Chicago Sun-Times columnist and official Barack Obama fan Jennifer Hunter may be reading this blog, or at least listening to the whispers. As mentioned in an earlier post Hunter had attached a most disturbing picture of herself to her column, apparently by choice. See the picture at the left.

Apparently Ms. Hunter has had a revelation that one does not have to go full Morticia Adams to be taken seriously. In the new photo she looks great; approachable and human just like most of us. If only the paper would drop that beware of bird offal angle that they have the columnists posing in these days.

Unfortunately for Jennifer Hunter it is not now and never has been the photo that commands respect, it is the substance of the verbiage in the column that draws the attention of the people. As of yet Ms. Hunter has offered no such substance leaving one to wonder if she’d be able to get a job writing a column for a middle school paper were she not married to the publisher. Further, it is yet to be seen if she will keep her job now that her husband John Cruickshank has resigned to go back to Canada.

A photo can never replace substance, let’s hope Jennifer has some in her repertoire, otherwise it’s time for the long drive to Toronto.

Posted by Biloxi in Biloxi Says at 8:29 PM EDT

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Ann Coulter’s Townhall.com column today portrays the vacuity of the Democrats position on Iraq with stark clarity. It started with dire prediction of mass casualties among the US troop ranks and has currently evolved into a denunciation of the Commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

It is one thing to take a position and stay steadfast, it is entirely another to shift the argument as each predicted doomsday scenario is proven untrue. Hoping for defeat is really no position at all and is evidenced by the multitude of ways the Democrat opponents have attempted to justify their attitude. Better yet is watching most of the current crop of Presidential candidates try to distance themselves from early support for the war showing that even when they were right it was out of political motivation instead of principle or the good of the American people. Barack Obama likes to attack his opponents for the Democratic nomination by saying he has always been against the war, an easy position to take when his elected position at the time was Illinois state Senator. Again, a safe position to take.

What we need are leaders who act instead of react; continually switching to a poll tested safe position that the base will accept. While the initial strategy used in the Iraq war was flawed, (easy to say using hindsight) the war was necessary and has made us safer. The sacrifice of our military is not in vain , regardless of the diplomacy is best- the Iraqi military is not stepping up- it’s a civil war- they need a political not military solution-etc. track of the argument as used by the Democrats. The inability to prove a consistent point is proof enough of their flawed logic.

As Coulter states, maybe we had a pretty good idea of what General Petraeus was going to report, but the Democratic response was predetermined as we heard refutations and talking points long before the General took the oath and began to speak before Congress. When the position against meanders from point to point over the course of 4-1/2 years the bankruptcy of the foundation of the opposition is painfully obvious. In many cases it is opposition for its own sake and not built on any underlying principle. The only parallel between the Iraq and Vietnam wars in the empty-headed idealism of the opposition and their willingness to misrepresent.

Posted by Biloxi in War on Terror at 7:54 AM EDT

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I am a little late getting to the recognition of the 6th anniversary of the horrible day we know simply by its date; 9/11. No year will ever need be attached to the event for those who lived through the horror and shock of the day…it is simply 9/11. The day the towers fell and life forever changed for many of us .

Unfortunately that cannot be said for all. For some the shock was a mere cessation of the partisan rancor and ideological hatred, a time to bond together out of fear only to revert to old habits as soon as the shock was gone and things seemed somewhat normal again. A time for reaction out of fear instead of a plan to make sure that this never happens again.

Think about that day and the weeks following. Think about how you felt, the sacrifice of those on the planes, the horror for the people trapped in the towers, the heroism of the valiant first responders at Ground Zero and the Pentagon and the bravery of the passengers on Flight 93. We all got along for a short while, but the smallness crept back in. Politics and power has trumped the good of the electorate and the government’s charge of protecting the people. Remember how helpless we felt at first, then grief stricken and finally angry.

