Free Republic

One thing can certainly be said for Barack Hussein Obama—he learned his conniving, criminal ways in a land which gave us some of the very best of connivers and criminals. In addition to the legendary vote rigging, power abusing, tax stealing, favor bartering ways of Chicago’s infamous Mayors Daley, 30 members of the city’s perpetually all-Democrat parade of aldermen have been convicted of federal crimes over the past 30 years. Three others were indicted but had one last laugh at the expense of fleeced constituents by dying before their trial could begin. Chicago’s 50 aldermen make up the City Council,...

The Daley’s of Chicago, always a family of ignorant, power hungry thugs, appear to have added murder to the list of their timeless contributions to the Windy City way of life. On April 25th, 2004, 21 year old David Koschman and four friends were drinking in Chicago’s downtown. Upon exiting a club, Koschman bumped into someone from another group which had been covering the bars. A moment later, a member of that party struck Koschman, driving his head into the street causing brain damage from which the young man never recovered. His mother buried him 20 days later, disconnecting life...

Congressman told FBI he asked for -- and got -- free home upgrades ### Convicted political fixer Tony Rezko gave U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez free upgrades on a riverfront town house after the congressman asked for them, Gutierrez told the FBI, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Gutierrez's comments to federal agents in a previously undisclosed 2008 interview contradict what the congressman told the Sun-Times in 2006 about the purchase. "I walked in with my wife -- as any other consumer could have -- and purchased the unit at the listed price, with no considerations," the Northwest Side congressman said then,...

Chicago-style politics is infamous for kickbacks, dead people voting, and thuggery. Alas, it is not just a relic of the past. In fact, witness recent stories of Chicago city workers being hired or promoted based on how well they got voters to the polls and not how well they did their official jobs, children getting admitted to prestigious city schools based on political connections, and the granting of city contracts. Unfortunately, I know first hand more than I would like about Chicago politics. A decade ago, I was working at the University of Chicago Law School as an Olin Fellow,...

It’s a veritable cornucopia of candidates for the 2011 race for Chicago Mayor. From the infamous, to the locally well known to the completely obscure (so obscure I can’t even find any info out about them), these are the 20 folks that filed to run for mayor. And where known I added their website. Carol Moseley Braun - Former U.S. Senator, Hyde Park resident http://carolforchicago.com Gery J. Chico - Former President of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Public Schools, Downtown Chicago (Loop) www.gerychicoformayor.com Danny K. Davis - Current U.S. Representative 7th District, Austin Neighborhood http://dannykdavis.com/ Wilfredo De Jesus...

Apparently some of Daley's buddies never paid for their water use being fortunate enough to have City Hall pick up the tab. As the era of Daley winds down these sort of stories will continue to eek out, but it shows the illicit nature of the Daley Democrat machine in the crooked city of Chicago. The Sun Times reported that Daley pal and current guest with the prison system Fred Bruno Barbara went years without being billed for the water use at his block-long garage in the city's first ward. For nearly 20 years the city has been paying for...

In a surprise announcement Chicago Democrat strongman Mayor Richard M. Daley has today said that after 21 years as Chicago's mayor he will not run for another term. "This is purely a personal decision, purely personal," he told reporters as his whole family looked on. Daley, the son of the famous Richard R. Daley, said that the reason he's leaving the big chair is to be with his family. Interestingly, his famous father also served 21 years as Chicago's mayor... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

Police and firefighters in Alton, Illinois were attacked three seperate times by a mob at the Oakwood Housing Complex with a barrage of bottle rockets and fireworks on the 4th of July. The firefighters were called out three seperate times and were ambushed by the mob each time. The Telegraph reported, via Jammie Wearing Fool: The confrontations began at 10:20 p.m. and within the 40 minutes it took to resolve the first incident, police were attacked three times. It started when a firetruck was dispatched to extinguish a Dumpster fire in the 700 block of Oakwood and was immediately attacked...

For the last three years, Mayor Daley's nephew Robert G. Vanecko has been a frequent figure in the news. First, when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that five city pension funds gave him $68 million to investment in risky real estate deals. Later, when a federal grand jury began investigating. Now, Vanecko's real estate deals are falling apart, records show, potentially jeopardizing the money he got from the pension funds representing Chicago's police officers, teachers, city employees and CTA workers. And it turns out that other Daley family members were involved in one of those soured deals -- a plan to...

The six-year-long battle over Wal-Mart's $1 billion Chicago expansion plan ended Thursday when organized labor folded its tent, freeing its City Council allies to do the same. Minutes after the Chicago Federation of Labor declared an end to the long-runing Wal-Mart saga, the City Council's Zoning Committee unanimously approved Chicago's second Wal-Mart and first super-center that sells groceries. » Click to enlarge image The Wal-Mart store on North Avenue in Chicago. (Brian Jackson/Sun-Times file) “This is historic. This is the first time that the world's largest retailer has actually engaged in a dialogue with its opponents,” said Finance Committee Chairman...

