illinoisreview

Missouri mother of teen decries Illinois abortion law

Open letter to birth control advocates from Bill Beckman, Illinois Right to Life

You think Bristol Palin's pregnancy is absolute proof that abstinence education is useless, that Sarah Palin is a bad mother because she failed to put her daughter on birth control; and that the solution is "comprehensive" sex education.

The letter below came from a distraught mother who contacted Illinois Right to Life Committee to see what she could do so other mothers do not experience the tragic circumstances that she describes.

Manzullo warns of impending federal tax increases

by Cal Skinner

16th district United States Representative Don Manzullo came to Crystal Lake's American Community Bank to speak with members of the National Federation of Independent Business Tuesday night. The main topics of conversation were taxes and paying for health care.

“We're set for a barrage of tax increases,” Manzullo explained. “If you have a tax cut, the cuts expire in ten years. If you have a tax hike, it never expires.

“If you allow the tax cuts to expire, then you end up with a large tax increase,” the congressman explained.

Ozinga responds to McQueary's "What Would Jesus Do?" about health care

The Sun-Times' News Group's south suburban daily featured a nasty column a few weeks ago by local political columnist Kristen McQueary, who said Republican candidate for Congress in the 11th CD Marty Ozinga's response to a question about health care was "stupid," "feeble-minded" and "ignorant." 

And as if the contents of McQueary's July 24 column were not provocative enough, either she or the SouthtownStar editor headlined the piece "Ozinga ought to ask 'What would Jesus Do?'" on the topic of health care.

Mocking Ozinga's forthrightness about his religious belief system, Kristen went on to include in her criticism Scriptures about Jesus healing the multitudes. 

I've known Kristen and respected her writings on south suburban politics for a long time.  I know she's not a big fan of my political opinions. She called Jill Stanek and me "Mean Girls" for being hard on Debbie Halvorson's ridiculous and, now we know, dangerous 2007 attempt to force all 5th grade Illinois girls to be injected with the three-dose HPV vaccine. 

During that embarrassing debacle, southwest suburbanites learned a little bit about Halvorson's radical ideas for government-mandated health care that fits nicely with her demands for government-provided health care.  Get the connection?  "Government this" and "Government that" is Debbie's way of doing things, and something we can count on her to push as a member of Congress if she wins over Ozinga in November.

But we digress . . .

This week when Illinois Review had a chance to ask Marty Ozinga a couple of questions that had been plaguing me and lots of other conservatives, one thing I asked him was what he thought about McQueary's uncharacteristically antagonistic and frankly, disrespectful comments. 

"I read that and tried to figure out what she was saying," Ozinga said.   "I think it was that Jesus would provide free health care or order the government to provide free health care.  I still haven’t figured it out."

My Prediction on the Outcome of the Presidential Race, and its Impact on HSAs

Barack Obama's gonna lose November 4, or so says Golden Rule Insurance's former chairman J. Patrick Rooney and Dan Herrin, who write about the upcoming election and America's health care future:

So let’s get right to the point: I predict Sen. Obama will lose the Presidential election. Secondly, HSAs will continue to be the fastest growing type of health insurance and the fastest growing type of bank account and the fastest type of growing investment account.

Link: My Prediction on the Outcome of the Presidential Race, and its Impact on HSAs | America's Health Care Crisis Solved.

H/T IR Reader Jameson Campaigne

Libs join forces to demand universal health care

Culture of death overtaking hospice?

by Bill Beckman

Attempts have been made to legalize assisted suicide in California, but so far they have failed, leaving Oregon as the only state to enter that brave new world. The latest news from California mentioned a bill promoting euthanasia. What is that about?

In fact, the bill in question seeks to require medical providers to provide information and referrals to hospice whenever a terminal diagnosis is made. From the introductory text of California bill AB 2747, it states:

This bill would provide that when a health care provider, as defined, makes a diagnosis that a patient has a terminal illness or makes a prognosis that a patient has less than one year to live, the health care provider shall, upon the patient's request, provide the patient with information and counseling regarding legal end-of-life options, as specified, and provide for the referral or transfer of a patient if the patient's health care provider does not wish to comply with the patient's choice of end-of-life options.

Planned Parenthood Hits Suburbia

by Bill Beckman

The headline in the June 23rd Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reads "Planned Parenthood Hits Suburbia."  Now we have public admission from Planned Parenthood that they are targeting the "well-to-do" suburbs as they "follow the population" to find customers "who can afford to pay full price."  Planned Parenthood leaders "aim to rally support with upbeat marketing" and attract new customers with locations "in shopping centers and malls." Steve Trombley, the top executive in Illinois, observed, "I like to think of it as the LensCrafters of family planning." 

Planned Parenthood has "opened more than two dozen quick-service 'express centers,' many in suburban shopping malls.  Some sell jewelry, candles, books and T-shirts, along with contraception."  Leslie Durgin, a senior vice president at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains observed, "It is indeed a new look...a new branding, if you will."

Misleading use of stem cell terminology

by Bill Beckman

The June 19, 2008 headline reads “US doctors kill skin cancer with cloned T-cells.”  Does this suggest that human cloning of embryonic stem cells has been successful in treating skin cancer?   Absolutely not! 

The details of the New England Journal of Medicine report that generated this news coverage reveal that adult stem cells obtained from the patient were used.  As reported in , researchers “ScienceDailyremoved CD4+ T cells, a type of white blood cell, from a 52-year-old man whose Stage 4 melanoma had spread to a groin lymph node and to a lung. T cells specific to targeting the melanoma were then expanded vastly in the laboratory using modifications to existing methods.”

"All Kids" means "all," but Gov doesn't know how many

by Cal Skinner

One of the first articles on McHenry County Blog was "Will Those Illegally in Illinois Will Be the Biggest Beneficiary of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s 'All Kids' Health Plan?"  It ran on October 24, 2005.

At a town meeting conducted by State Senator Pam Althoff and State Rep. Mike Tryon in Lake in the Hills on October 24, 2005, the question came up and impressed the Northwest Herald reporter and editor enough that it ended up on the front page of the paper.

West Nile virus re-appears

As if Democratic control, out-of-control gasoline prices, a housing crunch and rising unemployment weren't enough to stress us out, the first mosquito samples of West Nile virus appear in Tazewell and DuPage counties. . .