Chicago a state; who dumps whom?

It is one of those periodic measures that gets introduced before the Illinois General Assembly – one that calls for the rest of Illinois to break away into its own state, or one that calls for Chicago to be separated from Illinois.

EMANUEL: Mayor gets a chuckle over splitting state

Regardless of the details of anyone’s specific proposal, those measures always manage to make me snicker. Largely because the people who are trying to express frustration with Chicago don’t want to admit how much the sentiment is mutual.

HOW ELSE TO interpret the comments Mayor Rahm Emanuel made this week during a meeting with the Chicago Community Trust. Although it should be realized that Emanuel, himself, was joking around.

For the record, the mayor was talking about Supreme Court decisions of recent days that were blatantly politically partisan in ways that go against the city’s interests, when he said, “Right now, after the last 48 hours, I’d like to pull out of this one nation and one state.”

When asked if he was talking about Chicago breaking off into its own independent city-state (a la the Vatican City that many people might mistakenly think is part of Rome), Emanuel quipped, “I’m going with Toronto.”

Which is Canada’s largest city, and one that is just slightly larger than Chicago.

Would these flags … 

OBVIOUSLY, NO ONE is going to seriously try to move forward with an independence drive. The real solution is that we all have to learn to work together, and to realize that each and every faction that comprises our society at-large offers some benefit.

That goes for just about every place in this nation of ours. We already had our “war” over secession in this country, and they lost!

I have similar thoughts when I hear there are officials in California who seriously think “the Golden State” ought to be broken up into three – the northern part of the state that would have San Francisco as its primary city, a southern part that would focus on San Diego and a third being the Los Angeles metro area.

… be at the heart someday … 

As though there are people who can’t appreciate having the nation’s second-largest city as part of their own political boundary.

SOUNDS SIMILAR TO those rural Illinois residents who think the whole world is focused on farms – even though most farms these days are corporate entities and trying to cling to the vision of a family-run farm is a large part of the reason those rural communities are so isolated from the mainstream of our society.

So are we ever going to get a state of Chicago that is separate from Illinois? Not likely, unless our society gets a whole lot more stupid than it already is tumbling down to in this Age of Trump that we’re now in.

Seriously, I think if anybody tried to split the state of Illinois up, they’d have one heck of a time figuring out where the boundary ought to be. Because it sure couldn’t be as simple as the city limits. Are we prepared to fight a “war” over who gets Naperville or Joliet?

I think people eager to think in terms of kicking Chicago “out” would be amazed to realize how much of Illinois would throw its lot in with the city. All those suburbs (more than 100 in Cook County alone, and those in the surrounding collar counties bring the tally to 250-plus) account for about two-thirds of Illinois’ population, and many of those residents merely think of “downstate” as the place where they, or a relative, went to college before coming back to “Sweet home, Chicago.”

THE REST OF Illinois’ population would be about 4 million people – placing the state at about No. 27 – just between Kentucky and Oregon (although bigger than Iowa’s 3.05 million), rather than the state’s current population rank of No. 6.

… of a 'battle' for the right to claim Joliet?

Anyway, this is all fantasy – which is why Emanuel can make jokes about the idea of “Oh Canada” becoming the new national anthem in these parts. Although it would be interesting if a new baseball rivalry were to develop between the White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.

The reality is that we are one, and that is our greatest national (and regional) strength. It is why I always have mocked people who try to tout the concept of “state’s rights,” because it seems to think we’re better off separate, and if it were really true, why not “city’s rights” being preeminent in which we work from the bottom up?

The truth is there’s a contribution to be made by everybody, and the only people who think of breaking apart as a serious concept are ones who deserve the label of “knuckleheads.”

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Let’s offer some praise to only entity that’s shown any sense in Cruz battle

There is one entity thus far that has shown any sense with regards to the ongoing controversy over whether Texas senator Ted Cruz is eligible to serve as U.S. president.

CRUZ: Still on the ballot

Our very own Illinois State Board of Elections heard a complaint saying that Cruz should not be on the Republican primary ballot come March 15 because he’s really a Canadian – even though his mother is as clearly a U.S. citizen as anyone can be, and she (unfortunately for us) conveyed that sense of entitlement to her son, Teodoro.

OUR VERY OWN state election officials had the sense to quickly dismiss the complaint; the action that resulted in the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court in which oral arguments were heard on Friday.

Of course, there was no ruling of any sort by Judge Maureen W. Kirby in large part because the man who brought about the legal action says he can’t afford to remain in Chicago to deal with the legal wrath he wrought.

In fact, he says he can’t come back to the Daley Center courthouse until early March. All of which makes me think this lawsuit has nothing to do with the legal merits over whether Cruz qualifies as a “natural born citizen” to run for the U.S. presidency.

