ILLINOIS' GOVERNOR GUILTY OF RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

The deadly October 17, 2003, fire at the Cook County Administration Building, at 69 E. Washington in Chicago's Loop, demonstrates the hypocrisy of a heartless legal system which vainly presents itself as being righteous.

Among many other institutions obsessed with public safety, the County building houses one of the Secretary of State's facilities. This facility is so concerned with public safety that, at the minimum, they will (as part of the overall legal system) fine individuals for not wearing a seat-belt, and, at (not even) the maximum, they will (as part of the overall legal system) have that individual arrested, will rob that individual of driving privileges, will strip that individual of livelihood, will imprison and otherwise screw with that individual--before, if ever, that individual is offered a fair trial--for even the mere suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol--all in the name of public safety.

Yet this same body, so anxious to wield its spotless sword against the public, to play God the Punisher, to lop the heads off of those already victimized by hard-liquor TV ads--while the pearly white State sucks in blood money in the form of liquor taxes, by the millions--this same body had such a lack of concern for the safety of its own workers, that it housed its facility in a high rise which had no sprinkler system, no clear evacuation plan, and escape route doors which were locked from the inside, leaving six people to die in the smoke, trapped like rats in a stairwell. Has any act of involuntary manslaughter been so obvious as this?

Why was this different than the Great White concert fire, for example? We hear of no possible criminal charges against the Secretary of State. What about others in that building? One of the very people who should be held responsbile for his County building office's lack of public safety is Dick Devine--but don't count on him being held liable, because he's the one leading the investigation. Nor will there be any charges against those who are responsbile for Central States Institute of Addiction, which, in violation of the separation of Church and State, is a Catholic run organization (posing as a charity) which somehow gets away with charging DUI defendants over $200 each (forcing them to supply the courts with evidence against themselves), as part of a blatant double jeopardy during which the defendant is tried twice for the same crime (once by the court, and again by, you guessed it, the Secretary of State). Apparently there not only exists a double jeopardy in Illinois, but a double standard as well. Did you know an employee from Central States also died in the October 17 fire at the Cook County Administration building? Wait a second, before you feel too sympathetic. Central States' main mission is to determine what risk DUI defendants pose on the community, and they do this heartlessly with a computer program, sloppily diagnosing a person every ten minutes or so, sending some off to bankrupsy and others off to prison (like something out of the plot of Minority Report) for being considered at a "high risk" to commit a crime in the future. Yet, I'd say, that housing their facility in a fire trap was at the highest level of risk. We should wonder who was drunk at Central States Institute of Addiction on October 17. What were they thinking when they sent their employees into a stairwell with locked doors, where one of them died? I suppose they were thinking along the lines of the way most drunk drivers think—-it can't happen to me. Magical thinking. Adolescent thinking for sure.

It has also been speculated that the Secretary of State's office was storing gasoline in a closet, or at least gasoline tainted boxes, which were stacked up high near a light-bulb, and which somehow (duh!) spontaneously combusted, causing the fire at ceiling level. The parties responsbile for this act of utter disrespect for human life will not be charged with manslaughter, but will be given great respect, carefully questioned before the media for a committee investigating the fire, as if, because they were government employees, their lives and liberties are somehow worth more, and their screw ups are considered less serious. Would the same respect be given to those involved in, say, a South Side blaze which takes the lives of (what they might consider to be) just some crack-heads? What about to a drunk driver who crashes his car, killing a family of six. Same amount of lives lost. Same amount of stupidity demonstrated. Both tragedies could have been easily avoided. Absolutely no difference.

Jesse White is the top man in charge, and he is ultimately responsible for his employees. He needs to be treated like anyone else who has caused death through an act of carelessness—Jesse White needs to be held accountable for what happened at the Cook County Administration Building. And the priests who are in the pockets of the politicians and who pocket the money of DUI defendants, only to shit out bogus, fabricated evaluations--they need to be held accountable as well. Are we suppose to make them an exception simply because they are Catholic? And the Public Guardian needs to be held accountable for the death of its three employees. The WHOLE SYSTEM needs to be held accountable, needs to be shaken up and needs to look at itself in the mirror.

This is the same system, mind you, that sends possible alcoholics and DUI violators to places like DUI Services, the alternative to jail, which is a dump on Lawrence Ave. There they receive so-called counselling with an old, bitter man named Ed S., who has three (count them, three) DUIs of his own. He preaches a black and white version of reality, spouts textbook theories, shouts at, insults, openly manhandles young men and otherwise disrespects his "students." He is so into being an "actor" that he never bothers to allow his "students" to get word one in about themselves (unless, the pattern goes, they are cute young men). Isn't Ed the problem? Isn't a man who has driven drunk (and been busted doing so) not once, not twice, but three times, the PROBLEM, not the answer. Ed and others like him are the reason the DUI laws in Illinois are so strict. The Illinois DUI laws can utterly destroy the life of even a first time offender who gets caught, not driving, but passed out in a parked car. Why is that person presumed guilty until proven innocent? Because of the example Ed S. and his three DUIs have made to the system. All DUI defendants are currently presumed to be carbon copies of Ed S. Now, are we to suppose, just because Ed the three time losing drunk has been forced by the system to stop drinking, because he was forced to sell out to that system like a Jew to the Nazis, that he is somehow a better, more trust worthy person? Bullshit. We should trust him as far as we can spit. We should question everything he says, since, obviously, none of it worked for him. And that goes for all the other mail order counsellors like Ed, most of whom are "recovering" drug addicts themselves. The fact that Ed S. has three DUIs demonstrates an utter lack of concern for human life, and that is something which is not caused by his bottle of booze; that is part of Ed's selfish nature, and that selfishness will continue inside of him for the rest of his life, no matter how he fakes it. This lack of concern for humanity will be spread to his "students" like a plague, and if he and others like him are chosen by Jesse White to be the examples for those in alcohol councelling, it is no wonder why 80% of DUI offenders repeat the offense.

But, of course, none of this really matters, because it's all about the money--Ed's money, Jesse White's money, big, big money--not about stopping DUIs. My God, imagine if there were no more DUIs in the State of Illinois. How much money would the lawyers, courts, counselors, and other blood suckers lose? This is the reason Illinois has a vindictive, malicious system which destroys peoples lives and causes them to repeat the offense, instead of a system truly concerned with a cure for the disease. We're talking probably a billion dollars a year changing hands, thanks to drunk drivers. Good thing we have drunk drivers in the State of Illinois or it might go broke!!!

The first step in solving the problem with this system is to do the right thing and to charge Jesse White with manslaughter. He's no different than the owner of the E2 nightclub, and he is no exception to the common sense rules of public safety. Any idiot with half a brain would have made sure the office with his name on the door had a sprinkler system. Because Jesse White, the Secretary of State of Illinois, failed to implement fire safety measures in his office on the 12th-floor of the Cook County Administration building, six people died on October 17, 2003.

--Just call me DrunkBastard.