Read closely, folks.  Bank “reform” means labor-union control:

[T]ucked into the 1,250 pages of new rules proposed by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is a provision that gives new powers to board members. And that could mean big payoffs for the unions down the road.

The great power of the pubic employee unions is their pension funds — hundreds of billions of dollars provided by taxpayers to pay for retirement benefits. The investment of these funds is directed by political appointees who are motivated to keep the unions happy.

It’s in today’s Washington Examiner.  (via News Alert)

Here’s looking at the Tea Party rally 4/15, Daley Plaza, 3 to 5 p.m., better late than . . . 

Sunny day, 80 degrees or so.  Lot of flags and signs.  Music blaring from stage, but not much heard where I sit note-taking, near the fountain-filled pool.  Not many here.  Three pretty girls chatting on edge of crowd.  Church bells from Chicago Temple across street.  Nice breeze.

Signs: “Americans for Life,” prominent, next to stage.  Hand-held: “No cap & trade”  “Stop government waste”   “Stop socialism”  “Protect free speech”   “Abortion kills” 

On stage, talk-show host Sandy Rios : “Can you hear me?” 

She introduces priest, who leads all in prayer.  He is Rev. Thomas Koys, pastor of Immaculate Conception parish, 44th & California,  author of The Ashes That Still Remain, in which he likens the Dred Scott decision to Roe v. Wade.  “None of us asked to be born.  . . .  All of us come from a divine source.”  Beneath him on front of stage, a sign, not his, “Lower taxes, create jobs.”  Long, rambling prayer.  “Lord, hold back your wrathful hand for a generation more.  . . .  Lord, give us this grace, how to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar,” etc.  Quiet, respectful audience.  He leads all in The Lord’s Prayer. 

Gutsy of him, to show up and show his colors, Chicago being what it is.  Later we chat.  I know him from his days as a temporary deacon, in the year before ordination, when he was assigned to St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy parish, in Oak Park.  I remember him giving a thoughtful anti-abortion sermon, the only anti-abortion sermon I can recall hearing, ever.

Sandy Rios leads in pledge to flag, another woman in singing the national anthem.  Crowd respectful.  Then “God Bless America,” which works better and is better for group singing.  The singer, a young woman, has the pipes for both.  Rios calls self “reformed liberal,” asks again, “Can you hear me now?”  Overly cerebral patter, it being a rally, not a radio program.   

More signs: “Abolish Federal Reserve System”  “Abortion is child abuse”  One for right to carry (handgun) group.  Another, from Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice: “End Bush wars.”  Another, and maybe best of all: “I listed the federal government as a dependent on my taxes this year.”

Rios moves to stump-speech mode: “This president should never have been elected.  He does not love this country.  . . .   He really does not know America . . .  Out with sexual radicals . . . [out with] ACORN . . . SEIU . . . [AG Eric] Holder . . .  Fight, fight, fight”

It’s like civil rights rallies in the 60s.  Now Catherina (“Katerina,” she is called) Wojtowicz, of Chicago Patriot Tea Party, takes the mike as mistress of ceremonies.  She makes passing reference to her making it (last November) as Keith Olbermann’s “worst person in the world.”  Olbermann condemned her to hell for questioning the honesty of a woman who said her daughter had died for lack of insurance.  The woman had stood next to Congr. William Lipinski in a Southwest Side town hall meeting defending health care legislation while Tea Partiers raised a ruckus and some of them mocked her. 

Catherina W., Congr. Lipinski

Southtown Star columnist Kristen McQueary  checked out her story, verifying it.  The matter became a cause celebre on several liberal blogs, with Wojtowicz getting considerably raked over.  At the meeting she also handed back to Lipinski the “Citizen of the Year” award he had given her three years previously. 

