Illinois Denied FEMA Aid for Torando Devastated Towns - Thanks, Obama, Durbin and Quinn!

Washington Illinois Denied FEMA aid - You Didn't Bill That!

The Illinois GOP is a congress of losers - has been so ever since Honest Abe's funeral and always will be. The reason for this being, the Illinois GOP is deathly afraid mopes, stooges, mealy mouthed creeps and grifters.

When Bill Brady allowed Roe & Roeper to bully him into turning over his taxes on demand, in last Guv-Go-Around, he was toast. Brady allowed others to define him and his candidacy.  Just the other day Roe and Roeper pulled billionaire Bruce's flannel lined, relaxed-fit Carhartt britches over the minimum wage nonsense.The FEMA story is tailor-made to nail Pat Quinn's purple tie to the donkies who work for him - they screwed up the FEMA application:

Damage was assessed from Dec. 2 to Dec. 6 and an application was sent by the state of Illinois to the federal government asking for public assistance in effected communities.
Washington Mayor Gary Manier said in the month that’s passed since that assessment, the perception of damage has only escalated.
“Unfortunately, sometimes you have to turn these applications in earlier than before you’ve done due diligence to the entire process and know what your numbers really are,” Manier said Thursday. “Debris removal is probably one of the biggest as far as man-hours and taking debris to the landfill. Everything comes at a cost.
“There’s a lot of unknown costs. We’ve got a little bit better understanding of what we’re going to be facing in the spring, in the next six months or even a year or two out. … It’s an ongoing learning experience for all of us.”
The preliminary damage assessment conducted jointly by federal and state emergency management agencies was $6.1 million in costs in nine counties affected by the storms, far short of the threshold for federal assistance in Illinois of $17.8 million, but an appeal could include costs that weren’t on the original application.

Read more: http://www.mortontimesnews.com/article/20140109/NEWS/140109188/1001/NEWS#ixzz2q673gwDa

Instead, Rauner and the three other'victims' for Governor will mouse out answers prefabbed at Trib Tower and WTTW about Wage and Income Inequality and 'Aren't You Ashamed to be You?'

I have yet to read or hear of one GOP gubernatorial hopeful raise the issue of FEMA's repeated denials of disaster relief aide to Illinois.

• The White House is stuffed with Illinois (read Hyde Park) career grifters, as is the Federal Government itself.

• Senator Dithering Dick Durbin and his stooge GOP lap-dog Marque Kirque are all fired up to rename the ATF Federal Building the Eliot Ness Building - We have waited far too long! -, but they can not get FEMA to come up with the trump to help Washington, Illinois.

• The most unqualified man to ever occupy the White House, Barack H. Obama, spends more time in his native Hawaii, than he does in the Land of Lincoln and writes idiotic Executive Orders to make sure abortion and Trojans are keeping women healthy quicker than 10:30 Mass at Sacred Heart.

• Governor Pat Quinn found his brief case Betsy and a puppy, Rosie, but remains the most inconsequential person in Illinois History.

Worse than my bullets above remains the Illinois GOP.  The only shots they manage to fire are aimed directly at their own toes.

Rauner, Rutherford, Bill 'Loser' Brady, and Dillard are as much the reason for the Illinois Endless Season of Stupid.

Pent Up in Utica - Illinois GOP Can Not Even do the Dutch Act

 
How'd that work out for you tasseled-loafer geniuses? Ask your leader Christine Radogno!

"I'm not sure what we need now is an in-your-face, confrontational, white, downstate male. I love our downstate guys. I have a great relationship with them, and I'm not playing a gender card," she told the Chicago Sun-Times.
"What I'm saying, as a practical matter, is that we need to change our image. Fairly or not, we're perceived -- and these aren't my words, I've read it reported this way -- as being the party of angry white men, and that's not true by the way. The fact of the matter is perception is reality, and we need to deal with it," she said.
Caprio took issue with Radogno's implication that the party needs to rebrand itself so it again can carry appeal with moderate suburban women like herself. (emphasis my own) -Sun Times

Indeed. Opt for the daffy, dizzy. ditsy woman we all know and love!  You know like a GOP Dawn Clark Netsch, or cloth coated Sheila Simon.  Wait, didn't angry white man Bill Foster just pull the chair out from Judy Biggert's padded rump?  She, after all, is identical Dawn and Sheila.

Hey, thanks for playing, Christine!  Write some more swell Marin-esque diatribes against the Catholic Church in your spare time. Now, back to Illinois GOP attempts at ritual suicide, which will fail as comically as all of its past efforts at anything and everything.

