-By Warner Todd Huston
And the scandal grows. Now two officials of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATF) that were involved in the failed operation that armed Mexican narco-terrorists have been reassigned.
My guess, it’s likely an attempt to make it even harder for Congressional investigators get answers to their questions.
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
From the campaign of Sean M. Morrison for Cook County Board of Review…
Cook County, IL—Fed up with excessive property taxes? Palos Park businessman Sean Morrison is, and today he announced that he intends to seek the Republican nomination for Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review, 1st District. The 1st District encompasses nearly five-hundred square miles of Cook County and includes over 1.7 million residents.
Morrison ran for Commissioner in 2010. Despite entering the race late, Morrison nearly defeated current Commissioner Dan Patlak. Morrison has decided to seek the office again as Patlak has failed to live up to any of the promises he made during his campaign. Morrison stated “Patlak’s time in office has been much more Democratic than Republican—he is constantly yielding to the Democratic agenda and forgetting about taxpayer concerns.”
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Sean M. Morrison Announces Candidacy for the Cook County Board of Review”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Can anyone be this arrogant? President Obama visited with some school children in Texas on Wednesday and read a nice little story book to the kiddies. Guess who the star of the book was? You guessed it, himself.
Obama was visiting an early education program Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas and chose to read a book about presidential first dog Bo to a small group of three to five-year-old children. Naturally, the book features a double page spread drawing of the president himself.
Yep, once again it’s all about me, me, me with this president.
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Obama’s Texas School Visit: Hi Kids, Let’s Read a Story About Me!”
-By Warner Todd Huston
I did not vote for Toni Preckwinkle to become the Cook County Board President, but I have to say she has made a few tough decisions that one would not expect from a common Chicago Machine Democrat. In another one of those good moves, Preckwinkle sacked the Cook County Comptroller for her incompetent work with accounting for the county’s tax revenue among other failures.
Cook County Comptroller, Constance Kravitz, was another one of those oh, so wonderful appointees of the dismal Todd Stroger, the previous failure that sat in Preckwinkle’s chair. Kravitz was struggling to make ends meet at $165,000 tax dollars annually, so I can see why it was so hard for her to get her facts straight at work. It’s a lot of pressure to be living at such subsistence pay, you know?
Kravitz was at two strikes before Preckwikle lowered the boom. Not only had Kravitz badly bungled the accounting of tax revenue, being off by a whopping $90 million, but her reports detailing which county employees had taken their furlough days and which hadn’t were a complete mess.
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Cook County: Incompetent Stroger Appointee Fired Over Million$ in Tax Discrepancies”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Looks like the Unions are now endorsing the unwashed masses infesting… er, investing Wall Street.
CNN has the story…
Wall Street Protests Grow After Unions’ Endorsement
Wall Street protests swelled Wednesday to their largest numbers yet, after local unions pledged support to a third week of demonstrations against income inequality, corporate greed, corruption and a list of other social ills.
Thousands meandered from lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park — considered a rallying point for the largely leaderless group — to Foley Square near City Hall.
The crowd then looped back to the park, punctuating a 19-day protest that promotes a wide, if not ambiguous, range of messages.
Causes range from social awareness to radical change in America’s financial and political systems, while other participants appeared content to simply get caught up in the spirit of demonstration.
Still, while the fledgling movement has struggled in its definition, demonstrators appear steadfast in their general criticism of the country’s wealthiest 1% and its purported influence….
These fools really don’t even have much of a point to these protests. They have a mish-mash of stale, socialist/communist/anti-American blather and boilerplate left-wing nonsense, but no coherent purpose.
But that unions have joined them is more proof of how un-American unions have become.
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Unions In for Anti-American, Anti-Capitalist ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protests”
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Ill)…
Roskam Introduces Legislation to Permanently Cap Capital Gains and Dividend Tax Rates at 15%
Broad coalition of American job creators send letter in support; impending tax-hike would hit seniors, businesses, investors of all sizes
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL), Chief Deputy Whip and member of the Ways & Means Committee, introduced legislation today to permanently cap the Capital Gains and Dividend Tax Rates at 15% to avoid an impending tax hike that would particularly affect American businesses, seniors, and investors of all sizes. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), member of the Senate Finance Committee, is introducing companion Senate legislation.
