And Some Good History (along with an endorsement?)...

The Chicago Reader offers background to this year's 46th Ward Aldermanic run-off (plus a couple other Ward races in Chicago)... and gives Molly Phelan a thumbs-up:

"As for Phelan, whose specialty is real estate law, she says she inherited a strong belief in social justice from her mother, who was a social worker, and her father, who was a federal prosecutor. "A lot of people thought the Wilson Yard lawsuit was about affordable housing—but it wasn't," says Phelan. "We filed to correct a continuation of an injustice in the TIF law."

Amen to that.

If I lived in the ward, I'd probably go with Phelan."

Getting Uptown Update's -- AHEM! -- "Shitler" Out of My System

Maybe I'd just better try and get this "Shitler" thing out of my system altogether. And the only way to do that is to expose Uptown Update's usage of the term in toto (at least as far as I can find).

Here are the "Shitler" posts I've been able to find so far. And if you wonder why I go on about this, it is because I know Helen. She takes it and keeps on ticking, but is not a watch... she's a human being. And she deserves to be apologized to. So here are all of the comments [bolding in them is mine]:

#1:

Nickname unavailable said...

Can you be mailed a ticket if an officer is never at the scene? Maybe if you piss off a Shitler you can!
September 29, 2008 2:56 PM

#2

Trey said...

Shitler credibility=zilch.

November 13, 2008 9:49 AM

#3

Anonymous said...

"who wants to rally with me against fat women next weekend?"

Hey now! Fat women need loving too. Just not by me.

I love the fake posts about selling. Leaving a 3 bedroom for a 1 bedroom elsewhere? Yeah ok, not even if Cracky McCrakerton had the condo next door. I love how Shitler people think it goes Downtown, Lincoln Park, Uptown, Wisconson.

Keep it up and I am going to pee on your hemp plants.

-Uptown Dad

June 8, 2008 4:06 PM

[James posted on this thread only two hours and a few posts after the above. Warning, it is a very mean thread also abusing overweight folks... because of course poor people are also overweight?]


#4

themooshisloose said...

My car was broken into two weeks ago (marine drive). I think it was cased for a while before being broken in to because the job of removing the stereo system was really clean. No wires were cut (like other break ins I experienced in the past) and the equioment removal was super clean.

No one gives a crap anymore. No one is doing anytng to clean things up around here. There is a ton of talk, but no action.

Sorry kids, but I have taken steps to leave Illinois completely. Im excited to live near a real beach without having to wade through trash and gangs to get to it.

I won't have to walk down the street and have to figure out who is wearing what color, and if I need to think about ducking stray bullets in my neighborhood, and I wont have to deal with Helen Shitler or Mayor Douchebag Daley's poor decisions and corrupt bullshit.

I feel sorry for those who have to stay (unless Michael Carroll gets elected as alderman). I am lucky enough to live wherever I want, and the North side of Chicago no longer appeals to me.

So until I leave, I will keep posting sarcastic remarks and share the photos I take, but hopefully it won't be long until Im outta here!

:-D

July 27, 2010 1:52 PM

#5

themooshisloose said...

I'm loving some IP for making me laugh so hard this morning. A two hooker night!

Dear SHITler,
I still have my eyes on you. I will have my eyes on you 'till the day you run out of here with your tail between your legs yipping like the low down dirty dog that you are.

....and anyone even thinking about voting in Nowotny needs to get a psych eval. STAT!

Where's the party at to celebrate the Shitler announcement? Wooot!

August 2, 2010 10:30 AM

#6

yo said...

Where's the party at to celebrate the Shitler announcement? Wooot!

Options (feel free to add):

Driftwood <- my preference
the Spot
Nick's on Wilson/Uptown

This news certainly deserves on toast.

August 2, 2010 10:41 AM

#7 [late addition]

2010-07-28T16:29:50.694-05:00

PLEASE tell me when the next rally will take place. I NEED to know!

Dearest Shitler,

We didn't have this technology in 1987 when you were first elected. You can't hide from us now. We can organize easier and communicate faster than ever before. This should scare you out of your Birkenstocks.

I'm doing my part by telling everyone I know about your carelessness. Guess what? People get it and they can't wait to exercise their right to vote you out.

Power to the people who care. Power to the people who want a safe neighborhood. Power to the people who want their money handled correctly. POWER TO US! THE VOTER!

Down with you, Shitler. You will not be missed. Ever.themooshisloose

Sigh... And there you have it. Just some of the winsome charm of Uptown Update, the blog where anonymous people say incredibly nasty things about their neighbors. Not much more to say... but of course I'll find something.

Poll about "hidden human conspiracies"

I'm a skeptic... real much so... and (I admit it) irrationally anti-conspiracy theory. For instance, Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald and that's all. So Glenn Beck drives me nuts. Also the 9/11 folks, liberal / progressives like me they may otherwise be but not 9/11. Some really mean people with a brilliantly simple plan did it. That's all. I do not like conspiracies! So... thought I'd throw a poll out there to see if others disagreed with me. And am a little surprised in a good way at the result so far.

Uptown and the '60s: the Activism of JOIN

Harry Belafonte visits JOIN in Uptown, Chicago - 1968?

There's progressive... and then there's progressive. The rich history of the struggle for justice and housing in Uptown has a fascinating chapter rooted in a "new left" group known as JOIN (Jobs or Income Now). Areachicago.org carries a wonderful piece, "Uptown's Join Community," underscoring not only the group's effect on Uptown's Appalachian white and black communities, but also on the then-still-emerging feminist movement. Current Alderwoman of the 46th Ward, Helen Shiller, has her roots in much of this history. A famous sociologist and commentator on the 1960s left, Todd Gitlin, was with JOIN in Uptown and co-authored with Nanci Hollander the book Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago.

Related link: Life's Lessons, Part 7 (This portion of a JPUSA history I wrote discusses our "education" politically speaking, and mentions JOIN in passing.)