So, Dick(head) Durbin, US Senator from Illinois, has graciously offered to host the terrorists from Guantanamo Bay here in Illinois. Apparently there's a vacant maximum security prison in Thomson, on the Mississippi River, that the state wants the feds to buy.
Busiest airport in the nation, tallest building left standing... Sounds like a good place to harbor islamic terrorists. I'm sure all their friends will be anxious to come and visit regularly.
You know, there's another fairly new and really kinda "hyper-max" security prison in Illinois. It's called Tams. It's so secure, the prisoners are kept in such fortified conditions, that some of the prisoners locked up were transferred out, having gone nuts there. That might be a good place to put the Guantanamo people. And Tams is in southern Illinois.... In fact, it may even be in Durbin's home district. Why don't they put the islamic terrorists down there in Durbin's neighborhood?
Never heard of Thomson before, where the prison-in-question is located, but I looked it up on the map, and actually I probably drove through it a couple of times. It's on the Mississippi River Road -- a scenic drive type of deal. I do recall driving through Savanna, a few miles north of Thomson and on the same road. It was autumn. The highway was lined by trees, branches arching over the road, leaves all brilliant red, yellow, and orange. It was strikingly beautiful. Like, that must have been 20 years ago and I never forgot it.
Lots of people in Illinois are not too crazy about housing creeps who have no respect for human life and who have masses of ruthless buddies who share that frame of mind. The local Fox News affiliate interviewed Durbin about this. One reporter asked him, "Why not let the voters have a referendum on it?"
Durbin looked like he was going to burst out laughing. "No. I don't think so."
After all, it's not like people in Illinois have any damn thing to say about their own lives and property. Why would anyone think to ask them what they want?
Reminds me of an incident a long, long time ago.... some debate on TV about something. I believe it was Lowell Weikert, who represented Connecticut in some capacity. Someone noted to Weikert that his constituents were dead set against some measure or another. Weikert looked up bemused, kind of scoffing, and assured everyone, "The voters don't know what they want."
Kinda like Durbin's attitude. He's so condescending. So patronizing. So getting sent packing in the next election -- however, unfortunately, he has a six-year term as a senator, so his departure can't come soon enough.
Chicago also lost another trade show. The city, once the major convention center in the nation, has shed at least a dozen trade shows over the last few years. The reason? The unions. Too hard to get set up, costs way too much.
When I worked at an ad agency, we had several clients at one show at McCormick Place. I was in the Loop office when my boss called me and asked if I could bring down some yardsticks -- they were printed with the name of one of our clients and were a giveaway for people who stopped by the booth.
So I got in a cab with this very awkward and heavy box of yardsticks. Got to McCormick Place and was standing at a velvet rope in the lobby, waiting for my boss to meet me as promised, when two big union guys came up and asked me what the hell I thought I was doing with a box full of yardsticks. That was when my boss arrived and he took care of it somehow. Do believe he had to pay the union to carry the box, though.
You ask for an extension cord at McCormick Place, and it takes two union guys to carry it to you, and then another one has to plug it in.
Working for another company that participated in shows at McCormick Place. We were talking to a guy who was designing the booth. My boss suggested setting up TV sets around the booth for some kind of display. You're advised to take the TVs down and lock them up every night, though. But the booth designer warned against the idea. He said another client of his lost about a half-dozen TV sets from "secure storage" in the course of one show.
So businesses are tired of it? Or compelled to be practical during an economic depression? And the union whines about "We made concessions....."
Either it's too little too late, or you didn't go far enough, pal.
Anyway, that's Chicago and Illinois. I seriously think I may move out. I'm just so tired of it.
Another interesting note on a completely different but recurring topic:
Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire or someplace, the guy who agreed to serve in the White House, then changed his mind and went back to the Senate.... Anyway, he's a pretty solid guy on the numbers, and he estimates the House socialized medicine bill will cost $3 trillion when you cut out all the phony crap hype around it, and through all the hiding and disguising of costs.
Again, I must ask: Why the hell is congress doing this to us? What is their problem? Nobody wants socialized medicine. The nation can't afford it. What the hell is the point?
Think I may have mentioned it before, but in the run-up to the American Revolution, the colonials might have been more cooperative and the revolution might even have been postponed for a time, had not the British rammed through one crappy piece of tax legislation after another. It got to the point the British probably didn't even need the money, they just wanted to prove they were still in charge.
Well, here's some news: They weren't in charge. It was all a delusion of grandeur for them, nothing more.
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