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Roskam Introduces Bill for Permanent Cap Gains Limits”
From the office of Cook County Commissioner Timothy O. Schneider…
Update from the Board Room
At the September 7, 2011 Cook County Board meeting, the Cook County Board voted that the Cook County Sheriff shall not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “detainers” placed on undocumented immigrants at the Cook County jail. Commissioner Schneider opposed the ordinance, to read more about his vote and position on this issue click here to read the Daily Herald Editorial.
Property Tax Information
By now, you should have or received your second installment 2010 property tax bill, due November 1, 2011. The Assessor and Commissioner Schneider urge you to make sure you are receiving all of your exemptions. The Assessor’s office did not receive 55,000 applications from senior citizens to receive the Senior Property Tax Exemption; if you did not apply for the Senior exemption, you will not see the savings on your property tax bill.
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Cook County Board: Fall News and Updates”
From the Palatine Tea Party…
Village of Palatine Attempts to Hide Millions in Accrued Village Sick and Vacation Time Balances
(Palatine, Illinois) – The Village of Palatine went out of its way to hide employee sick time and vacation time balances when we attempted to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain employee balances.
Government agencies expect taxpayers to pay their expenses, but when asked to view the data the answer is met with clear opposition. The Village tried to hide behind HIPPA law as their excuse. We then appealed the Village’s decision with the Illinois’ State Attorney and won. (click here for pdf document). Based on the 2009 W2’s, the sick time balance is approximately 9 million dollars and the vacation time balance totals approximately $687,000.
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Village of Palatine Attempts to Hide Millions in Accrued Village Sick and Vacation Time Balances”
-By Warner Todd Huston
After months and months of the new media hitting Obama on Fast and Furious, the Old Media is finally just starting to look into the story. Aside from the L.A. Times which, believe it or not, has been giving the story extensive coverage, few Old Media outlets have done much with this mounting scandal.
CNN has finally assigned Anderson Cooper to do at least one episode of his cable show on the subject, anyway. And Coop did a fairly even handed report on the mess, too…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
-By Warner Todd Huston
Sadly, ABC’s The View is what passes for as “intelligent” conversation on TV, these days. The View yacker Joy Behar’s blather is also indicative of the historical illiteracy of the far left in this country.
Herman Cain made an appearance on the coffee klatch show today and genius Behar had this comment about the history of the Republican Party for him:
The Republican Party hasn’t been black friendly over the many centuries in this country.
This comment is ignorant in a million ways.
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ABC’s Joy Behar: Historical Illiterate”
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Ill)…
Roskam: “…if the Cement MACT proposal goes into place, with certainty, it will have an adverse impact on job creation.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier today, Congressman Peter Roskam, Chief Deputy Whip, gave the following remarks at the GOP leadership stakeout
“Well as you’ve heard there’s two types of actions being taken up this week and next week by the House of Representatives. The good news is the White House seems to get one of those. That is this notion of the expert opportunities for American manufacturers to get into markets abroad. As someone who has traveled to South Korea, and to Panama, and to Colombia it is without question clear to me – and I think most folks on Capitol Hill – that those opportunities are inextricably linked to our long-term prosperity.
Where the White House doesn’t seem to get it and where there’s an opportunity maybe to change their minds is on these two issues that you’ve heard described: Boiler MACT and Cement MACT. We’ve had two job creators in here for the past day or so. They are Brad Slabaugh with Hilltop Basic Resources and Karl Watson of CEMEX USA. Both of which described situations that if the Cement MACT proposal goes into place, with certainty, it will have an adverse impact on job creation. With certainty, it will have an adverse impact on cement kilns here in the United States. We can do better. The Administration needs to join us to turn this situation around quickly.”
From the office of Rep. Tom Morrison (R, Palatine, 54th District)…
A few weeks ago, I asked for your input on several questions regarding our community and our state and I wanted to share the results. As your representative in Springfield, I rely heavily on the input from my constituents. I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share your viewpoint/opinions with me. I am thrilled by receiving over 400 completed surveys from residents within our district, thank you.
Here are the results!
1. What issue/s in state government is/are most important to you?
Topping the list were government spending/borrowing, taxes, public mistrust in government and corrupt elected officials. Also, many social issues were addressed as well as firearm regulations.
2. Do you support legislation that will repeal the 66% income tax rate increase signed by Governor Quinn in January 2011?
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State Rep Tom Morrison: The Results Are In!”
From Citizens for Albrecht…
MOLINE, IL–The Albracht for Senate campaign will be hosting an open house at its headquarters, located at 331 8th Street in Moline, on Saturday, October 8 from 12-4pm.
Both the media and the public are invited to attend. Food and beverage will be provided.
