2nd District, Isaac Hayes: New Health Bill a Bait and Switch

From the Isaac Hayes for Congress campaign…

CHICAGO: After spending more than a year to pass a major overhaul of the American health insurance industry, the White House released its latest in a series of new health reform bills.

“This administration’s push to jam a bill that the majority of Americans oppose through reconciliation begs the question, who does this country belong to,” said Republican Nominee for Illinois 2nd District Isaac Hayes, “the people or politicians in Washington D.C.? The White House can try and use focus group words to deceive the American people, but putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t stop it from being a pig”.

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2nd District, Isaac Hayes: New Health Bill a Bait and Switch”


Weekly Standard on Illinois Rebels

-By Warner Todd Huston

Fred Barnes, editor of the Weekly Standard published a piece that 8th District candidate Joe Walsh referenced this week. Barnes didn’t just talking about Walsh, though. Here is the except of what Barnes had to say about several other Illinois Republican “Rebels on the Right.”

The grass-roots revolt in the Illinois primaries was all the more telling because it was a near-total surprise. Ethan Hastert’s name, rather than an asset, “actually worked against him,” says a Republican official who supported him. The Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times endorsed his opponent, Hultgren—another surprise.

For Hultgren, the key to winning was staying to the right of Hastert. “I believe we need real conservatism in Washington,” he declared. “I’m proud to call myself a real conservative.” He won, 55 percent to 45 percent. He faces Democrat Bill Foster, who won a special election after Hastert’s father resigned, in the general election on November 2.

The success of Dold in the House seat being vacated by Representative Mark Kirk “came out of nowhere,” Representative Aaron Schock of Illinois told me. Schock had endorsed the favorite, Coulson. Dold defeated Coulson, 39 percent to 30 percent, in a multiple candidate race.

Once again, the winner ran against Washington and excessive spending. Dold labeled Coulson “a Springfield insider” as a legislator and one who voted for “tax and spend” bills. As a social moderate, Dold nicely fits the district, which President Obama won with 61 percent of the vote in 2008. Kirk, by the way, won the Republican primary for the Senate seat once held by Obama.

What distinguished Walsh’s victory was the role of tea party activists. Without them, he would have had little chance of winning. After his victory—Walsh got 35 percent in a six-way race—he traveled to Nashville to speak at the National Tea Party Convention. “I ran as a tea party candidate in the primary, and I’m going to run as a tea party candidate in the general,” he said.

When Melissa Bean, the Democratic incumbent, learned that Walsh would be her opponent, she expressed relief, regarding him as the weakest of the Republicans in the primary. Her reaction was reminiscent of how pleased aides of President Carter were in 1980 when Ronald Reagan emerged as his Republican opponent. They were happy to have escaped the awesome juggernaut of a Howard Baker campaign.

Please do go on over to Barnes’ piece and read what he had to say on races in other parts of the country.
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Weekly Standard on Illinois Rebels”


Some Tough Medicine for Getting Back to Good

-By Frank Salvato

I just watched an important video. It was a United News newsreel from December 2, 1945, and captured the official Japanese surrender proceedings aboard the USS Missouri, proceedings that brought World War II to an end. As I watched, I wondered how it must have sounded to my Father, who was fighting in the South Pacific during that time.

It would be impossible for me to be able understand how he must have felt at hearing Gen. MacArthur say,

“Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it, always. These proceedings are closed.”

My Father volunteered for military service during World War II, as did many who fought for the Allies from all countries. They did so not only because they understood the existence of evil in the world, but because they wanted to preserve the “way of life” their countries afforded them. For my Father it was to advance our American heritage – freedom, liberty, constitutionality and opportunity – to his children. It was for this belief that he risked life and limb in one of the bloodiest episodes in world history.
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Some Tough Medicine for Getting Back to Good”


Southtown Star Mad that Candidate is Against Socialism?

– By Warner Todd Huston

Southtown Star columnist Phil Kadner tried on his high dudgeon at 11th District GOP Congressional candidate Adam Kinzinger in his March 2 editorial headlined, “A different battle for Adam Kinzinger.”

