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Ray Hanania



Last Updated: 6/23/2009

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Status: Married
City: ORLAND PARK
Country: US

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Sunday, July 05, 2009 

Current mood:looking forward to a great day
It was a little shorter this year but the Orland Park 4th of July fireworks celebration didn't let anyone down and lived up to its reign as one of the best in the suburban Chicagoland region.

The crowd was down, mainly because it rained all day -- that's what we get for ignoring former vice president Al Gore's warnings about global warming and allowing former vice president Dick Cheney (the anti-Christ -- although that's unfair to the anti-Christ) to diss the whole concept. But what a night. It was worth it.

Aaron was disappointed only because the rain kept him away from enjoying the handful of carnival rides set up on what last year was where everyone laid out their lawn chairs. We bought two new ones from Dick's sporting goods with the American Flag Design -- I wonder if wearing the American Flag on your chair is any different than someone wearing it on their jeans?

The carny folks wouldn't let us recoup the lost money for the tickets -- no rain check. Still, he got to enjoy a few of the rides. And then we sat and (this year without a picnic basket, and me with no cigar) waited and played catch until the fireworks started. The weather held out just perfectly for us to enjoy the fireworks after an introductory speech and welcome from the bandshell by Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin.

Here are some videos I took ... there are more on my Facebook page which I think you will enjoy -- not everyone got to enjoy the fireworks so I thought at least this might be the next best thing.

Happy 4th of July and birthday America. (Maybe we can grow out of our anger. Do they give prescriptions for countries with ADHD to calm them down? Or is President Barack Obama our ADHD medication to chill us out and get us focused on our talents rather than on our fears?)

Hey. What's a 4th of July (or a Ray Hanania blog post without some commentary?)

Love it or leave it pals!

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
This is the finale, which was spectacular. Gte more videos off my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rayhanania ... or off my main blog www.OrlandParker.com or www.RadioChicagoland.com
Thursday, June 25, 2009 

Current mood:ANGRY
Category: News and Politics
Nothing is more disgusting in Chicago than the lack of justice
By Ray Hanania
 
Had Anthony Abbate been Black, he would have had the book thrown at him. But Anthony Abbate is an arrogant fat pig of a Chicago cop who was caught on tape in a drunken stuper beating the crap out of a young female bartender. I don’t mean “fat” as just some kind of pejorative adjective, although that certainly hangs easily around Abbate’s dirt bag neck.
 
At 250 pounds, he’s overweight and that only added to the disgusting video scene as he pummeled, pounded, beat, kicked and dragged mercilessly the 125-pound Karolina Obrycka as she tended bar where she was working in February 2007 and where Abbate was drinking himself into an alcoholic stupor.
 
What provoked Abbate. Turns out he was beating up people at the bar before he turned his fat fists on Obrycka. But when she refused to serve him more drinks because of his conduct and the disturbance he had caused, fat dirt-bag cop Anthony Abbate turned himself into the poster child for everything ugly about the Chicago Police Department and the hypocrisy that protects those who embrace corruption and misconduct regularly.
 
Sure enough, leave it to a judgment bankrupt and ethically questioned Cook County Circuit Court Judge like John J. Fleming to find a flimsy excuse to justify giving Abbate leniency. Fleming comes from the same culture of corruption that produces cops like Abbate.
 
A 12-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, Abbate was off-duty during the altercation but that is baloney. No cops are ever off-duty. They’re always working. They always have the responsibility to step up in any circumstance and throw their weight around.
 
What is so disturbing about the fat dirt-bag cop Anthony Abbate isn’t the circumstances of this morally corrupt situation, but the silence of the thousands of good Chicago cops and suburban cops, too, who deep down sympathized with Abbate and their stupid “code of silence.”
 
Abbate, to many of them, was a hero because Obrycka, who has a heavy accent, has been labeled and slandered and defamed on cop-talk blogs and in the halls of police station gossip as an undocumented, illegal alien who can barely speak English.
 
