Budget Cuts Won't Hurt Safety *

(* -any more than safety has already been hurt via decades of political mismanagement, years of unqualified promotions and a complete breakdown of training.)



This is a laughable report from WBBM Newsradio 780:

  • Mayor Emanuel is promising that cuts to the police budget will not jeopardize public safety.

    Emanuel on Wednesday confirmed that he has asked Police Supt. Garry McCarthy to cut $190 million from the police department budget.

    That may mean that open jobs would be left unfilled. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that not hiring for those positions would save about $93 million, leaving nearly $100 million in required reductions.

Some guy over at the FOP actually launched a zinger at Rahm in Fran Spielman's Sun Times report:

  • But [some guy at] Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police, questioned whether the move would actually save money.

    “How does ‘eliminating vacancies’ save $93 million when zero dollars were being spent on the vacant spots in the first place?” he asked. “That’s some real Enron-style accounting.”

It certainly is some paper shuffling, kind of like Shortshanks' budgets that relied on "projections" for vast amounts of money - "projections" that actually never materialized and never seemed to take into account real-world economics.



The Tribune does a slightly better job and delves into what has been covered here for months now - months that the regular media folks have sat on their hands, reapplied their special Mayoral Ass Kissing Chapstick to their lips and located comfortable new spots on Rahm's ass instead of Daley's:

  • Emanuel frequently says that under his new administration 750 more officers have been put on the street, but that figure is hotly contested by rank-and-file cops.



    They note that 500 officers from specialized units who already worked the streets, albeit under centralized commands, were shifted to regular patrols or five district task forces. Another 50 were probationary officers.
We covered that, what? A month ago? Nice of you folks at the Trib to catch up finally.



The Chicago Police Department is like any huge bureaucracy - inefficient in the extreme. There's plenty of room for cutting, we'd never deny that. The exempt ranks are bloated, the multitude of small units is extreme, the redundant supervision/duplicated duties is ridiculous. It needs to change.



But no one is asking the right people how to change it. McCarthy should be looking at Lieutenants, Sergeants, and yes, even the lowly Officers for ideas. These are your end users. These are the people who can spot the hypocrisy, waste, inefficiency. Look at AIRA, CLEAR, CHRIS, most of the computer systems we use - do you really think a beat cop or a detective had any input into any of these disasters? Minimal, if at all.



We are about to enter what will undoubtedly be the most contentious negotiations of all time. We need to step up and take the initiative, be it with offers, ideas, publicity campaigns, or press conferences. Otherwise, we are likely witnessing the end of the FOP as a viable bargaining agent.

"Stop and Frisk" Lawsuit

  • A lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department's controversial crime-fighting tactic known as "stop and frisk" will go to trial, a U.S. judge said.

    U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit brought by black and Latino New Yorkers claiming they were improperly targeted by police.

    The suit is the broadest yet to potentially reach a jury and challenge the police practice of stopping and questioning people considered suspicious. The NYPD says the tactic has been critical in achieving an historic drop in crime rates and denies that race or quotas motivate stops.

Just be aware that as Rahm imported McJersey here to import New York/New Jersey style ideas toward police work, the inadvertent side effect might be New York/New Jersey style lawsuits regarding civil rights. And in this midwestern bastion of liberalism, expect lawsuits, hostile juries and punitive damages out the wazoo.

Too Little Too Late

After weeks and weeks of a media blackout, the Obama people finally make a change:

  • The Obama administration on Tuesday removed or reassigned the top officials involved in a widely criticized U.S. operation to trace the flow of illegal guns into Mexico.

    "Fast and Furious" was intended to gather information on how Mexican drug cartels use operatives in the U.S. to buy and smuggle guns across the border. Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were instructed to watch — but not to stop — the illegal sales in the hope of gathering intelligence on how the smugglers worked. But in the process, hundreds of guns wound up in the hands of Mexican drug gangs. Two of the weapons turned up at the scene where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed in a shootout.

    The acting director of ATF, Kenneth Melson, has been reassigned to a Justice Department policy office. And Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney in Arizona who approved the "Fast and Furious" operation, resigned Tuesday. A senior Justice Department official said Attorney General Eric Holder had lost confidence in them and that ATF needed "a fresh start."

"a fresh start?" After knowingly allowing nearly 2,000 weapons be purchased illegally, then permitting them to be transferred into the Mexican narco-state drug wars, directly resulting in deaths on both sides of the border, including at least one law enforcement officer, and then attempting to use this as a propaganda tool to criminalize legal gun ownership, a "fresh start" would kind of be in order.



In true Chicago fashion though, the acting director of ATF was "reassigned." Not unlike certain Chicago exempts who can't stop stepping in shit and continuously coming up smelling like a rose. Nice to see our complete lack of responsibility spreading its tentacles into the national consciousness.

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Custodian Arrested?

Can anyone confirm a custodian in 014 was picked up with an active warrant and an Investigative Alert on file? Supposedly, he has around 40 arrests, too. Is anyone checking these people with access to everything in our stations?

Strap In - Here it Comes

Elected on a platform of lies and continuing to feed the media lines of bullshit (which the media savors as if it were the finest steak) regarding manpower that hasn't resulted in anywhere near 750 cops "back" on the street, Rahm has McTool bring out the big knife:

  • Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Tuesday he’s been asked to cut $190 million from the Police Department’s $1.3 billion annual budget and would only get halfway there by eliminating police vacancies.

    “We are looking at absolutely everything. There are ways to save money but the question is, how close to the bone do we have to get?” McCarthy said.

    “We have to eliminate about $190 million. We are at a point right now that, if we eliminated all our vacancies, we would save approximately $93 million. That gets us about halfway.”

    There are about 13,500 budgeted positions for sworn officers and about 1,400 vacancies. About 775 officers are on medical leave, a department spokeswoman said.

We expect we're headed to a 10,000, maybe even a 9,000 man department. With anywhere from 3,500 to 4,500 less cops paying into the pension, that's another whole can of worms.



The article says McTool has eliminated "several layers of the command structure." Most of those spots were unfilled or had their occupants moved to other cushy spots.



The FOP trenches better be deep as once again, Alder-asshole Beale targets duty availability and uniform allowances - you know, that duty availability they're all claiming we're about to earn while they cancel the 5B and Fifth period furloughs next year? And the money we took in lieu of Contract raises for so many years since it relieved the City of having to raise pension contributions.



And you better get used to that 120,000 mile hotbox you're pushing from call to call.



Rahm has all the makings of a complete disaster for Chicago.

Still Shrinking

Mike Dumke over at The Reader - the only paper that ever seems to actually investigate stuff:

  • Though Mayor Rahm Emanuel has repeatedly claimed that he’s been making big investments in public safety, the number of Chicago police officers has dropped in the last three months, and the force is now more than 700 officers short of where it was five years ago.

    Most recently, during a widely-covered press conference Monday, Emanuel listed police staffing as one of the major accomplishments of his first 100 days, claiming to have moved “nearly 750 additional officers to Chicago’s neighborhoods.”

    The mayor's announcement made for smart politics, but the police ranks are actually shrinking. Last October, 11,178 police officers were on the city payroll. By June, shortly after Emanuel took office, that number had dropped to 10,923. As of earlier today, it was down a tad more, to 10,918, according to payroll data.

And we're sensing a sudden surge in retirements coming after the first of the year - sometime before May for some reason.

Shooting in 015

We've been unavailable most of the week, blogging from various undisclosed locations. We had heard about this one earlier, but couldn't really get to a computer:

  • A 20-year-old man was hospitalized in serious-to-critical condition this afternoon after being shot in a police-involved shooting in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, officials said.

