FOLLOW on SOCIAL MEDIA

JONATHA CARR MUST BE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH HATE CRIMES, ASSAULT, AND THREATENING TO COMMIT MURDER

Arrest this woman and let the court decide her competence
This is truly bizarre. A female Black student (yes, her race is relevant here), 24-year old Jonatha Carr lost her friggin' mind in class and threatened to kill her professor and others, including 10,000 White people (yes, their race is relevant here).

The discussion of peacock mating preferences in an evolution class got her thinking about committing murder. Yes, peacocks (yes, their species is relevant here)Carr was eventually arrested and charged with battery (details below) by university police. She was hit with a Taser three times as they were taking her to the South County Mental Health Center, "where she was involuntarily admitted for a mental health evaluation," says HuffPoHowever, FAU Police say that the school will not press charges against her.

Why is FAU not pressing charges? Well, she's bi-polar, says her family. But imagine a white guy threatening to kill "10,000 Black people" and then striking a Black woman in a classroom -- and not facing charges just because his family says he's bi-polar. Chicago News Bench wonders why Jonatha Carr is not behind bars and why she should not be charged for the offenses that she committed in that classroom. (More on that below.)

The incident happened at Florida Atlantic University's Boca Raton campus during mid-term exams. Somehow, in her feeble, Al Sharpton-enriched Liberal brain, the lesson about bird sexuality was racist. That prompted Carr to ask the instructor, Associate Professor Stephen M. Kajiura, why  and had something to do with evolution “How does evolution kill black people?” Makes your head sping, right? Here's the video, with an excerpt of the YouTube poster's description (video contains strong language):
Context: The slide we were on just before was about Female Sexual Selection. For instance, female peacocks have selection in their mates, preferring the males with the bigger train of feathers.. Somehow she went off on some tangent with a question about how does Evolution play a role in the killing of all black people...

Dr. Kajiura tried to answer her question even though he had no idea what she was talking about. She repeated her question 4-5 more times and it turned into this craziness you see here... Clearly, this person has some SERIOUS emotional issues within herself and the discussion of PEACOCKS was the catalyst to the unleashing of this insanity.

Some of the students in the classroom called police, realizing the potential for violence and being concerned about Carr's spoken threat to commit mass murder. At one point after that, she walked throught the classroom and struck a male student in his head, then left the classroom briefly.

During all of this, Professor Kajiura stayed in the room, according to University Press, and tried to keep the students calm. “She became increasingly belligerent,” Upress quotes Kajiura as saying. “It was at this point, a highly emotionally charged individual who was no longer capable of responding rationally. She was threatening to kill both me and the students in the class.”

Carr returned to the classroom, says the Upress report. “Some [FAU technician] came in and ordered her to get out,” Kajiura said. “He ordered her to leave the room, and they got into a physical altercation. Several other individuals jumped in and tried to help him.”

JONATHA CARR MUST BE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH HATE CRIMES, ASSAULT, BATTERY AND THREATENING TO COMMIT MASS MURDER

As noted above, Carr became violent with police and had to be tasered into submission. She threatened to kill her professor and others in the classroom, she threatened race-based mass murder, and struck a fellow student. None of the media reports I've seen tell us that the student she hit was a White male, but you can see that clearly at 2:46 in this video. Her words clearly constituted what liberals would call "hate speech."

Her family says she is bi-polar. But so what? An overly sympathetic article in Huffington Post notes that Jonatha Carr's family "will meet with university officials to discuss Carr's future at FAU, where she maintains a 3.8 grade point average."  Oh, but she's bi-polar, remember?

Carr and her family are using the bi-polar thing as a lame excuse for her very dangerous behavior, and they should not be allowed to get away with this. They can't have it both ways: On the one hand, they seem to be saying, their precious daughter is so brilliant that she's got a high GPA. Yet, on the other hand, they're also saying that by virtue of being bi-polar she is not really responsible for her actions. To which I say, unapologetically, that's bullshit.

Carr should be charged. Let the book be thrown at her, and let the court decide whether or not this student with a 3.8 grade point average is so mentally challenged that she had no idea what she was saying when she threatened to kill people. Let the court decide whether or not she is responsible for striking another person.

We read everyday about people who are charged with crimes, who then go to court and claim some kind of mental defense. Insanity, emotional duress, whatever. As I pointed out at the beginning of this post, race is relevant here. I contend that if a male White student had done exactly what Jonatha Carr did, but of course threatened to kill "10,000 Black people" and striking a Black female student instead, he would be either sitting in a jail cell today or out on bond. He would be charged exactly as he should be. But in the case of Jonatha Carr, no charges will be brought by the school.

Somebody in that classroom needs to have the guts to bring charges against Jonatha Carr. Obviously, Professor Kajiura is too much of a wimp to do so. But what about the White student that Carr stuck in the head? What about all of the students - Black and others - who Carr threatened to kill? Where are all the liberals, who would pounce on a White guy for such behavior, and why aren't they charging her with the crime of hate speech?  And by the way,

The liberal media is bending over backwards to excuse Carr's murderous threats, assault and disruptive behavior. This report from WPEC-TV is an example:

"We now know that 24-year-old Jonatha Carr was fired up about the case of Trayvon Martin when she had her violent outburst during an evolution class at Florida Atlantic University. Martin is the young central Florida teen who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer. That volunteer has not been charged in the teen's death and Carr calls that an extreme injustice."

Pause: Carr was worked up about Trayvon Martin's death. Okay, but so are a millions of other people.

