Employee Levels Fall But New York’s Fringe Benefits and Pensions Costs Soar

-By Warner Todd Huston

Pensions are the single biggest problem that every state, county and city in the Union face and New York City is no different. It is so bad that even as New York City has seen the numbers of its government employees fall, its costs in fringe benefits and pensions have still continued to soar. (Download the 2012 Budget Summary)

The latest budget info released by the Big Apple is a horror story of budget woes with pension costs leading the pack.

Marc Cenedella has done the heavy reading and his report is discouraging, to say the least.
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Employee Levels Fall But New York’s Fringe Benefits and Pensions Costs Soar”


Defusing the Illinois Pension Bomb, One Letter at a Time‏

How to reform the public employee pension system is the most crucial question facing Illinois today. The state has an $86 billion unfunded pension liability, and a recent study by the Pew Center ranked Illinois’s pensions as the worst funded in the nation. Bold action is needed to balance the state’s pension funds while keeping Illinois from falling deeper into an economic death spiral.

The public employee pension system is unsustainable. It must be fixed. We need your help now.

As you read this, a pension reform bill is being debated Springfield: HB149. This bill would begin to create equity government workers and the taxpayers who fund their salaries. Legislators on both sides of the aisle are coming together, and with your help, we believe we have a chance at passing one of the most important reforms in Illinois history. That’s why I’m asking you to write to your local newspaper in support of reforming the pension system.

Writing a letter to the editor is an easy way to reach thousands of your neighbors on this important issue.
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Defusing the Illinois Pension Bomb, One Letter at a Time‏”


Outrage: Democrats Bring Illegal Aliens to Austin to Testify at Education Hearing

Duke Machado, one of central Texas’ leading Hispanic Republican activists, went to Austin Wednesday to testify in favor of a bill that would cut off taxpayer-funded financial aid to illegal aliens. He was shocked at what he saw when state Democratic Sen. Judity Zarririni brought in her Iillegal immigrant) witnesses against the bill…

…it’s obvious that the Democrats demonstrated their usual contempt for the rule of law, and time after time played the one card they always carry in their hand — the race card.

Read the rest at The PJ Tattler.


Government Steals Little Girl’s $2,000 of Lost-And-Found Money

-By Warner Todd Huston

There is an ages old American tradition where it concerns found money. We are all familiar with the concept that if one finds a pile of money lying on the ground and it is taken it to the authorities, if the actual owners cannot be found, then that money becomes the property of the person that found the money and dutifully turned it it. If the owner does turn up, of course, a reward is usually the result. This practice is meant to encourage honesty among the populace. But the city of Dallas, Texas is destroying that honesty-is-the-best-policy ideal with its greed.

As the story goes, in February teenager Ashley Donaldson found an envelope stuffed with $2,000 in the parking lot of shopping center in North Dallas. Like a good citizen she took the envelope to the local police and they began the process of trying to find the owner. Now, in May, the police have given up the search and have decided that the owner of the money cannot be found.
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Government Steals Little Girl’s $2,000 of Lost-And-Found Money”


Do SEIU Members Know Their Union Consorts With America’s Enemies?

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is one thing that always flummoxes me. Over the last few decades American labor unions have increasingly become adjuncts, associates, pals, close friends — what ever you want to call them — with anti-American groups like the Communist Party USA and various socialist, anti-Israel groups, and pro-terror groups like the many pro-Palestinian groups. So, what the hell are the regular, presumably true American rank and file members doing about this fact? Are they aware of it? If they are aware of it why do they sit idly by while their union leaders consort with enemies of the United States of America?

The May Day rally in L.A. is just the latest example of major American unions joining hands with commies, socialists, terror-supporters and anti-Americans.
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Do SEIU Members Know Their Union Consorts With America’s Enemies?”