The cumulative vehemence of libs’ response (to her and “teabaggers”), while standard in these Obama years, also demonstrates her organizing success and the success of tea-party politics in general, I’d say.  In any case, so it goes in the South Side political trenches, especially where health-care legislation is concerned.  Catherina is something of an Alinsky-style organizer (in a good cause), I would say, based on her Daley Plaza performance, in which she m.c.’d things with gusto and lots of energy.

Catherina introduces a sister “Southsider,” Jan Morino, calling her a “neighbor of mine.”  Both have fire in the belly.  Morino spouts what is the motto for the day: “We will remember!” in November.

Then Isaac Hayes, running vs. Congr. Jesse Jackson Jr. in Illinois 2nd district, who comes up fiery.  He gives a stump speech.  “Enough of [Harry] Reid” etc.  Plants are among you, he warns.  They will try to pick an argument.  (None appeared.)  “If someone has an argument with a black, it will be told all over the world.”  He is a school-choice proponent,  listing this issue first on his web site: “The answer is not just more money. The answer is competition.”

Hayes on left

Then Gary Franchi, managing editor of Republic Magazine, whose current issue, #15 has on its cover George Washington on a stallion, pointing a forty-five automatic, his face covered with a truncated red, white, and blue flag.  Franchi rails vs. TSA and predicts for the U.S.: “In 30 years a police state!”  Ends, as many did, “God bless America.” 

Then Carl Segvich, running for county commissioner vs. John Daley, the mayor’s brother.  “Socialist government” is the problem.  “Thugs” abound.  He’s Republican committeeman, 11th Ward, would “restore” sound tea party principles to county board.  (Restore?)  Is against big government, George Soros, “career thugs.”  He names others, Dems and Republicans, calls them “useful idiots.”  Don’t call this the Daley Plaza, but Chicago’s Civic Plaza!  Fiery!  Runs vs. the “Obama way.”

Next three speakers, younger guys, are relatively soft-spoken, following the fire-eaters.  But the core 75 or so listeners in front pay attention.  One speaks for home-schooling, is off and on quickly.  Another pulls out a guitar and sings a “freedom song.”  Shades of 60s rallies again.

Lucy Weir, “here as a mom from the Southwest Side,” sees big government as “a big dog” running toward her kids, whom she wants to protect.  “The American dream is on life support.”  Abigail Adams — the nation’s first Second Lady and second First Lady — is her heroine, like Weir a “mom” and “a working mother.”

Shaun Kranish promotes the right to carry guns, “an American right,” especially in Illinois and Wisconsin.   Says “most street officers” support it.  “We must depend on ourselves to protect ourselves.”  This summer Mayor Daley “will have a stroke” when the Supreme Court knocks down the Chicago law.  Gun control “is not about guns, they want to control you.”  Shows holster in which he legally carried his 40-calibre pistol recently in Wisconsin.  Like Carl Segvich and others before him, he calls Mayor Daley out.  Catherina urges all to join NRA.

Lionel Garcia, Tea Party candidate for state rep in 6th district, Political Action Committee Chair at Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Cook County, Republican committeeman for 16th Ward.  Tea Partiers are “old, angry, white?” he asks.  Look at him, he says, angry but neither old nor white.  “Cook County is not a lost cause.”

Rose Hamilton, Mexican-American from Edgewater, grew up on Taylor Street.  69 years old, is for legal immigration, not amnesty.

Dick Walsh, founder-director of Americans for Life,  says State Sen. Bill Brady, Republican candidate for governor, “our hope for Illinois,” called to say he couldn’t make it.  White-haired, lean, Walsh is in full cry, sparing not his throat. 

Cedra Crenshaw, of Bolingbrook, “Illinois’s Sarah Palin,” was trying to get enough signatures to run as a Republican for state senator, 43rd district, against Dem Arthur Wilhelmi.  She reads a good speech, quickly and well, but it’s a lot to absorb this day at Daley Plaza. Started her involvement by attending and reporting on school board meetings.  She’s for school vouchers.  Wants forensic audit before any more taxes.  “One mom taking on the machine.” 