An interesting thing about Barack Obama is that he chose, on two occasions, to live in Chicago -- even though he didn't grow up there, had no family ties there, never went to school there. It was a curious choice. Chicago has a civic culture all its own and one that is particularly insular. Family ties and personal connections are hugely important. Professionals who have lived and worked there for a quarter-century are brusquely reminded, "You're not from here." Nonetheless Obama moved upward in the Chicago civic firmament with apparent ease. The community organizer joined the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church...

It's no coincidence when Mayor Richard "King" Daley is all over the news sternly scolding 2nd Amendment supporters over their interest in upholding the U.S. Constitution after one of the gang thugs that lives in his city kills a kid or two (or 50 or more). He revels in these deaths like some grim reaper lawmaker. But when the story turns into an 80-year-old man saving his own life with a firearm, "King" Daley's morbid anti-gun rants suddenly go quiet. After Mr. Grant, an 80-year-old Korean War vet, heard the sounds of a break-in, he went to investigate the noise...

One of the great debates in American politics can be summed up with this question: What's the stupidest thing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has ever said? One of my all-time favorites is when he threatened to take his pants off to prove his political loyalty to a Democrat he betrayed. But that's just my opinion. You've got your opinion. So why not put it to a vote? The other day, Chicago Reader reporter Mick Dumke dared ask the mayor why Daley felt the city's handgun ban was effective, what with so many shootings and murders in Chicago. Daley picked up...

In the 2008 “Heller” decision, the Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban and gunlock requirements. Unsurprisingly, gun control advocates predicted disaster. They were wrong. What actually happened in our nation’s capital after the Heller decision ought to be remembered tomorrow as the Supreme Court hears a similar constitutional challenge to the Chicago handgun ban. When the Heller case was decided, Washington’s Mayor Adrian Fenty warned: "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence." Knowing that Chicago's gun laws would soon face a similar legal challenge, Mayor Richard Daley was particularly vocal. The...

Mayor Daley’s son Patrick has left his home and his job in Moscow after being summoned back to active duty in the U.S. Army, the mayor disclosed today. “My son had a responsibility. He served fours years in the military, and he’s re-deployed. He will serve his country just like every other son and daughter in this country does the same thing,” the mayor said. The mayor made it clear that his son did not re-enlist, but was summoned back to active duty. It was not known whether Patrick Daley was an Army reservist. The mayor refused to say where...

Chicago's McCormick Place convention center is one of the largest convention halls in the world. With a total of 2,670,000 square feet of exhibition space and clocking in at a building cost of nearly one billion dollars it had better be one of the biggest, after all Chicago does do things big. Sadly that includes big corruption and unfortunately that corruption is turning "the city that works" into the city that lost its jobs. This week Chicago's Mayor Richard "King" Daley railed against the conditions that have made Chicago's convention business a wreck these days. Along with Governor Pat Quinn,...

WASHINGTON -- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel praised Mayor Daley on Saturday and urged him to run for re-election in 2011 in a statement designed to quash gossip that Emanuel is considering a City Hall bid. "Mayor Daley is a great mayor for a great city. He has my full support and it is my hope that he will seek re-election," Emanuel said in a written statement.

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- There's word this morning that President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, already is looking at life beyond the White House and that he might be eyeing the 5th floor at Chicago's City Hall. It was no secret that then-Chicago Congressman Rahm Emanuel was less than thrilled when the newly-elected president asked him to give up his seat in the House to become the White House chief of staff a year ago. Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn tells Newsradio 780 she's heard from people close to Emanuel that he's told them he's almost ready to leave....

From the Investigative Project on Terrorism:Previously on the IPT blog we stressed the need for the Defense Department's Islamic Chaplaincy program to adopt a stricter vetting process, citing historically radical imams who have served in the program. Now the same can be said for the chaplaincy program for the Illinois State Police. The Mosque Foundation website reports that Sheikh Kifah Mustapha recently completed a four day training session in Springfield, Illinois to become the first certified Muslim chaplain for the Illinois State Police. Mustapha's name appears on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) Hamas financing...

On November 5 on CNN, Florida Governor Charlie Crist told Wolf Blitzer that he didn't back the $787 billion Obama stimulus bill. Crist has since said that it isn't a flip flop when he says he supported the stimulus "in concept" but didn't support the specific bill. In essence he's trying to have it both ways. Claiming he wasn't a supporter of the actual bill, but hedging by saying he felt something was necessary. It seems to be Crist's way of straddling the line. Unfortunately, the facts seem to belie Crist's delicately balanced tightrope act because in February of 2009...