonger, a racist bigot and really should not be on the radio.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Roving lawn care companies slam Orland Park every weekend morning

I don't mind lawn care companies working like everyone else, but at 8 in the morning with three giant lawnmower machines that look like they belong on a farm not a suburban neighborhood, the lawn care companies rip up the lawns and disrupt the community.

Shouldn't they be licensed and regulated?

Who are these companies? They operate with crews of workers and while they care about one person's lawns, they are ALWAYS disrespectful to the other people's lawns who have not hired them.

A few months ago, the lawn care company was digging the ground at a home nearby but instead of parking their dirt-covered machines in front of that house -- they wouldn't want to upset the people paying them -- they parked in front of my house and the houses of two other neighbors tracking clumps of mud all over the sidewalks and the streets.

The guy stands atop this huge yellow tractor zipping through the neighbor's lawns and parts of anyone else's lawns that are in the way and their trimmers do great damage to the lawns and grass edges.

It's careless. And honestly, they're sloppy.

I used to have them do my lawn but they were never careful and stuff would be missing from the backyard all the time so I dumped them.

I mow my own lawn and trim my own trees and not only does it save money but it also looks far better than the machine chopped lawns of a few neighbors.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com