The Illinois GOP mocks itself - refer to its Leader Christine Radogno's pleas above.

Leading the laughs, and well he deserves to, is Illinois Speaker of House Mike Madigan.   He plays Illinois like a fiddle.

The Illinois GOP is not unlike the Roman Patrician Party confronted by the wildly talented, focused and brilliant Gaius Julius Caesar - read Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan.  Like Caesar Mike Madigan is a skilled, thoughtful and inventive statesman.   He has expanded the scope and power of the Illinois Democratic Party  over the last thirty years like no other man in public life.  He defeated the tasseled loafer patrician likes of Pate Phillips and Lee Daniels for control of the Illinois House and Senate with skill and finality.  Madigan cares not a whit what is said of or about himself in these his focused political tasks.  Madigan will suffer fools gladly, but brook no opposition from those who lick his salt.

Shiny objects, like civil unions, gay marriage, death to the death penalty,allegations of  police torture or misconduct, a woman's need to kill an unborn child, or BGA witch hunts on sleeping civil servants become stars in the political firmament for slack-jawed and oh,so smart, while the Speaker's will be done and quickly. The franchised voter occupies her time with star gazing. Mike Madigan is disciplined and closed mouthed. From 1983 to present with a brief DuPage County GOP Commonwealth, Mike Madigan has worked to keep Illinois solvent and joyful.

Without Mike Madigan and Gary Hannig, Governor Blagojevich would have bankrupted Illinois in 2007 with idiotic  gross receipts tax.

The very same forces that cry foul of Madigan curry his good will and have become his pawns.  I wish I had a nickel for every thousand of dollars spent by Democratic and Agenda PACs, individuals and the Illinois GOP to make personal war on the Speaker Madigan over the last thirty years.  I could retire from my helot's l;abors with the splendor of a Forrest Claypool, or a Toni Preckwinkle, this very day.

Speaker Madigan is Caesar.  Old Man Daley may have been a Marius and Richie Daley a lesser Sulla, but Mike Madigan, as far as political power is concerned is Caesar.   The Illinois GOP never has had a Cato - and intellectual, moral and ethical force of nature. Instead. the Party that always blows off it's own toes grabs someone and anyone.

Mark Brown's thoughtful post election analysis argued that the Illinois GOP would go the way of the Whigs -

Instead, Madigan emerges from this election as strong as ever, which I’d imagine came as less of a surprise to him, as his dominance is not of an accidental nature.Nowhere, though, were the Republican failures more glaring than in the Senate, where Democrats picked up a net gain of five seats.
Folks, this is a legislative chamber that not so very long ago was commanded by James “Pate” Philip, a Chicago-hating Republican from DuPage County.
Now, for at least the next two years and quite possibly for the next decade, Senate Republicans will be about as relevant as their counterparts on the Cook County Board, in other words not very.
And that Republican bastion of DuPage County?
It elected its first Democratic state senator Tuesday, to go along with two Democratic state representatives. And for the second straight time, Obama carried DuPage, too, although not by quite as much as four years ago. The very clear picture is that this is no longer Pate Philip’s DuPage County.

Whigs?  Naw.  The Whigs were not too interested in abolition as I recall and old Honest Abe cut a deal with Lyman Trumbull to defeat Democrat James J. Shields and wait to form a Republican Party that stood for something.  The 18th Century poet Joseph Addison wrote a tragedy, CATO, set immediately after Caesar's defeat of the Patrician Republicans in the African city of Utica, where Cato, the moral core of the Republican forces, plans and executes his suicide rather than submit to a phony and practical submission to the victor.  This play was performed at the command of General George Washington for the Continental Army at Valley Forge in order to steel its resolve against the Crown.  I would wager not one member of the Illinois GOP has ever heard of this tragedy.

The Illinois GOP, unlike the Patrician Cato, when faced with a Caesar -Madigan can not even do the Dutch Act properly, while 'pent up in Utica.'  Instead it made a place for ninnies like Judy Biggert and Christine Radogno who argue that the party should adopt identically popular positions on all social issues in order to get funding from Personal PAC and Fred Eychaner. Stand for nothing!

The only GOP candidates that I have ever heard make any sense were Ron Gidwitz and Dan Proft. Naturally, the Illinois GOP ran away from Gidwitz and Proft quicker than it does against Mike Madigan and any political win.

Illinois is awash in problems.  Do not blame Speaker Madigan. He is 50% against Illinois Governors only  the oily Jim Edgar(GOP) and the daffy Dem Pat Quinn are currently out of the hoosegow.  He is the only professional in the game.  Blame the lightweights that you allow to become search lights. If Christine Radogno is your idea of a game leader, understand your part in this daffy game.

