Illinois State Assembly Democratic Primary Candidates for the 18th District

Several months ago, and over the interim, I had and have had the opportunity to meet and assess the numerous candidates for State Representative in the 18^th Illinois District. At the outset, I knew none of them, nor did I know anything about them. I was asked by a couple of candidates to get on board with their campaign. After three weeks of research, I had made my decision. I chose to work with the Jeff Smith campaign because he had the background, the dedication, and unlike any of the others, he had a plan, a comprehensive one.

Patrick Keenan-Devlin

Patrick is just 26 years old and is only now in his second semester of Law School at Loyola University. While he has done a tremendous amount of work in various fields for the Progressive agenda, this work has been along the lines of internships and volunteering. One has to wonder whether it shall be his educational aspirations or his necessary work in the State Assembly should he win the Primary. His literature amounts to little more than accolades from friends and associates and talking points. His website showed actually nothing more until months after Jeff Smith had written up a comprehensive plan to address many problematic areas in Illinois’ government and economy.

http://www.patrickforillinois.com/about/

Robyn Gabel

Robyn has done much good for the women and children in the State of Illinois. She has spent nearly her entire career working for the advancement of health issues for women and children, with little attention or experience to other areas of concern to Illinoisans. This writer has heard about three different stories regarding her education. I have also heard, from her at a debate in Evanston, that she increased the number of children receiving health care by 70% and the number of free clinics have been doubled as a direct result of her actions. Those figures cannot be confirmed unless one blindly accepts what she says, as they do not match any other records. In most respects, Robyn appears to be a boilerplate feminist with nothing new to offer. Where she has offered any sort of substantive material, it has come after and duplicated that presented by Jeff Smith.

http://www.robynforrep.com/biography

Eamon Kelly

Eamon has demonstrated himself to be a reliable Progressive, even campaigning for Obama here in Illinois. Eamon is a graduate of the University of Illinois School of Law. He is currently a practicing attorney in Evanston. Most of the materials available on Eamon point to his notable past accomplishments and otherwise consist of accolades from others and generic Progressive talking points. For the third time this candidate, when presenting an actual position, opinion, or plan practically duplicates that which was provided by Jeff Smith’s campaign from the first day. I believe that Eamon would make a satisfactory state legislator, however I also believe that he might be too available for compromise with more conservative elements in the Statehouse.

http://www.eamon2010.com/about/

Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith is a Harvard-trained Evanston attorney with his own practice. For the last twenty years, he has worked tirelessly for the betterment of his community, its governance and the environment. Jeff has had a plan for addressing Illinois’ concerns since he announced his candidacy. His positions and ideas have been adopted in large part by his opponents. While the other campaigns seemed initially to have a “let’s wait and see what happens when we get in office” attitude, Jeff has proactively addressed the issues of Illinois from the start. And his ideas and plans show an adaptive facet as they are reviewed and modified as new information regarding the particular concerns of Illinois residents of the 18^th District is discovered. Jeff has, over the years, been involved in a number of political and legal disputes for the environment, for the community, and for local small business. He has demonstrated the tenacity to stand for principle even with the odds stacked against him. Jeff Smith is a proven reformer with a solid track history.

http://electjeffsmith.org/AboutJeffSmith/JeffSmithBio/JeffSmithBio.html

I now volunteer with the Jeff Smith campaign for free. In Illinois, it is customary to be compensated, and some of the other candidates compensate their “volunteers”. But I believe that Jeff Smith is the right candidate and I am willing to freely give of my available time and effort towards seeing him elected. I invite the reader to compare the campaign websites for which I have provided hyperlinks and see if they agree.

The Illinois Primary Races and My Thoughts:

US Senate

The slate of Democratic Party candidates to replace Illinois Senator Roland Burris represents the diversity of Chicago and changes within its political system.

Alexi Giannoulias, State Treasurer, Boston University, banker, financial reformer, quasi-environmentalist:

Alexi is currently the Treasurer for the State of Illinois, having run on a platform of financial reform. He was elected to the position just before it was discovered that his running of his family’s bank in Chicago had suffered some “irregularities”. Also, he hasn’t done much in the way of accomplishing fiscal reform in his time in the Office of the Treasurer. This makes it difficult imagine how much of a true reformist platform he can claim.He is well connected to both the Chicago and Illinois “machines” and was an intimate of now disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevic as well as Tony Rezko. He would almost certainly lose to the GOP contender Mark Kirk, as the GOP plans on running against the corruption of current and former Democratic politicians.