Instead of throwing that fat dirt-bag cop in to jail, Cook County Circuit Judge John Fleming gave the 40-year-old Anthony Abbate, a slap on the hand: home curfew of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 130 hours of “community service.”
 
Who is this Fleming? Here’s his bio from one of those legal web sites:
 
Legal Experience: 1980-83, assistant general attorney, Chicago Park District (in house counsel); 1983-91, assistant state's attorney, Cook County (traffic 4th Municipal District and Felony Trial Divisions); 1991-94, deputy general attorney, Chicago Park District (supervise the Litigation Division); 1994-1995, ALJ, City of Chicago (Personnel and Parking departments); 1996-1996, Director of Administrative Adjudication, City of Chicago.

Judicial Experience: Judge Fleming was first elected to the bench in November of 1996. He was originally  assigned to the 1st Municipal District of the Circuit Court of Cook County. He served in Traffic Court, Domestic Violence and Misdemeanor sections. He is currently assigned to Felony preliminary hearings and Central Bond Court at the Criminal Courts Building.

He has the “culture of corruption” stamp padded all over him.
 
Fleming, naturally defended his kindered colleague in this state’s rampant culture of corruption, asserting that he didn't see any “aggravating factors” to justify a prison term. Fleming incredulously argued that Abbate did not “seriously injure” the Obrycka, the hero in this sad Chicago saga.
 
Abbate beat the woman for nearly a half hour! What do you think Fleming would have done if the victim had been his child?
 
And, Fleming insisted after allowing this trial to be delayed two full years – something judges do when they want to help reduce the burden on the criminals they favor – that Abbate had a “clean record before the incident,” and that he had underwent “alcohol rehab and has not had a relapse” since entering the program.
 
Is it because Abbate’s past conduct has not been captured on tape as it was that night in that Chicago bar? Had it not been for the bar’s video tape system, Abbate would have gotten off without the worthless conviction handed down in Fleming’s unjust courtroom.
 
“If I believed sentencing Anthony Abbate to prison would stop people from getting drunk and hitting people, I'd give him the maximum sentence,” Fleming said.
 
Are you kidding me?
 
The only thing more disgusting about Abbate’s being given a pass is the moral bankruptcy of Judge Fleming’s ruling.
 
Fleming is a Circuit Court Judge. He was “first elected” to the bench in 1996. That means he can be removed from the bench. And, he should be removed as soon as possible.
 
Finally, every decent American citizen in the realm of this injustice by Fleming and Abbate has to ask out loud, Where are the voices of disgust from the Chicago Police Department and police departments throughout? Their silence is deafening and just as shameful, too.
 
END
 
Monday, June 15, 2009 
Listen to Andye Friedman's interview on my radio show this morning discussing the speech by Benjamin Netanyahu responding to President Barack Obama. I felt Netanyahu was his usual extremist self. Andye, an Israeli journalist, thinks otherwise. What do you expect? Listen and learn how two people can discuss.

Monday, April 06, 2009 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uyw9Sd1rgE

Mayor Daley has done a poor job in living up to his claim of great diversity in Chicago and his administration, in particular he has been excluding American Arabs fromt he 2016 Chicago Olympic Committee -- 350 members, only two are American Arab. He said there are 230,000 American Arabs when he was in Dubai bragging to the Dubai ruler.

Friday, March 06, 2009 

Category: News and Politics

Fighting Cook County’s Rising Taxation

A community forum with Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins

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Orland Park – How citizens can fight back against skyrocketing taxation in Cook County will be the focus of a public forum featuring Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins.

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The forum will be held Monday, March 30, 2009 beginning at 6:30 pm at the Orland Park Civic Center, 14750 S. Ravinia Drive (1 block west of LaGrange Road).

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Mullins, who has suggested that her Palatine Township secede from Cook County in protest of excessive taxes imposed by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, will discuss how communities like Palatine, Orland Park, Tinley Park and other communities on Cook County’s Western most borders can network to stem the taxation Tsunami.

