The Blog

Now there's a Walter Burnett quote of the week for ya.

Wow-- these are some powerful alderman taking on the most critical issues facing Chicago--outlawing little baggies. Well, they got foie gras and plastic bottles next up-- teaspoons and then chewing gum, like in Singapore!

Fioretti sure knows the difference between his plastic baggies. Well done, Ward Alderman #2.

Yeah, the ban on the sale of spray paint really cut down on graffiti. But ya know, they really ought to get around to outlaw razors, so that folks won't go carving stuff into the plate glass windows of businesses.

The prohibition of substances in demand by consumers results in an artificial inflation of the cost of said consumer desired products to said consumers. This artificial inflation of value results in much greater profits than a free market environment would provide. Higher prices result in greater profits. Since the illegal nature of these consumer desired products prevent the taxation of the sales of said products, innovative means to garner a portion of said profits need to be developed. Hence, this proposed ordnance. This proposed ordinance is designed to enable the city to garner revenue from those who sell these substances. If passed into law, the city's hearing officers will, no doubt, be busy imposing and collecting the $1,500 fines, per violation, just like they currently collect the huge variety of fines imposed upon the violators of the many ordnances currently on the books. Sort of a back door way to tax illegal drug sales. The one thing that this ordnance will not accomplish is to impede, in any way, the dealing of illegal drugs. In fact, if one takes a thoroughly cynical view, it's not intended to. In fact, if one takes a thoroughly cynical view, it's intent is totally revenue enhancing, at least for the period of time it will take for the vendors of 'controlled and prohibited substances' find a substitute packaging for their products, one not covered by the specific wording of this proposed ordnance. Fioretti is starting to look like just another revenue hungry politician, willing to disguise his primary intent with the usual 'protecting the citizens' phony grandstanding. Oh, and it's 'cutting off one's nose to spite one's face', Wally.

You know, people in this town fought the first Prohibition. Now what do we get? The equivalent of people outlawing one specific kind of mug in 1925, good grief... What next, outlaw lighters and then maybe fire altogether?

Why do you think they call it Ziplock?

How did that uneducated arrogant bankrobbing runt get elected alderman??!!! When he talks to the media he sounds like an idiot.

AVERAGE JOE FOR PRESIDENT http://www.voteforjoe.com/index.html if you really want to shake up politics otherwise RON PAUL

Maybe the baggies have been used to smuggle Fois gras into the city. Confirmation that the city council isn’t the Mensa capital of the city.

"Send it to the full council for consideration" has taken on a deeper, richer meaning. Incidentally, while staying in a 12 x 10 NY hotel room, I lifted the Gideon Bible out of the drawer. Beneath it was a little baggie with white powder. This bring up the question. If there had been no access to diminutive baggies, would that tool of the trade have been there or would the drawer just have had residue blowing around the bible? Whether they're saving lives or not, the council is making us think.

> Whether they're saving lives or not, the council is making us think. Yeah, they're making me think who's the nimriod voters who voted for them in the first place. Real losers, those voters are. Makes me think we've got a bunch of invisible ink pen voters in Chi-town.

I applaud the Council for taking this step towards environmental sustainability. At first, my dealers was taken aback when I asked her to eschew the plastic bags and to place my drugs in the reusable canvas bag I had brought along from home, but these days, my dealer has come to see that she can be green and sell green at the same time. We may not have a serviceable recycling program in Chicago, but at least we're taking small steps. Very small...

Hey-- this thread sure takes the heat off of Sufferin Sucotash on the previous thread. I'd say this thread and Rich Mueller's over at Capital FAQs is working to keep the campers thoroughly redirected. Man these political blog managers sure are slick. They remind me of David Axelrod-- "back-in-the-day" when he used to be the SunTimes political reporter--a real muckraker back then--yeah that's it, just before he made the ultimate jump to campainster.

We rock and know it. Voters suck and know it. Deal with it.

Hey Ed Smith Only twerps say "we rock" otherwise I don't have any problem with your boasting.

