WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for the People of Chicago to dissolve the Political Tyranny which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men and Women of this Great City of Chicago are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men and Women, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to openly criticize such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of Chicago; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government by the election of a New Mayor. The History of the Present Mayor aka King of Chicago is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these City limits. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

HE has forbidden his Alderpersons to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.  The banishment of the bucket boys from Wrigleyville is not of the most pressing interests of the people.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People; unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the City Hall without benefit of pay to play practices and formidable to Tyrants only.  Robert Sorich comes to the immediate recalling minds of the people.

HE has called together representative Alderpersons at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures along with refusal of full and complete release of such public information to our local newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.

HE has dissolved transparent governmental practices of City Hall, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the Tax Payers.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Acts of Non-Disclosure, to cause others such as Todd Stroger to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Expelling unwanted sales tax increases, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the City remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Inflation from without, and the Exodus of small business and opportunities of employment within.

HE has endeavored to prevent the Population of this City; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Property Taxes of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by denying direct responsibility towards his own self-appointed City officials, representatives and delegates committing illegal acts.

HE has made many City Officials dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers directly related to King Richard Daley to harass our People, and eat out their Substance all in the while of complete deniability or culpability of such corruption and crimes against his constituents.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Recession, increased parking meter rates while leasing the practice of revenue generating parking business suspiciously at one half the valued true expense, without the consent of our People for reasons unexplained.

HE has affected to render some portions of the Chicago Police Department independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended City Hall Legislation:

FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Criminals among us, alarmingly too often targeting young students of our public educational school systems:

FOR indirectly protecting some of them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for many Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States by an incompetent Cook County judicial system.

FOR cutting off our city’s construction opportunities without direct financial benefit to the King’s lineage:

FOR imposing terrible risk of 2016 Olympic expenses on us without our Consent:

FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of a federal Investigation into his political office and tenure:

FOR transporting his representatives beyond Seas to make secret deals with the IOC without our knowledge:

FOR attempting to lease Midway International Airport for 99 years and selling off city parking garages for an equal contracted amount of time for suspicious monetary gains at the increased cost of the Chicago citizenry for usage of these still/previously owned City assets.

FOR taking away our city jobs, coercing our most valuable representative unions, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our people representative Government:

FOR further threatening many more of our own jobs, and declaring reduction of salary and benefits while unnecessarily allocating monetary funds towards Olympics 2016.

HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring no necessity for disclosing federal tax payer stimulus funds allocated to the City of Chicago and furthermore waging increased costs of living against us.

HE has plundered our city owned assets, ravaged our potholed streets, tore up Meigs Field, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

HE is, at this Time, transporting a large Committee of foreign Olympic Delegates to complete the future feared Works of Taxes, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Non-Disclosed Guarantees and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized City.

HE has constrained our most famous fellow Citizen taken Residence in Washington as this nation’s Commander in Chief, to become the key political Supporter of King Richard Daley’s Friends and Brethren to directly benefit from these 2016 Olympics at the peril of the long suffering Chicago Tax Payer.

HE has falsely blamed the free media for misrepresenting his own spoken statements towards matters such as the Chicago 2016 Olympics bid while consorting proponents to a successful bid have engaged in threatening legal action towards at least one website for presenting fair and balanced discussion towards this agenda.

IN every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A King, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Mayor of a free People.

NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our City Hall. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by City Hall to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured their by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They have been all too often deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Politically Opposed during these trying times, in Peace, Friends. 

WE, therefore, a growing Representation of the CITY OF CHICAGO, in CYPERSPACE, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of this CITY, solemnly Publish and Declare, That this CITY OF CHICAGO is, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT FROM KING RICHARD DALEY AND HIS APPOINTED ALDERPERSONS; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the Daley Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the Daley Empire, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a FREE AND INDEPENDENT TRUE DEMOCRATICALLY GOVERNED CITY, they have full Power to levy a new election of a true Mayor, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT CITIES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Last night, it was supposed to be cold. It wasn’t.