Why was Kadner so upset at the 32-year-old candidate? What caused Kadner’s tsk tsking to fly? What low-end sort of campaigning evil did candidate Kinzinger perpetrate?

Well, it seems at a recent rally Kinzinger held up a T-Shirt given to him by a member of the audience. And on that T-Shirt was, *gasp*, the word “socialism” with a circle and a line through it.

That’s right, folks, Phil Kadner is upset with Republican Adam Kinzinger because the candidate held up an anti-socialism T-Shirt at a rally. Imagine, an anti-socialism T-Shirt at a tea party styled rally… with Republicans around and about… held up by a Republican candidate! And imagine any American standing against socialism! It’s just all so unheard of.
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Southtown Star Mad that Candidate is Against Socialism?”


Four Key Minutes from Obama’s Failed Healthcare Summit

A great video from the Heritage Foundation that shows how the Republicans really made Obama look the fool at his healthcare summit last week.

My favorite is Louise Slaughter (D, NY) who was all upset that a women in here district was “wearing her dead sister’s teeth” because the woman could not afford dental care. But, guess what Louise? Your idiotic example is meaningless to this healthcare discussion because Obamacare DOES NOT COVER DENTISTS! Obamacare would not solve your constituent’s false teeth crisis!


AP: Unions Stymied Under Obama?

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press posted a story lamenting that Big Labor has failed so far to get Obama to heel by their commands. Big Labor has said “jump” and Obama has but skipped. The article is correct, though, that Big Labor has failed in its two biggest goals: socialist healthcare and card check. At least, they’ve failed so far.

A third failure has also been forced upon Big Labor. As a result of newly seated Republican Senator Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts, Big Labor was not able to install Craig Becker as the head of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Becker was Big Labor’s back up plan in case Congress didn’t pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), or the card check bill. Being a former Big Labor lawyer and activist, labor groups expected that if installed as NLRB chief Becker would change rules, alter processes, and invent systems that would implement card check through the back door instead of through actual legislation.
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AP: Unions Stymied Under Obama?”


Using the System FOR Us: The Freedom Force Strategy

The National Precinct Alliance is an effort to give tea party folks the guidance to make a difference at home, within their own local political system. This is the only way that we conservatives can influence what is happening in our state government and what is happening in Washington. All our tea party protests are great, but if they aren’t followed up with real political activism — as opposed to mere bombast and carping — we will find that politics will move on without incorporating our ideas, we will stay marginal in the actual power plays in our governments.

So, with that said, here is some info from the National Precinct Alliance:

The Freedom Force Strategy

The American people find themselves in the very difficult position of having to reform their government from the bottom up, after decades of public neglect which allowed politicians from both political parties to behave as though the U.S. Constitution doesn’t exist any longer.

State legislatures have been forced by over-reaching federal policies, to restate, reclaim and reassert Tenth Amendment rights just to defend the citizens of their states from oppressive policies coming out of Washington DC.
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Using the System FOR Us: The Freedom Force Strategy”


Another Government ‘Fix’ Becomes Another Government Failure

-By Norvell S. Rose

How many times must we learn the painful lesson? What will it take for us to recognize the near-universal rule governing the outcome of any unwieldy Washington-driven “reform” effort? That rule is: When the government attempts a big fix for something, watch out below! Duck and cover! Run for your liberty-loving life! The fix will, in all likelihood, come crashing down around us; even as seemingly oblivious lawmakers continue to pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

Such is the sorry case with the so-called credit card reform act of 2009 – all but buried among the wrack and rubble of a multitude of such massive makeover attempts by the liberal crusaders. In its predictable activation of the law of unintended consequences, this sweeping “consumer protection” law should be a stark lesson in what not to do with regard to another far-reaching reform effort – the health care fix.

