May 22, 2012

Hey, who lives in Tinley Park?

I keep reading about this incident in a Tinley Park, IL restaurant, in which a bunch of leftist white thugs armed with hammers attacked a small group of diners who say they are part of a "European Heritage" organization. But I keep getting distracted by the thought that I've heard of Tinley Park not that long ago. Who lives in Tinley Park who used to be in the news? 

Oh, yeah, Mr. Officially Not News. The Rev. He Who Must Never Be Mentioned Again lives in a 10,000 square foot house he built in 2008 in a golf course development in Tinley Park. 

Speaking of the man whom all right-thinking folks recently decided must never be spoken of in polite society, former New York Times Magazine chief editor Edward Klein says that the Unmentionable Personage was offered $150,000 hush money by Dr. Eric Whitaker, one of Barack and Michelle Obama's four closest friends. 

As I blogged on April 29, 2008, when The Occluded One had returned from his cruise and derided the honesty of Obama's mellifluous race speech of March 18:
One little-mentioned aspect of Barack Obama's on-going fiasco involving his spiritual mentor is that it makes him look feckless. 
Rev. Wright has been a problem Obama knew he was going to have for, roughly, ever. But what has he done about it, besides giving a 5,000 word speech? Did he switch to a Washington D.C. church when he was elected to the Senate in 2005? Did he persuade Trinity to stop selling Wright's sermons on DVD? Did he provide any sort of narrative about the evolving ideological differences between the young and mature Barack Obamas? 
In contrast, do you remember how in February 2004, Democratic frontrunner John Kerry was rocked by rumors that he was having an adulterous affair with a young woman? You probably don't remember because, although for about a day it looked like it might derail Kerry's victory march through the primaries, the story quickly went away -- when the young lady went away, leaving the country. 
Problem dealt with. 
I have no idea if the rumors about Kerry were true or if the girl's timely departure from America was a coincidence or what. But, let's assume the worst about Kerry: he wrote a big check from the allowance his wife gives him to his mistress in return for making herself scarce. What can you then say about Kerry? 
Well, one thing you can say is that he had a problem and he dealt with it. All else being equal, I'd rather have a President who had a problem and dealt with it than a President who had a problem and failed to deal with it. 
Wright should not have been an unsolvable problem for Obama. Wright likes the spotlight, but he also likes other things. (He drives a Porsche, for example). 
So, Wright likes money. Obama has friends with money. Right there, you have the makings of a deal. (The payoff didn't have to be crass -- just that in return for Wright maintaining a low profile all year, in December 2008 Obama's supporters would start up a charitable foundation for Rev. to run. Obama could have asked Bill and Hill for advice on the fine points of foundations.)

Then, in August 2008, New York magazine reported that Rev. Wright was going to publish a book in October 2008 (as I had predicted on April 2, 2008). Big Trouble.

But, quickly, that news was denied. As I blogged at the time:
Update: Now, Rev. Dr. Wright's daughter says that isn't true. She asserts her father is in an electronically inaccessible region of Ghana and will issue a statement when he emerges from "email hell." 
I must say, the news that Rev. Wright is currently hanging out with Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Kurtz makes Obama look much more Presidential than did the endless Obama-Wright psychodrama of last spring. 

24 comments:

eah said...

makes him look feckless

Uhh, he is feckless (and no, I did not have to look that word up). So is that an entirely bad thing?

I would accept a lot less to shut up about Obama.

Anonymous said...

Rev Wright did eventually leave the public stage. So I assume he was paid off by someone.

Anonymous said...

"Rev Wright did eventually leave the public stage. So I assume he was paid off by someone."

George Soros?

Marlowe said...

Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest? I guess Prof. Pinker had it right in Better Angels: in the bad old days the King would dispose of awkward clergy by unreasonably harsh means.

Shouting Thomas said...

The Cubs got involved in the Rev. Wright fiasco. One of the Ricketts briefly toyed with the idea of funding a TV campaign for the Republican Party, calling out the racist Rev.

The Chicago papers (both the Trib and the Sun-Times) went ballistic.

The Ricketts backed off.

This was a PR disaster for the Ricketts family, which is currently trying to convince Chicago and the State of Illinois to cough up for a renovation of Wrigley Field. Rahm Emanuel, you might remember, is Mayor of Chicago.

Mr. Anon said...

"So, Wright likes money. Obama has friends with money. Right there, you have the makings of a deal."