"While we can't say that's what caused her outburst at FAU Tuesday," says the WPEC report, "we do know she was interviewed about the case the night before. Carr was completely out of control in her evolution class Tuesday morning, cursing at her professor, hitting fellow students, and being hauled out of the class against her will. But the night before she seemed totally in control. She was interviewed by a Miami TV station about the bus trip she was organizing to the rally for Trayvon Martin.

"He was killed in a such a way that struck a nerve with my family and I," Carr said during the interview.

Again, so what? We're all aware of some story daily that upsets us. Often enough, we get angry about something in the news, and sometimes it "strikes a nerve." But not many of us are driven to screaming murderous threats in crowded classrooms or offices or anywhere else.

Perhaps Carr's biggest problem is not her bi-polarity. She's majoring in education, she's a liberal, and she's obviously been overcharged by race-based rhetoric from the Al Sharpton School of Race Hate. "One of the many problems with race-obsessed liberal ideology," says Moonbattery, "is that there are people out there whacky enough to take it seriously — which gives their craziness a springboard to launch itself into full-blown psychosis."

Few of us - very few of us - hit coworkers or fellow students because we're upset about a news item. Jonatha Carr is one of those exceptions, however. She is dangerous, as proven on video for the whole world to see. There is no guarantee that she will not explode like this again. The bi-polar excuse, as I said, is no excuse and should be decided by the court. Arrest her. Charge her. Treat Jonatha Carr as the menace that she is.

Rap Song Urges Race Riots and "Lynch That Cracker" George Zimmerman

Well, isn't this special? A piece of rap crap, inspired by the death of Trayvon Martin, these nice fellows are urging people to "start a riot" and - in reference to Martin's accused killer George Zimmerman - to "lynch that cracker." I wonder if Al Sharpton sings this ditty in the shower?
All black in my hoodie
All black in my hoodie
Strapped up with them AKs
F--k protesters
Let’s start a riot
Fight, let’s start a riot
That's "All Black In My Hoodie." The "artist" is Haitian-born Zoeja Lajan Jean, also known as "Zoeja Jean," who lives in Florida City, Florida.

He just wants justice, justice, MP3 sales, don'tcha know, and more justice even if it means inciting racially charged lynch mobs taking the law into their own murderous hands, starting riots and killing  anyone who gets in their way.

Zoeja Jean hurriedly put out "All Black In My Hoodie," which has got to be one of crappiest pieces of audio manure ever recorded by anybody for any reason in any medium. (Yes, I'm certain that Al Sharpton sings this in the shower.)

But look, surely you can understand that this is frustrating for those want real, vigilante street justice. Where's your sensitivity?

Can you blame Zoeja Jean for these inflammatory lyrics?

If we don’t do s–t
And lynch that cracker
Six months later
They gonna kill another brother

Source: The Black Sphere
A note about "that cracker" line from the lyrics. "Cracker," of course, is a word that some Black people use because, pitifully, they incorrectly think it insults White people. It really doesn't. Most Honkie-Americans just kind of nervously laugh it off when they are called crackers. As Mytheos Holt pointed out in his March 29 article on The Blaze, the "cracker" referred to is most likely George Zimmerman.

"Apparently," wrote Holt, "either the reference to lynching has now been explicitly adopted by Martin’s more violent supporters, or Zoeja Jean has gone off the reservation with this wording. Either way, it doesn’t bode well for this already excessively violent case. Tempers are flaring, and the most irresponsible observers of this tragedy appear to be doing everything they can to encourage that."

I wonder if Obama has downloaded this tune yet. Maybe Sharpton can upload a copy to him.

Related:

Are You Brave Enough to Wear This T-Shirt, Patriot?

Get it now!
Real patriots won't be afraid to wear this new t-shirt in public!

These new t-shirt creations are a bold statement that you are not happy about Eric Holder, the  most dishonest, least competent US Attorney General ever. Find these shirts and more at our own "Political Zone" store at Zazzle.

Get yours now!
Get yours now!
Fast and Furious has resulted the deaths of good American law enforcement officers and endangered thousands of U.S. citizens.

Eric Holder needs to be arrested and charged for murder and treason, and this t-shirt says so!

Find these shirts in Chicago News Bench's own "Political Zone" store at Zazzle!
Big thanks to Moonbattery and to Blazing Cat Fur for linking to this post!

Breaking: DOJ Source Leaks Fast and Furious Documents

March 24, 2012 - A developing story this afternoon says that a source at the Department of Justice has been leaking documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal. The source has provided the documents to Congressional investigators, says Fox News.

"The investigation of Operation Fast and Furious escalated this past week," Fox News reports, which "learned a leak at the Justice Department is providing documents to the Congressional investigators. The scope of investigation also includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which records show failed to tell ATF its own confidential informants were helping finance the illegal gun purchases."

This latest news comes on the heels of the news that Manuel Celis-Acosta, the chief suspect in the ATF’s "Fast and Furious" investigation, had been caught but released at the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2010. The Los Angeles Times reported two days ago that Celis-Acosta "was also stopped and released two months earlier while in possession of a Colt .38-caliber pistol purchased illegally under the gun-tracking operation."

"The revelation that officials twice declined to arrest their prime suspect," says the March 22 LA Times story, "shows that agents were keenly aware of Celis-Acosta’s activities yet repeatedly turned down opportunities to charge him with felony offenses and bring a quick end to the Fast and Furious probe. Instead, the investigation dragged on for months more, with the loss of about 1,700 U.S. firearms on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border."
The leaked DOJ documents, says Anthony Martin today at The Examiner, "would be a major break in the case and would fuel an escalation in the investigation into the scandal in which the Obama Administration placed U.S. guns directly into the hands of Mexican criminals in order to make a case for new gun control laws."

