Much passion in response to my post today, "Tomatoes and Cheap Labor." Facts can be very upsetting, and reader "Rogers Park Latino" is muy upset. (RPL's spelling errors have not been corrected.)

Dear RPB,

Shame on you! How dare you post this senseless and debasing propoganda!

I'm truly disgusted. As an Hispanic I find this utterly offensive. Not only that, it's full of fallacy after fallacy. The reality is that only 15% of the Latino population is here illegally. Extend that number proportionally to the students - and only

15% of those students are here illegaly.

Number 2 - "A third-world culture that does not value education,"

Wow - that's a lie if I ever heard one. The reality is education is the number one issue amongst Latinos(Pew Hispanic Research)

Number 3 - "That accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15" Again, disgusting that someone would write this. I'm Mexican and my mother (who has dual citizenship) owns a home in Mexico. I can tell you that that type of behavior isn't accepted in Mexico or in the US.

Number 4 -"and that refuses to assimilate" Again. Not founded on evidence. Read any recent Tribune article - Latino 2nd and 3rd generations are assimilating faster than any previous immigrant group in the US's history. Most 2nd generation are bilingual and most 3rd generation can't speak Spanish.

I could continue to rebut this hate-filled e-mail all day long - but instead I'll just politely ask that you remove it.

Thanks,

Rogers Park Latino

RESPONSE:

Dear RPL:

How dare I? It's my blog. How dare YOU tell ME to remove something that challenges your worldview. "Remove it?" Are you shitting me?

I didn't write the piece you're so ticked off about. I presented it as something that is going around the Internet. But since you decided to step in this, I must say that your hate-filled comment shows your own ignorance.

You wrote, "The reality is that only 15% of the Latino population is here illegally." How could you possibly know that if they are UNDOCUMENTED? You CANNOT know that "only 15%" entered the country illegally. In any case, who cares? Fifteen percent would still be a heck of a lot of people. Your point is moot.

"Not founded on evidence," you write. Ever been to East L.A., Amigo? There's a whole bunch of evidence right there.

You say education is the number one priority amongst Latinos. Sure, the educated ones certainly do, but they're in the minority.

You wrote, "That accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15." Again, disgusting that someone would write this. I'm Mexican and my mother (who has dual citizenship) owns a home in Mexico. I can tell you that that type of behavior isn't accepted in Mexico or in the US." RPL, but are you just completely clueless?

Right here in our own neighborhoods we have kids getting pregnant and dropping out by age 15, of all ethnicities. Your mother owns a home in Mexico - so what? What's that got to do with 15 year old here or anywhere getting knocked up? "Isn't accepted?" Perhaps not by you, certainly not by me, but look outside your window.

"Advocates say that the high birth rate is a major factor why so many Latinas are forced to drop out of high school since many cannot find adequate day care. In 2004, the Latino drop out rate in New York City was 20.6 percent compared to 17.7 percent for blacks, 10.6 percent for whites and 9.5 percent for Asian students. While the city’s Department of Education does not break down the numbers by gender, an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center based on 2000 U.S. Census data showed that in New York state native-born Latinas had a 3.8 percent drop out rate and foreign-born Latinas a 10.7 percent drop-out rate – higher than that of black and white female teenagers." Source: http://www.eldiariony.com/noticias/detail.aspx?id=1449298§ion=17

You wrote: "Number 2 - "A third-world culture that does not value education." Let's see, it's not a lie that it's a Third World culture. So is it a lie that the Hispanic culture does not value education?

I would agree that it is. But I didn't say that. I would say, however, that as a whole they value it less than some other Western cultures. But don't take my word for it.

Northeastern Illinois University notes that, "Nationwide, Latino students have a 38 percent school dropout rate, higher than any other population. About 55 percent of Latino adults have a high school diploma. In 1997, 27 percent of Hispanic high school graduates ages 18-21 were enrolled in college, as compared to 46 percent of white students." Source: http://ola.wkkf.org/ENLACE/chicago.htm

Unfortunately, Latino students have a very high drop-out rate (50%). This is line with a national trend where drop-out rates are increasing for all students, with the average being around 30%. Its not limited to rural or urban or one particular ethnicity or social group, however Latinos seemed to be hit particularly hard according to Ruben Navarrette Jr., a columnist at the San Diego Union-Tribune. He believes that “while [Latino parents] value education for their children, they don’t always value it for themselves. Many Latinos have decided that the way to get ahead is through hard work, and that is where they focus their passion.” Source: http://www.scholarships-ar-us.org/blog/2006/12/06/what%E2%80%99s-behind-the-high-drop-out-rate-for-latino-students/

But this is not happening only in the U.S. It is happening IN LATIN AMERICA. According to the ECLAC report Social Panorama of Latin America 2001-2002, "Thirty seven percent of Latin American adolescents (from 15 to 19 years) drop out of school before completing secondary education. Almost half leave early, without finishing primary school, but in several countries most leave during the first year of high school." Source: http://www.hispanictips.com/2007/02/06/teen-pregnancy-rate-continues-drop-except-among-latinas-arizona/

Also see: "Buenos Aires aims to cut dropout rate" at
http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/10/18/rargentine_ed3__0.php

I could continue to rebut your hate-filled, devoid-of-facts comment all day long - but instead I'll just politely ask that you do some reasearch on your own. Try reading reliable sources, like the ones I cited above, instead of the opinion pages of La Raza.

From that fiercely anti-Hispanic, anti-Latino publication El Diario, the following story. Can YOU handle the truth? Written by the obviously anti-Hispanic Elaine Rivera .

Advocates say that the high birth rate is a major factor why so many Latinas are forced to drop out of high school since many cannot find adequate day care. In 2004, the Latino drop out rate in New York City was 20.6 percent compared to 17.7 percent for blacks, 10.6 percent for whites and 9.5 percent for Asian students. While the city’s Department of Education does not break down the numbers by gender, an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center based on 2000 U.S. Census data showed that in New York state native-born Latinas had a 3.8 percent drop out rate and foreign-born Latinas a 10.7 percent drop-out rate – higher than that of black and white female teenagers. FULL STORY...

Thanks to Craig for this valuable post, at* The Gooners are Back in Business:

CRAIG'S BLOGNOTES: The newly reformed Rogers Park Neighbors are calling for court advocacy on this arrest. Contact: craiggernhardt@comcast.net for details.

This is making the rounds on the web.

Tomatoes and Cheap Labor . . . Cheap Tomatoes . . This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent.

From a California school teacher:

As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park, etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (Our tax dollars at work.)

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (Our tax dollars at work.)

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (Our tax dollars at work.)

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less than three months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" (whores) and throwing things that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, day care etc., etc., etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: Spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.

Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return?

There are many hardworking Hispanic/American citizens that contribute to our country and many that I consider my true friends. We should encourage and accept those Hispanics who have done it the right and legal way.

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about "politically correct" that we don't have the will to do anything about it.

If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know.

CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?

Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.

Consumers don't want expensive produce.

Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs.

But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."

Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or $6.00 per hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.

He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.

He qualifies for food stamps.

He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.

His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.

He requires bilingual teachers and books.

He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.

If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at (our) taxpayer's expense.

He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.

Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.

He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.

Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $ 6.00/hour left after paying their bills and his.

The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean-up.

Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people.

THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR EITHER PARTY. 'AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON'T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM AT ONCE!'

THIS HAS GOT TO BE PASSED ALONG TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE OR WE WILL ALL GO DOWN THE DRAIN BECAUSE A FEW DON'T CARE !

Tom Roeser just can't quit Chicago Alderman Joe Moore. Roeser, a talk show host on WLS-AM 890 in Chicago, frequently has Joe on as a guest. Recently, Roeser was critical of Moore (see Roeser Rips Moore on Rezko, Abortion, Obama...).

On April 29, Roeser said on his Sunday radio show, "...if Obama had been an alderman, he should be held accountable for receiving funds from a slum-lord-but Obama wasn’t: he was a state senator. The fact that Rezko’s unsavoryness was well known, that Rezko was a neighbor means nothing in the argument to Moore."

Antoin “Tony” Rezko is under intense investigation by the federal authorities for massive financial hijinks. It should also be pointed out that 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore has accepted at least $5,000 in campaign donations from Tony Rezko.

Joe Moore responded today to Roeser via Roeser's blog. A couple of excerpts:

It turns out that while Tony Rezko may have many character deficiencies, being a slumlord is not one of them. After the radio show, I did a little digging around and discovered that Rezko’s company actually did a very good job at acquiring abandoned and troubled buildings on Chicago’s South Side, fixing them up and managing them well as affordable housing.

Perhaps you can argue that Rezko knew the properties were losing money and were heading for trouble when he unloaded them and perhaps you can argue that Rezko was a snake for breaking his promise to Alderman Preckwinkle and the city that he would own the buildings in the long-term. But you can’t argue that Barack Obama knowingly accepted campaign donations from a known “slumlord.” An owner of 30 buildings with four code violations over a period of eleven years cannot be considered a slumlord. Senator Obama’s off the hook on this one.

Apparently Joe Moore does not read - or believe - the Chicago Sun-Times, which has been covering the Rezko mess for a while now. Say what you will about the Sun-Times, they do have some good investigative reporters down there, and on April 23 the Sun-Times ran Part One of a two-part article titled, "Obama and his Rezko ties." Written by staff reporter Tim Novak, this is must reading. In light of Moore’s pitiful statements in defense of Tony Rezko, Novak’s article shows Joe Moore to be either a liar or an incompetent boob (or both).

The Sun-Times article began with these words:

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side.

This directly contradicts Moore’s statement that “Rezko’s company actually did a very good job [with] troubled buildings ... and managing them well.” (But then, Joe Moore probably thought local slumlord Jay Johnson was running his buildings well when six children died in one of them.)

The Sun-Times piece continues:

It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers. Rezko and Mahru couldn't find money to get the heat back on. But their company, Rezmar Corp., did come up with $1,000 to give to the political campaign fund of Barack Obama, the newly elected state senator whose district included the unheated building.

So, Joe “did a little digging around” and he “discovered that Rezko’s company actually did a very good job.” Apparently it was very little digging indeed, and one must wonder where Moore was digging. Did Moore “discover” that Rezko’s company “did a very good job,” or was he simply reassured by Obama’s people of this lie?

On April 25, the Sun-Times ran a story titled, “Aldermen lash out at Daley administration over Rezko projects.”

Chicago aldermen accused the Daley administration today of looking the other way while low-income housing projects developed by the now-indicted Tony Rezko collapsed into disrepair.

