GOP (Diersen) and Illinoize

I used to read Rich Miller's "second" blog, Illinoize.

However, since March, to do so means wading through the mess that is "GOPUSA Illinois."

That blogger is simply not worth reading, and he takes a lot of room. Most of the prose is pathetic, with a lot of "very sad", a lot of strange statements of "fact", and a lot of paranoia.

Looks like I'm not the only one who is avoiding the blog now.

According to reliable numbers, in October 2007, November 2007, and December, 2007, the blog had about 19,000 visitors a month.

It got better in January and February, 2008 (right before the Illinois primary) with about 24,000 in January and 27,000 in February.

And then came Diersen. March, 2008 was down to 22,000, and it has been on the decline since that time, with each month being well below the October, 2007 numbers.

42nd Ward Real Estate Continues to Sizzle

While the rest of Chicago has seen a relative downturn in the real estate market, the 42nd Ward contines to do very well.

The most recent is example is 211 E. Ontario. The building, containing 172,000 square feet of office space, recently sold for about $36 million.

The building had been purchased in 2006 for $23 million. The owners had invested about $1 million in renovations.

Hat tip: http://www.globest.com/news/1213_1216/chicago/172909-1.html?st=rss

GOP Blogger Diersen Hates All Sex (Even Between Dogs)

GOP Blogger Dave Diersen is a raving loon. That's readily apparent to anyone reading his "work." His is a grown man who routinely refers to political events as "very sad", believes that Everybody Is Out To Get White America, believes that coverage of political news is "promoting", and believes that all federal employee (other than himself -- he's got a long record of being on the fed payroll) are Democrats who hate America.

In his "column" on July 30, 2008, he hit what may be a new low. It is well known that Diersen hates all sex between humans. Now, it turns out, he even hates sex between dogs.

Diersen is outraged that the Chicago Sun-Times would come out against a proposed ordinance requiring that all pets be spayed/neutered. Since Diersen hates Chicago, it is unclear what he would care about Chicago pets. The answer appears simple: He simply hates all sex, even among dogs.

As I said: A new low.

But on the bright side, I got a good laugh.

Carlos Marmol? An Allstar?

It was bad enough when "The Big Z", also known as "The Fat Guy Who Never Once Tipped the Doormen or Garage Staff, or so I Hear" made the all-star team.
But Carlos "five runs in the 9th, let's show him how wonderful Peoria is in July" Marmol?
Things have gotten out of hand.

Today's Sheep: Emma Mitts (37)

Today's Aldermanic Sheep is Emma Mitts (37).

Mitts is one of the alderman who knows how to follow orders. She does what Mayor Daley tells her to do. She votes as she is told.

One of her votes was to confirm Jody Weis to run the Chicago Police Department. Emma Mitts did what Mayor Daley told her to do, and voted to confirm Weis. She also votes consistenly for Daley's budgets, despite the fact that Daley consistently fails to budget for enough sworn police officers.

But recently, there has been some bad publicity. There were shootings near Taste of Chicago. Over the past few months, crime statistics are moving in the wrong direction.

So what does Emma Mitts do? Does she call her local police commanders to sit down and find out what is happening in 37? No.

It turns out that Emma Mitts, who claims to represent the 37th Ward, does not even know who the commanders are in that ward.

How does an alderman not know who the police commanders are? What kind of Daley-ordering-following sheep is too lazy to look into who is running things for the CPD in her ward?

The answer? Emma Mitts is that sort of alderman. She's just following orders. She doesn't have the time to find out what is happening in 37, at least not until Mayor Daley issues the order.

Which is a shame, since the 37th Ward needs an alderman willing to do some work. And an alderman that is willing to stand up for the 37th Ward, and not just follow Daley's orders.

Today's Sheep Update: Isaac Carothers (29)

According to multiple sources, Alderman Isaac Carothers is VERY upset because Police Superintendent Jody Weis has not been "responsive" to Carothers. Apparently, Carothers wants people to blame Supt. Weis for the failings with regard to security on certain evenings during the Taste of Chicago, and for allegedly low morale within the Department.

There may be a simple solution: Weis can let out a "Baaa" in the general direction of Carothers. As one of Daley's sheep, Carothers should get the point.

During the years that Carothers has been in office, he has consistently refused to stand up to Mayor Daley. The result? Chicago does not have enough sworn police officers on the job. Our police department lacks the resources to do the job. But still, Carothers, like a good sheep, lines up and votes with Daley nearly every time.

It is almost funny to see Carothers play his role, acting the part of a man with integrity. His ward desperately needs an alderman with the guts to stand up to Mayor Daley and demand more.

Too bad the 29th has Isaac Carothers instead.

The Wacky Right -- Dishonest Again

Diersen, the GOP blogger over at Illinoize, is known for some zany stuff. He is one of the few allegedly grown males who consistently use the term "sad" and "very sad" to describe matters not involving the death of a close family member. He rarely has his facts straight. He also is a afraid of criticism. His posts do not allow comments.

Today, Diersen once again showed that he is not just wacky, but dishonest. Rather than speaking about Sen. Obama's records, Diersen chose to repeat a lie. According to Diersen, Obama "said that the nation’s chief priority should not be for immigrants to learn English, but for American children to learn Spanish."

That's not true at all, and Diersen knows it. Sen. Obama said the obvious: That although immigrants to the U.S. should speak English, Americans should learn foreign languages. Sen. Obama is right on that issue. If the U.S. wants to compete in the world, Americans need to learn to speak other languages. For what its worth, if the U.S. had more Arabic speakers, we may have been able to prevent 9/11 and we certainly would be doing a far better job in the fight against the outlaw terrorists.

Senator Obama never said that immigrants should not learn English. He never said that Americans learning Spanish was MORE IMPORTANT than immigrants learning English.

When Diersen made those comments, he was dishonest. Since that man who claims the moral highground, that is very very very sad.

Rock Out With Reilly

Brendan Reilly, one of the few Chicago Alderman not in the Mayor's pocket, is holding "Rock Out With Reilly" on July 15, 2008, at House of Blues. That's a great place to hear music, and this is a great way to support one of the few who have shown a willingness to stand up to Daley.

For more details, see here.

SOAR Blueprints 2008

The Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR) will be presenting

Blueprints 2008

An Evening of

Art & Architecture

Monday, August 4, 2008

Museum of Contemporary Art

Tickets are $100 each

Daley's Transportation Failures

A few weeks ago, after spending over $200 MILLION to put a hole in the ground at State and Washington, Mayor Daley came to the conclusion that truly rapid transit from downtown to O'Hare was not possible. As a result, Daley agreed that the CTA should spend an additional $45.6 million in order to complete that hole.

The fact that Mayor Daley wasted nearly $250 million is not the biggest issue. In fact, it gets worse. According to the March 2008 Atlantic, rail delays in and around Chicago cause $4.0 BILLION in losses. The reason, according to the Atlantic's Bruce Katz describes, is that rail system issues cause freight trains going through Chicago to travel at the speed of zambonis.

Despite Daley's conclusion that truly rapid transit to O'Hare is not possible, persons can get from Shanghai's Pudong Airport to downtown Shanghai in eight minutes, using trains that travel at nearly 300 mph.

Mayor Daley spends millions and says it cannot be done. Mayor Daley has done nothing to speed freight service through the Chicago area, causing the U.S. to lose billions.

And, meanwhile, the Chinese can get from Pudong to downtown Shanghai in eight minutes.

Twenty years of Daley rule, and this is what we get?