But it's better to save his friends money for something bigger - like covering up the the numerous holes in his own biography.

He also had something almost as good as friends with money - opponents with no brains. McCain vowed not to make an issue of Wright, and the idiot didn't.

Chicago said...

Religion really paid off well for Wright, especially the variety he was peddling whereby he beat his chest daily about being black. Upon retirement he chose not to live amongst his former parishioners but moved to the white area he's in now, into the 10,000 sq ft home that was provided for him. So long suckers!!
I wonder what he's really up to in Africa. He wouldn't be staying in a mud hut but is probably in a modern hotel that has electronic access so that's probably a lie. But then everything about and around Obama seems to be a lie.

Drunk Idiot said...

Chicago Tribune article explains origins, motivation of violent anti-racist action group involved in Tinley Park restaurant attack. Because the attackers were clad in all black and had their faces covered with scarves, many initially mistook them for the similarly black-clad and scarfed violent anarchists of Black Bloc, who had spent the previous week marching, rioting and plotting to bomb targets in Chicago in protest of the NATO summit.

Several of the masked attackers targeted the bystanders, but authorities say the majority homed in on a long table — filled with who the attackers believed were about a dozen white supremacists meeting for lunch...

Ten people were injured, at least three of them needing staples to close bloody head wounds.

An unpublished restaurant security video viewed by the Tribune of the bizarre Saturday afternoon melee had no sound — but it screams with images of fear and aggression. It was an attack that spilled from Internet chat rooms to the floor of the small Ashford House restaurant, bringing to the forefront an underground and nationwide battle between violent anti-racism groups and white supremacists...


Who are these violent anti-racist attackers?

The men are connected to the Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement, which is part of the Anti-Racist Action Network that formed in Minneapolis in 1987 to address discrimination, according to a leader in the organization, Jacob Domke.

Prosecutors say authorities apprehended the men about four miles from the restaurant shortly after the melee and found dark hoodies, scarves, a knife and batons in their car. The five were being held on bail Monday and face felony counts of mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property.

The Sutherlin brothers became interested in combating fascism while growing up in diverse family in Bloomington, a predominantly white city that is home to Indiana University, Domke said. Though they are white, their half sister's father is black, he said.

"When you grow up in a multiracial family in Indiana, I think that can open your eyes to the problem of racism in this country," Domke said.


So who does the Chicago Tribune consult to learn more about the melee? Who else but Marc Potok, of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Potok tells the Tribune that anti-racist groups commonly commit violence, despite the fact that you don't hear about it (basically, because it would be bad for the cause).

Mark Potok, an investigator with the anti-discrimination Southern Poverty Law Center, said using violence against racist organizations is not uncommon but is bad for the cause.

"This kind of thing happens far more often than people realize," Potok said. "The difference here is it doesn't happen in family restaurants."

The Saturday melee has lit up Internet sites on both sides for days. The Anti-Racist Action movement posted a note boasting of the attack.

Prosecutors said the targeted diners claimed to be part of an Illinois European heritage association that was affiliated with White News Now and Storm Front — Web sites that tout white supremacy, according to the law center.

Anonymous said...

Shakedown artists will shake anyone down, including the president, even if they share similar skin hues.

Drunk Idiot said...

A couple months ago, Mr. Potok and the SPLC made big headlines when they announced that racist right wing hate groups and violent racist right wing domestic terrorist groups have grown by 100,000% (or thereabouts) since the date of Barack Obama's inauguration.

But Potok's report characterized Pick Up Artist (PUA) blogs, anti-misandry "manosphere" blogs, and more or less any blog that ever published a rebuttal to Amanda Marcotte or a critical word about Kate Bolick's widely-praised still-single-at-40-and-not-gonna-settle-for-anything-less-than-a-neurosurgeon-who-looks-like-
George Clooney Atlantic manifesto "All the Single Ladies" (and its follow up, "Refusing to Settle") as violent racist right wing domestic terrorist organizations.

One has to wonder whether Mr. Potok and the SPLC included the kinds of violent anti-racist groups which, as Potok admits, commonly use violence against groups he characterizes as "racist organizations" (however he chooses to define "racist organizations") as "hate/domestic terrorist groups" in their much-publicized report.

Luke Lea said...

"Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Kurtz . . ." hilarious

historian said...

