When ‘Puter’s wrong, he’ll admit it. But ‘Puter’s not convinced he’s entirely wrong on the Tom Dart post below.

Anyhoo, in an effort to pull back the curtain and let the world see the exquisitely intricate process of creating a hard-hitting blog post based entirely on the two minutes of reviewing a local reporter’s take, ‘Puter offers the following actual e-mail exchange among ‘Puter, OEV and an unnamed Friend of the Gormogons (“FOG’). Note well the transition from public corruption/presidential politics/science/financial meltdown to the Worst Movie Ever, Highlander II. All spelling and formatting errors are ‘Puter’s alone. Remember, ‘Puter’s a Luddite. Enjoy!

From: Friend of Gormogons (“FOG”)
Sent:
To: ‘Puter; OEV
Subject: RE: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

Now this is getting good.

Tom Dart’s history in Illinois politics points to item (2). I think he’s well aware of any potential harm, but he’s got the moral “little guy” argument on the other side to counter that. And he’s not (3).

After all, it’s Cook County politics: (2) is all there is!

If memory serves, Zeist was the HIghlander II planet, and let me add that it was the ONLY movie to date where I seriously discussed walking out on. Loudly. But we agreed that we should stay and see how much worse it could possibly get. As the credits rolled, the consensus was we waited too long. I’ve hated a lot of films, some passionately so, but never was I so motivated to exit a theater. The whole shoebox could have been on fire, and I might have exited more slowly. “Now hold on a minute,” I could have said, “This fire is an interesting development in the story line.” When it became, perhaps fatally, clear that the fire was unrelated to the movie, I might then suggest escape. However, as I ambled out of the inferno, I would almost certainly suspect that the fire was started by the projection equipment in an attempt to save our lives by destroying the film print.

From: ‘Puter
Sent:
To: FOG, OEV
Subject: RE: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

I will update my post. I’m still not convinced on Dart, though. Philly pulled the same stunt, but quietly backed off. The supposition of a lot of folks here in my office was that some major banks quietly picked up the phone and asked politicians why the banks shouldn’t immediately call all lines of credit, including the City’s, if the banks can’t trust that the laws relating to their colalteral will be followed. I expect some very direct behind the scenes conversations are going on now.

My major problem is that Dart is (1) unaware of the harm his position causes (2) cynically trying to score points in an election year (3) stupid or (4) some combination of all of the above.

Good info on Obama and the giant overhead projector. Wasn’t Highlander II a space alien from the planet Zeiss? How’d the Adler get an extra terrestrial overhead projector? So confusing.

And we were also just talking here about the impacts of the bailout as we move toward a presumed Obama administration. My position was that the start down the road to socialism here is going to give Obama and the Democratic Congress all the leverage they need to start using the banks as off-book instruments of social policy, more than they already have. With a significant government ownership in the banks, who’s going to prevent this?

Moral hazard, Obama is thy name!

From: FOG
Sent:
To: OEV
Cc: ‘Puter
Subject: RE: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

No formal rebuttal. I don’t presume to question the “province of the executive,” which is a very cool phrase. My understanding is that he’s not refusing so much as openly delaying execution of the order in lieu of more pressing evictions. I could be wrong, since I didn’t hear or see Dart say this: only picked this up from the extensive media coverage here and followup analysis. It’s been a big issue here for the last few weeks when his sheriffs were evicting hundreds of on-time-paying folks who understandably were quite upset and went to the news media with their
stories.

However, the case in Illinois isn’t so clear cut:

AP says … “Dart said that from now on, banks will have to present his office with a court affidavit that proves the home’s occupant is either the owner or has been properly notified of the foreclosure proceedings. Illinois law requires that renters be notified that their residence is in foreclosure and they will be evicted in 120 days, but Dart indicated that the law has been routinely ignored. … This week, an attorney asked that Dart be held in contempt when his deputies did not evict tenants after determining they were not the owners and did not know about their landlord’s financial problems. A judge denied the attorney’s request, Dart’s office said, and Dart said that after talking to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, he is confident he is on solid legal ground. “My job as sheriff is to follow court orders, absolutely,” he said. “But I’m also in charge of making sure justice is being done here and it is clear that justice is not being done here.” The state’s attorney’s office said it would not comment on conversations with Dart because his office is a client.”

We’ll see.

But in other news, let me paste this in from another email reply I was just
sending:
————————————————————————————————————————

Getting less attention for all the wrong reasons is McCain’s allegedly anti-scientific quote about an “overhead projector.” As you’re aware, a lot of
organizations are saying he’s an ignorant fool, because the Zeiss in question *is* worth $3 million, and that Obama was merely trying to help out a place of learning.