As background on the “Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009″…
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Another Government ‘Fix’ Becomes Another Government Failure”


Washington State’s SEIU Bought Republican

-By Warner Todd Huston

On February 24, Moe Lane posted a short piece alerting one and all to the fact that one of the Republican candidates for Washington State’s 3rd Congressional District is a favorite of the hard-core lefties in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) — one of Obama’s favorite Big Labors cohorts. Mr. Lane, though, was sure that Jaime Herrera “regrets that endorsement now.” Unfortunately, I am not so sanguine because Herrera has been far more compliant with Big Labor’s goals than is evident from what Lane might have thought was a mere wayward endorsement.

There is a reason, it appears, that the SEIU endorsed Herrera. As a Republican she seems to be far more one of them than one of us at least as far as Big Labor’s needs go!

Moe Lane cited the Clark County Politics blog on the SEIU’s endorsement, but if you don’t want to believe the CCPblog — admittedly a right leaning site — here is a Progressive Voters Guide for Washington and here is the Voters Guide for Equal Rights Washington, both left-wing groups that show SEIU support for Herrera. On top of that here is SEIU Local 1199 NW’s endorsement page which also announces its endorsement of Herrera.

But, let’s address that possible “regret” that Mr. Lane so casually extends to Ms Harrera. Could Lane be right, could it be that Herrera was just by happenstance on the receiving end of an SEIU endorsement and now wishes it never happened? Was it all just an unfortunate incident? I have to say that after looking up some of her votes over the last few years, I must conclude that Herrera was given the thumbs up by the SEIU for a reason. Jaime Herrera was quite a friend to Big Labor.
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Washington State’s SEIU Bought Republican”


More of Congress Not Living By Rules Forced on Us

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill is reporting that 70 percent of our Congressmen’s Washington offices violate OSHA’s workplace safety rules. Of course, if our employers were to be found in violation of OSHA rules we’d have our places of business closed down and the owners prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But, you see, Congress doesn’t have to abide by the laws everyone else suffers under, now do they?

Of the 541 offices in Congress, 154 were found to be completely in compliance with OSHA standards — those of 64 senators and 90 House lawmakers — leaving 387 offices that had at least one violation. This is a marked increase from 2008, when only 37 offices were found to be in complete accordance, or in 2006, when only seven offices were in compliance.

Sure some of the OSHA violations were minor infractions, to be sure, but the fact that these violations add up to so many is astounding.
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More of Congress Not Living By Rules Forced on Us”


Congressman Peter Roskam: Obama’s Bipartisan Past

-By Congressman Peter Roskam (R, Illinois)

Mr. President: Business in Washington doesn’t have to be this way. You need not be pushed to the left and you can work across the aisle like you have in the past.

That is what I told President Obama a few weeks ago at the GOP caucus. He really does have an ability to work in a bipartisan manner. I know because we worked together for years to solve problems in the Illinois Senate.

Today’s health care summit doesn’t have to be a regurgitation of an unpopular health care bill. Nor does the President have to embrace Congressional Democratic leadership, which has systematically stiff-armed Republicans out of any conversation about solutions. Sure, health care is a contentious issue, but President Obama has successfully worked with Republicans under similar parameters.
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Congressman Peter Roskam: Obama’s Bipartisan Past”


Fiscal Responsibility Lasted Two Weeks In Senate

-By Warner Todd Huston

Two weeks ago the U.S. Senate passed new rules that would require new spending to be offset somewhere else in the budget, the so-called paygo rule. They did this because Democrats and Obama got tired of being called big spending socialists and wanted the veneer of fiscal responsibility with which to cloak themselves. It lasted two weeks before the Senate broke its own new Obama-sponsored rule and went headlong for just another big spending program with its supposed jobs bill.

On February 13 President Obama celebrated the paygo rule as a “common sense” rule that would “rein in spending.” Obama then said that the new rule would assure that Congress would be forced to “pay for what it spends, just like everybody else.”

It all sounds so grand. But it wasn’t to last. Maybe that’s why the Senate couldn’t abide by the rule, it was too much “common sense” for them to put up with?
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Fiscal Responsibility Lasted Two Weeks In Senate”


Can Tea Party Help 8th District Candidate?