This crock of a legal issue is something the ideologues want to prolong just as they did the whole argument over whether Barack Obama was really born within the United States.

IT IS SOMETHING they want to toss about to cast aspersions on the senator from Texas (as though there aren’t enough legitimate reasons to think he’s unfit, the ideologues want to make stuff up).

To that end, being able to say a case is pending in the courts that challenges Cruz’ campaign legitimacy is to their benefit. They can use the case’s existence as a piece of hard fact to justify their ongoing arguments.

But the instance judge Kirby comes up with a ruling, it hurts the ideologues. Gee, the judge may actually wind up concluding that the ideologues calling Cruz a Canadian (when he’s more Cubano than anything else) are wrong.

Why do I suspect Picasso statue giggled at thought of legal nonsense that was spewed in court on Friday?

Admittedly, the ideologues would then take the case to an appellate court and start the legal appeals to try to drag this out through the 2016 campaign cycle. But it would be a loss for them.

SO DO I particularly take seriously the existence of this lawsuit – one in which a man who lives near Belvidere in rural northern Illinois is basing a case on the argument that having citizenship from birth because of one’s mother is NOT the same as being a U.S.-born citizen.

Even though my mind cannot comprehend how they aren’t the same. From the day he was born, Cruz was able to stake a claim to U.S. citizenship. Even if his mother physically was in the Alberta, Canada city of Calgary at the moment she went into labor.

To claim otherwise makes one look foolish. And winds up strengthening the presidential case for Cruz – who is more than capable of looking like a fool without anyone else’s help.

But the ideologues want to prolong this nonsense issue, just as how some of them persist in arguing that Obama is less than legitimate in their eyes.

SO WE HAD no ruling Friday on Cruz’ status. Not that anyone should have expected it. This is not the kind of issue that gets resolved in a courtroom in the shadow of that Picasso statue.

OBAMA: The same, but different

This is an issue that will not be resolved by the courts at all. Certain people are going to be determined to believe whatever form of ideological nonsense they want to spew. This will be ongoing regardless of what any court decides.

Perhaps even if Cruz were to somehow win the presidency. They’d still throw the nonsense issue into his face, perhaps even from their new homes in Canada that they'll threaten to move to if Election '16 doesn't go their way.

Only somehow, I’d like to think that Calgary already feels fortunate enough not to have to claim Cruz as a native son, and would probably turn away these ideologue nincompoops as well.

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A Cuban-Canadian in charge of U.S. of A.? He’s as ‘American’ as anyone else

Let me state up-front that I think Ted Cruz, the ideologue from Texas who has managed to become that state’s U.S. senator and now wants to be our nation’s president is not fit to be president.

CRUZ: One of us, even if we wish he wasn't

I think his temperament is such that he’s stubborn and determined to be the ‘commander in chief’ only for those of us whose ideology is in complete agreement with himself.

THE REST OF us would have our concerns disregarded in a way I find scary. A Republican nomination for Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz would be a surefire way to get me to vote for any of the mediocrities currently running for president under the Democratic label.

Yet the idea that Cruz is not eligible to be U.S. president because he’s not a citizen by birth is downright ridiculous. If anything, it is being brought up by the kind of people who probably believe in Cruz’ ideological leanings so much, yet hate the idea that his election would give us a ‘Latino’ president.

Or maybe they just really love Donald Trump’s hair-do to the point that they’re willing to bring up every bit of nonsense that Trump has spewed on this issue.

Now a large part of the confusion is that I don’t think many people understand exactly what the concept of a “U.S. citizen” truly is. Perhaps they believe it is certain types of people who have the right to think they are citizens of this country of ours.

THE FACT IS that Cruz isn’t wrong in saying that because his mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth gives him a claim to being a citizen here – even if she was living in western Canada at the time while married to her Cuban ethnic husband.

The real Cruz?

Believe it or not, not every Cuban who fled the Caribbean island nation wound up living in proximity to Calle Ocho in Miami, Just as not every European emigrating to the Americas wound up in the United States.

Now the way I was taught back in school about citizenship and legal qualifications is that our nation is not one that recognizes the concept of dual citizenship.

We require people who are naturalized as citizens to formally renounce the ties to their old country. As for those who have multiple citizenships at birth, we require them to “pick one,” so to speak, when they turn 18.

NOW I HAVE heard some news reports indicating people are accusing Cruz of not having made such a choice until two years ago. Which is nonsense.

The way all pols view themselves!

Unless someone can come up with documentation that an 18-year-old Cruz chose Canada (instead of blaming it), the accusations being spewed by Trump and spread by all the other desperate Republican candidates is a whole lot of nonsense.