Roskam Remarks at House Energy Action Team Press Conference on Energy Bills

From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (Ill., 6th)…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Peter Roskam, Chief Deputy Whip, spoke at the House Energy Action Team (HEAT)’s press conference on current energy legislation to lower gas prices and create jobs. Today, the House passed H.R. 1229, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, and will soon vote on H.R. 1231, Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act. Roskam is the co-chair of H.E.A.T.

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Roskam Remarks at House Energy Action Team Press Conference on Energy Bills”


Kinzinger, House Freshmen Call on President Obama to End “MediSCARE” Tactics

From the office of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill. 11)…

Yesterday, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) along with his freshman colleagues, reiterated their call on the President at a press conference to keep his commitment made at the 2010 Republican Retreat in Baltimore to have a fact-based conversation immediately over reforming spending on entitlement programs and addressing the debt crisis now before it is insurmountable. (See .pdf of letter)

Last year, President Obama asked, “At what point can we have a serious conversation about Medicare and its long-term liability…or a serious conversation about budget and debt in which we’re not simply trying to position ourselves politically?’ The President went on to say we cannot start these discussions by asking “who’s to blame,” who is “trying to hurt our senior citizens” or “how can we make the American people afraid of the other side.” The President said this is what he’s “committed to doing.”
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Kinzinger, House Freshmen Call on President Obama to End “MediSCARE” Tactics”


Illinois Parents of Fat Kids Losing Tax Exemption Story Misreported

-By Warner Todd Huston

All across the web today (even in England, for cripes sakes) a story about an Illinois lawmaker who supposedly wants to remove the tax exemption of parents of fat kids is making the rounds. It is being presented as a serious idea. Unfortunately for the Old Media this story is being misreported. The story is simply not true.

As the story is being (mis)reported, Republican State Senator Shane Cultra of Onarga, Illinois, said on the House floor that the parents of obese kids should lose their tax exemption because obesity is rampant in Illinois.

Senator Cultra’s comment came during a debate on a policy proposition by the Senate Public Health Committee in Springfield that sugary drinks should be taxed at a penny an ounce. What this is supposed to do for obesity is anybody’s guess.
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Illinois Parents of Fat Kids Losing Tax Exemption Story Misreported”


Romneycare: Wait Times to see Docs Growing in Massachusetts

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Boston Globe is reporting that wait times are growing for citizens of Massachusetts to get in to see their doctors under the universal healthcare plan that Mitt Romney saddled Bay Staters with. Wait times have grown to as much as 48 days it has been found.

The average wait ranged from 24 days for an appointment with a pediatrician to 48 days to see an internist. The wait for an internist was actually down slightly, from 53 days in a similar 2010 survey, but the waits for family doctors, gastroenterologists, orthopedists, and ob/gyns increased.

Worse, new patients are finding it almost impossible to even find a new doctor as most of them are full and not accepting new patients.
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Romneycare: Wait Times to see Docs Growing in Massachusetts”


Captain Quinn Navigates Illinois’ Economy

-By Dan Proft

If Governor Pat Quinn had been CEO of the White Star Line in April of 1912 I suspect his reaction to the Titanic’s sinking would have been to report that he had successfully transported 705 people from England to New York City. Never mind the 1,517 who didn’t make it.

This is Captain Quinn’s approach to stewarding the business climate in Illinois. When major employers begin making noise about leaving, Quinn secures for them a spot on one of the state’s few remaining lifeboats and declares them another satisfied customer.

So Caterpillar is staying in Peoria and Motorola Mobility is staying in Libertyville and undoubtedly enough tax relief will be provided for Sears to remain in Hoffman Estates.
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Captain Quinn Navigates Illinois’ Economy”


URF Launches Right Nation 2011 Website – Event Coming Nov 3-5

WINFIELD, IL – Yesterday URF launched a new website for Right Nation 2011, the biggest political event of the year occurring on November 3-5 in Chicagoland. The site can be viewed at www.RightNation2011.com.

Expanding on their success from 2010, when the first ever Midwest conservative convention drew nearly 6,000 paid attendees and coverage from over 50 media outlets, this year’s event will span three days.

