Illinois Review

Thorner: The Rich Daley story

By Nancy Thorner -

On Thursday, May 16, The Heartland Institute held another in its continuing noontime Heartland Author Series events, this one featuring Keith Koenman and  his book:  First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley.  The Heartland  Institute is a 29-year old national nonprofit organization based in Chicago.  Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.  Joe Bast is President and CEO of the Heartland Institute.

Richard M. Daley is the longest-serving and most powerful major in Chicago's history.  CHECK  After 22 years Daley not only left behind a transformed city but also  a complicated legacy that is still being evaluated.  In First Son "Koeneman chronicles the sometimes Shakespearean, sometimes Machiavellian life of an American political legend.

Jeanne Ives Talks Chicago Tea Party

By Mark Weyermuller -

Last week, the Chicago Tea Party held their meeting at Blackie's Tavern with New Illinois State Representative Jeanne Ives as the headliner. She is working hard in Springfield on a variety of conservative issues with special focus on pension reform. The Tea Party has had a resurgence as of late especially with the new allegations concerning the Internal Revenue Service.  Ives was a big hit with this room full of conservatives and believers in the constitution.

Photo by Mark Weyermuller

Illinois Senate Passes Sex Ed Bill

The Illinois Senate voted 37 to 21 to pass HB 2675 - the sex ed bill - after a one-hour heated debate. See the roll call HERE.

Several senators spoke in opposition to the bill, including State Senators Dale Righter (R-Mattoon), David Luechtefeld (R-Okawville), Kyle McCarter (R-Vandalia), Jim Oberweis (R-North Aurora), Sue Rezin (R-Morris), Mike Connelly (R-Wheaton), Chapin Rose (R-Champaign), and Republican Minority Leader Christine Radongno (R-Lemont). Democratic Senators Gary Forby (Benton) and Bill Haine (Alton) joined all 19 Senate Republicans who voted against this proposal.

IRS employees union generous to lots of Illinois Democrats, 1 Republican

WASHINGTON - April 1, 2010, the day after the president of the quite publicly anti-Tea Party labor union — the union for IRS employees — met with President Obama, the manager of the IRS Determinations Unit Program agreed to open a “Sensitive Case report on the Tea party cases,” as stated by the agency Inspector General's report now being considered in congressional hearings.

The National Treasury Employees Union is the 150,000 member union that represents IRS employees along with 30 other separate government agencies. The union President Colleen Kelley - that met with President Obama March 31, 2010, herself is a 14-year IRS veteran agent. The union’s PAC endorsed President Obama in both 2008 and 2012, and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrat candidates.

According to Open Secrets.org, in the past three congressional cycles, the NTEU has been especially generous to Democrat congressional candidates and incumbents from Illinois. 

ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion bill wrong for Illinois

By Jonathan Ingram - 

Senate Bill 26 passed out of the House Human Services Committee and will head to House for consideration. But the Medicaid expansion this bill proposes is not right for Illinois.

First, Illinois is under no obligation to expand Medicaid eligibility. Federal law permits, but does not require, states to expand eligibility levels for Medicaid. Across the nation, state lawmakers are taking a very cautious approach and are not rushing into this decision. A majority of states, led by both Democratic and Republican governors, have now either rejected the Medicaid expansion or are leaning that way. In fact, of Illinois' neighbors, only Kentucky has announced its intent to expand Medicaid eligibility.

Fracking Bill Passes House Committee

SPRINGFIELD – Yesterday, the House Executive Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan fracking bill that will regulate high-volume oil and gas drilling in Illinois. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly referred to as ‘fracking,’ is the extraction of natural gas and oil from the earth to release the natural gas through horizontal drilling. State Representative Joe Sosnowski (R-Belvidere), a member of the committee, says the plan is welcome news for Illinois.

“This is a good bill that will offer a low cost source of energy that will benefit small businesses and families alike,” says Sosnowski. “With this legislation, Illinois will lead the United States toward energy independence in a safe, productive way while creating thousands of jobs.”

A Crisis of Authority: The deeper meaning of the Obama scandals

By James Taranto - 

Democracy is in peril: That is an emerging theme of the liberal left's response to the Obama scandals. The argument misses the point, no doubt deliberately. What we are witnessing now is not a crisis of democracy but a crisis of authority. The administrative state, in thrall to a decadent cultural elite, has lost the consent of the governed.

"After a week of scandal obsession during which the nation's capital and the media virtually ignored the problems most voters care about--jobs, incomes, growth, opportunity, education--it's worth asking if there is something especially flawed about our democracy," declares the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne.