The spigot of loans, grants and tax credits should have been cut off when the first of 30 taxpayer-supported Rezko buildings in Chicago fell into disrepair, the aldermen said.

Joe Moore’s name was not mentioned in the article. Funny, that. Perhaps Joe was not at that Council meeting. If he was, you can bet he was hiding under his chair while his colleagues were condemning the man that Joe Moore is so eager to defend. And take $5,000 from Rezko.

The Sun-Times, of course, is hardly the only one interested in the RezkObaMoore story. On May 3, Rob Kezelis at Capitol Hill Blue wrote:

Barack's first problem is called "Rezko". A professional, political whore who buys pols in Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois when it suits his purposes, his close, constant rubbing of elbows with Barack is actually far worse than anything Harry Truman did with his Pendergast connections. Harry's wife's White House deep freeze freezer hardly qualifies as graft.

But Barack's home's additions certainly do, and that story has been stored, savored, and fully investigated by the GOP, should Barack be the nominee or even the VP.

Tie the Rezko and Obama stuff together and you get an ugly, all-too-typical picture of just another dirty politician. Tie the RezkObaMoore stuff to the 49th Ward and you get, well, another all-too-typical picture of a dirty political machine.

Which leads me to a prediction: The Obama-Rezko-Moore connection will become big national news. Don Gordon’s challenge will factor in, too, as the depositions and discovery process uncover rough diamonds of information. But more so, the federal investigations going on will lead to Joe Moore’s 49th Ward Aldermanic Office. It will be the beginning of the end for RezkObaMoore, Inc. Bet on it.

RELATED:

Feds sic mole on Rezko

Slumlords for Moore

Chicago Alderman Joe Moore (anti-foie gras, anti-Big Box) would love this. Moore hates freedom of choice just as much as the government of Cotati, California. They have ingeniously combined anti-free choice food laws with a weird form of anti-Big Box laws, resulting in yet another instance of the Nanny State running our lives.

The city council of small-town Cotati, California, recently extended its ban on chain restaurants by six months, and is planning on implementing permanent restrictions on outside vendors in the next few weeks. You can take a look at the "arguments" for the ban (read: self-serving nonsense) in the council's March 28 minutes....

But before big-city legislators get inspired by their small-time counterparts, here’s a reminder: People choose to eat at chains....(Also: Chains are just mom-and-pop restaurants that got really popular.)

And for people on fixed incomes who can't afford "local" gourmet fare, sometimes those chicken nuggets are just what the family pocketbook ordered. FULL ARTICLE...

Nom du Nouveau Président de la République Française ("Name of the new president of the French Republic"). Watch the crowd reaction as the winner's name (Monsieur Sarkozy) is announced on television in a public square.

There is a stunning similarity between the recent aldermanic election in Chicago's 49th Ward of Rogers Park and today's presidential election in France. During the campaign for alderman in Rogers Park, ugly - and false - charges and innuendos were lobbed onto the playing field by incumbent Joe Moore. Prior to the first election of February 27, Moore and his people spread the lie that candidate Jim Ginderske, a "progressive liberal" himself, was a "Republican who wants to get rid of the black people."

Ginderske, of course, complained bitterly about that lie, but after Ginderske was knocked out of the race, he joined forces with Moore and helped spread a new lie: left-of center candidate Don Gordon, the new lie went, was - you guessed it - a "Republican who wants to get rid of the black people." Moore's gang was spreading fear, instilling visions of (gasp!) "big business" Republicans who "want to take over our neighborhood." One wonders why Moore stopped there and didn't accuse Gordon of being in the Ku Klux Klan, although at least one of Moore's cheerleaders repeatedly drew stark and not-so-subtle comparisons of Gordon to Adolf Hitler (see We Await An Apology, Mr. Westgard).

During the French presidential campaign, "the Socialists tried to scare the French planning to vote for Mr. Sarkozy, by warning that he was a danger to democracy and an aggressive politician who could not be trusted to keep his cool as president," wrote Caroline Wyatt of the BBC. Of course, the Socialists tried their best to slander Sarkozy as a Nazi, making their predictable comparisons to Hitler.

This is too familiar to us in the United States, where everyone from George Bush down to Don Gordon can be painted by Leftists in the most vile of portraiture art. It is a westgardian tactic used worldwide by "progressives," Liberals, Socialists and Communists. Just have a look at the news stand in Michael James' Heartland Cafe. Walk in, have some coffee, feel the hate. Try the hate omelette if you can stomach it.

In fact, Sarkozy's opponent, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal warned that her constituents would riot if Sarkozy won. Using a tactic taken right out of the Andrew Sharp/Joe Moore/DNC playbook, Ms. Royal said, "It is my responsibility today to warn people," she said, "of the risk of his candidacy concerning the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country." She said that unrest was especially likely in the volatile suburbs that were the site of rioting in 2005. (Source: KXMB)

It did not work: Tonight Mr. Sarkozy is the new French President, with 53% of the vote (with a voter turnout of more than 80%). The scare tactics did not work. If only Rogers Park voters were as smart as the French.

Two GREAT video interviews today (in hi-def)! Let's keep it up, Rogers Park! Please let me put out a request to anybody out there who saved Gordon or Moore political fliers. I would like to be able to photograph or scan them. I have a few but many were missed. Please let me know if you have some that I can access for a few hours: rogersparkbench@yahoo.com ~ Thanks!

"gauche"

THE French turned out en masse on Sunday May 6th to elect Nicolas Sarkozy as their new president, handing him 53% of the vote, next to 47% for his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal. Ms Royal conceded, just one minute after the first results were broadcast on election night, leaving the Gaullist 52-year-old former lawyer to take to the stage at a theatre in central Paris. Speaking of the "immense emotion" he felt, he declared that his was "not the victory of one France against another", and promised "to be the president of all the French." FULL GLORIOUS STORY!

More:

Vive la France! Vive Sarkozy!

French Markets To Rally On Sarkozy's Presidential Victory
05-06-2007

PARIS (Dow Jones) -- French financial markets should rally Monday, though modestly, on the convincing election Sunday of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as France's new president, economists and traders say.

"It has always been very clear: the markets' favorite candidate was clearly Nicolas Sarkozy," ACDE's economist Marc Touati told Dow Jones Newswires.

Indeed, Sarkozy's victory should be no surprise, as the last three polls before Sunday's French presidential vote, published Friday, showed the conservative candidate won around 53% of the vote compared with about 47% for Socialist Segolene Royal. FULL STORY at StreetInsider...

Spreading fear in France. What a riot.

In France, it is looking almost assured that the right-of-center Sarkozy will win France’s election today. With new numbers out showing his lead growing, his opponent, Socialist Royal, has warned her constituents would riot if she was not elected. Isn’t this almost typical and to be expected?

”It is my responsibility today to warn people of the risk of his candidacy concerning the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country,” she said, suggesting that unrest was especially likely in the volatile suburbs that were the site of rioting in 2005. FULL STORY...

If you truly care about Rogers Park, we ask you to step forward and speak your mind. We hear you talking in the coffee shops, on the streets. Do you believe in what you say? If so, why are you afraid to say it to the world?

Step up, Rogers Park, tell your story.

You can talk to our video camera about politics or non-political things: How long you've lived in the neighborhood, why you moved here, the changes you've seen. If you want to talk about recent politics, that is welcome too. The project will involve interviews with ordinary voters like you in the 49th Ward. You will be asked to remember and speak about polling place improprieties or related irregularities, the divisiveness you or your neighbors felt (or still feel), involvement in a campaign (at any level), and so on.

We call on supporters of Don Gordon and Joe Moore alike to step forward and speak their mind on camera. All will be treated respectfully. THIS IS NOT A "HIT PIECE," AND IS A PROJECT SEPARATE FROM ROGERS PARK BENCH. Here's an opportunity to tell your story to the world. Whether you were for or against Joe Moore or Don Gordon is irrelevant. You will be given fair and equal time and treatment either way.

Lots of street talk that the 49th Ward Democratic Machine (I know, that's an oxymoron) is scared. Frightened. Worried. Michael James, co-owner of the shitty, overrated, infrequently inspected, hate-driven Heartland Cafe and bootlicker to Alderman Joe Moore, is spreading an interesting lie.

The lie: The Democratic Party has ordered Don Gordon to drop his legal challenge of the April 17 election, in which Moore won but just under 250 votes. (Read the Gordon complaint here.)

This is absurd for a couple of obvious reasons: (1) No political party in the United States has the legal authority to order anybody to do anything. As much as Howard Dean wishes he had the same powers as an old Soviet Communist Party boss, he has zero authority, and (2) The Moore campaign put considerable effort and expense out to spread the lie that Gordon is not a Democrat. Now, suddenly, they say he is and has been ordered to withdraw. Bizarre, but typical behavior for the Moore sycophants and propagandists.

The why: The local machine Dems are soiling their panties and hope to erode support for Don Gordon's legal challenge. Not just for the obvious reason of wanting to retain the alderman's office, either. There are plenty of bigger reasons for them to be nervous.

The what: Fraud. Massive fraud. Conspiracy to commit fraud. Folks, I am not exaggerating when I write that serious criminal charges will come out of this process. It would not be hyperbole to say that we may well see some people escorted out of the neighborhood in handcuffs. There are people who could go to prison for what is alleged to have been committed and this would (a) greatly embarrass Democrats locally and nationally (i.e., Jan Schakowsky, Howard Dean); (b) cost the local Dems an aldermanic seat that is not occupied by a puppet; (c) destroy local voter's faith in the Party for many years to come; (d) greatly upset an intricate and far-reaching network of funneling money into and out of the 49th Ward, reaching to heights that I have reason to suspect but am still gathering information about.

Count One, paragraph 13 of Gordon's complaint says, "The grounds for this election contest include mistakes, fraud, and irregularities that occurred in the conduct, counting, and return of the votes, in the precincts described herein." There are a lot of individuals who will be named as helping to commit the alleged fraud.

Paragraph 17 states, "The mistakes, fraud, and irregularities occurring in the Election were made by persons who were not registered in the precinct to vote or were registered but had become disqualified under law or who voted in the name of another or who voted more than once or who were permitted to vote by the judges of election without having signed an application for ballot or a proper affidavit or were wrongfully assisted in casting their vote by a judge of election or other person or who otherwise failed to comply with the law by casting an unlawful ballot or by causing lawful votes cast for Gordon to be not counted or for other reasons as specified herein by precinct. " There are individuals who will be named as helping to commit these alleged illegal acts.

Paragraph 18 states, "The mistakes, fraud, and irregularities that occurred are set forth in the 49th ward precincts following:" and then lists "unqualified and fraudulent voters that voted in 22 precincts.

