Illinois Review

Googlegate…oh, what a tangled web – part three

By Irene F. Starkehaus -  

Conservatives as a voting bloc have yet to figure out how to reconcile the values that a candidate declares on the stump to what his intentions are once he gets swept into office on a conservative platform. Let us be clear. Reagan's words have been pilfered by the RINOs on multiple occasions for the sole purpose of gaining power when they have no intention of following through on their election promises. ~part two

Conservatives recognize the challenges that we are facing politically, but still fail to produce a meaningful plan for energizing people to vote for our preferred solutions to the troubles our nation faces. We are guilty of the worst kind of crisis resolution when it comes to facing down the growth big government. We long for solutions, but our go-to strategy for breaking the Left's stranglehold is to unearth the outmoded bones of compromise that were fashioned for resolving conflict with people who don't view the US Constitution as an obstacle. We expect that our concessions with progressivism will produce happily-ever-afters and kinship with the opposition party and we are stunned when this strategy doesn't work.

A great example of this is Marco Rubio – rising star of the conservative coalition…rarely do we find such a person who is capable of so articulating conservative values, but he doesn't want to be accused of heartlessness when it comes to dealing with illegal immigration so what is his solution? Give Dems everything that they want and hope they will reciprocate our good faith compromises? Good heavens, why would they? But his answer to that question is, "Trust me. I'm not going to do anything that will hurt America's future."

Googlegate…oh, what a tangled web – part two

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

We recognize the despotism that the Progressive Movement has produced and we all nod our heads in agreement with my prosaicisms which do wonders for singing to the choir but nothing else. The problem with this kind of generalization is that it does little to improve the political climate other than ignite a week's worth of opposition posting from the internet's conservative blogosphere before we move on to the next outrage. The fact that there is a next outrage shows us that we are whistling in the wind and such reality promotes despair within the ranks of conservative reformers ~tangled web - part one.

This week we celebrate the 26^th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's perhaps most famous speech at Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Berlin, Germany. For those of us who are old enough to remember that stirring address, it's good that we take the time to explain to those who are young the relevance of the era that we refer to as the Cold War.

The Cold War – a term coined by George Orwell in 1945 in reference to the dawning of the nuclear age. The term was adopted by US presidential advisor Bernard Baruch in 1947 to express the beginning of the never ending conflict between the US and the Soviet Union that was a "peace that is no peace."

We well remember Ronald Reagan – the man who used the job as president to do whatever he could to free future generations from the grips of Soviet aggression. Sadly, Soviet aggression is now the least of our children's worries. They have their own bogeymen with which to contend. They go to school and perform safety drills to protect them from homegrown terrorists and other likeminded whack jobs with perhaps a tad less futility than huddling under one's desk to protect oneself from the imminent nuclear holocaust, but the truth is that, in the grand scheme of things, we have just supplemented one evil empire with another.

Googlegate…oh, what a tangled web – part one

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Ready or not, it is time to trigger the reflection process for this past week's revelations by Edward Snowden – formerly of the CIA – who now looks to defect from the US as he pleads for asylum from "any countries that believe in free speech" after he alleged that the US government abused the power that originates from its citizens and used it against those same constitutionally protected citizens that were viewed to be political enemies. Makes you long for Nixon's comparatively complacent attitude towards his political foes, does it not?

You know, when the world eventually regains its sanity…and it will, by the way. It always does after a wholly totalitarian meltdown of this magnitude…I have little doubt that history will view this week's events as a watershed in the American experiment. The only question that remains unanswered is which direction this seminal moment will drive America's traditionally free people.

Cuisine and Contributions … And a License to Kill

By John F. Di Leo - 

Reflecting on the real-life impact of the IRS "Questionnaire-Gate" scandals…

“Congratulations, Restauranteur!”

You’ve just signed a lease on a great property. It’s a beautiful restaurant, just the right size, with a modern kitchen, and a terrific location with plenty of parking. You start decorating – painting, ordering window treatments, maybe updating the floor a bit, bringing in a custom bar that you found at an auction, re-upholstering the chairs, no, every other chair, to make it distinctive. You’re making it your own.

You’ve had the menu in mind for a while, so you start outfitting the kitchen to meet your needs – removing the deep fryer, adding more ovens or ranges, whatever fits your chosen cuisine. You start hiring, signing contracts for perishables and meats and alcohol and sodapop. You get your local business license, the approval of the health department, and now only one barrier remains:

Your liquor license hasn’t come in yet.

As We Remember the Many, Remember Too the Individuals

By John F. Di Leo - 

Each Memorial Day, Americans proudly, and solemnly, display our flags only at the half-staff position for the morning, not to return them to the full-staff position until noon. This we do in memory of the million-some casualties whom our nation has lost in battle since the Founding era.

We hold parades in their honor; we hoist a flag and raise a toast at city parks and private barbecues. We may wear red, white and blue clothing, or flag lapel pins, or decorate our homes with bunting. But for all this show of support, who are we really honoring?  Do we know?

On July 4, we celebrate the Founding Fathers, a generation of giants who won us our independence and designed the greatest system of government ever attempted. We know their names, from school and books and popular culture. Our street signs bear their names, as do our school buildings and even our towns. 

A Pentecostal Lesson for Politics Too

By John F. Di Leo -

The feast of Pentecost is the celebration of one of the most important moments in church history.  It commemorates the day when, after the Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Spirit gave the Faithful a special ability to speak to crowds of different nationalities in their own languages.

