Governor Rauner: Robbing the Poor to Save a Radical Right Theory

The hard-hearted and the tone deaf have another
advocate, Governor Rauner of Illinois. Shock
and awe after the Chicago Tribune's McQueary
publicly pined in print for a "Katrina" to hit Chicago
has subsided; less talked about is the earlier
attempt of Gov. Rauner to take some $265
Million in winter energy funds for the poor
to plug the giant $6 Billion budget hole here.
(See Crain's Chicago Business, February 23rd,
2015.)

There are so many reasons to hate this "plan",
but I merely submit a telling few:

(1) How significant an accounting coup is
$265 Million vs. a $6 Billion debt? The
math is less than compelling.
(2) How realistic is the guv being, facing
a veto-proof, Democratic two house
majority in Springfield? The Democrats,
even if relatively modestly paid, dearly
wish to retain their seats; the poor, unions
and seniors generally vote Democratic.
The math HERE is quite compelling.
(3) Rauner, being philosophically in
lockstep with the likes of the Koch
Brothers, et al., shows his true bent.
The elderly and the poor can freeze
this Winter, all to show Rauner's rich
cohorts he is serious about adhering
to their radical right theories--there is
little other impetus for such hard-hearted
proposals.

A reverse Robin Hood does no one
good--unless you happen to be as rich
as Rauner...if not, why, you are unworthy,
not to be considered, cared about, cared for.

We will wait to see the decline of this one
term wonder. How did he get elected, anyway?

@ The Chicago Tribune: Weary of McQueary--She Extolls Hurricane Katrina as a Good Thing

Where to begin, what to decry?? I'm weary of
reporters like Kristen McQueary: too young
AND unstudied to restrain her enthusiasm for any
error, any time, about any subject. Let's examine
her article in said paper, dated August 13, 2015:

(1) Kristen, from where do you derive your assertion
that "Chicago is so good at hiding its rot"?? Much of
our world, in particular, our whole state, knows about
most of it: TIFs, nepotism, cronyism, corrupt or illogical
deals, racism, ad infinitum. Readers reading exclusively,
narrowly, perhaps may still harbor a few illusions, but most
of us, alert, aware, and past the age of 40, do not.

(2) About your extravagant praise of Paul Vallas:
--WHAAT?? --Are you a relative, Ms. McQueary?
You must be too young and unstudied, or you would
recall Vallas exiting Illinois oh so swiftly after his glowing
students' scores/statistics showing how he improved the
Chicago Public Schools were found to be "rounded up".
His more recent  reinventions and high-level positions
do not impress me--he is very like that extremely
ambitious "wonder woman" in DC who became
disgraced after HER district's "improved scores"
were ALSO discovered to be false. Then there was
the personally revealing episode at the end of an
appearance with about ten others; as the Channel 11
camera panned from the viewer's left to right, Vallas,
the last on the viewers' right, leaned over further,
attempting to remain in the frame...tsk! I know there's
more dirt, but we will move on.

(3) There is nothing amusing, uplifting or inspiring
about KMc's desire for a Chicago catastrophe:
if she is trying to "artfully", outrageously observe that
significant progress usually only occurs after a crisis,
for my money, she fails. Gallows humor is NOT her
metier. The suffering, death and destruction dealt by
Katrina to New Orleans was/is not funny; I knew the
storm would go beyond a Category Three, three days
before the hurricane hit, as I follow NOAA, PBS, read
science articles, etc. Therefore, the federal government
under Bush II, FEMA, Louisiana officials, etc. are
completely culpable. (I knew, and I'm not even a
college graduate; so what was wrong with all "the
deciders"? Apparently the idiots were running
the store, YET AGAIN...and the innocent paid,
yet again.)

(4) Kristen follows with a fairly factual wrap up
of Chicago's financial fiddling and fiduciary shame,
yet she doesn't suggest substantive solutions in the
realm of the possible. (At this point I'm channeling
Chris Matthews, thinking, tell me something I don't
know.)

(5) Kristen Mc takes to task people who lack
understanding of her purportedly pithy
prescriptions/proscriptions. She says they should
"have their heads examined". I say she should study
more, opine less. Adam Johnson at AlterNet accuses
ol' Kristen of Ayn Rand sympathies...quite likely.

                              FINALLY:

Memo to the Tribune Editorial Board: All of you
should have had YOUR collective heads examined,
allowing this twit on your board, once a brilliant
board on a once very fine paper.

20 Want to Win the USA's Top Job--18 of Them Deeply Disappoint--This Is No Field of Dreams, But a Nightmare

Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both too old to serve
in 2017 as president:

(1) She is too secretive, seems to take for granted that she
is entitled, as her last name is Clinton. As of today (08/11/'15)
PBS, CBS, et al., announced ol' Hil (--OVER the hill, if anyone
asks me) is giving up her private server to be scrutinized by the
government...at least four of 40 of the ones she'd previously
submitted turned  out to be classified. She originally had
60,000 "private" emails at her home on that server; no one is
that personally popular!