Last night, the Cubs were supposed to lose. They didn’t.

Last night, the Sox were supposed to suffer a letdown after a tough set of wins. They didn’t.

So, let’s take a look at what actually happened last night. PAUL SULLIVAN (Tribune) takes a look at how the Cubs fared once they benched Soriano.

After Derrek Lee hit .189 with one home run in April, some Cubs fans cried for his benching.

But Lee has been on fire since, and he hit two home runs with a career-high seven RBIs Thursday night in a 9-5 victory over the Brewers in the opener of a four-game showdown.

“Keep going,” Lee said. “Just about trying to help the team win. Tonight’s a great night, but we’re right back here [Friday afternoon] and it’s another big game.”

The Cubs moved back to .500 at 38-38 and are now within 2 1/2 games of the Brewers and Cardinals, the division co-leaders after Thursday’s action. The 11-game homestand against Milwaukee, Atlanta and St. Louis could be a pivotal point of the season, so it was crucial for the Cubs to get out on the right foot.

So, that was good. Hopefully some, if not all, Cubs’ fans will come in off that ledge for a while. Oh, and the Soriano benching, it was done just because Lou said so.

Coming off a 3-7 trip, Piniella decided to do something he hasn’t done before in his 2 1/2 years as Cubs manager.

He sat Alfonso Soriano for the second straight game even though Soriano was healthy and said before the game he was ready.

Rookie Sam Fuld, Soriano’s replacement in left field and in the leadoff spot, reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with one walk and two runs scored.

Piniella said Soriano would play Friday but didn’t discount the idea of moving Fuld to center or right field.

Pitcher Randy Wells has called this year’s model of the Chicago Cubs the I-Cubs, as in the Iowa Cubs. As the rookies continue to hit, field and pitch and the veterans don’t, Jim Hendry may end up having the excuse he needs to get some head room in the budget after all. Assuming there are any takers, that is.

On the south side, A.J. Pierzynski asked Mark Buehrle to alter the grip on his sinker since it was cutting too much. The result? 8 1/3 innings of nearly perfect baseball.

DOUG TUCKER (Sun Times) brings us up to date.

‘’I had everything working,’’ said Buehrle (8-2), who raised his career mark against Kansas City to 20-8. ‘’I changed my sinker grip in the bullpen because the last two or three games, it’s been cutting instead of sinking. So I moved my fingers closer together, and I think it was probably one of the best sinkers I’ve had in a while.’’

Buehrle failed to get his first complete game since May 2, 2008, when Alberto Callaspo doubled and scored on David DeJesus’ one-out double. He was relieved by Bobby Jenks, who got the last two outs for his 19th save in 21 chances.

The White Sox have won 10 of 12 and 14 of their last 19 on the road.

That was good too.

Last night, the play that held my attention happened in the 8th. Thome doubled and moved to third on Konerko’s single. A.J. hit into a double play but Thome scored to make it 2-0 Sox at the time. However, it really looked as though a squeeze play of some sort was on. Hit and run? Voodoo something? I don’t know. I don’t care. Whatever it was, Thome was off at the crack of the bat. Even if the Royals had thrown home I think he would have made it. So, I guess what Ozzie said is true; “If they don’t run, they sit.”

If Ozzie is going to run Thome on a possible steal of home, then it really is going to be an interesting season on the south side, that’s for sure. Oh, and just FYI, both the Cubs and the Sox are 2½ games out of first.

We’re going to take the weekend off to be with our families and loved ones and, in some cases, both. So, from all of us to each of you, have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!

CLICK HERE TO TALK ABOUT LAST NIGHT.

Yesterday, a little after 4 PM, I stopped by a local watering hole to get some ..... water. It took me a second to reconcile what I was seeing with what my mind was expecting. There was a TV on, but instead of the news, they had interrupted it to update everyone on the Hawks’ free agency dealings. YOU CAN DISCUSS what you think of the moves themselves by clicking the afore-posted link.