Great posting from Rogers Park Inconsistent, the title of which is, "Does DFA = Dense Foolish Aggitators? Pathetic DFA E-mail throws salt in wounds." Wow, tell us how you really feel, Lafew! This DFA thing is heating up real good, and there is signs of serious infighting at local DFA groups (see related below).

RP Inconsistent wrote:

Earth to DFA of the [49th] Ward . . . let the court decide! This is a democracy. Moore's antics are all over the internet in living color. He cannot hid behind an electronic fig leaf! He has yet to accept it and neither has "Moore's machine." FULL POSTING...

RELATED: Open Letter to DFA Edgewater/Rogers Park and OPEN LETTERS to DON GORDON, DFA...

The following excerpts from a recent article by Michael Gaynor point out why I rarely read the New York Times. The NYT simply cannot be trusted. Oh, does it give you a headache when I point out hypocrisy of the Left? It does? Good! That means you're actually reading this stuff. But the Big Question is: Are you absorbing it or are you just screaming at your computer screen? Sooner or later, this stuff has got to start cracking through that little Marxist skull of yours...

Duke Case: New York Times as a Big Loser
With the hoax perpetrated by false accuser Crystal Gail Mangum and Durham County, North Carolina District Attorney Michael B. Nifong, aided and abetted, intentionally or unintentionally, by some members of the Durham Police Department and the Durham County District Attorney's Office as well as Duke University's notorious Group of 88, The New Black Panthers, the North Carolina NAACP and biased media, national and local, potbangers, duped voters and delighted black racists having been thoroughly exposed and only the malignant foolish and the mentally ill still claiming otherwise, it is fitting to focus on the Hoax's winners and the losers.

The New York Times treated the Hoax as true because it was what The Times wanted to do.
Unfortunately, being The New York Times, it led the Far Left in what United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Times survivor himself, would call "a hi-tech lynching." FULL ARTICLE...

The recent news of the "honor killing" of a 17 year old Kurdish girl has sparked international outrage. RPB wrote about it and many of you wrote comments. Some were published here. Some of you actually poo-poohed the notion that honor killings are a widespread problem. Don't take my word for it. Here are just a few of the thousands of examples of honor killings:

Thousands of Women Killed for Family "Honor"
for National Geographic News
Hundreds, if not thousands, of women are murdered by their families each year in the name of family "honor." It's difficult to get precise numbers on the phenomenon of honor killing; the murders frequently go unreported, the perpetrators unpunished, and the concept of family honor justifies the act in the eyes of some societies.

Most honor killings occur in countries where the concept of women as a vessel of the family reputation predominates, said Marsha Freemen, director of International Women's Rights Action Watch at the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Reports submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights show that honor killings have occurred in Bangladesh, Great Britain, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey, and Uganda. In countries not submitting reports to the UN, the practice was condoned under the rule of the fundamentalist Taliban government in Afghanistan, and has been reported in Iraq and Iran.

From AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL:
Women in Pakistan live in fear. They face death by shooting, burning or killing with axes if they are deemed to have brought shame on the family. They are killed for supposed 'illicit' relationships, for marrying men of their choice, for divorcing abusive husbands. They are even murdered by their kin if they are raped as they are thereby deemed to have brought shame on their family. The truth of the suspicion does not matter -- merely the allegation is enough to bring dishonour on the family and therefore justifies the slaying.

From SPIEGEL ONLINE:
In the past four months, six Muslim women living in Berlin have been brutally murdered by family members. Their crime? Trying to break free and live Western lifestyles. Within their communities, the killers are revered as heroes for preserving their family dignity. How can such a horrific and shockingly archaic practice be flourishing in the heart of Europe? The deaths have sparked momentary outrage, but will they change the grim reality for Muslim women?

From BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY:
Special Focus: Islam
Honor Killings, Illicit Sex, and Islamic Law
Intimate violence against women is a worldwide crisis. From “crimes of passion” to “dowry deaths,” not to mention domestic violence, many types of aggression against women occur at the hands of family members. The so-called “honor killing” of women and girls in some Muslim nations is one horrifying manifestation of this global phenomenon.

From ASSYRIAN INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCY:
BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Iraq's relatively peaceful northern region of Kurdistan is witnessing a large number of so-called "honor killings" of women, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said Wednesday....Citing examples, the report said in January the charred remains of a woman were found on the outskirts of a town in Arbil, while a woman and her married boyfriend were reportedly shot dead by her brother in February.

Jordanian police arrest man for killing his sister, supposedly to ...
International Herald Tribune, France - Apr 26, 2007International human rights organizations have condemned honor killings in Jordan.

Increase in 'Honor Killings' of Kurdish Women in Iraq
AINA, CA - Apr 25, 2007BAGHDAD (AFP) -- Iraq's relatively peaceful northern region of Kurdistan is witnessing a large number of so-called "honor killings" of women.

An interview with Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed
uruknet.info, Italy - May 2, 2007In 2003, Mohammed founded the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), which shelters Iraqi women targeted in honor killings and sectarian violence.

America, Saving Muslim Women's Lives
AINA, CA - May 4, 2007For some reason, everyday atrocities such as the endemic beatings, honor killings and forced marriages of women just don't seem to be newsworthy.

England and radical Islam
Idaho Mountain Express and Guide, ID - Apr 10, 2007It means the oppression of women in these communities—forced marriages, wife beating, honor killings.

Big election in France starts just hours from now. The results will literally have a huge influence on Europe's future... and ours.

France is a good test case. Its socioeconomic troubles are nothing unusual for Old Europe -- from stagnant growth to a debt-ridden welfare state to restive, underemployed young Muslims. But the political barriers to tackling these problems are highest in France. The presidential election, pitting center-right Nicolas Sarkozy against Socialist Ségolène Royal, might provide a mandate for change. According to an Ipsos survey on the day of the first round of voting April 22, the three main issues were unemployment, purchasing power and economic insecurity. MORE from WALL STREET JOURNAL...

And from a German perspective, this from Spiegel Online:

The elections are widely perceived as a crucial choice not only between the left and right but also between two visions of France's future, after 12 stagnant years under President Jacques Chirac.

While the two very different candidates agree that there is an urgent need for change in France, they differ on how to achieve it. Royal sees the state as the preferred instrument to carry out these changes, and Sarkozy is more in favor of market-led reforms.

Although the campaign has largely dealt with domestic issues, it is being viewed with much interest from abroad. In recent years, France has struggled to play much of a role on the international stage, and French voters' rejection of the European Union constitution in a 2005 referendum dismayed many in the 27-member bloc.
FULL ARTICLE...

Why are we buying food - any food - from China? The tainted food products that have been killing dogs and cats in the U.S. now threatens human consumers. People have been freaking out for years about mad cow beef or bird flu - neither of which has produced the catastrophes that were predicted. Yet food from China has been killing hundreds - if not thousands - of people every year for a long time. China has long had a bad reputation for food safety and sanitation. Again: Why are we importing food items from China?

(AP) WASHINGTON - Federal officials on Friday placed a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market in several states because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical.

Since March 16, more than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled because they were contaminated with melamine. An unknown number of dogs and cats have been sickened or died after eating pet food tainted with the chemical.

Federal investigators have been trying to determine how much of the tainted pet food had been used in feed for hogs and chickens. Hog farms in at least six states may have received tainted pet food for use in feed. Those animals also have been barred from market.

The USDA and FDA said this week that chicken feed in some farms in Indiana contained byproducts from pet food manufactured with contaminated wheat gluten imported from China. MORE (AP)...

There are five major food safety problems in China:

Contamination occurs during the cultivation process. It is very difficult to supervise and control the manufacturing process of agriculture products produced by individual farmers; prohibited products and processes are widely used.

Food-processing factories are problematic sources of contamination. Most such factories are small, isolated and unorganized. Most factories are not properly equipped to produce quality foodstuffs.

Food distribution is not well organized. Chinese food management enterprises lack needed facilities and food distribution is managed with out-of-date methods.

Food safety protection is relatively weak in the countryside. Criminals sell impure and bad foods at country fairs and in small shops. During the Fuyang milk powder incident, farmers’ rights and interests were seriously and directly harmed.

Food safety problems have brought a bad reputation to Chinese foods in the international market. The recent consecutive reports about the incidents of Fuyang milk powder, Longkou noodles and Sichuan pickled vegetables have already drawn attention and brought serious concerns from Japan, the United States, Hong Kong and Macao. The aforementioned countries have already exerted restrictions on the import of Chinese foods.

From the Looney Bin, this depressing story of two morons found guilty of murdering their infant. Why?

The parents fed the baby only soy milk and apple juice. Idiots. They are "against animal cruelty," so they felt it best to not give the child the milk it needed.

Had the child received breast milk, had the child been adequately fed, he would be alive," said Fulton County prosecutor Michael Carlson.

But the defense and the parents ....said they did what they thought was best for their baby boy. They were vegans. They said soy milk and apple juice seemed like a reasonable alternative.

In the first case of its kind in Georgia, two vegan parents were convicted by a Fulton County jury Wednesday of starving their newborn to death....They said his parents kept only one bottle in the house, and only fed their son soy milk and apple juice.

Prosecutors said it was planned; that their vegan diet was just a ruse. They said 6-week-old Crown Thomas never stood a chance.

"You know we've been vegetarians," said Lamont Thomas. "We're against animal cruelty. So why would I be cruel to my son? We're against animals being burdened. Why would [we] be cruel and burden him and try to drive around and do something with his body? We're going to jail for no reason." FULL STORY at NBC-11Alive.com...

No, moron, you're going to jail for murdering an innocent baby. Good riddance.

The French did it. The Chileans did it. Now the British have also opened up secret files about UFOs for public scrutiny. When with the U.S. government come clean on this?

Bombarded by requests to see the evidence, the Ministry of Defence is to release Britain's official documents of UFO sightings, so the public can judge for themselves whether we are being visited by alien life forms.

A spokeswoman for the MoD said: "We are receiving a lot of requests at the moment to see this information so we have decided to put the reports on our website. But to give this some sort of context we have only ever been interested in reports that have a defence perspective."
FULL STORY...

Yesterday RPB published "An Open Letter to DFA Edgewater/Rogers Park" from DFA member Beata Riedlmayer, a long-time Rogers Park resident and woman of courage. She was responding to an "Open Letter to Don Gordon" from several DFA members. Beata essentially rebuffed them, saying "not in our name" to them. THIS IS A MUST READ for Rogers Park residents.