    Fire paramedics were called to the 5600 block of West Augusta Boulevard at 1:18 p.m., said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Richard Rosado.

    Police officials said narcotics officers were conducting an investiation in the area when they noticed a man with a gun. The officers fired their weapons when the man refused to drop the gun.

    The man sustained non-life threatening injuries and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, officials said. Initial reports indicated that the man may have been shot in the chest and hand, officials said.

No cops hurt, so all is well. We can't wait until they cut the day crew down by a third.

Wow

  • A Chicago man set a trailer on fire and decapitated himself after a domestic dispute in York County on Tuesday morning.

    The man's name has not been released to the media, but Sheriff Danny Diggs said the man was 46 years old and "most recently had been living in Chicago."

    Shortly after 10 a.m., deputies went to the 100 block of Nathan Place to respond to reports of a domestic dispute. A man involved in the dispute had left the scene before the deputies arrived.

    The man refused to get out of the vehicle, and firefighters noted that he had a cable wrapped around his neck with the other end attached to a nearby tree. The man then accelerated the vehicle, pulling him from the driver's seat and decapitating him. The vehicle came to a rest about 150 yards away on Holmes Boulevard.

That is some seriously twisted effort. Pretty much a guaranteed result, though. And a helluva war story for the cops out in Virginia.

Good News for Winter

  • Low-income families reliant on state and federal assistance to pay energy bills were out of luck this summer, and they could be out of luck in the coming winter as well.

    Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity spokeswoman Marcelyn Love says funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, could be slashed by up to 60 percent this season. That news comes after there wasn’t any money for cooling assistance this summer.

Perhaps we'll see some of the subsidized housing with thermostats set at a more reasonable 68 degrees instead of the standard 88 tropical degrees we always seem to walk in on during a February domestic.

Police Horse Down

Mikey C, named after Officer Michael Ceriale, passed suddenly after a seizure:

  • The horse reared and struggled as if fighting an invisible assailant. Chicago Police Officer Paul Casasanto, on mounted patrol at North Avenue beach, had slid off the horse as it began to struggle inexplicably.



    “Mik just went down,” Casasanto said in to a police radio while holding tightly to the horse’s reins. Casasanto tried to calm his horse while people in bathing suits and jogging clothes began closing in. “Stay back,” he warned, as the animal continued to kick its powerful back legs.



    After several weakening attempts to stand, the horse folded to the ground and rolled onto its side. When the horse laid its head on the pavement in defeat, Casasanto placed one hand over its half-open eye as the animal took a last labored breath. “He’s gone,” said Casasanto, as onlookers began herding children back toward the water.
Deepest sympathies to Officer Casasanto on the loss of his partner and to all our fellow officers who lost a living memorial to Officer Michael Ceriale, 13 years gone now.

Not Guilty Coverage

A whopping one article that we've seen. In the Daily Herald. By Chuck Goudie:

  • The most dangerous place for a Chicago police officer is:

    a. Face-to-face with a heavily armed drug gang.

    b. Trapped by gangbangers at the end of a dark alley in Englewood.

    c. Cornered by some lifers carrying shivs at Stateville prison.

    d. Sitting in a Cook County courtroom.

    The correct answer is d.

    Or at least it was last Friday.

Goudie outlines the case against the shooter, the blatant disregard for human life exhibited by the shooters, the amazing restraint by the officers. It's a good read and our amazement only grows when we see a paragraph like this:

  • There were more gang members in the court gallery than there were police officers. Some cops have complained about that. But the way I see it, gang members have nothing better to do. Their only inconvenience was having to get out of bed before noon. Police officers have jobs and were out there pulling shifts, dealing with the transfers and realignment that have been undertaken by new police Supt. Garry McCarthy.
A subtle poke at G-Mac? And then this closing left us wondering if Goudie had been the subject of a bodysnatcher-type abduction:

  • If Mr. Green, now 23, resumes the same line of work that he was in before his arrest, he may well have police visitors in his home sometime in the future.

    Then, if Green starts shooting at police, the 12 people he'll need won't be jurors.

    They'll be pallbearers.

Like we said though, one op-ed in the Daily Herald. Not exactly anything that's going to get anyone to sit up and notice much. This needs to be bigger.

Rahm's Neighborhood

Some comments are alleging that in the interest of continuing the illusion of "this or that neighborhood is safe" and we aren't really suffering a manpower shortage, officers on the Rahm Detail have been instructed to use the address of 1730 W. Berteau for incidents that actually occur in the area of 4228 N. Hermitage and that this directive may have led to a bit of confusion on the part of responding units.



We aren't sure what the big deal is. Rahm fought a protracted legal battle to claim he lived at 4228 N. Hermitage except for a short stint covering government service. The media showed the house and address literally hundreds of times during the different rulings that went for and against the then-candidate. There was even a bunch of "moving back into 4228 N. Hermitage" coverage on the news a short time ago. We even recall some investigative reporting when it was alleged that 4228 N. Hermitage wasn't even on the tax rolls but rather hidden away in some sort of trust that removed it from the property tax rolls for years even though the owner was probably in a position to pay taxes for his entire block after receiving millions of dollars in "consulting fees" from a certain Illinois utility company. This story was later debunked.



Now it's a big secret where he lives?

Vanecko Murders Pension

  • The historic, now boarded-up building that once housed the Chicago Defender newspaper is in foreclosure, and, as a result of that, five of the city’s struggling pension funds could end up losing $1 million.

    A failed plan to rehabilitate the Art Deco/Moderne building was one of the deals put together by former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew, Robert G. Vanecko, and his politically connected partner, Allison S. Davis, in a start-up real estate investment company that five city pension funds hired in 2006 to manage $68 million in retirement money for teachers, police officers, CTA employees and other city workers.

Jail would be too good for these leeches. If we could demolish the Defender building with these jagoffs inside it, well now you've got our attention.

This Won't End Well (G8)

The roll call announcements began that the Department is canceling all elective Time Due during May of 2012, along with no full 5th period furloughs and no 5B segments. The city is claiming an "emergency" exists, although how you define an emergency as "something you've known about for over a year" still escapes our comprehension.



We also can't believe the silence emanating from the union side of things. This is the perfect opportunity for the FOP and PBPA to agitate for more hiring, better training, and rail against the faulty logic of "doing more with less." If this article is anywhere near accurate, we're going to see in the neighborhood of 35,000 protestors in town (the anarchist websites are predicting 150,000 but their grandfathers said the same thing in 1968 and they were overreaching then, too):

  • Activists are planning massive demonstrations to coincide with the G8 and NATO summits in Chicago scheduled for spring 2012, with crowds of protesters likely to reach “tens of thousands,” organizers said.

    More than 160 members representing about 50 groups from across the U.S. and Canada gathered Sunday at the Chicago-Kent College of Law to discuss strategy and start planning two large-scale protests and a march that during the week-long joint summit, which is set for mid-May.

    The G8 and similar economic forums have for more than a decade drawn thousands of demonstrators. With the world economy in turmoil and NATO leaders set to discuss Afghanistan war policy, the joint summit should draw protesters on behalf of a wide array of causes, activists said.

We've gotten a number of e-mails with supposed "inside information" regarding planning. We won't go into to detail yet as it's all rumors, but suffice it to say twelve-hour days and the D-unit in uniforms are probably at the top of the list. Some of it is just too stupid to be believed though. We have almost no confidence in HQ to come up with anything workable any time soon.

