-By Warner Todd Huston
In connection with my ChicagoNow.com Publius Forum site, I have been asked to wing it on down to the WGN radio studios this weekend.
I’ll be in studio with host Sarah Spain on Chicago Now Radio starting around 10AM central time.
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I’ll Be on Chicago’s WGN Radio on Saturday Morning, 10AM”
-By Warner Todd Huston
My friend Lennie Jarratt was featured on Fox News Chicago last night. The subject was the $85 billion dollar deficit that the Illinois finds its public employee pensions confronted with. Fox News reports that every Illinois citizen would have to fork over $6,600 to instantly solve the problem. And what has caused this problem? Unions.
Lennie has some great lines in this piece and he’s right on. He is right that education in America has become “legalized theft.” Here are some of his main points:
Illinois isn’t the only state in this union-made morass. Nearly every state in the union is in this mess.
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Fox News Chicago Digging Deeper on Illinois Pension Mess”
From Congressman Peter Roskam’s Office (6th District)…
Roskam: “When two pillars of the Illinois business community, Caterpillar and John Deere, are forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs for next year alone thanks to the health bill, it sends an ominous message about Illinois’ economic future.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Peter Roskam released the following statement today following the John Deere company’s announcement that the new healthcare legislation signed by President Obama this week will increase their taxes by $150 million in the first year, after Caterpillar announced it would cost them $100 million in their first year:
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Roskam: Healthcare Bill’s Enormous Costs to Illinois Manufacturers John Deere and Caterpillar”
From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…
CHICAGO: The following is an open letter released today by Isaac C. Hayes, GOP nominee for Congress in IL-2, in response to Jr.’s “moment of truth” on news radio WLS 890am.
Yesterday morning, Mr. Congressman, you told Dan Proft and Bruce Wolf, who were guest-hosting the Don Wade and Roma Show on WLS, “There’s probably going to have to be a significant reform of other social programs as the Federal Government assumes more responsibility for health care for the nation’s people, there are other social programs that are probably going to undermine some elements of social cohesion, there’s no doubt about that.”
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Hayes: Open Letter to Jesse Jr. ‘No Leadership, No Integrity’”
From the Illinois Policy Institute…
SB 2494 passed out of committee just moments ago. This bill, sponsored by the Rev. Sen. James Meeks, would create a pilot school voucher program for students in struggling Chicago public schools.
This new power for parents promises that many children can enroll in schools that are better able to meet their needs. It promises that surrounding public schools will improve, and it promises that everyone in Illinois, as taxpayers, will benefit.
This is landmark school choice policy in the making.
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Illinois: Landmark School Choice Bill Could Get Vote Soon”
From Truth In Accounting…
Truth In Accounting Issues New Jersey’s “Financial State of the State”
Today, the Institute for Truth in Accounting released New Jersey’s “Financial State of the State.” The numbers are not good and they are getting worse every day. The state’s bills as of June 30, 2009 were $143 billion and the state had already used $33 billion of assets that were supposed to be set aside to met established legal and contractual obligations. To pay bills and obligations past legislators should have already covered current and future, taxpayers will have to come up with $176 billion—$66,200 per family.
New Jersey Legislators Should Know the FACTS Before Budget Vote”
-By Warner Todd Huston
If you want to see the ignorance of the left, below is a good video to see it in. In it a woman that supports Obamacare makes all sorts of accusations that everyone is a racist in a confrontation at a small protest outside of Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky’s Chicago-area offices. Another portly woman whines about the fact that she might be expected pay for her own healthcare and her equally portly boyfriend calls people names and asks what’s wrong with “a little socialism?”
The video shows that the only people filled with hate, the only ones resorting to name-calling and ignorance are the Obamacare supporters. But the you’re-all-racists lady is the most typical example of the left’s empty-headed line of attack against anyone that dares to nay-say their communist ideas.
