By Steve Rhodes
“Rahm Emanuel issued a no-new-taxes pledge as he formally announced his candidacy for mayor in a speech at a public school on the North Side,” the Chicago News Cooperative reported last November.
“This is no time to even talk about raising taxes,” Emanuel said at Coonley Elementary School.
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“Rather than leave Chico commanding the news cycle all by himself, Rahm decided to slap together a news conference. I’m told reporters were hurriedly summoned so he could talk about taxes,” John Kass reported in January.
“Yes, taxes, with Chico getting ready to accept that political hug from the FOP.
“Rahm admitted that his tax idea was somewhat incomplete – some ‘back of the envelope’ figuring.
“The plan? He wants to impose a sales tax on so-called luxury services, like dog grooming and tanning parlors. As those taxes go up, the over-all rate can come down, he promised. It’ll make businesses and consumers happy.
“‘I’m making my proposal,’ Emanuel said. ‘The first step toward bringing change is you’ve got to propose an idea, so I’ve proposed an idea on how to do something, I think, different. I think, ultimately, given the reaction over the days, that there’ll be an interest now in Springfield on how to bring some tax reform and tax cuts and here I’ve made an idea that I think I can advocate for.'”
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“Emanuel also said he won’t raise taxes on Chicagoans who feel ‘nickeled and dimed’ until the city’s financial structure gets reformed,” the Tribune reported on July 29.
“I can’t ask people to pay more into a system that needs to be fundamentally restructured,” he said.
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“Chicago property taxes that fund schools would be raised to the maximum allowed by law for the first time in four years – costing the average homeowner an extra $84 a year – under a proposed Chicago Public School budget released Friday,” the Sun-Times reported last Friday.
“To fill a $712 million deficit, the first budget outlined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new school team would hike property taxes by $150.3 million, cut spending by $320.7 million, and use $241 million in reserve dollars to keep the system in the black.”
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“I think they’ve made the tough choices,” Emanuel said this morning, the Sun-Times reports.
“Emanuel has promised to erase a $635.7 million city budget shortfall without raising taxes, arguing that he cannot, in good conscience, ask taxpayers to put more money ‘into a system that hasn’t been reformed.’
“On Monday, some aldermen made the same argument about the Chicago Public Schools after attending a series of 45-minute briefings on the record property tax increase at City Hall.”
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“[Some people] point out that much of the TIF money was diverted from public schools, parks, libraries and other taxing districts and was instead put into accounts that Daley controlled and kept shrouded in secrecy,” the Chicago News Cooperative reported on Sunday.
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And . . .
“Students in Chicago’s public schools will spend an extra hour or hour and a half in school each day once new legislation makes it out of Springfield, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel said Friday,” the Sun-Times reported in April.
“Emanuel said the issue of how much more teachers will get paid is open to negotiation – but not the question of whether the school day will be longer. It will be, Emanuel said.
“‘We’re not going to negotiate or discuss whether children get more instruction – we will work together so that gets done. I’m not deviating from that. I was clear about it,’ Emanuel said after speaking at a South Side charter school.”
From the Sun-Times account today:
“Despite Emanuel’s public lobbying for a longer school day and year, the budget trims money for afterschool clubs and reduces by half the money allocated to ‘community schools’ that offer after-school programs to both students and community members. In addition, it provides no additional money to pay for a longer school day or year.”
Torture Times
“A federal judge has agreed to allow an Army veteran who says he was tortured during a nine-month imprisonment in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld,” the New York Times reported last week.
“The [Obama] Justice Department, which has represented Mr. Rumsfeld, argues that he cannot be sued personally for official conduct. The department also asserted that wartime decisions are the constitutional responsibility of Congress and the president, not the courts. The department also said the case could disclose sensitive information and claimed that the threat of liability would impede future military decisions.”
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“A lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of personal responsibility for U.S. forces allegedly torturing two American whistleblowers who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm will be allowed to move forward, a federal appeals court ruled Monday,” CBS News reports.
“The ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago comes just days after a similar decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that gave the green light to an Army veteran – who also alleges he was tortured in Iraq – to sue Rumsfeld for damages.
“Monday’s ruling rejected arguments that Rumsfeld should be immune from such lawsuits for work performed as a Cabinet secretary.”
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“It can’t be emphasized enough that this ‘state secrets’ tactic was not ancillary to the Bush abuses; it was central to them,” Glenn Greenwald wrote for Salon in April 2009 in Obama’s Pretty Words On Secrecy And Torture. “Secrecy is the linchpin, the key enabling weapon, of all government abuses. That’s why Obama’s embrace of the radical Bush position has been so deeply troubling. And the excuse Obama gave last night for why he has been doing this is simply inaccurate and misleading.”
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February 4, 2009: Obama Endorses Bush Secrecy On Torture And Rendition.
April 21, 2009: “U.S. lost its moral bearings over torture, says Obama – and warns Bush officials could be charged.”
December 1, 2010: “In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A ‘confidential’ April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department – one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks – details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.”
July 1, 2011: “Over 100 detainees died during U.S. interrogations, dozens due directly to interrogation abuse. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said: ‘We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces and the C.I.A.’ Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the official investigation into detainee abuse, wrote: ‘there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.'”
July 22, 2011: Obama Rejects Probe On Bush-Era Torture: “Need to look forward not backwards.”
Chicago Alderman Mad As Hell
Says the super-wealthy have hijacked our country.
Mini-Ditka At Bears Training Camp
With Mini-Sweater Vest.
Cubs Pinball!
Triple Play circa 1985.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Super mini.
Posted on August 9, 2011