How long will it take for O’Hare to Havana Marti becomes a daily flight?

President Barack Obama announced his intentions to restore relations between the United States and Cuba and diplomats from the two countries have already had their first sit-downs in hopes of the eventual reopening of an embassy in Havana

And it was on Thursday that a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate – with co-sponsorship of Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. – that would ease the restrictions that prevent U.S. citizens from being able to travel to the Caribbean island nation for personal reasons.

YET I’M NOT deluded enough to believe that the past half century of hostilities between the two nations is at an end, nor that I’ll be able to spend a wad of cash on Cuban-made cigars as a gift (I personally find cigar smoke to be repulsive) for anyone anytime soon.

Even though I have been long of the belief that a restoration of relations between the United States and Cuba makes only too much sense for both nations, and that the only reasons for maintaining the tensions is the ideological hang-ups whose time has long passed.

There are many Midwestern agriculture interests and other companies that would love to do business with Cuban interests – their financial bottom line would stand to benefit from easing the restrictions placed by our government out of the belief that they would cause the economic downfall of the regime maintained by the Castro brothers.

They haven’t; not really!

CUBA IS AN economically strapped nation; but the hardships have done nothing but feed into the propaganda that places blame on the United States for the poverty endured by many Cuban natives.

Or at least those Cubans who haven’t managed to slip out of the country and into the United States, where they now put up with myriad restrictions on what they can send “back home” to their relatives remaining on the island.

Currently, the only travel back and forth between the two nations is for people with special purposes, and there are limits on the amount of money they can spend on such trips.

So it is with all that in mind that I find the Freedom to Travel to Cuba act to be refreshing. It was introduced in the Senate, with Durbin being one of eight sponsors – four each from the Democratic and Republican caucuses.

A SIMILAR BILL is expected to be introduced next week in the House of Representatives, according to the Washington Post, which also reports that the bill would not do away with the trade embargo that has been in place for 50-plus years.

And with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, saying the Republican House majority has no intention of lifting that embargo anytime soon, it means the full restoration of relations truly is decades away.

It definitely will not be something that occurs during the Obama Administration. Heck, I’m coming up on 50 years of age, and I wonder if I will still be alive to see the days when I can theoretically catch a flight out of O’Hare and go straight to Jose Marti International Airport for a Caribbean vacation.

Or perhaps the day when the Cuban government, with an embassy in Washington, D.C., may also decide it needs a presence in the form of a Chicago consulate. Heck, if the mainland China government can have a consulate (at 1 E. Erie St. in the upscale River North neighborhood), why can’t Cuba?

I’M NOT SAYING I’m intending to be on the first regular flight out. But it always just seemed odd that a government that is able to get along with the bulk of the rest of the world remains a pariah to the United States.

Particularly when about the only thing most of us know about Cubans for real is all the quality ballplayers who have slipped into this country to play professionally here – including Chicago White Sox slugger Jose Abreu, who could wind up being the ultimate nightmare of Chicago Cubs fans if his hitting leads the White Sox to another championship before the Cubs can achieve anything!

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Obama arrival a plug for Gary airport?

It was amusing to see the arrival of President Barack Obama for a couple of days of activity this week in the Midwest.

 

The president will be in Princeton, Ind., at a steel mill on Friday, following a day of activity in Chicago and suburban Evanston in part to prop up the campaign of Gov. Pat Quinn.

 

YET ALL THIS began Wednesday night when Obama arrived on Air Force One at the airport in Gary, Ind. (which likes to give itself the impressive-sounding Gary/Chicago International Airport even though the number of flights operating there is miniscule).

 

Much has been made of the fact that the airport was used because of the fire at the FAA facility in Aurora that still causes disruptions at O’Hare International and Midway airports. The president didn’t want to cause anything that could be construed by the ideologues as more congestion at either of those airports.

 

So his flight landed at Gary, where he immediately got into a helicopter that wound up taking him into Chicago and transporting him for much of his trip in the metropolitan area.