Further information on Right Nation 2011 will be released in the coming months. Sign up at www.RightNation2011.com to receive updates as they are available.

About URF:

URF is a board-driven organization, started in 1934, that pools and invests its investors’ resources to advance conservative principles, policies, and people throughout the Midwest based on the URF LIFT principles of limited and ethical government, individual freedom and responsibility, free markets, and traditional American values. URF consists of United to Restore Freedom, a 501c3 non-profit, URF Action, a 501c4 non-profit, and United Republican Fund. Right Nation is a project of URF, and in 2011 is scheduled for November 3-5 in Chicagoland.


Wanted: A Commonsense U.S. Energy Policy

By Congressman Peter Roskam (R, Ill.)

Americans have weathered one economic storm after another over the last few years. Yet, time and again, Washington policies have only made our families’ woes worse. From a failed trillion dollar stimulus to a healthcare overhaul that costs jobs and makes healthcare more expensive, Washington policies keep making it harder when Americans need the help most.

The latest: gas. Just as our economy is showing signs of recovery, gas prices are skyrocketing. In Chicagoland, a gallon of gas already costs over $4.50. That means pain for family budgets and employers trying to control costs and hire new workers. But smart federal policies can help. If we choose wisely, we can help lower energy costs for families with an all-of-the-above energy approach.

Taking advantage of America’s natural resources is a commonsense way to lower gas prices, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create jobs here. Unfortunately, many refuse to listen to commonsense.
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Wanted: A Commonsense U.S. Energy Policy”


Union Thug Teacher Hopes Opponents Get Roughed Up by Teamsters

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like any union thug, when confronted by someone that simply won’t bend to union will, why, the first thing they resort to is violence — or at least threats of same — and this union thug in Washington D.C. is no different than any other.

Caught at a protest arranged by unions to attack school choice, the cameras of some Freedom Works folks found a typical unionista that hoped the Teamsters would “kick the asses” of those that dare oppose the unions. She wished violence to descend upon anyone that wants kids to have a better education.

Naturally, this union creep also resorted to foul language.

Typical union thug.
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Union Thug Teacher Hopes Opponents Get Roughed Up by Teamsters”


Thanks Governor Quinn: Illinois Loses Another Business and One More (Sears) on the Way Out

-By Warner Todd Huston

Wisconsin is celebrating over the stupidity of the political class in Illinois, a state that is steadily destroying its business climate and mounting some pretty high tax rates. The town of Menasha, Wisconsin, though, loves Illinois because Prolamina Corp. has chosen it for a new flexible-packaging plant, one it is moving from the Land of Lincoln to Wisconsin.

Prolamina Corp. will begin building its new facility in Wisconsin in August. The facility will be serving the needs of the “tobacco, cheese, pouch materials, pet food, medical, produce and snack food markets.”

“The location offers lower operating costs, improved response times and lower freight costs to customers,” said Bevis, who started the company last year as Packaging Solutions Holdings Inc., Lake Forest, Ill.

So, Illinois has lost yet one more business. There has been a steady stream of business fleeing from Illinois.

This news comes as a prelude to reports that Sears is shopping for a new state to move to, as well.

Sears has its Headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago but is now considering a move out-of-state.
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Thanks Governor Quinn: Illinois Loses Another Business and One More (Sears) on the Way Out”


Truth in Accounting Issues: Connecticut’s ‘Financial State of the State’ – True Tax Burden $63.5 Billion

Today, the Institute for Truth in Accounting and the Comeback America Initiative released Connecticut’s “Financial State of the State.” After an intensive review of the State’s 2010 audited financial report the Institute determined the state is in a precarious financial position, because it does not have the funds available to pay over $63.5 billion of the state’s commitments as they come due. Each taxpayer’s* share of this financial burden equals $49,000.

