J.E.B. who? It’s now going to be Obama Elementary in Richmond

It’s not new, or particularly newsworthy, that yet another school somewhere in the country has chosen to name itself after the nation’s 44^th president. Heck, there are some 44 schools that already bear the moniker of Barack Obama.

OBAMA: Now has a Richmond school in memory

Yet most of those were new school buildings erected in recent years, and often in places where the locals never would have put the name symbolizing the Confederacy of old on a public structure.

WHICH IS WHAT makes the newly-named Barack Obama Elementary School in Richmond, Va. – named for our very own community organizer-turned-U.S. president, all the more unique.

For until now, the school had bore the name of J.E.B. Stuart – who didn’t even live to see the end of the Civil War, but during the conflict between the states was regarded by southern interests as a skilled horseman and cavalry officer and one of the supreme military officials of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Of course, to everybody else, J.E.B. was just some ol’ white guy who once had the nerve to take up arms against the United States. An act of treason, if you want to be literal about it.

All because he wanted to reinforce the “way of life” that the South always proclaimed – the one that kept non-white people in a status of second-class citizenship. As in the South wanted them counted in the population to boost their total but wasn’t about to give them the same rights of white people.

BUT THERE WERE those who subscribed to the theory of “the lost cause” when thinking of the Civil War who were determined to pay tribute to every possible Confederate figure to try to glorify why they fought against the United States.

So the idea that J.E.B. Stuart could get a school named for him? Have generations of children thinking of him as a figure worthy of respect? I’m sure some would argue it no more ridiculous that I went to elementary schools in the Chicago area named for generals George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

But times truly are changing. No matter how much some want to think this Age of Trump offers credibility to their cause, it seems the day will come when we can dump the Confederacy glorification.

STUART: Now just a figure of the past

We now pay tribute at this Richmond school to the first non-white man to become U.S. president – a concept that I’m sure infuriates the Confederacy-backers and probably has them backing Donald Trump’s actions in large part because they seem determined to erase the memory of Obama’s presidential actions.

BUT MAYBE IT’S just the evidence that the Obama legacy just can’t be erased – and that the Trump presidential legacy ultimately is determined to be his failure to undo the actions of recent decades. No matter how much he tries.

Personally, I find the idea that a Richmond high school is making such a gesture. For that Virginia city once served as the capital during those four years the Confederate states tried declaring themselves to be an independent nation.

Now, of course, Richmond is nothing more than a state capital for Virginia – no more important on the national political scene than Springfield, Ill. Our very own state capital city that gave us the figure of Abraham Lincoln.

Who lives on bigger than any of those grey-clad Confederates who touted the concept of ‘states rights’ not so much because they wanted separate nation-states but because they didn’t want anybody else interfering with their ability to back certain acts of immorality with the rule of law.

TO THE PEOPLE who still, to this day, try to justify the Confederacy, I’m sure the idea of an Obama School in Richmond is the equivalent of phlegm being hocked into their collective face.

Do we need more Lincoln Schools in South

But to the vast majority of us, it’s a sign that we’re finally, long-overdue, ready to move on from the mess that bogged down our nation some 150-plus years ago, and which some continued to tried to fight for during the following century-and-a-half.

Besides, just think of the mental chaos to be created for future generations who try to justify Confederate rhetoric while explaining the existence of Obama School.

While the memory of James Ewell Brown Stuart fades further into the past. Seriously, with all those names, it’s no wonder people just called him “Jeb.”

  -30-

Armed school teachers – a warped idea whose time has arrived? Let’s hope not!

As one who follows political debate, one of the realities is that ideas once considered absolutely ludicrous can eventually become a part of law. Which is why people opposing nonsense have to be vigilant and never presume they’ve “won” a fight.

Nonsense image is some peoples' reality

That is the thought popping into my head as I hear the continued debate in the wake of the school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead.

BECAUSE SOME OF the people feeling the need to argue against sensible regulation of firearms are pushing a line of thought that strikes me as blatantly absurd – arming the school teachers.

The premise being that when someone comes into a classroom or other situation in the presence of school children to pose a threat, the teacher can whip out their pistol and kill the s-o-b. Thereby saving children’s lives.

The part that amazes me are those individuals who think this is some new concept – an original idea that must now be imposed for our overall protection.

Which, of course, it isn’t. This idea gets brought up following every incident involving school children; as thought its proponents are hoping we’ll now be inclined to see life in their own loopy way of viewing things.

PERSONALLY, THE FIRST time I ever recall someone suggesting the arming of school children was nearly 30 years ago.