But, seriously, no Afghanistan, no Turkestan, no Stan’s at all except for Polish guys with broken teeth and fiery slap shots. If you did miss the memo, then yesterday was a blunt force reminder; hockey is back in Chicago and its fans are relevant again.

After watching Dale Tallon answer question after question and realizing that the questions were actually meaningful, I just sat back to let it all soak in. Yesterday was a testament to just how far the Hawks have come in 2 years and how much further they plan on going. Get used to it Hawks fans, your team doesn’t suck any more.

Speaking of suck, ‘ow bout dem Cubs?

Okay, sorry, that was a cheap shot.

Last night the Cubs finally won a series. Yes, it was against the bottom feeding, perennially overmatched, 3A Pirates, but wins are wins no matter who they are against. One thing that caught my attention during the broadcast was when the idea of whether the Cubs will be buyers or sellers come trade deadline was mentioned. I can’t see how they can seriously be either.

There are only four contracts the Cubs can unload that would allow them to make any real changes; Soriano, Fukudome, Bradley and Zambrano.

The first three, as of this writing, aren’t worth a bag of balls combined. No team in their right mind, not even the Orioles, is going to take on any of those huge contracts. Especially with players who are not exactly impressing anyone this year. Not even their families. Like it or not Cubs’ fans, they aren’t going anywhere. That leaves Big Z.

Now, no matter what you think of him, he has posted a winning record season after season. If you give him up you are giving up 14 wins, or more, each year. It isn’t like there is a plethora of unsigned, or free agent, Cy Young contenders waiting for a call from Jim Hendry. These guys are on teams and, for the most part, those teams aren’t going to give them up. Peavey for Zambrano? That is one I have heard from fans a few times. But, it’s a non-starter since that puts San Diego right back in the financial hole they are trying to get out of. The only way it could work is if the Cubs eat about half, or more, of Big Z’s contract, and we all know that ain’t gonna happen.

In other words, the team you see now is pretty much going to be the team you get. Yes, there may be more call ups or benchings, but there will not be any substantial changes this year.

On the south side, things are slightly less stressed. Over a crucial 16 game stretch the Sox have gone 12-4. They are rapidly becoming one of those teams that can have a team average of around .260 and beat you anyway. Defense and pitching have been really stepping up (for the most part) and each day seems to find a different use for situational hitting that works. Ozzie’s promise to make this team run more on the bases is exactly what they need to do.

Hell, he threatened to run A.J. last night. If this keeps up, look for Thome to get his second steal during the regular season as a member of the Sox. He got his first last year.

More importantly, this is a team that has gone from 10 under .500 to 3 games out of first place in, just over, a month. In baseball terms, that is a Hollywood styled U-turn in a chase scene, complete with squealing tires, non-specific gun fire and braless eye candy in the passenger seat. Yes, it is that exciting.

MATT O’DONNELL (MLB.com) fills us in on the facts.

Sweeps, especially on the road inside your division, aren’t supposed to be this easy.

But for the third consecutive game, the White Sox breezed past the Indians on Wednesday. This time, it was a 6-2 victory at Progressive Field. The South Siders got another good start from Jose Contreras and, led by his battery mate, Ramon Castro, continued their offensive outburst to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games.

Just how dominant were the White Sox? Chicago outscored Cleveland, 23-9, and outhit them, 37-17, in the first sweep of the Indians since 2005.The White Sox are now a season-best two games over .500 and have won seven of their last eight games to creep back within three games of the division-leading Tigers.

“Since 2005.” **sigh** Yeah, that made me smile too.

Also bringing a smile to my face was this gem from a buddy last night; “Now both teams on Madison just got better than Detroit.”

CLICK HERE TO SHARE YOUR HAPPY THOUGHT!

I ASKED THIS QUESTION earlier in the forums, but thought that it might be a good piece of water cooler fodder for you folks who just read the front page.

Why can’t women play professional baseball?