Today Beata wrote to RPB:

Could you please follow up with a strong suggestion that anyone who finds the "Open Letter" unacceptable should contact Jim Dean at: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/contact

They should hear from as many of us as possible.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An administrator with a reputation for shaping up big-city schools was hired to lead New Orleans' beleaguered district as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana officials said Friday.

Paul Vallas, 53, now the head of Philadelphia's public schools, will take over as superintendent of the state-run Recovery School District on or after July 1, state Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek said Friday. FULL STORY...

MORE FROM KYW NEWSRADIO...

Big Brother is Big Nanny. The government bureaucrats and their philosophical cousins in academia just knows they can run your personal life better than you can. And by God, they're out to control every aspect of your life. Bit by bit, drip by drip, the State's claws dig a bit deeper into your soul every day, the Constitution be damned. Here are two examples, one from Chicago's City Council and one from Yale University:

City: Smoking Ban Will Apply To Actors Onstage
Broadway In Chicago: "Ruling Violates 1st Amendment"
Imagine those Broadway classics -- or plays about Prohibition, organized crime or smoke-filled political rooms -- being performed in Chicago by actors who don't have cigarettes dangling from their lips or smoldering in their hands.

It could happen, now that aldermen have taken a stand that, a colleague warns, runs contrary to the First Amendment.

By a 4 to 2 vote, the City Council's Buildings Committee voted Friday not to exempt actors from Chicago's smoking ban -- not even when smoking is an "integral part of the theatrical performance." FULL STORY, CBS-2...

Yale’s theater edict — Thumbs down
A New Haven Register editorial
05/02/2007

In a weird overreaction to the massacre at Virginia Tech, Yale banned realistic stage weapons from student productions.

For a brief moment, Yale actors were staging sword duels with balloons or wooden cutouts. The edict by Betty Trachtenberg, dean of student affairs, has been reversed by Yale administrators who cited concerns about inhibiting free speech. It should have been dumped for simply being silly. Now, however, student productions must warn audiences in advance when performances will contain scenes with fake weapons. The requirement of a warning is as fatuous as the ban. Will the next production of "Hamlet" at Yale carry a triple-X rating for extreme violence? (Source:

A number of you wrote in about the recent murder of a 17 year old Kurdish girl. She was stoned to death by relatives for loving a boy of a different religion. Her family is not muslim. The girl converted so she could be accepted by her boyfriend and his family. (See my original post: Multicultural Madness: Not All Cultures Are Equal.) Below are the additional comments (in green). By the way, in case you missed it, please refer to SUGGESTED READING below, too.

Michael Harrington said [yesterday]...

Yes, this mass hysteria or mob mentality murder is horrific (the QuickTime Viewer shows the clips in high resolution!). There is no question that this represents a backward element in Iraqi culture.

However, is stoning that rare? The video clips I saw remind me that it wasn't too long ago that for many in our own culture a gleeful way to pass the time was to gather at the town square to watch an angry mob with a rope tie up, stone to death, and/or lynch Blacks. There were no cell phone cameras back then, but early box camera photos tell us of our nation's own sad history.

In both America and Iraq these inhumane behaviors don't and can't represent the totality of a culture.

As for multiculturalism, my understanding of the concept is that it is mostly about acknowledging cultural differences and respecting them. I have not heard anyone use multiculturalism to defend inhumane behaviors which translate into abuse, torture, or murder - whether in isolated instances or widespread and socially sanctioned as in this Iraqi case.

MY RESPONSE

Michael,

You miss the point. You are right to say "it wasn't too long ago that for many in our own culture a gleeful way to pass the time was" to watch a public hanging. True, but I notice you used the past tense, and the public hanging was a regional thing. Never happened in Wisconsin, for example, and has certainly not been endemic in all of Western culture for a very long time.

More often than not, the public hanging was a horse thief or murderer conducted by authorities. I'm not sure how you compare that to a gang of men ambushing and murdering a 17 year old girl. That happens frequently throughout Islamdom.

I wish you were correct, but you are not. The fact is, judges in the U.S., Canada, and Europe have taken a criminal defendant's home culture into account when deciding what to do to a person accused of a crime. An example from Germany:

The judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said the German woman of Moroccan descent would not be granted a divorce because she and her husband came from a "Moroccan cultural environment in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife," according to a statement she wrote that was issued by a Frankfurt court. "That's what the claimant had to reckon with when she married the defendant."

Seems like the "she deserved it" line of reasoning is actually a bridge between cultures. Hey, we hear it in Canada too - Muslims and non-Muslims alike. MORE...

Canadians call this kind of thing “reasonable accommodation of minorities." An Aussie offers an interesting observation in a piece titled, " Australian Views Canada's Multi-Culti" here.

There are countless other examples. You only have to look, preferably with your eyes open.

You wrote a curious passage: "In both America and Iraq these inhumane behaviors don't and can't represent the totality of a culture." I agree, but far too many on the Left do just that. The Mathew Shepard murder, for instance. Many took that sad incident and painted all of America as homicidal bigots. Again, there are countless other other examples.

SUGGESTED READING:
How Multiculturalism is Betraying Women - C.A.I.R. Watch - Jihad Watch - Memri Blog - Memri TV - Multiculturalism & Marxism - Religion of Peace

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Moonglum said...
First, she was Yezidi not Muslim as this post implies. Second, have you actually heard of any examples of someone's cultural background being used to alter the outcome of criminal proceedings in the US? I don't know of any laws that are different for people of different backgrounds, outside of hate law style laws in the US. e.g. our recent "honor killing" in roger's park: "Under American laws, the perpetrators of "Honor Killings" are not given special protections and Ebrahimi could face the death penalty unless a jury finds that he was "insane" at the time of the murder." I would be very interested to hear of a US court that found in favor of a claimant based on religious or ethnic background, as in the German case you cite.
May 5, 2007 12:15:00 AM CDT

T.Mannis said...
Moonglum: Had you read the post carefully (Multicultural Madness: Not All Cultures Are Equal) you would have seen this paragraph: "They said she had shamed herself and her family when she failed to return home one night. Some reports suggested she had converted to Islam to be closer to her boyfriend." It is not IMPLIED that she was Muslim, she had, in fact, converted to Islam. But the post plainly states that those who killed her were NOT muslims. R-e-a-d.
May 5, 2007 11:26:00 AM CDT

Anonymous said...
You seem to forget tht public hangings or lynchings were quite common in the south. Usually innocent black men strung up by racist mobs.
May 4, 2007 11:17:00 PM CDT

T.Mannis said...
You wrote, "You seem to forget tht public hangings or lynchings were quite common in the south. Usually innocent black men strung up by racist mobs." Not true.

I wrote to Michael [yesterday] that he was "right to say 'it wasn't too long ago that for many in our own culture a gleeful way to pass the time was' to watch a public hanging." I went on to say that it "has certainly not been endemic in all of Western culture for a very long time." I did not discount the lynchings of black men. But the fact is that lynchings are strictly punished and far from normal - they are, fortunately, extremely rare in modern Western culture. But stoning women to death is all too common today among some culures.
May 5, 2007 11:32:00 AM CDT

Neil in Chicago said...
I'll make you an even swap: I'll "explain how that culture is equal to ours" if you do the same for the people right here, all over the United States, who bomb health clinics and murder doctors, because their God wants them to.
May 5, 2007 12:08:00 PM CDT

T.Mannis said...
Deal, Neil. I condemn those who bomb abortion clinics and murder doctors, unconditionally. Period. Your turn.
May 5, 2007 12:44:00 PM CDT

France is an important nation, whether you love it or love to hate it. They are an important trading partner of the US, and an ally (albeit reluctantly). Here's why the Sunday runoff presidental election is important to Americans.

First, some brief background:

Presidential elections held in April 2007 pitted Socialist Segolene Royal against conservative Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the nominee for the Union for a Popular Movement. Late in the race, centrist candidate Francois Bayrou of the Union for French Democracy emerged as a contender. Sarkozy, with 30.7%, and Royal, taking 25.2%, prevailed in the first round of voting and will face off in the second round in May. President Chirac announced in March that he would retire after more than 40 years in politics and 12 years as president. He endorsed the candidacy of Sarkozy. (from InfoPlease)

And a current news story. Here, we see an example of a Socialist spreading fear and veiled threats of violence:

PARIS: Socialist candidate Segolene Royal said on Friday France risked plunging into brutality and violence if right-wing frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy wins Sunday’s presidential election. With opinion polls showing Sarkozy increasing his lead ahead of the second round run-off, Royal sought to raise the stakes on the last day of official campaigning, accusing her opponent of lying and manipulating the media. “I think that choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice. I do not want France to shift towards a system of brutality,” Royal told RTL radio. Le Full Story...

This reminds many of us in Chicago's 49th Ward of left-winger Joe Moore's screams that opponent Don Gordon and "Republicans want to take over our neighborhood." Seems like a standard tactic of the Left - make veiled threats but get people to be afraid that the other guy might get violent.

Will this Scumbag Michael McGee get the same treatment that Scumbag Don Imus got? At least Imus wasn't expressing joy at someone's mother just dying. But this proves, at least, that even black dudes can be hateful. (Hat tip to the Vonster for this.) Translation will be provided.

MILWAUKEE -- A former alderman and controversial radio talk show host said he's happy the mother of his radio rival is dead. Michael McGee Sr. [photo] made the comments during his radio show on WNOV-AM Thursday morning. Charlie Sykes is a radio talk show host on WTMJ-AM.

Sykes' mother, Katherine B. Sykes, died in a house fire Tuesday.... McGee's words quickly spread on the Internet as bloggers picked up the story.

"Mother Sykes, she dead. To me it's the vengeance of God. I ain't got no tears. Matter of fact a woman that would have a fool like that deserve whatever is coming her. She raised a sure enough idiot," McGee said on his radio show.

Let's pause for a translation: "Mrs. Sykes has died. That seems to be an indication that God was upset with her or with her son, possibly both of them. I have not, and will not, cry for her. In fact, she was such a lousy mother that she deserved a horrible death. Her son is certainly an idiot."

Let's continue.

"My instincts say Charlie Sykes killed his momma, cuz she live out in this big palace in Mequon all isolated. He got tired of waiting for her money."

Translation: "I have an unfounded suspicion that Charles Sykes, my professional rival, murdered his own mother because he had grown impatient waiting to inherit her money, and apparently their relationship was strained."

Damn! Dem sho' nuf be some serious accuzzayshuns!

I have nothing to add to this brilliant commentary by Oleg Atbashian at Pajamas Media:

Sources tell RPB that the possible candidacy of Paul Vallas for Congress has been put on hold, if not called off. Too bad for Andrew Sharp (alias "Seamus", alias "the Irishman"), a known Maoist and highly paid political consultant to Chicago's 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore.

