A TALE OF TWO MESSES

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon dodged a figurative bullet and kept his 23 million dollar a year job in spite of the two billion dollar financial disaster by a rogue Chase trader. But his Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew coughed up her $16 million gig by "retiring" early. Hey, someone has to walk the plank when the Banksters fail to learn their lesson from the 2008 financial meltdown. Dimon has been Wall Street's point man, lobbying against critically needed government oversight to prevent the very jeopardy this new mess has caused our still shaky economy.


Speaking of messes, the guy who makes 23 bucks a day cleaning up after elephants in a circus parade is more valuable to society those those two clowns who pulled down 39 mill last year.

STILL NOT PROTESTERS' KIND OF TOWN

Nearly 44 years ago thousands of anti war protesters descended upon Chicago determined to disrupt the 1968 Democratic Convention. The unprepared police cooperated by over reacting beyond the protest leaders' fondest dreams. Alas, the resulting chaos amongst pro and anti war Democrats paved the way for Republican Richard Nixon's election, which, in turn, allowed our criminal Vietnam War to drone on for another seven years. Under Nixon, over half the several million dead and wounded Vietnamese and American casualties occurred. It turned out there were no anti war Republicans to counter Nixon's obsessive quest to win an unwinnable war. It took his impeachment on domestic crimes to allow his successor, Gerald Ford. and Congress, to quietly strangle funding for further senseless slaughter.

This week, thousands of anti war and occupy/fairness protesters will again descend upon Chicago, this time to disrupt the NATO meetings. Their focus is to end NATO's involvement in our 11 year failed and criminal Afghan war and stop their rush to senseless war against pitifully weak Iran. They also demand that money saved by ending unbridled militarism be used to rebuild America.

But there will be no unpreparedness by the city and its police this go round. Protesters will be prevented from getting anywhere near the NATO festivities, being held, ironically, in the convention center named after America's most famous isolationist, Col. Robert McCormick. Major roads such as Lake Shore Drive, and expressways Kennedy and Stevenson will experience partial shutdowns. Coffee and backpacks will be banned from Metra. Parking? Fagettaboutit!

One cool anti protest toy Chicago's Finest will brandish that wasn't available to their outmaneuvered 1968 brothers is LRAD, or Long Range Acoustic Device. First used on American protesters in Pittsburgh in 2009, it emits a powerful sonic beam which not only discourages protesting, it discourages hearing, possibly permanently.

Chicago's official NATO Summit website touts the event as one which will highlight Chicago's Can Do spirit. It is more likely to highlight Chicago's Can't Protest spirit. Chicago may still be my kind of town, but it's certainly not if you're a protester.

Also published in the Chicago Tribune, May 18, 2012