Honoring Our Fallen

Today is Memorial Day - the day in which we remember and honor our fallen warriors.

As a little kid I still remember watching grainy black and white footage of the D-Day invasion. I can still see the image of a US Soldier, overburdened with packs, clinging to his rifle and wading ashore. The film captured the moment when, just touching the dry sand, he gets shot by a German sniper. The GI drops right down to the beach - dead.

So today, please do something to honor our soldiers - those who have passed and those still serving.

Put up your flag and say a silent prayer, at the very least.

Chicago rap

One of the funniest rap videos about Chicago that I have ever seen! The only thing he doesn't reference is the Cubs. Well he gets an "A" for effort.

Obama steps in it again, again and again

A comprehensive list of Barack "Barry" Obama's historic list of gaffes that just won't stop.

Now if this elitist, talentless, naive goof was a Republican; or at least a conservative, then the Liberals would have him skewered and served for dinner.

* Last May, he claimed that Kansas tornadoes killed a whopping 10,000 people: “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” The actual death toll: 12.

*Earlier this month in Oregon, he redrew the map of the United States: “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.”

*Last week, in front of a roaring Sioux Falls, South Dakota audience, Obama exulted: “Thank you Sioux City…I said it wrong. I’ve been in Iowa for too long. I’m sorry.”

*Explaining last week why he was trailing Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, Obama again botched basic geography: “Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it’s not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle.” On what map is Arkansas closer to Kentucky than Illinois?

God help us if this idiot gets into office. His name should be Barack "Brainless" Obama!

Here comes that Happy Day!

There is a significant spring in your humble-narrator's step today as I learned that the hot-air bloviator from Massachusetts Edward "Ted" Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor.

While most of the conservative commentators are quick to say that situations like this 'transcend' politics, and that Teddy should be 'kept in our prayers', I heartedly disagree.

Ted Kennedy, and his corrupt kin, richly deserve to suffer such a fate. I wonder what fat old Teddy is thinking about as he shuffles up and down the halls of Boston Hospital, dragging an IV cart along with him?

Is he thinking about all the damage he's done to this country? Is he wondering if criticizing our troops was worth it? Is the face of Mary Jo Kopechne flashing through his cancer ridden brain? Or how about all the boxes of cash he carried around the country when he and his pederast Nazi-loving father were buying votes to get JFK elected? Or how about when Ted drove around the country buying thousands of crates of his brother's ghost-written book "Profiles in Courag" in order to boost his brother's image in the polls?

I wonder, as a fresh searing jolt of pain streaks across his skull, if he's thinking about all the support for illegal immigration that he's put his significant weight behind? Will thousands of illegals be sending cards to Teddy that say "Que Te Mejores muy pronto!" Unfortunately, as I would tell these 'hard working' illegals - "Con el gracia de Dios, ese pinche maldito panson se va morir muy pronto!"

The Karma train waits for no one, including Edward Kennedy. It is no accident that there is a Kennedy "curse" - they've done plenty to engender ill-will and negative Karma.

Yup - I can think of no better punishment for such a one as Ted as a malignant brain tumor.

For all you atheists out there, listen up: There IS a God!

Mexicans Not Assimilating

Well it takes a Think Tank study to codify the obvious: Mexican immigrants are lagging behind their counterparts in assimilating into American society.

And why is that? Because so many of them are here illegally! They converge on an area and set up their own stores, watch their spanish language shows, hang out with their spanish speaking friends and work where other spanish speakers are working. They shop and eat at restaurants in their neighborhood. There is literally no reason for them to learn english because everything they need is available in spanish.

The report by the Manhattan Institute is a definite insomnia cure. It is replete with scores, mathematical models and regression analysis.

CNS News cut through the morass of data and mined some nuggets:

The study used census data from 1890 to 2006 to look at how close foreign-born immigrants look to the native-born population. Immigrants from Cuba, Vietnam, and the Philippines rank near the top, alongside immigrants from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, as the quickest to acquire English, become naturalized, climb the economic ladder, intermarry with native-born Americans and become involved in American civic culture. In fact, they are making faster progress in the melting pot than other immigrants -- or immigrants from any other periods of history. "Today's immigrants are making more progress in assimilation because they are assimilating more rapidly," Vigdor said. "They are starting out with a disadvantage, but they are making up for that disadvantage at a rapid pace for the most part." But Mexican immigrants, he said, are the exception. "Immigrants from Mexico are not exhibiting the same patterns as immigrants of other nationalities," Vigdor said. "They are assimilating more slowly over time. We see this particularly in terms of their economic and their civic assimilation." Mexicans -- by far the most numerous nationality of immigrants -- lag significantly behind other groups, Vigdor said, largely because a lack of legal status keeps many Mexican immigrants from advancing economically.

