If Richie Daley and Phil Cline (Chicago’s mayor and top cop) had their way a yet to be identified South-side man and his one year-old son would be dead today. More proof that in Chicago that the inmates are running the asylum. Yesterday, that father and his son were victims of a deadly pair of armed robbers. Brian Neal, 19 and his unknown male companion tried to rob the victims at gunpoint. They shot the young father several times before he was able to retrieve a handgun from his apartment and return fire. This violent crime happened in 500 block of East 82nd Street in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago where handguns have been banned. The aftermath left one offender, Neal dead as the young father was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he’s reportedly in stable condition suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The second armed robber fled the scene. Of course police have confiscated the only protection the victim had as evidence of both the justifiabl...

They’re at it again in California. They want to saddle retailers and manufacturers of firearms and ammunition with enough meaningless aggravation and red tape to put them out of business. Under the phony banner of going after street gangs they’re really going after people’s rights to lawful self-defense along with the sports-shooters and hunters. More importantly they are engaged in combat for the total ban of firearms and ammunition in their incremental campaign. The expensive, onerous and in ineffective ammunition micro-stamping bill is back. That’s where every handgun stamps shell casings with the gun’s serial number. It sounds great until the criminals kill people and throw shell casings around they picked up elsewhere like the gun range where you practice. Of course the people in possession of those crime guns can easily grind off the micro-stamping striker altogether. Of course we’ve learned that crime guns are rarely lawfully purchased, almost never registered and are stol...

Americans seem to tolerate any sort of punishment that government or corporate organizations can dish out. Missing is the backbone of the human spirit that would allow Americans to draw a line in the sand. Have Americans become too cowardly to demand even the simplest of rights? Have we hidden our fear of raw government power behind a façade of courtesy? Another horrible example of air travel inhumanity unfolded yesterday at New York’s JFK airport as a planeload of passengers headed to Cancun vacations. Because of weather conditions, the flight was stationary on the tarmac for 10 hours. The passengers were trapped with bad air, overflowing toilets and inadequate food. It’s really quite simple, the crew either allows the passengers to leave the plane or the passengers exercise the absolute right to escape the nightmare via the emergency exits and chutes. Nobody has a right to incarcerate passengers against their will. We call that kidnapping and Americans have always had the righ...

Technology has recently brought new adventures to every second story man in the world. Thanks to Nathan Ball, a 23-year-old MIT graduate student, lives will be saved and fortunes plundered because of this new invention. It’s called the Atlas Rope Ascender and it will quickly and quietly bring you and your equipment up the sides of buildings, dams, cliffs or castles at the speed of Spiderman. (Actually you will ascend at the rate ten feet per second) The device can pull a firefighter, other emergency worker or legendary Chicago burglar, Joseph "Pops" Panczko weighed down with gear up a 30-story building in about 30 seconds. The invention won Ball the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT prize for his student invention. Pulleys on the Atlas hoist the person up the rope. The grip of the rope also increases as more rope is wound around a cylinder in the apparatus. Ball has already created a company that will sell these devices to eager customers. The takers are sure to be government agencies...

People are dying around Mr. Stern at an alarming rate. The very people who just happen to have stood in the way of the Howard Marshall fortune are suffering premature deaths. That’s of course if Anna Nicole Smith or her heirs win that legal contest. Methadone seems to follow Mr. Stern wherever he goes. It was the cause of Smith’s son Daniel’s death. I’m guessing right now that it figures into Smith’s death too. Where is Howard K Stern? I think Stern has been running with the baby like a running back with a football. I suspect Florida cops and other law enforcement agencies are examining security tapes to see if the baby was ever in that Hard Rock Hotel. That’s what I’d be doing if I were on this case. Howard K Stern has some really tough questions to answer.

I hate them too. They are local government extortionists that enforce parking laws for only one end and that’s to rob motorists of their hard earned cash. That sad news is they’re allowed to engage in that dirty business. That being said and their function being deemed legal the parking enforcement people have a right to do their jobs without being assaulted or murdered. The City of Los Angeles is perplexed on just how to handle this issue. I’m here to tell these officials this is really not that complicated. They can level the playing field for the parking bagmen and women simply by returning to them their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. We have to draw the line by allowing these people to protect themselves. Nothing prevents dangerous criminals from carrying and using deadly weapons. Bogus gun laws and employment regulations keep these revenue generating workers defenseless and as soft targets for thugs. The meter maids should simply spend more time double-checking...

I did not want to touch this story for a lot of reasons but after more than a dozen e-mails and one comment on the blog I feel compelled to give you my take on this giant tragedy. Anna Nicole Smith was no Marilyn Monroe by any stretch and I detest the comparisons. Marilyn was a talented actress, singer and dancer. That and she was a serious student of those entertainment arts. Anna Nicole was only a talented stripper. Marilyn Monroe took great care of her body while Anna Nicole did not. Marilyn used lawfully prescribed drugs that the medical community later learned was dangerous. Anna Nicole was a recreational drug abuser and alcoholic. Other than being flashy blonds any similarity between these two women ends. Anna Nicole was exploited by everyone and used the only thing she had, her occasionally fit body to exploit others. It seems like a shallow and sad life for anyone. I can’t imagine being viewed only as a prime piece of meat and only then at certain body weights. As for...

