The tragedy of Illinois' statewide elections -- the poor voters!

Broadway Bank, the clout-heavy insider institution smothered in controversy that financed the Giannoulias family, shut down this week. But while it's doors may have closed in one respect -- to be opened and managed by the Federal Government -- it's closing opens a huge and ugly door on the truth about the elections this November.

The poor voters. We get screwed by the Republicans. We get screwed by the Democrats. We get screwed by the Health Insurance robber barons. And we get screwed by the Banks and their credit card rip-off schemes. And now we get screwed again by being denied a decent choice among the disarray of pathetic and poorly qualified candidates running for statewide office this November.

No politically motivated Tea Party Movement pandering to the egos of some maniacal Conservative Republican nut jobs like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin can save us.

We should be screaming about the poor quality of many of the candidates we're being force-fed, but voters are so pathetic themselves they won't even bother to vote. So whose fault is it?

Look at the election "field of screams."

For the race for U.S. Senate, our choice is Alexi Giannoulias, a candidate who made no mark of any significance in the office of Illinois Treasurer, his first real elective office. He did nothing there, except defend the banks and the credit card companies. Now, he wants to be our U.S. Senator, in the seat once held by President Barack Obama and now held by lame duck U.S. Senator Roland Burris.

What is Giannoulias's credentials? He is a basketball pal of President Obama. Not one great idea to helpt he taxpayers. Not one principled stand against the bankers -- obviously because he comes from a banking family that has a history of high profile controversial insider deals. How much money did the Giannoulias family take from Broadway Bank before it shut down? I read someplace they took more than $70 million. Paid themselves first.

And now Giannoulias wants to be our Senator.

No way. No how. And I am a Democrat.

On the other hand, who is our alternative choice. Self-serving PR-savvy double-talking flipflopper Congressman Mark Kirk who built his career exploiting the Iraq War where he served as a celebrity pilot in a reserve unit in the conflict. Not a hero. He just served. For us regular people who served in the military, we barely get a thank you. For Mark Kirk the politician with the mouth that never stops bragging, he wants to use his routine performance in the military -- he did what he was supposed to do and nothing more (which is sadly more than most of the people screaming for war over the past eight years have done), and now he expects to be rewarded with the high-paying powerful job of U.S. Senator.

No way. No how.

Then look at the equally pathetic race for Governor, filling the vacancy left by the scandal-plagued blow-hard and arrogant former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Although he was unfairly treated by the U.S. Justice Department and the Illinois Legislature, the fact is Blow-hard Blagojevich made it all possible with his stupid public comments and his selfish political style.

We're supposed to believe that his successor -- and his former running mate -- Pat Quinn is going to set the boat straight and get this state back on its feet from the deep hole the state's political leaders have dug for the taxpayers over the years by caring for themselves and not caring for the interests of the state's economically deprived citizens.

Quinn is pathetic. A hypocrite. It's all about him. His career. he has been trying so hard to get to the top he has forgotten how to be a reformer. He's arrogant just like everyone of his predecessors and who knows what controversies he will step in when given the reigns of power.

His tax increase is the WORST idea. Instead of tightening his belt and cutting the fat from HIS administration, he's already stripping funds from communities across the state, crippling the budgets of many of the programs the people of Illinois need to survive, and placing the burden of the economic catastrophe we have in Illinois created by Pat Quinn, Alexi Giannoulias, Mark Kirk and all of the statewide elected officials on the shoulders of the taxpayers who never had a chance to begin with.

The elections and the government on the state level are rigged.

No way. No how.

And then there is Bill Brady, the downstate Senator. Such a sad missed opportunity when he was elected instead of State Senator Kirk Dillard, the one person who offered this state hope. Dillard could easily defeat Quinn. Brady cannot. In fact, every time Brady opens his mouth, he "steps in it" and you know what the "it" is. Here is a guy who is so rich that he refuses to release his income taxes. Why? He says because he wants to protect his business partners.

Well, if you really wanted to protect your business partners, you NEVER would have run for public office to benefit yourself. What have you EVER done as a State Senator besides moo with the rest of the herded legislative cows?