It was following the 1988 incident in the North Shore suburbs involving Laurie Dann, a mentally unstable woman who had her own little rampage that included – at one point – entering an elementary school classroom while armed with a pistol.

The crackpots of three decades ago argued that Dann’s rampage could have been brought to a quicker end if the teacher had been armed and merely shot her dead.

Armed faculty idea as old as Laurie Dann

Actually, the teacher in that particular incident did try to defend her students, and in fact managed to disarm Dann of one of her weapons – which may have lessened the eventual body count (one dead, five wounded). The idea of a gunfight involving a teacher wasn’t necessary.

PERSONALLY, I WISH I hadn’t had to recall the Dann debacle – which later was found to include attempts to poison people across the North Shore. She was a mentally disturbed person in her own right.

Although I wonder if the people who seriously talk about wanting to provide school teachers with firearms are even more twisted.

That includes President Donald J. Trump, who this week said he would want teachers with military or special training backgrounds to be armed and prepared to shoot back in such incidents.

I think all that would accomplish is having even more bullets flying through the air in a crisis situation – and the likelihood that one of the teacher’s stray bullets would wind up taking out a student.

TRUMP TRIES ARGUING that “sicko shooters” would be deterred from attacking school situations because they’re “cowards.”

I’d argue that anybody inclined to bring a firearm into such a situation most likely is mentally unstable and isn’t going to be deterred by anything or anyone. Which means they’re situations where the “cowboy” mentality is the one most likely to cause a situation to escalate into a bloodbath.

TRUMP: Probably thinks he originated idea

But this idea is one that doesn’t seem to want to go away. The knuckleheads amongst the ideologues in our society seem determined to cling to this concept of a pistol-packing school teacher hoping the day comes when they’ll be capable of pushing it through from a fantasy into reality.

Those of us with sense need to maintain a vigilance against the idea; if we’re going to truly maintain a semblance of a safe and sane society.

  -30-

EXTRA: School district consolidation? Those are fightin’ words to many!

Republican gubernatorial challenger Jeanne Ives, the state senator from Wheaton, is most likely trying to appeal to people from mid-sized communities that think they’re the ideal we all ought to follow, and that Chicago is just too damned big on so many levels.

IVES: Ed talk not thoroughly thought out

But I wonder if Ives has any idea how many people she’s going to tick off across Illinois with her latest talk about how school districts should be consolidated.

THE DAILY HERALD suburban newspaper reported how Ives said this week that we have too many school districts. She wants communities to merge their elementary and high school districts into one unit, and for those school districts in rural communities with the tiny graduating classes to consider merging into one with other area entities.

Meanwhile, she’s spouting off a routine claim about the Chicago Public Schools – it’s too big. It ought to be broken up into several smaller school districts.

What it basically amounts to is that Ives has the vision based off what exists in her home community that she thinks everybody in the state of Illinois ought to be obligated to follow.

Which is odd since one of the mantras of Republican dogma is the idea of local control. Local people know best what works for their communities.

SHE DOESN’T SEEM to be a strong believer in such ideals, if she’s really talking about this.

Because the reality for many of those rural communities that have tiny school districts because the overall population is small is that the school district often is the pride of the community, Something they tout as a sign of their individuality and independence.

Does Ives really want to be the candidate who tells certain communities they’re not important enough to have their own school district? Not if she really expects to get the votes of all those rural residents who are disgusted with the performance of Gov. Bruce Rauner!

As for Chicago, wanting to tamper with the Public Schools’ overall structure is just the usual nonsense-talk from someone who thinks they can undermine the schools’ influence by breaking it down further.

I’D EXPECT THAT schools officials across Illinois will now look skeptically at Ives’ candidacy for governor. She’s the one who would threaten to put many of them out-of-work.

It would be similar to those people who think that across the Chicago suburbs, there’s really no need for every single municipality to have its own police department. Let the county sheriff have authority over those communities.

Yet for a lot of suburban public officials, the one bit of significant authority they have is being able to hire (and fire) their own police chief. That’s something they would resist vociferously.

I suspect that a schools’ structure brawl has the potential to create an equal stink. One that I’m sure the Ives campaign would regret bringing upon itself should the issue actually catch on.

  -30-

Why does cursive vs. typing have to be seen as an all-or-nothing proposition?

I have teenaged nephews and nieces (high school senior and freshman, respectively) who are, by a certain standard, functionally illiterate.

Alien alphabet? Or poor penmanship?

