Illinois GOP Send ‘Shark’ to Spoof Alexi for Loans to Mobster ‘Jaws’ Giorango

Great political theater.

The Illinois GOP sent a guy dressed as a shark to dog Democrat Senate candidate Alexi “Mob Banker” Giannoulias. When Giannoulias was working for the Broadway Bank he loaned millions to mobster Michael “Jaws” Giorango. Naturally the mobster never paid it all back.


Obama & Rahm Set the Record Straight

-By Dan Proft

In two revealing interviews over the weekend, we learned that President Obama and his tiny dancer who would be Chicago Mayor are challenged by the same marketing problem: the public’s perception of them belies who they really are.

In his sit down with the New York Times, the President laments that in his first two years he let himself look too much like “the same old tax-and-spend Democrat”.

He’s not, you know. Sure, you can focus on all of Obama’s taxing-and-spending if you are one of those people obsessed with looking at what people do instead of blindly accepting what people say. Fortunately for him, the President is not such a person.
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Obama & Rahm Set the Record Straight”


Representative Shakowski Again Refusing to Answer Simple Questions

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rep. Jan Schakowski has refused over and over to answer the simple question about just where in the Constitution Obamacare’s insurance mandates appear. What part of our nation’s governing document justifies Congress forcing Americans to buy something? Shakowski consistently refuses to answer this seminal question.

John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit once again asked these questions of Rep. Shakowski and, once again, she refused to answer.

Notice how these were not screamed questions, not raucous, right-wing attack dogs here? These videographers comported themselves professionally, did not name call, and asked their questions in a respectful tone. Yet Rep. Shakowski still refused to answer.

It’s time to get rid of this odious, leftist, monstrosity. Vote Joel Pollak in the 9th District!

http://www.pollakforcongress.com/

Go over to Ruberry’s post and see more of the great points he brings up about this most left wing of all members of the House of Representatives.
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Representative Shakowski Again Refusing to Answer Simple Questions”


Old Media Shields Rahm Emmanuel From Conservative Reporter, Threaten Violence

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is really outrageous. William Kelly, who has a program on the weekends on Chicago’s WIND radio, went out with the rest of the media shadowing Rahm Emanuel as he walked around meeting and greeting Chicago voters yesterday. The outrageous part was that Kelly, a conservative, was pushed away by one self-professed “real” reporter and threatened with violence from another simply for asking Emanuel if he thought the stimulus was a failure.

I am very familiar with William Kelly as I’ve worked with him off and on for the last year since his run for State Comptroller in the primary. Certainly Kelly is somewhat of a gadfly in Republican politics in Chicago, but for the Old Media to push him around and threaten to “deck” him is way out of bounds. Further, Kelly is just as much a “real” journalist as they are and has just as much right to ask candidate Emanuel a question as they do.
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Old Media Shields Rahm Emmanuel From Conservative Reporter, Threaten Violence”


10/13 “Moneybomb” for Rev. Hayes For Congress (2nd District)

From the Midwest Regional College Republicans on behalf of Hayes for Congress…

This is the year for GOP pick-ups in [what were once] “safe” Democrat seats! In the last comparable year (1994), Chicago powerhouse Dan Rostenkowski was [shockingly!!] defeated for re-election, by his Republican opponent. [LA Times: GOP ‘David’ knocks off ‘Goliath’]

We now have another situation, in which a scandal plagued Democrat Congressman can be ousted.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. has a 72% UNFAVORABLE rating!

Leading pollster & analyst Dick Morris said that IL’s 2nd Congressional district is now in play due to the amazing effort of GOP nominee Rev. Isaac C. Hayes, and the sex and dirty money scandals of incumbent Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Rev. Hayes needs your help to defeat this dirty pol — go to www.isaac4honesty.com to make a donation or volunteer now!!


Hard to Believe That Alexi Giannoulias ‘Didn’t Know’ Of Mobster’s Crimes

-By Warner Todd Huston

Alexi Giannoulias is well known as the “Mob Banker” for the fact that his family bank lent $20 million to two mobsters while Alexi was an officer of the bank. The Illinois Democrat’s Senate candidate has finally answered to this loan a bit more directly than he has in the past and his answer is simply a bit hard to take.

On NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday, October 10, Giannoulias uttered the laughable claim that he “didn’t know the extent” of the criminal activities of his mobster borrowers at the Broadway Bank.