-By Warner Todd Huston


Republican Joe Walsh won his party’s nomination for the Illinois 8th District Congressional seat this February. He’ll face Democrat incumbent Melissa Bean in November. But as of right this minute he’s broke.

Mr. Walsh is fond of calling himself the “tea party candidate,” but with his empty campaign coffers this is an excellent time to ask the question: can the tea party groups that endorsed him help him raise money?
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Can Tea Party Help 8th District Candidate?”


The Mount Vernon Statement, A Poor Man’s Manifesto… VERY Poor

-By Warner Todd Huston

A group made up of some of the biggest names in contemporary conservatism got together a few days ago and crafted what they are calling the “Mount Vernon Statement,” a manifesto of sorts meant to give direction to today’s conservative movement. Put succinctly, it fails to fill the bill.

Taken as a whole this statement is fine as a short history lesson. It explains pretty clearly what the founders had wrought when their basic work was done with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. But as a statement of principles that might guide today’s discussion I do not think the letter works.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that this effort is harmful. In fact, I think every young person should read it for its explication of our historically conservative American principles. The problem is that this thing doesn’t seem to speak directly to what we are facing today like a statement that perhaps aims to become boilerplate should.
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The Mount Vernon Statement, A Poor Man’s Manifesto… VERY Poor”


Our Federal Government’s Basic Purpose

-By Frank Salvato

In February of 2009, legislation was introduced in the 111th Congress that would protect the First Amendment rights of United States citizens when faced with malicious lawsuits, brought against them in foreign courts, claiming defamation. The Free Speech Protection Act of 2009 is meant not only to secure and assure a US citizen’s First Amendment right to free speech in the aforementioned circumstance, but to serve as a tool in guaranteeing our nation’s sovereignty under constitutional law. As of this writing, Senate Bill 449, officially titled as introduced as “A Bill to Protect Free Speech,” languishes in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We all must ask why.

The Free Speech Protection Act of 2009 (the short title for S449) is meant to protect writers, authors, lecturers and any other US citizen against “libel tourism,” a phrase emanating from a lawsuit over the book Funding Evil, by Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, explained in a short film titled The Libel Tourist and in an article titled, A Federal Law is Needed to Deter Libel Tourism, by Daniel J. Kornstein. Mr. Kornstein refers to libel tourism as:
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Our Federal Government’s Basic Purpose”


David Ratowitz: A Win in Illinois’ 5th CD Is a Win for Republicans Nationwide

From the David Ratowitz for 5th District Congressional campaign…

“It’s time that we made the Chicago Machine fight – and lose – on its own home turf.”

WASHINGTON – February 20, 2010 – U.S. House candidate David Ratowitz this week proclaimed his high-profile Illinois District 5 a bellwether of Republican success nationwide and his organization in ideal position to focus opposition resources close to home to limit Democrat victories elsewhere. “A win in Illinois 5,” Ratowitz said of the infamous district formerly represented by Rahm Emanuel and indicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, “is a win for Republicans nationwide.”
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David Ratowitz: A Win in Illinois’ 5th CD Is a Win for Republicans Nationwide”


Walsh: Wow, Bean just doesn’t get it

From the Joe Walsh for 8th District Congressional campaign…

Republican Responds to Rep. Bean’s Daily Herald Interview

(Lake Zurich, Illinois) – February 20, 2010 – Joe Walsh, Republican candidate for Congress in the Illinois 8th, today said “Melissa Bean is amazingly out-of-touch with her constituents. She arrogantly dismissed the economic hardships most of her constituents are going through right now and she dismisses their anger and activism at speaking up against this government’s spending,” in response to Beans’ comments published Feb. 19 in the Daily Herald.
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Walsh: Wow, Bean just doesn’t get it”


What James Madison said about Hope and Change

-By Dan Scott

What would the Founding Fathers say about our handling of the country if they were able to comment on the current state of affairs? It is easy to put words in their mouths but fortunately, we have for posterity recorded their words and intents to refer to for clarity in times of need. Some may say that this is a new day and age, therefore what the Founding Fathers had to say is simply not relevant to our current circumstances. Those who say this do so in ignorance of human nature and for self-serving reasons. Humans over the past 5000 years of recorded history may have advanced in terms of knowledge; however, their motivations and emotions are still no different now then they were in the past. It is motivation and emotion that govern human character, not knowledge and the Founding Fathers knew well the passions that influence those in power.