In the case of Cruz, he was living in the United States by that time, and it’s obvious he has a U.S.-oriented life. As much as it embarrasses me to admit, that Texas turkey with the nasally drawl is about as “American” as anyone else in this country.

Any attempt to dismiss his presidential candidacy on a technicality comes across as xenophobic.

ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT like anyone is trying to claim that Cruz is really a Cubaño at heart – although he may well be. I don’t doubt his father has some influence over the type of person he became.

And I also know that Cuban law actually believes something along the lines of “Once a Cubaño, Always a Cubaño.” A Cuban who renounces citizenship is technically committing an offense along the lines of “treason” against the brothers Castro. Which ought to make the ideologues like him all the more.

So what do I think of Cruz? I’d have to admit that if he became the first Latino occupier of the Oval Office, I’d feel a tinge of ethnic shame in that his election would be most rejoiced by the political people who are our biggest partisan nightmares.

Particularly since on immigration issues, it would appear he has no sympathy for people just like himself. That and since at 45 he’d be the first U.S. president younger than myself (I’m 50) – making me feel old!

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What does ‘sportsmanship’ mean?

Sometimes, I wonder just how committed people who are into competitive athletics are toward the concept of sportsmanship – as in the idea of trying to maintain some sense of honor and decency while also trying to beat the sense out of the other team!

Because it often can come across as a lot of nice-sounding rhetoric that is ever so cheap when put into practice.

A PAIR OF incidents occurring this weekend make me wonder just a bit more.

One involved the World Baseball Classic ballgame Saturday in which Team Mexico managed to get knocked out of the tourney – a 10-3 loss to Team Canada that turned into a brawl on-field and also saw some fans insist on throwing objects onto the playing field.

At least one Canadian ballplayer was hit with a bottle, and a Canada coach was nearly hit with a baseball thrown on-field by a “fan.”

The Mexico/Canada incident was provoked by the fact that Canada’s national ball club was well on its way to a victory in the 9^th inning when a ballplayer did something that Mexican athletes interpreted as an act meant to show them up.

THAT PROVOKED A bean-ball war, brush back pitches, and ballplayers charging onto the field for that group wrestling match that is usually what baseball brawls devolve into.

The final inning follies angered the crowd gathered for the match played in Phoenix to the point that warnings had to be issued – in the form of public address system announcements saying that the ballgame would end in a forfeit for Mexico, if their fans didn’t behave themselves.

Yes, the bulk of the nearly 20,000 fans on hand were cheering for the Mexico ball club – although any objective look at their play in the World Baseball Classic says that Equipo Mexico would still be alive and playing IF ONLY they hadn’t have blown that 9^th inning lead they had last week when they played Italy’s national team.

That is where Mexico fan anger ought to be placed – not on any group of Canadians whose own fate in the tourney was resolved on Sunday.

WHICH IS WHY World Baseball Classic officials decided no suspensions, fines or penalties were necessary – since the surprise play of Italy means that both national teams were done.

To an athlete, a loss in the standings is the ultimate punishment.

That same sentiment seems to have prevailed in Peoria Saturday night, where the smaller-enrollment schools played out their state basketball tourneys.

Harrisburg High School in Southern Illinois won a state championship – beating Seton Academy of suburban South Holland 50-44.

HURTING SETON WAS the fact that their top scorer got ejected from the championship game in the second quarter after he made physical contact with a referee.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Seton coach Brandon Thomas was so disgusted with the loss that he refused to have his team participate in the post-game ceremonies – in which the high school would have been presented with a “second place” trophy for making it to the championship game.

Illinois High School Association officials told the Tribune that as far as they’re concerned, Seton “would not receive its trophy, ever.” It was also reported that Thomas got into a verbal scuffle with Harrisburg fans so intense that those fans had to be removed from the Carver Arena.

That has state officials saying they are “disappointed with and embarrassed by” both high schools that took part in the Class 2A basketball championship game, while adding that both high schools will be contacted Monday to inform them of what future actions might occur as a result.

PERSONALLY, I DON’T know what kind of punishment could be meted out.

Do you suddenly re-write the history books to try to claim Seton didn’t play in the championship game, just because they wouldn’t take their crummy second place trophy (just like that climactic scene in “The Bad News Bears” film)?

Or will the ultimate “punishment” for this bad behavior be that most high school basketball fans will focus their attention on the large-school championships (Class 3A and 4A) that will be played in Peoria come Friday and Saturday?

Just as many baseball fans will either focus their attention on the fact that Team Italy played so well, rather than how poorly teams Canada or Mexico behaved in one inning.

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