Chicago Daily Observer

Few presidential candidates in modern times have been identified with a large urban area like Barack Obama is with Chicago. And sometimes, that can present a problem.

This election season, for instance, the residents of Obama’s hometown are being murdered at a clip not seen in five years.

Murders have risen 18 percent over a year ago. Assaults in the city involving guns are also rising. City officials, Police Supt. Jody Weis and the police force are increasingly coming under criticism.

But some Republicans say part of the blame also lies with Obama.

Violent crime continued to rise in Chicago after a deadly July in which 62 people were killed, according to unofficial numbers provided by a police source.

For the first seven months of 2008, murders rose by 18 percent over the same period in 2007 and by 9 percent for the same period in 2006. According to internal police data, 291 people were killed from January through July, up from 246 in 2007 and 266 in 2006.

In May and June, the murder rate hovered at a 13 percent increase for the year after a spike in homicides in the spring. July furthered the uptick with 19 more murders than a year earlier. Still, that July tally fell three below 2006 levels when there were 65 murders.

As the rest of the media concentrates on Sen. Obama’s “historic” and “healing” trip to Europe, we will continue to publish the news from the 7th Ward of Chicago, in Sen. Obama’s former Illinois Senate District:

Aggravated assault: Handgun
Place: Street. Reported at 11:14 p.m. on July 17, 2008.

Aggravated battery: Domestic battery: handgun
Place: Residence. Reported at 1:18 p.m. on July 17, 2008.

Narcotics: Possession of heroin (white)
Place: Vehicle (non-commercial). Reported at 4:15 p.m. on July 17, 2008.

Theft: From building
Place: Barbershop. Reported at 9 p.m. on July 18, 2008.

We welcome the national and international media’s coverage of the achievements of Sen. Obama in fixing problems in his own district.

In Germany, Sen. Obama announced that he is a “Citizen of the World” in a campaign speech directed at many tourists, Germans, and the US media. Being a Citizen of the World is hard to classify on a passport or an Olympic competition, but the process of obtaining World Citizenship seems simple enough: Gather $300 Million, spend it like mad to get your party’s nomination…lure 200,000 Germans into an arena…make a slew of odd and bombastic declarations…and you pretty much get your World Citizenship.

An side effect of World Citizenry seems to be a complete shutdown of your constituency. Here’s a tally of news reports from the 7th Ward in Chicago (within Obama’s previous State Senate District) over the time that Sen. Obama has been travelling.

Bruised and battered…police reports, on July 18 at 5:30 p.m., Barbara Miller, 61, of the 7600 ... Read More...

A top level authority on police attitudes told “The Chicago Daily Observer” yesterday that “there’s a good chance that murders are rising in Chicago because police are demoralized and intensely dissatisfied with conditions at the very top of the department. That doesn’t mean they’re lying down on the enforcement job, but what’s the point of pursuing a rigorous enforcement and deterrence when the department is in the hands of the civil libertarians—and punitive penalties are meted out against officers for doing their jobs effectively?”
He said that Jody Weis’ appointment…an FBI agent who never wore a uniform nor patrolled a beat…signaled a mayoral disapproval of the department that is ruining morale. He contrasted this with the record of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who stood by his department and beat off civil libertarians who tried to super-enforce infractions that hobbled the New York police.
“As a result ... Read More...

The shooting of a 41-year-old Chicago mother on the South Side evoked a creative idea: Treat gang members as domestic terrorists.

Said Chicago Tribune reader “Welcome to Chicago”:

Laws should be adjusted to limit the rights of gang members. Gang members are domestic terrorists and should be handled using a higher level of force as well as vigilant strategic planning….Of course we care about everyone’s civil rights and rights as a citizen in this country. [But] as soon as an individual or group has proved that after several documentations by police that he is a gang member, then his or her rights should be similar to a terrorist.

Interesting. If we treated gang members as terrorists, perhaps we should send them, without trial, to detention (preferably on a boiling hot Caribbean island) as “enemy combatants.” Question them without a lawyer present. A little water boarding might even straighten a few ... Read More...

Earl Gardner lounged on the street near his home just west of downtown Chicago, a 24-ounce can of Crazy Stallion beer in his hand.

A mile away, police Officer Al Garbauski slid a computer mouse to maneuver a camera that was perched a block from Gardner. Zooming in tight, Garbauski saw malt liquor meet mouth and sent an officer to arrest Gardner for drinking in public.

“I didn’t appreciate it, not one bit,” the 55-year-old Gardner said the other day. “The liquor store was closed when I got out (of custody).”

It might seem like a steep expenditure of police resources for a small-time arrest, but Chicago authorities say busts like this serve a higher purpose. They let everyone know that police are watching as the city’s 560 anti-crime cameras look in on the toughest street corners, a strategy intended to deter small-time and big-time crime alike.