Blagojevich Getting It Done! (Not!)

Eric Zorn's got a good one today, poking a knife in Illinois non-Governor Rob Blagojevich's slimy ribs: After Blagojevich cut funding to CeaseFire in August, 96 of the program's 130 conflict mediators lost their jobs, according to founder and director Dr. Gary Slutkin, a University of Illinois at Chicago epidemiologist. CeaseFire's analysis of police data suggests this has resulted in 170 additional shootings since September. FULL ARTICLE at Chicago Tribune... Note to Chicago's 49th Ward: You still have the sycophant David Fagus, Democrat Committeeman and stooge to Ald. Joe Moore, sucking up to the corrupt and inept Blago and to Todd Stroger. See Democratic Party - 49th Ward: Blagojevich Getting It Done! and Democratic Party - 49th Ward: Todd Stroger Turns It On! to see just how stupid your "leaders" are.

CeaseFunding for CeaseFire?

Is CeaseFire effective? Ask someone in St. Louis, where funding was cut by Gov. Blagojevich a while ago. Writes the blog St. Louis CofCC:

"There is an easy solution to stopping violent crime without a program that relies on state grants; in fact, it’s free — the city’s denizens should stop being violent. If they don’t, making them behave in the only fashion that has been demonstrated to work isn’t that expensive."

Agreed. Unfortunately, a lot of very stupid people live among us. They have stupid parents. This is acknowledged indirectly by CeaseFire itself, which feels a need to pepper bad neighborhoods with signs telling the criminally primitive to not shoot people. Incredible. Can you imagine signs telling people "Don't Jump Off of Buildings" or "Don't Stab People"?

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois lawmakers have voted to re-instate an anti-crime program that was cut from East St. Louis and other communities last year by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. However, the Illinois House vote on Thursday to revive the scuttled CeaseFire program faces opposition in the Senate, where leaders have stood behind Blagojevich in his ongoing budget battle with lawmakers. FULL STORY...

Cincinnati Magazine looks at the difference between Chicago's CeaseFireand theirs. Seems theirs has not been as successful as ours. "The major difference between CeaseFire Cincinnati and CeaseFire Chicago," they write, "comes down to one thing: money. Until last month, Avondale’s program lacked the funding to hire any full-time outreach workers; instead, the Partnering Center employed just two part-timers. “The model argues that [outreach workers] are the biggest X factor,” Krings Barnes says. If those workers can’t spend any time discussing alternatives to crime with current and would-be criminals, the program will fail before it has a chance to take off."

RELATED:
Let CeaseFire fight -- chicagotribune.com
Ceasefires really just a bunch of duds?
* Where's Ceasefire Rogers Park?