Connecticut state law requires a balanced budget. “If governors and legislatures had truly balanced the state’s budget, no taxpayer’s financial burden would exist,” said Sheila Weinberg, Founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA). She continued, “A state budget is not balanced if past costs, including those for employees’ retirement benefits, are pushed into the future.”
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Truth in Accounting Issues: Connecticut’s ‘Financial State of the State’ – True Tax Burden $63.5 Billion”


11 Illinois Republicans That Support Illegal Immigrant DREAM Act

-By Warner Todd Huston

When a communist newspaper celebrates the actions of Republicans, well, what more do you need to know how far off base a vote is? The People’s World is all excited about the fact that 11 Illinois State Senators voted to give freebie “scholarships” to illegal aliens to attend Illinois universities and schools.

Last week State Senate President John Cullerton’s Illinois state DREAM Act (SB 2185) passed with a 45 to 11 vote. This program sets up privately funded scholarships to upwards to 95,000 children of illegal immigrants so that they can attend schools in the Land of Lincoln.

Supporters claim that this was a no-brainer vote because no state money is used for this program. This, however, seems to be a falsehood. For one thing SB 2185 sets up a state commission which surely will cost the state to administer. Not only that but the law forces High School counselors to get special sensitivity training on the needs of illegal immigrants. Who the heck is going to pay for all that nonsense if not the local schools that will have to hire consultants to come in for these time wasting training sessions?
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11 Illinois Republicans That Support Illegal Immigrant DREAM Act”


Pension Reform in Illinois: A Hard Job That Springfield Wants to Ignore

-By Warner Todd Huston

Americans for Prosperity – Illinois has launched an effort to goad our lawmakers in Springfield to tackle the single most vexing problem the state faces: pension obligations.

AFP has launched a website called “Fix Illinois Pensions Now” to help inform and empower voters so that they might encourage their representatives to do the right thing and fix this mess now!

A second website to find important information can be seen at: www.illinoisisbroke.org.

AFP has partnered with The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and they have jointly produced an informative video on the effort.
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Pension Reform in Illinois: A Hard Job That Springfield Wants to Ignore”


Teachers Unions Continue Their Assault on School Choice

-By Larry Sand

CTA and CFT sponsor legislation that imperils charter schools in California.

On April 27, Rasmussen Reports released the results of a poll which addresses American voters’ sentiments about our public schools. Some of the more interesting findings are:

  • 72% say taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth from our schools, while only 11% think we are.
  • By a margin of 41-34 (25% were unsure), those polled said that spending more money on education will not improve student performance.
  • 61% said that public education had become worse over the last ten years.

Given the citizenry’s increasing disaffection with our traditional public schools, charter schools would appear to be a good alternative. Charter schools are public schools which are allowed to operate outside the boundaries of costly multilayered district bureaucracies and piles of restrictive union mandated rules and regulations.
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Teachers Unions Continue Their Assault on School Choice”


GM Exec: Reporting GM’s Failures Hurts… Republicans?

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an odd turn of events, former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz thinks that anyone that criticizes GM is not only “mis-informed” but insists that those “foaming ideologues” that criticize the car giant are “damaging the Republican Party.”

It is interesting that an executive in the company derided as “Government Motors” is trying to direct attention away from his minders in the Obama administration and toward the opposing party, and just before a general election at that.

It is also interesting to see Lutz defending GM as the “future” of the car business. Lately GM has not been turning out the sort of products that puts the company at the head of much of anything.
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GM Exec: Reporting GM’s Failures Hurts… Republicans?”


The Intersection of U Street and Main Street Does Not Exist

-By Larry Sand

The teachers unions’ radical agenda alienates them from the American mainstream

As I mentioned in last week’s post, during the week of May 9th, the California Teachers Association and many local unions, like the United Teachers of Los Angeles, will be taking to the streets in an attempt to convince legislators and citizens that cuts to education will not be tolerated by the unions. In other times this would be a winning strategy, but as shown by recent polls, the teachers unions are not the darlings of the public that they used to be.