Who knows not this! but what can Cato do Against a world, a base degenerate world, That courts the yoke, and bows the neck to Caesar? Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor epitome of Roman greatness, And, cover'd with Numidian guards, directs A feeble army, and an empty senate; Remnants of mighty battles fought in vain.

We might be going bankrupt, but it looks like Gay Marriage is on the way!

DOPIUM Addicted Illinois GOP Get Heads Up from Tamara Holder

My pal attorney Tamara Holder raises some valid concerns that Illinois GOP folks have whistled away while walking past the political graveyard. A Tea Party candidate for Senate has been ignored, while the Illinois GOP have fired-up the DOPIUM Bowl - see John Kass.

( HOPIUM* is the Obama hallucinogen that brings tears to eyes of worshippers; DOPIUM is the hard core Crystal Meth that trots out Judy Barr Topinka in every election cycle -'It's All Good, G! Polka Time!')

Warning to Republicans


(or those who are considering voting Republican): If you vote for Mark Kirk, you will be voting for a liberal. So, if you are going to vote for a liberal, then make it easier on yourself and simply vote for Alexi Giannoulias, since he’s the real Democrat.

Wait, before you get all worked-up and accuse me, an Illinois Democrat, of trying to persuade the right to lean left, please continue reading because my point has zilch to do with Giannoulias…I simply want to make sure that the person you vote for accurately and properly represents you.

Michael Labno may be your guy, instead of Mark Kirk. Why?

Kirk is a Republican. Or is he? Kirk voted to allow the government to confiscate your legally owned firearm in the event of a national emergency. He is pro-choice, saved millions in funding for Planned Parenthood and was just one of 17 Republicans to vote to fund abortions for female inmates. Kirk is for cap and trade and voted for TARP not once, but twice.

Labno is a self-proclaimed “recovering Republican; three years sober, officially.” He wonders why we still haven’t found Osama bin Laden and is disappointed with the Republicans’ support of the bailouts. He wants small businesses and community banks to thrive again. He is pro-life and pro-guns. Labno owns his positions and he hasn’t manufactured his qualifications or made up outlandish stories to gain support.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/07/republicans-beware-mark-kirk-is-a-liberal/#ixzz11ftowC9a

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-obama-1007-20101007,0,4382854,full.column

* from the Urban Dictionary - John Kass' neologism:

Hopium A substance that the media and press abuse, it makes them mesmerized by Barack Obama. For instance, when Obama swatting a fly was a headliner on the news, that camera man was on a double hit of Hopium.
e.g
"Wow did you see the Obama Chia?!"

"Yeah man, wonder if the hair is actually Hopium, I need some NOW."

Il Rep. Kevin Joyce - A Man Stands for Kids and Reform-12 House Mice Republicans Scurry to Their Holes

"Think back to why you ran for office," said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. "Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man."

I have known Kevin Joyce, my State Representative and neighbor, for many years. He is Anti-Abortion and has seven children; He is for School Reform and sends his children to Catholic Schools.

He is tough man of a tough breed. Kevin Joyce is an example why I still tend to vote Democrat -locally. Kevin Joyce takes a hard look at the issues that face our community and votes his heart and well-tuned mind in the best interests of the people who vote for him.

I voted for one Republican in last thirty years, John McCain, and am sorry that I did so.

I get asked by some doctrinaire Republicans and Democrats why I remain a Democrat, given my social conservative views and the gimlet eye that I cast on the leadership of the publicly funded PACS that masquerade as Labor ( SEIU, Teachers Unions & etc.). I can vote for a Republican like Rep. Jim Durkin ( Western Springs) or the only real talent in the Illinois Republican field , Dan Proft. These are men.

Twelve ninnies of the GOP betrayed the taxpayers and children of Illinois - the Twelve Apostles of PACs- Brady, Brauer, Cavaletto, Cole, Eddy, Kosel, Mathias, Bill Mitchell, Jerry Mitchell, Moffitt, Mulligan, Pihos, Poe, Pritchard, Ramey, Reboletti, Reis, Rose, Sacia, Saviano, Tracy, Watson

These goofs do rise the level of arch-rodent - they are mice. They are enthralled to the PACS - Planned Parenthood, SEIU and all the rest.

Learn from Kevin Joyce and grow a metaphorical pair.