This is a bit hard to take. Giannoulias seemed to act as if the two mobster’s activities were not as well known in 2005 as they really were at the time his bank gave these ne’er-do-wells multiple loans. Both Michael “Jaws” Giorango and his pal Demitri Stavropoulos were well known criminals by the time they were being served at Broadway Bank.
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Hard to Believe That Alexi Giannoulias ‘Didn’t Know’ Of Mobster’s Crimes”


Rep. Jan Schakowsky: The Most Extreme Left-Winger in Congress

According to GovTrack.us, a non-partisan legislative tracking service, Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky is the most left-wing member of either of the two houses of Congress, based on the bills she co-sponsors. Similarly, the non-partisan National Journal, which measures members of Congress by their voting record, name Schakowsky as the most liberal Democrat in the House of Representatives.

Imagine what this is saying? Jan Shakowsky is even further left than avowed socialist Bernie Sanders who is listed as an “independent” in the Senate. Shakowsky is even further left than the nation’s token socialist!

See Jan Shakowsky To The Extreme to see more of Shakowsky’s un-American extremism at: http://extremejan.com/.


Union Realizes Its Labor Is Too Expensive, Actually Proposes Cutting Rates

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago’s electrical workers union is making ready to cut costs of its services with a unique solution to the high cost of its labor in this down economy.

At the bidding of the national office the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Chicago has announced a plan to add a new classification of workers who are less trained and will be paid lower wages but this new lower level of union worker has the more experienced members upset at what they think is a loss of work for them.

As Chicago Union News reports, the new scheme will offer a lower level of workers that have not gone through the five-year-long apprentice program. Union members that have completed the program feel threatened by the cheaper, less trained workers.
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Union Realizes Its Labor Is Too Expensive, Actually Proposes Cutting Rates”


Video: Chicago Park Dist. Worker Mad At Unions Political Spending

-By Warner Todd Huston

A Chicago Park District employee is seen on this video attacking his union for spending his dues on political causes that he doesn’t support.

This Park District employee works for the Service Employees International Unions (SEIU) and was asked his thoughts on union spending at the Palos Tea Party’s American Voter Rally in Tinley Park, IL on Oct. 10, 2010.

One has to wonder how many other union members are upset like this — not just of the SEIU but all unions across the country? Over the last few decades unions have spent billions of their member’s dues money on extremely left-wing causes. Why, just a few weeks ago dozens of unions got together to spend their member’s dues money supporting a rally sponsored by actual, hardcore communist and socialist groups.

And unions are spending millions this term, too. They desperately want to keep overspending, socialist-leaning Democrats in power. And all this money being spent comes right out of the pockets of the rank and file union members.
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Video: Chicago Park Dist. Worker Mad At Unions Political Spending”


Tribune Endorses Brady!‏

From the Bill Brady for Illinois Governor campaign…

With only weeks to go before Election Day, our campaign to put Illinois back to work, and force government to live within its means today was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune!

As the only candidate who will stand up for families against big government, tax and spend politicians like Pat Quinn, today’s Tribune editorial page says Bill “…will say No to the power-clutching elites — House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton, that means you and your cronies — whose insider politics doomed this state to its own private tailspin.”
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Tribune Endorses Brady!‏”


Recovering from the Five Stages of Chicago Democrat Governance

-By Dan Proft

According to the Kübler-Ross model, there are five distinct stages to the grieving process. Given President Obama’s economic policies, it is likely you have experienced the majority of them in the last two years.

This contribution to the understanding of the human psyche has inspired my own.

I present the five stages to the process of Chicago Democrat governance, applicable at both the state and federal levels.
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Recovering from the Five Stages of Chicago Democrat Governance”


Patlak: A Critical Moment

From the Patlak for Cook County Board of Review campaign…

As we approach early voting on October 11th and Election Day just 27 days from now, we are pulling out all the stops to secure a victory and win back the 1st District Board of Review seat for the Republican Party. For over a year I have put aside my normal life to pursue this office.

We now find our campaign at a critical moment. We have a winning message and just received the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune but need more funding to get that message out to the half million people who will cast ballots. In order to purchase the minimum amount of media time necessary to be effective, we need to raise $20,000 by Friday October 15th. I am making an urgent request for additional financial help to allow us to bring our message of ethical leadership and political balance on the Board of Review to the people of Cook County. I want to change business as usual at the Board and I need your help. Please join me in this battle by sending your maximum contribution.
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Patlak: A Critical Moment”


Gains in Suburban Chicago Voter Registration Shows GOP Enthusiasm in Collar Areas

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chuck Goudie recently reported that voter registration is way up in the Republican dominated suburban Chicago and collar county areas this year while voters in the city itself has fallen slightly over last year’s registration numbers. The uptick in the suburbs seems to show that enthusiasm for Republican voters is much higher than that of city Democrats.