Now, we don’t know exactly what happened that day – whether the Apostles instantly learned other languages, or their audiences instantly learned to hear them in their heads as if they had.  All we know is that the leaders of the Church were suddenly, miraculously, able to reach people, and this was new.   They were used to being the Lord’s followers – He did the speaking, not them – and now they were called upon to take on the role of the preacher themselves, and spread the Word.

There was to be a bit of an ongoing debate in the years to come – should we just preach the Word to the Jews, so that all Jews understand that Christ is “our” Messiah?   Or should we reach out to everyone, the gentiles too?   The way this particular Pentecost miracle worked out – the Apostles being heard and understood not just by Jews, but by everyone within earshot, whatever their ethnicity and religion – helped to settle that debate.  The message was for everyone on earth, and the order was clearly to get to work spreading that message.

Auditgate does not bother me. Does your conscience bother you?

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Three scandals. Three scandals that are really just one big scandal. Not to minimize the importance of any of them on their own merits because each is as heinous as the next in their wanton disregard for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but their related themes are something to consider and must be so if we are to change the direction that we are taking for the sake of peace and congruence. These scandals – they all come from the same gangrenous stench which is now our federal system of governance, and they are merely indicators of a wretched posture that is taking hold in Washington.

The IRS's Auditgate, Benghazi and now Pressgate… perhaps what is noteworthy is how disquieting the Iron Curtain ruminations of these three outrages are. But should it be surprising to anyone?

Various Tea Party and pro-Constitution organizations and conservative members of the media understood where the country was headed the moment that Barack Obama was sworn into office. We knew that this was the only possible outcome from a leader that believed himself to be the one we've all been waiting for. This is an Administration that openly laments the constraints brought about by our blessings of constitutionally guaranteed liberty. It is led by a man who studiously pontificated over the means and ends of dogmatic rule. This might as well have been written in the stars for the entirely self-possessed destiny that drips from Barack Obama's executive pores.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: From Euphemisms and Buzzwords to Genuine Progress

By John F. Di Leo - 

There aren’t many things that this nation of immigrants agrees on, but there is one: that our immigration system is broken.  Not just mildly in need of correction, but terribly, destructively and counterproductively errant.

Americans are horrified that there are tens of millions of noncitizens in the United States, without permission, while others are horrified that those millions aren’t granted the same full legal status that citizens enjoy.

The severity of the problem is such that an effort is afoot for what its supporters call “comprehensive immigration reform,” and its supporters have the mainstream media so deep in their pocket that even the naive conservative firebrand Marco Rubio has been convinced to risk his political career in support of the current proposal. 

Conventional Wisdom versus Sound Policy, from Boston to Mississippi

By John F. Di Leo -

The week of April 15, 2013 was a week of contrasts.  Monday was practically a high holy day for the American Left, the day known as Tax Day, when personal income tax forms have their formal deadline in the United States. 

The Democrats planned for an exciting and successful week of passing unconstitutional programs, as gun control and immigration amnesty bills were to be the business of the day in the United States Senate.

But then reality set in, and two very different kinds of terror rocked the nation.  First, a pair of Chechen muslim brothers set off horrific bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and then led law enforcement on a manhunt, finally killing the one on Thursday and capturing a second on Friday.  Then the news was announced that someone was mailing poisoned letters to politicians, including the President and at least one Senator.

Terrorism’s tax on America

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

"In this terrible situation, let's be very grateful that we had a well-funded, functioning government. It is very fashionable in America, and has been for some time to criticize government, belittle public employees, talk about their pensions, talk about what people think ... of [their] health care. Here we saw government in two ways perform very well. ... I never was as a member of Congress one of the cheerleaders for less government, lower taxes. No tax cut would have helped us deal with this or will help us recover. This is very expensive."

~Barney Frank on CNN via the Weekly Standard

So you see, it doesn't matter if Monday's terrorist act at the Boston Marathon was committed by an Islamo-fascist of Saudi descent or if this was the kind of homegrown terrorism associated with Tim McVeigh or the Unabomber. Either way, the message that the Democrats are looking to convey is that this never would have happened were it not for the sequester. If only conservatives would stop looking to curtail government spending, the world would be a safer place.

And before we get too far into our discussion, I just want to state this for the record. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not merely fashionable in America for some to criticize government, government policies, government spending as Barney Frank has chosen to weakly characterize our nation's ongoing political dialog. This kind of criticism is part of American tradition. This is how America has operated since well before its founding. We would all be singing "God Save the Queen" right now if our founders hadn't expressed a tendency to criticize government and its spending.

The art of caring about Illinois pension reform

By Cranky Housewife - 

First off - I am possibly the last person in the world that ought to be suggesting solutions to the pension chaos in Illinois. I just want to make that clear. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't care about the issue. It's just that my eyes kind of glaze over when people start talking unfunded liabilities and COLAs. COLAs? Seriously, I'm thinking, "Why is Michael Bloomberg involved with this?  He doesn't have enough to do in New York? He's gotta come here and mess up my soft drink consumption too?"

Right. COLA? I looked it up. My Big Gulp is safe for now.

