FLASH: OBAMA TO QUIT SENATE ON SUNDAY

CHICAGO - Obama will officially leave the US Senate this coming Sunday, Nov. 16. Obama needs time, you see, to get ready for his new job - even though he told us before the election that he'd be ready "on day one." He just couldn't wait another week. If he had waited until, say, Nov. 23, he would have been able to get involved with next week's big Senate session to deal with the current economic crisis. But no, Obama is too busy for that stuff. He's getting ready for Day One, even though he promised us he was already ready for Day One. But here's the really fun part: In Chicago, the local Democrat Machine (of which Obama is/was a part) will now go into fits of hyperventilation as jerk after jerk jockeys for a good position from which to thrust himself/herself into Obama's vacated Senate seat. (More at Reuters...)

Eugene Schulter: From Eminent Domain to Imminent Demise

Because of Barack Obama's run for the presidency, the Chicago political cesspool known as "The Machine" has been abuzz with whispered rumor and speculation about how his election might affect the local politicos. Like dog droppings on a cold November morning, the political future landscape of Chicago is beginning to crystallize and harden. Obama himself is a product of the Chicago Machine, Democrats who have ruled this city with virtual impunity for decades. Corrupt and dirty, the Machine chugs along, well oiled by extorted campaign "contributions" and under the table donations from the likes of ACORN and the SEIU. Rahm Emanuel, another Chicago Machine cog, is leaving his Congressional post to become Obama's White House Chief of Staff in January. That will leave the 5th Congressional District in Illinois without a representative. Yesterday, a Chicago Machine cog named Eugene Schulter (left) announced that he will run to fill the void left by Emanuel's departure. Schulter is the long-time city councilman (alderman) in Chicago's 47th Ward, which is within the 5th Congressional District. He is known as "Alderman Killjoy," "Mean Gene," and a slew of names that The Bench refuses to print because children occasionally read this blog. "I've been with Rahm from Day One. He's a resident of my ward," Schulter told Lorraine Swanson of the Chicago Journal/News-Star. "I knew that the Obama campaign has been reaching out to him for quite some time. I talked to Rahm immediately after he made the announcement and let him know that I'd be seeking his position." It's all very inbred here in Chicago. All the Machine cogs are connected, grinding away to produce one thing and one thing only: Power. Not for the People, but for the furtherance of the Machine. Schulter, of course, is not the only cog to run for Emanuel's soon-to-be vacant seat. The Bench will make a prediction here and now: Alderman Schulter will not win. He is a mean spirited man, a petty dictator, and is hated far and wide for his role in foisting eminent domain on his own ward in a vicious land grab attempt last year in a part of his ward known as Lincoln Square. Schulter energized his constituents in that episode, but not in any way that he had hoped for. Rather, they were energized to work against him. Many of those people will donate to anybody but Schulter. They will volunteer for anybody but Schulter. They will vote for anybody but Schulter, and that is Schulter's primary motivation for running for Congress: He knows he cannot be re-elected as alderman of his own 47th Ward. It will be interesting and a lot of fun to watch Schulter pretend to be a man of the people when in fact he is a tool of real estate developers and special interest groups. It will be entertaining to watch him spin his role as an abuser of eminent domain. How he will do that, short of outright lies, is something that one can only imagine. Eugene Schulter is a man of the Machine, just as Emanuel, Obama, Gutierrez and others are. The Chicago Machine now owns the White House. If, God Help Us, our prediction of Schulter's imminent demise is incorrect, then Washington will simply have one more corruptocrat from the Windy City. Misery, after all, loves company. RELATED: Bullying, Plain and Simple: Challenging the Thieves of City Hall LINCOLN SQUARE BATTLE: HELL NO, WE WON'T GO LINCOLN SQUARE BATTLE RAGES Ald. Schulter: "Trust Me" Eminent Domain: All Your Bases Are Belong To Us EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: LINCOLN SQUARE PROTEST AT SCHULTER'S OFFICE FLASH: SCHULTER BLINKS EMINENT DOMAIN FIGHT CONTINUES Dictator of the 47th Ward Smells Like Steans Spirit Entries from Chicagoist tagged with 'eugeneschulter' Chicago Reader Blogs: The Food Chain Chicago Sun-Times: Neighborhoods: Lincoln Square Archives ILLINOIZE: Chicago's Lincoln Square faces eminent domain threat Chicago Sun-Times: Recently in Lincoln Square Category Save Lincoln Square Will Obama’s Windy City Vacuum be Filled by Nepotism?

