What the Hell is Going on in Chicago

I was just about to post this, then decided that it might be in poor taste to do so while Cracker Boy is in solitary at the Joliet Institution for the Criminally Insane, where the patient-inmates apparently have no access to the World Wide Internets. Or he finally understands how insignificant Chicago is (as if).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/10Illinois.html?hp

The best part is how the guy with all the political power can only get $150k for it in Chicago. Apparently thats like the highest salary there.

Some day, the governor aspires to be a first year associate in New York City.

First-year associates in New York are smart enough not to speak into wiretaps when they know they're at the center of an ongoing Federal corruption investigation. Also to avoid cheesy winesap dyed hair and blowdry, or a really bad toupee.

As someone who hasn't like Obama from day 1, this is awesome!

Only read the first paragraph, but doesn't seem to have anything to do with Obama. Stick to being barefoot and pregnant lady

people holding their breath this doesn't touch obama. rezko comes to the picture and the dark deep chicago political machine continues to fall apart.

On day 1 what exactly did you know about Obama? And how does this relate to him, other than someone else is trying to get something out of filling his empty spot.

Now, as someone who hasn't liked Rufus since the first post I read (in which I learned plenty), this is awesome. So is the DealBreaker piece on how umpteen of the past Illinois governors have been indicted.

UWSmom I bet that you are a Bush fan. That's all that needs to be said. the party that f'ed things up more than could have possibly been imagined has the gall to critize Obama even before he comes to office.

These are the same people who never criticized Bush and approved of everything he did and called the rest of us terrorists for not blindly supporting the moron.

Rufus, Rufus, come out, come out wherever you are!

The complaint specifically states that no one on Obama's team would give the governor anything, and he was pissed off because of it.

So much for that theory.

lol.. and the funny thing is we wouldn't even care or ever even talk about Chicago if it weren't for dufus.

i never liked blago, and i'm glad he got arrested. Having said that, it doesn't affect Chicago.

"Having said that, it doesn't affect Chicago."

Which is half the state.

Corrupting the Chicago Tribune doesn't affect Chicago?

Yup. Most corrupt state in the country. The last two governors are in jail, the current one is on his way.

This has no effect on the quality of life in Chicago. Daley is a great mayor, who has done a much better job than Bloomberg.

Chicago...LOL

May I never ever have to step foot in that place again in my life....

Glad people live happily there though...

> Having said that, it doesn't affect Chicago.

Agreed. It already sucked this much, now we just know about it...

Chicago.... The nation's taint...

"This has no effect on the quality of life in Chicago."

You're right - it's still low.

I like Blago's wife's comment on the Cubs.

Chicago politics are some of the most corrupt in the nation for decades. More evidence today. Rufus, bizarrely chimes in: "[I]t doesn't affect Chicago." Huh?

kylewest, they fixed the internets at Joliet Institution for the Criminally Insane, but they haven't resolved the core problem.

fixed the internets @ Joliet? what with dixie cups and string?

Give Illinois credit, their politicians are corrupt but they pale against Louisiana. Remember the election for governor from the early 90's, the Wizard (David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK) versus the Lizard (Edwin Edwards, a corrupt official who eventually did prison time). Maybe that should be the Illinois state motto, "Thank heaven for Louisiana".

WOW! wenich & petrfitz - - I am happy to stay barefoot, pregnant, and continue to comment on my dislike for the new president elect. I was and will continute to be a HILLARY supporter, but even if I supported Bush, I would not justify myself to you.

Anyone who thinks Obama is a "clean" politican is very naive.

Now, try to play nice please.

To round out another great day for Chitroit:

* Chicago named one of the "TEN WORST U.S. METROPOLITAN AREAS FOR DELINQUINCIES" -- putting it in league with Warren, MI and Oxnard! http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=32122

* Fitch Ratings cut its ratings on Chicago-based shopping mall operator General Growth Properties Inc. debt Tuesday, saying "default of some kind appears imminent."

a nice river runs through it though. right rufus?