Brady is playing a cheap game of deception when he says he will releases his income taxes for three hours only for the viewing of reporters, at his Springfield offices. Not release them to the public. He doesn't want to public to know what he has done and how rich he is and how much he has profited. God forbid we might discover something shady about his business conduct and the only way to know if a politician is "clean" is to see their full tax returns.

The legislature should make it mandatory that candidates for public office should be REQUIRED to release their income tax forms as a part of their filing and all of their subsequent income tax forms MUST be filed ON TIME and in every year they hold public office OR are running for public office. To do anything less is a slap int he face of the voters.

No way. No how.

So who do we vote for? The pathetic third parties who want to tell that one of their candidates "won" 10 percent of a vote in some past election. That's not winning. That's losing by a landslide and it's a reflection on their inability to convince voters of their programs.

We're screwed.

Our only hope is this:

1 -- The Democrats force Giannoulais to step down and replace him with someone else. If they don't Illinois will be stuck with Kirk for six years of misery and suffering and poor leadership. Kirk is a conservative fanatic trying to appease voters with his phony "I'm a moderate Republican" BS.

The sad irony here is that Burris has proven to be the BEST US Senator this state has had in a long time. He has voted his conscience and on what's best for the citizens. All that BS about him being tainted because he was appointed by Blow-hard Blagojevich is Balgojevich Baloney.

2 -- Pat Quinn needs to get his act together and do some serious rethinking of everything he holds dear. Otherwise, we will get stuck with Brady, another Republican insider who will destroy this state through inept leadership and partisan political agendas. Blagojevich was right about Quinn, but not in a caring way for the taxpayers, rather, because it made him feel good about the mess he helped create for himself.

As for the rest of the candidates running for public office. None of them mean a hill of beans if they don't have th guts to stand up and tell the voters what needs to be said. They are so afraid of creating enemies they just want to slink past and win office. They don't want to rock the boat at all. They just want to get back in office, because the only place safe in today's economy is in an elected office where health and pension benefits come almost free picked from the low-hanging taxpayer funded broken state branches.

At least this year, voters who don't waste their time caring about the miserable state of our government and politics will have a legitimate excuse to stay home and let the insiders take everything and destroy everything all at the same time.

We'll be talking about this topic on my radio show this week beginning Monday morning at 8 am. Call in, if you care. Snooze if you're happy with the garbage we call statewide government.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Blagojevich fights back -- finally -- with a publicity campaign

When you are faced with criminal charges, most of the time, you don't want to launch a massive publicity campaign to respond. That's because usually, criminal charges are filed according to the Rule of law and a person is Innocent until Proven Guilty.

But apparently in Illinois, few seem to remember that little phrase "Innocent until proven Guilty" and Gov. Rod Blagojevich has found himself in the awkward position of having to fight not only the federal criminal charges against him but the slander and defamation campaign by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, and his "Cabal of Selfish Legislators" including Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn -- who wants Blago's job -- and Madigan's daughter, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who seems to pick and choose when the law will or will not apply.

Tragic drama that has destroyed Illinois' already sullied reputation; remember, it wasn't Gov. Blagojevich who crowded Illinois with the magestic robe of "Culture of Corruption."

Blagojevich is under siege, thanks to the unorthodox and questionable conduct of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who unleased a half-assed case against Blagojevich not to strengthen the law but to smear the governor. Fitzgerald never even sought an indictment against Blagojevich -- at least not a legal indictment. And instead, he pursued the public indictment of lynch the accused before the trial, which is exactly what is now about to begin in Illinois' scandal-plagued legislature, in the Illinois Senate.

Should we go through the list of legislators sullied by immoral and unethical and even criminal conduct who have skated past with narry a burp from, their colleagues. Suddenly Blagojevich is the bad guy.

He may be guilty of the federal charges, but the outrageous manner in which he is being attacked by the legislature this week is just too unfair. There is no way Gov. Blagojevich can get a fair "trial" in the Illinois Senate. It is stacked against him, with everyone trying to pretend that Blagojevich can get a fair trial when everyone knows he cannot.

He has been denied the right to defend himself and can't even call witnesses, yet the Illinois Senate, in cahoots with Fitzgerald, can pick and chose from the alleged evidence and present what they want without Blagojevich EVER being able to challenge any of it.