Yeah, I'm kidding but the point is valid. The average citizen most likely understands what a cost of living increase is but when they hear a vague term like COLA, the idea becomes extricated from real meaning – disjointed and more unapproachable than it actually is…they may assume at first blush that it refers to some kitschy and intricate accounting term like SARBOX or FICA.

Di Leo: Barack Obama and the Moment of Truth

By John F. Di Leo -

For one brief moment on Sequester Day – March 1, 2013 A.D., a day that will live in insolvency – President Barack Obama let down his guard. In one of his rare real press conferences, he accepted questions, and soon wished he hadn’t. Asked a very softball question – whether there was anything he might have done differently, or might do differently in the future, to break the gridlock and make progress on the government’s budget – Obama snapped back “Well, Julie, give me an example of what I might do!”

Simply incredible. All over the nation, people stared at their televisions, radios, and computer screens, and began to shout. This was more than just a moment of truth, in which he acknowledged how far he was out of his depth in this office, how unprepared he was for the job a gullible nation had twice granted him. 

This was a virtual plea for captions, a straight line begging for a punchline.

Is Liberalism All But Inevitable?

By The Cranky Housewife -

From Chris Matthews: "If you're watching, Madam Secretary, all three of us have brilliant ideas. All of us have great ideas. And I especially put myself in that group with Joan and David. We know how to do this; we'll get you in there."

Well, there you go. What more do you want to know? Quote Chris Matthews, "Nevermore" and now let's get back to the important work of the people by creating new jobs that don't exist, making sure that everyone has the contraception that they need, and ensuring that each child has a nutritious breakfast, lunch and dinner at triple the cost that it could be provided if it came from the private sector. Nothing to see here. Move along.

George Washington, Keeper of the Peace

By John F. Di Leo - 

A year into his second term, President George Washington celebrated his 63rd birthday on February 22, 1794, and received one of the best birthday present any head of state ever received. The new minister from France, Jean Antoine Joseph Baron Fauchet presented his credentials as the new ambassador from France, replacing the troublesome Edmund-Charles Genet at last.

Citizen Genet was many things. A child prodigy, fluent in six languages by age twelve, he was born at Versailles in 1763, the only son of a French civil servant. Genet served as court translator in his youth and was then sent to the embassy to Russia, at St Petersburg, at age 25. While serving thusly as a French diplomat, Genet proved so undiplomatic that Empress Catherine the Great had him ejected in 1792, declaring him persona non grata, famously saying that his further presence at the Tsarist court would be “not only superfluous but intolerable.”

Fortunately for him, however, the government he served had changed while he was in Russia; France was now ruled by the Girondists. This new regime loved their bold young anti-monarchist ambassador, and sent him right on to the United States, where he arrived to the immediate public acclaim of huge, excited, and misguided crowds. 

Barack Obama and the Zone of Misguided Promises

By John F. Di Leo - 

On a winter day in 2013, Barack Obama flew home to Chicago and tried to channel Jack Kemp.

As the Democratic Party and the Main Stream Media do his bidding, focusing their coverage on the “gun violence” of America’s cities, Obama attempts to ride this manufactured PR wave with a new political issue as his snowboard, the establishment of Promise Zones.

The idea is to take the worst neighborhoods – the cities most in need of help – and revive them with a public-private partnership of new businesses and more – much more – government assistance. The plan is to use government largesse to drive mini-recoveries in the cities, providing tax credits for new businesses to move in, and more federally funded pre-K schooling, mandated increases in the minimum wage, and focused job training for the jobs he dreams might someday appear in their midst. Surely such a program will save these troubled neighborhoods, right?

Surely these gang recruiters wouldn’t have been successful in attracting children to their gang lifestyle of drugs and luxury cars, gold jewelry and cool clothes, if only the kids had been introduced to “See Spot Run” and “Meet Dick and Jane” at four instead of at five. That year of pre-school simply must make all the difference…

The Funeral, the Failure, and the Photo Op

By John F. Di Leo -

An innocent girl, a volleyball player innocently sitting in a park with friends, was gunned down in gang crossfire in Chicago. Killed by mistake at age 15 – just for being in a public place in a dangerous city – the girl’s mourning family would have been alone in their grief, no more than a statistic to the rest of America, if it weren’t for the fact that she had performed as a majorette in the president’s inaugural celebration a week before.

So the story went national. Chicago’s 500-plus killings in 2012 alone, plus the countless thousands of attempted murders and violent assaults that accompanied them, are barely noticed by the press, but now the problem of Chicago violence has a face, the face of an innocent 15-year-old girl. The first lady of the United States announced that she would attend the funeral, then other Chicago-based members of the administration joined her delegation. Schools chief Arne Duncan and advisor Valerie Jarrett announced that they would accompany Michelle Obama in this demonstration of the administration’s concern.

One might think from such a presence that the administration was finally going to get serious about the problems of violent crime in our inner cities; that impression was certainly the administration’s intent.  Sadly, however, such an impression would be mistaken. It was just a photo op, nothing more.

A President for America, An Inspiration for the World

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on the birthday of Ronald Reagan 

Illinois calls itself the Land of Lincoln, proud of the self-educated man who made a national name for himself in Springfield, and rose from country lawyer to president when Illinois was still young.  But Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and raised in Indiana; he only moved to Illinois when he came of age at 21.

The great Union General Ulysses S. Grant too is credited as an Illinois president, having lived in Galena when the Civil War broke out and through his candidacy for the presidency.  But Grant had lived all over the country, and only moved to Illinois at the age of 38. 