One RPB source said that Mr. Sharp was hanging around Chicago after the Joe Moore re-selection on April 17 because he was laying the financial groundwork for Vallas to run for Congress in Illinois' 3rd District. It now seems much more likely that Vallas will become the new schools chief in New Orleans, even though his family will move back to Chicago. The Vallases have been living in Philadelphia since 2002, where Vallas was the city's school CEO. He was Chicago's school czar just prior to the Philadelphia position.

Meanwhile, "Seamus" is said to be working on post-election public relations triage for the badly damaged Joe Moore. Moore won the election, but barely. It seems certain that this is his last term as alderman in the 49th Ward, and if he can avoid going to prison of federal charges of conspiracy to orchestrate voter fraud he may run for Congress himself. Andy would be a sharp tool for that campaign, if he can just restrain himself from stalking bloggers and screaming at former candidates while jogging. (Oh, you didn't hear about that one?)

Here's one for all of you multi-culti cultists out there: A teenage girl was stoned to death for falling in love with a boy of a different religion. I dare you: Write to me and explain how that culture is equal to ours in the West. Please. Explain it to me.

The following are accounts of the "honor killing" of a 17 year old girl. I tried to find the video, but they are in a format that my American system does not like - which may be all for the better. So far, the American System doesn't like this kind of behavior. The multiculturalists, however, are working to change that.

They said she had shamed herself and her family when she failed to return home one night. Some reports suggested she had converted to Islam to be closer to her boyfriend.

Miss Aswad had taken shelter in the house of a Yezidi tribal leader in Bashika, a predominantly Kurdish town near the northern capital, Mosul.

A large crowd watched as eight or nine men stormed the house and dragged Miss Aswad into the street. There they hurled stones at her for half an hour until she was dead. FULL ARTICLE... (Hat tip to Backyard Conservative)

RELATED:

In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at seen [sic] of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1,000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face. FULL STORY...

For those of you who still need more evidence of just how insane the Church of Global Warming can be, there is this: Rice is a major producer of greenhouse gas. That's right, methane comes from rice paddies. Now, every school kid knows that methane is abundant in swampy areas, too. All swampy areas, with or without rice. Cows emit methane, so do I, so do you, so does the neighbor's dog. It's everywhere, produced by anything that is digesting something or is in the process of rotting. But the "experts" - you know, the "scientists" - are telling us that "Methane emissions are unique to rice." Wrong. Very wrong. For a good laugh read the following.

Rice paddies a major source global warming gas

"There is no other crop that is emitting such a large amount of greenhouse gases," said Reiner Wassmann, a climate change specialist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. "Methane emissions are unique to rice," he said. "If Asian countries are exploring possibilities to reduce greenhouse gas, they have to look at rice production. I'm not saying it's the biggest source, but in Asia it's a source that cannot be neglected."

That Wassman idiot needs to go back to school. He also needs to fasten his seat belt, because if he hears about the following he's going to get intellectual whiplash:

Recent warming in Siberia is liberating carbon that had been locked in the permafrost for millennia. Consequently, Siberian lakes are making a surprisingly large contribution to atmospheric methane, a planet-warming greenhouse gas, according to a new analysis of the methane bubbling from those lakes.

Previous studies had suggested that most northern Siberian lakes sit atop permafrost containing rich soil. Methane-making microbes in the oxygen-poor lake-bottom sediments render the lakes major methane sources, says Katey M. Walter, an ecologist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. FULL ARTICLE...

Some of you run around repeating the crap these fools spout. You should be embarrassed.

RELATED:

FRIED RICE CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING - The United Nations is holding the part of this year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in Bangkok, Thailand. In between lap dances, delegates are attempting hash out a climate change document that is politically acceptable to all parties. Some of the topics under discussion are “language regarding the Kyoto protocol . . , the true costs of cutting emissions and how they will be borne, and the role of nuclear power.”

Also:

When scientists conceive new concepts: They apply for grants to do research on their theories. Grants, the life blood of scientific research, are often difficult to get. Once obtained the scientist is obligated to publish and produce positive results. Scientists are loath to jeopardize their chances of securing future grants by compromising their or their institutions reputation. No scientist will get up and say he was wrong and lose his grant: and in so doing lose face. He will defend his theory until he dies. The sad thing is that his theories if they are wrong do not die with him but goes on to mislead other generation. Sometimes the scientist in defending his theory is really defending his grant: it's a thin line. FULL ARTICLE at http://www.ewire.com/display.cfm/Wire_ID/3812

Were people driving SUVs 300,000,000 years ago?

Geologists discover world's largest fossil forest in the ceiling of an Illinois coal mine

Illinois geologists have discovered the remains of one of the world's oldest tropical rainforests, preserved in the ceiling of a coal mine 250 feet below the surface.

The four-square-mile fossil forest — the largest find ever — is just south of Danville in Vermilion County, Ill., in the 300-million-year-old Herrin coal bed, a 6-foot-thick strip mined by a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Peabody Coal.

These are the remnants of extinct plants from a geological period 300 million years ago, called the Carboniferous, when the world was covered in a riot of green. Illinois was near the equator and much warmer and wetter.

In 1811, an earthquake struck near St. Louis. It was so powerful that it altered the course of the Mississippi River - and rang church bells in Boston.

Scientists have finally figured out what might have caused a series of devastating earthquakes that struck the Midwest nearly 200 years ago at a set of faults that has confused geologists for a long time.

Now, Allessandro Forte of the Université du Québec à Montréal and his colleagues have arrived at a more dramatic mechanism—an ancient, giant slab of Earth called the Farallon slab that started its descent under the West Coast 70 million years ago and now is causing mayhem and deep mantle flow 360 miles beneath the Mississippi Valley where it effectively pulls the crust down an entire kilometer (.62 miles).

"This remarkable localization of flow in the mantle below New Madrid, originating so deep below the surface, was completely unrecognized prior to our work," Forte told LiveScience. FULL ARTICLE at LIVESCIENCE...

RELATED:

In the winter of 1811-12, the central Mississippi Valley was struck by three of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history. Even today, this region has more earthquakes than any other part of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Government agencies, universities, and private organizations are working to increase awareness of the earthquake threat and to reduce loss of life and property in future shocks. The 400 terrified residents in the town of New Madrid (Missouri) were abruptly awakened by violent shaking and a tremendous roar. It was December 16, 1811, and a powerful earthquake had just struck. This was the first of three magnitude-8 earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks to rock the region that winter. FULL ARTICLE from U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY...

There are plenty of conservative Hispanics, and they celebrate Cinco de Mayo too. Hat tip to Anne at Backyard Conservative for the heads up on the fact that some of the best tequilas will be served to and by the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Illinois and local chapters. Below is information on some of the local events.

First, Anne wrote this:

Cinco De Mayo GOP style. The RNHA of Cook County in conjunction with the Chicago Young Republicans are hosting the best Cinco De Mayo celebration at RUMBA.

Saturday May 5, from 7-9 we have an open bar at RUMBA, 351 W. Hubbard

$30 for members / $35 for non-members

Dancing afterwards - LIVE BAND Come and dance the night away at one of Chicago's hottest salsa venues in a fusion of cultures, music and best of all, people! Based on the track record of previous YR and RNHA this promises to be a blockbuster!

MORE events can be found at http://www.ilrnha.org/events.htm

LGF is back online (2:15 p.m.) Whew!

EARLIER:

Little Green Footballs (LGF) is a conservative blog of national stature. They've been under attack for some time by, ahh, advocates of non-free speech. For weeks, LGF has been fighting off a concentrated barrage of spam email.

LGF has also been very outspoken about Islamic extremists. The most recent blog post at LGF, "The French Islamist-Leftist Convergence (excerpt below) may have more than a coincidental relation to the fact that LGF's site is down. As of 1:40 p.m. today, their site appears to be down entirely.

We'll watch for their return. They will undoubtedly be back, with a vengeance.

http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/

The following is from a cached RSS feed reader:

The French Islamist-Leftist Convergence
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25353&only&rss

In a tactic straight out of the Islamofascist playbook, socialist Segolene Royal says that if her opponent Nicolas Sarkozy wins the French presidential election, her friends the “youths” are going to tear the place up.

PARIS (Reuters) - Socialist opponent Segolene Royal said on Friday that France risks violence and brutality if her opponent right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy wins Sunday’s presidential election.

On the last day of official campaigning, opinion polls showed Sarkozy enjoyed a commanding lead over Royal, who accused the former interior minister of lying and polarizing France.

“Choosing Nicolas Sarkozy would be a dangerous choice,” Royal told RTL radio.

“It is my responsibility today to alert people to the risk of (his) candidature with regards to the violence and brutality that would be unleashed in the country (if he won),” she said.

Pressed on whether there would be actual violence, Royal said: “I think so, I think so,” referring specifically to France’s volatile suburbs hit by widespread rioting in 2005.

Let me make one thing clear right off the bat: I started my blog because I needed an outlet for my thoughts and feelings during the 2004 elections, not for the prestige and loyal readership it might bring me. I just needed a personal creative space where I could jot some things down that someone might be able to Google. FULL ARTICLE...

God Bless Beata Riedlmayer for having the courage to write this letter. She is responding to a shameful "open letter to Don Gordon," sent out by the Edgewater/Rogers ParkDemocracy for America, a local chapter of Democracy For America (DFA). It seems, however, that not all of the DFA agrees with the letter to Gordon. Ms. Riedlmayer sums it up well in her own open letter (below). She has lived in Rogers Park for more than 30 years (she graduated from Senn High) and is a freelance writer. She is a member of three DFA chapters: DFA-Evanston North Shore; Edgewater/Rogers Park DFA; and Democracy for Illinois.

An open letter from one voter in the 49th Ward
to Shannon Fisk, Jim Ginsburg, Carol Levy, Melissa Lindberg,
Michi Schulenberg and Sandra Verthein

Edgewater/Rogers Park
Democracy for America
Steering Committee

You need to be aware that not every DFA member agrees with your letter and all of its messages. I have had conversations with more than a dozen people, none of whom is in favor of what you suggest. You do NOT speak for us. Whether you have our names from the Dean days or from MoveOn, the Democratic Party, or from some other source, you have no right to represent us without consent on this issue.

DFA stands for "Democracy for America," and I believe that if the democratic process in the 49th Ward runoff was followed in compliance with the laws, you have nothing to fear from an examination of the facts.

Many, many of us DO NOT want Mr. Gordon to rescind his suit. We have seen and heard from reliable sources much that bears investigating. Let the legal process do its job and satisfy all of us about the outcome and how it was reached.

