Posted by
Rich from NW Indiana on Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:59:40 PM
A Little of this and a little of that for today.......
Lake County Indiana was caught with its pants down on Tuesday, when it held up the primary vote count until early Wednesday morning. Read about it
here. The national cable news networks were wondering whether there was "hanky-panky" going on due to the close race between Obama and Clinton. The mayors of Gary (Obama supporter) and Hammond (Clinton supporter) blasted each other on CNN and neither took the blame for it. Of course if you live here as I do, you know the vote is always late here in Lake County (thank you Gary Democrats). We as stuck with Cook County's leftover Democrats, who don't want to get in line with Indiana's mostly well run Republican government. Oh, by the way, Clinton won Indiana, but Obama won Lake County somehow (Hummmmm).
In November Indiana will be forgotten by the national news organizations since McCain will easily win Indiana.
On to other things........
Blue Island, Illinois dodged a bullet as the owners of St. Francis Hospital found a willing buyer. St. Francis will become a for-profit hospital and will be renamed as it will no longer be a catholic hospital. Read about it
here. Hopefully this doesn't just kick the can down the road money-wise as the profitability of this hospital is a major problem. Becoming for-profit opens the door to more taxes such as property taxes that will now have to be paid. This company has a tough road in front of it, as it will be stuck with Illinois over-regulations on healthcare, and it will have to do other unpopular things like laying off people to return this hospital to profitable status. Oh, the new name,,,, MetroSouth Medical Center. Don't you hate the names they come up with for medical things these days?
And lastly...........
Wal-Mart has given up on opening stores inside the city of Chicago, for now. Read about it
here. It will focus on opening stores just outside city limits. The Chicago Tribune forgot to include the planned store that will face Chicago on State-Line Av. on the Hammond, Indiana side of the border. This Wal-mart will have the lowest sales tax as it is outside Cook County as well as Chicago.
Once again the interests of a few (Daley, labor unions, other elites) will make large amounts of people shop outside the city limits. Many of the neighborhoods that Wal-Mart was willing to move to, have little or no shopping choices. The stores are wanted by the community and are supported by the local alderman. But No, from those who neighborhoods have plenty of shopping we hate Wal-Mart and all it stands for. The suburbs will get the sales tax dollars that the city wants but is not willing to earn. Once again the unions screw the working-class that like to shop at Wal-Mart.
The irony of it all is that Target is in the city in a few locations on the north side. All the fury is directed only at Wal-Mart. Is it in addition to its anti-union status that the owners of Wal-Mart are conservative and Target is owned by liberals? The hypocrisy is quite thick. Oh, by the way Chicago sales tax is a mind numbing 10.25%! Insane!
Have a good one!!!