Thursday, May 6, 2010

Castro Fight

Is Island Lake Trustee Laurie Rabattini nipping at Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone's heels? As reported here ...
FOIA Fevah
Rabattini is on the cusp of eclipsing Stone as the new Lisa Stone of Lake County elected officials. One strategy Rabattini employed to great effect was to liken, on her blog, other Island Lake elected officials with Nazis. Stone, obviously feeling the heat, retaliated this week after the passage of a Buffalo Grove ordinance to regulate the conduct of Village meetings. According to the Daily Herald, Stone, who opposed the ordinance, said Fidel Castro would be proud ...
Buffalo Grove passes new rules; Stone says 'Castro would be proud'
In the parlance of Texas hold'em, Stone is telling Rabattini I'll see your Hitler and raise you a Castro.

Now, sharp-eyed operatives will undoubtedly observe, that in the hierarchy of demonizers, when it comes to invidious comparisons, Fidel Castro is no slouch. However, even Castro does not approach Adolf Hitler, who in the pecking order of defamatory signifiers, is still the H-bomb. And true enough. However this is a weighted contest, so a couple of qualifiers: The difference between Buffalo Grove and Island Lake is the difference between well-heeled-Winnetka and back-woods-Johnsburg. Moreover Stone wasn't merely venting on some marginally relevant Internet blog. Stone's remarks were on the record -- directed toward Buffalo Grove elected officials during a village board meeting.

Advantage Lisa Stone.

In related news, look for the LakeCountyEye Political Demonizer™ with the all-new adjustable Castro beard™ Web Widget. Coming soon!

3 comments:

IllinoisJim said...

Dear Eye. Thank you again for reporting on the situation in Buffalo Grove. I don’t live there but if my city counsel member were behaving like so, I would be somewhat embarrassed. But there is more here. Castro, Hitler, Nazi. Notice how these terms come from Western Civilization. Surely there are characters from the Mid East, Far East, and South Asia that we can compare our fellow Americans to. I am asking you to develop a table of character descriptions that would also fit Mr. Pol Pot, Mr. Mao, Mr. Goomba, Mr. Che, and others. You would rate these people on such characteristics as: number of victims, pushiness, linear thinking, obnoxiousness, bad table manners, and sarcasm. That way our representatives would have vocabulary more nuanced and biting.

An alderman would state, “If we allow our leader that power, Caribou Grove will end up having a secretive dictator like Notell Patel”!! The very mention of that name would so frighten and enrage the public there would be torchlight parades, candlelight vigils, and prayers for “open government”. Naturally, counter protestors approving Mr. Patel’s recent veto of the outdoor burning ban would carry signs stating, “Burn in Hell, morons. Grill baby, Grill!”

Anonymous said...

Well, put. I wish this wasn't such a source of amusement. The last thing we want or need in BG is more drama regarding Ms. Stone's antics. Her Castro comment is funny on several levels, not the least of which is that she couldn't find Cuba on a map if her life depended on it. Also, I believe SHE might be more dictator-like than any other elected official in the area. After all- didn't she file a lawsuit to get the name of an anonymous internet critic? Isn't she the one who tried to press charges against a former trustee over a minor bumping incident at a charity baseball game (even her friend said it was a non-issue, but Stone wanted to have the guy artrested for assault or something) and didn't she recently try to shout down a resident who criticized her at a board meeting? Also, hasn't she been trying to deny businesses (like off-track betting) from setting up shop in the village?

Now THAT seems more like Castro, doesn't it? Watch the fireworks over the next few months as the recall effort picks up steam.

Barney Baxter said...

hi Illinois Jim,
If you'd like to write one, we're happy to post it.
-BB-