Bill Albracht will give a brief speech at 1pm.
For more information about Bill Albracht, visit our website at
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Ill)…
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Peter Roskam, Chief Deputy Whip and member of the House Ways & Means Committee, issued the following statement after the Obama Administration sent the long-stalled Columbia, Panama, and Korea Free Trade Agreements (FTA) to Congress today. Roskam has traveled to South Korea, Panama, and Colombia to meet with the respective countries’ leaders in support of these three agreements:
“These three pro-export policies will make it easier for American manufacturers to sell our products overseas and in turn create jobs here. Republicans have been advocating for these commonsense no-cost job-creation policies for years. While our economy has unfortunately suffered as the Administration stalled on these agreements for the last years, it is very welcome news that the Administration is finally supporting them. With unemployment at 9.1% nationally, Washington has to be embracing commonsense solutions that remove barriers to private-sector job creation.”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Proving yet again why he was considered the joke of the Senate when he was a member of that august body, Vice President Joe “Slow Joe” Biden has once again shown that he is one of the most clueless men ever to serve in our second chair. And that really is saying something when we’ve had such gems as Al Gore and William Rufus D. King in that position!
On the morning show of a Tampa Bay, Florida radio station, Biden made an admission that he doesn’t even follow current events and hasn’t a clue what is going on in his own administration.
In a discussion about the Wall Street protests, as empty of purpose as they are, Biden said he didn’t know about “the Van Jones group,” and acted as if he didn’t know who Van Jones even is.
When reminded that Van Jones was the extremist, left-winger that Obama tried to put in place as his “green czar,” Slow Joe said, “Oh is that… alright…”
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Slow Joe Biden Strikes Again, Doesn’t Even Know People in His Own Administration”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Breaking news from Fox News is that the House is finally getting more serious bout Obama’s worst scandal thus far in these few destructive years in the WHite House. The House leadership is now asking for a special prosecutor to look into the obvious lies about when and how much he knew about the murderous Operation Fast And Furious perpetrated by Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder.
It seems fairly obvious that Eric Holder has committed perjury in his testimony on his role in F&F, but Rep. Lamar Smith (R, TX) feels that he cannot ferret out the full story from Holder without a special counsel to help investigate the scandal…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
Also: Reporter Says Obama Officials Cursed at Her Over Fast And Furious Questions
-By Warner Todd Huston
Fox News is 15 years-old this year. Not quite sweet 16, but for a cable news organization, especially one that started out in so few homes, 15 was all it took to dominate the news biz. And that is pretty sweet, indeed.
To celebrate the big one five, Neil Cavuto, of the aptly named Your World With Neil Cavuto, took his show on the road. Neil’s Monday broadcast was beamed to the world on a beautifully sunny Chicago afternoon from an open-air veranda at Trump Tower overlooking the Chicago River.
Between broadcasting his Your World and his Fox Business Network program Cavuto, I was pleased to be invited to attend the set and to have a few words with the big guy, himself.
Cavuto is one of the original Fox men having been with the network since the beginning. In fact, he’s not just an on air news reader, he’s the only air personality that is also a Fox executive having served to help program the business coverage for Fox News. He has also been an important part of the creation of Fox Business Network.
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Fox News 15th Anniversary: Mr. Fox, Neil Cavuto, Hits Chicago”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Tougher than Arizona’s, Alabama’s new immigration law is a perfect example of the best way to put limits on illegal immigration. Sadly these are laws being forced upon the states to implement instead of coming from the federal government, but regardless they are effective in limiting illegals.
The Mobile Press-Register has a story sort of crying that Mexican oriented businesses in Alabama are suffering under the state’s new laws. These businesses have lost half — or perhaps as much as 75% in some estimations — of their customer base. Where have they gone? These customers are either moving back to Mexico or to other states and are doing so to avoid the tougher laws holding them to account in Alabama for their criminal trespass upon this country.
The Press-Register provides the stories of several business started in Alabama by Mexicans catering to Mexican immigrants. The businesses are on the verge of collapse because their illegal immigrant clientele have left the area.
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Alabama Shows the Best Way to Limit Illegal Immigration”
-By Warner Todd Huston
It’s a good question, isn’t it? On a whole host of questions, too, not just the one that former VP Dick Cheney was referring to on CNN.
