Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago and former Obama chief of staff, is one weird dude. Known for sending a dead fish, mafia-style, to an opponent, for a mouth so foul that President Obama publicly joked about how rare it is for him to use the word "mother" all by its lonely self, and for slamming a knife into a conference table screaming that he wants his opponent "dead," hizzoner da mare has now turned to joking about the burning of Atlanta, a shameful episode in American history .

Stuck in at the end of a report on sewer pipes by Fran Speilman, city hall reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, comes an account of the mayor's weird sense of humor:

Gov. Quinn and I sat down a few years ago and he told me his No. 1 priority . . . was to create jobs," he said. "We support Gov. Quinn and he supports jobs and we'll continue to do that."

A noted history buff, Quinn said some of Chicago's water mains were installed when Ulysses S. Grant was president.

"Ulysses S. Grant, if he was here today, would say the mayor of Chicago is doing the right thing by investing in water," Quinn said.

That prompted Emanuel to joke, "I thought Ulysses S. Grant would actually thank us for what we did to Atlanta as well."

Hat tip: Peter von Buol