This is a mind-blowingly vapid waste of time... is there a way we can censure these foolish alderman?? Won't people just do the same thing they were already doing using the slightly larger size, say 3" bags, that are still available?? This is only going to piss off artists like me who buy lots of buttons and beads and tiny metal pieces in those tiny bags. And what about this brilliant insight "Well, first of all, as you know, in most of the suits that you buy, the bags are stapled and not self-sealing," ... oh yeah i'm such a dumbass for not knowing that, guess i should start carrying a staple remover for the spare buttons on all those suits i buy all the time...

"....is there a way we can censure these foolish alderman??" Yes. HAVE NO DOUBT, VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT

Flushing campaign dollars $39,000 RETURNED | Sewage agency chief gave back donations he received from 50 employees March 6, 2008 Terrence O'Brien's campaign fund sprung a bit of a leak last year. O'Brien, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, gave back a total of $39,520 Oct. 5 in contributions he'd gotten from 50 donors. » Click to enlarge image Commissioner Terrence J. O'Brien on the floor of the mainstream pumping station. (Joseph P. Meier/STNG file) RELATED STORIES Did Rezko find jobs for Obama staffers? The problem: The money had come from employees of his agency, which treats Cook County's sewage. "Those were mostly employees or related to employees, and the campaign made a decision to return those," says O'Brien's lawyer, Jim Nally. "After reviewing the law in the area, we thought it was a better course." The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Act says "no officer or employee shall solicit, orally or by letter, or give or receive, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or giving or receiving any assessment, subscription or contribution from any member of the classified civil service for any party or political purpose whatever." Which would seem to say O'Brien was barred from soliciting agency employees for campaign cash. A former Water Reclamation District employee complained to the Cook County state's attorney's office, according to a source familiar with the situation, and prosecutors looked into the matter but didn't file criminal charges. Still, O'Brien's fund returned the money "out of an abundance of caution," the source says. Nally says the returned contributions were originally received "over several months or even a couple of years." Current and former employees of the agency who got their contributions returned say O'Brien raised the money through an annual fund-raiser he holds at a restaurant. "He'd send me a complimentary ticket to his fund-raiser," says Frank Kody, who retired from the Water Reclamation District in December. Kody says that, even though there was no charge for the ticket, he contributed $1,000 anyway. "I thought I was being nice," he says. Frank Deignan, a current employee of the agency, says he was "totally taken aback" when O'Brien returned the $200 he'd contributed. "They said there was some sort of conflict of interest," says Deignan. Also among those who got their money back was Water Reclamation District finance chairman Gloria Majewski. She'd given O'Brien $1,500. O'Brien was first elected to the agency's board in 1988. He's next up for re-election in 2012. Eric Herman Getting their money back Terrence J. O'Brien, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, has given back campaign contributions from 51 employees of the sewage agency he solicited over the past several years. The 16 biggest refunds O'Brien made: George and Melody Smothers, Lemont -- $3,300 Louis Kollias, Orland Park -- $2,000 Brian Newhouse, Chicago -- $2,000 Casimir Wytaniec, Park Ridge -- $1,950 Thomas Durkin, Oak Lawn -- $1,750 Timothy O'Leary, Chicago -- $1,725 John Poulos, Des Plaines -- $1,600 Brendan O'Conner, Chicago -- $1,550 Gloria Majewski, Orland Park, MWRD board member -- $1,500 Robert Regan, Oak lawn -- $1,500 Daniel Mikso, Oak Lawn -- $1,300 James Sheehy, Chicago -- $1,250 Robert Hultgren, Chicago -- $1,200 Gerald Borucki, Western Springs -- $1,000 Frank Kody, Tinley Park -- $1,000 Harry "Bus'' Yourell, Oak Lawn, ex-MWRD board member -- $1,000

What about the fight we, the taxpayers, have against dishonest politicians? Are we going to see an alderman proposing an ordnance prohibiting the election of crooked, corrupt politicians?