Certainly the flood of illegals is the major factor to the lack of assimilation. But what enables it is our societal psychopathology; which we like to call "Multiculturalism."

For a good look at where we're headed with these insane Liberal policies of political correctness and cultural diversity, this is a great interview with Mark Steyn. He bitch-slaps three Muslim "intellectual" cowards into submission.

Check out The Agenda: What's wrong with Mark Steyn's WorldView?

100,000 page views

Your humble narrator has just been informed by an astute and erudite reader that the Rue St. Michel blog just surpassed 100,000 page views.

My sincerest thanks to SCC for steering the traffic over here, and thanks to all of you who came by to stroll the Boulevard of Right Thinking!

Meeting with J-Fed

Yes - your beloved cub reporter was at the 35th Street meeting tonight with the new Superintendent.

My overall impression of the Supe is that he's alittle over his head. He was fielding a question on how our guys are getting tools taken away from them. (ie. No more Disorderly Conduct, Reckless Conduct...etc) Those laws were one more tool that we could use to restore order to an area where mobs of trouble-makers are loitering. If we could lock up 2 or 3 of the group leaders/instigators, it would keep the area relatively calm. The Sup said that he has no control over the prosecutorial end of it and if ASAs don't want to prosecute, then we have no options.

So now these gang-bangers can stand on the corner, menace passers-by, throw up gangsigns in hopes that they can get into a fight with someone - and the police can't do anything because if we sign a complaint then we open ouselves up for lawsuits. It was bloody depressing listening to this stuff.

No Prosecutorial Support
On that note, a traffic officer stood up and recounted how an offender made allegations against this officer due to a traffic stop. Unbeknowst to the offender, the stop was recorded. When said offender got a CR# against the officer and the affidavit was signed, the officer demanded that the offender be locked up and charged with perjury and filing a false police report. The State's Attorneys response, "No way. You're lucky we don't charge YOU with something because it is on tape that you went through a red light with the offender handcuffed in the back!" J-Fed said he has no control over this situation and can do nothing about it. It is the States Attorneys bailiwick.

Cozzi
He started out discussing the Bill Cozzi case. (Thank You Bella!) Cozzi was the officer who jabbed a shackled offender a few times with a small, dark non-descript object. J-Fed said that that incident was "just as bad as when Rodney King got beaten in LA." Oh really? Where were the bruises? Where was the damage? Where was the long-term disability "attack" that Cozzi put on that shitbird? The fact is Cozzi did everything, and more, that was asked of him through the courts, suspensions and going before the Police Board of Review. He had (has) every right to be reinstated as a police officer.

J-Fed admitted that he personally contacted the Civil Rights office of the FBI and gave them the information on this case. Up until then Cozzi wasn't even on their radar. Thanks J-Fed! There's an encapsulated example of why morale is at an all-time low on this department.

Meritorious
He next talked about Merit Promotions and said that on Friday, 16-May they're going to post the name of supervisors who were promoted meritoriously. To be clear though, he said FIRST they're going to contact the merit hacks and tell them (or ask them, I don't remember) that their names are going to go public. We'll see.

For the future, he wants to set up a "Formset" so that people who believe that they'd be good sergeants or lieutenants could fill out paperwork and "apply" to be a supervisor. This would ensure people are promoted meritoriously but fairly.

CallBack POWs
An officer at 311 Callback made the point that he's been down there for 3 years and that sometimes guys are just stripped because of a boss that doesn't like them and/or a boss who freaks out on an allegation and strips the guy without a full investigation. J-Fed claims that there is some inequity in judging who gets stripped and he said that stripping sometimes goes ahead too quickly. He wants more 'common sense' applied in this respect. He promised to review the procedures.

White Shirt Retaliation
Also another officer stood up and claimed that his supervisor didn't like the standee's partner and when a brutality beef came down on the incident, the sergeant initiated the CR against the standee's partner simply because the sergeant didn't like said standee's partner. The standee had to testify in court that HE threw the offender on the hood of the car, not his partner. The point was that sometimes a white shirt will throw a guy under the bus and there is no recourse against white shirts who do this. It was a good point and the Sup said he'd look into it. He wants to set up the Inspector General's office or the IPRA to handle such complaints.