NOTE TO MCCAIN: IGNORE FUNNYE MONEY CAPER

OBAMA'S HONEY'S FUNNYE MONEY CAPERS Barack Obama arranged for a grant to go to one of his wife's cousins. The McCain Campaign should completely ignore this story. Ya gotta love Chicago politics, where Barack Obama suckled at the teat of the Democrat Machine. Gad, Obama's as dirty as all the rest of them, this candidate of "Change." Now, AP reports on Michelle Obama's cousin, Capers Funnye (pronounced Fun-nay, which rhymes with mun-nay). Rabbi Funnye received Illinois tax dollaz courtesy of - yup - Barack Obama. Oy, there's that stink of impropriety. But not enough stink, in my opinion, for the RNC or John McCain to even mention, let alone make a big - uhm - stink about. Rabbi Funnye seems like a straight up guy. The way Obama arranged for money to go to Michelle's cousin (once removed) smells bad, yes, but this story has no legs. McCain's campaign would be well advised to completely ignore this. Unfortunately, they are unaware of my sage advice. Indications are that the RNC and sympathetic bloggers and pundits are using this already. Stupid. Leave it alone. You'll only be seen as attacking a do-gooder rabbi. There are bigger issues to tackle, folks. Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr. is the Chief Rabbi at Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation (Beth Shalom), the oldest Temple in the Chicago areaserving the Israelite Community. (Web site...) In 1999, Obama arranged for $50,000 for adult literacy and counseling services offered on Chicago's South Side by a group called Blue Gargoyle. A $25,000 grant for the group's youth services followed the next year. The group's executive director when the grants were awarded was Capers Funnye, a South Side rabbi and Michelle Obama's first cousin once removed. FULL STORY... As Right Pundits notes, "Worthy causes, all. But there was little or no oversight for this money. America, keep an eye on how your money is spent. You do not want it to wind up in the pockets of Obama’s friends and family, or his crazy pastor, or domestic terrorists like Bill Ayers." That's the Culture of Corruption that Nancy Pelosi used to talk about so much. It just keeps getting harder for Pelosi & Company to point their fingers when their own are in the cookie jar. RELATED: Capers Funnye News and Information from NBC5 Chicago Michelle Obama's Chicago Rabbi Cousin

Who Sent Barack Obama?

Machine-made in Chicago Steve Diamond's excellent posting discusses the mystery man Barack Obama and his hard-t0-explain rapid rise in politics. From street agitator to presidential candidate in what amounts to the blink of an eye, Obama's rise is so unusually fast that it begs questions, and Diamond not only asks the right ones, he provided interesting answers and theories for them too. An excerpt from Diamond's "Global Labor and Politics" blog: So it is reasonable to ask, who "sent" Barack Obama? In other words, how can his meteoric rise to political prominence be explained? And, of course, in an answer to that question might lie a better understanding of his essential world view. When I started looking at this question a few weeks ago I quickly grew more concerned about the kinds of people that seem to have been very important in Obama's ascendancy in Chicago area politics. FULL POST at Global Labor and Politics... "TPR" at the "Just Politics" blog addressed the point of Obama's allegiance to the Chicago Machine, but missed the point: When he endorsed a couple of the worst Machine hacks, including Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, it was less an act of obeisance to Daley than to the African American political base. But many read it as homage to the Machine. TPR acknowledges the endorsement of "the worst Machine hacks" in local Chicago politics, but quickly excuses that saying it was for Obama's "African American political base." TPR did not note the irony of Obama, who bills himself as post-racial, endorsing hacks for purely racial political reasons. [Source] But race cannot explain why, in 2006, Obama happily endorsed one of the clowniest clowns on Chicago's City Council, Alderman Joe Moore, 49th Ward. Moore, then a 48-year old white guy, is the goof who authored the internationally ridiculed anti-foie gras ordinance. He was in bed (metaphorically) with Cong. Jan Schakowsky's felon husband Robert Creamer, who was convicted by the feds for check kiting. Moore is roundly criticized for leaning on developers for donations, and there is at least one photo of him with his hand on the shoulder of someone while she is voting. Perhaps Evelyn Pringle puts it most clearly, and most bluntly: The most trusted leaders of the Democratic party, such as John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, ought to be ashamed of themselves for supporting Barack Obama. With use of the internet, a fifth grader could connect the dots to show a picture of a guy who was picked up in college and carried up the political ladder by a corrupt gang of influence peddlers. FULL POST at Countercurrents.org... RELATED: Obama The Practical Obama's 'No, I Can't' Moment - Real Clear Politics Obama Played by Chicago Rules - WSJ.com