http://www.alexiforillinois.com/splash/general?gclid=CPKAqe2Aqp8CFQYeDQodenXy1g

David Hoffman, Inspector General of the City of Chicago, former federal prosecutor,

Yale University, University of Chicago Law:

David Hoffman is currently the Inspector General for the City of Chicago. He was previously a federal prosecutor who focused on matters of corruption, both corporate and government, in Chicago and Illinois. He is definitely the strongest candidate when one talks about integrity and reform of the system. However, his dedication to the Progressive movement and the Democratic Party sometimes seem to be more politically motivated than an actual attachment to principles. In many ways Mr. Hoffman appears as a boilerplate Progressive with few fresh ideas and no plan.

http://www.hoffmanforillinois.com/

Cheryle Robinson Jackson, Urban League President, Amtrak officer, Community activist:

There is absolutely nothing in Ms. Jackson’s resume to suggest that she should be a senator for Illinois nor even the Democratic candidate in the general election. She has done outstanding work in the community, but I believe that she would be out of her league in the Capitol. She presents nothing original in the way of ideas or plans to improve Illinois governance.

http://www.cheryle2010.com/

Jacob Meister Attorney, BA American University, JD University of Wisconsin, practicing attorney, the Law of Offices of Jacob L Meister:

Jacob Meister has spent his life as an attorney and, subsequently, a small business owner/operator. Of the candidates, Jacob Meister seems most well versed and practiced in the conduct of business relations and law. Before any of the other candidates had done so, Mr. Meister published a list of goals and a plan of action to see those goals met. He is a proven, dedicated, and passionate Progressive. In his professional career, Jacob has demonstrated a mastery of the argument that makes debate and compromise largely irrelevant; he seeks what is right. As a business owner and litigant for both business and employees, he understands the necessary balancing act that other candidates may ignore.

http://www.meisterforsenate.com/home

In the end, I believe that Jacob Meister will do the best job representing Illinois in the U.S. Senate. David Hoffman is, I believe, more electable and has better name recognition. Still, I do not believe that Mr. Hoffman would sell Illinois out, so he is a valid option. Either of these candidates would serve Illinois well as U.S. Senator, though I prefer Meister. As for Giannoulias and Ms. Jackson, I believe that they both are too much students and adherents of the old way of doing business in Chicago and would drag their local connections to undeserved influence in Washington.

Rational Rejection of Organized Religion

Any research into religion requires a thorough research of source documents and their origins. In doing such research, nearly all religions fall apart because the inquiry reveals such great amounts of editorializing by authors over the centuries. Later authors, rather than writing contemporaneous works, frequently added additional, inauthentic material to older works. Most religious works are now defined as “revealed truth” as opposed to factual documents of historic accuracy.

I will take the Christian Bible to begin with. The Christian Bible is probably the most widely circulated piece of literature ever published. Even so, the Bible comes in many different forms with various contents, both in the wording and even selection of particular books. Practically every denomination has its own version of the Bible spinning the original documents to support particular idiosyncratic beliefs. Even the Jewish scholars of old were guilty of alteration and insertion.

The Pentateuch, or first five books of the Old Testament, purportedly written by Moses, would have been written around 1400 BCE; most scholars agree it was more likely written closer to 1000 BCE. For many centuries, most of the miraculous events now depicted in the Pentateuch, were not present in the Torah. The talking serpent, Great Deluge, Tower of Babel, burning bush, and many others did not appear in the Pentateuch until they were inserted nearly eight hundred years after the fact. In the 6^th Century, BCE, certain Jewish aristocratic nobility were released from exile in Babylon. These descendants of former Jewish VIP’s had spent generations under the influence of Babylonian culture and education. All of these inserted parts of the Pentateuch can be found in Babylonian mythology. So, as the Jewish exiles returned to Israel, they brought the Babylonian influences, which still took another three centuries to be fully integrated into Torah.

Of course none this outshines the biggest miracle of the Pentateuch. Moses is supposed to have written the entirety, even though much of it takes place after his death. For more on various confusions and contradictions contained in the Old Testament, visit this page:

http://www.2think.org/hundredsheep/bible/otprob.shtml

In the New Testament, there are incredible problems with the authenticity of ascribed authorships. Of the Gospel writers, only Luke lived long enough to have written the Gospel attributed to him. The oldest known original works in the New Testament belong to Paul, whose conversion occurred around 64 CE. The original document gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John were all written around 100 CE many years, and even decades after their deaths. The argument runs that these are transcribed copies from older documents, but the Dead Sea scrolls prove that documents more contemporaneous to the lives of the Apostles did survive. So why are the originals that didn’t survive the ones included in the accepted New Testament? The answer lies in the conversion of Constantine. In calling the various bishops of Christianity to council, Constantine sought to formulate a Christianity acceptable to Roman ideas. So Christianity, in all of its current practices, and its primary text were established for political reasons with theological considerations secondary.

