Chicago temperatures feel like Chiberia

Today, Chicago's extreme cold must have been some kind of a record with -15 F (-26 C) going down to -30 F (-34 C) with wind chill.  Most of the country is experiencing freezing temperatures.  Even in north parts of Florida, the temperature is down to 40 F.

This kind of weather really makes me think of moving to California (77 F right now) or Hawaii.

After shoveling some snow, I realized that life is just too short to spend your days digging out cars and cleaning up your driveway.  The arctic blast prevents us from enjoying the snow also.  Frostbite is no joke so I won't let me son play outside either.  Yes, we try to entertain the family with the usual activities inside the house but it feels like a forced fun.

How do you deal with this cold weather?  Do you go out to the shopping mall, spend time on a computer, play cards, play guitar?  I'm willing to try new things.

Speed cams in Chicago will soon grab your wallets?

Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, is finally getting his wish. Chicago is officially getting closer to installing the initial speed cameras at 50 locations by the end of 2013. According to Chicago Tribune, “state law allows Emanuel to install cameras at up to 300 locations in specially designated school and park zones” around Chicago.

The biggest surprise (not) is a recent test run by two competing vendors, ATS and Xerox State & Local Solutions, concluding the estimated revenue from the speeding tickets would exceed, wait for it, “well into the hundreds of millions of dollars in the program's first year”.

Emanuel's push for this huge revenue stream made everyone in the City Hall curious at first but now, everyone soaked their panties and some more. Reading about this cash grab, I sit there and wonder, why Chicagoans bend over and take it without a peep? Why not install a GPS systems in every car in Chicago and automatically withdraw weekly penalty from your checking accounts? It would be more cost effective.

What is wrong with you people? It's right there: revenue, cash stream, bring in, reap, millions of dollars. Nobody's taking about how many accidents will be avoided, how many kids will be saved, how many lives will be prolonged. Where are the pedestrian vs. car statistics? How will City Hall justify year after year of this new tax?

On the positive note, Emanuel's friends from Redflex Traffic Systems are persona-non-grata due to the bribery scandal with the red light camera program. I wonder who does the Mayor know at the ATS company?

You might call it a drive-through colonoscopy, but once again, Chicagoans got boned. This time with a camera tip light pole. And no, I'm not taking about a huge population of pale Poles in Chicago.

Madonna in Chicago on MDNA tour

Backed by a popular demand, we went to see Madonna's concert on Wednesday at the United Center in Chicago.  And yes, it was quite a show.

Concert supposed to start at 8 PM.  20 min. later, Paul Oakenfold started it off with about an hour of house/electronica music.  The guy sitting next to us, told us that the Material Girl is usually late to her performance about 2.5 hours - every time.  

He was right.  She didn't come up on the stage until 10:20 PM.  The famous girl is getting too tardy for the regular folks.  It was worth the wait, though.

The concert itself was very well put together.  Even then checkerboard stage with elevating cubes creating different shapes, was one of a kind.  The opener with the AK-47 machine gun and then shooting the dancers with the pistol, was kind of disturbing being so close to the south side with all that violence going on in the neighborhood.  After she got her anger out, the show went down with her greatest hits.  

For a 54 years old, Madonna can move!  She was doing splits, jumps, wall climbing, and all kinds of dance moves.  To prove that her butt is still firm, she even pulled down her pants as well.  And yes, it's firm.  Lady Gaga - you have a lot to learn!

The crew was awesome.  The dancers, the band, the backup singers - all top notch and very diverse.  After all, Madonna is an equal opportunity employer.  As for the the political flavor, no surprise here, she's against Romney. 

So the show, in the words of Will Ferrel: It's not great....IT'S FANTASTIC, you totally under sold it!  The pageantry, the costumes.  WOW.  What a musical.

Chicago Teachers Union strike is still not resolved

The Chicago Teachers Union strike supposed to end on Monday but the contract is still not approved.  About 26,000 teachers and paraprofessionals will go over the contract and decide if it satisfies their demands.  Both sides, CTU and CPS, simply cannot agree on the basics and the arguments seem to point to a power struggle between Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.  What’s the issue?  NYT has a great list of the issues and how the CPS compares to other major school districts in U.S.

Photo by igoghost at sxc

For now, 350,000 Chicago students are waiting for the school year to begin.  If it’s truly all about the kids, both sides handle the situation is the worst kind of way. 

Remember Reverend James Meeks and the stunt he pulled in 2008?  He bused 1,500 students from the poor neighborhoods of Chicago to the affluent, suburban school district of New Trier to show the discrepancy is the school founding.  Of course, non-district kids failed to enroll in the New Trier schools due to residency requirements.

What did he accomplish?  Absolutely nothing, besides some disappointed kids and one day out of school.  He’s career hasn’t flourished after that stunt either.  Nothing, except high income, prevents anyone from renting or buying in New Trier district but how the schools are being founded, that’s a totally different issue.

So who’s the loosing side during the strike?  Kids and families.