Los Angeles has a huge problem with vagrants who are politely called homeless people. For the most part they are illegal aliens, drug addicts, violent criminals and the seriously mentally disturbed. They also bring diseases like hepatitis and tuberculosis to people they encounter. To deal with the problem Los Angeles officials want to relocate this blight to residential areas such as Venice. Aside from creating severe economic damage to area property values and destroying a neighborhood residents will have to brace for an increase of every kind of crime. A simpler and better solution is to deport the alien vagrants, and relocate the rest of this human refuse to industrial areas where the impact is minimal. There would also be better access to jobs for those inclined to clean up and help themselves. There is no reason to place this mess into residential areas where families live. If the Liberals really want to help the homeless, placing them in residential neighborhoods is invitin...

My Friends at Second City Cop and Chicago’s homicide detectives have their own theories as to why homicide clearance rates are lower than ever. They blame the trend to observe the rights suspects have under our Constitution and some new department policies that end guesswork about suspect’s confessions or statements made to police. I think I have the real answer and my copper friends won’t like it. In days gone by nearly 85% of all homicides were cleared by arrest. Some people love to confess just because it makes them feel important. That happened with that weirdo, John Mark Karr who confessed to killing little Jonbenet Ramsey. He was cleared not by old methods but by the latest scientific evidence, such as DNA and fresh data technology. The cops have many more modern tools to solve crimes today and get to the truth. Along with DNA are the investigative tools of data tracking and video surveillance. These tools provide solid alibis for the innocent and damning evidence for the ...

This presidential hopeful apparently does not understand what a Constitutional Right really means. He’s the typical New York, brainwashed gun rights hater. Rudy made his position clear long ago, “All gun owners should pass written test. I do not think the government should cut off the right to bear arms. My position for many years has been that just as a motorist must have a license, a gun owner should be required to have one as well. Anyone wanting to own a gun should have to pass a written exam that shows that they know how to use a gun, that they’re intelligent enough and responsible enough to handle a gun. Should both handgun and rifle owners be licensed...we’re talking about all dangerous weapons.” (Source: Boston Globe, p. A4 Mar 21, 2000) Motorists don’t have a Constitutional Right to drive cars like they do to keep and bear arms. Under Giuliani’s logic nobody should be able to vote in America without passing a test and paying for a license either. Voters must be intelligent...

Orlando- Astronaut Lisa M. Nowak was on one more, way-out mission. This time not in space but in her overactive imagination which was overloaded with intrigue and perhaps thoughts of homicide. Police say Nowak wore diapers for her 12-hour drive from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida so she would not have to stop just like she always did on her space missions. This time her program may well been to abduct and kill her rival, Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman who Nowak believed was in a relationship with Bill Oefelein, another NASA astronaut. Nowak followed Shipman to an airport parking lot and sprayed her with a defense chemical. A steel mallet, several feet of rubber tubing and hand-written directions to Shipman's home were recovered by police from Nowak's car, which was parked at a nearby Orlando LaQuinta Inn. Apparently the lovesick space-lady told Orlando police detectives her tale that we can count on to be developed into a major motion picture. Could it be time for ye...

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers responded to a call for help from this actor’s palatial Malibu estate involving a rhubarb between Ryan O’Neal, 65 and his son Griffin O’Neal, 42. An unidentified 22 year-old, pregnant girlfriend of the younger O’Neal was somehow injured in the melee. The younger O’Neal purportedly went after his dad with a fireplace poker. The elder O’Neal allegedly fired a single shot that sent the younger O’Neal running away. Let’s review this… A younger, stronger man assaults an older weaker man. The younger man has converted a fireplace poker into a deadly weapon. The elder man stops the attack with a shot that injures nobody. The elder man owns the house. So far nobody has been charged with causing injury to the pregnant female. Add to this that the younger man has a criminal record and the senior man does not. I’m sorry, but I can’t see a valid reason to arrest Ryan O’Neal for anything at all. I always thought they sent every Los Angeles County deput...

Meet my little friend Nerak the cat. Cats get dirty and sometimes they too need a bath. Cats hate water except to splash around and make a mess. Nerak is way too tough to bathe. I found this instructional video in case I ever have to do that deed.

Chicago--Two Deputy U.S. Marshals were killed during a wild 1992 escape attempt by bank robber Jeffrey Erickson. One was retired Chicago police officer Harry A. Belluomini and fellow marshal Roy Frakes . Now an accomplice to the escape, Robert Burke is being re-sentenced for his part in this horrible crime. The family of hero, Harry A. Belluomini is asking for assistance from fellow coppers to let the trial Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer the gravity and impact of this crime on this close-knit police family and the entire community. Below is a letter from Belluomini’s family: Re: Robert BURKE 01CR1049 We are asking for your help, in writing letters of concern to Federal Judge Rebecca PALLMEYER, who will be presiding over a re-sentencing hearing on March 7th, 2007, regarding convicted federal prisoner Robert BURKE. Our father, Harry A. BELLUOMINI was a retired Chicago Police Detective working at the Dirksen Federal Building for the U.S. Marshal Service, when on July 20th, 1992 he was sho...