There has been a spike in suburban and collar county registrations and while city registration is 60,000 down from 2008, statewide registration is up from levels of four years ago.
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Gains in Suburban Chicago Voter Registration Shows GOP Enthusiasm in Collar Areas”


Highlights From Pat Brady’s Comments on Elections

Earlier this week Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady hosted a conference call to discuss the state Party’s efforts for this election cycle. Here are some highlights of that call:

“As always we welcome the President at home but his campaign appearance in his home state speaks volumes as to the state of the Democratic Party nationally and the traditional blue state of Illinois in this election cycle…

“Democrats don’t even have their base here in Illinois, let alone the election deciding independents. And Illinois is the epicenter of what’s going on nationally, and I think we see that in the momentum we’ve had in our victory program. Today we’ve made 2.5 million voter contacts…

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Highlights From Pat Brady’s Comments on Elections”


The Law: Bought And Paid For By Unions

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Public School system is out of money. Like every business in the real world one solution was to layoff workers, in this case some 700 teachers. In the real world that is the way the cookie crumbles. Such employees would put themselves on the market and look for new jobs. Life moves on. But in the world of public employees unions, such employees run to the judges they’ve bought and the law they wrote themselves and had passed by politicians bought and paid for. So taxpayers are forced to give them concessions, paybacks, and special favors. It all amounts to more proof of union graft and corruption at its most common.

This has happened once again in Chicago as the teachers union went to court to prevent the everyday, common cost cutting measure of laying off workers that every normal American is faced with. And, like the true Chicago Way- styled politics that Illinois is used to, the “law” that was written by unions, paid for by unions, and passed by unions was invoked by judges placed in their court rooms by union money.

And who is left holding the bag? The taxpayers, of course.
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The Law: Bought And Paid For By Unions”


Joel Pollack For Congress (Ill. 9th District)

Joel Pollak is running (really running in this ad, anyway) for Congress in the Illinois 9th District. That district is in Chicago’s near north and side.

Pollak is running to knock out incumbent socialist Jan Schakowsky, one of the most ideologically extreme left-wingers in the House of Representatives.

http://www.pollakforcongress.com/


Another Corrupt Stroger Associate Arrested

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another one of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s top aides was arrested for a money laundering scheme on Monday, Oct. 4.

Stroger aide Carla Oglesby is accused of funneling a county no-bid contract to her own privately held public relations firm. The $24,975 contract falls under the “24-9” rule where contracts under $25,000 can be awarded without the County Board’s specific approval.

Oglesby served as Stroger’s chief spokesman during his failed primary bid for reelection.

The contract was first reported by the SunTimes last April at which time President Stroger suspended Oglesby for a week. The story prompted federal authorities to begin an investigation.

At the time Oglesby denied she steered the contract to her own firm, but the Times found paperwork showing that she had signed the contracts over to herself.

This is typical of the cash machine for friends and family that Todd Stroger turned his stint as Cook County Board President into. From handing out contracts to pals and giving all sorts of county jobs to family members, Stroger has been particularly corrupt in office.

The county board has since changed it rule on the under $25,000 contracts.
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Another Corrupt Stroger Associate Arrested”


Chicago Tribune Endorses Dan Patlak‏

From the Patlak for Cook County Board of Review…

Today the Chicago Tribune endorsed our candidate Dan Patlak for Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review. You can read the endorsement below or click here to read it on the Chicago Tribune website.

It would help Dan’s campaign immeasurably if you would forward this e-mail to all of your contacts. Thank you for your support.

From the Chicago Tribune:
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Chicago Tribune Endorses Dan Patlak‏”


Daley Buddy Not Billed for Years of Water Use

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently some of Daley’s buddies never paid for their water use being fortunate enough to have City Hall pick up the tab. As the era of Daley winds down these sort of stories will continue to eek out, but it shows the illicit nature of the Daley Democrat machine in the crooked city of Chicago.

