Chicago Daily Observer

It was, of course, inevitable. How could any politician rise so quickly on the legendarily corrupt Chicago political scene and be as pure as Obama’s devoted followers were purporting him to be? The question in the minds of skeptics was, “Who sent you?”

Well now we’re beginning to find out and it ain’t pretty. In a lengthy, and amazingly frank, Boston Globe article depicting the dismal results of Chicago’s attempt to develop and manage low income housing through private developers, we see that the candidate of change is nothing more than another Chicago machine-generated pol with his feet firmly mired in the muck of corruption of the city he chose to make his political base.

The local real estate market has been quiet as of late. The long term affects of the home mortgage crisis have reduced the number of sales in recent months. Imagine, everyone applying for a mortgage needs to have a complete and thorough credit check performed and the property must be appraised by a qualified professional before any funds can be loaned. A few months ago, before the real estate bubble burst,loan officers were handing out money left and right with little or no questioning whatsoever. Borrowers did not even have to establish that they were legal residents of the USA to qualify for loans.

Ah, well, those palmy, balmy days of the real estate speculation land rush are now a distant memory. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is prepared to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted from its stall. Madigan will be joining other legal officers ... Read More...

Backing a major-party candidate for president would have been anathema to Michael Klonsky 40 summers ago, when the organization he led, Students for a Democratic Society, urged young people to spurn elections. “By ’68, our line was ‘Vote in the Streets,’” Klonsky told me last spring. “We thought we had to fight with Eugene McCarthy and those people.” In August 1968, protesters clashed with police outside the Democratic Party’s national convention in Chicago—but far from being political innocents who took to the streets to protest Vietnam War hawks’ capture of the Democratic presidential nomination, many of them never supported antiwar candidates McCarthy and Robert Kennedy.

Progress in Iraq: Is it enough?

In early 2005, three Iraqi army or security units out of 115 were considered by the Pentagon to be “Level 1” capable units, those able to plan and execute counterinsurgency operations on their own with no assistance from Americans.

A report this week by the Government Accountability Office estimates there are now possibly 10 percent of Iraqi forces that can operate on their own. But that apparent progress — from 2.5 percent ready to 10 percent ready — masks the real issue.

As Election Day approaches, we’re going to be working hard to elect Barack Obama. We also have an incredible opportunity to elect Daniel Biss, an exciting and young Progressive running for Change here at home, in Illinois, to the office of State Representative.

Recently, I had the honor of sitting down with Daniel and discussing our ideas for progressive change in Illinois and across the country. I hope you’ll take a moment to view it view it . I believe you’ll come to the same conclusion I have – Daniel, and the kind of campaign he has built and the kind of leader he will be, represent the future of the Progressive movement.

• Sub Currus Vobis – Under The Bus With You

• Genus Tabellae Victoria – Race Card Triumphant

• Purus Articulatus Arrogantis Potius- Clean, articulate, arrogant, elitist.

HT: Bill Baar