If Mr. Moore won the election fairly, you have nothing to worry about.

I request that you send around another open letter, in which you acknowledge that you have not consulted your membership, but are acting only as a group of individuals who happen to be members of a committee -- and are not speaking for Democrats and Independents in this ward.

Beata Riedlmayer
Chicago, IL 60626

And you thought only infidels were obscene sex pigs.

Iranian president accused of 'indecency' for publicly embracing his teacher
Agence France-Presse
Thursday, May 03, 2007

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was accused of "indecency" yesterday after he publicly embraced and kissed on the hand an elderly woman who used to be his school teacher. At a Tuesday ceremony before Iranian teachers' day, he stooped to kiss her hand, pictured, and then clasped her arms. "The Muslim Iranian people have no recollection of such acts contrary to shariah law" since the 1979 revolution, said the Hezbollah newspaper. "This type of indecency progressively has grave consequences, like violating religious and sacred values." The woman wore thick gloves, so Mr. Ahmadinejad avoided skin contact. Under shariah law, a man is forbidden to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related. From the National Post

Gad, what a fiend! Did you know that the law could punish him by being stoned to death? Really! Here are some fun, related links:

Iranian President Ahmadinejad Delivers "Kiss of Death" to Mentor at NewsBlaze
Ahmadinejad Bombarded for Kissing Old Teacher at Naharnet
Ahmadinejad kiss draws ... at Al-Bawaba

Mon Dieu! C'est tres amusement:

Nicolas Sarkozy reste nettement favori, son avance est très significative", selon François Miquet-Marty (LH2). "J'ai vraiment le sentiment que M. Sarkozy est plus que jamais favori de cette élection", affirme Jean-François Doridot (Ipsos). "Le rapport de forces reste très favorable à M. Sarkozy", estime Frédéric Dabi (IFOP). LIRE L'ARTICLE...

PRESS "ONE" FOR ENGLISH

Classic Vote Takes Shape in France
Voice of America - May 3, 2007 - Forty-four-and-a-half million French voters are eligible to cast ballots May 6th to elect a new president who will succeed Jacques Chirac. [Can you believe there's that many French people?] FULL TABLEAU...

THIS MAY BE THE LAST POSTING I EVER DO (OR THAT YOU EVER READ).

Free speech is under attack from all quarters. Here, there and everywhere.

Dangerous new bill passed in Congress today could gag you, send you to prison, destroy your life. The ACLU is no friend of freedom, friend. Read this - before they shut down this blog, your blog, and throw us all in a prison camp. Time is short.

House votes to strengthen hate crimes penalties, Bush threatens veto
WASHINGTON – The House passed a measure strengthening federal hate crimes penalties Thursday, an action long championed by gay rights advocates including Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison. The 237-180 vote split largely along party lines, with Republicans lambasting the measure as providing special protections for gays. Baldwin, a co-author of the bill who has pushed for the legislation since coming to Congress in 1999, called the measure “long overdue.” FULL ARTICLE...

What about midgets? Or hunchbacks? Substitute your own sexuality, or ethnicity or favorite hobby for the word "gay." Will they get their own hate crimes protection? No? Why not?

During his campaign for alderman in the 49th Ward of Chicago, Don Gordon promised "zero tolerance for homophobia." I like Don, but he was pandering. Worse, he was on the side against free speech. For example, if Don was serious, the following joke would require legal punishment:

What do you call a lesbian with big fingers? Well-endowed.

That would be considered "hate speech." No, the following is hate speech: Screw you, ACLU, each and every card carrying one of you.

Having said that, would you send me to prison for having said it? I haven't killed anybody. And if I did kill someone while I was uttering that, would the victim be any more dead than if I had said - or thought - nothing?

From the Chicago Tribune today: What's indisputable is that Democrats will be able to campaign on the vote, which will appeal to many segments of their party, specifically gays, racial minorities and Hispanics for instance. Democrats pointed to the more than 113,000 hate crimes the Justice Department says have been committed since 1991 as just one reason for passing the legislation.

Conservatives vigorously oppose the legislation because of what they say is the unequal treatment it would in the eyes of the law that would be afforded to some victims of crime versus others. For instance, the law could come down harder on someone who assaulted a gay man than someone who committed the same act against someone straight. FULL ARTICLE...

I would ask this: If a gay man kills a straight man, could the gay killer be given a harsher sentence for killing someone who is not exactly like himself? How about black and white? Tall and short?

This is going to spur a huge fight by groups nationwide. Conservatives, obviously, will oppose it, as will intellectually honest liberals. But let's see how many lock step followers of Pelosi and Company, or members of your local DFA chapter, blindly support this

WASHINGTON, May 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a move that is a direct violation of the 14th Amendment which affords equal protection under the law, the House of Representatives passed a "hate crimes" measure that would grant certain victims of crimes allegedly motivated by bias greater protection than other victims of violence. The measure passed by a vote of 237 to 180. FULL ARTICLE...

Already, the morons at Daily Kos are defending this new law. "McJoan" writes today:

The bill provides new resources to help state and local law enforcement agencies prevent and prosecute hate crimes and closes gaps in current federal hate crimes law. So of course Bush will veto it. What else would he do? (See posting at Daily Kos)

Well, legally, nothing. Thank God he's got the common sense to veto this mess.

The best summary by a blogger that I've seen so far is this one, written by Jack Yoest at Reasoned Audacity:

ALSO:

Free Speech Threatened in Finland:
So, a free nation is threatening to jail a blogger for speaking his politically incorrect mind. There seems to be no indication that he has incited people to go out and riot, or attack and kill anybody... there seems to be nothing more than a sense of his telling his readers "dude, these people are dangerous, and here's why." And, yet, the government is working against his free speech. How come this sounds so familiar? FULL POST...

Ennui Café Symposia Series, 6981 N. Sheridan Road, Rogers Park (Chicago), 60626

Pseudo intellectuals and normal people alike agree: Ennui Cafe has great coffee and food. But it also has a cool group of really smart people whose mission in life is to edumacate the rest of us, and they put on these nice events. The anointed call them "symposia." The benighted call them "presentations." Here are the FREE events scheduled for the remaining Thursdays in May. The presentations will begin at 7:30 p.m.

5/10: Philip Dawkins, poet, appearing with Jim & Moonshine's Sock Puppet Social Issues Theatre
5/24: Claire Cooney, poet (plus a second reader, to be determined)
5/31: Larry Coble, novelist and brewer, with Arne Carlsen, humorist

According to Philly.com, former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas is in line to become the school chief in New Orleans. This conflicts with information that RPB received on April 29, which indicated that Vallas was on deck to run for Congress in Illinois' 3rd District (see And This Guy Wants to Run for Congress?).

Both my informer and Philly.com agree on one thing, however: Vallas is moving his family back to Chicago. The following story at Philly.com leaves his hiring by New Orleans up in the air.

Vallas on deck in New Orleans
His hiring as schools chief could come this week.
By Susan Snyder
Inquirer Staff Writer

When Vallas' name first surfaced last month in connection with the possible opening of the New Orleans job, he declined to comment. He could not be reached yesterday.

The contract in New Orleans could be shorter than Vallas' initial five-year pact in Philadelphia - possibly only two years - and the salary is likely to be significantly below the $250,000 he drew here.

Vallas has said he intends to move his family back to Chicago no matter what job he takes next.

Vallas' role in Philadelphia already appears to be diminishing. He is not expected to be in town for the School Reform Commission meeting next week, when major decisions could be made on contract renewals for the for-profit Edison Schools Inc. and other outside managers of 41 public schools. FULL STORY at PHILLY.COM....

O Canada. Zzzzz... huh? what? Oh, yes, Canada. They're looking for the "worst Canadian" ever up there. So many to choose from. My own nomination: Rush. The entire band.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A Canadian history magazine plans to highlight how a country stereotyped for its polite and somewhat boring citizenry is also home to its share of scoundrels through a survey seeking "the worst Canadian."

"Our international reputation has us as this very nice, quiet, friendly place," said Deborah Morrison, president of Canada's National History Society, which publishes The Beaver magazine.
"We thought it would be fun to show people our seamier side and take a look at some of our more villainous characters, and how they've helped to shape our country," Morrison said. READ THE WHOLE STORY...

Subject: Starting the Day with a Positive Outlook

1. Open a new file in your computer.

2. Name it "Hillary Rodham Clinton"

3. Send it to the trash.

4. Empty the trash.

5. Your PC will ask you, "Do you really want to get rid of "Hillary Rodham Clinton?"

6. Firmly Click "Yes."

7. Feel better.

PS: Next week we'll do Nancy Pelosi

Dear Rogers Park:

I am about to begin an exciting video project to record an oral history of recent political events in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, specifically the 49th Ward. I am asking you to help make history.

The 2007 aldermanic elections in our neighborhood were contentious and issue-packed. Most of us felt strongly about at least a few of the issues, it seems. However, it is my strong desire to make this video as "balanced" as possible.

The project will involve interviews with ordinary voters like you in the 49th Ward. You will be asked to remember and speak about polling place improprieties or related irregularities, the divisiveness you or your neighbors felt (or still feel), involvement in a campaign (at any level), and so on. Perhaps you would like to talk about the way the neighborhood has changed in the time you have lived here. No doubt, some of you will provide surprises.

I hope to interview election and campaign officials, as well. Whether you were for or against Joe Moore or Don Gordon is irrelevant. You will be given fair and equal time and treatment either way. If you did not vote but have thoughts or feeling that you would like to express, I'd like to interview you too. This is a documentary about the neighborhood. Regardless of political beliefs, we all live here just the same.

As you probably know, Don Gordon is challenging the results of the April 17 runoff election, and so the drama continues. The video project will be done with a high-definition camera that will produce television-quality video.

This is an important project for a number of reasons, most or all of which you already are aware of. Among those reasons:

- Incumbent Alderman Joe Moore has a national and international, reputation. He is highly controversial.
- Rogers Park is the most, or one of the most, diverse neighborhoods in the U.S.
- Rogers Park is the fifth "bloggiest" neighborhood in the U.S.
- Ald. Moore is accused by challenger Don Gordon of conspiring to commit voter fraud; this could involve federal offenses.
- The Gordon legal complaint has implications well beyond the scope of the elections themselves - The Gordon complaint, if followed through, could set legal precedent in the State of Illinois by changing the way that losing aldermanic candidates are able to challenge a winning candidate in the City of Chicago. Currently, they only get five business days to challenge, whereas all other candidates in Illinois, for all other offices, get more than a month.
- This election was especially divisive for a number of reasons, including efforts to divide voters along lines of race and class, the dissemination of disinformation, and other methods legal, illegal and/or unethical.
- An extraordinary number of campaign workers, both staff and non-staff, were imported from outside of the 49th Ward.
- The disproportionate amount of time, money, and high-level personnel provided directly or indirectly to one of the candidates by a national political party, major national and international labor unions and other national organizations, as well as very high profile consultants of national stature who do not normally lower themselves to help an aldermanic candidate.