The Sun Times reported that Daley pal and current guest with the prison system Fred Bruno Barbara went years without being billed for the water use at his block-long garage in the city’s first ward.
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Daley Buddy Not Billed for Years of Water Use”


Tearful Emanuel Leaves WH Job, Says Obama Leads in ‘Toughest Times’ in History?

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the worst kept secret in D.C., White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel officially left his post in a tearful press conference on the morning of Oct. 1.

Most of what Mr. Emanuel had to say was your normal, average, everyday puffery that a junior member of a team says when he is leaving his position. Emanuel’s thanks-for-the-memories address was all perfectly innocuous… except for one thing.

Early in his remarks Emanuel issued some hortatory for his boss, President Obama. “I want to thank you for being the toughest leader any country can ask for in the toughest times any country has ever faced,” Emanuel said.

Now, some may think that this is just glad-handing of the sort that one might expect of an underling leaving his beloved boss. But this is far more revealing than that.

Just think of what Emanuel said, here. He claimed that his president has led through the “toughest times any country has ever faced.” Tougher than the Revolution when we weren’t even sure we’d make it as a nation? Tougher than what Madison faced in the War of 1812 when the White House was nearly burnt to the ground? Tougher than the Civil War that Lincoln faced? Tougher than WWI, the Great Depression, WWII?
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Tearful Emanuel Leaves WH Job, Says Obama Leads in ‘Toughest Times’ in History?”


U of Chicago Prof Says His $400,000 Salary Is Taxed Too Much

-By Warner Todd Huston

University professors so often get the reputation of being ivory tower pinheads sheltered from real life and out of touch with reality. Professor Todd Henderson of the University of Chicago sure didn’t help change that perception when he posted a blog post detailing how Obama’s tax hikes will hurt and that his combined family income of $400,000 annually still doesn’t prevent them from struggling to keep up with his bills.

The professor posted some of his family finances in order to show that even though many feel he is “rich” he has bills like everyone else and Obama’s tax hikes coming next year will hurt him badly. Interestingly, Henderson a neighbor of Obama in Chicago’s prestigious Hyde Park neighborhood.

“A quick look at our family budget, which I will gladly share with the White House, will show him that, like many Americans, we are just getting by despite seeming to be rich. We aren’t,” Henderson wrote on the blog post.
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U of Chicago Prof Says His $400,000 Salary Is Taxed Too Much”


Illinois Congresswoman MOCKS the Tea Party

From the Palatine Tea Party

(Palatine, Illinois) – Representative Melissa Bean (D) Illinois 8th district MOCKS the Tea Party. Bean said the following to the Daily Herald on February 19, 2010.

As for the tea party rallies and organizations, Bean bristled at calling it a “movement”. 1

Bean went on to mention Obama’s inauguration, “I remember being on the (National Mall), there being 1 million people for the inauguration. That is a movement, Bean said. I don’t see a comparison.”1
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Illinois Congresswoman MOCKS the Tea Party”


A Case of Influence Peddling by a Dem. Member of the Cook County Board of Review?

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few weeks ago Chicago Magazine published a story that revealed what sure looks like an influence peddling scandal perpetrated by Democrat Cook County Board of Review member Joseph Berrios. The story is filled with the maddeningly typical Chicago corruption. It also seems to implicate his other two fellow board members, Brendan Houlihan and Larry Rogers, Jr — both Democrats. To date Houlihan has yet to answer to these charges.

The Cook County Board of Review is the office responsible for handling property tax complaints and is responsible for lowering the tax rate if a property merits a reduction. As it happens Berrios, a Board of Review member since 1988, has been rather free with tax reductions for campaign contributors. He also seems to have ignored or skirted multiple rules and regulations by meeting with contributors behind closed doors and illegally filing requests for review. It appears that Berrios initiated a pay to play operation where commercial property owners got reductions in property taxes for campaign contributions to his campaign.

One Berrios associate in particular had some very favorable tax reductions given to him and his clients. Paul Froehlich and a political associate who once worked for Berrios found the Board of Review quite amenable to reductions for several Schaumburg properties the pair represented.

Now a property cannot have its taxes reduced unless at least one other commissioner agrees to the reduction. Meetings arranging the reductions, though, appear to be little else but a rubber stamp affair of the member’s recommendations. It is rare that any of the other two board members ever deny a fellow their recommendation. Again, all three board members are Democrats.

After the Chicago Magazine story at least four property tax reductions were suddenly reversed by the board, reductions that were called into question by the story. Fellow board member Brendan Houlihan, who represents suburban Cook County, attempted to distance himself from the corruption by claiming that he had investigated himself and all was well with the world.