One of the ignorant things this woman did was dismiss the Holocaust. It is infuriating, of course, that this chubby chider in purple was so dismissive of the Holocaust because there once was slavery. To her, slavery was worse than the Holocaust. A disgusting display of ignorance, of course. It is also a sad display of ignorance that this woman really thought that her “ancestors” were brought to Evanston, Illinois to work a “plantation.” This foolish woman doesn’t appear to know the history of her own people. There WERE no slave plantations in Evanston, Illinois so it is impossible that her ancestors were brought to Evanston to work plantations for white folks.
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Obama Supporter’s Racism Cop Out”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Illinois ranks a dismal 45th place in state rankings for the best business climates in the country according to a new study by the Institute for Legal Reform.
The study finds Illinois trailing the rest of the country in legal fairness with a litigation climate that is bad for businesses. Two Illinois counties, Cook County and Madison County, were also found to be the most unfair litigation climate in the nation.
In the press release, ILR says that Illinois is a “jackpot” state.
“Home to two of the most notorious jackpot jurisdictions in America and known for imposing expansive liability, Illinois has rolled out an ‘unwelcome mat’ to business,” said Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. “Illinois needs more jobs, not more lawsuits. Yet, even with an unemployment rate higher than the national average, the state’s anti-business legal climate discourages economic growth at a time when it needs it most.”
This ease at filing and constant upholding of frivolous lawsuits is reprehensible and decimates Illinois jobs just at a time when we need more jobs because of this bad economy.
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Illinois Ranks At Bottom of Best Business Climates in America”
From the Hultgren for Congress campaign (14th District)…
Tonight, Bill Foster dealt the 14th Congressional District a devastating blow!
Foster’s vote to takeover health care doesn’t only run contrary to the wishes of his constituents, it delivers on the commitment he made to HIS real boss, Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union.
In the Washington Post this week, Stern boasted of the debt owed to SEIU by Foster saying that “Foster, who we ran a significant independent expenditure for, we’re telling him what it is our workers thought they were working for him for” in reference to the Pelosi/Reid health care bill.
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Randy Hultgren: Bill Foster’s Vote Betrays the Trust of the 14th District”
-By Thomas E. Brewton
Congress should revise its directives to the Fed and abandon liberal-progressives’ secular religious faith that ivory-tower intellectuals are capable of managing the entire economy.
Senator Christopher Dodd’s just released proposals for changing the regulatory role of the Federal Reserve and for reducing the eleven regional Fed banks outside New York City to small, relatively powerless statistical research units revives the question of what the Fed should be doing.
The import of the Senator’s proposals is to remove whatever independence the Fed enjoys and to make it just an office boy for any administration that happens to be in power. We already suffer too much inflation from the Fed’s profligate money expansion. Senator Dodd’s proposals will guarantee even more inflation by making resistance to presidential and Congressional political pressure impossible.
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What the Fed’s Mission Ought To Be”
-By Warner Todd Huston
GOP Party Chairman Pat Brady was elected to a full term as chairman at the State Central Committee meeting this weekend.
Brady was appointed to the position by the state GOP after former Chairman Andy McKenna stepped down in an unsuccessful attempt to run for Governor last year. Brady served the final months of McKenna’s term and now begins his own full four-year term.
Congratulations to Chairman Brady and let’s hope that he can do more for the party long-term than the failed former chairman, McKenna. Brady would be smart to heed the conservative groundswell in this nation and stop the habit of past Illinois GOP powermongers of isolating, ignoring, and working against Illinois conservatives.
From the office of State Senator Chris Lauzen, 25th District…
Until Governor Quinn and Ruling Majorities in the House and Senate reduce Medicaid eligibility to the national average, dramatically reform and fund public employee pensions for future and current employees, secure spending flexibility on billions of federal so-called stimulus dollars, and conduct a hard scrubbing for efficiency of every agency and program in state government, Illinois will continue the budget “death spiral” that is causing employers to evacuate with their jobs, senior citizens with assets to relocate to other states, and bond rating companies to double-downgrade the financial prospects of 12.9 million Illinoisans.