As in whenever they’re confronted by something written in cursive, they complain it is unreadable to them. They’ll throw back such notes and insist they be read aloud to them – while also berating the people who bothered to write something out by hand.

I HAVE HEARD from my niece Meira and my nephew Tyler that nobody ever bothered to teach them to write things out long-hand, meaning that when they do write something, it is in printing that – quite frankly – isn’t all that neat or legible.

The experience I had by which the first grade was learning to print the alphabet and the second grade was for learning to write out long-hand in cursive? It seems to be long-gone from our educational programs – and a haughty attitude has developed in our society against teaching people how to comprehend anything.

The so-called logic is that people just don’t write anything anymore. The era of scrawling out notes is over. Everything is typed. Students are supposedly getting high-tech educations that incorporate devices that require them to use keyboards.

It reminds me of that scene from the Star Trek film “The Voyage Home,” when the Enterprise crew travels back in time from the 23^rd Century to our modern-day San Francisco. Actor James Doohan’s “Mr. Scott” character tries speaking to a computer, only to have its keyboard pointed out to him.

“HOW QUAINT,” HE quipped, at the very concept of typing.

Typing 'quaint?' Saving the future through cursive?

Which seems to be the attitude we have encouraged amongst our young when it comes to the idea of writing something out. Even when they try writing by hand, it often is on some sort of electronic screen that stores their notes – without them ever actually being scrawled on paper.

A concept I (as a reporter-type person always keep paper notebooks and pens on hand) certainly don’t see as an improvement, by any means.

Now I’m sure some people are dismissing this commentary as the rants of an old crank – just as they think my lack of interest in this year’s World Series between two National League-feel teams (I’m a hard-core American League sympathizer) is proof that I’m living in the past.

IT’S JUST THAT I really don’t comprehend why people are incapable of writing by cursive – and learning the proper way to use a “QWERTY”-style keyboard. I know in the case of my nephew and niece, they plod along with the hunt-and-peck of a couple of fingers.

That may be usable when typing out a text message on a cellphone, but means that even when typing, they’re barely functional. Apparently, they’re not taking the equivalent of the one-year course I had in high school on typing – and the proper use of the keyboard.

It also produces a lack of feeling for the language. Have you ever checked out the spelling (or lack of) that many of these young people have? Which many of them also feel is something the rest of us need to get over!

All in all, it’s a part of the dumbing down of our society. And yes, I write that knowing my teenage niece is a potential honor student who can’t spell for squat. I know because I often have tried to help by typing for her the papers she wrote out long-hand for school.

I BRING THIS issue up because the Illinois House of Representatives this week acted on a bill that would require all schools across the state to teach cursive writing.

Up to Ill. to set state education policy

Gov. Bruce Rauner used his “veto” power to reject the bill the General Assembly approved earlier this year, so the Illinois House voted to override him. The state Senate is likely to follow suit when the Legislature reconvenes next month to complete the veto session.

I’m sure that some will claim our state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature is playing petty partisan politics against our Republican governor.

But if it means that future generations of young people don’t come off as confused by cursive as my niece and nephew’s generation (it may be too late for them), then that would be a plus for our society.

  -30-

For Ill. government, it’s time to play another episode of, “Who’s to Blame?”

I almost feel like I’m a kid again watching daytime TV and one of those tacky old game shows. Maybe “Let’s Make a Deal” with Monty Hall – the only thing is that we, the people of Illinois, are the ones getting “zonked.”

RAUNER TO LEGE: Back to Springfield?!?

Remember the “zonk,” the booby prizes that were hidden away amidst the real gifts, and if one wasn’t careful they’d give up that all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii and get stuck with something like a rotted, old Model T Ford.

THAT’S WHAT I feel like we’re about to get hit with in Illinois, what with the way the ongoing battle over a state budget has managed to find a way of continuing on – a sequel, so to speak.

When the General Assembly approved a budget that Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to veto – only to have the legislators override him – there was one piece of the puzzle that was put aside.

It was the measure that outlines the portion of state funding provided for public education. Known this year as Senate Bill 1 (nice symbolism), it has been approved by the General Assembly, but hasn’t been formally sent to Rauner for his consideration.

With the budget approved, the money for the schools for state Fiscal Year 2018 exists. But without the separate bill’s approval, it hasn’t been settled how it will be allocated.

SO UNTIL THAT happens, the schools remain unsettled. Having talked with a few school administrators in recent weeks, I know they are wary of what could happen. They know there is a possibility the state funding that local school districts rely upon for their operating expenses could get caught up in a partisan political squabble.