So too, Barack Hussein Obama is thought of as an Illinois president, but again the claim is tenuous; Obama was probably born in Hawaii, and was raised there and in Indonesia before attending college in California and the East Coast.  The man known as “The Child of the Chicago Machine” didn’t actually move to Illinois until he was 24.

Is it really time to scrap the constitution?

By Cranky Housewife -

We put a face and a name to the wild decay of our American culture and call him Barack Obama which is – I think – a little Pollyannaish, don't you agree? Barack Obama is hardly the problem that America is facing. He's just the personification and fulfillment of the promise that our nation made to itself for ending social disparity through political and bureaucratic means over one hundred years ago. Barack Obama may be the embodiment of bureaucratic domination but the truth is that he was inevitable given the direction we have been travelling.

Now, I'm a little old-fashioned in this way. I believe that the first step in solving a problem is recognizing it, but conservatives and libertarians ebb and flow, to and fro with the nearly delusional hope that we can end societal devolution by voting one liberal man out of office and replacing him with our less liberal guy. Somehow the singular act of electing a member of the Republican Party to the presidency will be enough to restore sanity and constitutional order.

Unfortunately, we know that's not true. In the last one hundred years we have had…is it eleven Republican presidents out of eighteen in total? That's eleven occasions to refashion right out of the ghetto of wrong in a little over one century. But the slide into socialism has been steady and unrelenting all the same. The presidency isn't at the heart of this problem.

The Inherent Violence of the Welfare State

By John F. Di Leo -

Chicago, home of one of the nation's most stringent gun bans for fifty years, has also been the source of many frightening statistics. The city of Chicago - not the greater metropolitan area, just Chicago proper - surpassed 500 homicides in 2012 all by itself. If gun bans are the solution, the problem must be something other than a murder epidemic, because this gun ban sure isn't solving that one.

It's not people from outside Chicago committing the crimes, either. An easy out for the gun banners, if it were true, would be to simply prove that the villains are visitors from one of those "gun states." But are Texans, Louisianans, and Oklahomans driving into Chicago to mug old ladies and rape young ones, to rob homes and kill shopkeepers, to start street fights and then finish them for good? I think not.

Learning from Fires and Founders, in an Age of Distractions

By John F. Di Leo -

On December 1, 1958, a garbage can ignited in a basement stairwell at Our Lady of the Angels School, on Chicago’s west side. The fire spread quickly, and 95 lives were lost that awful day, 92 of them children.   There was a chance it was arson, or just a boy playing with matches at the foot of the stairs – though it could have been something as innocent as a surprised smoker ditching the cigarette before being caught in the act. We’ll never know for sure; we only know it started in that garbage can.

In the aftermath of the fire, careful study resulted in a number of changes to building codes, not just in Chicago but nationwide. The windows that were designed for cross-ventilation, the petroleum-based floor waxes, the wooden stair cases and stair rails… all these typical building features turned a school into a firetrap. Revised building codes would require plentiful and well-marked fire alarms, and designs and building materials that would retard a fire’s spread, rather than facilitate it.

Licensing Criminals, on the Road to the Polling Place

By John F. Di Leo -

Thoughts on the growing drive to issue drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens…

There is nothing inherently wrong with allowing noncitizens to legally drive in the United States.

The United Nations Convention on International Road Traffic, for example, has been providing a framework for issuing International Driving Permits to world travelers ever since 1949. Without one, we Americans could not rent cars in most foreign countries, and we would be restricted to passenger trains and taxicabs overseas.

The key to that permit, of course, is that it’s issued by the driver’s home country, his country of citizenship. We Americans get one here, before we go abroad, and that is as it should be. Australians get theirs before they leave Australia; Japanese get theirs before they leave Japan. Heck, most of them wouldn’t set out on the trip until this important step had been done. And so too should Mexicans get their international driver’s licenses, while at home, before they leave Mexico.

The subject at hand, in Springfield, Illinois at least, is whether the destination country can or should issue a driver’s license to non-citizens. There are good reasons to look into the issue, good reasons to address it, but no clear and easy solution to be found. And a number of potentially severe risks as well.

Things I Learned While Falling Off a Cliff

By John F. Di Leo -

The nation’s problems are almost all economic ones.

That’s not to say that we don’t have social problems too, or that we don’t have defense problems too.  But even those can be somewhat alleviated by fixing our economic problems.

Too many of us don’t go to church or synagogue every week… too many of us don’t have intact families.  And our nation is beset with threats from criminals from across our border and from terrorists from across the ocean.

But if we were to fix our economic problems, one byproduct of that fix would be that those other problems would be diminished.  So many of our social problems are exacerbated by a welfare state that divides and discourages intact families, trapping millions in self-perpetuating ever-worsening circumstances; so many of our foreign policy problems are exacerbated by pouring oil dollars into the coffers of islamofascist nations that sponsor terror and foment war.  So we must concentrate on fixing the economy first. 

Five Mainstream Republican Resolutions for 2013

By John F. Di Leo -

Time once again for a list of New Year’s Resolutions for the Republican Party. The party leaders haven’t taken my advice these past few years, so there’s no reason to believe they shall this year, but who knows? Perhaps if things get too dire, they’ll start looking to bloggers for solutions to the problems that their top consultants haven’t been able to solve. One can but hope.