To avoid wearing out my welcome by replaying budget and job-creation solutions that I have repeatedly proposed here and in Springfield, I will devote this article to “Lauzen’s Top 10” legislative initiatives that I am proposing this Spring on your behalf:
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Lauzen’s Legislative Top Ten”
-By Warner Todd Huston
We Ask America recently posted the results of a head-to-head pollIn the other two races, Dold (10th) and Schilling (17th) are down with Dold down by less than three percent.
All the candidates, though, have a bit of convincing to do as the undecideds were in the 20 percent range in four of the five races.
Interestingly, Bob Dold (10th) is practically an unknown compared to Democrat Dan Seals who has been before the voters several times in the past. Dold stands at 37.36% to Seals’ 40.09% in the poll. This race did not have an undecided report.
Adam Kinzinger (11th) is really swamping incumbent Democrat Debbie Halvorson according to the poll. Kinzinger stands at 42.04% to Halvorson’s dismal 30.22%.
Randy Hultgren (14th) holds a slight lead over incumbent Democrat Bill Foster with 37.82% to Foster’s 36.47%.
Still, with up to 26% undecided none of the leaders can rest easy.
See the details HERE
-By Warner Todd Huston
I expect that this will happen sooner rather than later, but it looks like very few people want to leave the Illinois primary at the ridiculously early February date. It seems fairly obvious that the primary will end up moved back to March like it was before.
Of course, the sad thing is that no one is focusing on why it was moved to February in the first place. It was a cynical ploy by the Illinois Democrat Party to nominate Barack OBama early to help his presidential campaign.
As always, Democrats only care what warped *new* “rules” they can make up out of their rear-ends in order to push their agenda. Logical, common sense, and tradition means nothing to a Democrat.
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Support Mounts to Move Illinois Primary to March”
From the Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…
(Lake Zurich, Ill)– Yesterday, Melissa Bean voted down a bi-partisan effort that would have forced members of the House to cast their vote for or against Obamacare in the light of day. In so doing, Melissa Bean, who voted for an even more expansive government takeover of health care last year, has endorsed the so-called “deem-and-pass” sleight-of-hand House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears intent on employing to get Obamacare passed on Sunday. Twenty-eight Congressional Democrats joined every Congressional Republican in voting against allowing the use of this procedural gimmick.
Former U.S. Attorney Generals Ed Meese and William Barr had this to say about the “deem-and-pass”,
The “deem and pass” and similar options under consideration in the House of Representatives plainly violate at least the spirit of the Constitution’s bicameralism and presentment requirements. Those constitutional requirements were intended to ensure democratic transparency with a straightforward up-or-down vote in each House on all bills that become law. More importantly, these requirements were designed to ensure that the new national government actually followed “the consent of the governed,” which the Declaration of Independence had declared before the world to be the only basis of legitimate government.
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Bean Puts Party Politics Ahead of Constitution, Constituents: Votes to Sanction Shady ‘Deem-and-Pass’”
From the Pollak for Congress campaign (9th District)…
-By Joel B. Pollak (Published in American Thinker Magazine – March 2010)
The scandals surrounding former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) threaten Democratic control of what Speaker Nancy Pelosi once boasted would be “the most ethical Congress in history.” Just four years ago, a string of high-profile ethical fiascos likewise doomed Republican control of Congress.
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9th District, Pollak: On Ethics, Let the Minority Rule”
-By Warner Todd Huston
I attended a gathering of Americans protesting both for and against Obamacare in front of Illinois Rep. Melissa Bean’s Schaumburg offices this afternoon, though those protesting against Obamacare far out numbered those in favor of it I have to say. It is also amazing that anyone came out as cold and snowy as it was!
I suppose there were just over 100 folks out with their Gadsen flags, American flags, and both professionally printed and homemade signs with their favorite slogans upon them. One fellow even showed up with his tricorn hat and a pitchfork!
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Tea Party Protest at Illinois Rep. Bean’s Office”
We are coming to crunch time, folks.
