Tuesdays with Paulie 9/12/06

Daley Gets It Right

During his 17 years as Mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley has never had to use his veto power. When you rule the city with an iron fist your will becomes law, so legislation is never passed without your approval. However, when your administration is publicly being investigated and your patronage chief has been convicted an singing to the Feds, your power dwindles.

Recently, the the city of Chicago overwhelmingly passed the "Big Box" law, requiring businesses over 90K square feet and over 1 billion dollars in sales to pay a minimum hourly wage of $10 and an additional $3 an hour in benefits. Mega stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, Lowes and Best Buy have abandoned plans to open stores in Chicago, and have set their sites on putting new stores in the suburbs, bordering on Chicago. Daley has decided to veto this bill and enough alderman have realized their mistake of supporting this disastrous law and will support the mayor and not challenge his decision.

The fact that the city of Chicago even considered such a measure is a great example of how the great economic and social minds in America are not in government. Nobody wants to see people overworked and underpaid. At the same time, poor communities should not be forced to patron union-shop stores that charge shamefully high prices for basic groceries and clothing. The fact is that the wages and benefits being paid out are not much lower that what was being forced by the city of Chicago. People who do not have any education, often not even a high school diploma have new opportunities to get a job paying above minimum wage and gain valuable experience. It must not be overlooked that these businesses bring their low prices into poor communities. Forcing the poor to pay $3.99 for a gallon of milk compared to $1.99 is the real crime.

Olmert, Abbas ready for talks
...and your point is?

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have expressed a desire to resume negotiations. What is there to talk about? Even with the recent Fatah/Hamas coalition government being formed, Abbas is a powerless figure. Hamas is the final decision maker regarding the Palestinians and they still refuse to recognize Israel's right to exist. Israel can't talk about land for peace, since recent kidnappings and wars have proven the only Israel they will acknowledge is one with no Jews. Fool me once shame on you, fool me over and over and over again, take my nose and rub it in shit and shout No!

I cannot think of a more crucial time in Israel's history that a change in leadership is necessary. Olmert has proven that liberals all over the world are the same. Their idea of defense is appeasement. Abbas can promise peace and it would be no different than my 3 year old promising me a million dollars. Not gonna happen. Abbas has been reduced to a powerless figure head. He claims to represent the Palestinian government, but in reality he represents deception.

The time for Benjamin Netanyahu to return as Israel's Prime Minister is now. The Jewish State must maintain a mindset of defending her citizens at any cost and only talking with governments and organizations recognizing Israel's right to exist before sitting at the so-called negotiations table. Never again now is about survival not appeasement.

Underestimate the Bears defense is costly

A furniture store in the town of Plano, IL lost nearly 300K this past weekend after the Bears 26-0 victory over the Packers. The store ran a promotion in which any furniture bought over the weekend would be free if Chicago Shutout Green Bay. As we all know by now, that is exactly what happened.

I'm not sure who is the biggest idiot in this situation, the store owner or the insurance company that backed the promotion. The Bears shutting out Greenbay was not far fetched. The Bears defense is the best in the league, while Green Bay's offense is mediocre at best. You do the math. Granted any shut-out in the NFL in unlikely, but they do occur and this game was one that had a possibility from the start. The Bears putting up 26 points and throwing for 260 years was more surprising than the shut out. Regardless, hundreds of people are enjoying free furniture and the store owner is getting great free publicity. The insurance company is the big loser here.

CBS may have regrets

Check out Katie Couric's ratings or lack of since her inaugural week. She has already dropped back into third place. I said it last week and I will say it again, CBS should be more concerned about the credibility of their news reporting than who sits in the big chair. Now don't get me wrong, Couric can still turn it around. She is managing editor and has the opportunity to bring back the journalism integrity lacking at CBS. However, my money is on her fate at CBS being the same as Connie Chung...you know, Maury's wife.

Couric is not a journalist, she's a personality and that won't cut it when your competition includes 24 cable channels and the internet. The sexist reality is that woman on TV have to be more attractive than Couric. Katie is a pleasant looking woman, but compared to the Robin Meade's and Kiran Chetry's of the world she doesn't compete when half the population is considering the view as much as the information. Right or wrong it's reality. Example: Your brilliant blogger prefers to get his weather from a source the broadcasts in Spanish. I know less Spanish than my 3 year old son.

Paulie