A lesson in political geography and organizing

You might have seen Syron Smith in a post on The Capitol Fax blog earlier this month as the subject of a "Question of the Day". At this moment we look at Syron Smith as he runs for state representative for the 32nd District. He is to run against Andre Thapedi who currently holds that seat. Thapedi is a "rookie" having assume the seat of Milt Patterson who stood down at the end of his term having not run for re-election.

He ran against Thapedi last year in the primary and was forced to run as a write-in candidate after his petitions were successfully challenged by Thapedi. If your petitions to run for election are rejected then that only means that you won't be on the ballot, but most of us already know that right. All the same this time Mr. Smith is coming to this election ready!

This video is by CAN-TV personality Marc Sims. Also watch part 2 & part 3.

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Life of a Homeless CPS Student

Very sad story about a homeless CPS student and her mother that aired on WTTW's Chicago Tonight on the day of May 27th, 2009.

Via Uptown Update!

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Stroger on Secession Vote

Three suburban towns want to secede from Cook County and Todd Stroger County Board President seeks to dispell notions that are cited as reasons they want to leave Cook County. Of course he said in this segment on FOX 32 that he wouldn't oppose them if they'd leave although they would miss out on certain services provided by Cook County.

You know, I've seen clips or heard audio of Stroger on the stump and the attempts were less than impressive, but I'll have to admit that I'd rather see him in action or sitting down in interviews like he does here. It's better that than being out of your element giving a stump speech. Of course he might have to give some as he says he's running for re-election. He really should invest in an oratory coach or something.

WOW! The anchors here were incredulous when he evens said that he doesn't know how much money he has raised. Although at least he covered himself by saying that he's raising money all the time.

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Support of Concealed Carry

Gimbu Kali in this video discusses the possibility of concealed carry in Illinois. It's a good discussion even with the typical cliche in support of concealed carry. That is gun control makes it easier for the criminal element to have guns and victimized those who aren't armed.

What do you think? Should citizens of Illinois be allowed to carry a gun for their own self-defense?

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Replacing Rahm: IL-05 Special Election

The election is tomorrow!

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Why is Rod Blagojevich still Governor???????

Drinking with Bob, I believe he's from New York, wonders why Rod Blagojevich still remains in office.

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Hotline on Burris Appointment

Check out what Hotline says about the current state drama with regards to Blagojevich's pick to succeed the President-elect in his vacated Senate seat. Of course it's brief as they cover two other US Senate stories.

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Blago Is Busted

Today's episode of Hotline TV talks about the Governor's current legal troubles and some advice on whether or not Obama's successor should be merely a caretaker who won't run again in 2010. Interesting day it was today!

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VIDEO: An editorial Reply

This video from FuzzyMemories.TV is about a series of commercials that aired on December 27th, 1978. At about 2 min. 22 sec. in this video (full duration 4 min. 42 sec.) is an editorial reply by Betty Cameron - President, League of Women Voters of Cook County. She supports changing the makeup of the country board to single member districts.


This editorial is nestled with advertisments for cookware and an ad for a Disco music playing radion station!

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Video SEO and Local Politics – How the little guy stands out

An interesting post from this blog called ReelSEO featuring a post about how a candidate with no money can get noticed thru a process called search engine optimization. Thru this method a candidate for state Rep. in McHenry County, Robert Kaempfe, was able to get a video of his interview picked up by the Chicago Tribune.

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Chicago Documentary: Where Is Obama?

This video from the John McCain campaign looks at what has Sen. Barack Obama done for the Latino community.

Cross-posted at The Sixth Ward!

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Illinois US Senate replacements

I'm sure this has been discussed to death either here or on The Capitol Fax. Still what do you think would happen if Senator Obama is actually elected President of the United States? Would Blagojevich actually be able to appoint himself to the US Senate?

Look at what HotlineTV says about what's going on in Illinois.

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Peraica: CBS 2 Chicago Report Shows Alvarez Connections to Fugitives and Insiders

Well I got an email from his campaign a few minutes ago. Hmmm, I think I should go find Alvarez and get on her emailing list. Anyway here's what you're likely to find in that vid...

First, CBS 2 Chicago reports that Cook County State's Attorney candidate Anita Alvarez - who ran as an "independent outsider" - relied on support from key members of the scandal-plagued Hispanic Democratic Organization (HDO) for her recent fundraiser. At that same fundraiser, Ms. Alvarez posed for a photo with fugitive from justice Jorge Montes de Oca - and that same photo appeared on the cover of last week's edition of El Dia newspaper.

