Mayor Daley 360

pic from RushLimbaugh.com (of all places) - Mayor Daley glances over to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan nearby, his $500,000 benefactor, while U.S. Attourney General Eric Holder reads from his prepared statement.

DAILY NEWS

At 7:30 this morning, Mayor Daley met with visiting emissaries from the Obama cabinet, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Chicago Machine alum Arne Duncan, now the U.S. Secretary of Education, formerly the Daley appointed CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

Their meeting was held at the Four Seasons Hotel on E. Delaware, nestled in the Gold Coast high rises of Streeterville. The press was permitted to take pictures, but not to ask questions at this time.

The Mayor met with the president's men to discuss the the long-standing problem of youth violence in Chicago, a problem just recently brought into the national spotlight by the cell phone video-gone-viral of Fenger High School Honor Student, Derrion Albert, being beaten to death by a mob of rival gangs who'd turned on the unaffiliated Albert.

The Duncan/Holder visit was both timely and appropriate.

Timely, because the unfortunate story of Derrion Albert broke in the midst of Chicago's final Olympic push in Copenhagen last week, prompting CNN to make the issue the centerpiece of its news cycle today, with an online discussion on "Chicago Violence" supplementing its "News Day" program in which viewers were encouraged to participate: "Leave us a comment. We’ll read some of them on the air in the CNN Newsroom, 11am – 1pm ET."

In prime time, Anderson Cooper broadcasted his program from the very corner where Derrion Albert was killed. A seemingly inexhaustible well of hyperbole was brought to bear to shine a fleeting light upon the tragic complexity of Chicago's chronic social ills --

Is Chicago another Katrina?...

Now it’s Chicago. It’s not natural, but it’s a disaster by most standards. So far this year, 57 kids aged 18 and under were victims of homicide in Chicago, according to the Chicago Police Department. Last year, 100 kids were killed.

The visit is appropriate because Arne Duncan's own Renaissance 2010 program, a program he initiated before his White House promotion, is being blamed by community leaders for causing much of he friction in Chicago Public Schools responsible for Albert's death by inflaming cross-town rivalries between gangs when school closings force students to be sent to schools in faraway neighborhoods, a long way from the safety of their home turf --

At Fenger, a dozen parents from Altgeld Gardens arrived by school bus to blame Arne Duncan for the problems here, saying his Renaissance 2010 plan forced their kids to leave Carver.

The parents are demanding their kids be returned to the high school closer to their neighborhood.

DALEY CHATTER

11:00AM press conference with Daley, Duncan, and Holder - pic, yet again, from Rushlimbaugh.com

Comedian/pundit/clown Rush Limbaugh had some chatter to add to the conversation from his unceasing supply of it --

DALEY:... Among the things we talked about, how best to focus our resources on the young people and the families who need help the most.

RUSH: Resources. Anybody know what that means? Money, exactly right, resources equals money. So Daley is happy. Could I tell you why Daley is happy? Because he's now gonna get the money he was gonna get from the Olympics, only this time it's coming from Washington, ostensibly to deal with youth violence.

Indeed, the Associated Press confirms Limbaugh's supposed conclusions, if you're the type to believe the "conclusions" Rush reaches on his program are anything less than orchestrated --

Obama's administration has asked for $25 million in next year's budget for community-based crime prevention programs, Holder said. Duncan said an emergency grant of about $500,000 would go to Fenger for counselors or other programs.

Lest you find yourself agreeing too much with this Limbaugh character, be fully aware of the lot you throw yourself in with, dear reader --

Chicago is just a mess. It's run by Obama and his buddies and cronies. They've got this youth violence problem up there. And remember the latest incident involved a little kid getting killed trying to break up a fight. The participants were all black. Dare I say this? Dare I say that? We've got 40 seconds to delete that comment. I'm putting it up for a vote of the local staff here. Should I delete the comment? We've got 30 seconds now.

Should I bleep the comment that I pointed out that all of the participants in the most violent crime spree in Chicago were black?