Attack Near Rahm's House

  • Tom Lashinski was walking his mother's small dog in the North Center neighborhood early Sunday when he noticed two people scuffling in an alley.



    [...] At first, he thought it was a drunken brawl that spilled from a bar. But as he got closer, he saw that it was a female Chicago police officer who had a man pinned to the ground.



  • Spotting Lashinski, who had a cell phone in his hand, the office yelled for him to call 911. She also asked him to grab her police radio to signal that an officer was in danger.



    "I had to reach and get the radio for her, the guy was struggling and kicking, and I had to stand on his legs," said Lashinski, 28.



    Within minutes, 10 to 15 police vehicles arrived.
This might have ended very badly but for the timely arrival of this gentleman:

  • The suspect -- identified as Anthony Perez, 45 -- began biting, punching and kicking the officer and tried several times to pull the officer's gun from her holster, Sullivan said.



    By the time Lashinski came to her aid, the officer had bloody gashes on her arms. The man had lost a tooth, he said.
The officer was treated and released, but will have some mending to do.

  • Perez, of the 4200 block of North Kenmore Avenue, is a convicted felon with more than 30 arrests. He was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, burglary, resisting arrest and attempting to disarm a police officer. He is expected to be in bond court on Monday.
Anita Alvarez has scheduled the I-bond signing for Tuesday, a public apology to the suspect on Wednesday, Rahm will sign a check for the tooth Perez lost on Thursday and by Friday, a Cook County jury will have acquitted the assailant of all charges.



The following Monday, the jagoff be moving into the Officer's house amid front page coverage from both newspapers and a Mope-rah exclusive. And word is J-Fled has already referred to the case to the US Attorney for possible federal charges of "practicing dentistry without a license."

Pension Website

We get e-mail:

  • The CPLA and CPSA have joined together to create a web page and Facebook page dedicated to educating everyone, sworn and civilian, as to the truth regarding the pension fund legislation that we are facing in the upcoming months. At this juncture we are trying to organize a trip to Springfield during the Veto session in late October. We need to get the word out to all CPD and Suburban Officers and Civilians that the threat to our retirement earnings is very real. We don't care what bargaining organization you may belong to, we need to come together to protect our futures and our families' futures. Any help in spreading the message would be greatly appreciated. Please check out the websites.
The fall "Veto Session" is upon us and there's a lot of stuff out there that needs to be addressed. All of it will affect the way the legislature and other politicians approach negotiations and reform efforts in the very near future.

Congratulations CPD Soccer

Nine wins in a row over the CFD:

  • CFD 1 - CPD 4 in double overtime then penalty kicks to decide a winner. Goals by P.O.Horst Fleps (049) P.O.Bob Kellam (009)P.O. Rodrigo Espinoza (015) & P.O.Esnuff Husic. (005)

    With Superintendent McCarthy in attendance as the CPD continues it's unbeaten streak CPD is 9-0 vs CFD.
Anything that raises money for Police and Fire Charities is a good time in our book.



UPDATE: We're aware ties are reported 1-1 when penalty kicks are the deciding factor. We can only publish the e-mail sent to us (we aren't going to change what someone else wrote) and others not familiar with football scoring might be confused.

Minimal Openings

As predicted here and elsewhere, the Department is very happy having all the disbanded unit personnel in the west and south side districts. In fact, they're so happy, they aren't letting the door open very wide so anyone can even think about leaving. Here's the listed openings - four in each of the following:

  • 003
  • 004
  • 005
  • 006
  • 007
  • 016 (what the...?!)
So after posting 501 openings last month, only 24 this time, and no prospect of any others being put out there for the foreseeable future.

Mining vs. Police Work

Mining is listed as one of the most dangerous professions for 2010 according to stats just released. There were a couple aberrations that skewed the numbers their way:

  • Disasters at a coal mine in West Virginia and aboard an oil rig operated by British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico again made mining one of the most dangerous American jobs in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday.
Police work came in second:

  • The police profession was not far behind mining as a dangerous occupation, with the number of fatalities increasing by 40 percent to 134 last year from 96 in 2009.

    Of the total police officers who died on the job in 2010, 57 cases involved highway incidents and 48 involved homicides.

So once again, crashes killed more police than attacks. All the more reason to wear your seatbelt and be aware of the publics' distracted states when tooling along the road.

Casper Lauer Ride

Coming up soon (18 September 2011):

  • “Casper Lauer” Police Memorial Motorcycle Run



    “The Largest Police Motorcycle Run in the Midwest”



    500+ Riders showing support for Police Officers



    Named in honor of “Casper Lauer” one of the first Chicago Police Officer to be “killed in the line of duty” and dedicated to all Police Officers in the nation killed serving their communities.



    All Police and Civilian motorcyclist of any manufacture and all non motorcyclists, are welcome to be our guests, as we remember and celebrate the lives of Police Officers through out the Nation, “killed in the line of duty” and support their survivors.



  • Benefiting Police Charities & Gold Star Families Police Survivors



    Motorcycle Motorcade, Leaving @ 11 am

    Leaving from AKMC Clubhouse

    5049 W. Lake St, Chicago, IL



    Memorial Service, 12 pm

    Gold Star Memorial Park

    18th & Solidarity

    (Behind Soldier Field)



    Party, 1 pm

    AKMC Clubhouse

    5049 W. Lake St, Chicago, IL



    Ticket information: Tickets $20
More details at this link here.

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More Preseason Action



Last week we speculated that the second exhibition game couldn't be worse than the first.



The Bears proved us wrong.



Now the injury bug seems to have bitten them:

  • Linebacker Lance Briggs, nose tackle Anthony Adams, tight end Kellen Davis, receiver Sam Hurd and defensive end Corey Wootton are in street clothes as expected for tonight's Bears-Titans exhibition.



    Briggs continues to recover from a bruised knee while Adams has a calf strain. Davis has a stiff back and Hurd is sidelined with a sprain ankle. Wootton remains a few weeks away from recovery off arthroscopic knee surgery.
Looks like it might be another season of betting the spread and hoping for decent squares in the office pool. Oops, did we say "office pool?" Sorry. We meant ...uh... ah screw it. We gamble for matchsticks and lemon drops. Is it wrong?

Shades of Rahm

This opening paragraph is priceless:

  • A top administrator at the City Colleges of Chicago recently resigned under pressure, leaving a $120,000-a-year job but taking away a valuable life lesson: Don’t play games with the city’s residency requirement.
Really? If he had just left a box in the crawlspace of a house that isn't even on the tax rolls, he'd be f#$%ing golden, right Mayor Emanuel? Honest to pete, does anyone at the Sun Times actually read the previous articles written by their "reporters?"

Not Guilty

Once again, a Cook County jury stuns and amazes onlookers:

  • A not guilty verdict on all counts!

    Every officer in that courtroom was blown away. Every States Attorney was blown away. The pro- defense judge was blown away when she read the verdict.

    The cop shooter admits to buying the gun off the street for 100dollars, shooting the gun numerous times, impeached himself countless times and was found not guilty. He goes free by a cook county jury. In my 19 years on this job I have never seen anything like this. He is a self admitted GD who will be free tonight. This is insanity.
We are flabbergasted.

CPD v CFD Soccer

7th Annual Call Box Cup

Chicago Police vs Chicago Fire Dept

August 27, 2011

Toyota Park Turf Practice Field North of the stadium 5pm



Chicago Police Department v Chicago Fire Department (turf practice field)



Tailgate and enjoy this annual match 7:30pm Chicago Fire v Colorado Rapids $20 Ticket gets you both games and a portion will be going to the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and other Police Charities. Come tailgate and watch CPD v CFD then enjoy the Fire game afterwards.