I think blagoejvich should have the right to call as witnesses David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, and even President Barack Obama. Afterall, this is about -- allegedly -- Blagojevich seeking to "sell" the vacate Obama Senate seat to the "highest bidder," or so we have been told in an unprecedented public lynching of Blagojevich by Fitzgerald.

Regardless of whether Blagojevich is innocent or guilty of the Federal charges, this week's trial in the Illinois Senate and his impeachment by the Illinois House are just one big, ugly kangaroo court conducted by a political lynchmob of selfish politicians all seeking not the justice behind the controversy but the benefits they all hope to reap.

Blagojevich has FINALLY decided to respond by hiring a PR Firm, something he should have done as soon as Fitzgerald turned the Federal Criminal Case into a publicity-seeking circus. Blagojevich has hired Glenn Selig. Selig's agency is The Publicity Agency based in Chicago and LA, which might explain his ability to get Blago on the national news, Good Morning America and The View. Good job. Maybe we might finally start hearing both sides of this one-sided political lynching.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Tinley Park Mayor, trustees and wives celebrate Obama's inauguration in Washington DC

Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki, one of my all-time favorite politicians, called from Washington D.C. during my radio show Tuesday morning, inauguration day, to share with us the experience that he and his wife Emily had at the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as this nation's 44th President.

Zabrocki shared his experience and also talked about the challenges Obama faces over the next four years, the optimism he and his wife saw in the faces of the more than 2 million people int he nation's capitol, and also plans for the improvement of the 80th Avenue Metra Station and the village's budget problems.

Delegation included Tinley Park trustees Pat Rea, outgoing SBA Director for the MidWest, Greg Hannon, Tom Staunton Jr., Mike Bettenhausen and their wives.

"We came down at our own expense, no village dollars involved... part of the reason we came here for was to button hole some of our representatives and make sure we get our oar in the water about the stimulus package and some of the issues we want for Tinley Park. We held a breakfast yesterday morning we some of our representatives. We talked with them last night. We went to the Illinois Ball which was almost borderline chaos. It was really great. We had a chance to talk to (US Senator Dick) Durbin and other and put a bug in their ear about our issues," Zabrocki said during the telephone interview.

"While we were out in the Mall yesterday and just kind of generally around, the young people and the families. It is amazing the number of families that were here. This is our 5th inauguration that we were involved in and we have never seen so many young people and families at these things."

Zabrocki said he could see that "people are looking to him to getting us out of whatever we are in whether it is a military standpoint, or an economic standpoint and whatever it might be. The optimism about him is unbelievable. We sensed this in the Metro system. Last night we were coming home from the Illinois Ball probably at about 1, 1:30 in the morning and people again, with families, were talking positively that this is change and we are looking forward to it. Everyone was friendly. It was amazing. People were opening doors for other people. I hope that the concept that idea that opened this whatever you want to call it continues because this country needs it badly.

"The ball was fantastic. There was well of 8,000 people there. It was at the Renaissance Hotel. It was on 3 or 4 different floors."

"One of the things we are down here for is that they have a Metra system that is second to noneas far as I amc oncerned. We traveled all over this city on the Metra without one probnlem. Very clearly marked signs the metro employees. All kinds of things."

Very secure. High presence of security.

Zabrocki said he had a tour of the Pentagon, also.

The delegation is looking towards improving the 80th Avenue train station. Zabrocki said construction there will start this summer. The biggest problem si the 18 inch jumpf romt he platform to the rail cars.

You can hear the complete interview at http://www.radiochicagoland.com/ or directly by logging in to iTunes and dowloading the podcast to your iPod.

Zabrocki was very optimistic, acknowledging that Obama will need time.

The mayor said that like many communities, Tinley Park has a deficit of about $4 million mainly because of reduced retails sales tax collections from the car industry and also the many businesses moving our of Cook County into Will County.

The web page of the Village of Tinley Park is http://www.tinleypark.org/. It has won several major awards.

end

Media pundits Monroe Anderson and Dan Proft tear into each other over Obama appointments

Dan Proft and Monroe Anderson tore into the issues in discussing the preliminary appointments and possible appointments by president-elect Barack Obama, including the rumor that US Senator Hillary Clinton will become Secretary of State. What impact with former President Bill Clinton have on the decision. The controversies surrounding former Congressman and now Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, the son of a former member of the terrorist organization the Irgun, and also the appointment of Eric Holder.