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“I think it is important for communities to come together and have these discussions,” Mullins explained on a recent appearance on Radio Chicagoland on WJJG 1530 AM Radio.

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“Secession is difficult to do and requires 50 percent plus one vote of the citizens of a township and 50 percent plus one vote of the voters in Cook County all to agree. And that is challenging. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have these conversations.”

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Mullins said she believes these public discussions can help make our county officials like Stroger recognize that taxpayers deserve better and that government should first find ways to make their governments more efficient before turning to taxation.

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The forum is sponsored by Radio Chicagoland, hosted Monday through Friday mornings (8 to 9:30 am) by award winning columnist Ray Hanania (www.RadioChicagoland.com).

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The forum is open to the public.

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“It’s not just for voters in Orland Park but the whole Southwest region so that we can engage this very important issue,” Hanania said.

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For more information, contact Hanania or visit the radio web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com.

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The program will be recorded for broadcast on radio the following morning on WJJG 1530 AM Radio "The G" at 8 am.

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# # #

Thursday, January 29, 2009 
Egyptian American filmmaker Sayed Badreya joined RadioChicagoland.com this morning on WJJG 1530 AM Radio to talk about his new movie "AmericanEast" and how it has been blocked from being shown in every freakin' theater in America. The movie just came out in DVD and portrays Arab Americans in a positive light.
And there is no bias or bigotry in America?
Maybe President Obama should see the movie so he knows what he is up against.
Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
 
Monday, January 05, 2009 

Current mood:  vital

My radio show is broadcast live on the Internet at www.RadioChicagoland.com ... and you can also watch the live broadcast of the Radio Show also at http://www.Mogulus.com/RayHananiaWJJG

Today's guests, Khaled al-Ameena, editor of the Arab News in Saudi Arabia ... a discussion on the war in the Gaza Strip ... a discussion about Roland Burris, nominated to succeed Barack Obama in the US Senate; will Senate Majority leader Harry Reid really stand at the doors of the US Senate with his hand out stopping a Black man from entering ... (sounds too much like that scene with George Wallace at the University of Alabama int he early 1960s, except we have no JFK to enforce desegregation and civil rights)

And, at 8:45, Justin Oberman, son of legenedary Chicago reform Alderman Marty Oberman, is running for congress in the 5th district to succeed Rahm Emanuel ...

More this week: Attorney Burton S. Odelson on Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Thom Hartmann, the popular syndicated radio talk show host and the challenegs facing Obama, the US and the world ... and more

-- Ray Hanania

www.TheMediaOasis.com

 

Friday, September 19, 2008 

Current mood:Ebulient
Category: News and Politics

I launched my new morning radio show this week on WJJG 1530 AM Radio, Monday thru Friday from 8 am until 9:30 AM ... If you are in Chicago, you can hear it on the radio ... but you can alos listen online with our live streaming Internet broadcast through two different link sources.

Go to www.RadioChicagoland.com to listen online or get info on upcoming and past show guests, the call-in number and also podcast archives of past select interviews that can be downloaded to your iPods through iTunes or PodCast Pickle ...

And, if you are listening from outside Chicago or the United States, you can call during the show (a time zone map is on the web site) using GOOGLE TALK which is free to our GoogleTalk ID name wjjgam1530

I hope you all will join ... and of course. I am a big FaceBook fan so go to facebook and friendme, or join the Mornings with Ray Hanania facebook group ...

I'm always looking for guests so shoot me an email -- just don't use live bullets

Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Friday, August 29, 2008 

Current mood:  quixotic
A Gold Medal Olympic Vacation Competition



The competition for the Gold Medal was Olympic. Not in Beijing, but on the beaches of Punta Cana, where I spent a week researching Cuban cigars and teaching my son the basics of how to survive in the real world.