CLICK FOR TICKETS: For Tickets Click Access Code: fire

Flashover

  • "Things went bad" at a blaze in a West Englewood home tonight that injured three firefighters, including two left in critical condition.



    The fire broke out shortly before 7 p.m. at a 1 1/2-story frame house located on the 7000 block of South Justine Street, officials said.



    Firefighters had ventilated the roof before moving into the house, but were trapped in the attic area when it "lit up," said Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff. "In the attic things went bad. They got trapped."
Prayers and well wishes only for our fellow first responders.

Officers Needed at Court

Closing arguments today at 26 & California Room 203 at 0930 hours:

  • Two years ago two of my teammates, Scott McKena and Danny O'Toole were shot while executing a Search Warrant in the 5th District. Kenneth Green, the offender who shot both of my teammates has been in court all week with all of his family and with many of his "friends". Many of these same "friends" also belong to a certain south side "organization" (gang) that Green belongs to. These same "friends" spent one day at the trial "mean muggin" and uttering things under their breath about the lone civilian witness who came forward to help the police in this case. It took a lot for this witness to show up knowing that this particular organization is all around the witness' business and that they now know who he is. Most of us know how being a 'snitch" in the ghetto goes over with these organizations.

    Sadly, the offender has had more outside support than my two teammates. Outside of two of our teammates who were allowed to sit in on the trial and one officer's wife, there have only been maybe one or two P/O's stop in during the trial. Again, I am not, and do not, intend to even hint at blaming ANYONE. For whatever reason P/O's just have not known, or were just not able to stop in for a minute. I am asking if you could please post the information about the closing arguments that are set to begin tomorrow at 0930. We all remain hopeful that a swift verdict will come back from the Jury shortly after the closing arguments. There has been great support from all of the ASA's involved who believe that we have a very good jury and who know we have an excellent case. We just need a little bit more of a show of force from the Thin Blue Line.
Check in at your room with the State and tell them you'll be right back. Stop by Room 203. It takes a minute and could make all the difference.

Sergeant Responds

Thankfully, the recent incident in 020 at the Lakeshore Hospital went down exactly as we hoped it had and the Sergeant on scene made the correct call:

  • Sgt. J. Sacks, Unit 020 said...

    I'm the Sergeant that responded. We did not disarm ourselves as requested by the less than helpful Chicago Lakeshore Hospital staff. Officer safety first. Hell, I carry way to many weapons and would have filled several of their lockers. 19-Paul no, but a case report was prepared. I made complaints to the CPD's Legal Affairs, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Joint Commission about the Hospital's failure to secure their staff phone from psychotic patients, lack of staff assistance to the responding officers, and the Hospital's policy of requesting the police to disarm. Note to any officer having business with the Chicago Lakeshore Hospital staff - many staffers appear hostile to the police. Use caution and stay safe. Lakeshore can have my gun when they pry it from my cold dead hands (well actually not the firearms are willed to my kids).

The sergeant also followed up with Legal Affairs, the Illinois Department of Public Health Central Complaint Registry, and filed a complaint with the Joint Commission which accredits and certifies health care organizations.



So why isn't this guy nominated for an exempt spot?

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Felony Murder

  • A 30-year-old man was arrested this week and has been charged with murder in connection with a robbery last May that ended with police fatally shooting his alleged accomplice, officials said today.



    The robbery and gunfight began about 1:30 a.m. on May 11, 2011, when two officers saw two men wearing hoodies enter a JJ Peppers Food Store at 3101 S. Union Ave. and one of the suspects jumped over the counter, FOP spokesman Pat Camden said at the time.



    The two officers quickly entered the store and one of the suspects opened fire, Camden said. One officer returned fire, killing the suspect, he said. The other suspect ran to the back of the store, prompting a nearly five-hour standoff that ended when police found he had escaped out a rear door.



    Police today said their investigation later determined the second suspect was Mario Jones, 30, of the 10000 block of South Normal Avenue, and they were able to obtain an arrest warrant.
Mario finally surfaced on the south side where he was arrested and charged. His record is appropriately lengthy and varied where this isn't much of a surprise. A good and thorough job by all involved.

Here's an Idea

We have the brightest readers in the universe. Check out this suggestion (we're summarizing it here). After that $33 million cannabis bust the other day, how about paying the teachers' raises in the equivalent weight of weed? The teachers could sell it for the extra money or smoke it to forget the giant hosing they're getting at the hands of Tiny Dancer 9.5.



Did anyone catch this in the story about the CPS property tax hikes?

  • ...CPS Chief Executive Jean-Claude Brizard floated a plan late Tuesday that would return a 2 percent pay raise to elementary school teachers in January if they agreed to work an additional 90 minutes each school day and an extra two weeks.
Divide and conquer - that's been Rahm's trademark since before arriving in Chicago. "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." But remember, he's pro-union. Keep repeating that as he sticks it in and breaks it off.



Does anyone else get the feeling Rahm is trying to force a strike vote by the teachers so he can precipitate a "no confidence" vote and then break them?

Um, What?

Ridiculous:

  • 020 strikes again!! Call comes out Man with a gun...from a mental ward. A PO and Sgt respond. They get there and the staff tell them that they can't take their guns into the ward with them. So they check their guns before going in!! Hello? What is wrong with that place?
We get our chain yanked a bit, but is this serious? A gun call and someone gives up the one thing that might protect them against a gun?



"Nineteen Paul" boys and girls.



You've got security? Call them. You've got doctors and nurses with powerful anti-psychotic medications? Administer them. Either the police are allowed to do their jobs with the tools provided them or the hospital handles their own shit and stops calling the police. And any supervisor that requests, tells or orders an Officer to surrender his or her weapon on a "Man with a Gun" call, regardless if the call came from a secure mental ward with bars on the windows and locks on the doors, can go to hell.

Thanks Again Democrats!

  • Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn today defended a major toll increase on the eve of the tollway board's vote on the issue.

    "The tollway has to do what's necessary to protect safety, lessen congestion, make sure that we have roads that are efficient," Quinn said at an unrelated news conference. "Clearly there is public support for making sure that we do this and do it right."

Yeah, because the public is always looking for ways to give government more money during a double-dip recession.



Exhibit B:
  • Chicago School Board members Wednesday unanimously approved a budget packing a $150 million property tax increase as school officials offered elementary teachers raises totaling $15 million to work a longer day.

    Meanwhile, parents, clergy and others turned up the heat on all parties involved to find a way to achieve a longer school day and year.
Rahm is living up to his promise of not raising taxes by having everyone else do it evidently. Which leads us to this little number.



Exhibit C:

  • In a trend that continues to worsen, more Illinoisans found themselves unemployed in the month of July.



    Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report. After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July. The report also said Illinois’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent. This marks the third consecutive month of increases in the unemployment rate.



    Illinois started to create jobs as the national economy began to recover. But just when Illinois’s economy seemed to be turning around, lawmakers passed record tax increases in January of this year. Since then, Illinois’s employment numbers have done nothing but decline.
Here it is in living color:





Brought to you by the Democratic party.

Bad Penny Turns Up

Back in a district?