Eat, Drink and be Merry
J-Fed claims to NOT be a stickler for the Rule 14 judgements. He wants common sense installed with this "archaic" Rule and thinks it should be changed to reflect some reality. He promises that he won't go looking for Rule 14 violators - only those who commit a crime while intoxicated. And for the record, he was eating pizza down at Pizzeria Uno the night that he "allegedly" out directing traffic safety checkpoints looking for DUI cops. It is an urban myth!

Work week options
J-Fed thinks that the 6-day work week is an anachronism. He wants to have 4 tens or 3 twelves - or "any of a dozen other plans" which would be better than a 6-day work week. Here-here!!!

Boots on the Ground
There will be more hiring of police officers this year. They plan on hiring 465 officers, with an estimated attrition of 350 officers this year. That would put us up a +100 officers over last year. The burning question though: Where is everyone?
FOP confirmed that they get dues from 12,000 police officers (patrol and detectives). That's about right. So where are the 12,000 deployed? How many are at HQ, CAPS, In-district positions....?

What he didn't talk about was noticably absent : Cars, PDTs, Radios, Rifles and the day-to-day equipment stuff that we don't have right now. I have to agree with one of SCC's commentators on this TownHall meeting: It was a dog & pony show. On the one hand it was a nice gesture on his part to get to hear us critique the department and air our views, on the other hand he showed his ignorance of what we face and what we're expected to do to represent the department.

He never made any meaningful suggestion regarding improving morale, it was mostly theoretical retorts.

Time will tell - it was certainly interesting.

The End of Western Man

Demographics has been on the mind of conservative thinkers over the past few years. It is a quiet global revolution that most people do not recognize. Following upon Mark Steyn's brilliant book "America Alone", Pat Buchanan is chiming in with similar thoughts - where will Western Civiliation be by 2060. (full article here.)

The picture is a dismal one.

An Augusta, Ga., group, The National Policy Institute, has meshed the figures on fertility rates with the continents and races on Planet Earth -- to visualize what the world will look like in 2060. In 1950, whites were 28 percent of world population and Africans 9 percent, a ratio of three-to-one. In 2060, the ratio will remain the same. But the colors will be reversed. People of African ancestry will be 25 percent of the world's population. People of European descent will have fallen to 9.8 percent. More arresting is that the white population is shrinking not only in relative but in real terms. Two hundred million white people, one in every six on earth -- a number equal to the entire population of France, Britain, Holland and Germany -- will vanish by 2060. The Caucasian race is going the way of the Mohicans. Arabic peoples, 94 million at the birth of Israel in 1948, outnumbered seven to one by Europeans, will rise to 743 million in 2060, a tenfold increase, and will be 75 percent of the white population.

The end is an admixture of two World Wars and the self-destruction brought about by Liberal Death Cultists who blame caucasians for all of the earth's problems and who, since 1960, have pushed for "Zero Population Growth" among whites.

These two factors are undoubtedly why we're facing extinction. And what will happen after that? Who knows but I can safely say that much will be lost.

Just as the Fall of Rome, the Fall of Europe will lead to a loss of critical thinking and a loss of creative, industrious endeavors. When the visigoths sacked Rome, they burned libraries and removed the books to feed their cooking fires. The vikings also made inroads into almost wiping out Western Civ when they ransacked churches and storehouses and plundered ancient texts in greek, latin and roman - all in an attempt at getting booty.

And just to be clear: Rome didn't 'fall' - it imploded because of porous borders and apathy among the population. The Roman citizens spent their time in useless pursuits. We have copies of daily diaries written by them. Most wrote about the weather, simple rhymes, or daily life. As Thomas Cahill wrote, "Who would spend their time so wastefully?"

The same can be said of Americans. Our kids spend their time posting on Facebook, Myspace or online gaming. Or they're gluded to their WII, Playstation or GameCube. Not much of difference, is it?

The Catholic priests, mostly of Irish descent, saved western civilization by storing theses classic texts and transcribing multiple copies of them. If they'd been lost we never would have known the beauty and poetry of Ovid, Cicero, Plato, Homer, Hesiod, Aristotle, Euripides, Sophocles, Virgil and Tacitus. These authors, and many more, were the first to expound (in a written language) on sophistry (the love of wisdom), rhetoric, poetry, art, mathematics, astronomy and story-telling.

