The Chicago Way

From the Holy City of Parma Heights

Well, it took a while, but the video of a bunch of drunken off-duty Chicago cops beating up some stockbrokers then waving off responding police was finally released this week.

Thuggish behavior by drunken Chicago cops is about as unexpected as an icy wind in the Loop in January, but it’s nice to see the true nature of the Chicago PD held up for public inspection yet again.

By now, it’s plain to see that the only real difference between cops in Chicago and Teheran is the somewhat more dapper attire of President Tom’s boys.

Anybody who’s payed even the slightest attention now knows that the Chicago PD is one of the most brutal and corrupt in the nation. If anything, they make the New Orleans PD look like the Pope’s Swiss Guard. From home invasions to outright murder in broad daylight, they’ve got all of the bases covered.

One apparent specialty of the Chicago Police Department is violence against women. Unless you’ve been away rehabbing the face on Mars, you’ve probably seen the heartwarming video of 250+ pound Officer Anthony Abbate bravely stomping on 115 pound barmaid Karolina Obyrcka for refusing to fuel his alcoholic binge. However, many of you are probably unaware that this subhuman display of violent misogyny and craven cowardice reflects a core philosophy of the Chicago PD.

Back in the spring of ‘96, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered ran a story on proposed legislation in Illinois which would have barred those convicted of domestic violence from owning or possessing firearms. This legislation was set to fairly sail through the Illinois legislature... until the Chicago lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police learned that cops were NOT exempted. At that point, the Daley hit the fan.

There followed one of the strangest radio interviews I’ve ever heard. Only the NPR interview of the “roving ambassador” for the Taliban exceeded it in sheer, joyous creepiness and childish malice.

The three “highlights” were as follows:

• An FOP spokesman declared that you couldn’t take away a cop’s gun merely because he beat his wife’s brains out. It was after all, his “tool of the trade”. The interviewer did not apparently think to point out that hitmen like Sammy “The Bull” Gravano could make the same claim with equal validity. But then NPR “journalism” does often have an endearing air of credulousness.

• Another FOP spokesman declared that taking the gun from an angry, violent cop would only make him MORE angry and violent. Strangely, the interviewer again neglected to inquire as to why the same consideration didn’t apply to any Crip, Blood, Hell’s Angel or member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Of course unless she’d worked in Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, she’d probably never run into “police” like those in Chicago.

• Finally an FOP spokesman declared that you could trust a wife beating cop with a gun because he’d be “closely supervised”... just apparently not closely enough to prevent him beating his wife into a coma in the first place.

The FOP’s performance was positively Talibanesque in its effortlessly natural misogyny. It lacked only the obligatory cries of “Allahu akhbar!”

But let us not fail to recognize the other “accomplishments” of the Chicago PD. For instance, there is the murder of Michael Pleasance by Officer Alvin Weems. Weems, for no apparent reason, blew Pleasance’s brains out in a rapid transit station, then proceeded to spin a web of fantasy worthy of the Art Bell Show, repeated and amplified by the Superintendent of Police, Phil Cline. Cline, a dead ringer for Captain Kangaroo, overruled a police disciplinary board which had recommended Weems’s firing. Instead, Cline “punished” Pleasance’s murder with a thirty day suspension. Weems has since been promoted to Detective. One would hope that like the white haired Captain, Cline at least bothered to admonish Weems to “play with toys of peace”. I have my doubts.

Similarly, Chicago cops riddled a paraplegic man with bullets, in front of or near one of the homes where I lived as a child. They claimed he pointed a gun at them. Strangely, the gun which they “found” in his car was completely uncontaminated by either the victim’s fingerprints or blood... despite the fact that the man was shot through his alleged “gun” hand.

I could go on, but that would be like the Monty Python courtroom sketch where the individual murder charges against a defendant take fully three minutes to read, after which he says he’s sorry and will never do it again. Of course being a Chicago cop means never having to say you’re sorry... or to obey the law.

With the latest spate of police atrocities, Chicago’s version of Slobodan Milosevic, Mayor Richard M. Daley, has promised “reform”. Cynic that I am, I’m not optimistic. After all, nobody tried to reform the Gestapo. They just put out the “Out of Business” sign and hanged the upper management of that similarly troubled organization. Perhaps they should have gotten thirty day suspensions instead...

Collateral Damage

From the Holy City of Sandusky

Why does Matt Westerhold want battered women and their children to be stalked and murdered?

That’s the inevitable question raised by his recent reckless actions as managing editor of the Sandusky, Ohio Register.

In an act of incredible recklessness, arrogance and malice, Mr. Westerhold recently caused to be published in the register, the names, ages and locations of numerous Ohio residents legally authorized by the state to carry concealed firearms.

While Mr. Westerhold’s alleged reason was to combat “secrecy” in state records, in fact, it was motivated by an entirely different set of goals.

What public interest was served by Westerhold’s actions?

Certainly not one of ensuring the validity of the process of issuing licenses for concealed carry of firearms. The idea that someone [clearly very bored] reading the Register’s website would have greater knowledge of a legally sufficient reason to deny someone a CCW license than state, local and federal law enforcement is clearly not a credible one.