While unionistas all over the country lament this loss of favor, they only need to look in their collective mirrors to understand why. They have managed to alienate too many Americans who previously had held them in a better light. The unions’ insistence on things like tenure and seniority privileges, which serve to protect only the bad apples, has begun to grate on the public. Additionally, the fact that they are tolerant of, and give outright support to extremist political causes is another reason the public is turning against them.

An example of the unions turn toward extremist politics took place last year in Los Angeles. Santee High School teacher and UTLA union rep Jose Lara took his students to Arizona on a “field trip” to protest Arizona’s new immigration law. In a YouTube video, Lara is seen standing in front of a wall-to-wall mural featuring a who’s who of murderous revolutionaries, including Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, while proudly displaying the motto Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!!! (Fatherland or Death, We Shall Overcome!!!). UTLA, while not a sponsor of the Memorial Day weekend trip, had no comment on Mr. Lara’s attempt to turn his students into an army of radical activists.
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The Intersection of U Street and Main Street Does Not Exist”


About That Big L.A. May Day Parade… A BIG Bust

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember that L.A. May Day parade? It was supposed to be a big deal, you know? You see, there was supposed to be 50,000 protesters marching in downtown Los Angeles to protest over how rotten the U.S. treats illegal immigrants.

As JWF tells us, local LA TV was all about helping the purported 50,000 immigration protesters turn out its people to focus America’s attention on making sure illegal immigrants become fully legal. Nothing less than full amnesty will do.

Yep, 50,000. That’s a lotta folks. It would be a pretty big statement to have 50,000 protesters.
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About That Big L.A. May Day Parade… A BIG Bust”


On the Movie Set Today…

Well, all day I have been on the movie set here in Louisiana, so I won’t be posting nearly as much here for the next week (the fans say “boo” the detractors say “yaaa”).

Thus far I been training the extras in military drill for civil war soldiers and firearms training is after lunch. About 130 guys in all. Going fairly well so far.

Today and Sunday for training. Monday rehearsal and some scenes to be filmed.

Filming starts later in the week for the major scenes.


Calif Union Chief Says You Taxpayers are Selfish and Full of ‘Envy’

-By Warner Todd Huston

You taxpayers should be ashamed of yourselves, says Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. You big, selfish jerks should be happy to pay the taxes that gives government employees all healthcare practically for free and allows them to retire at 50 with their comfortable 40-year-long retirement pensions that pay government union members twice what you’ll ever see in your golden years.

I mean, who do you taxpayers think you are, anyway?

Interestingly enough, even the soft-headed, left-leaning voters of California seem to be getting sick and tired of the freebies give government union members at this point.

A recent L.A.Times poll found that Californians are about done with the ritzy government employees sweet deals and are becoming tired of being the union’s sugar daddy. They are in increasing numbers desirous of caps on the spiraling unearned government union pensions.
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Calif Union Chief Says You Taxpayers are Selfish and Full of ‘Envy’”


East St. Louis: More Voters Registered Than Citizens That Live There

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is a particular problem with our voter registration systems across the USA that the voting roles are so filled with ineligible names that we aren’t sure how many voters really live in any particular district. East St. Louis is no different.

In fact, East St. Louis seems to have more voters registered in its district than it even has voting population.
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East St. Louis: More Voters Registered Than Citizens That Live There”


Telling Us Who They Fear: Left-Wing Journo Attacks Rep. Allen West

-By Warner Todd Huston

Brandon K. Thorp, a gay activist from the alternative weekly Broward-Palm Beach New Times newspaper, is only the latest left-winger to launch into a verbal assault on Lt. Col. Allen West, now a Representative from Florida’s 22nd District. Like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman, Rep. West is one of the many conservatives that leftists fear the most. We know this because the left’s constant, fevered, overwrought attacks tell us so.

This time Thorp, who also has worked for CNN, is all hot-n-bothered by West’s April 19 use of an historical reference to rally conservative and Republican women to the cause. In an address to a *Women Impacting the Nation meeting in Boca, West urged conservative women to raise strong men by relating to them the example of the Spartan women of ancient Greece.