Now the reason why the General Assembly’s leadership (ie., Democrats, as in Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago) are holding off on sending the bill along to Rauner is that the governor has already made clear his intentions.

MADIGAN: How little could Lege do?

Veto!!!!!

The governor objects to provisions included in the bill to have the state try to make sense of the mess that is the pension program for retired Chicago Public School teachers. Dems representing Chicago interests don’t want to give Rauner a chance to issue such a veto.

INSTEAD, THEY WANT to hold off on giving him a chance to act until later this summer, when the beginning of the new school year (about mid-August for most districts) will be so imminent that the governor would feel the pressure to back off his veto threat.

Rauner, of course, is on what he’s calling his “downstate tour” of rural municipalities where he’s going about claiming the bill is nothing but a “Chicago bailout” and that all he’s trying to do is provide a little extra funding for the school districts in those rural communities.

The usual urban vs. rural, or Chicago vs. the rest of Illinois brawl that all too often is what issues devolve down to in this state.

To Rauner, it’s greedy Chicago trying to stall things, while I know from my talks with those local school officials they’re going to be more than willing to “Blame Bruce!” if something occurs that causes state aid payments to schools to be delayed so long that the public schools won’t be able to open on time.

ONE INTERESTING MOVE is that the governor is now saying he’s giving the General Assembly until Monday at Noon to send him that bill so he can veto it – or else he’s prepared to issue the order for a special session.

Is this what Ill. in for in coming days?

Meaning back to Springfield for the legislators, as though he thinks a dose of “Capital punishment” (ie., having to spend time in Springfield during the otherwise lazy days of summer) will force the rank-and-file of the General Assembly to hand him the bill.

Of course, we saw during the final weeks of the budget debacle that just because the Legislature is in session doesn’t mean they’re doing anything meaningful. It’s only when the two sides come together that things get done, and Rauner is making it clear he’s not coming together with anybody.

So if the General Assembly winds up back at the Statehouse next week, why do I suspect we’ll get a lot more action on measures such as the one approved earlier this month that renamed a portion of Interstate 55 for former President Barack Obama? At a time when we have serious issues to address, that would be our “zonk!”

  -30-

Budget battles linger on, only this time we use our schools as the battlefield

For those of you people who for whatever partisan political reason want the fight over a state budget to continue, take some pleasure in the fact that the political wars aren’t completely over.
 

RAUNER: "Blame Madigan!' Still!

For we still have to consider the portion of the budget that goes toward funding public education in this state. Technically, the General Assembly and Gov. Bruce Rauner still have the education funding bill to fight over.

THAT BILL APPROPRIATES the money that is meant for public education. Technically, it is still pending.

Although Rauner has made it clear that he intends to use his amendatory veto powers to alter the measure – which means it can’t take effect immediately.

To thwart the governor, the Legislature is holding off on sending him the bill. Even though they already have approved it, they won’t let Rauner act. He can’t reject it if he technically doesn’t have it in his possession. We're at the point where the governor on Monday insisted they send him the bill, just so he can amendatorily veto it -- he can't wait to get at it!

It seems the Legislature is hoping that by stalling, they can cause pressure to be built up by educators against the governor, who would then be inclined to blame him for the fact that they might not get the state funding they usually are entitled to and are most definitely counting on in order to get through the upcoming academic year.

PERHAPS THEY THINK they can “blackmail” the governor into feeling too guilty to interfere with school funding if he’ll be the one who gets blamed for the politicking.

Which most likely was behind the public appearances Rauner made in Mount Zion and in Rockford, where he made it clear that it will be Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s fault if something happens that causes the state to be late with the aid payments it provides to public school districts.

“The General Assembly under Speaker Madigan have failed to adequately or equitably fund our schools for decades,” the governor said. “It has hurt generations of Illinois children who live in low income communities.”

 

MADIGAN: Not waving white flag yet

Whether this would work is questionable. Since I have heard from many school administrator types during the past two years who have made it clear that when it comes to the problems related to school finances, they blame the governor!

EVEN NOW, WHEN there is a state budget in place, many say they’re having their attorneys study the situation, and won’t be fully comfortable until they see the education funding bill signed off on and they get their initial aid payments.

If the governor thinks many people are going to suddenly switch to his side, he could be mistaken. Since many perceive the problems as having begun with the partisan initiatives and the desires that Rauner has tried to bring to state government under the guise of “reform.”

The governor’s main objection to the education funding measure is that it includes provisions for altering the funding for pensions for retired teachers in the Chicago Public School system – a provision Rauner is quick to label as a “bailout.”