1.  Learn the Meaning of Compromise

This isn’t entirely fair, but it’s still a good place to begin. Republicans are notorious for conceding defeat before negotiations begin.

Let’s say for example that the Republicans know that a 30% tax rate cut would be the best thing to spur the economy, create jobs, and restore upward mobility to all demographics. But the Democrats are still clamoring for a 30% tax increase because they’ve drunk so much Keynesian kool-aid that their veins run purple with the stuff.

Of fiscal cliffs and realistic resolutions

By Cranky Housewife -

It's just that, what difference does it make? Nothing ever changes anyway.

That one little statement is a major triumph of the Left's stubbornly unending fiscal melt downs, you know. Play it again, Uncle Sam. We're down to the wire. The Republicans are proving to be diplomatically inept against…the superior political intellect?...really?...of the Democrats once again. And all you can manage to think is, "Is it too much to ask that these Bozos just get it done without the drama so that I can enjoy my holidays? I mean, how much are we paying these guys anyway?"

Truth is, this little donkey and elephant show has been on permanent rerun since the Clinton Administration perfected it's War on Republicans during their own little fiscal cliff fiasco – you know, I've always thought that if the Democrats would work half as hard at actually solving the world's problems as they work to annihilate their political enemies and grab power, the country would be strong, well-educated and hunger-free in half a decade. But I supposed their wasted potential is quite beside the point.

The current economic bile that passes for political discourse would be a tragically tedious rehash under the best of circumstances, but how many times have we repeated this fiscal melodrama just this year? And it's almost New Year's Eve. How on earth are we supposed to keep caring about a crisis that's already been scripted to yield maximum economic pain for the producers of this nation and only waits for the clock to run out before that truth is revealed to an audience so overwrought by the absolute angst of it all?

Di Leo: Greco Sees Double

By John F. Di Leo - 

The minor mob boss from the south of Europe learns about double-entry bookkeeping… coming soon to a western nation near you?

It was a good day for a walk. The sun was shining, the air was clear… the view from Athens, out across the lovely Aegian Sea, had never been so sparkling. So Greco put on his pea coat and fisherman’s cap, clipped his blackjack on his belt and checked his pocket for his switchblade, pulled on his driving gloves and walked outside.

In the old days, Greco had more employees to help with the collection task; he just got the business himself, then sent out his bagmen for the monthly protection money (weekly for some… you might say Greco’s business required certain flexibility in payment plans).

DiLeo: Greco Sees A Beating

By John F. Di Leo -

Reflections on the ultimate conclusion of punitive taxation

Greco was making his rounds, one cool December morning, when he turned the corner and saw an unexpected sight. One of his clients, a shopkeeper who was never late with his protection payments, was sitting on the park bench in front of his shop, covered in bandages, gently rubbing his cheek and temples.

“Giannis!” shouted Greco as he strode up. “What happened? Were you in an accident?”

Giannis looked up. “Yeah, it was an accident, all right.”

“You look like you were hit by a bus!” said Greco. “Will you be okay? Were you driving? Were you just crossing the street?”

Giannis shook his head no. “No, it wasn’t that kind of accident, Greco.”

Greco’s worry turned to anger as he put two and two together. “Somebody beat you up?” Giannis nodded. “Who was it?” demanded Greco. “I’ll take care of it! Everybody in town knows not to mess with my clients! They’ll never walk again!”

Aim Those Scissors Somewhere Else!

By John F. Di Leo -

The nation is in recession. Home foreclosures continue to wreck lives, unemployment (when counted honestly) remains in the mid-teens, business startups are in virtual retreat.

But not to worry, the president and the leaders of Congress are working on an agreement to raise real taxes and maybe, just maybe, to cut the projected increase in future spending a bit. Ooh. What a relief.

Have none of this nation’s leaders, and none of the mainstream media, ever taken an econ class? Haven’t they even played back their own speeches from as recently as a year ago? What on earth are they doing, talking about raising taxes in the midst of a five year recession?

"American Independence" Doesn't Just Mean Independence from Kings

By John F. Di Leo -

“When in the Course of Human Events…”  thus begins the most famous divorce decree in history, conceived by the Committee of Five in the Continental Congress, crafted principally by future governor and president Thomas Jefferson, with the helpful editing of their fellow delegates in Philadelphia, in June and July, 1776.

It was indeed a divorce decree, not a letter of annulment.  It did not declare that we had never been partnered with England; it acknowledged clearly that there had once been legitimate bonds between England and these colonies.  But the Declaration of Independence analyzed the then-recent practices of King George III, his ministers, and the British Parliament, and found them wanting. 

It is time for the United States to recognize that another such international divorce is needed: a permanent end to our long relationship with the United Nations.

Wallace considering bid for JJJr seat

CHICAGO - One Republican is hinting publicly that he's considering a bid for Jesse Jackson Jr's vacant 2nd CD seat. A south suburban Flossmoor staunch conservative, Dr. Eric Wallace, who ran for State Senate in 2006 and Lieutenant Governor in 2010, announced Wednesday on Facebook that he's "thinking about it."

Possible replacements for Jackson begin to emerge

CHICAGO - Immediately after Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr's resignation was announced Wednesday, his attorney Dan Webb - who also represented convicted felons former Governor George Ryan and former Springfield powerbroker Bill Celllini - chimed in with a statement that indicates there's more to come.