While there is a lively discussion going on inside, I brought this up to a friend of mine who works as a scout for MLB. After some chuckling he gave it some thought.

“Well, certainly a woman could play any infield position, assuming she could hit. And, given some of the loser arms I see playing the outfield these days, I doubt that there would be a drop off there either. Pitching and catching might be an issue, but only because we don’t develop young women. I would guess that they would stand a decent chance given some training.”

We talked some more about how women tend to play “Ozzie-Ball” (lots of bunts and running) and noted that the steroid monsters are slowly fading away, so it might happen in our lifetimes.

So, my question still stands. Or, maybe it should be rephrased to “Why don’t they?”

Oh well, enough about the kind of game baseball could be and on to the kinds of games we actually witnessed last night.

The Cubs got beaten by future Cy Young winner, Ross Ohlendorf (don’t let his gaudy 4.41 ERA fool you) last night in Pittsburgh. The Pirates, who posted their first winning record in June since 1996, got out of the month with a 14-13 tally on the register thanks to the Cubs. While the Pirates needed the win to achieve their goal, the Cubs chances of posting a winning record in June were nil when they got to Pittsburgh. They posted an 11-14 record this month. Two wins wasn’t going to cut it.

The Cubs added to their woes by getting shut out for the 8th time this season, matching their entire total for 2008. WAYNE STAATS (MLB.com) fills us in.

Offensively, the Cubs were dominated by Ross Ohlendorf. In his first career start against the NL Central rival, Ohlendorf held the Cubs to four hits. Chicago finished with six on the night and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, stranding seven on base.

“I think we’ve forgotten how to hit,” manager Lou Piniella said. “I think that’s the problem. I think we’ve forgotten how to hit, especially with men on base.”

But, since the Cubs are the Cubs, they did not give up the wining run on a home run or nifty single or anything like that. Nope, the runner scored from second on a passed ball.

The only run the Pirates needed came in the fourth inning, when Freddy Sanchez scored on an error. With two out and a runner on first, Andy LaRoche singled to left to set the stage for the atypical play. Although Brandon Moss struck out swinging, the ball got away from Geovany Soto on a wild pitch from Ted Lilly, and Sanchez raced home from second. The Cubs almost got the out at the plate, but Soto’s throw got away from Lilly.

On the south side, the Sox faced a legitimate Cy Young contender in Cliff Lee. His 2.21 home ERA is one of the lowest in the league and he is a dominating pitcher 99% of the time. Yesterday was his 1%. MATT O’DONNELL (MLB.com) fills us in.

The South Siders defeated the Tribe, 11-4, on Tuesday at Progressive Field after waiting through three rain delays before the game was finally called in the top of the seventh. It was their second blowout of Cleveland in as many nights.

Every player got a hit for the Sox, and starter Clayton Richard did enough to hold off the Tribe offense to give Chicago its sixth win in seven games. The White Sox are now a game over .500 for the first time since May 2.

WOW! A whole game over .500 and people were buying me drinks. Well, that is a perfectly acceptable way to celebrate as far as I’m concerned. But, I am not sure celebration is called for just yet.  Nevertheless, this win guarantees their third winning series in a row and is the first showing of consistent signs of life we have seen this season.

Oh, and just for fun, I should note that Ozzie sat almost all his big bats last night so he could get a game of Ozzie-Ball in.

Lastly I am going to take a look at the horribly flawed Sports Illustrated poll that came out. It lists Lou and Ozzie as the two managers players would least like to play for. What is the flaw you ask? They sent the questionnaire to 380 players. Not all responded. Moreover, of those that did respond, some are saying that was the one question they didn’t answer. Had they posted the number of respondents versus the number of questionnaires sent, then the poll could be taken with some measure of seriousness. As is, it is just another example of why sports fans are dropping SI as their source for sports information (they have lost 31.3% of their online readership in the last year alone).

CLICK HERE TO ASK YOUR OWN QUESTIONS!