An accountant.  “Do we need more lawyers or more accountants in public office?”  A good line.  On her Twitter page, she asks, “Are you [black readers] as outraged [as I] about the fact that black offenders get other black kids hooked on drugs? Stop blaming the white man.”  Looking good to this West Suburbanite.

Cedra Crenshaw

David Smith, Illinois Family Institute, a Christian.  Crowd is considerably thinner, down to half what it was.  He elicits from its fringe the day’s only heckling.  Brief flurry.  The guy gives it up.

Carol Ann Parisi, from NW suburban Palatine, quotes Reagan saying we have a rendezvous with destiny (! FDR said it first) but gets Emund Burke right, about evil succeeding when good men do nothing. 

Mary Ann Hackett of Catholic Citizens of Illinois: Obama’s executive order saying no health care bill money to be used for abortion is “nothing but a piece of paper.”  Expect this: “unborn babies used for spare parts.”  Asks, “We will now pay for women to kill their own children?”  Asks about conscientious objection to contributing services to abortion, as by nurse or physician.  Cites $7 billion in the bill for community health centers as expected provider of abortions, thanks to prominence of Planned Parenthood in the Obama government, foresees school-based clinics distributing condoms in the schools.

Catherina does her last two intro’s:

* Barbara Ballard, emphasis on last syllable, a physician, retired Army officer who teaches at DePaul and Benedictine universities, an ex-nun, running vs. state rep. Kevin Joyce, 35th District (father of five, coaches football at St. Xavier U.), whom Catherina calls “worse than Pelosi.” He is son of South Side politico Jeremiah Joyce, who C. says “owns Daley.” 

Ballard tells Gov. Quinn, “Open the books,” demanding a forensic audit, as has been done in Kansas and Texas.  “Ring the bell for Ballard and you will be served!” she concludes. 

* Elgin Franklin, black guy, running for U.S. senate, who spoke only briefly.

==============

Cedra did submit 2100 signatures in time to meet the deadline.  1000 were needed for the State Senate requirements. She could still be challenged, but it appears right now that she will be on the November ballot.

Repubs on attack.  Gut-level stuff.

Palin-panic on the left reverses itself:   

The logo created for the conference [on right-wing radicalism] showed a swastika inside the international symbol of negation, reflecting the legitimate concern people feel over the activities, often violent, of neo-Nazi extremists.

Unfortunately, this logo created an impression that Brandeis and the conference organizers equated a range of organizations, including the Tea Party in the United States, with extremist groups on both continents.

That was not the intention of the [Brandeis U.] faculty, staff or students of the University who were involved in creating the conference, and Brandeis regrets the unintended association and pain this caused. The logo has been removed from the event page promoting the conference.

N. Carolina not so sure these days:

” . . . a lot of stirring out there,” said Rep. David Price  (D-N.C.). “A lot of the people who worked very hard to put the state in the blue column are still at it, but we know we’re a swing state. We know that there’s a lot of political diversity and we have a lot of work to do.”

Etc.

Wash Examiner has Blago-lawyers’ motion accusing Obama of lying in public statements, based on testimony by Valerie Jarrett and Tony Rezko:

President Obama’s public statements contradict other witness statements, specifically those made by labor union official and Senate Candidate B [believed to be White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett],” the motion said.

The former governor’s lawyers also claim that Tony Rezko admitted he violated federal election laws by personally contributing “a large sum of cash” to an unnamed public official believed to be Obama.

Blago’s lawyers also accused Obama of not telling FBI agents the truth when he said Rezko never relayed a quid pro quo offer from a lobbyist who wanted to hold a fundraiser for Obama in exchange for favorable legislation, and again when he denied having any conversations with Rezko about a license for a casino linked to the Chicago mob.

That said, we presume it’s a sideshow, except that stuff like this builds up.

(All of it following leads from Steve Bartin’s excellent News Alert.)