Given these examples, you can see that the 49th Ward aldermanic race was unusual. Indeed, it is more interesting than many political campaigns for much higher offices.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

If you, or someone you know would be willing to be interviewed on camera, please let me know as soon as possible. Please email me at freerogerspark@yahoo.com. Tell me very briefly why you would be a good interview. In the subject line of the email, please type "Video Oral History" so I can give it high priority. No email attachments, please. (Emails without that subject line will be deleted as spam.) I look forward to hearing from you.

From Liberated Rogers Park: Before I do anything, I just wanted to say "thanks" to alla y'all for putting up with my ficticious postings yesterday. I hope they made a point, but moreso, I hope you had a little fun with them. It was a fun excercise and inexpensive psychotherapy for me. Apparently you liked it too, for which I am grateful. Thanks again.

Perhaps a Fourth of July edition?

BlogNet News' Most Clicked Post Index (a/ 5/2 at 4 pm)
Last Day Last Week
The Eleventh Hour - Illinois Going Smoke-Free, Baby!!! (5)
Rogers Park Bench - Official May Day Address 2007 (5)
Rogers Park Bench - CPC SEX SCANDAL! (4)
Rogers Park Bench - Christians Shouldn't Vote (4)
Rogers Park Bench - TROUBLING NEWS: STOCK MARKET WAY UP (4)
Rogers Park Bench - TO ARMS! REACTIONARIES AT THE GATES! (4)
Rogers Park Bench - IT IS YOUR DUTY TO SMOKE, COMRADES! (4)
Rogers Park Bench - LIBERATION! ROGERS PARK IS FREE AGAIN! (4)
Rogers Park Bench - LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS! (4)
Rogers Park Bench - THE REACTIONARIES ARE HERE! TO ARMS! (4)
Rogers Park Bench - A MESSAGE FROM RADIO FREE CHICAGO! (4)

Surprise! The U.S. Supreme Court made a rational decision yesterday. Yes, really, in a case involving guns, speeding cars and dangerous people engaged in high drama.

WASHINGTON - (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday gave police officers protection from lawsuits that result from high-speed car chases, ruling against a Georgia teenager who was paralyzed after his car was run off the road.

In a case that turned on a video of the chase in suburban Atlanta, Justice Antonin Scalia said law enforcement officers do not have to call off pursuit of a fleeing motorist when they reasonably expect that other people could be hurt.

Rather, officers can take measures to stop the car without putting themselves at risk of civil rights lawsuits. FULL STORY at OFFICER.COM...

Stop drooling.

(Reuters) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it is voluntarily recalling certain bibs manufactured by Hamco Inc. and sold at Wal-Mart Stores in Illinois from June 2004 through March 2007. The discount retailer cited the vinyl material in some of these bibs may contain lead in excess of Illinois limits ...Wal-Mart voluntarily recalling bibs sold in Illinois

Anne Leary's "Red Skirt" column at Boomer Girl always knocks me out. In the afterstench of yesterday's marches by illegal immigrants, Anne's column from February has current freshness. She writes a good piece about the dangers of embracing multiculturalism. I like to say, "Diversity yes, multiculturalism never." Here's a column guaranteed to make liberals pull their hair out.

So, liberals, do you think all cultures are equal? (Except Western of course. Oh, and as far as religion goes Christianity and maybe now Judaism are to be scorned as ignorant and oppressive, or even feared. The others are exotically diverse, kind of like an imported objet d'art)

So what do you think about this?

Do we accord a culture that allows genital mutilation the same respect as one that views women as equal members of society? Do we allow this kind of culture to override our own laws?

This is the trap of multiculturalism. FULL COLUMN at boomergirl.com...

Yesterday's marches by "immigrants" would not be tolerated in Mexico.

Typically, when Mexican authorities catch illegal aliens, they place them overnight in a detention center, then bus or fly them back to their country of origin. Despite the fact that Mexico militarized its border and deported 203,128 illegal immigrants in 2004, many illegals get through by bribing corrupt military and police. Full Article...

What does the Mexican Constitution say? In brief, the Mexican Constitution states that:

• Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
• Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
• Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens will never be treated as real Mexican citizens.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens are not to be trusted in public service.
• Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
• Private citizens may make citizens arrests of lawbreakers (i.e., illegal immigrants)
and hand them to the authorities.
• Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.

Read the entire article, "Mexico's Glass House" (only 4 pages long, PDF)...

Wired News' Kristen Philipkoski interviewed computer industry legend Andy Grove about health care, its problems and his ideas for solutions. Fascinating.

WN: Universal health care is such a buzzword these days but you clearly don't think it's the answer. Why not?

Grove: I'm not excited about the implementation or our willingness or capability of implementing that concept until we figure out ... what to do with a third-party industry that all of a sudden gets blown up, transported to the moon or whatever. (Insurance companies) would probably be less than enthusiastic about the move. (Insurance is) a large industry and employment for a lot of people -- like it or not it's a real problem.

The second part is -- nobody talks about it -- but deciding what you provide under this universal health care system and how do you keep the treatment inflation from making it more and more expensive? How do you make certain treatments available and not others ... as compared to everyone being entitled to every scientific possibility out there, which is the current mind-set. Unless we deal with these two problems, all we do is flagellate ourselves. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW...

Happy May 2nd, Comrade.
We hope your celebration of mass slaughter, crushing of liberty and attempts to undermine the security of the United States was a pleasant one. (Not.)

May Day is a celebration of Communism. What is Communism?

Here are a few primers:
The left's historical support for tyranny
The Soviet Union
Other communist tyrannies
The left's historical support for terrorism
The left's modern support for Islamic Fascism

Videos:
Life in North Korea (CNN)
Bloody History of Communism Part 1 of 3

PEOPLE OF ROGERS PARK! This is Supreme Commander Johnson of the Chicagoland Allied Forces. Please be calm!

We have arrested all of your leaders. We have secured nearly all of your streets. We are giving medical aid and food to your fellow citizens.

We will return things to normal as soon as possible. Please be patient!

You are now under the authority of the Chicagoland Allied Forces. Please stay tuned to this channel for news and instructions.

PEOPLE OF OCCUPIED ROGERS PARK!

Your jamming equipment cannot block this frequency! PEOPLE OF ROGERS PARK! We are here to liberate you from your slave masters. Do not resist, do not be afraid. Your government has been forcing you to pay a huge portion of your meager wages to their treasury, and give you crumbs in return! Many of you are not allowed to purchase frozen Slurpies with your Link Cards! Your leaders have been fooling you for decades. Most of you are forced to leave Rogers Park to find work, for businesses are afraid to come to this corrupt land. Some of your developers have gotten away with treacherous behavior because the corrupt leaders of Rogers Park have not just allowed it, but encouraged it to be able to take dirty money from those people! Crime is still rampant. STAY IN YOUR HOMES! DO NOT INTERFERE WHILE WE SET YOU FREE!!!

MAY DAY! MAY DAY! SOUND THE WARNING! REACTIONARIES ARE ATTACKING! And now, a word from our Supreme Comrade, David Fagus:

Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy! I am addressing you, my friends!

The perfidious military attack on the Peoples Democratic Republic of Rogers Park, begun on May 1st by reactionary forces, is beginning.

In spite of the heroic resistance of the Revolutionary Peoples' Army, and although the enemy's finest divisions and finest airforce units have already been smashed and have met their doom on the field of battle, the enemy continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces into the attack.

The enemy's troops have succeeded in capturing Pratt Beach, a considerable part of Loyola Park, the western part of the 49th Ward, part of Morse Avenue. The fascist airforce is extending the range of operations of its bombers, and is bombing Clark Street, Devon, Sheridan, Paulina, Lunt, Loyola and Touhy.

A grave danger hangs over our tiny country.

How could it have happened that our glorious Red Army surrendered a number of our precints and districts to reactionary armies? Is it really true that the Gentry are invincible, as is ceaselessly trumpeted by the boastful capitalist propagandists? Of course not!

Of no little importance in this respect is the fact that Chicago has suddenly and treacherously violated the Non-Aggression Pact she concluded secretly only days ago with our new nation, disregarding the fact that she would be regarded as the aggressor by the whole world.

It may be asked how could the Interim Government has consented to conclude a Non-Aggression Pact with such treacherous fiends as Daley and Stroger? Was this not an error on the part of our Interim Government? Of course not. Non-Aggression Pacts are pacts of peace between states. It was such a pact that Evanston proposed to us in April.

There can be no doubt that this short-lived military gain for Chicago is only an episode, while the tremendous political gain of the PDR of Rogers Park is a serious lasting factor that is bound to form the basis for development of decisive military successes for us in the war with the reactionaries.

That is why our whole valiant army, our whole valiant navy, all our falcons of the air, all the peoples of our country, all the finest men and women of Europe, America and Asia, finally all the finest men and women of Rogers Park --condemn the treacherous acts of Chicago and Cook County and sympathize with us, approve the conduct of the Interim Government, and see that ours is a just cause, that the enemy will be defeated, that we are bound to win.

By virtue of this war which has been forced upon us, our country has come to death-grips with its most malicious and most perfidious enemy - Chicagoan aggression. Our troops are fighting heroically against an enemy armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft.

Side by side with the army, the entire 49th Ward is rising in defense of our native land.

The enemy is cruel and implacable. He is out to seize our lands, watered with our sweat, to seize our grain and oil secured by our labor. He is out to restore the rule of landlords, to restore the vote, to destroy our culture and our existence, to convert them into the slaves of Republicans and land barons. Thus the issue is whether the peoples of Rogers Park shall remain free or fall into slavery.

All who by their panic-mongering and cowardice hinder the work of defence, no matter who they are, must be immediately haled before the military tribunal. In case of forced retreat of Rogers Park Army units, all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or a gallon of fuel.

All our forces for support of our heroic Red Army and our glorious Red Navy! All forces of the people--for the demolition of the enemy! Forward, to our victory!

(portions of speech taken from a speech by Lenin; source Stalin on War with Germany, July 3, 1941)

ATTENTION CITIZENS! Smoking is now a punishable offense, brought about by enemies of FREEDOM! Our greatest leaders were Smokers! IT IS YOUR DUTY TO SMOKE! It gives the State more tax revenue! The reactionaries would have Cuban children die of starvation! This is just another ploy by the capitalist stooges to make you bow down to them! FULL STORY!...