UWSmom - you have your head up your ass.

uwsmom, do you think Hillary was clean. Remember her all the money she made trading options in Tyson, an company domiciled in Arkansas (she had inside info), then the billing scandals of the Rose Law Firm (and subsequently, Whitewater). I could go on. Let's get real, the last clean politician was Mr. Smith, and that's only because he was a movie character. This is why I laugh when I see Chris Dodd (oops, I didn;t realize having a house built for me for free was illegal) and Charles Rangel (you mean I have to pay taxes and not occupy four rent controlled apartments for my own use) hold their press conferences about have bad corporate America is.
BTW, I'm not an Obama supporter

It's very bipartisan in Chicago - Repub Gov in jail, now the Dem. This quote from the NYTImes article about sums it up:

"For example, according to the affidavit, Mr. Blagojevich discussed whether he could strip a Chicago children’s hospital of $8 million in state money after a hospital executive declined to make a $50,000 contribution. He also discussed withholding state assistance from the financially struggling Tribune Company, which owns The Chicago Tribune, unless the newspaper dismissed unfriendly editorial writers."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/10Illinois.html?hp

I mean, wow. This is like for a caricature of a bad guy in some disney film. When he laughs, does he go "Muhahahahaha"?

Wow - again, I am baffled by the nastiness that abounds. Since you asked, no, I generally don't think politicians, as a group, are "clean". My initial comment was a mere smirk at what I have perceived as an "untouchable" candidate. I'm not about to begin a real political discussion on streeteasy, particulary since my only true value is to produce offspring and tend to my master (which is challenging w/ one's head up one's ass...yet, I manage).

uwsmom, i like you, pull your head outa yer ass and let's go make babies! don't tell hubby...

"Since you asked, no, I generally don't think politicians, as a group, are "clean". My initial comment was a mere smirk at what I have perceived as an "untouchable" candidate."

Since this so far only seems to show Obama WASN'T involved, your original comments make no sense. Admit it, you just like cheap shots at Obama. Not that this isn't a hobby for many on the right and a camp of bitter Hillary supporters.... Recommendation: at least wait until there is something solid, THEN beat him over the head with it. Much more effective.

UWS mom, you're a moron. What world are you living in. FYI. Hillary is an Obama supporter (clue - she's willing to work for him to help him with his agenda). Obama has carried himself like a gentleman, emotionally mature, and intellectually elite from day one. His transition efforts have been exemplary. Yet, you think he has something to hide. Look at what's going on in this country. Who do you think is responsible. In six months if the dow breaks 5000, housing continues to crater, many people around the country will be deep in the abyss rather than staring down into it. Bush and the ruling GOP were informed in 2004 and 2005 that these interest-only and sub-prime loans were a recipe for disaster. What did they do. People like Thain think that with Merrill about to cut >20,000 jobs that they deserve 10 million dollar bonuses. I'm sure Thain is a card carrying GOP Bush supporter, as well. Frankly, Obama has succeeded because the world wants a change from people like you.

The intensity of my new "hate" group is comical (and a little frightening)

As a self-admitted "bitter Hillary supporter" my comment was intended as nothing more than a cheap shot. I'm confused why people are reading more into it than that.

As a moron, I am grateful to be enlightened by the intellectually superior beings that exist on streeteasy.

UWSMom, my apologies. I get a little too defensive about Obama.

uwsmom...you are very articulate, I'm quite impressed it's very different from my original thoughts of you. I don't care about your political views. My response to you was strictly based on the fact that this article has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with Obama and your comment "As someone who hasn't like Obama from day 1, this is awesome" had no relevance to anything in the origial article that this post was about. "this is awesome" as it relates to Obama makes zero sense. That being said I love your witty retorts they are actually starting to tutn me on, your husband is a lucky man.

I simply enjoy that which could potential rattle Obama's cage a bit. That's it.

How can I miss Bush when he hasn't gone away? Maybe because he had principles. And finally defeated Al Qaeda in Iraq, hey thanks GWB! Don't bother with the no-WMD stuff I'll crush you if you try.

I must have missed something. We've won in Iraq brodie because we supposedly got rid of a group that wasn't there before we went to war there in the first place? Huh? Bush...principles? Like fiscal restraint? Funny how Republican deficit spending outstripped all records in the last 8 years. Crush me? Right. GWB is leaving the Republican party in shambles and America in the worst condition of the last 90 years. Thank goodness for those principles of GWB, huh. Please. Smaller government, fiscal restraint: sound principles this president abandoned and or undermined with a recklessness that has practically brought the US to its knees. Give it a rest. And this is coming from a moderate conservative, btw.