He’s quick to say that he could provide even more financial assistance to school districts across Illinois – if only we could ignore the problem of that one pesky district that is, by far, the largest in the state.

MEANING THIS IS the same regionalism and nonsense of trying to pit the rest of the state against Chicago, which only serves to build up the hostility and resentment that Chicago voters will feel towards the governor.

Considering the degree to which Rauner has made a series of staff changes by hiring political partisans of the Illinois Policy Institute, it would seem this “urban vs. rural” tone is going to predominate for as long as Rauner remains in office.

Which, if Dems aren’t careful, could easily extend beyond the Nov. 6, 2018 general elections. It could easily extend into “four more year” of stalemate and nothingness.

Since I don’t doubt that Rauner and his minions are miffed at not prevailing on the budget fight, it will be remarkable to see the amount of partisan bloodshed that will occur on the Statehouse Scene in coming years – and the degree to which we all get caught up in the crossfire.

  -30-

How good will Trust Act make Ill. look; while offending ideologues?

Is Illinois about to become the statewide equivalent of a “sanctuary city,” only without the sanctuary label attached?

Literally, no. But I can already hear the outraged wacky nonsense being spewed by the conservative ideologues who get particularly bent out of shape by anything related to immigration policy that doesn’t focus exclusively on increased deportations.

FOR THE ILLINOIS General Assembly is considering a bill this spring session called the Illinois Trust Act. Based on acts that already have been passed in a few other states, particularly California, it would prevent the state’s law enforcement agencies (primarily the Illinois State Police) from assisting federal immigration officials in arresting anyone unless a criminal warrant is produced.

Also, it includes provisions restricting immigration officials from going into schools or hospitals in search of people who may have overstayed their visa (or never had one to begin with).

Considering that some school districts, including the Chicago Public Schools, already are telling their officials to keep immigration agents off their campuses, this law would merely give the legitimacy of the state to the actions they’re already taking.

If anything, it means Illinois is taking sides in the political battle over immigration reform – and we’re certainly not on the side of a certain orange-tinted man with wild hair who likes to get his ideologue followers all riled up by ranting about all those “foreigners” who are to blame for everything wrong with their own lives.

PERSONALLY, I THINK this bill would change little if it were to become law.

It reinforces the basic concept of sanctuary cities that says federal immigration agents should do their own investigatory work and shouldn’t expect any instances of immigration law violators to be dumped into their laps by local cops.

It doesn’t restrict the ability of immigration to go out and find people violating the law. Even though the ideologue critics will want to lambast it as somehow providing a place where people can hide.

They'd have to do their own work

Actually, all it is meant is to provide a place where people can feel safe from the harassment of those who’d want to use the local cops to pick on people whom they want to believe “don’t belong” here.

EVEN THOUGH I often wonder if we all had to go through the rigors that foreign residents do to adapt to this country, how many of us would be worthy of that U.S. citizenship they obtained through the accident of birth.

At a time when Trump and his attorney general are trying to single out Chicago and other sanctuary cities, a measure such as this would add legitimacy to the actions of the communities that have decided to make themselves symbolic places of safety.

I also don’t doubt there will be some local politicking played, as one of the bill’s sponsors is Daniel Biss, the state senator from Evanston who is among the people with Democratic dreams of running for governor come next year’s elections.

If this bill does become law, I have no doubt that Biss will become the proud author who will take single-handed credit for its passage.

THE REAL QUESTION could be will anyone try to use it against him? Because using it gets one into political bed with the same “basket of deplorables” that will want to view this act as particularly venal because it legitimizes everything they rant against.

BISS: How much praise will he cover himself in?

Considering that Gov. Bruce Rauner is going out of his way to distance himself from Trump and many of the social issue causes they often spew (Rauner hates organized labor, but isn’t hostile on many other points), I can’t see him wanting to touch this issue with a 30-foot pole.

Thirty feet also being the height of that wall Trump claims he wants to have erected along the U.S./Mexico border.

The one that not only will Mexico refuse to pay for, but that a Mexican entrepreneur will probably use as motivation for his own invention – a 31-foot-high ladder suitable for scaling.

  -30-

Statehouse 'civil war' to occur this spring on immigration disputes?

It seems the Trump-ites and the sensible people of our society are going to be doing battle this spring at the Statehouse in Springfield. As if we don't have enough nonsense pervading our capitol building, we will get to add the disputes of those factions of our society to the mix.