"Fast and Furious was launched Oct. 31, 2009, and ran until a month after a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed in December 2010. Two Fast and Furious assault weapons were recovered after his slaying near the border," says the LA Times. "The congressional leaders said they learned of the gun arrest from a list of “Overt Acts” of gun-smuggling suspects that was compiled by an ATF official during Fast and Furious."
The ensuing investigation has produced more frustration than information, it seems.

There are some who have accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of obstructing the Congressional investigation of Fast and Furious, some even calling for his resignation or impeachment. In fact, more than 100 members of Congress want Holder to resign.

Republicans are not the only ones who are critical of Holder. The Daily Caller reported yesterday that two House Democrats are now demanding that Holder’s Department of Justice "release findings from an internal investigation into Operation Fast and Furious before the upcoming November election."

Those congressmen are Reps. Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Gene Green (D-TX). The Daily Caller says that they "told The Washington Times’ Kerry Picket that they want the inspector general to release her report before the election to ensure that any officials from President Barack Obama’s administration who are responsible for Fast and Furious are held accountable."

NEW: "Arrest Eric Holder" T-Shirts! 
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Chicago! Have Some Wine, Shave Your Head and Help Cure Childhood Cancer on Sunday, March 25

vintage338.com
Chicago has a great (and fun) way to fight childhood cancer this Sunday, March 25. The good people of Vintage 338 wine bar are hosting a St. Baldrick's event where volunteers will shave their head to help conquer childhood cancer. You can sign up here for this event, which is open to the public with drink specials that will help benefit St. Baldrick’s!

The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. For a $5 contribution to St. Baldrick's you too can shave your head during the event, courtesy of Floyd’s 99 Barbershop in Lincoln Park! Did we mention the Complimentary Chili and Mac & Cheese Bar? (Vintage 338 has a great menu!)

Where: Vintage 338
338 W. Armitage Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614 (Map)

Contact: Christopher Barkulis
773-525-0521 or cbarkulis@earthlink.net

Activity Schedule:
  • 2:00pm - 6:30pm For a $5 Donation to St. Baldrick's you can get your head shaved courtesy of Jada from Floyd's 99 Barbershop, located at 2572 N. Clark St. in Chicago.
  • 2:00pm - 6:30pm $1 off all drinks and $1 donated to St. Baldrick's by Vintage 338 for each purchased drink!
  • 2:00pm - 6:30pm $5 off all wine bottles and $5 donated to St. Baldrick's by Vintage 338 for every purchased bottle!
  • 2:00pm - Until We Run Out! Free Chili and Mac & Cheese Bar
Not quite ready to shave your head, but would love to help this fantastic charity? No problem. Go to the event page to donate directly to St. Baldrick’s! Also, Vintage 338 is offering up some other great ways to contribute:  $1 Off every glass of wine, beer, or mixed drink purchased and Vintage 338 will donate $1 to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, PLUS All Bottles of Red, White and Sparkling Wine will be $5 off and Vintage 338 will donate $5 per bottle to the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

How France and Chicago Differ In Reaction To Shooting Deaths (Updated)

UPDATE 3/22: After an absurdly long "siege" by more than 300 French police, Mohammed Merah was killed "in a hail of bullets on Thursday as he scrambled out of a ground-floor window during a gun battle with elite police commandos." For more than 30 hours, French police attempted to get Merah out of his makeshift bunker by playing mind games with him.

Merah jumped out of a window still firing his .45 caliber Colt pistol. Police say he was dead before he hit the ground, killed by a bullet to his head. All of the mind games were for naught: Merah was firing at police during the siege, and some of his bullets could have killed police or others.

Finally, though, the police "used overwhelming firepower to end the 32-hour siege of a killer whose murders of schoolchildren and soldiers traumatised France and briefly halted a presidential campaign. The self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda militant died in an intense firefight as he tried to shoot his way out of his surrounded apartment when officers from special police forces moved in."

It would have been better, in my opinion, to have gassed Merah and then go inside to get him while incapacitated. Instead, this protracted operation by French  police endangered an entire neighborhood and bungled an opportunity to debrief a man who claimed to have ties to al-Qaeda.

My intial post from March 21: 

March 21, 2012 - Do Chicagoans really care about shootings and gun violence? They probably do, but their reaction to dozens of shootings on any given weekend is blase when compared to the way the French have reacted to a series of seven shooting deaths recently. After a 9-day shooting spree by a scooter riding Islamist, public outrage has been expressed by France's national leaders and a massive national police hunt for the shooter was mounted.

French authorities have named the suspect as 23-year-old Mohammed Merah.
 He's from Algeria but is a French citizen. Merah is the French-born son of an Algerian immigrant family. During negotiations with police, he allegedly said that he was trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and that he wanted to “bring France to its knees” as revenge for France's involvement in the Afghan war.

When I first wrote this post (March 21, 3:45 PM CDT), a massive number of French police
were about to flush a suspected serial killer from a an apartment building in a suburb of Toulouse (see map).

Earlier yesterday, Merah threw another pistol out of a window, but was thought to still have an Uzi machine gun, a Kalashnikov and "other weapons," reports EuroNews.

"France held its breath on Wednesday," reports The Financial Times today, "as hundreds of police laid siege to the Toulouse flat where the gunman suspected of shooting dead three children and a teacher at a Jewish school was holding out. An antiterrorist unit raided the house in the early hours in the search for the motorcycle gunman who attacked the school on Monday. He is also believed to have killed three Muslim paratroopers in similar execution-style shootings in the area last week."

What the hell are these cops doing?
Other reports, such as in the video above, say that President Sarkozy was advised when the police raid was about to commence.

