Friday, April 22, 2016

When it comes to Rauner, the plain truth is bad enough



     Karen Lewis used to do standup at the Woodlawn Tap.

     Before she was a teacher, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union briefly wanted to be a comedian.

     She still has a tendency to let loose with both barrels, like Wednesday, when she called Gov. Bruce Rauner "a new ISIS recruit" in front of the City Club.

     I winced, because the truth about Rauner is bad enough: our most rigid and immoral governor in living memory, who not only did not accomplish anything he said he would, but, indulging in the extremism that has brought the Republican Party to the edge of ruin, turned his standoff with House Speaker Mike Madigan into statewide paralysis, hurting thousands of the most vulnerable Illinoisans and truly damaging the state's vital institutions.

     Just say that. No need to drag in terrorism. Wild exaggeration is a tactic of the weak, the Occupy movement vilifying a system they haven't the foggiest notion of how to actually change. Comparing Rauner to ISIS doesn't hurt him — he's the most don't-give-a-damn politician I've ever encountered, well, except for Madigan, which is what makes their faceoff so maddening. If they were a pair of dogs with their jaws locked on each other, we could turn a hose on them.

    As it is, all we can do is wait. So I understand Lewis' frustration...


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17 comments:

  1. "Every single person I know" -- and this is ... how many people?

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    1. I know a couple of dozen people & have talked to many, many more. You go see the Bean once & say, OK, I've seen & never go back.
      It's for the dimwitted tourists & parasitic suburbanites that pay no taxes to keep the city running, actually hate the city, but if interviewed on TV, will say they're from Chicago, even if they live in Kane or McHenry counties.
      BTW, I don't count you as a dimwitted suburbanite, you're one of the few who understands the entire area rises & falls on the success of the central city.

      Delete
    2. @Clark St.
      Wow, that is one cynical and bitter comment. "....dimwitted tourists & parasitic suburbanites....." Even compared to many of your previous comments, this might be a new low.

      SandyK

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    3. In the future, I hope to get even lower.
      I am bitter & cynical, due to all the morons that keep voting for the crooked politicians, over & over again & again.
      There isn't a single honest politician in this state, not one!

      Delete
    4. Clark, How do you spell "misanthrope"?

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    5. How do you feel about Will County, Clark? You do generalize a lot.

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    6. The previous Will County State's Attorney was a crook.

      Delete
  2. Clark St., If you're trying to give the Woodman2 apoplexy with your bullet points, it very well may work. As for the Lucas Museum, when it leaked the deal requires 1.2 billion in taxpayer financing, I suffered from a bout of apoplexy. It's just another excuse for the city create another board of directors made up of connected cronies to get fat salaries for meeting once a month, if that, and siphon off any profits that could be used to pay of the bonds. And posting comments at all hours of the night? I can relate to that. I fear after an extended sleep period, waking up to find a desiccated pod, and realizing I'm a Trump supporter.

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  3. Clark St., teachers don't get Social Security. Teachers are middle class citizens, and slashing their salaries will hurt them. CPS needs dedicated employees, not a race to the bottom that harms not only the kids but also the tax base by cutting salaries.

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    1. That's right, they don't get Social Security which tops at at $31,668 & only for those who made the SSA earnings cap or over for 35 years.
      Teachers will get at least that & most will get at least double that for working 20-25 years & get to retire at 55, while SSA recipients must wait until 66 & that's climbing.
      And who pays for that obscene pension amount, the taxpayers, 90% of whom who will be lucky to get $20,000 a year from SSA! And they're also middle class!
      So don't give me any more crap about teachers & their obscenely overinflated salaries & pensions!
      And don't forget, teachers are paying only 2% of the amount every year into the pension plan, the taxpayers are paying the other 16%!

      Delete
  4. Clark St., teachers don't get Social Security. Teachers are middle class citizens, and slashing their salaries will hurt them. CPS needs dedicated employees, not a race to the bottom that harms not only the kids but also the tax base by cutting salaries.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Although I did not exactly "cringe" at Lewis' "Isis recruit" remark, I have to admit that such provoke "rotten to the core" ripostes. If Karen Lewis is afraid of losing her job by not being mean enough to her opponents, she should give it up now. The troops are riled up. They won't defect. It's time to talk peace.

    john

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    1. Sorry. Just noticed it was "winced," not "cringed," that Neil did.

      And the peace I'm advocating is with the CPS, not Governor Rauner, who must be chortling with joy to see the City battling with a union. Who wins. He does.

      john

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  6. Rauner is shaping up as the worst Illinois governor in my lifetime. And that includes the four who ended up in prison.

    Bitter Scribe

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  7. Karen Lewis can be entertaining, although in my day "Jimmy's," at 55th and Woodlawn, was for swilling suds and scholarly discourse -- no standup or other entertainment -- but think Chicago teachers would be better served by a less abrasive spokesman. I don't know details of Chicago teacher pay, but have a number of teachers in my family and know that they are not generally overpaid given their education, training and the crap they have to put up with in today's classrooms. And I'm not sure it's smart to demonize them. they are, after all, the people you entrust with the care -- and in a large part the futures -- of your kids.

    Speaking as one of those parasitic suburbanites, but one who often has an occasion to take foreign visitors into the city, I wouldn't undersell Millennium Park. It's not the vision of Chicago as just a grubby industrial city they were familiar with, and they are particularly impressed learning that it was built over a rail yard.

    Tom Evans

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  8. I'm constantly amazed by all the money taxpayers are expected to fork over to fund the "legacies" of current and former politicians.

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  9. No apoplexy here, Bernie. I agree with most of what Clark says.

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