Even politically correct proletariat love a good sex scandal. Here's one for the masses.

A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) disciplinary official has been sacked and expelled from the Party after being caught with a woman other than his wife in a Beijing hotel room, the Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

Du Xiangcheng, deputy secretary of the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, was found in a compromising situation with a Russian woman. FULL MONTY...

RELATED:
“I was shocked, I think it was an expression of his great desire to win,” Osipov’s friend said. The jury then noticed Osipov’s strange position and told him to moor. When he came out of the water, gazers saw signs of recent sexual activity on the swimmer’s doll. MORE!...

Ekaterinburg, Russia - Gay Couple Has Public Sex, Crowd Applauds

As good Man-fearing communists, we don't think anybody should vote, let alone Christians. Or Jews. You get the idea.

Congratulations on surviving another glorious year of Revolution! This year we witnessed the collapse of the Republican Capitalist voting system! For the first time since 1994 no voting irregularities were reported in the mainstream media. The record turnout of dead voters, whom we like to call "necro-proxies of progress" has given the Democratic Socialists an absolute mandate to do whatever they damn well please in both The House of Representatives and The Senate. The absolutist rule of the Democratic majority shall bury the silly idea of a "republic" once and for all. Oh yes! We will bury you! Full Official May Day Address 2007

This is bad news for the workers of the world! The capitalist pigs' stock market hit a record high on today, May Day, of all days! Eat the rich!!!

The New York market was aimless for much of the session Tuesday, but stocks came to life in the afternoon and headed to the upside.

Recently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 66 points, or 0.5%, to 13,129. The S&P 500 was gaining 4 points, or 0.3%, to 1486, and the Nasdaq Composite turned ahead by 5 points, or 0.2%, at 2530. FULL DISTURBING ARTICLE...

These dangerous, rabid reactionaries are a menace to our society. Don't they understand that all is for the State? We must rise up against them! People! Unite against these selfish property owners! Remember the words of Hillary Clinton, "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." Now, read this article from the running dog Wall Street Journal:

Last month antitax activists in Minnesota staged a tax protest that drew some 6,000 taxpayers to the steps of the Capitol Dome in what is considered to be the highest turnout for a political rally in years. The crowd was three times larger than the turnout for the hyped MoveOn.org global warming march in Minneapolis. Three days later, hundreds of taxpayers in Lansing, Michigan, swarmed the capital steps to protest Governor Jennifer Granholm's call for higher taxes on business, gas, cigarettes and alcohol. "Not Another Penny, Jenny," one sign read. THE WHOLE REACTIONARY MESS...

PHOENIX (Reuters) -Why do Mexicans use their car horns as a doorbell? Why is Mexican television so obsessed with dwarfs and transvestites? Why do they park their cars on the front lawn?

The chances are that you will know the answers to some of these questions if you live in the United States and read the wickedly funny "Ask a Mexican!" column syndicated in more than a score of weekly newspapers across the country. FULL SCHTICK at REUTERS...

Hey, blame lacky running dogs at Reuters for this reactionary crap. I didn't write it.

ATTENTION COMRADES! AN IMPORTANT STATEMENT FROM COMRADE LEADER DAVID FAGUS, INTERIM RULER OF THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ROGERS PARK!

Don Gordon is a paper tiger. He has gone on and filed his complaint regarding the election and it will make its way through court system until it reaches a conclusion. BUT THAT CONCLUSION WILL BE MEANINGLESS, FOR WE HAVE TAKEN CONTROL. LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!

It will not change the election results in any significant way. There will be no more elections. The Party is now in charge, and we know what is best. Don Gordon is no longer relevant. Soon we will have news about fallen Comrade Joe Moore, who has been removed from power.

As a revolutionary unit we could not afford to stand by and wait. The events of recent weeks demanded decisive action. I acted, with the party faithful, as a bastion of iron.

What is a true bastion of iron? It is the masses, the millions upon millions of people who genuinely and sincerely support the revolution. That is the real iron bastion, which it is impossible, and impossible, for any force on earth to smash. The counter-revolution and Don Gordon cannot smash us; on the contrary, we shall smash them. Rallying millions upon millions of people round the revolutionary government of Rogers Park and expanding our revolution, we shall wipe out all counter-revolution and take over the whole of Chicago and Cook County.

There are many things to do in PDR of Rogers Park as we move past the corrupt campaign and into our Four Year Plan. I don’t believe that anyone is content with things exactly the way they are. I believe that while there are differences in the level of importance we assign to things, the differences in what things need to be done is small. The imperialists are bullying us in such a way that we will have to deal with them seriously.

Not only must we have a powerful regular army; we must also organize contingents of the people's militia on a big scale. This will make it difficult for the imperialists to move a single inch into the PDR of Rogers Park in case of invasion. We must keep a careful eye on the running dogs and lackeys in the corrupt and degenerate 50th Ward to our west.

Things that most agree upon are perhaps a good place to start. These are my Top Ten:

1.) Crime should continue to decrease as we round up more running dogs.
2.) Affordable housing should continue and increase and more rich people are forced into work camps.
3.) Attack dispersed isolated enemy forces first; attack concentrated strong enemy forces later.
4.) The lakefront must continue to be protected from attack by the capitalists and reactionaries in nearby occupied lands. (Maybe even the much debated dog park idea can be addressed with some space.)
5.) We need to develop a strategy to force the people and business owners to give us their hard earned money for our business trips. People would not invest because the former, corrupt Alderman said so or asked for money nicely. It has to be done for the Party.
5.) We need to confiscate single family homes and turn them into detention centers for the land owners who have exploited the People, when it makes good sense and even when it doesn’t.
6.) Take small and medium cities and extensive rural areas first; take big cities later.
7.) Make wiping out the enemy's effective strength our main objective; do not make holding or seizing a city or place our main objective. Holding or seizing a city or place is the outcome of wiping out the enemy's effective strength, and often a city or place can be held or seized for good only after it has changed hands a number of times.
8.) Concerning attacking cities, resolutely seize all enemy fortified points and cities that are weakly defended. At opportune moments, seize all enemy fortified points and cities defended with moderate strength, provided circumstances permit.
9.) Replenish our strength with all the arms and most of the personnel captured from the enemies in the 50th Ward, Evanston and Chicago. Our army's main sources of manpower and materiel are at the front.
(10) Make good use of the intervals between campaigns to rest, train and consolidate our troops. Periods of rest, training and consolidation should not in general be very long, and the enemy should as far as possible be permitted no breathing space.

Down with Amerika! Long live the Revolution!

With this issue, Revolution is beginning a series of excerpts from “The Chicano Struggle and Proletarian Revolution in the U.S.” This position paper, which originally appeared in June 2001, is by a writing group of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. The research and investigation that is reflected in this paper was carried out as part of producing the new Draft Programme of the RCP. FULL ARTICLE...

Interview with Prachanda: Hoist the Revolutionary Flag on Mount Everest in the 21st Century

You are required to read this!

When I am called for presenting my feeling on the intensiveness often years-of People's War, pride and sense of responsibility makes me very much emotional. Certainly, there are quite a number of objective and subjective elements behind the intensiveness of Nepalese People's War, but in our Party opinion, the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist outlook that determines its policy, plan and program based on 'concrete analysis of concrete situation' and 'mass line' is the main thing. Twentieth century witnessed great revolutions when revolutionaries had acted in line with concrete analysis of the concrete condition and mass line, the crux of Marxist science; the twentieth century also witnessed grave counter-revolutions, when the revolutionaries, deviating from that, got attached with subjectivism of right or left form. MORE CLEAR THINKING FROM COMRADE PRACHANDA!!!...

Comrade Dave posts this ray of hope for us! Keep your fingers crossed (praying is now forbidden!) that the Illinois House bans smoking! A smoking ban will bring us closer yet to our goal of complete control of the People!!! Of course, now that Rogers Park is an independent nation, we can only wish our neighbors in Occupied Illinois the best of luck.

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois House is set for a final showdown in the coming weeks over whether smoking should be banned in almost all the state’s indoor public places, including bars and restaurants. FULL STORY...

Putin’s Address Heralds Return to Soviet Times

“This address is not for the world outside Russia, this address is for ourselves, for our own country. The address makes the militarization of life inside the country possible, necessary, substantiated and justified. And this is probably the main goal for the sake of which the statement was made,” Illarionov said. FULL STORY...

The horror!!!

The area has been politically very highly charged, both before and after the raid. Many people have been talking about and building for the big May First demonstrations when people all over the country will stand up against the raids and for immigrants' rights. And just in the weeks before the raid, thousands of copies of the special issue of Revolution newspaper about Bob Avakian, “The Crossroads We Face, the Leadership We Need,” were distributed in the shopping center where the raid took place and more broadly in this area. FULL STORY...

ROGERS PARK DECLARES INDEPENDENCE
REVOLUTIONARY COUNCIL TAKES CONTROL!!!

CHICAGO (RPB News) - Communist leaders in East Rogers Park said on Monday that they had overthrown for alderman Comrade Joe Moore, RPB News Agency reports this morning. The coordinator of the Communist faction of the Rogers Park Bolsheviks, David Fagus, said that the faction had amassed an army of 90,000 patriots to storm Comrade Moore's ward office and to declare independence from the City of Chicago. Comrade Fagus has been named Chief Minister until a special committee can be assembled to select a permanent leader for life. The committee will meet soon, probably within one week. The communists started plotting their glorious revolution in October of last year, after the highly unpopular law on foie gras came into force. Evidence of Comrade Moore's corruption and disinterest in the welfare of the People reached a point where, according to Fagus, "it was just too embarrassing to ignore. Something had to be done, and swiftly."

This report just in ... uh, I think I'm hit... Ladies and gentlemen, Rogers Park is in turmoil as communists battle for control of the streets... I'm bleeding over here!... This photo was just brought in. You can see how serious the fighting has been near Loyola University... Ow! Yes, that's better... I don't know how much longer we can hang on... They... NO DAMN IT! I DON'T WANT MORE COFFEE! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK FOR THE LOVE OF.....!!!

Chicago - RPB News - Rogers Park Bench's world headquarters are under attack. Communists reeling from the intoxication of a full moon and long suppressed revolutionary impulses are even now attacking the RPB News Center. We are bracing for a .... What?.... What's that?... Ladies and gentlemen, this is getting serious. There was a loud explosion just now and... They are? Oh God, they've broken into the center. Please stand by....