Statehouse Scene could get gloomier with immigration thrown into mix

As if that wasn't enough, it's going to be over immigration. An issue that always has the potential to add to the insanity of society whenever it comes up.

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS officials recently informed principals they ought to respond to the presence of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on their campuses by demanding to see a warrant. Officials with the school board for Oak Park-River Forest High School are in the process of creating a similar policy -- actually writing it into their school code to give it more lasting authority.

Which is what led state Rep. Chris Welch, D-Hillside, to introduce a bill before the Illinois General Assembly that would address the issue by giving school districts, hospitals and churches the authority to designate themselves sanctuary zones.

Such a policy would require local law enforcement to show they have a warrant before they can try entering those places' properties.

Some people are getting outraged at the very thought. Although if you want to know the truth, those people are the ones who are scary and suggesting something that we ought to think of as un-American.

THE POINT OF a warrant is to show that police are arriving on the scene for a specific purpose, and not just to harass or go on a fishing expedition -- of sorts -- in hopes of getting lucky and finding something that might lead to an immigration-related bust.

It also says that a judge has given at least cursory review to the evidence that would lead to an arrest, and that there is some reason to believe the allegations are legitimate.

I don't see what is wrong with requiring a warrant -- unless you're the type who believes we ought to live in a police state. Which makes you the ones of a terrifying mentality.

TRUMP: Talk gets people riled up!

Although I know we do have such people in our society who are convinced they are behaving in our best interests. Such is the motivation of people like state Rep. Allen Skillicorn, R-East Dundee, who has his own bill pending that is meant to counter the Welch measure.

HIS BILL WOULD say that local law enforcement entities can negotiate agreements to cooperate with federal Immigration authorities. Under the concept of "sanctuary" cities, such as Chicago and Cook County, the local police are not supposed to concern themselves with any information concerning immigration policy.

The theory being that federal authorities who actually understand immigration policy should do their own work!

We have dueling bills -- one pro- and the other anti-, although it could be argued that what is for and against on this issue depends on where one stands on immigration policy -- and how long it has been since their own families (in my case, it was the grandparents' generation) were directly affected by the immigrant condition.

We even had dueling protests on Saturday; with the State Journal-Register reporting on the two protests that took place just outside of the Statehouse during the noon hour.

THE GROUP TAKING up the concerns of the police and the nativist element of our society gathered by the statue of Abraham Lincoln to try to claim some of his moral authority, while those protesters looking to protect the interests of immigrants who otherwise would face harassment gathered by the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.

RAUNER: How will he dodge this issue?

Which strikes me as odd, because I know historically Lincoln was among those people who as a member of Congress opposed the war with Mexico that ultimately resulted in the U.S. land grab of California, Texas and other states we crafted out of Mexico. While I also know King's children have expressed support for those who want to close off this country to some of the newcomers.

We can dismiss the Saturday sentiments as being those of people who had nothing better to do with their weekend, I suppose. But the fact is that this immigration hatred that is being stirred up so much by the presidential administration currently in power is going to keep cropping up on our own political front.

Which could wind up being a major source of headache for Gov. Bruce Rauner -- seeing that he has desperately tried to avoid taking a position on any of the nativist nonsense that Trump has been spewing. It will be interesting to see how he tries to dodge this issue when it comes up on his own doorstep.

  -30-

EXTRA: What warrants Obama brand for posterity (or maybe that long)?

Out in south suburban Markham is an elementary school named for Barack Obama, while a quickie search of the Internet uncovered schools in Dallas, Los Angeles and Milwaukee named for the nation’s 44^th president.
 

OBAMA: Does he need a highway too?

Which intrigues me because our federal government’s current leadership seems determined to erase anything and everything that ever occurred during the Obama years. If they succeed, will students of the future attend schools named for someone who left nothing lasting behind?

WE’RE GOING TO spend the next few years, perhaps even decades, pondering the Obama legacy – between those who want to erect tributes to it in marble and whose who want to be the equivalent of the pidgeon that dumps its waste all over it.

So it will be interesting to see how things wind up this year with a pair of bills now pending in the Illinois General Assembly, being sponsored by legislators who want Obama to be something equivalent of John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Adlai Stevenson II or Dan Ryan.

As anybody who drives around Chicago on a regular basis knows, those men all have major highways named after them. In fact, I’d bet most people only know the Ryan as a South Side highway and don’t have a clue who the former Cook County Board president really was!

We do seem to have a split.

 

STEVENSON: Can he share I-55 w/ Obama?