Church group warns: Gov Quinn ready to fold at gaming table

SPRINGFIELD - For years, a Methodist-based group of Illinois churches has been fighting a courageous uphill battle against the expansion of gambling. Their last hope of this biggest expansion brining more casinos was Governor Pat Quinn.  Now it seems the Governor is ready to give in to high dollar gaming interests and the strong Democratic leadership pushing for their campaign dollar interests in a state already wrought with corruption and deceit. 

ILCAAAP released an alert Tuesday about the upcoming veto and lame duck sessions and yet another social issue upon which Illinois will be choosing the dark side:

Gambling interests and Legislative sponsors have been pressuring the governor to “flip flop” and cut a “backroom deal” on gambling during the upcoming legislative Veto Session.  Rep. Lou Lang, House sponsor of the massive gambling expansion bill SB 1849, is hoping for an agreement with the governor.  If not, he might attempt an override of the veto when legislators are in session on November 27-29 and December 4-6.

Giving the Economy What it Doesn't Deserve

By John F. Di Leo -

It is said that people get the government they deserve.

As the election of 2012 proves, this is woefully inaccurate in politics, because even if those who consciously voted for the destructive Democratic Party do deserve it, those who wisely voted against it certainly do not.

The same saying is often said of the economy, particularly when something disastrous happens – a large-scale layoff, a manufacturer fleeing burdensome taxes or regulations for the welcoming shores of China or India, a company collapsing under the weight of an unreasonable union.

But there too, the saying is inaccurate.  Even if some deserve what they get - certainly a fool who would rather shut his employer down than accept a one-year eight-percent pay cut in the interest of their vaunted "shared sacrifice" deserves to be unemployed - his fellow employees do not deserve it at all!  It is nothing less than sheer evil for some employees to choose to put their own employer out of business, pulling their neighbors unwittingly into unemployment along with them.  Only the mentality of a union shop steward or Democrat Party hack could think such an act justifiable.

Civic Committee deems Illinois' pension mess "unfixable"

CHICAGO - Earlier this week, the Civic Committee wrote a letter to Commercial Club members about how disappointed they are that Illinois' voters chose to keep the same people in office that led to the state's $200 billion pension deficit. After sounding the alarm consistently about the coming financial disaster and being outright ignored by the voting public, the committee has determined the situation to be "unfixable."

Taking contributions from younger teachers amounts to "fraud," they told their members in the letter,  because those contributors will never have their money returned to them in promised pension benefits. 

The group offered three steps that needed to be taken when current lawmakers return to the post-election veto session: 

Civic Committee memo to members of the Commercial Club

Jones directs Illinois lottery, and sees the world

By John Ruberry -

A short while ago, we showed you how Illinois Lottery Director Mike Jones stuck his nose in Indiana’s private lottery procurement process, unsuccessfully criticizing Illinois’ successes in that regard, potentially because he lost a bid for Illinois' lottery contract himself. During his anti-Illinois lottery campaign, Jones made two trips to Indianapolis - one in October 2011 and another in March 2012. We question the value of such trips for Illinois taxpayers. Indeed, upon close examination of roughly a year’s worth of Jones’ travel vouchers, we have even more questions.

It’s no secret that Illinois is broke. As lawmakers in Springfield do what they please, Illinois taxpayers are shouldering the burden. In just a few short years, our property taxes and income taxes have skyrocketed, and businesses (and people) have left the state in droves as doing business in Illinois becomes more expensive by the day. Although Illinois families struggle to put food on the table, Springfield bureaucrats and politicians wine and dine themselves. And Mike Jones appears to be no exception.

What does it mean to vote Democrat in 2012?

By John F. Di Leo -

The Democratic Party has undergone many a migration over the centuries; it’s unrecognizable from the party originally started by Madison and Jefferson to oppose President Washington’s economic  agenda.

From its inception, though, one thing has never changed: the Democratic Party has always been, in some way, the pro-slavery party.  

Defender of slavery for the first century, then the opponent of reconstruction after the Civil War, the Democratic Party has always been a supporter of the elites, and in some way a supporter of the oppression of some group -sometimes the Blacks, sometimes the Asians, sometimes Catholics, sometimes Native Americans.  

This much has never changed: the Democrats have never lacked for some group to blame for whatever was going wrong.

IL lottery chief Michael Jones goes to Indiana and disses IL lottery

By John Ruberry -

Illinois Lottery Commissioner Michael Jones (photo right) has been taking a number of field trips lately, heading to nearby states, including Indiana, to speak out…against the Illinois Lottery.

This might seem strange. After all, following its privatization, the Illinois Lottery has greatly improved its take. In fiscal year 2012, the Lottery made $100 million more than it did in 2011, before privatization took effect. Regardless of how you might feel philosophically about gambling – or for that matter, about the state taking money from its own citizens – Illinois is in such dire financial straits that you’d think Springfield would be elated at the thought of receiving that kind of easy money, and eager to share its success with every neighbor who would listen.

Nevertheless, Jones took it upon himself to insert his unsolicited opinion on how to run a lotto contract award process when our neighbors in Indiana considered plans to emulate Illinois’ success. Jones trashed Illinois' selection process for the lotto contract to the Indiana government and the Indiana press, in what appears to be a clear attempt to prevent Indiana from courting the same group of lottery sub-contractors.