Adults and their children are posting their personal photographs and information on MySpace and a similar websites. Predators take advantage of these poster’s naivety and victimize the posters. What a surprise! Criminals case the Internet just as the case homes to burglarize or otherwise invade. The very same people who put locks on their homes freely post vast amounts of personal information including their sexual preferences for every stranger in the world to view. These same people now want to sue MySpace.com because they became victims of crimes such as sexual assault. The new American way is get courts and juries to compensate really stupid people to sue who thoughtlessly set themselves up for victimization. Of course suing the criminals involved is out of the question since they rarely have the ability to pay money for their crimes. These victims are going after the website that allowed them to post their personal information and lure their attackers! While they’re at it...

SAN FRANCISCO- 51 year-old, Sergeant John V. Young was murdered on August 29, 1971 during a racist attack on a police station. The police station was emptied of officers who had responded to an earlier bombing at another location, two men entered the police station and stuck a 12-gauge shotgun through an opening in the bullet proof glass that separated the waiting area from the rest of the police station. The suspects fired between five and ten shotgun blasts, killing Sergeant Young and wounding a civilian employee of the department. Both gunmen then fled from the station house and into a waiting getaway car. Both suspects were later determined to be members of the Black Liberation Army. Now eight suspects were arrested and charged in connection with Sergeant Young's murder. Advances in forensic investigation and renewed efforts to solve cold cases netted this group of urban terrorists.

Robert Cooley is a former Chicago cop turned lawyer, turned fixer, turned FBI mole-government witness and finally an author. Cooley’s book, When Corruption Was King will make a great feature film that will keep giving sequels or even a TV series. Cooley’s saga is something you just can’t make up. The Chicago cops working through the 60s, 70s and 80s all lived this story. Cooley documented the murders, the fixes and the deals that were all way over the top. Chicago’s First Ward politicians along with the Mob controlled the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County courts despite the presence some untouchable officials. Cooley helped unravel many criminal conspiracies. Was Chicago finally cleaned up you ask? Chicago ain’t ready for reform. Many of the old crooks were made of Teflon and, new crooks replaced the old crooks. Is Cooley a rat or a bad guy gone good? You’ll have to read his book and see the movie to find out. Cooley just gave this video interview:

I received an e-mail this morning from the talented songwriter/singer Bob Lind . He’s returning to the Bolshevik Republic to finish filming a documentary. Along the way he’s making some appearances where you can see him perform. Lind is most recognized for his fabulous 1960s hit Elusive Butterfly. I wasted no time in making a reservation for one of these shows: Friday, February 16th -- San Francisco The Smile Concert Appearing with The Aerosols and The Music Lovers at THE KNOCKOUT ROOM 3223 Mission San Francisco, California / 9 p.m. Info: (415) 550-6994 Sunday, February 18th -- Altadena THE COFFEE GALLERY BACKSTAGE 2029 N. Lake Ave. Altadena, California / 7:00 p.m. Reserve early! (626) 398-7917 http://www.coffeegallery.com/showsat.htm Wednesday, March 7 -- Buelton The TALES FROM THE TAVERN concert series appearing with Devon Sproule The Taproom at Firestone Walker 620 McMurray Road Buelton, California / 7 p.m. Info: (805) 688-0383 Talesfromthetavern.com Bob Lind wants to line up at ...

My Friends at Second City Cop recently called attention to a website alerting officers to the potential threat of hidden weapons they may encounter out on the street. Weapons possession by the law-abiding should never be a crime but unfortunately too often that's the case in cities and states where politicians voted away the Second Amendment. I have no problem with most or all of the things shown on this site and recognize that normally law-abiding folks will employ some ways to hide needed self-defense weapons. Legitimate self-defense or carrying weapons should never be a crime except for convicted felons or criminals carrying or using them during the commission of a crime. Our law enforcement officers have a real risk from every kind of assault or threat. These items are rare but officers can never become complacent. Every officer needs to follow his or her training, be aware, and safe.

I went to the Westwood, California premiere of the new film Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank . Actor and funnyman Danny DeVito produced this film that’s based on the true story of Long Beach California teacher Erin Gruwell and her somewhat rowdy students. Already some of the teachers are complaining that this story is out of context to realty and that there was nothing-special going on in Gruwell’s class. I somehow expected that along with condemnation from the teacher’s unions where mediocrity in teaching is maintained at all cost. I began to think about my own teachers in Chicago schools. There were the popular teachers but only a tiny percentage of them were in anyway inspiring. If teachers are not excited about the subjects they teach how the Hell can they inspire the kids they’re teaching? I could count the teachers who inspired me on two fingers. American teachers for the most part get a D or an F for inspiring their students. Erin Gruewell different is different bec...