Houlihan claimed that he had conducted an “internal investigation” and his findings had been turned over to the state’s attorney’s office that is investigating the scandal. He refused any further comment because of the ongoing investigation of possible criminal activity.

Houlihan has quite a few questions to answer to and just sitting back and saying “no comment” is not good enough as he presents himself for reelection by the very people he may have helped defraud of tax receipts to help Berrios gain campaign donations.

Here is what Houlihan is accused of doing: The Board of Review frequently goes out among private citizens with seminars and similar events and at these events tax reduction requests are accepted from the general public. The law states that regular homeowners are allowed to file reductions in person but commercial property owners must file via an attorney. The accusation is that Houlihan was allowing the cases from Berrios’s pals to be added illegally to private homeowner cases, all of which were then rubber stamped by the board with the reductions passed on illicitly to Berrios’s commercial property campaign supporters.

Worse, Houlihan claims that he was unaware that Joe Berrios was running one of these citizen outreach seminars right in Houlihan’s own suburban Cook district. It was at this outreach session that Berrios slipped in the commercial cases among the private citizen’s requests.

There are several vexing questions that Houlihan has yet to answer to in this scandal. Chief of which is what did Houlihan know and when did he know it?

  • Was Houlihan personally aware that these commercial cases were slipped in with the private homeowner’s tax reduction requests?
  • If Commissioner Houlihan wasn’t aware of it is one of his staffers complicit with the illegal activity?
  • Did Houlihan review and approve of the tax reductions for Berrios’s pals?
  • If not, isn’t that a dereliction of his duty as a board member?
  • Why did Houlihan not even know what was going on in his own district?

There also seem to have been three closed-door hearings by the Board of Review on this whole scandal. Despite that these violations occurred in Houlihan’s very own district transcripts show that he asked no questions during the hearings. In fact, he failed to even attend one of them.

Just what the heck does Brendan Houlihan do in his elected position on the Cook County Board of Review? He skips meetings, refuses to ask questions about a scandal perpetrated in his own district, rubber stamps illegal tax reductions, and then won’t answer to the voters for his lack of alacrity for doing his job.

I called Houlihan’s office and was granted a meeting… at first. The next day, via email, spokesman Mark Volpe told me that meeting was canceled. After a follow up phone call I was told that Houlihan had no comment on the matter.

Clearly Houlihan doesn’t feel he has to answer to the voters of suburban Cook County. Will they return him to office in November?
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.


Ill. Policy Institute: How Has Government Policy Affected You?‏

from the Illinois Policy Institute…

Earlier this year, the Illinois Policy Institute released our inaugural Legislators’ Guide to the Issues.

As we update the guide for 2011, we want to incorporate the voices of citizens all across the state of Illinois on how policy has changed their lives for better or worse. Over the next month, we will be soliciting your views on 3 featured topics each week. Here are the first 3 topics.
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Ill. Policy Institute: How Has Government Policy Affected You?‏”


Chicago Trib’s State Senate Campaign Endorsements

-By Warner Todd Huston

“Change will come to Illinois only if change comes to the Illinois General Assembly,” so says the Chicago Tribune as it lays out the “change” they hope to see on election day this November.

The Trib is feeling a tad anti-incumbent, it appears, as they’ve endorsed some challengers for the state senate in Springfield.

Here are the Republicans that the Trib is endorsing:
10th District (Northwest Side) Brian Doherty
19th District (Southwest suburbs) Adam Wojcik
22nd District (Northwest suburbs) Steve Rauschengberger
24th District (West suburbs) Chris Lauzen
28th District (Northwest suburbs) John Milner
31st District (North suburbs) Suzi Schmidt

The Democrat the Trib endorsed is Heather Steans of the 7th District.

Interesting in that some of these names are challengers. Schmidt is a challenger of Democratic incumbent Michael Bond, Rauschenberger is the challenger of incumbent Mike Noland, and Wojick is the GOP challenger of incumbent Maggie Crotty. The incumbents the Trib endorsed are Chris Lauzen, John Milner and Heather Steans.
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Chicago Trib’s State Senate Campaign Endorsements”


Domestic Terrorist Denied University Accolade of Emeritus Status

-By Warner Todd Huston

Leave it to University liberals to suddenly take strong stands just when it makes absolutely no difference at all.

