NBC Chicago reports on some of those "Chicago values" the city's Mayor Rahm Emanuel (Democrat, naturally) touted, justifying his alderman's refusal to grant a license to a Chick-fil-A potential franchisee.
Chicago likes to compare itself to other world cities, so Ward Room thought it would find out how we rank in violence. It turns out no one can top us. Among what are considered Alpha world cities, Chicago has the highest murder rate -- higher even than the Third World metropolises of Mexico City and Sao Paolo.
Chicago's murder spree of 19.4 per 100,000 is more than three times that of New York's (6 per 100,000) and more than two and a half times of Los Angeles' (7.5 per 100,000), its closest American competitors. Caracas, Venezuela, which apparently is not an Alpha world city--thank you Hugo Chavez--has a higher murder rate of 130 per 100,000.
In the American cities mentioned, most of the murders are committed with guns. These cities all have laws against murder. They even have laws against guns; Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. But, no matter. As President Barack Obama (D)approvingly quoted from the gangster movie The Untouchables when on the campaign trail in Philadelphia four years ago,
"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," Obama said. "Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I've seen Eagles fans."
Of course, this attitude was prior to Obama's evolution on gun control.
Interestingly, Obama thought guns were a rural, small town phenomena, not part of normal life in his big city, as evidenced by comments he made at an elite fund raiser in San Francisco also four years ago.
"They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Hmmm, wrong again.
Most of the murderers and murdered look like the sons Obama never had. Many of the murdered in Chicago live in the district Obama represented in the Illinois state legislature, another corrupt body representing Chicago and Illinois values. Hispanics are another group disproportionately represented in these violent American urban statistics.
And as for Emanuel's devotion to non violent, all inclusive Chicago values, the New York Times relates what they call "the best Rahm Emanuel story." And it has nothing to do about guns. A knife, yes; guns, no.
The best Rahm Emanuel story is not the one about the decomposing two-and-a-half-foot fish he sent to a pollster who displeased him. It is not about the time - the many times - that he hung up on political contributors in a Chicago mayor's race, saying he was embarrassed to accept their $5,000 checks because they were $25,000 kind of guys. No, the definitive Rahm Emanuel story takes place in Little Rock, Ark., in the heady days after Bill Clinton was first elected President.
It was there that Emanuel, then Clinton's chief fund-raiser, repaired with George Stephanopoulos, Mandy Grunwald and other aides to Doe's, the campaign hangout. Revenge was heavy in the air as the group discussed the enemies - Democrats, Republicans, members of the press - who wronged them during the 1992 campaign. Clifford Jackson, the ex-friend of the President and peddler of the Clinton draft-dodging stories, was high on the list. So was William Donald Schaefer, then the Governor of Maryland and a Democrat who endorsed George Bush. Nathan Landow, the fund-raiser who backed the candidacy of Paul Tsongas, made it, too.
Suddenly Emanuel grabbed his steak knife and, as those who were there remember it, shouted out the name of another enemy, lifted the knife, then brought it down with full force into the table.
''Dead!'' he screamed.
The group immediately joined in the cathartic release: ''Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead! Bill Schaefer! Dead!''
So, with this kind of Chicago leadership and its Chick-fil-A priorities it was not too surprising to read Sunday morning's news about a typical Saturday summer night in the city, further confirmation of Chicago's #1 violent ranking.
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