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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Saturday, April 03, 2004 :::
A couple items of local political interest.- First, James Joyce announced a couple days ago that he is retiring as Chicago fire commissioner. So he can spend more time with his family, as they say. There are a couple reasons he might have been told he wants to spend more time with his family. As I at least alluded to, there was a fire downtown last October; as the story broke, it was announced that the building had been safely evacuated with no casualties; an hour after the fire was out, six casualties were found in stairwells of the building. There is some indication that firefighters actually interacted with some of these people, and that the department ignored indications that they were up there. My impression is that mistakes made were not largely Joyce's, but you know that's immaterial. The more recent reason for Daley to suggest to Joyce that he like his family is a flare-up in racial tensions in the fire department — it may or may not be coincidence that Joyce's replacement is black. (Cortez Trotter is far from unqualified, but that he's the first African-American to lead the Chicago fire department has been lost on nobody.) These problems have existed for a long time; ten years ago white firefighters were disciplined when a tape was found of them having a party dressed in blackface and mocking black stereotypes; the rank-and-file elected one of these firefighters the head of its union a few years ago. Recently a lot of racial slurs have been heard on the fire department's radio system; it almost seems to me that some of it was done intentionally to get Joyce in trouble, though the fire department has had a lot of trouble figuring out who has been doing it. (Yes, apparently when the guy trying to put out your house calls for assistance, they can't tell who it is requesting it.)
- On a more positive note, the Illinois legislature recently defeated a proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, but looks close to passing a proposal to permit them to foreigners in the country legally, to expire when the licensee's permission to be here expires (or in three years if that's sooner; ordinary licenses are for 5). With George Ryan out of government, they will presumably also be required to be able to drive before receiving these licenses.
::: posted by dWj at 12:25 PM
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