Welfare spending up 32%, reaches all-time high of $1.03 trillion

WASHINGTON DC - Despite the Obama Administration's costly job stimulus plans, over the past four years, welfare spending jumped 32%, the Congressional Research Service reported Thursday.  Federal spending on more than 80 low-income assistance programs reached $746 billion in 2011, and state spending on those programs brought the total to $1.03 trillion.

The biggest federal welfare expense was Medicaid, which rose from $82 billion in 2008 to $296 billion in 2011. The next biggest item was food stamps, which hit an historical high of $75 billion in 2011, nearly doubling since 2008.

More at Washington Times

Quinn rated Governor with worst fiscal policy in the nation

WASHINGTON DC - Cato Institute released their 11th bi-annual Fiscal Policy Report Card on Governors this week, and Illinois' Governor Pat Quinn scored a 16, the lowest grade of the nation's state CEOs. The report grades governors on their fiscal policies from a limited-government perspective. The governors receiving an "A" are those who cut taxes and spending the most, while the governors receiving an "F" raised taxes and spending the most. The grading mechanism is based on seven variables, including two spending variables, one revenue variable, and four tax rate variables.

Pat Quinn of Illinois took office after his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, was impeached and removed. Unfortunately, Quinn is following the same approach that earned Blagojevich an “F” grade from Cato in 2008.3 In 2009 Quinn signed into law a $1.1 billion tax increase. In 2011 he pushed through a massive $7 billion tax increase, which included higher individual income taxes, corporate taxes, and estate taxes. Quinn raised the top individual income tax rate from 3 to 5 percent, and raised the top corporate rate from 4.8 to 7.0 percent. Illinois corporations pay a special tax on top of the basic rate to bring the overall rate to 9.5 percent. In 2012 Quinn approved a large cigarette tax increase. Quinn also spends too much, and he has tried to paper over the state’s fiscal problems by issuing billions of dollars of bonds to cover unpaid state bills and to fund the state pension plan.

Freedom's Journal Magazine launches tv program

Freedom's Journal Magazine recently expanded to include in-person interviews with African-American conservative leaders. In this program, Chicago's Dr. Eric Wallace speaks with author Armstrong Williams and political commentator Raynard Jackson.

More at www.FreedomsJournal.net

Jobless Rate for Young Americans at 11.8 Percent in September

WASHINGTON DC - Generation Opportunity, a non-profit, non-partisan organization engaged in mobilizing young Americans on the important economic issues facing the nation, announced non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) 18-29 unemployment rate data for September 2012:

• The youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds specifically for September 2012 is 11.8 percent (NSA).
• The youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans for September 2012 is 21.0 percent (NSA); the youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics for September 2012 is 12.1 percent (NSA); and the youth unemployment rate for 18--29 year old women for September 2012 is 11.6 percent (NSA).
• The declining labor force participation rate has created an additional 1.7 million young adults that are not counted as "unemployed" by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs.
• If the labor force participation rate were factored into the 18-29 youth unemployment calculation, the actual 18-29-unemployment rate would rise to 16.6 percent (NSA).

Illinois hospitals to be hit with new Obamacare fine

Monday, the Democrat-passed Obama health care reform began a system of fining hospitals if too many of their Medicare patients are re-admitted within 30 days. Illinois hospitals are expected to be among the hardest hit. ConsumerReport.org reports:

About two-thirds of the hospitals serving Medicare patients, or some 2,200 facilities, will be penalized this year, with an average fine of about $125,000, according to government estimates. Hospitals in Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York will be among the hardest hit, according to reports. For now, hospitals are only being measured on three medical conditions: heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia.

Medicare plans to post details later this month on individual hospitals on its HospitalCompare.gov website. And over the past year, a number of hospitals have taken steps to reduce readmission rates. But our hospital Ratings show that many hospitals need to improve.

More HERE. Concerns are that while this new fine may be meant to improve seniors' health care while they're in the hospital, it may actually endanger seniors who've been released. Doctors and administrators may be compelled to discourage those seniors who've had re-occurrences from being re-admitted once they've been released.

Free Phones and the Loss of Freedoms

By John F. Di Leo -

Statistics are odd things.  They can grab one’s attention; they can utterly fascinate, or they can make one’s eyes glaze over.

Election seasons are a great time for such examples – candidates, parties, and commentators all use statistics to make their points, but all too often, the important issues are lost in the shuffle of challenges or defenses to the statistics.

The modern welfare state presents such a problem.  Consider the “rise of the Obamaphone” in recent years, as a three-decade-old policy of providing the most indigent with a subsidized landline has been translated by the current administration as a commitment to provide 12.5 million voters with the latest cellphones.  Honestly, shouldn’t the recipients be offended that their party hopes their votes can be bought with a free phone?

First, the statistics:  there were about 7.1 million federally-subsidized cellphones in 2008, and that number nearly doubled to 12.5 million during the Obama presidency.  Politicians are sure that these statistics will affect the November elections, especially with the news that about a million of them are in Ohio, the battleground of all battlegrounds.

Viola Davis "Won't Back Down" - and neither should CPS parents

CHICAGO - Friday, Moody's downgraded the Chicago Public School system's credit ratings because they were unable to fight back the suffocating debt the Chicago Teachers Union strike negotiations thrust upon them. A lower credit rating means every borrowed dollar will cost more to repay, and that means taxpayers not only in Chicago, but state- and nation-wide will be forced to pay more.  And for what? A system in which only 60 percent of the students complete a minimal high school diploma.