"Terrorism will not succeed in fracturing our national community," France's President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a brief address on TV according to the Bangkok Post. "I say to the entire nation that we must be united."

Sarkozy even suspended his re-election campaign to deal with what was called a "crisis" by the French, so that he could pay his respects to the victims.  The Financial Times noted, "The killing spree has captivated the country, prompting a bout of national soul-searching during what was already a bitter presidential race ahead of elections that begin next month."

Imagine Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel making a televised speech about the Chicago bloodbath(s), like the speech made by President Sarkozy about the alleged shootings by Mohammed Merah.

So, Merah killed seven people. Excuse me, the bastard "allegedly" killed seven people. That's seven tragedies too many, but compare the French "soul-searching" reaction to that of Chicago's reaction to dozens of killings on its own streets. 

"10 dead, 49 wounded in 46 shootings over the weekend in Chicago," is the headline of a March 20 article at American Thinker. "While law abiding citizens don't own guns and struggle to overturn laws banning them," notes AT, "those who laugh at such niceties as following the law, purchasing guns through authorized dealers and even stopping at stop signs, manage to obtain guns. And they use them in a brutal war being played out in some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods, including the one so ably organized by our present president and the one about a mile from his ill gotten home."

President Sarkozy and the French people are in an uproar over the seven shootings that Mohammed Merah is suspected of committing. Sarkozy took time off from his re-election campaign to pay his respects to the dead. He was kept advised of the nationwide manhunt for Merah, and was even awakened to be told that Merah has been surrounded by over 300 police in Toulouse.

What was the reaction to 10 dead (including a 6-year old girl) and 49 wounded in Obama's bloodstained hometown Chicago?

Has President Obama been closely following the police investigations of last weekend's shootings? As Chicago police closed in on suspects, was Mayor Rahm Emanuel phoning the White House to update his former master on the latest developments? Will either Emanuel or Obama be awakened in the middle of the night to be advised of a suspect being surrounded by law enforcement? Did Obama take time off from campaigning and fund raising to pay his respects to the dead in his hometown?

The answers, of course, are no, no, no and no. To be fair, though, we also heard nothing from any of the Republican presidential candidates who campaigned ahead of Tuesday's general primary election. For that matter, does anyone recall hearing any candidates for any office in Illinois say anything about the ongoing slaughter in Chicago?

Other than police officials and a handful of religious and community leaders, what of the average Chicagoan's reaction to the shootings? Apart from a few raised eyebrows over morning headlines, it's been one big communal yawn. This is because, sadly, slaughter such as we saw last weekend has become all too commonplace in Chicago. On Tuesday, March 13 there were nine people shot in Chicago in less than eight  hours, almost like a dress rehearsal for the following weekend carnage.  On the weekend of January 27-29 there at least 20 people shot in Chicago. The examples of this are sickenly endless. (Not all of the homicides in Chicago are committed with guns, by the way. Approximately 12% are committed with knives, according to an article by Tracy Swartz at Red Eye.)

A headline in The Montreal Gazette headline said, "French fear 'monster' will strike again." The "monster" they referred to, of course, is the single shooter now surrounded by cops in Toulouse.  But in Chicago, the "monster" is a collective mob of uncivilized savages who shoot their illegal guns at will, often for no logical reason, killing just as thoroughly as any scooter riding "monster" in France. When will The Chicago Tribune or Chicago Sun-Times run a similar headline? When will the media start openly referring to the homicidal lunatics of Chicago as the monsters and savages that they are?

The French, like many Europeans these days, are terrified by guns and even by the suggestion that its citizenry should be allowed to arm themselves. "It is taboo in Europe to say that if the state fails to protect the citizens, the citizens should do so themselves," wrote Paul Belien in The Brussels Journal in 2007. "There is no Second Amendment in Europe. Even European politicians from the so-called 'right,' like Mr. Sarkozy, are horrified at the suggestion that citizens should be allowed to protect themselves against criminals."

Anne-Lorraine Schmitt:
Weaponless
One must wonder how different things might be in Toulouse today if the French were allowed concealed carry as they are in 49 of the 50 United States. Perhaps, just maybe, one of the people who witnessed the alleged actions of Mohammed Merah could have gotten a shot off, putting him down. Had that happened, it would have saved lives. Over 300 French police could be handing out parking tickets this evening rather than waiting to storm an apartment building to take down one man.

Perhaps Anne-Lorraine Schmitt would have been able to defend herself when Thierry Deve-Oglou, a Frenchman of Turkish origin, butchered her with a knife on a Metro line out of Paris. As Paul Belien wrote in his article, cited above, Deve-Oglou was a known serial rapist with a previous conviction.

And, perhaps, the collective spine of French people would less like the snails they love with garlic butter. But I'll give the French this: They seem to care more about the seven deaths, and one shooter, than Chicagoans care about hundreds of deaths and dozens of shooters. Sarkozy is more of a man than Obama and Emanuel combined. Oh, the almost-forgettable Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, too. Haven't heard a peep out of him regarding the recent Chicago butchery.

Mohammed Merah, the so-called "Toulouse gunman," was planning to kill more people today. The Chicago gunmen are making similar plans for tonight, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow....
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Major Earthquake Hits Mexico, Unscrubs Malia Obama's Vacation Story

March 20, 2012 - Mexico - Two powerful earthquakes struck southwestern Mexico today, the strongest measuring 7.4 magnitude at 12:02 PM local time (1:02 PM Chicago time).  The epicenter is about 100 miles (162 km) west southwest of Oaxaca (16.662°N, 98.188°W), and 200 miles (322 km) south southeast of Mexico City. (Details at USGS.) There are no reports of major damage at this time.