If you don’t want to see the end of the United States as a free country, if you abhor the idea of the emergence of the new European States of America, then call your Illinois representatives and tell them to vote “no” on this Obamanation of a bill.
-By Warner Todd Huston
A small handful of anti-war nuts came to downtown Chicago the other day and Chicago News Bench did the foot work to cover it all. Tom Mannis of CNB also has a great slide show of the freaks, geeks, wackos and communists that showed for the thing. And when I say communists, I mean it, I’m not just name-calling here. There were actual, self-avowed communists and socialists at this thing.
I am amused at the hypocrisy of the anti-war “movement,” these days, though. When it was the eeeeeevil Bushies in power they were having these parades of human detritus every other weekend in Chicago but now that their messiah Obama is in office this is the first one they’ve bothered with since inauguration day!
What does that mean? It means that being “anti-war” is NOT their goal. Being anti-George Bush was their ONLY goal. They couldn’t really care less about any war. All they cared about was getting rid of G.W. Bush.
Anyway, head on over to Chicago News Bench and laugh at the comedy that is the anti-war “movement.”
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Chicago’s Anti-War Protest Gone Bust”
OpenCongress has online the healthcare bill that will soon be facing a vote in the House of Representatives.
Health Care Bill Summary – by OpenCongress: this is the full text of H.R. 4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010. This bill would amend the Senate version of the health care reform bill to bring its provisions more in line with the House version.
This is a budget reconciliation bill, resulting from instructions that were included in Congress’ 2010 budget plan. Under the rules, debate of this bill would be limited to 20 hours in the Senate, meaning no filibuster, and amendments would be severely limited. The House is expected to vote on this bill on Sunday 3/21/10. The roll call is predicted to be very tight, likely coming down to a single vote.
Apologies that the formatting of the bill text on this page is a bit messy — because Congress does not publish official info in ways that are compliant with the Eight Principles of Open Government Data, the OpenCongress team was obligated to manually assemble the HTML web code from the original .pdf document. We’re working now to make this bill text work like other bills on the site, so you’ll be able to permalink and comment on individual sections of bill text. For a summary of the Reconciliation Bill and ongoing news & blog coverage, see our Blog, follow us on Twitter, and let us know what you think by writing us with your questions and comments writeus@opencongress.org.
http://www.opencongress.org/house_reconciliation
-By Warner Todd Huston
Pat “the accidental governor” Quinn told a union crowd that Illinois GOP Gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady would somehow destroy the middle class by his anti-union stance. Quinn also made the essential claim that without unions there’d be no “middle class.”
“We’re not going to have a middle class if we allow a lot of anti-labor, anti-union operators to get in politics and tear to shreds fundamental things we all agree on,” Quinn said. “He doesn’t believe in the minimum wage. He wants to abolish it.”
There is, of course, a glaring error in Quinn’s wild-eyed union claim. As of 2009 union members accounted for only 12.4 percent of America’s workforce. With this fact one wonders how the middle class could be eliminated by anti-union forces when union workers make up such a tiny percentage of the total U.S. workforce already?
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Quinn Lies About ‘Losing Middle Class’ Without Unions”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Joe Walsh, the GOP nominee for the 8th District Congressional seat, sat down with the folks at the Daily Herald to talk about the 2009 foreclosure on his Winnetka condo that recently became widely known.
Walsh’s version of the final analysis is that this bank foreclosure on his Winnetka condo makes him just like a lot of Americans that lost their homes due to this bad economy and as a Congressman he’ll be in a position to do something about it.
The Daily Herald, though, was skeptical that Walsh, with a current rent payment of $3,300 a month, could be an “average Joe.” They peppered Walsh with questions asking how he could claim not to be a rich man with such an expensive rent payment?
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8th District Race: Walsh Address His Foreclosure Issue”
From the Sam Adams Alliance…
Two weeks ago, Sam Adams Alliance released a groundbreaking study on the Tea Party movement. Our report, The Early Adopters: Reading the Tea Leaves offers the first-ever insights into the Tea Party movement that include a survey sample made up entirely of recognized Tea Party leaders.