 

Although the fact that he was only in Gary for a few minutes didn’t stop that city’s mayor, Karen Freeman-Wilson, and Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., from greeting Obama at the Hoosier airport and acting as though this was a trip to Indiana rather than just a quick transfer point.

 

THE MAYOR MADE comments to the press about how it only makes sense for the president to use the Gary airport when traveling to Chicago, on account of the fact that it is our city’s third airport.

 

Even though some of us want to cling to the idea of a third airport being built in what is now farm field in rural Will County just north of Peotone, others of us would want to see a new airport built anywhere but south of the city, and still others of us would rather there be no new airport.

 

Either because they want a massive expansion of O’Hare International or because they’d rather just discourage more flights passing through the Chicago area – not realizing the degree to which that would devastate the metropolitan area and turn Chicago from something that can be talked about along with New York and Los Angeles to something that more resembles Indianapolis or Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Personally, I always thought an expansion of that Gary facility would have made sense. It is a shame that officials couldn’t reach some understanding a couple of decades ago to move in that direction when trying to figure out a site for a new Chicago-area airport.

 

BUT WAY TOO many political people felt like then-Secretary of State George Ryan, who came right out and said he could not, in good conscience, vote to support any new airport located in Indiana. Even though one can note that the New York metro area’s third airport is based out of Newark, N.J. – and no one seems bothered by that fact!

 

The end result is that the Gary facility kind of lingers in limbo. It seems like we’re always reading stories about cut-rate airlines operating a few flights out of the airport (remember Hooters Air?), only to shut them down a few months later when a lack of significant passengers develops for their use.

 

Who’s to say if Chicago ever will have a third airport? Will this issue linger for another few decades of inactivity?

 

Did the president wind up giving an inadvertent advertising plug for those people who promote the idea of Gary (designated as airport GYY) as a part of Chicago’s transportation infrastructure? Or was Wednesday just the moment Mayor Freeman got to shake hands with the president?

 

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We see terrorist attacks everywhere, particularly where they don't exist

It was just the other day I was sitting in the waiting area of an auto repair shop when the television broke away from the ladies of the View to tell us of a crucial breaking news story.

 

An incident at O’Hare International Airport. Security was beefed up significantly. Terminal One (the United Airlines terminal, a very significant part of the airport that once again believes it is the world’s busiest) had parts of it completely shut down.

 

THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY no detail given out by police about what exactly was going on. But news anchor Alan Krashesky gave us some information, purely on background, that implied something may have happened that could be construed as an attempt at a terrorist-motivated incident.

 

In the end, it turned out that a piece of luggage went unclaimed. Somebody took it to be suspicious. All the authorities were called in.

 

All for a bag that ultimately had nothing in it that could have been considered threatening!

 

A great big “Whew!” We can relax. No terrorist threat there.

 

NOR WAS THERE one on Friday, when a fire broke out at an FAA radar center in suburban Aurora. That center is an integral part of the communications that allow officials at O’Hare and Midway airports to keep track of which airplanes are coming and going from their respective facilities.

 

In this incident, officials knew right away about the fire.

 

But there were those who were convinced early on that this had to be some sort of terrorist-motivated attack on the United States (which makes sense since anything that impacts O’Hare and Midway has a backlash affect to airports across the country).

 

That fire managed to disrupt more than 1,800 flights into or out of Chicago, and Southwest Airlines wound up cancelling all its flights on Friday out of Midway. Which is a big deal because Southwest is the airline that essentially props up Midway. All those cheap, no-frills, flights wound up being cancelled.

 

MY FAVORITE ANECDOTE was to learn that the Valparaiso University football team over in Indiana had to scramble to get a charter flight out of South Bend, Ind., so that they could be in North Carolina on Saturday for their scheduled game.

 

They were already on the way to Midway when they learned of the chaos that passengers were being confronted with. Meanwhile, activist Gloria Steinem couldn't get a flight from New York to Chicago to appear at a campaign event on behalf of Gov. Pat Quinn's re-election desires.