Kids, since they cannot move on with their education.  Families, since they have to take off work or find another place for the kids outside of school.  How will family making below average pay stay afloat without the paycheck or overtime?  What about single moms having to pay for a sitter or some temporary care service?  Not cool CTU.  Not cool.

If nobody knows what is the real issue, the issue if money.  You can use kids as paws but everybody knows that the money is behind CPU’s actions.  Never mind the $750 million CPS budget gap.  The union “deserves” higher raises and “job security” based not on the performance but on some vague standards.  I wonder what the property owners will think when their property taxes go up again and again to cover the budget gap.

There is no simple or quick solution to the Chicago schools poor performance debacle but the problem haven’t materialized itself overnight.  It’s been known for years.  Nobody seems to have large enough cojones to tackle that issue head on.  Well, maybe Emanuel.  But the core of the poor test scores and lack of attendance is simple: broken families and lack of higher income.  My friend Michael brought up and excellent point: doesn’t matter how much money you throw at the educational system if the majority of the kids in the district are homeless or from broken families living in homeless shelters or on the street.  Fix the social fabric of the society and the rest will follow.  Teaching the kids blackmailing is not in the curriculum.

Straight shooter: gun control debate

The latest shooting craziness in Aurora, Colorado with 12 people dead and 58 wounded and in Oak Creek, Wisconsin with 6 dead (plus the shooter) and 3 wounded, puts the nation on the gun control bullet train.  Both sides bring heavy loaded arguments to the table to shoot down the opposite views on the gun control.

Photo by hisks at stock.xchng

Every American knows the wording of the most talked about Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed by the Congress:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Arguing the clearly defined right to own guns is a waste of time.  If the will of the nation is there, the Congress has the power to pass another Amendment to remove the right to own personal weapons.  Who and how wold collect and account for all the weapons, remains a question of the day.  Maybe National Rifle Association could provide a list of it's members to make the job easier?  

Back on the Earth, the gun control debate is just heating up.  Dozens of different statistics used by two sides support both truths.  As with any knee-jerk discussion or law, are we looking at the issue through a narrow barrel of a gun?

The obvious questions:

Does anyone really need a 100-round ammunition drum for self defense?

Why are semi-to-auto kits legally sold?

Do we need military style AR-15 semi-automatic rifles in private hands?

Do background checks and gun licensing really work?

How to regulate Internet gun/ammunition sale?

A car can become a deadly tool, but the Congress doesn't ban automakers just become some crazy husband runs over his wife.  Fertilizers were not outlawed because of the Oklahoma City bombing.  The amount of firepower available to Americans, either legally or illegally, is overwhelming.  But behind every tool, there is a person who makes a decision to use it. 

What about the mental health of the killers?  The warning signs were there.  Those psychopaths should not be allowed to posses a firearm.  Obviously, the criminal background check is not sufficient anymore to weed out crazies.  Should states consider mandatory gun safety classes and psychological evaluations of the future gun owners?  It sounds prohibitive but it might prevent more tragedies.  

And here comes the punch line: more Chicago residents - 228 - have been killed so far this year in the city than the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan - 144 - over the same period.  That's just one major U.S city!

Any new laws and dozens of existing ones won't stop the gang murders.  Instead of looking at the end result of failed polices, lawmakers and police should find a way to eliminate the fundamental causes that gangs exist.  And those causes fit in the same box with run down neighborhoods, poor education system, lack of employment opportunities, and overwhelming signs of moral decline.  

Law abiding citizens are an easy target for a gun control debate.  But when you consider 4 insane killers in the most recent shootings out of about 115 million U.S. households with guns, the majority of gun owners are responsible people.  Families who lost their loved ones would disagree.  Regardless of the goal, the psychopath is capable of finding other means to hurt people.  Paying attention to behavior of others and to your surroundings are one of the best weapons in preventing tragedy. 

Lights, camera, wallet!

Courtesy of chides @ SXC

With the plan to add about 500 new speed cameras around schools and parks pushed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I find it very disturbing that public interest is quite mild.  With the existing 380 red-light cameras already in service, city of Chicago will become a "leader in safety".

With WSJ reporting that Chicago already pockets $68 million a year from the red-light cameras, how much would Chicagoans dish out for fines?

Conservatively, lets say half of those cams would get business during the school days:

     270 days x 250 cams x $35 (6 miles over limit) = $2,362,500

The other half would catch drivers around parks all year around:

     365 days x 250 cams x $35 (6 miles over limit) = $3,193,750

Total of $5,556,250 would be split between the city of Chicago and Redflex Traffic Systems represented by Greg Goldner (Mayor strong supported) acting as a link between the Mayor and the company.  

But it gets better.  The fine for speeding 11 miles over the speed limit goes up to $100.  Shall we?

         270 days x 250 cams x $100 = $6,750,000

         365 days x 250 cams x $100 = $9,125,000

That makes $15,875,000 pot of gold available for grabs.  Maybe I should start a traffic-cam company?  There's money there. 

So, since the speed cam ordinance was approved by the City Council committee in 7-3 vote, let the games begin.  Lights, camera, wallet!  Your wallet.