On CNN, Cheney was talking about the Predator Drone attack that last week killed al Qaeda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki and his cohort Samir Khan. Cheney reminded the CNN audience that Obama slammed the Bush administration for “overreacting to 9/11.” And Cheney thought that Obama owed the whole country an apology for his characterization…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
From the office of Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Dan Patlak…
Within the next week, the Cook County Treasurer will be mailing you the second installment of your 2010 tax bills. The time period to appeal your 2010 assessment at the Assessor’s office or at the Board of Review has already expired. However, you should make sure that this bill includes the Exemptions to which you may be entitled. The most common Exemption is called the Homeowner Exemption. You must have lived in your home as of January 1st 2010 to qualify. To qualify for the Senior Exemption (which must be renewed each year) you must have lived in your home as of January 1, 2010 and you or another owner of the home must have been at least sixty-five years old during 2010. To see if you received these exemptions, look at the right side of the bill a little more than half way down where the exemptions are listed. Then look farther to the right to see what the dollar amount is that corresponds with the respective exemption. If the dollar amount is $0.00 and you think you qualify for the exemption, then you should bring your tax bill to the nearest Assessor’s satellite office located at each of the five Cook County Courthouses (except Maywood which is closed). Bring proof of your residency and age and they will issue you a new tax bill that reflects the discount for the exemption(s).
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Confirm Your Property Tax Exemptions”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Herman Cain wins yet another straw poll of conservative activists. This time at Teacon 2011 held in a northwestern suburb of Chicago. There was no surprise that Cain won the straw poll, but there was some surprise fireworks in the media room and another surprise elsewhere in the Cain campaign as his long-serving Communications Director resigned over the weekend.
Herman Cain was the only candidate that decided to come in person, but to be honest, this crowd was a Cain hotspot even before that. Rep. Michele Bachmann sent in a video address that found favor with the crowd, too. But Cain and she were the only ones to give TeaCon 2011 the time of day.
The results, with over 77% of the vote, put Herman Cain in the lead. And in descending order was Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum — oddly enough President Obama came in next — and Jon Huntsman and Gary Johnson came in last.
As Erik Telford said on Twitter, “If you can’t beat Obama in a tea party straw poll, it’s probably time to end your campaign. (cc: Huntsman and Johnson).”
Ouch, indeed.
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Cain Rises at TeaCon 2011: Straw Poll Win, Communications Director Loss, Disagreements With Jack Roeser”
-By Warner Todd Huston
And now for a little name dropping. Some of the more well-known conservatives bloggers are here this weekend chief among them Ed Morrissey famed HotAir.com blogger. Then there is Jim Hoft from GatewayPundit.com; Jeremy Segal of RebelPundit.com; Andrew Marcus of FoundingBloggers.com; Dana Loesch BigGovernment.com; Adam Sharp of SharpElbows.com; John Ruberry of MarathonPundit.com. And I won’t mention me… because… well… you’re reading my post! Oh, and I almost forgot, the famed Iowahawk was there, too.
Hoft, Segal, Sharp, and Marcus were also on a new media panel. The key phrase of how we conservatives can get coverage of our issues was “show up.” Go. Be at. Do. Don’t sit at home. Get out and about and attend these political meetings, appearances of your congressmen, public events, even protests. Just get out there and cover it.
The New Media panel led by Eric Kohn
TeaCon 2011, The Blogger’s Who’s Who”
-By Warner Todd Huston
I’ll be here all day at TeaCon 2011 sponsored by Chicago’s WIND radio, ChampionNews.net, and the Chicago Tea Party. The good is that several notable personalities are here this weekend among them Andrew Breitbart and Glenn Beck. The bad? Well, there is a bit of a scandal involving one of the Tea Party leaders here that broke just as the Friday events were winding up.
Friday’s opening ceremonies were enjoyable, of course. WIND’s Big John Howell and Amy Jacobson emceed the evening entertainment. We were regaled by the comedy stylings of Steven Crowder and all were wound up by the straight talk and stream of conscientiousness of Andrew Breitbart. We heard some wonderful, patriotic music and all shared a beer or cocktail.
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TeaCon 2011, The Good and the Bad”
-By Selwyn Duke
While I certainly understand the frustration of those who complain of RINO primary rise, it’s important to accept the reality of how it happens. It is not, as some would say, a matter of the “Republican Party giving us another John McCain.” Nominees aren’t appointed; they’re elected. It is not the result of a New World Order conspiracy bent on keeping the Ron Pauls of the world from power. Voters may sometimes have chips on their shoulders; there are no controlling chips in their brains. Of course, the media can and do shape public opinion, but they only truly sing in unison when their candidate (read: any Democrat) has his hide on the line during the general election.