Check the 11-19-08 audio podcast on the Flash iPod player on this blog, or go to www.RadioChicagoland.com for more information. Also, watch a live video and audio broadcast of the radio show live on the internet off the web page, too.

-- Ray Hanania

Amazing technology -- what can be done with online campaign videos

This is just hilarious ... "Ray Hanania blamed for Barack Obama's defeat Nov. 7":



Pass it on.

-- Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

Obama rose on the ashes of Jack Ryan's political career

A look back at recent history. How luck and chance plays a major role in individual's careers:

The rise of Barack Obama to become the Democratic candidate for United States President has a direct local angle that today touches on the Orland Park area that goes far beyond his political upbringing on Chicago's South Side. It has a lot to do with an individual who today plays an enormous role in forging the public opinions of the people of Orland Park through his weekly newspaper, the Orland Park Prairie. And it all happened in a very short period of time.

By all measures, Jack Ryan should have won the November 2004 election for the U.S. Senate to succeed retiring Senator Peter Fitzgerald.

In March 2004, Ryan won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Barack Obama, an Illinois State Senator with a controversial career -- he won his state senate seat by successfully removing his more popular rival, incumbent Alice Palmer from the ballot -- won the Democratic primary, defeating State Comptroller Dan Hynes, the son of 19th Ward Chicago powerhouse Tom Hynes.

Ryan, Harvard LAW graduate and MBA who went into medical mal-pacrtice and a partnership at the prestigious Goldmann Sachs investment firm, used his money and his political clout with the backing of the then ruling Republican National organization, to position himself for a sure win in the fall election. But three months later, Ryan was forced to resign when details of his messy divorce from Hollywood actress Jeri Ryan splashed across the front pages of newspapers across the country. The role the media played inf orcing the disclosure of the details of his divorce, and the impact of the hugely negative media coverage is believed to be one reason why Ryan expanded from law and finance to include launching a new community newspaper that he promised area politicians would not focus on controversial issues and instead would focus on positive community news.

Ironically, it was the persistance of the news media that sunk Ryan's candidacy. (Ryan had argued he would not release details of his divorce saying it would injure his son, Alex. But later, when the details were released, the focus was not on Alex but rather on the sensational side of a collapsing relationship with his ex-wife.) Had they not sued, Ryan might still be in politics and not newspaper publishing.

It took Ryan several more weeks to formally withdraw and by the end of July. With only 86 days left to the November election, the Illinois GOP could not find a credible replacement. They reached out to many high profile name candidates, including former Chicago Bear's Coach Mike Ditka, whos aid no. And they settled on the bombastic Alan Keyes, a carpertbagger who had not lived in Illinois at all, but who had a strong Republican dimplomatic career.

Keyes had no chance, and Obama easily defeated him.

Obama's mentor is Illinois Senate President Emil Jones who helped him organize the support to run for the U.S. Senate seat when no one else at the time thought it possible for a Democrat to win. That summer, to strengthen his candidacy as Ryan's was embroiled in controversy and was characterized in negative media headlines that focused on the sex scandal involving his ex-wife, Obama was invited to give the keynote speech at the July 2004 Democratic Primary convention where John Kerry won the party's nomination for president.

The point is, Barack Obama is now the Democratic candidate for president in a large part because of Jack Ryan's personal political tragedy; and the Orland Park Prairie was created, also, in a large part because of Ryan's experience with the biased and negative mainstream mainly downtown news media (print, radio and TV) ... in a way, supporters of Obama should thank Ryan and Orland Park residents should thank him too. The OPP is a great Good News community newspaper. We don't have enough of them. (Does every paper have to expose government corruption, waste and mismanagement?)

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

Obama supporters gather in Orland Park Sunday Aug 31, 2008 1 PM Starbucks Coffee

The Obamanites are organizing a walk for Obama this Sunday August 31, at "Starbucks." If course, there are three starbucks between 131st and 159th on LaGrange Road ... so you might want to double check which one. Here's the info:

Ray Hanania
========= ========

"The change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it—because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time. America, this is one of those moments."
-- Barack Obama in last night's acceptance speech

Are you ready to take up Barack's challenge?