"Think back to why you ran for office," said sponsoring Rep. Kevin Joyce, D-Chicago. "Was it for a pension? I doubt it. Was it to protect the leadership of a union? I doubt that. Actually in all cases, I believe each and every one of us here got involved to try and make a difference in the lives of our fellow man."

The Twelve GOP Mice ? Save your parsing and the compelling narratives for WTTW fanny smoochers and editorial board mopes.

I am proud of State Senator James Meeks and Representative Kevin Joyce. They are why I remain a Democrat - locally.



http://www.cdobs.com/

Will it be McKenna/Proft for the top of the Illinois GOP?

The Illinois field in the race for Governor is getting more applicants than American Idol. I'm no Randy Jackson, much less Ellen, but I like what I see.

Dan Proft is the only candidate with any real ideas - especially about education and how to get genuine ( Vouchers!)reform to our public schools -but Dan has fewer nickels in his jeans than your humble correspondent at the end of the pay cycle. Dan Proft welcomed one of the nicest guys in civic and public life into the hooley - Andy McKenna, Jr.

I met Andy McKenna years ago, when he served on a school board of directors. Mr. McKenna is tough, sharp, no-nonsense, good humored and as chatty as Speaker Mike Madigan. Andy McKenna operates on consensus, but does not dither. He will strike boldly.

Dan Proft grabs large issues and Gigantic political opposition by the belt, pulls the fight in close, tosses his forehead into the chest and pounds the short ribs until the bigger foe can no longer breathe - no breathe/no fight.

Yesterday, the sweet-natured but tough gutted Andy McKenna got a taste of Proft from the bell:



"We can nominate a candidate beholden to a small group of affluent political insiders who give money to both parties. They win when Republicans get elected; they win when Democrats get elected. Either way, you lose.

"Or we can nominate a candidate willing to take the fight to the establishment politicians of both parties, those who are concerned only with peddling influence and dividing up other people’s money.

"I am the only candidate willing to make a clean break from our ignominious past; to hold cynical Chicago Democrats and complicit Republicans accountable for what has happened on their watch; and to chart a future focused on expanding opportunity for people who play by the rules in Illinois.

"The McKenna family has donated thousands of dollars to Chicago Democrats, including Mike Madigan, Lisa Madigan, Dan Hynes, and Dick Durbin. They have also donated thousands of dollars to Republicans and the Illinois Republican Party.
"They hedge their bets, because they are interested in self-preservation. Mr. McKenna has taken indicted Springfield powerbroker Bill Cellini’s infamous ethos to heart, ‘When we're in, we're in, and when you're in, we're in. We're always in.’

"Who’s the ‘we’? I suggest you ask Andy McKenna. But the ‘we’ sure doesn’t include rank-and-file Republican primary voters.

"We have been down this road so many times as a party. Every time we allow the bipartisan combine to select our candidates, we run into a dead end. We cannot make the same mistake again if we want to not only win elections, but also bring about the system-change reform required to make Illinois economically viable. We cannot hope to un-fix Illinois before we un-fix our own party.

"As State Senator Matt Murphy, the other half of ‘Team Status Quo,’ said just a few weeks ago, ‘People are looking for a new face to take us in a new direction, especially on the Republican side…They want to see somebody who can represent a clean break from the past.’

"Sen. Murphy is right. And that is why Andy McKenna is absolutely the wrong candidate to lead our party and lead this state."

Ding!

I got a feeling here at ringside that we are going to see Dan Proft hammer away at Andy's short ribs round after round.

Now, here's the deal. If Jim Tyree had Andy's money and access to money, he'd toss his coin away. The dough is the stuff that keeps Ow-ees, cuts bruises and bumps from doing too much damage. Unlike Tomato-Candidates, Andy McKenna can devalue time and go round after round with Dan Proft. More importantly, Andy McKenna has a crowd of talented folks in his corner - he has an organization - troops. Andy McKenna has a Notre Dame sense of the field. Yet again and unlike Charlie Weiss, Dan Proft can read a clock and knows that what moves the arms on the tick-tock is the Dough Ray Me!

This just might be the GOP's year - Gov. Quinn got the backing of the Cook County Democratic Leadership, an endorsement from the Purple People Eaters of SEIU and is in a pillow fight with Dan Hynes. That should be gravy for the GOP and Dan Proft just might be the guy to keep them focused and keep the GOP from blowing their toes off - as is their wont. Dog! Yo! - make sure that Judy is out grabbing a smoke during the bouts, Dan.