Hush money is only needed if Wright is an unpredictable naif a la Paula Jones--more likely he recognizes that the rest of America despises him, and he is playing both sides of this (remember, O's golfing buddy offered the $$$ "but he refused"). In the case of Kerry's campaign I think the young lady, named at the time as Lexi Polier and blared by Matt Drudge, turned out to be a political macher in her own right so a medium-price vacation in Barcelona or Florence was probably all that the situation called for. She ultimately had to marry a Jewish-Kenyan guy (no joke) so I'm guessing it didn't turn out as they'd hoped for any party involved.

Anonymous said...

Prosecutors say authorities apprehended the men about four miles from the restaurant shortly after the melee and found dark hoodies, scarves, a knife and batons in their car. The five were being held on bail Monday and face felony counts of mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property.


But no "hate crimes" charges.

Anonymous said...

But no "hate crimes" charges.

Don't we have the ADL to thank for the whole "hate crimes" nonsense? There doesn't seem to be anything on
the internet in the origins of these laws.

ATBOTL said...

People like Wright tell themselves that they are sticking it to the white man by moving to a white neighborhood. No doubt, he gets pleasure from thinking he is ruining whites people's day just by being there. Too bad they don't notice he is black.

Ray Sawhill said...

FWIW, Lexi Polier makes her own case:

LINK

Anonymous said...

"An unpublished restaurant security video viewed by the Tribune"

Freedom of information act. I'm not a storm-fronter, but we can't let this go, and they need to know we care. These people see no difference between liberals like the National Review crowd and Stormfront.

Lamarca said...

This is the kind of "action" that Bolsheviks can get away with in a gun ban metro like Chicago.

When I read the story I thought the place must serve alcohol (bar/restaurant) ... there are quotes from the owner and apparently he doesn't have a gun on the premises!

Who gets into a fistfight with a bandana wearing, bat wielding thug? In your own restaurant? The answer is: a huge liberal. Anyone else would just shoot the guy.

Even in NYC the small retailers will sometimes shoot thugs on the premises. These owners don't suffer a drop off in business after the incident. Au contraire, people stop in to say: WAY TO GO. I LIKE THIS PLACE MORE THAN EVER.

In that area do the jewelry store owners not have guns behind the counter also? The owner complains in the original article that business was off because of the incident. Maybe because you, the owner, utterly failed to protect your customers.

Anonymous said...

Full article with perp photos at indystar.com in the news section for 5/22

Link is on the front page now.

The perp photos are exactly what I expected except they are not teens. They are adults. The elder brother is 33!

I bet every perp here is from a single mother home in other words these are bastard sons acting out the rage of the fatherless.

Maya said...

"I bet every perp here is from a single mother home in other words these are bastard sons acting out the rage of the fatherless."

Oh, please. Animals act like animals because they are animals. My cousins' father died before the younger one was born. They didn't grow up to attack people in restaurants. And, surely, my cousins missed out on a lot more by growing up without their father than any of these young men. I bet their biological fathers resemble them to a t, with matching police records and likely drug use. i say treat these types of people humanely, cage the violent ones, strong arm were womenfolk into submitting to birth control shots, and don't rationalize their lack of mental prowess.

Anonymous said...

A couple months ago, Mr. Potok and the SPLC made big headlines when they announced that racist right wing hate groups and violent racist right wing domestic terrorist groups have grown by 100,000% (or thereabouts) since the date of Barack Obama's inauguration.

I don't know about 100,000% but there is no question that Obama's election far from bringing people together as hoped has brought angered and emboldened racists out of the woodwork.

Just look at the explosion in sales of guns and survival rations. A pessimist would conclude that America is heading for another civil war.

Anonymous said...

>Several of the masked attackers targeted the bystanders, but authorities say the majority homed in on a long table — filled with who the attackers believed were about a dozen white supremacists meeting for lunch... Ten people were injured, at least three of them needing staples to close bloody head wounds.<

This kind of thing would happen much less here if the United States had its own version of Greece's Golden Dawn providing security for such meetings, and even patrolling the streets on the lookout for antifa.

sputnik said...

these are well above avg IQ thugs.....in a good economy their avg age might be 19 but now many older men are idled......nice neck tats on that one dude....

lots of undercover fed agents are actually organizing and administrating these radical groups

Anonymous said...

Maybe moving to that white area is why his daughter last touch with the minority grouping she was trying to help. Hush now MSM.