These skills have been teaching us how to think in a rational and logic way. These 'arts' have been the foundation of our civilization for more than a millenium.

So folks, from what I've seen, there is little reason for hope that the 'barbarians' being born right now in Yemen, Afghanistan and Aguas Calientes are going to come and have a desire to take up the baton of everything that has made American and Europe the engines of creativity, ingenuity, and freedom.

Those coming across the not-too-distant horizon are going to create one of two things: either a Caliphate or a Pueblo.

Either way it's a dismal picture and a true loss to humanity.

Obama's "bitter half"

Michelle Obama, Obama's wife, continues to put her foot in her mouth. Thankfully her diatribes continue to etch away at the thin veneer of respectablility that Barack Hussein Obama has. As time goes by we're getting to see just what a couple of morose, 'victimized', panderers these two are.

As usual Michelle Malkin is all over it!

When last our worldviews collided, back in February, the other Michelle was expounding on her lack of pride in America. I gave her myriad reasons to cheer up — from America’s role in the fall of communism and our unparalleled generosity to our nation’s superior economic system, cultural resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, and ingenuity. But since then, Mrs. Obama has dug in her $500 Jimmy Choo heels and solidified her role in the 2008 presidential campaign as Queen of the Grievance-Mongers. In one of her few (unintentionally) funny moments during a recent sit-down with comedian Stephen Colbert, Mrs. Obama claimed, “Barack and I tend to look at the positives.” That’s a side-splitter. As National Review’s Yuval Levin put it, Michelle Obama is “America’s unhappiest millionaire.” And she has the audacity to extrapolate her misery and her husband’s alleged victimization to the “vast majority of Americans.” In South Carolina, she called America “just downright mean” and bemoaned “a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day.” And in case you hadn’t heard enough of her carping about how hard it is for a seven-figure-earning family to pay for ballet lessons and piano lessons and pay off college loans, Mrs. Oh-Woe-Is-Me was at it again on the campaign trail in Indiana and North Carolina before Tuesday’s primary.

Go read the article. It shows clearly that the Obamanian rhetoric doesn't match their core beliefs.

Dragon Skin body armor

Although the streets of Chicago aren't as dangerous for police patrols as the seedy streets of Iraq, the men and women of the Chicago Police Department and the nation, are seeing an increase in hostile offenders who are armed with "body armor defeating" weaponry.

It's a dirty little secret that the City of Chicago won't purchase the proper equipment to keep the nation's second largest police force up to date. Officers routinely encounter obstacles to doing their job adequately and safely. These include unavailable patrol cars, cars without a PDT (computer), radios that are defective and insufficient body armor.

The body armor that most officers wear will not stop a rifle round, or an armor piercing projectile.

To help in this respect, Pinnacle Armor developed a revolutionary body armor system that is made entirely of ceramic-type circles that are stitched together and overlap like scales.

The vests are light and extremely flexible. The company's Level II vest, which will stop rounds with muzzle velocities of 1350fps weighs about 16 oz.



I called the company to get a price but they're closed on Saturdays. A review of their website shows no mention of price. I googled it and found that price for Pinnacle's Level IV armor is about $5,000 - I'm sure the Level II mentioned above is about half that.

There is some controversy about this product. Apparently the US Army won't approve it for its fighting forces because "it failed a ballistics test." That's interesting because the Army banned it in March of 2007 but didn't actually test it until May of 2007. They won't say it but I will: The government doesn't want to spend the money! Contracts always go to the lowest bidder.

There's a rumor that the reason the gov't won't get it is because there is a new body armor coming out that is made with a liquid that only hardens when struck by a high velocity projectile. Apparently it is comparable to the 'liquid' suits used by Olympic skiers.

The City, despite its lip-service to its First Responders, would rather pay a few lawsuits to officers killed in the line of duty than front $2000 per officer for a vest. As it is, every officer must buy his or her own equipment - gun included. A newly hired officer can expect to spend $5,000 of his own money on equipment. The City gives you your first vest but you pay for any additional ones and for any upgrades to the freebie.

With Daley and his cronies fleecing their constituents with the highest taxes in the nation, while crying poor everyday, Hell will freeze over the day we get anything of quality.