Most of the story of Jesus, much like most of the story of creation of the world and the nation of Israel, can be found paralleled in older myths. For Jesus the parallel myth of salvation that was popular in the 1^st Century Roman world. This is the myth of Mithras, a possibly Indo-Iranian sun god worshipped primarily within the Roman military. It is possible to argue that the story of Christ is a syncretism of Jewish mysticism and Roman Mithraism. Mithras was not alone in competing for the salvation of men’s souls during the 1^st Century CE, there were many others, and modern Christianity takes its various themes from most of them.

Finally, there is a quote, tenuously attributed to Pope Leo X, “It has served us well, this myth of Christ.”

The previous is but a short discussion on reasons to dispute the authenticity of the literary bases of three major religious bodies. In disputing the authenticity of the Old Testament/Torah scriptures, one has to dispute Judaism and all that evolved from it. Christianity and Islam find additional failings in the scriptures of the New Testament. These failings of authentic original texts, the same as those used by Christians to dispute so-called pagan religions can be found in virtually all religious movements and establishments across the globe.

Afghanistan Policy Adjustment

The first priority in Afghanistan should be the training of Afghan forces to conduct their own operations at all levels. This includes the Afghan police forces, which have been heavily infiltrated by the Taliban. The Afghan Army needs a better developed Basic Training operation, and this shows as far too many Afghans sent out with coalition forces require training along the way, during operations. While Afghans may be necessary to act as interpreters, for no other reason should an Afghan soldier be sent into the field until he has completed at least two months’ worth of intensive US devised training. Far too often, the Afghan Army has proven itself slow and inaccurate to respond, The Afghan Army often seems to prefer safety and comfort over the operation at hand. This has been pointed out by the Afghans themselves. The better and more effective the Afghan Army is, the more it can be relied upon to carry out the mission, and the less the US and coalition forces need expose themselves to the combat itself and the disgruntlement of the Afghan people with collateral damage. Training the Afghan Army to a higher standard of readiness and behavior should be the focus of any troop increase on the part of the US.

Another area in which Afghans themselves have become disillusioned with the US mission is in the development of infrastructure. It has been widely reported that corruption is a major theme in Afghanistan and much of this corruption has to do with the development of infrastructure. The US needs to take greater control over the budgeting of these various projects, even when the money is in Afghan hands. Many Afghans complain that they cannot see the roads, bridges, schools and hospitals promised by the US. Much of this is due to the allowance of putting this money’s determination into the hands of the Afghan government, where, by the time everyone’s brother and cousin and friend gets paid off, there is nothing left for the project itself. The US must get a handle on this to better insure the support and cooperation of the Afghan people. Without these projects, the Taliban are able to convince many among the population that the US is just there to occupy as the Soviets did 25 years ago. Afghans hate an occupier and have defeated all who have been perceived as such.

While the US relies heavily on various Special Operations units, there should be an even greater emphasis on the use of these forces. Failure to do so initially is part of the reason that al-Qaida was able to project itself for so long and is a continuing reason that the Taliban still is. The effectiveness of Special Operations teams is far beyond that of conventional forces who all too often make a mess of things in applying excessive firepower in the vicinity of non-combatants. Let the conventional forces operate away from populated areas with fewer comforts, and they will prove more effective.

Finally, it is time to face the fact that there are elements within the Taliban that are reasonably moderate and willing to negotiate. These individuals and groups should be invited to talk. They should be carefully screened and included in the process of political discourse. They are Afghan too, and many fight because of the presence of foreign troops only. Like many other Afghans, they want a return to independent statehood and peace.

Controlling Riot Control

Response and Tactics to Counter Riot Police

One man in the street armed with shield and baton or even firearm cannot defeat ten unarmed people unless they let him.

The numbers are on the side of the protestors in Iran; determination is on their side. Experience and tactics work against them. Perhaps this information will help. I received riot control training as a member of the Army National Guard and as an operator working for an international security company that specialized in strikes.

As has been witnessed in some cases of anti-riot employment, vehicles impede riot-control actions. Vehicles cause disruption of the riot-control formation and isolation of its members, making them more vulnerable and less effective. If the vehicles are moving slowly, especially in coordination with the public assembly the effect is intensified. In the videos I have seen, the Iranian police have very little formation discipline, which makes breaking their formations easier.