We were warned 200+ years ago against fickle governments. In fact, we were warned that the point of fickleness in government was for the few to gain an advantage at the expense of the many. Here is what James Madison had to say about Hope and Change as espoused by Barack Obama when he said he wanted to remake our society:
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What James Madison said about Hope and Change”


Longtime Dem Consultant Torpedoed by Union Thugs

-By Warner Todd Huston

In Democrat political consulting circles Pat Caddell is a big name. One-time adviser to President Jimmy Carter and longtime political strategist for the left, Caddell isn’t someone you throw off a campaign easily. But the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) doesn’t care about past success. It only cares about its power.

After being thrown off the campaign of Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff’s campaign for Senate, Caddell spoke to the folks at The Daily Caller and said he’d been axed by the “thugs” at the SEIU.

“What I said about Andy Stern and the SEIU? Sure, they’re thugs,” said Caddell, a former adviser to President Jimmy Carter, who until Monday* had an informal advising role with the primary challenger to incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet.

“The unions have been considering endorsing Romanoff, and basically they told him that if I was involved with the campaign, ‘sayonara,’ which I think is the definition of thuggery isn’t it?” said Caddell, who has worked for a who’s who of Democratic politicians over the last few decades, including Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Mario Cuomo and Gary Hart.

I couldn’t agree more. Unions will brook no opposition and even the smallest disagreement marks you for destruction with a union… even if you are on the same political side as they!

He pointed out, as have we — repeatedly — that public employees unions are destroying the country:
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Longtime Dem Consultant Torpedoed by Union Thugs”


Ill. GOP Says: Put Alexi on the Phone!

Alexi Giannoulias has a very shady past yet the Illinois Democrat Party is still running him for the Senate. But the Illinois GOP has a few question for the nominee…

"Voters want to know about his role in his family’s struggling Broadway Bank, and Giannoulias promised he’d provide those details after the Feb. 2 primary election. "If I’m fortunate enough to make it out of the primary, we can have that conversation," he said. His plan now seems to be to stonewall until November." – Chicago Tribune Editorial, February 12, 2010

CHICAGO – Today marks the 20th day of Alexi Giannoulias’ silence since promising reporters he would answer questions surrounding his role in the near-collapse of his family’s Broadway Bank.

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Ill. GOP Says: Put Alexi on the Phone!”


Union Admits Buying Politician, Wants $ Back

-By Warner Todd Huston

When an average citizen donates money to a politician it is usually because that citizen believes in the politician and wants to help him have the war chest to conduct a campaign. Unions like to pretend that they donate to politicians out of the goodness of their hearts, just like common citizens do. Everyone knows, though, that they are merely making an attempt to buy them. A union in Alabama has as much as admitted that they were trying to buy a politician, but when he didn’t dance to their tune, these union folks demanded their contributions back.

Al Henley, secretary-treasurer of the Alabama AFL-CIO, seems to be a mite miffed with Alabama Representative Parker Griffith. You’ll recall that Griffith was the one-time Democrat who jumped the sinking Donkey ship and became a Republican late last year.

Apparently while he was a Democrat the AFL-CIO had no problem giving him campaign money. Now that he’s a Republican, though, the union has taken sudden umbrage at Griffith’s voting record. “Parker Griffith, we feel you have swindled us,” Henley said at a recent rally in Hunstville, Alabama.
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Union Admits Buying Politician, Wants $ Back”


U.S. House Candidate David Ratowitz Announces Small Business Listening Tour

From the Ratowitz for 5th District Congress campaign…

Illinois 5th District Republican challenger, frustrated with ‘jobless recovery,’ gathering feedback for alternate economic plan.