 

For purposes of this commentary, it should be noted that FAA officials found out the fire was caused by a now-former 36-year-old employee of the facility who was upset about a job transfer to Honolulu. Nobody with ISIS or Al Qaeda or anyone else along those lines had anything to do with the incident.

 

Although I’m sure some people over there would love to be able to take credit for causing such havoc. It would play into their agendas.

 

WHICH IS WHY I’m bothered by all the paranoia that crops up whenever there is some sort of incident that people with certain ideological hang-ups will want to blame on people of Arab ethnic backgrounds.

 

It gets those of us who ought to know better all freaked out. We should be more rational, particularly in a moment of crisis. It is the people who panic and over-react and make misjudgments who wind up making mistakes that cause lasting problems.

 

It makes me suspect that the people who are quick to assume “Muslims” did it every time something bad happens are inadvertently giving aid and comfort to the terrorist-types who they think they’re attacking.

 

A moment of rationality every now and then would help us to put these incidents into a proper perspective – particularly the Aurora fire; which makes me think the offender is going to get the real punishment by being forced to endure future Midwestern winters instead of the balmier climate of Hawaii.

 

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Let’s hope Quinn doesn’t get any ideas

I have been amused in recent days as I see the daily updates from the staff of Gov. Pat Quinn – informing us all of how the Mighty Quinn is in Brazil to do good things on behalf of the people of Illinois.

Will one of these Brazilian ladies soon be a student at an Illinois-based university?



It seems that the “State of Illinois Trade Mission” running from Sept. 22 through Friday even has its own official logo – almost like it were a rock concert. Will there soon be “Quinn does Brasilia” t-shirts available.

EXCUSE ME FOR wondering if this particular trip is just an excuse for Quinn to get away from the beginning of the autumn chill by going to a land where it is the beginning of spring.

Or maybe he just doesn’t want to be around this week while the Chicago White Sox seem incapable of putting away a division title, and appears to desire a long, drawn-out battle to the very end of the regular season.

Actually, that latter point is one that would make me want to be somewhere other than Chicago these days. But the biggest thing is that it amazes me the way in which the Quinn compadres seem determined to play this trip out to be one of the most significant actions of his time as governor.

Then again, in a place like Brazil, it would seem that Quinn gets the respect that a public official is supposed to receive due to his title. As opposed to Illinois, where way too many state legislators think he’s an unreliable and untrustworthy guy and too many city officials think he meddles in matters that are none of his concern.

WHICH IS HOW they probably do view the idea of casino expansion – which has fizzled because of Quinn’s opposition.

But it seems to make Quinn want to engage in a lot of overhyped statements, such as the one that was issued Tuesday. It seems there will be a new program meant to encourage Brazilian students wishing to attend a university in the United States to consider a Chicago- or Illinois-based school.

A Brazilian jolt to Fire futbol?

Perhaps there will someday be thousands of Brazilian teens doing their best Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise’s character in “Risky Business”) impersonation of, “Looks like University of Illinois.”

That would be good for bolstering Illinois’ image and recognition level.

BUT IT DOESN’T quite leap up at us as a major event worthy of the ‘front page’ of old. It reads more like a dinky brief in a corner of page A15 – filler material.

Which has me wondering what Quinn is really accomplishing with his trip south of the equator?

It’s not like he can attend Carnaval – which doesn’t take place until February (the 8^th through the 12^th of 2013, for those of you who care). Then again, it would seem appropriate for the Quinn administration to be just a bit off in its timing.

Perhaps he has soccer in mind, and would like to see some quality play – rather than the middling level we get to see with Major League Soccer and the Chicago Fire.

GOING TO THE land that dominates the World Cup (and gave us Pele – the one soccer player most people have heard of, even if they don’t comprehend exactly who he is) would be the place to go. Perhaps he could engage in some sort of deal that could help bolster the Fire with some young Brazilian talent. Quinn could play an instrumental role (sort of) in bringing another sporting championship to Chicago.