What isn’t getting commented on anywhere outside the Chicago area–because it’s probably too complex for normal humans to grasp–is why McCain objected to it. The issue isn’t whether you can call the Zeiss projector an “overhead projector” as the science blogs are criticizing (although, it is, isn’t it?), nor that McCain is against scientific learning (he
isn’t) as the Obama-blogs are rejoicing. The issue at stake is why it’s the Adler Planetarium in Chicago that gets it. Reason? The former chairman of the board for Adler is ComEd president Frank Clark, who donated a
ton of his own money to the Obama campaign. In a classic quid pro quo,
because I know how much you two love Latin, Obama agreed to get the
American public to buy a new projector for the planetarium in Clark’s
name. And the Adler is, ultimately, a private institution.

The Adler, in the minds of many people here, could well use a new projector, but should do so from a combination of grants and private contributions. I don’t blame the Adler for its willingness to cash a government check, but the process by which the check almost got cut is what’s at stake.

It demonstrates how Obama can easily shift money around without needing to raise taxes so obviously. I think it’s a good argument.

From: OEV
Sent:
To: FOG; ‘Puter
Subject: Fwd: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

Back to you, [FOG].

Begin forwarded message:

From: ‘Puter
Date:
To: OEV
Subject: RE: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

Nope. [FOG’s] a bit off. If a court orders the eviction, it is presumed to have considered the evidence. Sheriffs don’t evict people without a court order, as the sheriff’s own website admits. http://www.cookcountysheriff.org/court/civilprocess.html

It is not the province of the executive to refuse to execute a legal order of the judiciary. If the executive has a problem, it should take it up with the
court. It cannot fail to execute the law of the land. It’s unconstitutional for it to do so.

And is the sheriff going to reimburse the banks four months of carrying costs (for the funding loans supporting the property), four months of maintenance and potentially four months of not being able to sell? The issue is Dart is not legally able to do what he has done. If Dart doesn’t like it, get the state leg to change the law.

From: OEV
Sent:
To: ‘Puter
Subject: Fwd: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

I don’t know if you want to update your post. Sounds like the story is a little off.

Begin forwarded message:

From: FOG
Date:
To: OEV
Subject: Ghettoputer is a bit incorrect…

…on his rail against Sheriff Tom Dart.

Most folks think Dart is doing a pretty good job, and has made a gutsy call.
Dart is NOT saying that he will fail to obey a court ordered eviction. He is saying, and the news cite imperfectly covers this, that his department will not evict tenants–who have demonstrated they have fulfilled their lease
obligations–at the instant request of a mortgage holder. He will do so if the landlord requests it, or if the tenants have broken the terms of their
lease. Otherwise, he is stating that his department will act slowly to evict legitimate tenants in order to give them more time to relocate. I believe he is stating 4 months.

Ghettoputer is more than welcome to look at the other low-hanging fruit of Democratic corruption in Cook County.

'Puter

Always right, unless he isn’t, the infallible Ghettoputer F. X. Gormogons claims to be an in-law of the Volgi, although no one really believes this.

’Puter carefully follows economic and financial trends, legal affairs, and serves as the Gormogons’ financial and legal advisor. He successfully defended us against a lawsuit from a liquor distributor worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid deliveries of bootleg shandies.

The Geep has an IQ so high it is untestable and attempts to measure it have resulted in dangerously unstable results as well as injuries to researchers. Coincidentally, he publishes intelligence tests as a side gig.

His sarcasm is so highly developed it borders on the psychic, and he is often able to insult a person even before meeting them. ’Puter enjoys hunting small game with 000 slugs and punt guns, correcting homilies in real time at Mass, and undermining unions. ’Puter likes to wear a hockey mask and carry an axe into public campgrounds, where he bursts into people’s tents and screams. As you might expect, he has been shot several times but remains completely undeterred.

He assures us that his obsessive fawning over news stories involving women teachers sleeping with young students is not Freudian in any way, although he admits something similar once happened to him. Uniquely, ’Puter is unable to speak, read, or write Russian, but he is able to sing it fluently.

Geep joined the order in the mid-1980s. He arrived at the Castle door with dozens of steamer trunks and an inarticulate hissing creature of astonishingly low intelligence he calls “Sleestak.” Ghettoputer appears to make his wishes known to Sleestak, although no one is sure whether this is the result of complex sign language, expert body posture reading, or simply beating Sleestak with a rubber mallet.

‘Puter suggests the Czar suck it.