CHICAGO – February 15, 2010 – Illinois District 5 U.S. House candidate David Ratowitz today announced that his campaign will undertake a three-month “Small Business Listening Tour.” The initiative, slated to kick off in early March, will involve an extended series of individual consultations with area entrepreneurs, culminating in a proposed economic recovery plan that aims to bolster the disenfranchised small business sector.
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U.S. House Candidate David Ratowitz Announces Small Business Listening Tour”


Obama The Pro-Gun President?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is President Obama a surprising gun rights supporter? He might be if the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman is correct. And Chapman isn’t the only one. It seems to be shaping up to be the lefty complaint du jour this week. Reality, however, might say something different.

Chapman makes a classic mistake that many people make when discussing matters political. He mistakes Washington’s inaction on an issue as some sort of statement on the ideology on that issue. While there are times when this is true, inaction is not necessarily a statement of support or opposition to an issue, but often just a matter of merely not having gotten to it yet or even not being able to.

In this case Chapman is talking about guns. Is Obama for them, against them, indifferent to them? Chapman has a sneaking suspicion that President Obama is for our rights and only supports modest gun control measures. This is because the president hasn’t launched into all sorts of left-wing attempts to curtail our Second Amendment rights in his one year in office. But I think Chapman is reading too much into Obama’s inaction.
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Obama The Pro-Gun President?”


Status of Obama’s PLA Order

-By Warner Todd Huston

CNSNews did a story today giving an update on Obama’s Executive Order number 13502 requiring all federal construction projects to operate under Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). Thus far the EO has been stymied by the commission that Obama set up to handle the initiative.

A PLA is a contract agreement that would force union rules, union dues, and union control of any construction project that the federal government undertakes. The PLA rules would even descend upon any non-union labor hired for the work meaning that employees would be forced to pay dues even if they do not belong to a union.

This PLA requirement is only another Obama payoff to unions and the construction industry says that PLAs will make any federal project go over budget, take longer to complete making the projects needlessly expensive.
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Status of Obama’s PLA Order”


How To Become a Millionaire Easy: Become a Gov’t Worker

-By Warner Todd Huston

Having trouble making ends meet? Eating your meals from a dog food can? Lost your job, seen your retirement accounts dwindle or disappear, having a hard time getting work? Millions of Americans are facing these problems. Some, however, aren’t. And those some are government workers, apparently. Unionized government workers at that.

Doug Ross has a very startling post at his website that really brings this home in stark and easy to grasp numbers. Under the rubric of “How’s this for an investment” Ross gives us the following:

You pay a total of $124,000 into your pension plan and, upon retiring at age 49, you receive $3.3 million in pension payments and $500,000 in health care benefits. You receive $3.8 million in total on a $124,000 investment.

You pay a total of $62,000 towards a pension plan and absolutely nothing for health care (medical, dental and vision coverage) over your working career. Upon retirement, you are paid $1.4 million in pension and $215,000 in health care benefits. You receive $1.6 million on a $62,000 investment.

This is what happens when you work for the State of New Jersey as Ross discovered.
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How To Become a Millionaire Easy: Become a Gov’t Worker”


A Conservative Candidate to Face Kirk and Giannoulias in Nov? Better Be Careful!

-By Warner Todd Huston

There has been some loose talk around conservative circles in Illinois about finding a more conservative candidate to run against both Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk for the Illinois Senate in November. But the time for this was during the primary and that time is now passed. If we wanted a more conservative candidate than Mark Kirk we should have nominated him on February 2. A third party candidate at this time will only elect the mob banker, Alexi Giannoulias, to the Senate.

The only thing that wouldn’t make my statement above untrue is if a more conservative, third party candidate can mount a seriously funded campaign and can build a state-wide coalition over the next few months. By seriously funded, I’m talking at least four million dollars. The likelihood of this is remote at best.

And here is the thing: if a serious conservative candidate was able to get four million dollars together in only three months that candidate would have done so last October or November and would have been on that primary ballot.