Or perhaps Quinn just wants to check out the famed Brazilian beaches packed with the young (and some not-quite-so-young) ladies wearing butt-bearing bathing suits.

Let’s only hope that the governor doesn’t get himself any ideas about joining in.

Because I don’t care how many “Brazilian butt-lift” exercises Quinn were to do – I just can’t envision the resulting sight would be a pleasant one for anyone to have to view.

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A step forward for our society feels a lot like a step back to the past

I first noticed it as just a little two-paragraph blurb filling a tiny hole on a newspaper page – there is a new section to the Illinois state government website that promotes tourism.

Called Pride Illinois, it is meant to promote the idea of tourism among gay people. In short, it is a site that includes lists of various places across the state where gay people allegedly will be made to feel welcome.

RESTAURANTS. NIGHTCLUBS. MUSEUMS. Outdoors sites. A whole world of entertainment where all people will feel welcome. And I’m sure it is meant to bolster the image (as though the ‘civil unions’ legislation passed a year ago didn’t do so already) of Illinois as a place that doesn’t want to discriminate.

I took a quick look at the lists, which at this point aren’t that comprehensive.

That may be because this is a new project, and more places and attractions will be added as state tourism officials become aware of them.

But for those of you who are curious, among the places that are “gay friendly” are the riverboat casino in Metropolis, Ill., and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in the Illinois capital city of Springfield.

IT’S CUTE. IT is a nice gesture. I’m sure some people with a twisted viewpoint of life will be greatly offended at this gesture – which is a good thing because it is their hang-up that is the real problem.

Yet it strikes me as a true throwback to the past in one sense.

The idea of a special guide telling people where they can go without having to face the possibility of harassment from locals whose “morals” make them think they must turn away people who aren’t just like themselves is not new.

Which may be sad commentary on our society’s history, although it might be a step forward that the Pride Illinois is an official, state-sanctioned effort, while the Green Books of old were virtually unknown to white society.

BECAUSE TO ME, the Pride Illinois effort sounds a lot like the old “Green Book,” the pamphlet that used to be published for about four decades until 1964 that provided a list of businesses that would serve African-American people (“colored” or “Negro,” if you want to use the terminology of the era).

Except for the fact that Pride Illinois is published on the Internet, instead of on paper with ink like the old, the idea is the same.

Which makes me wonder if in coming years, we’re going to get a list as comprehensive as the one that appeared in the 1949 edition of the Green Book. Ten of its 50 pages were devoted to Illinois (by comparison, Indiana got one page and Iowa had half a page), although two of those 10 pages were used to publish a “story” about the up-and-coming town “owned and operated by Negroes” – Robbins, Ill. (which now is a decaying south suburb that many people think of as the “poor” part of Blue Island).

Which is what kind of makes one sentence in that story sad. “It is worth the trouble to go out and take a look at an experiment of an exhibition of what Negroes working together can do,” the story by author George W. Sheppard read, adding that people ought to think of visiting and trying to “pitch in and help.”

THESE DAYS, THE Green Book is a relic of a past age when we thought we could limit the African-American population to a segment of the country that could be summarized in 50 pages. It is embarrassing these days to see that in some cities, the only place where an out-of-town African-American couple could stay was the home of a local family that would take in boarders.

It makes me wonder if the Pride Illinois site’s content will be looked at some 50 years from now with a similar sense of bewilderment – is this really all that was open to certain people in our society.

Were the hang-ups of certain individuals who would want to think of themselves as possessing high morals really that uptight?

For all I know, this content that Illinois tourism officials are gladly promoting today will someday be a source of shame – were we really that backward?

IT MAKES ME want to think that a line from the introduction to the Green Book will someday be applicable to the Pride Illinois offerings – “There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States.”

Change “race” to “people” and the sentiment still stands. Here’s hoping I’m still alive to see it happen.

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