  • 008 got the bad "PENNY". Hopefully this dream of J-Fled and the nightmare of 011 and now 008 is just passing through on her next gig as "inspector" She has personally red lined a car on her own from the [confines] of her office while setting up pedicures and manicures over the department phone. Yes this over promoted, over inflated egotistical captain is still around! Like they say, a bad "penny" always turns up somewhere! Can I get a Halleluya!!!
Our condolences to 008 if this is true. We can't remember a day that didn't go by without a comment being posted by an 011 District member regarding her latest shenanigan. On the bright side, she'll probably step in the shit soon enough and get hidden away until the heat dies down. Again. Seriously, how many domestics, damage to property allegations, harassment claims, DCFS investigations, contract violations, screaming matches with subordinates and batteries complaints can one boss have without drawing the attention of downtown?



Oh yeah, dozens. Never mind.

So True

This is the funniest back-and-forth we've read here in a long time. It was made regarding the popularity contest currently underway where exempts get to vote on who the next exempts are going to be:

  • Anonymous said...

    I wonder if Gen.Patton asked for a vote when he made promotions?
The reply:

  • If Patton was on CPD, he would have spent his entire career pushing a beat car.
Hilarious. And true.

Area Strike Team Details

This is stupid.



The Department disbands MSF and TRU, sending a few hundred officers back to the districts. Rahm touts this as "a big deal" putting 1,000 more officers on the streets, even though these officers were already on the streets.



Then the Department holds a round of bidding, opening up 501 spots citywide so people can move places (although something like 400 of the spots were in less than desirable districts). Then they hold a "super-bid" to fill the leftover spots.



Now Downtown Ernie Brown comes out with an order creating Area Strike Teams. Guess who's manning those? Remember all those bodies coming to the districts? Over a hundred of them never made it there. Here's a breakdown:

  • Area 1 - 1 Lt, 2 Sgts, 21 PO's
  • Area 2 - 1 Lt, 2 Sgts, 19 PO's
  • Area 3 - 1 Lt, 2 Sgts, 19 PO's
  • Area 4 - 1 Lt, 2 Sgts, 19 PO's
  • Area 5 - 2 Sgts, 16 PO's
And the truly laughable part? The Area 3 Strike Team? Not one of the Officers nor the Lieutenant are even from Area 3 Districts. Seriously. In fact, 8 of the Officers are from 007. All together, 24 PO's assigned to 007 went to various Strike Teams across the city.



We don't know how much whack it takes to get detailed from 003, 005, 006 and 007 to the Area 5 Strike Team, but 14 of the 16 PO's managed it.



Look, we understand people got the short end of the stick from the Department, but this was predicted years ago and the City was completely within the contract to do so. Were we happy about it? No.



But now the Department Administration is denying officers who might have had opportunities to work in a "specialized" or small team environment the opportunity to do so by once again playing political football with the clouted few. Rahm, Ernie and McEgo are touting their "back to the beat" philosophy on one hand, while detailing people from one end of the city to the other. We thought they were trying to avoid that BS and maintain the appearance of bringing the Districts up to strength, but it certainly looks like business as usual.



And people are still retiring and we still aren't hiring.

People Choice Exempts

This was pointed out in a comment - we can't believe we skipped over it in the McEgotastic victory tour the other day:

  • [McCarthy] said he will have to replace at least seven district commanders over the next few months because of retirements and promotions. For the first time in Chicago, he will ask district commanders and other top supervisors to vote on the lieutenants and captains they believe would make good district commanders. The finalists will go through an extensive vetting process, McCarthy said.
"Vetting process." That's a good one.



But seriously? Asking for a vote? The problem isn't having a vote, it's who's doing the voting. Ninety percent and more of the exempt structure has at least one "merit" promotion in their career - many have two and more. These people have no idea what being a police officer entails, yet McCarthy is going to take them at their word and count their vote for the next batch of gold stars?



He'd be better off asking Police Officers, Detectives and watch supervisors if the nominees are capable of running a district and leading the men and women of the Department. But letting hacks pick hacks? Not good at all.

Let's Cut the Day Crew

Rumors abound about slashing the number of officers assigned to days in order to increase the manpower on midnights and afternoons. If so, get used to this type of incident:

  • A 1-year-old girl is fighting for her life after being shot in the head this morning on a street in the South Chicago neighborhood, police said.

    The incident happened about 8:11 a.m. at 84th Street and Muskegon Avenue, where the child and her 15-year-old aunt were walking a dog, police said. The aunt heard shots and fell on the child. Earlier police reports had said the child was with her mother.

    A man was bicycling in the area near the woman and her child when two male teens began shooting at the bicyclist, who managed to get away, police said. No one is in custody in the shootings, police said.

When was it, three years ago or so? There was a spate of shootings of CPS students and an outcry of putting more cops in and around the schools during the beginning and end of the day. Something like 50 students were shot and over 20 died. So the Department shifted gears and the shootings shifted to the night hours, resulting in the recent changes to curfew ordinances. Now we're about to go back in time and open up the streets to burglars, home invaders, thefts and we're betting more students getting wasted.



For the most part, police are a reactionary force. Even more so today being down 2,300 officers from less than a decade ago. This seems to be another one of those times.

No Snitching Case

It took years, and the victim didn't really give a crap (plus, he was dead), but the detectives finally convinced enough people to testify and might have enough to charge a dope dealer with murdering another dope dealer:

  • Robert Tate took the identity of his killer to the grave.

    After he was shot on the West Side in April 2010, officers asked the dying 17-year-old to name the gunman.

    Police said he responded: “I know. But I ain’t telling you s---.” He died as paramedics tried to save him.

  • Jones controlled drug sales in the 900 block of North Avers and was allegedly angry at Tate for hurting business there. Tate was selling fake drugs and robbing customers...
An internal conflict within the Fours. Tate was doing wrong and screwing up Jones' business. The outcome was all too predictable. Not to put too fine a spin on it, but we imagine the gang leadership was more than willing to have some witnesses come forward after a year when Jones was getting out of jail and would probably have wanted his corner back. What better way to keep a violent sociopath off the streets than to make sure he goes inside again while the gang continues to run the spot for everyone else's benefit?



Nice work by the detectives involved to wrap up this mess.

Nice Pinch

Big warehouse. By the railroad tracks. Lots of truck traffic. What could possibly arouse suspicion?

  • Chicago police arrested seven men and seized more than 12,000 pounds of cannabis worth an estimated $33 million in an anti-drug operation Monday, police said today in a news release.

    A Chicago Police Narcotics Unit, acting on reports that a drug trafficking organization linked to several street gangs had large distribution and storage centers in the city, began looking at a warehouse in the 1000 block of South Kolmar Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side.

    Monday, officers stopped a van leaving the warehouse grounds and found 2,500 pounds of cannabis inside. A subsequent search of the warehouse found 9,800 pounds of cannabis. Seven vehicles, a rifle and handgun were also seized.

We imagine there are a bunch of warehouses and storage centers around the city seeing an inordinate amount of traffic all of the sudden. Especially any connected to the seven arrestees. Nice job by the investigating officers.

Did You Vote Today?

Every day is election day at the CBS Most Valuable Blogger award site.



At least until 09 September.

Hmmmmm

Has anyone been over to that "Chicago Ideas" website? It's for an event happening in October, it seems to be sponsored by the City and has all sorts of speakers and symposiums looking for ideas to make Chicago a more exciting place to work and visit (though we figured the lakefront wildings were already doing that.)



They have a fancy logo that they probably paid a pretty penny for, too:



We were trying to figure out why that logo struck us as unusual. The skyline perspective is off. It appears the John Hancock building is either tiny or absent. Then someone figured it out for us:





Well that explains a lot.

North Side Shooting

  • Chicago police shot a person they said pointed a weapon at officers late Monday in the city's Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

    No officers were injured in the shooting that happened just after 9 p.m. near the intersection of Central Park and Lawrence avenues.