It should also be pointed out that the state GOP will not be helping anyone but Kirk. Any insurgent candidate would have to build a state-wide network, or already have one, that could best the entire GOP establishment in order to run a credible race.

With Patrick Hughes out of the campaign due to his primary loss, there is no one else with the name recognition, state-wide network, or money to mount a serious campaign. Would that there was one.
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A Conservative Candidate to Face Kirk and Giannoulias in Nov? Better Be Careful!”


PuffyPost Shows Political Ignorance Once Again: Joe Walsh ‘The Party Candidate’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, the Puffington Post has once again shown that it is wholly un-credible as a source for serious political analysis. This time it’s the “work” of HuffPuffer Will Guzzardi who doesn’t seem to know what a primary is or what it does, at least if his headline can be used as an example.

In his titled “Joe Walsh, First Tea Party Candidate To Win Election, Starts Attracting Attention,” Willie Guzzardi attempts to regale us on his deep knowledge of what occurred in the late Illinois primary. Unfortunately, we can doubt that pretension of depth without getting any further than his header. After all, Joe Walsh was not elected to anything as the headline claims. He did win the nomination of his party in order to run for election, but he didn’t get elected.

Additionally, we can easily take issue with Guzzie’s claim that Walsh is “the tea party candidate.” Yes, Mr. Walsh ran as “the tea party candidate” but previous to December 2009 Mr. Joe Walsh had never once BEEN to a tea party event in his life. And to this he admits openly. His running as “the tea party candidate” was a campaign strategy, not a grass roots reality.

Now, just before the primary on Feb. 2, Walsh did get the endorsement of a local tea party group. So, though belatedly, he did become a “tea party candidate.”
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PuffyPost Shows Political Ignorance Once Again: Joe Walsh ‘The Party Candidate’”


False Attacks on Kinzinger

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like the Democrats have found a surrogate to attack the honorable service of 11th District candidate Captain Adam Kinzinger. Some fellow named William Walter is trying to use his FaceBook page to smear Capt. Kinzinger’s service.

The Hill has a post on it now, but the long and short of it is that the Democrats must be pretty scared of Mr. Kinzinger’s candidacy if they are stooping to such low tactics.

“I know where I’ve served and I know what I’ve done,” Kinzinger told The Hill.

This Democrat FaceBook plant is questioning Kinzinger’s bio on his website saying that the military history stated there is untrue. After the faux controversy Kinzinger changed the entry to be more explicit of what he did in the Air Force.
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False Attacks on Kinzinger”


Watchdogs Release 2010 Illinois Piglet Book (Wasted Taxes)

(Chicago, Illinois) – The Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2010 Illinois Piglet Book (.PDF FIle), a report finding $350 million in lost savings, challenging the myth there’s no fat in the Illinois state budget. The report reviews state spending on education, health and human services, natural resources, agriculture, the arts council and economic development. In 2008, the Institute and CAGW released a 2008 Illinois Piglet Book, which uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending. Two years later, the wasteful spending continues. Here are a few examples:

  • $6,500 for a tub of live bass. The state paid for fishing seminars and demonstrations using a 4,000-gallon, 40-foot long tank filled with live fish.
  • $10,000 for a Hollywood gala. Your tax dollars funded a star-studded party for “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan.
  • $78,066 for quail promotion. The state is funding Quail Unlimited, which is “dedicated to the wise use and management of America’s wild quail, doves, upland game birds and other forms of wildlife.”
  • $353,165 for car racing. The state is funding Raceway Associates, which partners with big-time races like the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, as well as a massive construction grant for Atkinson Motorsports Park in northwestern Illinois.

“The 2010 Illinois Piglet Book identifies more than $350 million in unnecessary and wasteful spending our state leaders have tucked into the budget,” said Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman. “Springfield has a spending problem, not a revenue problem – and these numbers just scratch the surface. It is clear the appetite for spending must be curtailed if we are going to solve our budget crisis.”
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Watchdogs Release 2010 Illinois Piglet Book (Wasted Taxes)”