red blackberrys

Roger L Simon:

"Chicago is not as brutal as China, obviously, but in some ways it’s worse. Someone named Daley has been the city’s mayor since somewhere in the Early Paleolithic Age. Chairman Mao didn’t last as long. Being a Daley in Chicago is equivalent to being a Medici in Florence – with less danger of a violent death. The patronage system seems to extend from somewhere a few miles south of Canada to the northern reaches of Kentucky. Everyone here appears to accept this as part of the game... In Chicago and Beijing, Shanghai, etc., it’s not what you know, but who you know. And it’s been like that for a long time."

...and to paraphrase some of the comments:

Of course Chicago is not China. China is FAR more business-friendly than Chicago, and has a cheaper cost of living. There’s prosperity in China. The schools work in China. China lacks a useless, welfare dependent political class. The police forces are not as corrupt and ineffectual, and the food is better.

http://drawfortruth.wordpress.com/category/compalinsons/

http://drawfortruth.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/one-nation/