Military Hating Lawyer Keys Marines Car

Found this on a number of blogs, and it's worth linking to: Rogers Park lawyer Jay R. Grodner thought it would be keen to key Marine Sgt Mike McNulty's car. Over a bad parking job or not, hard to say, but if you believe what you read (and I do), sounds like Grodner ran off at the mouth with anti-military sentiment. Amazingly, McNulty stayed calm -- instead of beating the snot out of the guy, he called the cops and got him arrested. Good for him!

I'm not for the war in Iraq, but I do support people in uniform. They've got tough jobs, and they deserve our respect. This couldn't have been more un-called for.

There's a tinfoil hat aspect to the coverage from Craig Gernhardt's "Broken Heart" blog -- Craig manages to make the post about Joe Moore:

One of our Anti-war Alderman's constituents damages a military man's vehicle. This should really be interesting. Jay Grodner, living in a ward under the control of Joe Moore, a known anti-military politician, defaces a military mans vehicle. Is this what all military personal can expect when venturing into Joe Moore country? Has Joe Moore created a hate in Rogers Park towards military personal?

Multiple people replied with comments recommending sanity; restraint; this is bad on its own even though it has nothing to do with Joe Moore. "We have quite enough to lay at Moore's doorstep if we stick strictly to the truth, so let's stick to the truth, and to rational arguments," said one commenter. "How on earth does this have anything to do with Joe Moore?" asks another. "Because he got himself involve in the anti-war rhetoric," responds Craig.

Craig goes on to take another commenter to task for not using his full name. The commenter, Dave Lowitzki, clarifies who he is, and is accused by Craig of being a "shill for Joe More on this blog." He manages to slam Dave for having a college education, among other things. He tells Dave to go similarly reprimand the Second City Cop blog since they covered the story as well (strange, considering they made no mention of Joe Moore).

Craig responded to my questioning by pointing out that Joe Moore has tried to shut Craig's blog down before, and that he hasn't been sued by Joe yet (?). I was then invited to take my "punk ass" elsewhere. Heh.

I like Craig's blog. It's very insightful -- sometimes. The problem is, everything he writes about seems to have to be filtered through his personal vendettas. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Pulling Joe Moore into the picture here makes for a poor fit, and then defending it at all costs makes Craig look like he's gone off the deep end.

I don't know a ton about Joe Moore, but from what I do know, I'm not a huge fan. I'd like to learn more about the politics of our neighborhood, to be better informed. This is why I read the blogs. But, when people go off the rails, reaching for conspiracies that don't exist, it makes it hard to trust what they say; it makes it hard to tell fact from fiction.

Craig takes it really personal when somebody challenges something he says. I'm counting the seconds until either he deletes that post, my comments, or bans me from the blog.