The numbers are generally on the side of the public in any protest activity, the public simply needs to know how to use riot-control formations as a liability to the police. The simplest tactic is to surround and overwhelm; this was demonstrated in Tehran on 16 June and other occasions. The basic riot formations are line and wedge. The line is the only one seen thus far in Iran, and is the easier of the two to overcome. The wedge is not much more difficult. The key is to manipulate the formation into braking apart or into going to an area in which it can be flanked. Once flanked, the line is easily overwhelmed from the sides and the rear. General rule, those seeking to disrupt and disarm a riot line must outnumber the lime 3-1 or better. If the line has additional support- officers, skirmishers, tear gas/pepper-spray individuals, etc, the numerical advantage should be 5+-1. This in mind, there is no reason that 7000 police should be able to hold Tehran against rallies.

The reason the police were able to effect such massacres recently is because the protestors attempted to assemble on-site rather than assembling elsewhere and forcing the police to move toward them. This of course presumes that the protestors have adequate communication to assemble away from police and then begin moving. Communication and coordination is the key to successful assembly. Being able to mount a disinformation campaign at the government forces would be immensely helpful.

There are a number of larger scale tactics that can be used to make it easier to overwhelm and overcome the riot-control forces.

To overcome or avoid snipers, which have been employed in Iran, it is necessary to occupy the highest rooftops possible so as to permit observation. That said, it is also necessary for the observer(s) to communicate locations when a sniper is observed. Multiple rooftop occupations are extremely helpful and can be used as a deterrent, if necessary. This also permits observation of troop movements in general.

The assemblies should have formations and members of those formations should be aware of how to react to various situations. If assaulted frontally by riot-control, the easiest and most likely scenario, the rear of the assembly should know to split off to the side(s), either to sidewalks or crossing streets. Everyone should be constantly looking for side avenues into which to divert to launch a counter move. When the front of the assembly, preferably at least five people deep, meets the riot police, they should close with them without offering additional provocation. Up close, it is harder for the police to use their batons effectively, as they seem to prefer slashing with their batons instead of thrusting. Once the close has been accomplished, the lead elements should start backing up, leading the riot-control element towards the rear elements who should have positioned themselves to the side(s). If certain that the rear elements have positioned themselves and are ready, the lead elements can even run to their fallback position. Iranian police have demonstrated a tendency to give chase which will further weaken their formation. Once the riot formation has committed itself to the pursuit of the lead assembly element, they will carry themselves, in formation or not, past the rear assembly elements, who are now in flanking position. Once this happens, the lead element reassembles against the riot formation as the rear elements close from the sides and rear. This is the tactic of envelopment.

For larger formations there are two additional tactics to be recommended. These cause the police to split their forces and/or create a condition of mutual support for the assemblies.

In the first case, if participation is going to be sufficiently large, in the tens of thousands, then have two or three, rather than one, assembly areas away from immediate police activity. Have the assemblies form up and approach the intended assembly location from different directions. This will force the police to do one of two things; they will have to split their forces to respond to every march, or they will have to concentrate on them one at a time. If the police split their forces, then every assembly has an easier time confronting their share of the threat. If the police elect to concentrate on one movement, the others have the opportunity to maneuver to the flanks and rear of the police, thus causing envelopment.

The second option is to have the assemblies move along parallel adjacent routes, offering constant mutual support for possible envelopment maneuvers.

Whenever a gunman appears, some should work to keep his attention while others work to flank and disarm him. If the gunman is on a rooftop and there is no way to get to him, then the assembly should move a block away, leaving spotters to observe and report the gunman’s moves.

Finally, regarding the basijis and police on motorcycles. There should be people with light rope or chains in the assemblies. The use of these should be obvious. Once the motorcyclists are unseated, they become relatively easy to defeat, especially if they are unseated while traveling at speed.

Memorial Day 2009

 

I sit here thinking back on my time in the service of the United States of America. I spent nearly nine years with the Army, and was MOS qualified in both Infantry and Artillery. When I left, I was glad to be leaving as I had lost that intense sense of devotion to the US as practiced in foreign policy, although I remained committed to the ideals espoused in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I was personally in a time of great philosophical transition and upheaval. When I had first enlisted, I was a devout conservative Christian Republican; when my service ended, all of that was in doubt. I was unable to continue in service under some mercenary-like idea that it was a job with a paycheck and good benefits. I had come to the point where I did not relish the idea of being an instrument of policies in which I no longer had faith.