(2) Mr. Sanders apparently acts for the greater good, seems to
be a fine person, but believes our economy, especially small
businesses, can afford to pay a minimum of $15/hr. to one
and all, regardless of their skill set. He thinks he can take us
back to the 1930s, when being a Socialist, or at least very
lefty, was a realistic alternative to Democratic and Republican
philosophies and candidates. This won't fly in 2015, 2016 or
2017, despite the large crowds populating his rallies, mostly
composed of very young adults, the old, and service workers.

That is 66% of the Democratic Party presidential candidate
field. I still hold hopes for former MD Governor O'Malley,
(D),who isn't too old, doesn't have too much baggage, and is
a moderate...but the media isn't doing its job, so we don't
see much from him yet.

As to the other 17 (the Republicans):--well, what can you say?
Most of them are too right-wing extreme, one isn't a natural
born U.S. citizen, another is clutching the coattails of a famous
family name, one is a crude, loudmouthed boor with no manners,
is ugly, makes strange facial expressions in public...perhaps
Kasich of Ohio is qualified and a moderate--he got good
reviews after the first real Republican Candidates debate.

This field of dreamers are a nightmare crop of embarrassment,
prompting scorn and concern around our nation and the rest
of the world. The 2016 Campaign will get serious after Labor Day,
so keep watching.

Hippocratic Or Hypocritical Oath? Two Late July Expose's Prove Doctors Are Corrupt Too

According to NBC Chicago TV, July 27, doctors
will sign a letter stating an airplane passenger can
require the presence of his/her ESA--an animal to
provide comfort to the vaguely (read: unspecified)
health-challenged person. These doctors are paid
for this "certification", naturlich. ESA is the acronym
for Emotional Support Animals, which have included
cats, dogs, chickens and other species. The ESAs are
not trained as are seeing-eye dogs, which can offer
effective assistance in an on-board emergency, as
ESAs cannot. There are reports of planes returning to
the tarmac for "sanitary reasons", delaying flight
schedules. What ethical doctor facilitates this madness?
(Third World nation status, here we come.) The sad
answer is--many doctors are corrupt, just as teachers,
priests, others often are, ad infinitum.

--But wait! A mere three days later, on July 30th,
The Chicago Sun-Times carried a story about
doctors serving at a West Side hospital called
"Sacred Heart". Ed Novak, the substandard
hospital's owner, bribed doctors to send patients
to Sacred Heart, a site infested with maggots
on occasion. Hmmmn..."Sacrilegious Heart"
would be the more accurate moniker. Good ol'
Ed will spend some four and a half years behind
bars for his tape heard in court; he claimed to have
no concern for the community, an acknowledgedly
poor one. For shame, doctors, demerit pages,
participating (if you have) in this kickback conspiracy,
e.g., corruption.

Carefully check out your doctors before accepting
diagnosis and treatment: the life you save may be
your own. Make sure the physicians in question
know and accept the difference between the
Hippocratic Oath (do no harm) and any
hypocritical one, which may mean you
harm indeed.

An Ugly American Strikes Again--and an Innocent Lion Pays

This pointless killing even brought Jimmy Kimmel
to a halt, choking up when discussing Cecil's death.
The Los Angeles Times article, reprinted in July 30th's
Redeye, described the twisted tale: Cecil, a collared
male lion, part of a pride, was shot on July 1st by an
American hunter in a Zimbabwean conservation
park area. The hunter, Walter James Palmer, paid
~$55,000 to participate in this trophy safari. He
claimed everything about this trip was legal, properly
handled and conducted, via  a written statement.

Zimbabwe officials think otherwise. They have
already detained and arrested the local "professionals"
who guided this pathetic and illegal private safari. None
of these three men had permission to kill any lions.
All three, the two locals and Palmer, a dentist from
Bloomington, Minnesota are being charged with
poaching, a serious infraction in parts of  Africa,
including Zimbabwe. Officials there want Palmer
extradited back to Zimbabwe.

The essential point is that much of the world's
wildlife is disappearing, mostly due to human
activity, ever-increasing overpopulation and
destruction of habitat. The relatively few rich
and entitled Americans who take trophies
from endangered species like big cats and
elephants really contribute heavily in an inverse
ratio to the depopulation of  these magnificent
animals...but hey, a dentist's life is a boring if
unpleasantly smelly one, so--on to an adventure,
bwana!

Certain apologists across the web have decried
the vilification of hunter Palmer, in view of far
worse inhumane activities perpetrated daily.
I understand their emphasis, that human murders
outrank outrage concerning this sorry saga. Yet
it is ALL WRONG, always, killing anything/
anyone for no defensible reason--and pleasure
AIN'T no good reason. (-!)

Burdick and Lederer are probably "tsking" and
tut-tutting in their graves right about now. Their
masterwork, The Ugly American, published in
1958, characterizes the many ignorant, arrogant
Americans millions around the world
(--and here at home) have come to know
but not to love.