Domestic terrorist William Ayers, close personal friend to Barack Hussein Obama, has finally been denied something by a publicly funded university and at this late date it is a meaningless gesture.

For decades and decades this anti-American cretin has been spreading his hatred of the United States to students at the University of Illinois in Chicago but now after spreading his maliciousness for so long he is contemplating retirement.

But the 60’s radical and bomber William Ayers wanted one more little accolade from UIC, one more little piece of paper he could frame for his wall of liberal praise. He wanted to be awarded UIC emeritus status.
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Domestic Terrorist Denied University Accolade of Emeritus Status”


Illinois Professor Says Chanting ‘USA’ is Bellicose Propaganda

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oh, you ignorant Americans with your venal patriotic chants of “USA, USA” at sporting events. Your bellicosity isn’t patriotism, it’s propaganda and lowly militarism… so says David Green, University Administrator and member of the University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs.

Green’s poisoned pen letter to American patriots was published by the Daily Illini, an “independent newspaper” at the U of I, and features every manner of attack on America.

Green’s vituperation covers the gamut of anti-Americanism: America is “imperialist,” she is unconcerned over the deaths of Muslims, America is”nativist,” and patriots are prone to “obnoxious, fake-macho, chicken-hawk” chants. In other words all that is wrong with the world is evinced in the United States of America.

The professor’s screed was short, but filled with hate for America:
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Illinois Professor Says Chanting ‘USA’ is Bellicose Propaganda”


New Jesse Jackson Jr. Allegations of Ethics Violation, Sexual Affair

-By Warner Todd Huston

On the eave of the biggest rush to run for Chicago Mayor in recent memory, Jesse Jackson, Jr. has been hit with more allegations of being involved in a scheme to buy a Senate seat from disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Additionally, there is a hint that Jackson was involved with a woman flown several times to Chicago by a campaign contributor.

An Indian-American businessman has told federal authorities that he was asked by Congressman Jackson to begin raising money for Rod Blagojevich so that Blago might appoint Jackson to the open Senate seat that Obama vacated when he took the White House in 2008.

Shortly after Blagojevich’s arrest on corruption charges in December 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that FBI agents went to the Oak Brook home of Indian-American businessman, Raghuveer P. Nayak. The Tribune reported Nayak hosted an Oct. 31, 2008 luncheon where he discussed raising $1 million for Blagojevich to help persuade the governor to choose Jackson. The congressman’s brother Jonathan appeared at a Nayak-sponsored fundraiser for the governor three days before Blagojevich was arrested.

There is also an affair broadly hinted at between the Congressman and a woman named Giovanna Huidobro, an affair that Jackson has asked the media to ignore so as to “respect” his “private” problem between he and his wife.

The woman is said to be a “restaurant hostess” but the picture that is being used by the media looks suspiciously like a swimsuit model seen on the CincoUno.com website.

When confronted with the possible relationship, Jackson clammed up and tried to cajole the media to ignore the whole thing.

“The reference to a social acquaintance is a private and personal matter between me and my wife that was handled some time ago,” Jackson said in his statement. “I ask that you respect our privacy.

“I know I have disappointed some supporters, and for that I am deeply sorry. But I remain committed to serving my constituents and fighting on their behalf.”

Like father like son, I guess. Jackson Sr. is well known for his sexual dalliances.
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New Jesse Jackson Jr. Allegations of Ethics Violation, Sexual Affair”


Heartland Institute’s 26th Anniversary Benefit Dinner

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last night I had the pleasure to attend the 26th anniversary dinner for the Chicago-based Heartland Institute held in the resplendent Grand Ball Room of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Chicago.

The Heartland Institute is one of the premiere think tanks in the country and has some great resources on the fallacies of Global Warming, free markets, healthcare, technology, taxes and education among others. If you are a blogger Heartland’s work on all sorts of conservative issues is a gold mine of information that can help you intelligently elucidate your points. If you are just an interested citizen, you should also check out Heartland’s great work. And the legislative work the institute has done these many years has been highly important for the conservative, free market side of the aisle. Please do check out Heartland’s extensive website and do donate if you can to help keep it all going.

In any case, the night started with some socializing, a well stocked open bar, and the opportunity to bid on all sorts of interesting auction items.

During the socializing I had the opportunity to talk to Steve Kim, the Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General and Ed Rutledge the candidate for Lt. Governor from the Libertarian Party.
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Heartland Institute’s 26th Anniversary Benefit Dinner”