Quote of the Day
Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped.
African Proverb
Dead Fish For Everyone: Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel
What Does He Do Now? (The Candidate)
Next to my native Texan cities of San Antonio, Austin, and Houston, Chicago remains my favorite big city. I've never really cared much for New York City or Los Angeles; it's more of a personal preference. I often would walk the mile-plus from Union Station to work (versus waiting for the bus), going to the Taste of Chicago (I found the goat and banana dish intriguing), cutting across Daley Plaza around Halloween, finding an out-of-the-way lunch counter, etc.
But as a recovering former Democrat, I had to face the fact the city is heavily Democratic; I can still remember going to a job interview one day and while I waited, hearing the receptionist (at a nonpartisan business) making personal get-out-the-vote calls. Fortunately, I lived in western suburbs routinely represented in Congress by Republicans. Republicans usually are stronger downstate, away from Chicago, and statewide races are often decided by the efficacy of Chicago Democrats in getting their voters to the polls.
Richard Daley, just shy of 70, decided to retire, giving Emanuel a shot at his seat, although I've been highly critical of a recent unanimous Illinois state Supreme Court decision which gutted the very meaning of a recent Chicago residency requirement for qualification. (Personally, I'm not a fan of local residency requirements and felt as a former area Congressman, Emanuel was more than qualified to run as mayor: I just felt what was done constituted an unconscionable double standard.)
Rahm Emanuel, though, is inheriting a 22-year legacy of kicking the can down the road, and he's going to find himself in an odd position like Governors Brown (D-CA) and Cuomo (D-NY) having to look at austerity measures, including possible tax hikes and benefit cuts. He may have the ear of another former Chicago resident, President Barack Obama, but Speaker Boehner is not going to be receptive for state and local bailouts.
Obama: Dithering on the Libyan Massacre
I'm glad to see the UN Security Council finally come together to condemn the actions of Libyan dictator Qaddafi, whom ordered the Libyan Air Force to shoot live ammunition at defenseless civilians in Tripoli. Now I've made it clear in past posts that I want to see our foreign commitments streamlined and we are not the world's policeman. I don't want to see another Iraq-like "you-broke-it-you-bought-it" scenario.
But after Obama's bungling of the Egyptian uprising against Mubarak, where the military make it clear they would not use lethal force against their own citizens, and Obama threw a long-time ally Mubarak under the bus just after Mubarak had already announced he was retiring and would not stand for reelection, Obama has kept a low profile. Of course, the State Department has made it clear that it's not a good idea to murder innocent protesters. But in certain aspects, this uprising reminds me of the Northern Alliance's rout of the Taliban in late 2001; in my opinion, at minimum, President Obama should unambiguously condemn Qaddafi's crimes, withdraw recognition of the Qaddafi regime, announce support for pro-democratic forces (including any necessary weapons and ammunition or logistics support) and call on the Libyan military to respect human rights and disobey unlawful orders targeting their own citizens.
I'm glad to see the UN Security Council finally come together to condemn the actions of Libyan dictator Qaddafi, whom ordered the Libyan Air Force to shoot live ammunition at defenseless civilians in Tripoli. Now I've made it clear in past posts that I want to see our foreign commitments streamlined and we are not the world's policeman. I don't want to see another Iraq-like "you-broke-it-you-bought-it" scenario.
But after Obama's bungling of the Egyptian uprising against Mubarak, where the military make it clear they would not use lethal force against their own citizens, and Obama threw a long-time ally Mubarak under the bus just after Mubarak had already announced he was retiring and would not stand for reelection, Obama has kept a low profile. Of course, the State Department has made it clear that it's not a good idea to murder innocent protesters. But in certain aspects, this uprising reminds me of the Northern Alliance's rout of the Taliban in late 2001; in my opinion, at minimum, President Obama should unambiguously condemn Qaddafi's crimes, withdraw recognition of the Qaddafi regime, announce support for pro-democratic forces (including any necessary weapons and ammunition or logistics support) and call on the Libyan military to respect human rights and disobey unlawful orders targeting their own citizens.
Any regular blog reader knows George Will is one of my favorite conservative commentators. I have written multiple posts on Governor Walker, whom I strongly support. I want to focus on a few takeaway quotes:
- "[Walker] campaigned on this. Union fliers distributed during the campaign attacked his "5 [pension % salary contribution] and 12 [health care]" plan." Say it ain't so, Joe! Go figure: the mainstream media haven't questioned the union's "good faith" concession? Could it be the fact that the votes of majority Republicans in the assembly, senate and governor's mansion imposing this concession--still overly generous relative to the private sector--made the union concession irrelevant, little more than a public relations stunt, more of an attempt to argue this is all about the right of unions to habitually filibuster contracts to stealthily extend benefits at the expense of taxpayers, whose own benefits are significantly less? If the unions were eager to contribute their fair share, why did they picket against them last fall and why didn't they give back under the prior Democratic administration?
- "Many protesters do not realize that most worker protections, merit hiring; just cause for discipline and termination, are the result not of collective bargaining but of Wisconsin's uniquely strong and century-old civil service law." The key point, of course, is that the civil service protections were in place prior before the unions were allowed to engage in collective bargaining for the first time 40 years ago. There is also a more practical criterion: if government exploits its workforce with unfair compensation and/or working conditions relative to external employment, we should be seeing retention problems, difficulties in staffing, etc.
- "The Democratic Party is the party of government, not only because of its extravagant sense of government's competence and proper scope, but also because the party's base is government employees." Wait--I'm going to say it: UNION CRONYISM! Ironically this is exactly the thing that Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers were afraid of: a self-sustaining government bureaucracy. There are reasons why unions (including government unions) have supported Democrats; for example, the Bush Administration wanted more direct managerial controls over personnel (e.g., merit pay and personnel utilization) during the creation of post-9/11 DHS and in the context of civil service reform but ran into predictable resistance to change from unions. We also see similar reactionary behavior when it comes to consolidating operations (e.g., military base closures).
Political Humor
They say President Lincoln once walked three miles to pay back a penny. That makes him the last president to do anything about the debt. - David Letterman
[Just imagine how far Obama would have to walk to pay back his $4T in debt... You're going to need more shoes, Barack...]
If Gov. Scott Walker is driven out of power in Wisconsin, there will be a power vacuum that may be filled by the Muslim Brotherhood. - David Letterman
[No worries. Scott's cousin Ranger Cordell Walker is putting in for a transfer from Texas...]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Bee Gees, "Staying Alive". Probably the iconic hit of the Saturday Night Fever era.