To truly understand why a RINO (Republican in Name Only) will likely win the nomination, we only have to consider the following poll numbers: Mitt Romney, 25 percent; Rick Perry, 16; Herman Cain, 16; Ron Paul, 11; Newt Gingrich, 7; and Michele Bachmann, 7. What is notable about this list? Romney, widely viewed as the most liberal of the major contenders, leads the pack. Is this because the Republican base now reflects the Massachusetts GOP?
Or is it because too many are dividing up the traditionalist-vote pie?
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How Conservative Candidates Can Give Us a RINO Nominee”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The board of directors at the bio-warfare company SIGA likely thought they had made the hire of the century last year when they took on former Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern. In fact, for a while, Stern, one of Obama’s most frequent White House visitors and close confidantes, seemed to bring the company good fortune.
In Stern’s first six months the company’s shares doubled in worth especially after it was awarded a humungous government contract worth up to $2.8 billion of our tax dollars.
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Former SEIU Boss Andy Stern Becomes Albatross”
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (Ill., 6th District)…
In the coming weeks the United Nations Security Council is expected to take a series of misguided procedural steps towards allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to unilaterally declare independence (UDI). If they happen they will mark a step backwards from any potentially genuine Middle East peace and illustrate yet another failure of the Obama Administration’s “leading from behind” approach.
This did not have to be a foregone conclusion. This past May, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and I called on the Administration to stand united with the American people, and with Israel, opposing this UN action. The State Department has heard a similar chorus in the months since.
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The Consequence of US Leadership Failure at the UN”
-By Warner Todd Huston
AP photographer Charles Dharapak is ballyhooing a photo he claims to have just happened to snap of First Lady Michelle Obama shopping at an Alexandria, Virginia Target department store. But come on. Does anyone believe that an AP photographer just by chance happened to spot the First Lady shopping at Target and just happened to take photos of her in the act?
Does anyone believe that this isn’t an orchestrated effort by the “Office Of The First Lady” (™) to counter the idea that Michelle is an effete, waster of the tax payer’s money?
Even CBS is pushing the idea that this photo brings big spender Michelle into the ranks of us reg’lar folk.
Hushed reports have been raging for sometime that Michelle is an unhappy camper in the White House and has frequently lashed out at staffers over nothing. Some top Dems fear that Michelle is the biggest liability the President has and her reputation as spending like a potentate on her lavish trips and fancy clothing is beginning to have an effect with the American people.
Then, voila, here comes a photo of good ol’ Michelle just shoppin with the hoi polloi at Target. Just when she needed something to change her image. Convenient, no?
I’m glad the Associated Press could uses it’s power to help Queen Micelle spin her propaganda. Good going, Old Media!
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AP Says Michelle ‘O’ Just Happened to be Shopping at Target? Riiiiight!”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Death from the skies seems to be Obama’s biggest foreign policy achievement. Since becoming president, Obama has greatly stepped up the use of predator drones and other military ops to kill top al Qaeda officials. He’s killed dozens of them — along with much “collateral damage” in bystanders — with his drone strikes that have taken out nearly the entire top tier of al Qaeda’s and even some of the Taliban’s leadership. But there is a vexing question about this successful campaign to assassinate these terrorists: the anti-war left is wholly silent about it all.
With today’s news of the end to two top al Qaeda operatives, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, ABC News published a list of those terrorists Obama has gacked with his death from the skies campaign. These senior al Qaeda officials tally to some 20 terrorists killed. Most have been with predator drone strikes…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
-By Warner Todd Huston
I have been interested these days to hear the left citing George Washington, the father of our country, to support their ideas against the GOP and their hope that Obama will pull out of the Middle East. Specifically they have been citing Washington’s farewell address where he supposedly warned Americans against getting involved with foreign nations and getting caught up in those evil “foreign entanglements.”
It is quite amusing to see lefties in love with a founding father or American history and principles for the first time in their lives, certainly, but it isn’t just the left revealing a sudden respect for a founding father with citation of Washington’s address. Ron Paulites and those of an isolationist bent on foreign policy have also been bandying about Washington’s farewell address as some sort of “proof” that one of our “first principles” was to stay away from foreign nations.
What was Washington really saying, though? Did he warn us against “foreign entanglements”? Did he think the U.S. should steer clear of all outside political situations and relegate ourselves only to trade with foreigners?
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George Washington Said to Avoid ‘Entangling Alliances’… Or Did He?”