We needed to protect our people and the President had the resolve to do just that, Congress acted overwhelmingly in taking action in Afghanistan and enacting the Patriot Act. While we may never be 100% safe from the pure evil that is radical Islam we most certainly can keep them on the run and curtail their ability to harm the innocent.

Fast forward to the present, many who claim to represent us seek to put us back among the extremely vulnerable. They attempt to roll back portions of the Patriot Act that enabled us to capture those who meant serious harm to America and her people. They look to end the warrantless wiretapping of the jihadists hell bent on causing as many American and Christian deaths as possible, without regard for women, children and the innocent. They want to pull us out of Iraq before the work is done, making us ever more vulnerable. Don’t kid yourself, Al Qaeda in Iraq is as dangerous as the organization that spawned her. There is a false sense of security that we are somehow more safe and that the terrorists will leave us alone if we just let them be. This was not true before 9/11 and it has not become any more so in the time since. They hate us, they wish us dead. Even those whose inexplicable actions seem to put the terrorist ahead of the American citizens. These same defeatists who would do us harm out of ignorance and underestimation of the true enemy, claim to support our brave troops while they call them names and claim they are to uneducated to know the difference. They claim support even as they look to de-fund our military and undermine their brave and vital mission.

Remember how you felt and remember the policies and actions that helped us to heal and have kept the murderers at bay since. Also remember those who wish to undermine our security by hampering our ability to protect ourselves. Let them know how you feel. While mistakes have been made in the war on terror, we are safer than we were that fateful day 6 years ago. Keep aware and vigilant. While we remember our heroes, keep in mind the cause they undertook. Otherwise we risk a horrible and devastating reminder of a similar kind. The only way we prevent this is the future is to remember the pain, and to honor the fallen by making sure their personal horror was not in vain.

God Bless America and all the heroes and victims of 9/11. Watch over us as we watch over our families.

Posted by Biloxi in Radical Islam, War on Terror at 8:51 PM EDT

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Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wants a piece of the Commonwealth Edison rebate due to Illinois utility users next year. In a statement yesterday, he said that proposals to levy a utility tax and raise the cigarette tax “deserve consideration”.

Less than a month after a settlement where the political hue and cry was for a return to the 10 year rate freeze and relief from 25 - 300% increases on electricity one of our governing bodies is looking for a way to raise the rates on their own. If you include the natural gas tax proposal it is another bite out of the pockets of county residents with no appreciable increase in services. When offering his budget earlier this year, Stroger cut jobs and declined to fill some vacancies but didn’t touch his own staff where he promoted his own friends and family plan. We have yet to see a county that can live within its means.

The proposals were floated by board members loyal to Stroger who saw a small firestorm earlier this summer when he indicated he might be in favor of a property tax hike. This board is as unoriginal in its ability to find ways to generate revenue that doesn’t harm the residents as it is unable to move forward from the days of patronage and graft. It is less than two years since the board raised the cigarette tax to $2.00 a pack. A move that was supposed to close a revenue gap but actually only drives people out of the county for their cigarette purchases. The $4.05 combined total tax for a pack of smokes in the city of Chicago cannot reasonably be expected to plug any gap other than one that is political. Keep in mind that the City, County and now State has banned public smoking nearly out of existence yet all seem to still think going to this well of low political risk is the answer to their revenue woes. It is time to show some stones and lead. The first move is to cut patronage and non-essential hires, including and especially the friends and family of County politicians in makework positions while critical healthcare and law enforcement positions are cut back.

Commissioners William Beavers and Joseph Mario Moreno are floating the tax ideas with Stroger’s blessing, but they’re already facing resistance.

But Beavers said board critics “need to do one thing or get off the pot. There is no more patronage. The county has been cut to the bone.”

Laughable in the whole matter is Commissioner William Beavers statement that patronage is dead….maybe in the alternative universe that is the mind of Cook County politicians.

Posted by Biloxi in Cook County, Illinois Politics at 10:03 AM EDT

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