He goes through a partisan litany of complaints--"a radicalization of conservative politics, over-the-top mistrust of President Obama on the right, high-tech gerrymandering in the House and a Senate snarled by non-constitutional super-majority requirements"--but makes no mention of the abuses of power by the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department. He does hint at Benghazi, in his concluding paragraph, but only to pooh-pooh it:

Roskam Introduces Bill to Repeal Obamacare’s ‘Bay State Boondoggle’

WASHINGTON – Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL) has introduced H.R. 2053, The Medicare Hospital Wage Index Equity Act of 2013, which would repeal a portion of the Obamacare law commonly referred to as the ‘Bay State Boondoggle,’ that would result in Illinois hospitals losing more than $60 million in Medicare payments.

A provision in the health care law, sponsored by then-Massachusetts Senator John Kerry requires Medicare reimbursements to come from a national pool of money instead of a set amount for each state. Reimbursement rates for Massachusetts have skyrocketed because of one small Nantucket hospital with high reimbursement rates that set the minimum payment for the entire state. With Massachusetts expected to receive $256 million this year, Illinois hospitals have already lost more than $60 million.

Scott Stantis: Gosnell Mercy

Rauner crows about his fundraising and social media

Possible GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner released some numbers today that have his team crowing.

According to Rauner, Since April 1, he has raised more than $470,000, bringing his total fundraising haul since announcing the formation of the Exploratory Committee on March 5 to more than $1.75 million. In addition, his Facebook page has reached 11,000 "likes".

“For any Republican to stand a chance against the Quinns, the Madigans, and the powerful labor union bosses who control Springfield, they will need to be very well funded,” Rauner said. “At the same time, winning will require committed and passionate support at the grassroots level, which now requires a world-class digital operation. We are laying that foundation now and I am extremely encouraged by the support we are receiving.”

Cornyn, Kirk Move to Ban All Iranian Government Exports

WASHINGTON D.C. – As the Government of Iran continues to defy United Nations Security Council orders to halt its nuclear enrichment activities, sponsor terrorism, disregard human rights by targeting Iranian dissidents worldwide and partner with North Korea on missile and nuclear technology, U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced today the Iran Export Embargo Act to impose sanctions on the Government of Iran.

The Iran Export Embargo Act would expand existing U.S. sanctions law by prohibiting the purchase or transfer of goods and services from any entity owned or controlled by the Government of Iran and banning all transactions on behalf of such entities for the purpose of exports from Iran. The bill would block all assets of entities deemed to be Government of Iran and also prohibit any insurance or reinsurance for such entities. A copy of the bill can be found here.

Michigan’s charter success story

By Josh Dwyer - 

According to a 2009 study conducted by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, 42 percent of Michigan’s charter schools outperformed traditional public schools in math and 35 percent outperformed them in reading. Only 6 percent underperformed relative to their traditional public school counterparts in math and only 2 percent did so in reading.

Results were even more impressive in Detroit. The typical Detroit charter school student made annual gains worth about three additional months of learning in both reading and math compared with their peers in nearby traditional public schools.

A recent op-ed penned by Michael Van Beek – Director of Education Policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy – in The Wall Street Journal helps explain why Michigan charter schools are succeeding.

He cites three specific reasons:

Does Obama Belong on Mt. Rushmore?

By Ulysses Arn - 

The Sunday edition of the Rockford Register Star contained a graphic depicting a Mt. Rushmore of Illinois featuring President Obama, Ronald Reagan, Abe Lincoln, and Ulysses Grant:

American scandal and the politics of meaning

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

The words were uttered by the then outgoing Secretary of State…and possible future presidential nominee…Hillary Clinton regarding her actions and testimony about the embassy attack in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 which left four Americans dead – including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. "What difference, at this point, does it make?" That was her question. Oddly enough, that same question can be applied to every aspect of the federal government that progressives control and every scandal that results from that control – Benghazi, the IRS, Common Core, health care, the economy, the Admiration's scorched earth policies regarding the free press via the AP and Fox News – each scandal and each person involved, they all pay homage to Hillary Clinton's deleterious approach to better government. What difference does it make?

It's unfortunate for my own sake because I really do get it now. I didn't at first, mind you, because I was looking at these American envoys, for instance, from the singular perspective that their deaths and the way they died must have meant a good deal to someone. But you've got to nix that line of reasoning in order to fit in with post-modern politics. I was being entirely too linear. To really understand progressivism, your thinking must be more fluid than that.