ONE BILL SAYS we ought to rename Interstate 294, also known as the Tri-State Tollway, for Obama. It would be a major road used heavily every day by traffic in the Chicago area, and some think it cute that it connects Illinois to Indiana and Wisconsin – all of which are states Obama took in the Electoral College in his 2008 presidential victory.

Of course, the smart alecks point out that the Tri-State is the road used by traffic to avoid having to enter the Chicago city limits.

 

RYAN: A highway, more than a man?

But there is another bill calling for the bulk of Interstate 55 in Illinois to be named for Obama. As things stand, the Chicago portion of that highway already is named for Adlai.

In fact, I suspect most Chicago motorists would get a confused look on their faces if you speak of I-55; but Stevenson Expressway will create a slew of stories of traffic congestion they have had to endure.

 

FORD: Name has new freeway fame

ALTHOUGH I SUSPECT this bill is politically loaded – there will be the rural Illinois residents who will object to having one of “their roads” being used for an Obama tribute. Yet you try to dump the name of Adlai E. from the Chicago portion of I-55, and that will create a bigger stink because people will have to learn a new name for telling people what road they were caught in traffic on during the morning rush hour.

These measures are going to create quite the political brawl; particularly since I already sense how offended the “loser” (as in the one whose idea gets rejected) will take it personally.

Will we get some people out there determined to hang on to numeric designations because they don’t want to acknowledge the Obama name – similar to how I’m aware of some people who insist on using the “Calumet Expressway” name for Ill. 394 because they don’t want to acknowledge the “Bishop Ford Freeway” and the Rev. L.H. Ford whose cultural significance as international head of the Church of God in Christ apparently didn’t extend into the non-black parts of the South Side.

It is a large part of why I personally hate seeing roads renamed for anybody. The amount of stupid-talk that gets created is never worth the tribute, and it also has the effect of reducing the memory of anyone to nothing more than a future traffic jam or deadly accident.

 

BYRNE: She saw humor in her interchange

IN FACT, ABOUT the only renaming I ever wound up liking was the one that turned the Circle Interchange (just southwest of downtown where all the expressways converge) into the Jane Byrne Interchange, in honor of the first femme to become Chicago mayor.

It’s not that I think the Byrne Interchange moniker has all that special a ring to it.

But Byrne herself was still alive when the change was made, and I’ve heard stories about how much amusement she’d gain whenever she heard radio reports about traffic congestions that inevitably would include the line, “Jane Byrne is backed up.”

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It’s Presidents Day; and many of us seem eager to dump all over the office

I don’t know what to think of the fact that Monday is a federal government holiday where we’re supposed to honor the concept of the U.S. presidency, yet most of us seem more interested in showing nothing but contempt.

OBAMA: Most hated since Clinton, or Lincoln?

That is the impression I gained during the weekend when it seemed that most people were interested in nothing more than dumping their ideological hang-ups onto the office we once used to seriously refer to as the “Leader of the Free World.”

BARACK OBAMA IS in a position these days where he is supposed to fulfill one of his constitutional obligations – picking a new member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Yet the conservative ideologues are going on and on about how Obama has no business even thinking of trying to fill the post. The Senate’s Republican leader let it be known he’s prepared to ignore the issue – which is important because the Senate has to confirm any appointment the president tries to make.

And when Obama on Saturday said he plans to make an appointment no matter what anyone else says, there are those who put the spin on this act that Obama is the one who’s provoking a dispute with the United States Senate.

Of course, I’m sure there are those who are going to argue that the actions of former President George W. Bush came under similar contempt from his ideological opponents.

THERE ALSO ARE those who think that the image of Ronald Reagan deserves something close to deification, and are quick to lambast anyone who dares give “the Gipper” anything less than complete admiration.

REAGAN: Hating on haters?

We’re a long way from thinking of the White House occupant as someone worthy of respect. Heck, the only thing I’m sure about with regards to the 2016 presidential election cycle is that regardless of who actually wins, there are going to be some seriously peeved people in this country.

And if the cheap threats bear any truth, there are going to be many fewer residents of this country come 2017. The only real question is, “Where would they move to?”

BUSH: Fans were Obama critics

Our politically partisan nature has become so intense that we just can’t think of any of the recent occupants of the presidency as being the holders of the same post once occupied by Abraham Lincoln.

LINCOLN: One of few worth remembering

WHOM I REALIZE came under hostile rhetoric during his own lifetime, and only became worshipped so intensely because of the circumstances of his death. How long until someone someday says something should be put into writing specifying that President’s Day does not include any recognition of Barack Obama – that’s the direction we’re headed in as a society.