    Tactical unit officers with the Albany Park police district were conducting missions in the area when they heard gunshots and saw two people fleeing the area, police said in a brief formal statement.



    The officers followed the two people, one of whom pulled a weapon, pointing it in the direction of the officers, police said. One of the officers pulled a handgun and opened fire, striking the person.

"One of the officers pulled a handgun and opened fire"? What kind of writing is this? It sounds like a gang shooting or something. How about "the officer drew his weapon and shot the assailant"?



Camden wasn't available for a statement so the Trib reporter writes this tripe?



So this is what? Forty-five shootings? With forty-four weapons recovered? Good to hear the police are OK. Nice job Officers.

See You Later Jagoff (UPDATED)

  • A Cook County judge today sentenced a South Side man to the maximum of 60 years in prison for shooting a Chicago detective in the back during a chase more than four years ago.

    Judge Timothy Joyce handed down the sentence for Bobby Selvie, 27, who was convicted by a jury in June of aggravated battery with a firearm and acquitted of attempted murder of a police officer.

    Prosecutors said the detective, Patrick Johnson, and his partner were investigating gang activity on the South Side in May 2007 when they tried to stop Selvie and two other men for an interview.

    The men ran and the detectives chased them to Selvie's house in the 800 block of West 50th Place, prosecutors said. As Johnson followed one of the men toward the side of the house, Selvie allegedly fired, striking Johnson in the back.

Hopefully this asshole isn't ever going to be out on parole again like he was last time, though in this haven of bleeding-heart liberals, you never know.



NOTE TO THE MEDIA: Once he's convicted, you can drop the "allegedly" from the narrative and stop your liberal knee-jerk narrative that assumes the police are in the wrong every time they shoot an altar boy/honor student/oncologist. This piece of crap comes from a long line of turds.

Late Night Posting

Don't ask. You wouldn't believe half of it. And the less said about the other half, the better.



Open post for a Tuesday. Keep it reasonably clean.



And since we're talking open posts, now is a chance to hop over and vote for the Most Valuable Blogger in the Local Issues category. Yes, we know it's CBS and the media with whom we often have conflict, but it amuses us to imagine the liberal mainstream stations having to acknowledge the rise of the new era while their star fades.

More Preseason



Hey, it couldn't be any less exciting that last week, right? Right?

In Broad Daylight

  • Chicago police were looking for the gunman who fatally shot a teen boy Sunday afternoon in front of witnesses in the Austin neighborhood.

    The victim, Joseph Price, was 14. But the teen’s current guardian says he looked 12, at best. And he can’t understand why anyone would want to shoot him dead.

    “It seemed more like a hit, and I couldn’t understand what the purpose on it, when he never really did anything. He don’t even know the neighborhood that well,”
As stated here and elsewhere, cops aren't going to actually prevent all crime. Our function is to make criminals think twice about the risk/reward ratio of carrying out their intentions for great bodily harm or murder. And then (too often) clean up the resultant mess. This would seem to be another one of those times, not too dissimilar to the pregnant 17-year-old executed recently. If someone wants another person dead, they're going to accomplish it one way or another where they think they perceive the least amount of risk. Broad daylight with a minimal number of units on the street is going to be a no-brainer.

MVB - Most Valuable Blogger

CBS 2 is running a contest for Chicago's Most Valuable Blogger at the moment. Your humble servants here at SCC have been nominated by a few people evidently, and we're competing in a very narrow field of 10 other bloggers.



In true Chicago fashion, you can vote multiple times (once per category per day). There are 6 categories. Second City Cop is in the "Local Affairs" section.



So if you feel like SCC provides a decent service to its readers, stop by this link and toss a vote our way.



Voting runs through 09 September.

McCarthy Reviews 100 Days

We have no idea what the fixation is on "100 days" but G-Mac makes the most of it:

  • Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, who will mark his 100th day in the job Tuesday, firmly believes the city is safer since he took office.

    As the native New Yorker sat with his back to the Chicago skyline at his desk in police headquarters last week, he ticked off the latest crime statistics to drive his point home.

    “Shootings: down 75 through today. That’s 1,516 last year and 1,441 this year. Murder: down 30 through today, from 290 to 260.”

    Asked how much he thinks his new strategies have contributed to the decline, he confidently responded: “I’d have to say it’s 90 percent.”

Wow. Seriously? No credit for the boys and girls on the front lines? Gee, you're welcome Garry. Could this guy put his foot in his mouth any more often than he already does? What a fucking egomaniac. We guess the other 10% of the credit goes to Rahm Emanuel for hiring G-Braniac.



In the meantime, the "goonings" or "wildings" continue unabated:

  • Officials have charged seven teens today for beating and robbing an 18-year-old man Friday outside of the Cermak-Chinatown CTA station, police said.

    The attack happened about 11 p.m. at 138 W. Cermak Rd. outside of the Red Line stop, said Chicago Police News Affairs...

    The victim was robbed and beaten and sustained facial injuries and was taken to John H. Stroger Jr., Hospital of Cook County

This poor guy must not have fallen into the 90% of Garry's awesome crime-reduction success.

Airport Done? Rumors? (UPDATE!)

This is popping up too often to ignore. We got this e-mail earlier Saturday:

  • Last night (Saturday) the new ass't commsr came to roll call and told the 1st watch crew that the organization was going to be downgraded to a security department.



    This move was backed by the SEIU which would have lost these guys to FOP of ICOPs. So over 200 trained police officers were sold out for Union Dues.



    The city has already shorted the CPD by over 100 officers at the airports and with G8 on the horizon, nothing can be done to send any help.



    The city has already lost millions of dollars due to stupidity by the aviation bosses, [now] they stand to lose [even] more.



    It appears that Rhams people, other than speaking to a few trained talking heads never bothered to ask anyone who knew what was going on. So the tax payers can kiss another boatload of money good by thanks to the continuing Rham/Daley good old boys club.
We're not quite understanding the entire event, but does this mean the Airport people are going to go the way of MSF/TRU and get sent to the south and west sides? These are a lot of heavy phone calls and high-seniority officers. Is there going to be a boatload of federal money coming in to equip/maintain/pay for a "security department?"



Anyone have anything concrete?



UPDATE: In the comment section, the fifth post down seems to answer most of the questions raised. Dept of Aviation is the subject of most of this change, which of course would bring up the question of "Is the airport undermanned again?"

Kilt Run

Time to run, walk or just kind of mosey a 3K event this September 18th:

  • A shady course that starts and finishes in the Norwood Park neighborhood. There will be water stations available through out the course.



    This is a great Chicago event as there is something for everybody, a team entry to compete within your Company or with another, or simply to have some fun running/walking with your friends; there is opportunity for families to enter and have fun together and there is the chance to prove yourself or just have fun as an individual.

    Once there please invite all your friends and family who may be interested in taking part. In addition by signing up here you will receive the most up to date information on this years Chicago Kilt Run.

    We really hope to make this an amazing event and are looking for several hundred people to run with us this year.

    The Charitable organization for 2011 will be the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and select local schools.

The organizers are looking for volunteers also. You can get information at by writing to kiltrun@gmail.com.

Drachma or Euro?





For the corrupt mass media a return to the Drachma equals destruction! For what reason they don’t say. It is served as an honour and explanations don’t exist. It is destruction, because it is ...destruction, pure an simple!



“Catastrophic for Greece was how it was characterised by a journalist Ev Mitilinaios the scenario of returning to the drachma” we read in the VIMA newspaper, without anywhere the argument being justified.