In a move of shameless desperation, Ms. Alvarez labeled State's Attorney candidate Tony Peraica a "racist" for "insinuating" her ties to the HDO.

But, interestingly enough, Ms. Alvarez confirms those same ties to the HDO in a Daily Herald story this morning. Further, she confirms that not only did HDO leaders Eddie Acevedo and Tony Munoz attend her recent fundraising event - but that Acevedo helped emcee the event!

I wonder if this could help or hurt Peraica. Right now I don't know, but I wonder if someone out there is more determined to vote in Alvarez.

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The Bench: The Rape of Lawndale

Find this video and thousands of others at vSocial!

Another major Roger's Park blog, The Bench takes aim at eminent domain but this time he takes a look at Lawndale on Chicago's west side. I should warn you not to watch if you don't like the message in this video.

Other posts about eminent domain in Lawndale
Eminent domain protest at Daley's office
South North Lawndale! eminent domain struggle continues

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Obama beer

I know, I know there isn't much need to warn me about taking away the Illinois focus or going into the world but this is how they celebrate Illinois' junior US Senator back in his father's homeland, Kenya! Apparently when they order beer they order an "Obama"!

From Beer Activist.

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County Insider John Daley Threatens Tony Peraica

Apparently Tony Peraica has a blip.tv account. And he uploaded the story about his Cook County Board meeting. I don't know when this story aired on CBS2Chicago, but it was a really interesting soundbite between Tony Peraica and his colleague John Daley. Daley in addition to being a Cook County Commissioner is also the 11th Ward Committeeman. So Peraica probably shouldn't take this too lightly. Although I have to admit if this was anywhere else in the nation Peraica could win it based off of this soundbite alone.

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Going back into the vault

One of the stories mentioned in this article was of then Comptroller Roland Burris who said that the state won't be able to pay it bills for the following month and suggest that perhaps we could pay it with cheese. The state requests 3 1/2 million pounds of federal surplus for the poor. Then after that an ad for Brown's Chicken.

Found at YouTube under FuzzyMemoriesTV and the website is FuzzyMemories.tv.

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Dan Ryan construction video

Our friend ArtistMac provides us with a time lapse video of the Dan Ryan reconstruction project over 7 months. He compressed it down to about 3 minutes. I really wish I knew what music he used for this vid.

BTW, he has a question for those of you who reside around the Eden's Expressway...

I've got a question for you folks living by the Edens during its current September-November 2007 repairs. Are IDOT workers parking dump trucks, cement mixers and their personal cars and storing supplies on your residential streets? Are they taking lunchtime siestas on your parkway grass? Just curious.

This is perhaps one sign that the 2 year Dan Ryan Expressway project is coming to a close, finally.

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Video competition: Phone vs. Cable

The phone giant AT&T officially can compete with cable companies on a statewide level to offer high-tech video services to customers. But that doesn’t guarantee the company will build out those services in all areas of the state any time soon. See Crain’s Chicago Business story here.

This comes after the Illinois General Assembly approved changes to state law in May. The new state law allows such phone companies as AT&T and Verizon to offer video services anywhere in the state without having to go through each individual municipality as cable companies previously had to do.

Three of four members on the Illinois Commerce Commission, a state panel, voted Wednesday to approve AT&T’s application to provide the video services (the fourth commissioner was absent). But the law stops short of giving the commission the ability to regulate what happens after the application is approved, says Beth Bosch, commission spokeswoman.

The measure originally sparked controversy but was rewritten with consumer protections that allowed the bill to win near-unanimous support in the Illinois House and Senate. Among the biggest changes is the requirement for video service providers to extend a certain percentage of their services to low-income neighborhoods within three years of earning the so-called statewide video franchise.

The new law expires in six years, meaning the General Assembly will have five years to evaluate whether it actually creates competition as touted. The law does bring Illinois in line with Indiana, which approved a statewide video franchise in March 2006.

For more background, check out my previous telecom blogs, and for a lot more context and potential outlook, see my May 2006 article, “A playbook for competition.”

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An I-Pass Conundrum

Remember our new friend Artistmac from YouTube. Last month I posted one of his videos lamenting how the I-Pass couldn't be changed from car-to-car because of some glue that suggests that the expectation is there that one should only keep an I-Pass in one car. He's back with more thoughts on the Illinois Tollroads.

Enjoy!!!

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