Every morning, I would get to the beach at 6:30 in a fierce race with teams representing Russia, China, Italy, France and Spain and a field of 130 others. There were only 10 perfect palm tree covered "cabanas" on the beach, and you had to get there early to claim one.

What's the point of going to a beautiful paradise beach if you are going to schelp in at 11 and plop down on a towel in the sand?

I can report that I've won the competition every morning. Boo-rah for the American team! Well, I guess I'm considered about as American as Yao Ming. (OK. He's an exception, a Chinese-born athlete who plays for the Houston Rockets basketball team. In the Olympics, he plays for China.) Did you ever notice that when mentioning American athletes of certain ethnic and racial backgrounds, they always mention their race but never the ethnicity of "Americans" like Michael Phelps?


Anyway, back to my own Olympic Gold Medal competition in Punta Cana at the Bavara Princess Beach.

There's an art to securing lounge chairs and a cabana. It's the same no matter where you go in the Caribbean, except that the world has changed. Dramatically. It used to be that places like this were filled with arrogant and obnoxious American tourists.

Well, that's changed. Today, the resorts in the Caribbean are filled with Europeans, Russians and Asians enjoying the fact that President Bush screwed up our economy with the stupid Iraq war. (OK, that's my last political reference. Just kidding.) Our dollar is worth less than a "peso" and I don't care what Central American country you visit. It buys nothing.

But I wouldn't let that deter me. I rushed out, research in hand, and made my way in a 3,600-foot dash for the beach. And every morning, beat the Russian by a nose (that's where being Arab comes in handy, I guess). And the French, the Chinese and the guy with the full body tatoo.

They were right behind me and there was no courtesy "good mornings" or "hellos." In any language. We were all there for one purpose. Keep our wives from screaming at us when we didn't get the best spots.

There is an art to saving seats. You reserve them at 6:30 a.m. and don't get back until around 11 after breakfast so you have a lot of faith that despite the tourists (any ethnicity), they will be there when you return.

You keep the towels from the day before and lay them on the lounge chair, stretched out and tucked in the niche in the back of the head rest and push that down to "lock it in." 50 Points!

Then, you put a book you've either already read and don't care if it's stolen, or one no one will touch. I had Chelsea Handler's book (Chelsea Lately) and made sure the cover faced out every morning. (Actually, Chelsea's book is hilarious but none of the foreigners could figure out who she was, so it was a safe bet not to get stolen.) 25.35 points.


Then, to play to the sympathy of the crowd, I put my son's little sand buckets and shovels on the chair. 19.15 points.

Boo-Rah.

This happened every morning like clockwork, and as I said, representing the American team, WE WON. 94.5 points. (If I can add right.)

No one said hi. Mainly because we couldn't speak anyone else's language, I think. But still. The first morning I tried and said, "Isn't it like a vacation? Your wife makes you run out at 6:30 to grab a lounge chair, too?" And the guy walking fast next to me — 25 mph — just grunted with a Spanish accent. That's when I knew the competition was real.

And all of the men sat out there looking at each other. Until exactly 7:22 a.m. when the tall, blond haired Swedish woman jogged past.

Topless.

Slowly.

Priceless!




(Ray Hanania can be reached at rayhanania@comcast.net. His weekly TV Show "30 Minutes" is broadcast every Friday at 7 p.m. on Channel 19 in Oak Lawn, Burbank and Bridgeview.)

Serving readers in Orland Park, Tinley Park, Frankfort, Mokena, Palos Park, Palos Hills, Palos Heights, Oak Lawn, Burbank, Bridgeview.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008 

Current mood:  thoughtful

My new comic strip series "Ray Hanania's World" is now viewable online. I take on Middle East, International, local, regional, and national topics. Actually, I go after any form of hypocrisy whether it is in politics, Arab-Israeli relations, U.S. policy, local government and even and especially in the world of professional mainstream American journalism.

Here's a link to the cartoon archives:

http://professivecomicstrips.blogspot.com/

Hope you enjoy it.

Ray Hanania

www.TheMediaOasis.com