illinoisreview

Troop surge in the 'hood?

Dennis Byrne's proposed solution to Chicago's gang violence should be considered . . .

The only thing we haven't tried in our desperation to end Chicago's violence is a troop surge.

So then, why not a surge? Give people whose 3-year-olds get shot playing outside what they most want and deserve: security. Call out the National Guard. After all, a surge finally established some degree of security in Baghdad, and if we're to believe what we read, parts of Chicago are no less of a war zone.

Link: The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, proprietor: Troop surge in the 'hood?.

Obama's gang violence weakness

National Campaign Fund's ExposeObama.com is promoting exposure of this anti-Obama ad. 

The National Campaign Fund's address is the law offices of the group's Treasurer John Lacy, co-founder of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association, affiliated with California's Proposition 13 movement, the American Conservative Union and Young America's Foundation.

IL Lawmaker Robbed of $7

We're happy to learn Rep. Younge is okay after this scary ordeal yesterday . . .

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A 77-year-old Illinois state representative is happy to be alive after a man with a gun pushed his way into her home and robbed her of $7.

Wyvetter H. Younge was not injured in the robbery that occurred around noon Friday.

The drug connection to murder

Several recent gruesome slayings had vastly different aspects:  the killers' use of guns, another a meat cleaver, and another gasoline.  However, all the murderers had something in common:  psychotropic drugs.  If ban guns, shouldn't we also we ban drugs?  From a DallasNews.com column:

Graduate student Stephen Kazmierczak reportedly quit taking psychotropic medicine not long before last Thursday, when he massacred five people in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, then killed himself. Last March, a teenager with bipolar disorder had gone off his medicine shortly before he shot his girlfriend and then himself outside a Midland, Mich., high school.

A man diagnosed with schizophrenia had quit his meds not long before he stormed the U.S. Capitol building and killed two police officers in 1998.

The suspect in the gruesome meat cleaver murder of a Manhattan psychiatrist last week had, according to his family, frequently stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication.

A Haltom City mother had gone off the drugs prescribed to control her bipolar disorder not long before she poured gasoline over her three little girls and set them on fire last September.

Link: Guns aren't only thing to blame in tragedies | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Columnist Jacquielynn Floyd | Dallas-Fort Worth News. 

Update 2x: NIU shooter identified and more details emerge

The 27 year old NIU shooter has been identified as Steven Phillip Kazmierczak, (see below the fold) a graduate student at U of I - Champaign. 

UPDATE 1x: At the NIU press conference this morning, police reported they found the killer left 48 casings and 6 shotgun shells.

UPDATE 2x:  Police report that Kazmierczak had a valid Illinois FOID card, bought two guns over the weekend at a Champaign gun store and received on Tuesday a Glock magazine and holster from a Green Bay, WI online gun store.  Someone else at his Champaign apartment signed for the package.

Several sources refer to "medications" Kazmierczak had just stopped taking.

VICTIMS:  The DeKalb County coroner released the names of four of the victims: Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Julianna Gehant, 32, of Meriden

Tinley Park shooting demands conceal and carry in Illinois

One of the gravest tragedies in years has been pushed to the back of Chicago media's attention as the Tinley Park mall shooting remains unsolved and the man that killed five innocent women remains loose.  Local police released a composite sketch of the perpetrator over the weekend, but the botched $200 robbery still plagues the area. 

Why did that killer go for a small dress shop where he had to know the cash on hand would be less than at Best Buy or the Target nearby?  Why not even the Michael's hobby store across the parking lot? 

Because there were no security guards at the door, less eye witnesses, and, sadly, the killer had to know defenseless women would be alone in Lane Bryant.  "Defenseless" because it is illegal for law-abiding women (or men) to carry concealed firearms in Illinois. 

It's not us that's changed -- it's the society around us that has become more dangerous and from which the women of Illinois deserve the right to protect ourselves.

FBI mole shows face

Neither Obama nor Blagojevich have been accused of wrongdoing, but it's fairly clear they wouldn't be where they are today without Tony Rezko's help.

The Sun-Times features a story today about the FBI mole who will testify against Rezko later this month . . . Working underground for the FBI in a Chicago real estate consulting business evidently leads to interesting conversations with top Illinois politicians.

Sources said Thomas helped investigators build a record of repeat visits to the old offices of Rezko and former business partner Daniel Mahru's Rezmar Corp., at 853 N. Elston, by Blagojevich and Obama during 2004 and 2005.

In one case, sources said, Thomas told authorities he saw a Rezmar employee pass an envelope with a visible wad of bills to an unidentified Blagojevich aide.

Link: My life as an FBI mole :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics.

A message to the families of Tinley Park victims

With all the focus on politics this weekend, an unspeakable tragedy took place in nearby Tinley Park, in a store where I periodically shop and could have easily been found last Saturday morning when five innocent women were shot to death. 

It's a haunting local tragedy that's been overshadowed by politics this week. 

Today, the one surviving victim -- whose identity is being protected by the police --released a heart-wrenching letter with a message to the families of the women who were tied up and shot to death execution style in a botched robbery.  The perpetrator reportedly got away with $200. . . $200.

IR Focus: Tim Baldermann, GOP candidate in 11th CD

NEW LENOX -- When asked why he’s running in Illinois’ 11th CD Republican primary to fill the seat Congressman Jerry Weller’s is vacating, New Lenox mayor Tim Baldermann answered, “I believe in duty and answering the call when you’re needed.” 

Baldermann’s answer was expected from a guy whose last twenty years he's spent in law enforcement, on a local school board and as of eight months ago, as mayor of New Lenox, a town located in one of America’s fastest-growing communities. 

When the Will County GOP asked him to run for Congress, Baldermann, 41, says he saw it as another chance to serve and bring along an array of life experiences that he believes have prepared him to serve in Congress.

As a law enforcement officer and now police chief in southwest suburban Chicago Ridge, Baldermann's had first hand experience implementing federal Homeland Security regulations and working within federal immigration parameters.  His current jurisdiction was a center of controversy in the days immediately following 9-11, as angry protests erupted outside one of the Chicago area’s largest mosques, located in Chicago Ridge.

How To Clean Up Illinois

Ex-Chief of Northeast Expressway
Is Sentenced in Corruption

ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 7, 2007

BEIJING -- A former transport executive accused of corruption involving a total of 50 million yuan ($6.8 million) has been sentenced to death in northeastern China, the official Xinhua news agency reported...Xinhua said Mr. Zhang was found guilty of taking bribes, corruption, embezzling public funds, "illegally seeking private interest on behalf of relatives," and "possessing major assets for which he could not account." His personal property was confiscated, the report said.

The Wall Street Journal December 6, 2007