Sam Adams Alliance: Reading the Tea Leaves”
From the Hayes for Congress (2nd District) campaign…
CHICAGO: The following statement was released today by Rev. Isaac C. Hayes, the GOP nominee for Congress in IL-2 in response to Rep. Jackson Jr.’s excessive automobile expenses.
“This amounts to nothing more than a never ending display of arrogance,” said Rev. Hayes, “a thumbing up of his nose to his constituents.” According to him, Rep. Jackson is taking “joyrides” while the rest of the country continues to “lose their jobs and homes.”
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2nd District Hayes: Jr. ‘Joyriding’ at the Tax Payers Expense”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Illinois has reached an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent. ChicagoBreakingNews says that this is the highest rate in 27 years.
The state’s monthly jobless rate, which soared from last years up from 8.7 percent, outpaced the national rate of 10.6 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate in January 2009 was 8.5 percent. The rates are not seasonally adjusted.
Thank you Governor Pat “union hack” Quinn and President Obama “economy killer” Obama. Good work for the both of you… if you intend the destruction of the country, that is.
(For an ongoing update of unemployment stats, see this National Conference of State Legislatures page.)
From the Walsh for Congress (8th District) campaign…
(Lake Zurich, Ill)– Yesterday, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that unemployment in metropolitan Chicago jumped to 11.6% this January, the highest rate in almost 27 years. (Article)
That is higher than it was before the $800 billion stimulus, and higher than it was before the bank bailouts.
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8th District Walsh: Chicago Area Unemployment Rate Hits 11.6% (Despite Big Government Spending)”
From the Joel Barry Pollak for Congress (9th District) campaign…
This morning on the Don Wade & Roma show on WLS AM, Rep. Jan Schakowsky claimed that the Obama administration’s attacks would not hurt the U.S.-Israel relationship. She the attacks were “not going to harm the long-term or even the short-term relationship between the United States and Israel,” and she compared the argument to a marital dispute.
It is a completely inappropriate analogy, and one belied by the statement by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren that “Israel’s ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975” and that this was “a crisis of historic proportions.” Rep. Schakowsky is failing in her duty to speak truth to power on behalf of the residents of her district, who overwhelmingly support a strong U.S.-Israel alliance.
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9th District Joel Barry Pollak: Schakowsky Must Take a stand against the Obama’s attacks on Israel”
From the Hayes for Congress (2nd District) campaign…
CHICAGO: The following statement was released today by Rev. Isaac C. Hayes, the GOP nominee for Congress in IL-2.
According to Rev. Hayes, “Jesse Jackson Jr. continues to hide behind an ‘oops, my bad’, by not disclosing the fact that he pays his wife $247,000 for her consultation. This insider spending is taking place at a time when America has its highest deficit ever.”
As Bloomberg News reported in May of last year, these payments to Sandi Jackson totaled $247,000 for consulting, and another $298,927 in cash and in-kind contributions for her own campaign fund.
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2nd District Isaac Hayes: Jr.’s ‘Pillow Talk Consultants’”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The folks at the Palatine Tea Party has some good video and photos of the protest outside Representative Melissa Bean’s offices (D, 8th District).
The protest was held at noon on Monday, March 15.
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Palatine Tea Party: Healthcare Protest At Rep. Bean’s Offices”
Bill Brady – Governor
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bill-Brady/121898485564?ref=ts
Jason Plummer – Lieutenant Governor
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Plummer/132646891026?ref=ts
Dan Rutherford – Treasurer
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dan-Rutherford/104696265020?ref=ts
Judy Baar Topinka – Comptroller
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judy-Baar-Topinka/153417423039?ref=ts
Robert Enriquez – Secretary of State
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=150151784847&ref=ts
Steve Kim – Attorney General
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144297595818&ref=ts