Public-employe unions have the answer to saving their pensions: raise taxes!

SPRINGFIELD —

Thousands of teachers and other union workers descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday and chanted “raise my taxes” to try to pressure politicians to avoid major budget cuts.

The vibe [sic] was the exact opposite of what you’d find at a tea party rally.

I’ll say.

Meanwhile, in the city that works,

Chicago taxpayers will be forced to dig deeper — and so will city workers — to bail out four city employee pension funds that will run out of money by 2030, a Mayor Daley-appointed commission has concluded.

“There is no low- or no-cost solution to this problem. . . . Deferring action is not a viable option,” said a draft of the final report, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

It’s not easy being a tax-and-spend politician.  You have to make tough decisions, like going after other people’s money.

More precisely, in view of the socialist-leaning politicos in the White House, it’s not easy promising things you, that is, other people, can’t afford.

Promise them anything, but make them pay for it, yes.

Chi Trib’s John Kass has the answer to all of it. 

The Patriot Plan has two simple prongs. One prong involves Tax Day. The other prong involves Election Day.

Tax Day is when everyone writes out a check for his or her annual payment, which they owe in full because there’s been no withholding.  Election Day is the one after that, when voters have the previous day fresh in their minds.

You can vote on federal, state and county offices — with the exact sum of what you’ve paid in taxes still burned into your brain — while watching your politicians chase those last-minute votes.

How many blue-state emergencies would that solve?  All of them, guaranteed.

Try this on for size in the Age of Obama:

“In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men.
It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.”
— Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), American writer, journalist, and political commentator
Source: An Inquiry into the Principles of the Good Society, 1937

It’s what a liberal used to sound like.

Boo!

It goes with Pelosi’s saying they had to pass the bill before we’d know what’s in it, offered today by Patriot Post.

These were her famous last words before “ramming [it] through.”

I’d make the hammer and sickle a fasces bundle.  As Tom Roeser notes today, citing Ron Paul in a recent “lucid moment,”

Obama isn’t a socialist but a “corporatist.” . . .   What we have now is the federal government owning just under 50% of the private economy: and if that isn’t corporatism I don’t know what is.  Socialism is the takeover of industry; corporatism is the “investment” of government in industry such as the auto bailouts, the big bank bailouts. 

And a little bit of political history:

A pioneer of this kind of thing was FDR’s Rexford Tugwell whom I knew well (he guest lectured for me at the Wharton School). Tugwell went to Italy to interview Benito Mussolini, an ace corporatist, came back and  designed the NRA whereby big business would cooperate with each other in a government-tailored design to reach markets without cumbersome and what some liberals say is “wasteful economic competition.”  

I’ve been calling O. a fascist at least since my Wednesday Journal column that precipitated severe excretory shots at the fan in October of ‘08. in which I hearken to Alinsky’s “man of action,” as in Rules for Radicals, and expatiated:

The “man of action” business is particularly foreboding. It’s a staple of fascism, of course. . . .  [FDR’s] political appeal was based on admiration for the strong man who brooked no opposition.

Mussolini was crafty about it and inspired admiration in “progressive” circles in this country, as he had admired American pragmatism in Woodrow Wilson, the college professor-become-president with a yen for power that puts even today’s tenured radicals to shame. Then came FDR, the roaring pragmatist . . . . Progressives, later called liberals, yet later progressives again — the name changes keep them ahead of the awareness curve — love the man of action.

Now they have one. He’s The One, our smooth-talking Democrat presidential candidate with a yen for deciding how much you should earn before being hit with a tax hike-to “spread the wealth around,” as he unfortunately told that plumber in

Ohio.

I delete some references that show I was only, say, 80% right, the worst of them being my finger-in-the-wind, wistful, wholly mistaken closer, speaking of what he told the plumber, “Could this be the slip that sinks Big O’s ship?”  It’s stuff like that keeps me from scaling the heights of pundit-dom.