Certainly neither is there a “public records” justification. What imaginable public interest is served by publishing the names, ages and locations of private citizens with CCW licenses? Certainly no public interest that wouldn’t be served even better by posting the names of AIDS patients, sex offenders and check forgers. Publishing lists of such people would clearly protect the public against those who have either done harm, or who could do harm, in some cases, without their victims even knowing it. Yet Westerhold chose instead.to publish the names, ages and locations of those proven NOT to have committed crimes.

Given that Westerhold’s [and his defenders’] reasons have been shown to be lies, why DID he publish personal information on private citizens proved NOT to be criminals?

Intimidation, pure and simple. Matt Westerhold wants to do everything possible to ensure that people do NOT avail themselves of the means to defend themselves from violent attack. What’s his motivation?

Malice? Westerhold is known to be anti-gun, and anti-gunners are frequently consumed with malice for those who refuse to be the victims of violent crime. Cowards hate those who display courage. The irresponsible hate the responsible. It’s entirely possible that Westerhold is one of those nihilists who fly into an insane rage at the idea of people NOT being the victims of crime. They frequently view robbery as a “tax”. When asked what rape and murder are, one hears only the sound of crickets.

Stupidity? Well, there’s certainly evidence a plenty of THAT. Poor Matt seemed genuinely surprised when those whom he violated started posting to the internet [including the Register’s own website] HIS personal information, and more disturbingly, information regarding the employment by the Register of sex offenders in positions where they could easily come into contact with minors. Our genius seems to think that this is going away eventually, without a very high price for him and the Register to pay. Perhaps he should talk to Christian Trejbal in Virginia, who pulled a similar churlish stunt.

Misogyny? Certainly that’s often in evidence whenever [especially male] anti-gunners coalesce. A British anti-gun fanatic once told me that women shouldn’t be allowed to own or carry firearms for their personal protection because he was “afraid that he’d be mistaken for a rapist and shot”. My response to him? “How is it that you conduct yourself around women that you have a credible fear that you’ll be ‘mistaken’ for a rapist? Here’s some advice: Put down that butcher knife, pull up your pants, and go home.”

What are the potential consequences of Matt Westerhold’s malicious and reckless actions?

First and foremost, he has given those interested in stealing firearms a shopping list of people who have a 99% chance of having AT LEAST one gun. As was amply demonstrated by the retaliatory publishing of Westerhold’s personal information by his victims, once someone’s name, location and age are published, it’s trivially simple to find their address, financial information and more.

Secondly, and even more disturbing, there is a non-zero chance that some of Westerhold’s victims are victims of physically abusive spouses, stalkers, rapists and the like. What Westerhold has done is to give such predators a valuable leg up in locating and targeting their intended victims. Using the information which the Sandusky Register published, a man intent upon murdering his estranged wife and their children has been handed invaluable clues as to their locations. Even worse, he’s been warned up front to strike from ambush, rather than to confront his victim(s) head-on. To those at the Register who negligently continue to employ Matt Westerhold, consider the case of Soldier of Fortune Magazine. They ran an ad for a “mercenary” who later went on to commit a contract murder via that ad. SOF payed heavily for that ad. If a man were to slaughter his estranged family using information thoughtfully provided by Matt Westerhold and the Sandusky Register, could the Register survive the inevitable lawsuit?

In closing Matt, why do you want innocent women and children to be murdered? Why? Are they acceptable collateral damage in your war against legal gun ownership? Or is it simple schadenfreude?

Victory is Mine!

From the Holy City of Oregon

Far more nations have been saved by the idiocy of their enemies than by their own abilities.

Take for instance the Allies in World War II. While their blunders repeatedly promised their destruction, those of Hitler, invariably of far greater magnitude, always saved the day. From invading the Soviet Union to unnecessarily declaring war on the United States, Hitler could always be counted upon to pull the Allies’, especially Britain’s, fat from the fire.

Similarly, today’s Islamo-Fascist enemy seems bent on saving the UK’s bacon. This time however rather than a master bungler on high, the credit is owed to countless, nameless fanatics. While they can rattle off endless Islamic trivia that would make the geekiest Star Wars fanboy green with envy, it seems that making bombs that actually go off continues to elude them. The series of unsuccessful post July 7th bombings in Britain, coupled with last weekend’s pyrotechnic pratfalls indicates that at least for them, bomb making is somewhat of a Darwinian process. Those who can do... and die. Those who can’t, set themselves on fire.

Not content with their Homer Simpson-like failed car bombings, they crowned those maladroit attempts at mayhem with an attack on the Glasgow airport so deliciously buffoonish that it was worthy of Fox’s Family Guy. Unfortunately for these Wahabist Peter Griffins, they lacked the technical assistance of a debonair talking dog and a super-intelligent, evil toddler. Having failed to either anticipate the presence of concrete bollards in front of the terminal, or to devise a way to make their Jeep Cherokee actually explode, one of them was reduced to pouring gasoline on himself and setting it alight... Boy, you sure showed us, huh?. One wonders if having torched himself, he proclaimed "Damn you all! "(Or perhaps, "I’ve got you now, broccoli!")

Alas, our "hero" failed even to burn himself completely to death. He lies instead, horribly burned in a British hospital. If he manages to survive, I wish for him a long, sickeningly painful recovery after which he will hopefully be hideously disfigured. One suspects that his 72 virgins will need 72 barf bags to attend him.