I think brodie was employing irony.

This is interesting reading
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2004/isg-final-report/isg-final-report_vol3_cw-anx-f.htm
Bush famously dared Al Qaeda to engage in Iraq, with the line "Bring 'em on". This is comparable to John Paul Jones's "We have not yet begun to fight". The result is that probably 50,000 would-be "terrorists" (or whatever the PC word for Al Qaeda is) are dead, another 50,000 are in Iraqi jails. That is called winning. The group we destroyed was indeed dispersed throughout the Mideast prior to the war. The "foreign fighters" turned up by the thousands - and were systematically hunted down and killed until the survivors fled. It is ironic that New York, terrorist's favorite US target, supported Obama. It is ironic that supporters of Israel are ungrateful to Bush for eliminating the man who fired SCUD missles at the civilian population of Tel Aviv during the Gulf War. However the deficit is awful. I wonder what it will be by 2012? Oh yes and we did "get rid of a group that wasn't there before we went in", and this "group" of swell guys put videotape on Al Jazeera which showed them cutting the heads off of civilian prisoners, including the reporter Daniel Pearl. The guy who did this (Al-Zarquawi) is not "supposedly" dead, he is actually dead, thanks to our troops. Oh and the guy who hijacked the Achille Lauro was found in Baghdad in 2004, and he is now actually dead also. The smug attitude of Americans and Bush-haters worldwide, the lack of respect for our troops and their accomplishments, is disheartening to say the least.

^ wait til you meet Petrfitz

Candidate 5 = Jesse Jackson, Jr.? Niiiice! Chicago is a bottomless cesspool, so no surprises can be expected, really.

I guess Jesse Jackson, Jr. in Chicago is like Frank Sinatra, Jr. playing the Holiday Inn...

No matter how bad corruption is, Chicago is still a better city than NYC. Blago is a crook, but I give Daley enormous credit for gentrifying Chicago, something Bloomberg has failed to do.

Cracker Boy, putting aside the fact that Daley is more of a crook than Blowdryovitch, you really need to understand that by no measure is Chicago gentrified. It's a den of murder, the most polluted big city in the nation, an economic disaster, losing population, etc. etc. etc., and you've been shown all of that again and again.

Even the few tiny little neighborhoods that would like to focus on have soaring crime rates and little going for them.

Did you visit "Chicagoland" in Epcot Center or something? . . . the only thing that was accurate was the bodyfat percentage of the people you saw.

> No matter how bad corruption is, Chicago is still a better city than NYC.

No matter the corruption...
No matter the poverty...
No matter the horrible weather..
No matter the lack of people who want to live there...
No matter the lack of culture..
No matter the lack of wealth...
No matter the lack of cuisine...
No matter the....

Rufus has given up on everything that matters. So, what exactly does Chicago have left?

Oh yeah, street fairs...

nyc10022, corruption is the only area where Chicago is definitely worse than NYC.

weather? you gotta be kidding me. NYC summers are among the most humid and disgusting in the country. there's a reason why people flee the city as much as possible during the summer. this past summer, Chicago had about 3 or 4 days where the temperature went above 90 degrees. meanwhile, NYC has an INSANE heat wave in early June where the temperature got up to around 100 degrees and humid.

i've already listed MANY world-class Chicago restaurants, so i'm not even going to delve further into that.

regarding wealth, the gold coast is the second richest neighborhood in the United States. Upper east side is richer, because of fifth and park avenues. but this notion that neighborhoods like upper west, soho, chelsea, tribeca, battery park city, brooklyn heights, dumbo, are better than the gold coast, is laughable.

> nyc10022, corruption is the only area where Chicago is definitely worse than NYC.

Wow, you have no problem lying, do you?

crime (statistically proven on this board)
wealth (statistically proven on this board, and you've even noted it above)
culture (never heard any one doubt this)
cuisine (chicago doesn't even crack any best of lists)

but, keep trying, though. You have to hit your 5 lies a day minimum...

Cracker Boy, having long ago gone from dumb to dumber, is trying hard to establish prominence in the 'sad to sadder' category . . . but he's slid deep into saddest category.