By Steve Rhodes
Madness abounds. Let’s take a look.
Today’s Al Capone Alert: “We ought to be known for something more than the old stockyards, smog or Al Capone, but we aren’t,” Richard Longworth, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told AP.
Stakes And Shakes: “If you live or work in Chicago, you may be shocked to learn that the NATO Summit this weekend is about more than protesters and traffic headaches,” the Sun-Times editorial page says.
Only if the Sun-Times was your only source of news.
Lazy Sunday: “If they were going to hold the summit somewhere, Chicago was as good a location as any,” Mark Brown writes in the Sun-Times, discounting the possibility that holding the summit in a major metropolitan area – originally in conjunction with the G8 meeting – might have been the worst possible idea around.
*
“I think any discussion of violence [that focuses on] what happens here in Chicago totally misses the boat,” protest organizer Andy Thayer tells Brown.
“If there is violence in Chicago, that will be the boat,” Brown writes, totally missing the boat.
Vets Against War: “[A] number of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan will be marching, in military formation, to McCormick Place in Chicago to hand their service medals back,” Amy Goodman writes for Truthdig.
“Aaron Hughes left the University of Illinois in 2003 to join the military, and was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. He served in the Illinois National Guard from 2000 to 2006. Since leaving active duty, Hughes has become a field organizer with the group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). He explained why he is returning his medals:
“‘Because every day in this country, 18 veterans are committing suicide. Seventeen percent of the individuals that are in combat in Afghanistan, my brothers and sisters, are on psychotropic medication. Twenty to 50 percent of the individuals that are getting deployed to Afghanistan are already diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma or a traumatic brain injury. Currently one-third of the women in the military are sexually assaulted.’
“IVAW’s Operation Recovery seeks increased support for veterans, and to stop the redeployment of traumatized troops. Hughes elaborated: ‘The only type of help that [veterans] can get is some type of medication like trazodone, Seroquel, Klonopin, medication that’s practically paralyzing, medication that doesn’t allow them to conduct themselves in any type of regular way. And that’s the standard operating procedures. Those are the same medications that service members are getting redeployed with and conducting military operations on.'”
Was MLK A Professional Protester? “I am bleary-eyed from reading the outraged press releases from the professional protesters,” Laura Washington writes in the Sun-Times
And then she has another Kevin Smith moment.
On February 23, 2010, I wrote this when Washington betrayed any knowledge of noted film director Kevin Smith:
“Cultural literacy is important in a journalist, but if you come across a celebrity whose work is unknown to you, do a little research instead of assuming everyone else is equally as ignorant.”
Now comes Washington to spew this:
“The National Nurses United group is coming to town – with an attention-deprived rocker in tow. After learning the nurses’ group added a concert by Tom Morello, guitarist for the aptly named Rage Against the Machine, to a rally on May 18 at Daley Center Plaza, the city threatened to revoke their permit and move them to Grant Park.”
Yes, Tom Morello is attention-deprived. He was only just named the 26th best guitarist of all-time by Rolling Stone magazine after more than 20 years in the spotlight – including not only in music but in film, TV, politics and collecting a few Grammy’s. And he’s from Libertyville, for God’s sakes.
*
“Regular Chicagoans are caught in the middle. They just want to get to work, play or get out of town, in droves.”
Funny how “regular” people – in the eyes of pundits – never seem to care about anything but getting to work (or getting their garbage collected). As if that’s a good thing!
Regular people are the ones who fight our wars, so maybe the pundits ought to connect that up to events like the NATO summit to see how they’re relevant to everyone.
Outside In: Barack Obama got a lot of political mileage in his presidential campaign for speaking at an anti-war rally in 2002, so why are those with the same message speaking today so vilified? Would the Obama the still-aspiring politician join those outside of McCormick Place – or even the Occupy movement? Think carefully about your answer because the ramifications are significant.
Neil Steinberg’s Problem: His take on NATO protesters’ bill of sale: “This is your basic Everything America Does is Wrong brand of Marxism – it’s all about oil! – insight from the same people who rolled like puppies at the feet of Stalin until the moment he threw in with Hitler.”
Where to start? How about just skipping ahead.
“In fact, I would wager that the general impression of NATO is positive: It’s one of the few institutions that actually functions,” Steinberg writes.
Really?
“It is an irony of history that it should be a departing U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates, who should break a long taboo and pronounce NATO faces a ‘dim, if not dismal future,’ as he did on Friday while delivering a valedictory address,” the Guardian wrote a year ago.
“The U.S. has made no secret in the last few years of its frustrations with some of its European partners in the transatlantic mutual defense pact, not least over Afghanistan. But to make this bleak assessment as the organization is involved in two wars signals a highly significant moment for an organization three-quarters of whose funding comes from the U.S. Indeed, as Gates pointed out, only five of the 28 members – the U.S., Britain, France, Greece and Albania – spend the 2% of GDP on defense as required by the organization.
“In venting American anger, Gates has articulated the existential questions that have been hanging over NATO since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 when its primary purpose evaporated: what is NATO for and can it actually deliver?”
See also: NATO’s Secrecy Stance by C.J. Chivers in the New York Times. Steinberg can’t dismiss a former Marine and Army Ranger so easily.
Big Omaha: “NATO is coming, for better or worse,” Greg Hinz whined in March. “I hope it’s the former but, either way, we don’t get a choice. Our only options now are to make Chicago look good to the world – something we all should want – or to pout, throw stones or flee to the beach. Are we a world-class city, or are we just a bigger Omaha or St. Paul?”
Oh, did you say something? I’m at the beach, it’s hard to hear over the crashing waves.
“[T]he griping and grumbling has continued. I confess to adding to it a bit myself. For instance, I have to object to a call from the Grassroots Collaborative to shift $65 million being raised for NATO from corporations into neighborhood public works.
Are we a world-class city, or just a bigger Omaha?”
Right. The more we ignore our neighborhoods to please global elites, the classier we get!
Little Omaha: “[A]t Keefer’s on Kinzie, closer to expected protests and demonstrations, what seems crazy is the LACK of reservations, not even ONE, yet, for NATO’s final day, Monday, May 21st,” Fox Chicago News reports.
“Glenn Keefer told us he’s especially disappointed because a celebrated chef from Madrid, Spain, will work Keefer’s kitchen for the NATO weekend. It’s part of a promotion in which seven renowned chefs from around the world will prepare special dishes during the summit at seven Chicago restaurants.”
Sneedling:: “Don’t mess with Rahm,” Sneed warns. “Mayor Rahm Emanuel is no Joker.
“Translation: Emanuel was portrayed as a Joker (in the vain of the latest Batman flick) on a May Day protester’s lapel button Tuesday beneath the shadows of Loop federal buildings.
“Memo to the 1,000-plus demonstrators protesting everything from deportation policies to wealth disparity: Mayor Emanuel intends to have the last laugh if things turn violent during the upcoming NATO summit.”
First, I love the fact that Sneed has to translate her own writing. Second, what the hell does that mean? If Rahm cracks skulls, the last laugh will be on him. So I don’t get it, and neither does anyone else.
–
Comments welcome.
Posted on May 17, 2012