The same goes for Papariga (leader of the KKE) who actually doesn’t tire in warning us:”A return to the drachma under the current conditions would be catastrophic”!

The why and how must be held only for themselves.



Also the European specialists speak about destruction but we understand them eg. The president of the European central bank, Z. C. Trichet who supports that it will be: destructive for the Eurozone the return to the drachma. He doesn’t say this for Greece. We would agree with him, with the meaning that a departure of Greece from the Eurozone, would mean the end of an opportunist, stupid and criminal attempt to impose a united currency without a united economy and state. The responsibility belongs to the architects of the EU and the Eurozone, with the victim being Greece and the other countries of the European South.



There are others who state that due to the lack of a similar experience, the honest reply to the question as to ‘what will happen if we return to the drachma’ is simply, ‘I don’t know’!









We Have Experience




In reality there is experience not from one but many countries. Typically they aren’t the same, but essentially they don’t differ. Before we analyse things more, let us give a hypothetical preliminary example so one can be better understood:

Let us assume we had held onto the drachma but had latched it onto a hard currency, something which isn’t at all rare in international practice, eg the Euro. Whoever gave us one drachma we would give them back one euro. That is what happened in the beginning of the 1990’s with the Argentinian peso. So as to be confronted, they said, inflation, would be added to the dollar. One peso=one dollar and the opposite. This occurred with the bright sparks down at the IMF!



The results are well known.






The problem of the Argentinian economy was found in its currency? A big deceipt. A case of fetischism, which we come across only in the field of religion. Where the painter of holy images paints Mary and falls down on his feet in front of his piece of art and asks for himself to be saved! Thus man in society and commercial production has lot from his eyes his true relationships with his co-citizens and the division of labour among them, due to common survival and fantasizes that his life is determined not by the relationship with his co-workers but by other creations eg from a printed piece of paper, like the peso, which in and of itself has minimal value.







The diagnosis is wrong and the medicine chosen also. The patient wasn’t the typed piece of paper as is always to be believed by monetarist bourgeois economics but in the given situation the low level of competition of the Argentinian economy in the international arena. The medicine chosen for the peso to become as hard as the dollar, without having in the background the dynamism of the US economy, the only thing it could achieve was to destroy totally the competitiveness of the Argentinian economy. As exactly happened.



Argentinan had to travel backwards, its peoples had to suffer for a decade, to go bankrupt essentially for 75% of the debt to be written off, to disconnect the peso from the dollar and for it to be devalued, for the economy to start to develop once more. Naturally the problem wasn’t solved permanently as the Argentinian economy is part of the world economy and in conditions of world crisis they cannot but influence all the national economies. The abandonment of the policy of the hard currency in Argentina ended up being the correct and imposed choice.





With Greece before WW2 the same had occurred. Venizelos as well in the name of anti-inflationary targets, latched the drachma onto the British pound and later onto the dollar. As a result imports made money instead of exports, the deficits grew alongside the debts. Venizelos (no relation to current Economics Minister!) responded with an intensification of direct taxation, with sackings, cuts, autarchy and violence. In 1932 the country was forced to declare bankruptcy, taking the drachma off the link with the dollar and devaluation. Due to the policy that he followed the Liberal party imploded and Venizelos was forced to junk in his political career. From his ridiculous insistence on the hard drachma the political duet of Glyxbourg (ex-King) – Metaxas whilst the dictatorship that followed led the borrowers that Greece would continue to pay its debts.



Like Argentina in our days, Greece not only did not destroy itself, as the pre-war Cassandras predicted but with a weapon the national monetary policy and its refusal to continue to pay this odious debt, it added phenomenal rhythms of development taking on the third highest on the planet after Japan and the Soviet Union!



What is the difference of coming out of a link with whatever hard currency (or from the hard Euro – if that was the relationship) from the forced or chosen exit from the Eurozone? None whatsoever. Let them not say that there isn’t a historical parallel that we don’t have experience and we don’t know what the consequences are going to be for a return to our national currency.



I have referred to two examples but there are tens of others. Let those who sell catastrophism sell it it to those who have no clue. We will not allow Greece and the Greek nation to disappear so some can sell slavery to the Euro-atlantic bosses defending either which way the condemned Eurozone.





UNFOUNDED CATASTROPHIST SYLLOGISMS




In the press and the internet one finds syllogisms against the return of the drachma, but one doesn’t find many arguments. That isn’t a coincidence. I haven’t searched extensively but to the extent that I did, I found four paragraphs by Petros Dukas with which he tries to convince us that a return to the Drachma will be catastrophic. For all those that don’t realise relatively that he was Deputy Minister in two New Democracy govts, he studied economics and international relations in George Washington University, company management and finance economics at Columbia University and economics in New York University, to which he became a doctor of Economics. He also worked for Citibank in New York and became the general manager for the same bank in Greece.



P. Dukas supports that:

“The discussion and the threatening dilemma for a return to the drachma is unintelligible and self-destructive for our country.

Further down he posts the first attack we will be forced to accept as Greeks!

The points numbered are Dukas the answers are mine.







1) We will constitute acceptance that us Greeks have totally failed, that we are unable to compete and we are in the 3rd Division of Europe

Us Greeks were never asked or questioned if they wanted Greece to become a member of the EEC. Any who had a basic understanding knew that Greece was being thrown into a wolves den, as without trade protectionism it was impossible to compete with the west-European mega giants, when essentially , without the nations being asked, the rule of common market preference on the basis which the Union occurred, never functioned as this is how the uncontrolled centres of power in Brussels decided. Even worse there never were any European trade boundaries. With the GATT agreements and later the WTO ones the European market was transformed officially into a united world market, without the nations being asked. The entrance of Greece in 2001 into the Eurozone was the last nail in the coffin of the Greek economy. The fate of the Greek economy had been judged and that was known by all our politicians (amongst which is Dukas) unless of course we are to accept they are chosen simply by the level of dumbness.









2) The ‘New Drachma’ would unavoidably become immensely devalued in order to be able to aid the competitiveness of our exports. But never before has devaluation had anything more than medium term successes. It led to a cycle of inflation, a fear of a new devaluation, exit of capital and finally new devaluations.



Above the doctor of economics and deputy minister of economics (let us not forget that one) tells us that “we failed totally, that we are unable to become competitive and we are falling into the 3rd Division” But in paragraph 2 we accepted that the devalued drachma will “aid the competitiveness of exports” and consequently accepts that the overvalued for Greek measures euros will undermine our competitiveness. This doesn’t stop him arguing (totally illogically) that the return of the drachma is destruction! He must assume that he is talking to idiots…







FEAR MONGERING NONSENSE




Where does it come from that the devalued drachma equals inflation? Or that more inflation brings about more inflation and that is why we will have capital flight abroad? All of this isn’t but nonsense with which our esteemed Dr. is trying to frighten the people.



Inflation develops when we have few goods in the market in relation with demand hence we have an increase in prices. Or when the country is forced to print money from air as it has created obligations where its actual government coffers aren’t able to service.



The new drachma will be devalued in relation not to itself but from its original price 1Euro=340.75Drachma s which it was on 1st January 2001. Not because it is written in its DNA but because it is to the interest of the country. It must because Greece became an open border paradise and lost all its rights handed over to foreign centres of power with the Euro hanging on its neck and lost as a result 50% of of its competitiveness.