At least three aftershocks measuring over 5.0 magnitude struck within an hour of the initial quake. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon said that no serious damage had been caused by the strong quake.

Malia Obama in Oaxaca: The girl is alright
"The quake was felt strongly in southern Guerrero state," says the Houston Chronicle, "where the epicenter was located about 15 miles (25 km) from the city of Ometepec. Neighboring Oaxaca state also shook heavily, including with two aftershocks. Governors in both states reported on their Twitter accounts that there were not major reports of damage."

Barack Obama's oldest daughter Malia, 13, is vacationing in Oaxaca with a school group. The White House says that Malia is safe and was not in any danger during the earthquake events. Agence France-Presse, it seems, has done more to ruin Malia Obama's vacation that any earthquake could. The earthquake activity today also made stories such as "Media scrubs Malia Obama vacation story" seem a bit overblown – or justified. Perhaps God Himself didn't want that story to go away.

Where To Vote In Illinois Primary Election, Tuesday, March 20

UPDATED: SEE 
"Where and How to Vote In Illinois on Tuesday, November 6, 2012"

March 19, 2012 - Are wondering where to vote in the Illinois General Primary Election on Tuesday, March 20? Wonder no more. Here are several easy-to-use tools that will help you find polling places in the Land of Lincoln. Statewide, polling places will be open from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
IL State Board of Elections (click images to enlarge)
No matter where you live in Illinois, you can check into the Illinois State Board of Elections website. Once you're there, you'll see "Top Page" at the top left.

Click on "Registration And Polling Place Information" for registration lookup.

It's easy: Just enter your first and last name, your zip code, click on "Submit," and voila — your Polling Place address instantly appears.

What if you see something illegal at the polling place? You know, voter fraud or voter intimidation, or electioneering violations. Visit the "Election Authorities" subpage.

Cook County Clerk
Are you unfortunate enough to live in Cook County? Find out where to vote by visiting the Cook County Clerk's website.

This site is just as easy to use as the State Board of Elections site. This does NOT apply to Chicago voters! Windy City residents can find their polling places below. Voters outside of suburban Cook County should visit their city or county website — or the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

Voters in the City of Chicago can find their polling place by going to the Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago website. This is also easy to use. Click on "Vote Status," which takes you to a simple form that lets you check your voter registration and then quickly gives you the address of your polling place.

Note: You only need to enter your address for this to work, which is very cool. This tool even gives you a nice Google map that shows you how to get from your address to the polling place. Also, a complete list of all City of Chicago Polling Places, by Ward and Precinct, is available as a 50-page pdf file.

I was also going to list the Vote411.org website, which is from the League of Women Voters. However, it kept telling me that it could not locate the same address that the sites above did quickly. The site was a bit confusing to use, and so I felt it would be unfair to even link to it. Just go with the three listed above and you should be okay.

Obama's National Defense Executive Order Sets Up Martial Law! (Really?)

March 18, 2012 - Do you remember when, back in 2004 and again in 2008, a lot of liberals publicly worried that President Bush would declare martial law, cancel elections and make himself the Supreme Leader? Of course you do, and those of us on the Right thought it was damned funny, albeit pitiful.

Well, welcome to 2012, when a lot of conservatives are acting just as stupidly over a whole bunch of things, most recently an as-yet-unnumbered Executive Order (EO) signed by Obama on March 16. Reaction to the EO, mostly from conservatives, is panic driven and fueled by ignorance. Too many people are so willing to believe anything bad about Obama that they will swallow outrageous twistings of truth and regurgitate them without one moment of critical thinking. Look, friends, somebody's got to point this out and since not many fellow conservatives are willing to do so, I take it upon myself. You're welcome in advance.

I am no fan of Barack Hussein Obama. I just want to clarify that before I go on. I dare say that my creds as a conservative activist are well established and go back to 1976. I will admit that what I'm about to write will upset a number of my fellow conservatives, but it has to be said. What I'm about to say is addressed to all the idiots out there who are staying up all night posting crazy stuff, like this from Twitter:
Executive order panic: Martial law in U.S.? #TREASON! #NoPoliticalCastration #IslammunistOutOfUSA http://t.co/WI3lUupP 
The person who tweeted the above obviously did not read the article to which they linked at "http://t.co/WI3lUupP." That's a shortened version of the original URL for a story at World Net Daily, one of the calmer conservative websites out there. The tweeter mostly likely saw the headline, "Executive order panic: Martial law in U.S.?" and retweeted it, adding the hashmarks strongly indicate that they mistook the WND headline as a statement of fact rather than the question that it really is. What the WND article says is not at all what the tweeter likely thinks it says.

The March 16 EO has caused a storm of idiocy to fly through the Internet. Headlines such as "Obama Executive Order: Peacetime Martial Law!" by Canada Free Press‎. The CFP article, lame by their own standards, offers no "proof" of the claim its headline makes. "A bit of history," writes CFP, as if to prove it's empty point, "During WWII, price stabilization didn’t begin until May of 1942, which froze prices on nearly all every day goods and rationing started in 1943. Why would the government want to control everything before a war?"

Huh? First of all, as we'll see shortly, Obama's March 16 EO does not give the federal government to power to "control everything." CFP's own question, however, is idiotic: They ask why a government would "want to control everything before a war," yet in the previous sentence they noted that "price stabilization didn’t begin until May of 1942." Uhm, news flash: The U.S. got into the war in December, 1941 – six months after the U.S. entered fight and years after WWII had already been raging. CFP's flawed assumption (I assume) is that Obama's intentions for allegedly wanting to control everything is that he's preparing to get us involved in a huge war. CFP offered no substantiation of that, however.