“When you understood what made the Spartan men strong it was the Spartan women,” West told those gathered. Thorp thought this whole meme was not only “ungraceful,” but proved West is “hateful and stupid.” Further Thorp’s poison pen informs us that he thinks West is “not nearly smart enough to give coherent extemporaneous speeches.”

Thorp’s first offbase criticism is over whether West should have been addressing his comments to mothers or fathers.
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Telling Us Who They Fear: Left-Wing Journo Attacks Rep. Allen West”


Cook County Board: Where a Politician Refuses to Say Something Like a Normal Person… Again

-By Warner Todd Huston

You gotta hand it to new Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Not only has she risen above her goofy name and won a highly important political position, but she’s achieved the art of almost saying something that she means.

Of course there’s another thing you have to hand to her. For a Democrat she’s been doing a fair bit of cutting of the Cook County budget. She could do far more, of course, but at least she’s doing something.

Anyway, back to the “almost saying something she means” thingie…
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Cook County Board: Where a Politician Refuses to Say Something Like a Normal Person… Again”


Wisc. Democrats Use Recall Petition Info to Harass Voters

-By Warner Todd Huston

In yet another union-styled outrage, Democrats backed by union thugs in Wisconsin are using the personal information of voters found on recall petitions to harass them because they signed a petition to recall Green Bay Democrat State Senator Dave Hansen.

Over the last few weeks thousands of Wisconsin voters signed a recall petition in Green Bay to recall Hansen and when voters sign such petitions they must give their address and phone numbers so that authorities can verify the voter’s signature in order to approve the petition. Now it seems that the Wisconsin Democrat Party has gotten hold of these petitions and have begun a telephone harassment campaign against the individual voters that signed the petitions.

The Wisconsin GOP has discovered this disgusting campaign and have found that the Democrats are using a fake phone number and a fake caller ID in order to get voters to answer the phone only to be harangued about having signed the recall petition.
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Wisc. Democrats Use Recall Petition Info to Harass Voters”


Paradox: Green-Loving Washington State About to Penalize Electric Car Owners

-By Warner Todd Huston

Some people think that marriage is the most absurd institution ever invented by man. But those that think so are ignoring what is truly the most idiotic, paradoxically absurd practice in all of human history: government. Yeah, yeah, necessary evil and all, but still there is nothing that exemplifies human folly better than politics and Washington State has uncorked a doozie for us today.

From coast to coast and all over the world liberals are mindlessly going gaga for green. Anything that smacks of greenism is, with religious fervor, promoted and revered. The electric automobile, for instance, is one of the left’s dream modes of transportation. Pursuant to that dreamy green dream, liberals have made sure that all sort of tax breaks are lavished upon those citizens who dutifully jump up to their necks into the unprofitable and technologically untested world of electric cars. Washington State is no exception to this mania.

… and hilarity ensues.

The Associated Press is even a bit snarky about the whole mess.
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Paradox: Green-Loving Washington State About to Penalize Electric Car Owners”


Important Information About Ill. GOP Reform Bill

-By Warner Todd Huston

Doug Ibendahl of RepublicanNewsWatch.com has been a leading advocate of the current iteration of a bill that would give Illinois’ Republican voters the opportunity to actually vote in the leaders of their own party. It is currently called SB35 but has been for sometime identified as SB600.

SB35 would reverse the way the members of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee are placed on the governing body of the state party. Currently these folks are appointed to their positions by the affirmation of all the state’s local committeemen. The actual voters have no direct say. Curiously enough, the Democrats do have direct elections of their central committeemen but Republicans do not.

Recently a state representative contacted Mr. Ibendahl for some info about the bill. This is Ibendahl’s letter, which can be seen HERE.

Dear Representative,

I’m sure you must be as amazed as I am regarding the lengths a few selfish players will go to protect a corrupted system that’s been a disaster for Republicans and for our Party. It’s sad that a few are so obsessed with trying to make sure Republican voters have inferior rights compared to every Illinois Democrat.
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Important Information About Ill. GOP Reform Bill”