This weekend, the Obama campaign has organized a huge Weekend of Action to register and mobilize hundreds of thousands of voters. There's an event happening near you—can you join in?
What: Walk for Change in Orland Park! Where: Starbucks Coffee (in Orland Park)

When: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008, at 1:00 PM

Click here to RSVP:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=14360&id=13644-8592777-plt4v5x&t=15

Or, if that one doesn't work for you, click here to find another event (they're happening all weekend):

http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/?action_id=133&search_zip=60462&id=13644-8592777-plt4v5x&t=1

If we each spend some time this weekend talking to potential Obama voters about the opportunity we have to change America, we can make a huge difference.

If you haven't volunteered before, don't worry—it's as simple as knocking on a door or picking up a phone. And you'll get all the materials and help you need at your local Weekend of Action event.

If you've already signed up for an event, thank you. If not, can you be there to help kick off our campaign to elect Obama? Just click here to RSVP:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=14360&id=13644-8592777-plt4v5x&t=17

Thanks for all you do.

–Adam, Anna, Patrick S., and the rest of the team
Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 3.2 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way.
Chip in here.

The VP choices of McCain and Obama can decide the election in November

Democratic Barack Obama has a historic opportunity to sweep the November elections by showing courage and true dedication to his ideals by chosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Clinton represents more than 18 million American voters, slightly more than the number of the people in the Democratic Party who voted for Obama.

Anyone else who Obama choses will always live under the shadow of that powerful pairing, and could never bring his candidacy to the heights it can achieve.

John McCain also faces a similar choice, either satisfy the fanatic GOP Jihadists who make up the crazy rightwing of the Republican Party, or chose a running mate who appeals to the growing base of mainstream centrists, many of whom voted for Clinton. Her base is the key to the November elections,w hen all the issues are set aside.

President Bush has destroyed the Middle East and chances for peace, and his war in Iraq is destroying the American economy. It's the economy, though, that can be salvaged and the War in Iraq that must be abandoned immediately.

Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

Don't rule Hillary Clinton out so fast

I want change as much as anyone else, but despite Barack Obama's lead in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, he's still only in the stretch with a slightly better lead than Hillary Clinton.

Neither candidate has secured the locked delegates to win the nomination, and the popular vote has been frighteningly split almost equally in half. I think the enthusiasm to end this contest contradicts the primary season itself which has dragged on more than six months since Jan. 3 in Iowa.

The Democratic convention is not until August, more than two months away. That's where we will know or not know the real intent of the so-called "Super" delegates. The term "super" delegates is a phrase coined to described the gaggle of insiders who have been given "unpledged" delegate positions. They can change their minds and support any candidate they want, crossing back and forth from one candidate to another as often as they want.

What that means is that Obama does lead in pledged delegates and allegedly in unpledged delegates, but the reality of those unpledged delegates does not become final until the convention.

So why rush it? Why circumvent the very Democratic process we embrace and try to use numbers, and statistics that can be twisted in many ways to come up with many answers? Why not celebrate the power of the Democratic Party having two powerful and charismatic leaders, Obama and Clinton, and allow that leadership now to move towards the convention where the pledged delegates MUST cast their vote for the candidate they have been assigned to by the will of the American voters, and unpledged delegates can still weigh the real challenge: who is the best candidate to win the nomination and defeat Republican John McCain.

McCain is not a real choice for most Democrats who voted in the heated Obama-Clinton fracass. But, Hillary Clinton remains a real choice for nearly 50 percent of the Democrats who voted. Are we that sure that Obama can blow the doors off McCain in November that we can afford to tell those Americans who supported Clinton that their intentions are basically dimpled chads that can discarded, too?

I say slow down. I say take pause. I say build the Democratic Party and don't allow it to be torn down as we move towards the Democratic Convention. This race is still close and if Hillary Clinton does not drop out -- a right she has and has earned through a phenomenal performance that so closely matches Obama's own campaign showing -- we should work with both.

The Dream Ticket of Obama and Clinton is one that would be powerful. In fact, that is what Democratic voters have said very clearly as we turn the corner to the final stretch into the Democratic Convention. Let's not turn Denver into Chicago by ignoring the feelings of so many.

Ray Hananiawww.TheMediaOasis.com