The Left Exploits Elizabeth Smart to Promote Comprehensive Sex Ed

By Laurie Higgins - 

In their relentless effort to rob Illinois communities of the right to choose abstinence-based curricula, the Left once again engages in dishonest, exploitative, and incompetent tactics, tactics that should anger anyone who values truth and sound argumentation.

This time “progressive” promoter of contraceptive-centered sex ed (aka “comprehensive” sex ed), K. Sujata, president and CEO of Chicago Foundation for Women, exploits Elizabeth Smart and  her recent comments about Mormon teaching on rape to promote Illinois’ proposed comprehensive sex ed bill.

Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped from her home at 14 years old and repeatedly raped over the course of nine months, recently spoke at a conference on human trafficking at Johns Hopkins University. Smart shared this:

Medicaid expansion won’t reduce unnecessary ER visits

By Jonathan Ingram - 

Proponents of ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion insist that the expansion is necessary to keep people out of emergency rooms for preventable conditions such as hypertension, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The only problem? Medicaid patients are more likely than the uninsured to use emergency rooms, especially for preventable conditions.

In 2010, medical researchers at the University of California went through a decade of emergency room visit data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics. They broke up this data by type and seriousness of conditions, wait times, age, sex, race, ethnicity, insurance status and various hospital characteristics.

Republican Kirk pledges support for Democrat Pritzker

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) released the following statement today:

"I support Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary and will introduce her alongside Senator Durbin at Thursday's confirmation hearing. I believe that, based on her extensive experience in business, she will put jobs and economic growth first. I met with Ms. Pritzker and found her to be someone who is willing to take on special interests, and I am confident her successful private-sector record and close ties to the business community will be beneficial to all of Illinois."

Tea Party brewing again. This time over IRS

CHICAGO - Former Congressman Joe Walsh took the lead in blasting the Internal Revenue Service Tuesday at the downtown Chicago office. Another anti-IRS rally sprung up in front of the Springfield and the Rockford IRS office, too. See photos below - or HERE from Lennie Jarratt who was at the Downers Grove protest.

 
Rockford area Tea Partiers protested outside the IRS office Monday

 
Folks upset about the IRS scandal protested in Springfield

Send us photos from your IRS protest Tuesday - info@illinoisreview.com. 

Bill Clinton encourages Illinois to pass gay marriage

SPRINGFIELD - The president most associated with illicit sexual behavior - former President Bill Clinton - showed no hesitation in encouraging marriage Tuesday when he issued a statement to the Illinois General Assembly to legalize same sex marriage. HB 10 awaits Illinois House passage as the last obstacle before going to Governor Quinn, who has promised to sign the bill into law.

In his statement, Clinton didn't mince words like he did in 1999 where he said, "It depends on what your definition of 'is' is," and he cited Illinois' favorite son Abraham Lincoln:

The news ... illustrated

Smoking Gun: Obama met with anti-Tea Party IRS union chief day before agency targeted Tea Party

By Jeffrey Lord, American Spectator - 

“For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House

Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?

Is the White House Visitors Log the trail to the smoking gun?

The stunning questions are raised by the following set of new facts.

March 31, 2010.

According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st. ...More HERE

CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson confirms possible computer intrusion

WASHINGTON - POLITICO is reporting Tuesday that a second national CBS investigative reporter - Sharyl Attkisson - is saying that her home and work computers may have been compromised. It was first discovered in 2011, when she was working on the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal involving the death of a border agent.

"I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months but I'm not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I've been patient and methodical about this matter," Attkisson told POLITICO on Tuesday. "I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public."

Attkisson said the compromise could be linked to the accusations the feds are railing against Fox News investigative reporter James Rosen, she said told the Washington Post. 

Last week, Associated Press revealed the Department of Justice took phone records of 20 AP phone lines used by 100 reporters, saying they were investigating a leak at the DOJ.

the news ... illustrated

A majority of Americans think IRS targeting was deliberate

WASHINGTON DC - The IRS controversy is "growing legs" as politicians and media put it when  a story doesn't go away, and gets more and more interesting to the American public. Such appears to be the case with the IRS scandal brewing, a Washington Post poll shows today.

“As you may know it’s been disclosed that the IRS singled out some conservative political groups for extra questions about their tax status. Do you think it was appropriate or inappropriate for the IRS to do this?” the poll asked.

Some 74 percent of respondents say it was inappropriate compared to just 20 percent who say it was appropriate.

Combat disaster with Acts of God

Our hearts go out to all those that suffered human loss Monday from the deadly storm passing through the Midwest. Here's a great ad by the Salvation Army, one of the world's most generous and caring hands-on charities. Donate here.