A controversial new release bolstering students and parents is hitting theatres this weekend. Teachers' unions are blasting it, no surprise. If only this movie had come out in Chicago three weeks ago.

But one of the stars of "Won't Back Down," Viola Davis defended her participation in the movie and her involvement in promoting school choice with this comment to Jay Leno -

I am a parent. And as a parent, I have a child and I know that the only way she's going to get a part of the American Dream is through education. And so if that great education is a public school, I'm going to send my kid to the public school. If that great education is a charter school, I'm going to send my kid to a charter school. If it's a private school, I'll send her to a private school. I think that it's about wanting do what's best for your kid.

Two IL counties cleanse 4000 from voter rolls, Cook County eliminates 100k

SPRINGFIELD - In two of Illinois' least populated counties on the state's southernmost Kentucky border, more than 4000 were recently culled from registered voter lists.  Time has run out for any more pre-2012 election cleanup, but state election officials are pleased with the progress that's been made.

“Having good, clean election rolls avoids any possibility of people attempting impersonation voting,” said Ken Menzel, an attorney with the Illinois State Board of Elections, told Illinois Watchdog.org. “While it’s not a huge problem from what we can tell, keeping your rolls clean limits the opportunity for mischief along that line.”

So-called "voter purges" are causing uproar in Texas and Florida, where election observers assert purges could prevent qualified voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote. 

Eyebrows are raised over the more than 4000 registered voters that were removed from Alexander County, where the population is a little over 8000 and Massac County, around 15,500. 

And then the inevitable question - what about the state's most populous Cook County, where over 5 million people live? How "clean" are their voter rolls?

Kansas' Huelskamp objects to USDA takeover of school lunch programs

The debate about the new federal school lunch program is just heating up and moms aren't happy about what's going on with their kids. Tuesday, Illinois Review editor Fran Eaton wrote about the school lunch debate and urged the real Nutrition Nannies to re-assume their parental rights to make choices for their kids. The "hungry kids" debate continued this morning, when Congressman Tim Huelskamp of Kansas took it to the national level on CBS morning news. Nationwide, taxpayers are funding the lunches of 31 million school age kids now getting between 650 and 850 calorie lunches, approved by the USDA.

Why I Changed my Vote - Jodi C. from Winfield, IL (video)

WINFIELD - Jodi is the proud mother of triplets and a former ICU nurse. She is also a lifelong Democrat. In 2008, she not only voted for President Obama, but she also contributed to his campaign. In 2012, she's excited to change her vote to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

More similar testimonies at www.whyIchangedmyvote.com

Walsh passes No-Hassle Flying Act

From Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) -

Yesterday afternoon I spoke on the House floor in support of my No-Hassle Flying Act. This legislation will save travelers time and allow security officers to focus on higher-risk baggage from overseas locations. The No-Hassle Flying Act passed the House and is now headed to the Senate.

Illinois pension solution: elect more Tom Morrisons

Former Governor Jim Edgar recently told Crain's Chicago Business writer Greg Hinz he favored Gov. Quinn's idea to begin attacking the state's $80 billion pension problem by eliminating one of the five major state-funded pensions -- the one that covers current and retired lawmakers. Why that pension? Hinz wrote:

The reason is that the wider bill being pushed by many Democrats, particularly Senate President John Cullerton, may well be unconstitutional because it slashes benefits for those already on the state payroll. Passing the legislators-only bill would have allowed an immediate, low-complications means to begin the inevitable court challenge and see what the judges will allow, [Edgar] said.

Many thought Edgar opened a can of worms with his suggestion. But the can was already opened in 2010, when conservative reform candidates such as State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) told voters he would refuse to sign up for the state pension system or jump into its health care benefits.

A small business owner, Morrison said he is committed to the idea of being a citizen legislator that doesn't make representing his constituency a career. To prove it he chose to fund his own pension and pay for his young family's healthcare. And he's encouraging other Illinois lawmakers to do the same.

Apparently, complaints against Chicago's Excelon were founded after all

By Nancy Thorner - 

The chickens are finally coming home to roost for Chicago's Exelon Corporation

Thanks to an Illinois Review post of Friday, August 24, "ICYMI:  Exelon, Obama and the 'Chicago Way' in the White House," I was informed about a NYT article highly critical of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation. 

This was an amazing development, as a letter had been sent by Nancy Thorner to Exelon's CEO, Christopher Crane, on August 13th, almost two weeks before the NYT published its article about Exelon being in bed with the Obama administration.

Sacred Cows and Holy Cows

By Hannah Ihms -

When President Obama questioned a business owner’s role in the success of his company, he questioned more than who gets credit for what. He questioned private property itself. If “you didn’t build that,” do you really even own it?

As grand as the Great Pyramids and the Roman Coliseum are, there’s something profoundly unsettling on reflecting that they were built on the backs of slaves. If you and I were properly indoctrinated, we’d feel the same indignation when we looked at the Sears Tower or the Space Needle.

Because, we’re told, businesses are the Bain of our existence. Our employer may press a paycheck into our sweaty, calloused hands, but he’s paying only a fraction of what is rightfully ours. We’ll claim the whole shebang when the workers unite. Then we’ll collectivize... and restratify?