 

Still, I do not look back on this period of my life with any shame, either for having held naïve beliefs about the ways in which America operates in the world at large, nor for having lost those beliefs and abandoned a job, nearly halfway to retirement, which no longer suited me. My experiences in the Army greatly altered who I was and led me to start down the path to whom I would become. I saw much of the world, and every travel exposed me to differing perspectives on every aspect of life. Both within the camaraderie of the barracks and among the civilian and military populations of foreign lands, I came to appreciate differing opinions and perspectives. And I realized that many things formerly viewed as black and white were frequently shades of grey. I realized that most disagreements and violence were caused by failure or refusal to understand the other side or were the result of posturing over primitive issues of feral concepts of dominance.

 

The military service of my country gave me an unprecedented opportunity to grow as a human being and as a citizen. For these reasons, I can never not recommend military service to anyone and believe that many, who have not, should serve. There is nothing like the necessity of laying aside petty personal disputes for a higher professional cause; not necessarily higher morally, but higher in the participation in global events acted out at an immediate point in time and space.

 

Those serving in uniform represent dramatically most of the differing cultures, ethnicities, levels of education, and various life experiences that can be found in the US. In Germany, I met an Iraqi national who had served in desert Storm with distinction, fighting against those from the country of his birth with those from the country of his choice. At Ft. Bragg, I met a man whose blackness was obvious but who always included Italian when discussing his ethnicity. In the military service of the US, one’s color tends to take rear seat to one’s character. And, yet, there were all of the modern American stereotypes represented in the ranks; Rasta from Jamaica, Ex-, sometimes, just temporarily, ex-thugs from Compton, barefoot redneck hillbillies from the Ozarks, cowboys from Wyoming, bluebloods from old New England families , even a card-carrying communist Jew from Brooklyn. But only rarely did those identities matter in the prosecution of the mission, whatever that may have been. Friendships crossed boundaries rarely even encountered in civilian society, and, I believe, most of us were made better, more tolerant people as a consequence.

 

So, today, I reflect, and I write this, remembering those fallen and not who have gone before.

David Souter: Hero of the Supreme Court

 

David Souter’s recent announcement of his impending retirement has drawn both ahs of admiration and huhs of disbelief, as well as some snide remarks from the conservatives on Capitol Hill. His stated reasoning for preferring to live in his home state rather than in Washington, DC, has drawn more than a few snickers from those who think power and position are the only ideals worth striving for. Justice Souter, though, has shown us all a higher way. David Souter, by personal example, has placed public service against his own self interest.

 

David Hackett Souter was born 17 September, 1939 in Melrose Massachusetts. He spent much of his childhood in New Hampshire. He attended Harvard from where he graduated magna cum laude. He was then selected as a Rhodes scholar and received his Master’s From Magdalen College, Oxford. Justice Souter then returned to Harvard, this time entering Harvard Law, from which he graduated in 1966.

 

Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, David Souter served as Assistant Attorney General of New Hampshire from 1968. He then succeeded to Attorney General in 1976. He was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 1983. In 1990, he was appointed to a judgeship on the First Circuit US Court of Appeals, and was nominated by President George H. W. Bush for the Supreme Court of the United States just two months later.

 

Souter’s appointment was opposed by just nine Senators, including both Sens. Kennedy and Kerry of Massachusetts. Also weighing in against his nomination and confirmation were the National Organization for Women and the NAACP. This opposition was grounded in the idea that David Souter would prove an extreme right-wing Conservative addition to the Supreme Court. He quickly dispelled that notion, advancing, after being sworn in, the idea that Court rulings always have a human affect that must be considered in deliberations. Initially, it seemed, in the first few years, that Justice Souter would vote on the conservative side of issues. He then went on to prove in later years to be a left leaning centrist. Supreme Court Justice David Souter disproved his supporters and detractors both, standing not as a strict constructionist in the mold of Hugo Black, but far more progressive.

 

 

When the Supreme Court in 2000 sided with George W. Bush over the disputed Florida ballot results, Souter was ready to retire in protest and disgust. But the gravity of the situation prevented him from doing so. Justice Souter realized that his retirement would give the new President, against whom he had dissented with the Court’s Bush v. Gore ruling, the power to appoint Justice Souter’s replacement. He had long wanted to retire to his home, and to leave, DC, a place he loathed for many reasons. But he placed what he believed to be the public’s interest ahead of his own. Justice Souter’s action prevented the second Bush administration from placing another conservative ideologue upon the bench, and thus prevented the Court’s ideology to shift dangerously rightward for a generation. Now, with a Democrat in the White House with much popular support, Justice Souter sees the opportunity to serve his country and himself at the same time. He can retire has he has long wished to do and provide the current administration another opportunity to make an appointment that will last another generation. Godspeed Justice Souter.