Calm the hell down, people! Take your tinfoil hats off and give your overactive paranoia glands a rest already. Breath deeply. Relax.

"The White House’s late-week release of an executive order," wrote Drew Zahn in the WND piece, "has sent the online community into an uproar, worried that President Obama had secretly provided himself means to institute martial law in America." Zahn added, "Filled with language about “government-owned equipment” and a “defense executive reserve,” among other vague statements, rumors began to spread that the executive order expanded the president’s power to do everything from seizing whole industries to drafting private armies."

Sounds scary, right? Sure does, if you're an ignoramus with a complete lack of critical thinking skills and not enough patience to get beyond the headline. Zahn let us know that Obama's March 16 EO is not a takeover or the beginning of martial law: "As it turns out, Obama’s executive order is nearly identical to EO 12919, issued by President Clinton on June 7, 1994, which itself was an amendment to EO 10789, issued in 1958 by President Eisenhower, and which in fact, was later amended by EO 13286, issued in 2003 by George W. Bush."

Zahn cites a "side-by-side analysis" of Obama’s recent EO as compared to Clinton’s, which was nicely done by conservative blogger Ed Morrissey over at HotAir.com. Zahn points out, rightly, that Morrissey's analysis "reveals Obama’s order is essentially just an update to reflect changes in government agency structure."

Conclusion: Obama's executive order of March 16, 2012 is nothing to panic about. Or worry about. Or post ridiculous loony conspiracy theory nutter stuff about.

Better we should concentrate on legitimate examples of Obama's abuses of power, such as was highlighted by his recent spat with the Catholic Church. "We woke up one day," wrote E. Thomas McClanahan at The Kansas City Star, "to read that the government was ordering Catholic institutions - hospitals, charities and schools - to provide coverage for birth control and the rest." McClanahan asks, in his headline, "If our government can do this, what can they not do?"

When conservatives – and I am a conservative – let themselves become distracted by things like the latest Obama EO it causes attention on things such as what McClanahan wrote about to be lost amid a sea of  counterproductive, empty foam. It does a number of harmful things:
  • It distracts us from real issues, actual facts and truth and causes too many of us to spend time and energy on things that do not have any substance;
  • It provides Obama and the Democrats with cover by allowing them to do things while we're not looking;
  • It makes the entire conservative movement look ridiculous;
  • It gives the Left legitimate reason to criticize us as paranoid;
  • It unduly frightens the ignorant and feeble minded (seriously);
  • It embarrasses the hell out of most conservatives, who disown you as the nutjobs that you are when we're asked about your behavior by moderates and liberals (oh yes, we do).
The Twitter item that I mentioned above was reposted by somebody on Facebook today. I commented on it by saying, "READ the Executive Order signed on March 16. Jeez, please, I am NOT happy with Obama but this is blown waaaaaaay outa proportion." I provided a link to the HotAir.com story.

Immediately, another person responded to me with an absurd comment: "If you lived close to Los Alamitos you could have seen dozens of military planes flying in to the base and black hawk helicopters paroling civilian neighborhoods all last week and weekend. Pretty scary." After leaning against a wall for a few moments to steady myself while laughing uncontrollably, I responded.

"Wow, imagine that!" I wrote, "Military planes flying into -- a military base! And helicopters flying over neighborhoods! My, that IS scary. Not. I grew up in Madison WI and we always saw military aircraft flying overhead. You know why they did that? It's the most efficient way for them to get to and from their base, that's why. And I'll betcha there were military planes and helicopters flying Los Alamitos around last month, and the month before, and for years prior to Obama becoming POTUS. Please, calm down."

After an hour, no response to me. Perhaps Los Alamitos realized how silly his comment was. I can only hope, but the fact remains that there are tens of thousands of other idiots out there right now who are busily tweeting an posting elsewhere that "Obama has seized control of everything."

One of those idiots is Brandon Turbeville, who writes for fear-monger Alex Jones at the ever-spooked InfoWars.com. Turbeville's March 18 post is titled "New Obama Executive Order Seizes U.S. Infrastructure and Citizens for Military Preparedness."  As we've already been shown by respected conservative bloggers such as Ed Morrissey, Turbeville's piece is nothing more than long winded paranoid drivel.

Consider this: IF Barack Obama wanted to seize control of everything and make himself a dictator, would he have even bothered with an executive order, let alone publish it for the whole world to see? Furthermore, IF Barack Obama was determined to seize control of "everything," why would he be going to all the trouble of raising campaign contributions so that he can run a re-election campaign? Hmmm?
There's an old saying that most of us know: "Just because you're paranoid," it goes, "doesn't mean they're not out to get you." That may be true, but it's also true just because you repeat paranoid fantasies loudly and often does not mean that they're not untrue.

In case I'm wrong about all this, I guess I'll see you all later after we've been rounded up and put into a secret FEMA camp. I just hope the authorities give some extra rations now and then for writing this.

Re-Elect Dan Patlak to Cook County Board of Review (Tax)

March 18, 2012 - Cook County got lucky when Republican Dan Patlak decided to run for the Cook County Board of Review. Patlak is a decent, honest man who is not a part of the political Machine that has given Cook County its massive budget problems. He was never a part of the corrupt Todd Stroger disaster. Cook County got even luckier when Patlak was actually elected in 2010.
Dan Patlak
There are some fake Republicans, however, who would like to see Patlak voted out. That would open the door to the Democrats regaining the seat on the Board. Patlak's opposition in the Republican primary election, for Cook County Board of Review 1st District, is Sean Morrison. Sadly, Morrison has shown himself to be a guttersnipe who has chosen to twist facts and outright lie about Dan Patlak.