There will be repercussion which will occur on life, but they will only be positive. If the German Euro can’t be devalued for the Greek terrain, the quislings that rule us found the answer in devaluing our lives. How else are we going to feed the usurers and we save the eurozone which is one step away from death! They are taking the last cent which is circulating in the country having provoked a depression, mass unemployment, they cut and cut again salaries, pensions, they have unleashed a fierce tax chasing mechanism, the make incessant and constant increases in fuel, the prices of all utilities, the prices of all the basic basket of goods, they destroy the welfare state, all the services linked to people, health, education, everything.

The “New Drachma” which will replace the Euro will have the same form one euro = one new drachma which should become a paper note, with the same subdivisions and paper multipliers so as to avoid whatever speculation against the consumers. Whatever could be bought with one euro should be bought with one drachma. A wage of 800 Euros will become a wage of 800drachmas. The necessary devaluation is related to the relationship of the drachma with the euro and foreign currencies. In 2001 it was 1E=340drachma. Due to the economic meltdown which the country has suffered whose fault is due to the corrupt political personnel this relationship will change in defence of the drachma if we want to promote our exports and tourism. 1 Euro can become = 440.75drachmas. This devaluation in relation to foreign currencies is obviously going to influence to an extent the internal prices of the market, but not in a country where the govt will utilise all the possibilities internally and our relationships with abroad. We must add that a return to a drachma on its own does not satisfy for the country to stand on its feet. It must constitute the beginning of a new course, the independent and national domination of Greece, ready for new openings and open to fruitful cooperations with new peoples all over the planet, on the basis of mutual gain alone.





To proceed further: which exit of capital and fear of inflation is Dukas talking about? There are around $350 billion euros and dollars in the bank of Greece. There are the trading reserves of the country and not one has the right to touch them. If the state has the will it is in the position of defending them. Let us forget about capital flight. Neither Argentina in our days nor Greece in 1932 confronted such issues with bankruptcy and will not confront them now. The planet as a whole is facing the most complicated the most explosive crisis in its history and there are no areas which are now secure for any currency in any country. If capital flight occurs in Turkey which has its own currency the same will occur in Greece...





3) The massive debt in Euros should be paid in devalued drachmas. As a result our debt will increase to around 250% of GDP!

Will the doctor of economics drive us mad: Given the fact that the ‘massive debt’ won’t anyway be paid back (everyone understands that) not only is the debt transformed into drachmas but so does the GDP. Therefore the relationship of debt to GDP, remains constant, it doesn’t change because we change currency.





4) All the citizens with investments and deposits in our country would aim to avoid the losses incurred from a return to a Drachma and would take out quickly all the capital abroad with the result being the immediate collapse of the banking system and economic activity!





The respect and worth of a currency of a country is determined by the productivity of work but also by the quality of the productive goods. It improves or deteriorates from the development of these two factors. If they impose a currency on you like the Euro whose respectability and its price in the markets is very high as it is based on German competitiveness and quality, then it is truly illogical and an unnatural situation as it weakens serverely exports, as he accepts in the 2nd paragraph and supports imports. With the Euro Greece has a permanent date with bankruptcy. We need a 180degree turn and one of the first measures for the country on the road to development is a return to a cheap drachma. When that occurs we wont have capital flight or investments from the country. The New Democracy ‘doctor of economics’ deceives aims to influence the Greek people. With the cheap drachma capital will flood into the country. If the opposite occurred as is being alleged we wouldn’t see American and European capital emigrating to China with the cheap Renminbi but Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese to be emigrating to Western Europe and the USA!







As for the banks we say going bankrupt one after the other from the epidemic in the USA and Un Kingdom that occurred not because of capital flight abroad (so as to find safe ports, where truly?) but because we have a lack of liquidity, as their reserves are ‘toxic’ they are obligations by debtors who cannot pay. That is why every now and again states are making injections of liquidity in the banks so as to keep alive the money of its citizens. That occurs because it is in the nature of the market (which has been deliberately deified) cutting things down to size or increasing as it sees fit. The market is a creation of man and his creation, it cannot regulate the life of its creator. The creator man will tomorrow regulate the market and thus his life.

The New Chaplain

  • As a full-time chaplain of the Chicago Police Department, the Rev. Daniel Brandt says a big part of his job is just being there in times of need.

    “It’s not so much what we say. It’s being present, being available,” Brandt said. “A lot of times [the officers] just want to talk. They just went through a grueling experience. They’ve had a taste of their own mortality.”

    Brandt had been pastor of Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, 653 W. 37th, while serving as a part-time chaplain. A little more than two months ago, he was made a full-time chaplain.

    As chaplain he is always on call to respond to any kind of situation in which a police officer or family member requires spiritual support or comfort. With a police department that is largely Roman Catholic — Brandt estimates at least three out of four police officers identity themselves as Catholic — he has his work cut out for him.

If you'll recall one of Father Nangle's last FOP newsletter posts, the Department brass was prepared to take a huge hit by naming someone other than Father Brandt to the post. Someone so unpopular with the rank-and-file that Nangle seemed worried the entire ministry might not survive the backlash. Fortunately, it didn't come to that.



Welcome aboard.

Whoops!

  • A man driving to work this morning on Chicago's Northwest Side got an unpleasant surprise when his SUV tumbled into a sinkhole.



    The incident happened at the intersection of Foster and Elston avenues at about 5:30 a.m., said police and a spokesman from the Chicago Department of Water Management.



    "I saw him actually climb out of the hole on a ladder," said Joe Springer, whose bar Rabbit's sits at the corner. "The cops told me he was okay."



    Tom LaPorte, the water management spokesman, said the 10-to-12-foot hole was believed to have developed after a water main broke under the street and the water washed away the layers of dirt supporting the road.
It ate the entire car:



Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

This Place has Everything!

At this New Jersey Dunkin Donuts, you can get a donut and...:

  • A 29-year-old woman working the night shift at Dunkin Donuts faces prostitution charges for allegedly taking breaks from selling donuts and coffee to provide sexual services in exchange for money.

    Melissa Redmond, 29, of Mine Hill, was arrested after a six week investigation known as "extra sugar" that began when police got a tip that people could go to the Dunkin Donuts on Route 46 and arrange a liason with Redmond.

    "I had gotten an anonymous tip," Detective Sgt. Kyle Schwarzmann, who led the investigation. "She was a night time employee (working 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.), supposedly a very good one."

Or a very bad one, depending on your point of view.

That Time of Year

  • As many as 2 million people were expected to take in the Chicago Air & Water Show on Saturday and Sunday and that means a big job for Chicago police.

    As CBS 2 [...] reports, some officers are working 13 hours each day because of the event. Others are beginning as early as 6 a.m. to start patrolling the lakefront.

  • Sources said that gang officers would be saturating the lakefront along with officers from different areas and districts.

    Officers and ambulances also were being positioned at various locations at Oak Street Beach, along Inner Lake Shore Drive and under several viaducts.

    Tactical officers were being deployed at Oak Street Beach as well.

    [...] At North Avenue Beach, high-ranking officers were part of the foot patrol on Friday and police and paramedic bike units were patrolling along with the full mounted unit.

    Sources said officers have been told to be diligent – if they see a situation where crowds are gathering and there’s the potential for trouble, the situation needs to be handled immediately.

    Police don’t want a repeat of the mob attacks that plagued North Avenue Beach on Memorial Day.

Whoa whoa whoa! What's that last line?

  • Police don’t want a repeat of the mob attacks that plagued North Avenue Beach on Memorial Day.
So now it wasn't "the heat?" Have we stopped using that as a code word? Could someone downtown please come up with a cheat sheet or a list of current code words and lies we're telling the media and the public, because we're having an awfully difficult time keeping it all straight.

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