Best Chicago political satire song blocked by CPS computers... Hit song 'Too Big to Fail' going You Tube platinum as Chicago questions Rahm's $18 million for less than three years of hard work as an 'investment banker'
The song 'Too Big to Fail' composed in honor of Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel has gone to the top of the non-Oprah list You Tube charts in less than a week, hitting more than 3,000 unique viewer plays by the end of the day on February 7, 2011. [That's a 'Hot Link' at the beginning of this paragraph, so you can get to the song just by doub-clicking on the title above if you want]. The song is getting an increasing number of plays every day despite the fact that it is blocked from computers inside all Chicago public schools. The song writer's daughter, a Chicago Public Schools student, can't even show here friends at her school.
Those who can't access the link above can copy and paste the following address into their browsers to get the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScYHLfdV8u8
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and mayoral candidates Rahm Emanuel (right above) had already decided that Rahm was the man by the time of the UNO anniversary dinner at Chicago's Union Station on November 16, 2010. Rahm was seated adjacent to Daley (between them, Veronica Alanis, UNO board president) and featured with all of the leaders of UNO, while other mayoral candidates were either relegated to a great distance from the podium (Miguel Del Valle) or snubbed altogether (the African Americans Danny Davis, James Meeks, and Carol Moseley Braun). Substance photo by George N. SchmidtMeanwhile, even Chicago's usually dumb and deliberately blinded corporate media have been forced to notice that Rahm's wealth was created with a quickie career on Wall Street as an "investment banker" with no training of experience in investment banking during a brief sojourn into private sector wealth creation and entrepreneurship prior to his return to public service in 2002. Emanuel bought the Congressional seat in the 5th Illinois Congressional District that had been vacated by Rod Blagojevich, who became Illinois governor. Emanuel's well funded and well organized machine beat community organizer Nancy Kaszak with the help of hundreds of Richard M. Daley precinct workers (check out "Hispanic Democratic Organization" or "Al Sanchez" for details) and millions of dollars in cash from Hollywood heavies and other outsiders.
When Rahm, as Congressman, supported George W. Bush's March 2003 invasion of Iraq, community members who opposed the invasion quickly mobilized, first as part of the massive Chicago protests (including the blockade of Lake Shore Drive the night the invasion began) and then with regular attempts to meet with their Congressman telling him his constituents opposed the war Rahm was supporting. Rahm was, to put it charitably, rude when his constituents asked him to come out against the war.
For many in the Fifth Illinois, Rahm counts as the worst Congressman they've had in 30 years. And that's with one of those Congressmen (Dan Rostenkowski, who recently died) having served prison time for "corruption" and another (Rod Blagojevich) still facing federal charges. To many of his former Congressional constituents, Rahm Emanuel was the only Congressman who ignored the middle class, small business and working class people of the district, immediately setting off to become a "leader" in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of all the congressmen to represent the famous Illinois Fifth, Rahm Emanuel was the only one who ignored and insulted his constituents the whole time he was in office. Rostenkowski's weekend sit-downs with his contituents near Blackhawk Park are still remembered fondly, and Blagojevich, whatever his failings, made sure that New Deal programs like Medicaid were available for those in Chicago and Illinois who fell on hard times. Emanuel couldn't have cared less.
On February 8, 2011, the Chicago Sun-Times finally began taking note of Rahm Emanuel's corrupt careers both in the private sector and in government following criticisms by opponents and by the city's unions. The Tribune, which has already supported Emanuel both in its news and opinion sections, still ignores Emanuel's controversial career.One of the many things that Chicago's corporate media is still missing about Rahm Emanuel's political career is how the most corrupt parts of the Chicago machine — specifically the Hispanic Democratic Organization, or HDO — and Rahm's Hollywood cash and other outside money helped Rahm buy himself a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for a few years. Rahm's Hollywood cash began influencing Chicago politics during the 2002 campaign, while Daley's HDO friends supplied the muscle, ranging from precinct work to making sure that Rahm's opponents had a hard time keeping their lawn signs in place. (Full disclosure: Substance and this reporter are located in the Fifth Illinois Congressional District).
The Congressional seat was the only elected office Rahm ever held. Prior to going into investment banking, Emanuel had worked as a political worker (high level) for Mayor Richard M. Daley locally and then for Bill Clinton nationally. The Clinton connections gave Rahm the introduction to the investment banking millions that he earned in ways most voters in his old Congressional district never heard of.
On October 15, 2007, (then) Congressman Rahm Emanuel (above left) joined Chicago Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan (right above), Mayor Richard M. Daley (second from right) and 11th Ward Alderman Michael Balczer (next to Rahm) for the dedication of Chicago's "Marine Military Academy High School at 145 S. Campbell in Chicago. Among the many oddities of the event was the fact that Rahm Emanuel was not the Congressman for the Congressional District the included the new school. Despite widespread opposition in Chicago to the expansion of the "military academy" high schools during the Daley and Duncan years (2001 - 2008), Emanuel braqged that he brought earmarks to Chicago for the expansion of the military schools, while at the same time he neglected the funding issues facing the general high schools serving the majority of public school students in his own congressional district. Emanuel left his congressional seat in 2008 following the election of Barack Obama and became White House Chief of Staff for Obama in 2009. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Few families in the Illinois Fifth can amass $18.5 million in several lifetimes, let alone in three years. But atop the millions of dollars that helped put Rahm into Congress, he had the assistance of the Daley patronage workers who worked every precinct in the district, ward by ward, for Rahm while he opponent was relegated to earnest but unpaid volunteers. The results was in just as the fix had been in.
Another aspect of the Rahm Emanuel career in the "free market" private sector was his involvement with Magnatar. But that's a story for another time, as more and more Chicago teachers try and figure out why they and their students are blocked from getting to "Too Big to Fail" on CPS computers.