Morrison was defeated by Patlak in the 2010 primary. Morrison, it seems, is still bitter about that loss and has not hesitated to sling wild and false accusations at Patlak. Morrison, who calls himself a Republican, is cut from the same cloth as is political loser and RINO Jim Dodge. (Morrison even looks a bit like Dodge.)

One need only look to the fact that Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman of Orland Park, a "progressive Republican," supports Morrison. Liz Gorman was a supporter of Dodge in his failed bid for Illinois State Comptroller in 2010 (he came in a far distant third to victor Judy Topinka and dark horse Bill Kelly).

The Gorman-Morrison axis, then, is probably an attempt by Progressives and Democrats working to take Patlak's seat away from the Republicans. This is not some wild theory, and I am not the only one who feels this way. Pat Brady, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, seems to agree.

The Illinois GOP only rarely interferes with local primary races (perhaps not often enough), but Brady felt compelled to jump into this one. Gorman is no friend of the Illinois Republican Party, and why she hasn't been drummed out of the party is a mystery. She has long been known for being "more than willing to routinely accommodate Democrats," after all.

“This race is a unique circumstance, no doubt about it,” The Daily Herald quoted Brady as saying in a March 16 article. Brady, reported The Herald's Matt Arado, "said he believes Morrison....isn't a genuine Republican candidate at all, but a 'Democratic plant.' (Morrison denies this allegation.)" Arado also quoted Brady as saying, “I see this as a blatant attempt to get a Democrat into that seat,” and, “So I felt it necessary to weigh in.”

Gorman's organization is using deceptive tactics on behalf of Morrison, notes George A. Tarasuk at Orland Park Patch. On March 8 he wrote, "In Wednesday’s mail I received two pieces of campaign literature. The first was a derogatory piece accusing Dan Patlak of Electioneering, Soliciting, Political Hiring and Shaking down Property Tax Attorneys. There was no indication of who sponsored this trash. The second came from the Republican Organization of Orland Township with Liz Gorman’s signature. The second was billed as, 'Your Official Republican Sample Ballot.' If it was a sample ballot, why didn’t it include all of the Republicans running for: Illinois State Senate 18th District, Illinois State Representative 35th District, and candidates for the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts?  For Cook County Board of Review 1st District it promoted Sean Morrison as 'one of our own.' This was not a sample ballot. It was a deception."

Tarasuk's full article at Patch also notes that Gorman is making robo calls for MorrisonRead more of Tarasuk's article here.

Sean Morrison has a right to run for any office, of course, whether he's a "real" Republican or not. However, as John F. Di Leo points out, challenging an incumbent is fine "if you campaign fairly.  Unfortunately, that’s not what Sean Morrison is doing."

"Knowing that he has no real grounds for demanding that the party overthrow the only Republican to beat an incumbent Democrat in Cook County in fifteen years (oh yes, it’s WORTH repeating)," wrote Di Leo in a must-read article at Illinois Review, "Sean Morrison has taken Patlak quotes out of context and run them in his radio ads, in the most twisted way possible.  This isn’t completely unknown in politics, but it’s particularly egregious in this particular race."

"The entire Morrison campaign," Di Leo wrote, "is based on a belief that Republican primary voters don’t understand the office of the Board of Review, and a hope that deceptive commercials can sway a naïve electorate on primary day. Sadly, not much can be done about it – the First Amendment protects most political speech, even most outright lies about the office and the officeholder. Slander and libel laws aren’t completely overridden by the First Amendment, but the bar is set so high as to tolerate almost anything."

Di Leo offers a simple solution to the Sean Morrison Problem. "We need to declare that Sean Morrison’s abuse of the system," he wrote, "unfair tactics and distortion about the office and its powers, are unacceptable in the Republican Party. We need to proudly re-elect Dan Patlak, and to shun Sean Morrison in any future political bid.  He’s proven to be the wrong kind of candidate, the wrong kind of politician."

Dan Patlak is endorsed by The Chicago Tribune and by The Daily Herald. Both  papers make very strong statements about Patlak and about Morrison.

Excerpt from The Chicago Tribune endorsement (emphasis added):

Patlak's challenger is Sean Morrison, the Palos Township Republican committeeman, whom Patlak defeated in the 2010 primary. Morrison, a security firm executive, has radio ads that suggest he will lower everyone's property taxes. The ads are misleading. The job is to review assessment appeals so property tax bills are fair. There's a race here because one faction of Cook County Republicans is feuding with another faction. There is no reason for voters to unseat Patlak. Morrison evidently knows that: He has built his campaign primarily on serial mud-slinging that doesn't speak well for his judgment. That is one of this job's core necessities. Patlak is endorsed.

Excerpt from The Daily Herald endorsement (emphasis added):

In fact, Patlak, while pointing justifiably to improvements he has pushed, does seem a little too comfortable with the status quo. But Morrison hasn’t made a strong case for replacing him, and some of Morrison’s charges have been wide of the mark or unsubstantiated. We endorse Patlak, based on his experience, and his record in helping improve how the office runs and its timeliness completing reviews.

Related articles:

Yes, I Could Use Your Help Again (Updated)

Update, April 12, 2012: I had a good job interview yesterday. That is, the interviewer was friendly and sent signals that I was in the running to get the job, with a small real estate company here in Chicago that is looking to fill a position quickly. I am, however, now down to $34.00 in my bank account as of this morning, I'm hoping desperately that they hire me. If I passed that first round of interviewing, there will be a second interview before they actually hire me. And so, friends, I am forced by circumstance to again ask for your help. If enough of you each give just one or two dollars it will keep me in food until, hopefully, I get that job... or find another. You can find the handy PayPal Donate Button in the sidebar here, to the right, or click here to giveThanks in advance, and God bless.