So I really don’t think anyone is enjoying their day off from work or school (or more likely having to work anyway while also agonizing about what to do with the kids whom they have to arrange day care for because they’re not in school) and giving any serious thoughts as to our president.

Or probably not even remembering a past presidential figure.

If anything, there’s the chance that most people are thinking that this holiday is the one that came the day after the holiday that really concerned them – Valentine’s Day.

The 'true' meaning of President's Day

OR MAYBE THEY’RE the types who will see Monday as an excuse to buy a sale-priced mattress or dresser, or maybe take advantage of loan rates from a credit union advertised in the Chicago Sun-Times as, “some of the lowest in the nation.”

If anything, that may be the true meaning of President’s Day. Unless you happen to be like me – a freelance writer whose paychecks are sent to me through the U.S. mail and are timed to arrive at the week’s beginning.

And since this is a federal holiday, there is no U.S. mail delivery on Monday. So my potential payday gets pushed back a day to Tuesday – unless the postal service gets a little slow and I have to wait a day or two longer.

Somehow, getting paid late seems like all-to-appropriate way to commemorate the presidential post.

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We really were Number 1 (as in degrees, Fahrenheit) on Wednesday

When I woke up Wednesday, the television got tuned quickly to the Weather Channel, where after listening to some sissy Atlantans complain about cold and snow a report came along from Chicago indicating the current temperature was 1 degree.

What a depressing thought. One mere degree!!!

THE NATIONAL WEATHER Service indicated that the day did warm up slightly – Jan. 7, 2015 officially had a high temperature of 6 degrees recorded at O’Hare International Airport.

But the fact is it is cold out there. And not just winter weather cold (we’re used to that). I’m talking about hazardous to one’s life cold, if one doesn’t have enough sense to take precautions. What went through the heads of all those “Polar Bear” types (the ones who insist on taking a New Year’s Day swim) is beyond me.

Many school districts, including the Chicago Public Schools, have cancelled classes the past two days. In fact, the Chicago schools made the call Wednesday afternoon that they were going to remain closed for Thursday.

Which has led to complaints from people who seem determined to find something to gripe about. Stupid school administrators turning our kids into sissies who can’t cope with a little cold weather.

AS THEY WANT to see it, the snowfall stopped days ago, the streets are largely cleared, and they want to view it as ridiculous that kids can’t make a short walk to school – no matter how cold the temperature is.

Which is something I’ll have to admit seems unusual. Although I found it amusing the Facebook-posted observation of one of my former City News Bureau of Chicago counterparts who recalled winters past of having to check with stores on snow shovel sales as part of weather story coverage. If only that were a significant issue this week.

This winter and last may have seen schools close more than I recall schools closing back the entire time I was still required to get a basic education (which was the 1970s and early 1980s).

I recall the winter of 1977 in junior high school because that was a particularly cold spell for Chicago. I recall the school closings, and listening to local radio stations in suburban Lansing and Hammond, Ind., to see if our local schools were closed.

I STILL HAVE the memories of the day where the temperature dipped to about zero, yet my school district did NOT close. Although as I recall, my mother felt it was ridiculous for me to make the roughly six-block walk in that kind of temperature, and she had me and my brother (who had about a two-block walk to his school) stay home.

She wound up writing me the note for my teacher that basically said “Please excuse Gregory. It was too cold to send him to school.”

Believe it or not, the teachers accepted that, and my absence that day was excused.

But what really sticks in my memory is that winter temperatures were in the 30s to 20s (in degrees, Fahrenheit). The number of days that dipped below zero were truly rare.

IT IS WHY I find it bizarre the number of such frigid days we have experienced in recent years.

It also makes me think that the people who are complaining that the schools are closed are ones who have overly-heated offices to work out of, and probably have the heat in their cars turned up full-blast!

If, by chance, they had to shovel their own sidewalks, they’re probably now griping beyond belief once they got back inside their homes.

In my case, I have worked from home this week. I haven’t really had to go outside – except to check the mailbox to see if the proverbial paycheck is “in the mail” and which bills will eat up every single penny of it!

SO PERHAPS I’M willing to give those school officials some understanding on why it might not be best to expect so many kids to converge on their buildings on days like this week. I also feel sympathy for the mail carrier whose job required him to trudge to my front door on a daily basis.

The last thing we need is an increase in frostbite cases that need to be reported on – or other illnesses being triggered by the Arctic-like temperatures we’re now facing in Chicago.

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