Original Post:
It's still a rough job market out there, especially for a 57-year old dude like me (I don't care what Obama's propaganda machine says). And so I ask for your assistance, friends. Please help me to continue publishing  "Chicago News Bench" blog (since 2006). (Your help, of course, will also help to eat!) I am doing my best to keep up even as I continue my long  employment search. The occasional payment for advertising and contributions from good folks like you are all that's kept me going. Click here to make a contribution via PayPalYour help is much appreciated! Thanks in advance, and God bless.

Unconstitutional Gun Registration in Rockford, IL

March 17, 2012 - The Rockford Tea Party has exposed an unconstitutional gun registration requirement in Rockford, Illinois. They posted the following on their Facebook page today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE---ROCKFORD TEA PARTY

Rockford, IL - - Rockford Tea Party finds out about Unconstitutional Firearms Registration
Click to Enlarge - image courtesy of Rockford Tea Party
Since 1995 the City of Rockford has required anyone that wants to purchase a handgun in the city to fill out a registration card at the point of purchase which is sent to the city. The practice has gone unnoticed for the past 17 years, but is being revisited with current atmosphere of interest in government accountability.

“This gun registration law within the City of Rockford must be eliminated without condition. We do not seek to repeal and replace it, we seek to have this unconstitutional violation of our 2nd Amendment rights eliminated completely, said David Hale Rockford Tea Party Coordinator. We are calling on the Rockford City Council and Mayor Morrissey to immediately strike this law/ordinance from the books.”

After 17 years on the books gun crime and violent crime have increased to make Rockford one of the most violent cities in the state. There is no justification for the law in Rockford and City leaders to continue to allow this the law to remain on the books. We are also seeking to have all records and registrations destroyed immediately.

Contact: David Hale
Rockfordteaparty1@gmail.com

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A Song for Rod Blagojevich and his Rocky Mountain Retreat

Rocky Mountain High
(federalprisoncalls.net)
March 15, 2012 - Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich settles into a federal prison near Denver, Colorado today. It made me think about his new digs in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. He'll be a guest at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Englewood in Littleton, Colorado. Naturally, this made a John Denver song came to my mind.

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forest and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

The full lyrics are below, and some of them are weirdly appropriate for Blago's plight. "While there are views of the Rocky Mountains and a golf course from the compound," reports 9-News KUSA-TV, "former prisoner[s] have told Chicago reporters it only serves as a reminder of things that can't be enjoyed behind bars." That sounds like complaining that the glass is half empty. The fact remains that the inmates can see the mountains. It's a great view.

Perhaps this will be good for  "Inmate No. 40892-424," as he will be officially known. Maybe it will do him some good to get away from those who enabled him to commit his crimes.  Time in the big house, and a lot of fresh mountain air, just might cleanse Blago's  soul. I can't say for certain, of course.

Blago checks in (photo: MSNBC)
All I know do know is that I've been waiting years for an excuse to include a John Denver song in a blog post, and although Blago's relocation to Colorado is a really flimsy reason to do, I'm taking the opportunity. (Now, if I can just get that danged song outa my head....)

Words by John Denver;
Music by John Denver and Mike Taylor

He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Comin' home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again
You might say he found a key for every door

When he first came to the mountains his life was far away
On the road and hangin' by a song
But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care
It keeps changin' fast and it don't last for long

But the Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullabye
Rocky mountain high

He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below
He saw everything as far as you can see
And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun
And he lost a friend but kept his memory

Now he walks in quiet solitude the forest and the streams
Seeking grace in every step he takes
His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand
The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake

And the Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
Rocky mountain high

Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear
Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend
Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land

And the Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
I know he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly
Rocky mountain high

It's Colorado rocky mountain high
I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
Friends around the campfire and everybody's high
Rocky mountain high

Blog Attacked Via Facebook Group For Posting 'Blow Up The Koran'

"Leisture Man Ops" Facebook profile picture
March 12, 2012 - The counterjihad website Infidels United was temporarily brought down today by a mysterious group on Facebook. 

That group orchestrated a dedicated denial of of service (DDOS) attack by inviting others to a Facebook event called "DDOS http://www.infidelsunited.com."  The site was brought back online this evening just past 9:00 PM CDT, but the attacks continue.

A DDOS is "is an attempt to make a computer or network resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person, or multiple people to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely." (source: Wikipedia)

Click image to enlarge it
"Leisture Man Ops" is the group or individual responsible for the DDOS. (No, that's not my mispelling: The fool can't even spell "Leisure" correctly.)

The reason for the attack is not clear, but is probably connected to the fact that Infidels United posted "Blow Up The Koran" on March 5.

Infidels United tells Chicago News Bench that the DDOS attacks have been "unceasing" since the FB event "DDOS http://www.infidelsunited.com" was posted on March 6th.

"Leisture Man Ops" seems to be Malaysian. Many of the phrases uses at their Facebook pages are in the Malay language.
Click image to enlarge it
The phrase "teruskan attack" is used a number of times, and "teruskan" means, roughly, "keep trying" or "don't stop" in Malay, which makes sense in this context for a persistent denial of service attack on a website.

"I have reported it to Facebook and the FBI via http://ic3.gov," said the owner of Infidels United, "and nobody seems to give a crap!"

He wonders, as do we all, why Facebook does not police this kind of activity more closely.
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