This brawl might end up with Andy McKenna getting the big belt for Governor. I expect to see Dan Proft holding up Andy McKenna's arm with one hand and swinging the other one like a saloon door on payday in the role of Lt. Governor. This will be Dempsey v.Tunney *1926 all over.

Dan Proft will propbably come over to my 'Hood and flatten my tires for saying that: I would expect no less from a guy who is in the race to win. Andy, Proft can do the hard hitting.


*In his autobiography, Dempsey conceded that he forgot all about the rule: "It's hard to stop what you're doing, standing over a guy and waiting for him to get up."

Tunney, who floored Dempsey briefly in the ninth round, won the 10-round fight and retained the title he had won from Dempsey the year earlier.

Are They, Whoever They Happen to Be, Afraid of Dan Proft? Yep. If Not, Why Do They Seem To Be?

Last weekend, The Belleville Democrat News laid out a great scratch sheet for the February Gubernatorial Primaries. In that menu of candidates, the paper presented the touted Democratic and Republican ‘front-runners’ as Governor Quinn, naturalment, Comptroller Hynes for the Democrats and Republican State Senators Brady, Dillard and Murphy.

Far down the line is Dan Proft of Wheaton – a citizen activist and news commentator. Quinn and Hynes are in a pillow fight for the Primary and have staked out positions on just how much more taxes will be heaped upon the backs of Illinois voters and citizens. Brady, Dillard and Murphy seem to angling for the position to be the candidate to dangle a reason for people to cast Democratic votes for Governor in the General Election. Each GOP Senator/Candidate appears to be following the Mark Kirk Brand of Illinois GOP White Flag hoopla with all of the vim, vigor and vitality of the Italian Army in Libya in 1943.

Then early this week Eric Zorn decided to go "birther" - a dodge by Progressives while screwing the pooch on all matters to change the subject - on Dan Proft and Proft would have none of it. Click my post title for the pencil neck geek demographic's morsel of derrision.

Since July, Dan Proft’s Campaign has stung the tender rumps of Illinois’s most Progressive columnists, editorial boards and mouth-organs like SEIU’s Progress Illinois and Arianna Huffington’s Chicago Huff Po – an absolute howl of sheet. Dan Proft has Progressive Tit-Mice screaming like drunks at closing time. I like that. Dan Proft’s positions are not Progressive. Progressive Positions gave us the Cook County Board Punch and Judy Show and Blago’s Travelling Snake Oil Tour. Programs developed by policy wonks like Ralph Martire and other 501©3 Systemic Change Fountainheads have placed Illinois in a financial jackpot unseen since 1839, when Illinois Auditor General (Comptroller) James J. Shields* saved Illinois from bankruptcy.

I am a Democrat. I voted for John McCain in the Presidential election of 2008, because Barack Obama did not seem to be any where near prepared to be President and was surrounded by the 501©3 Larded Progressives of Illinois, who disdain precinct captain, door-to-door Ward level politics to the Tsunami Sweep of Program Padded and PAC foot-soldiered crowds of shouters who play the lazy and willing Illinois Media. Eric Zorn do what he do. Lawd Ha' Mercy!

I’m an anti-Abortion, School Choice (Vouchers), Pro-Real (Skilled Trades Union) Labor, Law and Order Democrat of the 3rd Congressional District, 23rd Precinct of the 19th Ward Variety Democrat. I have spent most of my career in education in Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.
Dan Proft is running for Governor as a Republican, but he speaks to Democrats on issues that most affect them – on taxes, School Choice, Abortion, and cutting the Illinois budget.
Here are the candidates for Governor as listed by the Belleville Democrat News in Brian Brueggemann’s fine piece:

Democrat:
Pat Quinn: He became governor in January, after Gov. Rod Blagojevich's ouster. He had served as lieutenant governor since 2003. He previously served as state treasurer, beginning in 1990. He's a lawyer from Chicago.
Dan Hynes: He's serving his third term as state comptroller. Says his tenure has focused on "consumer and taxpayer advocacy, government accountability and long-term budget reform." He's an attorney from Chicago.
Jack D. Franks: He's a state representative from Marengo who was first elected in 1998. He said recently that he's not yet decided on whether to run for governor.
Republican:
Bill Brady: Brady's a state senator from Bloomington who joined the Senate in 2002. He previously served in the Illinois House, from 1993-2000. He's a businessman who has been involved in home construction, real estate development and property management.
Kirk Dillard: Dillard, of Hinsdale, has been a state senator since 1994. He previously served as chief of staff for former Gov. Jim Edgar and has served on the Illinois Court of Claims.
Matt Murphy: He's been a state senator since 2006. Murphy says the state needs to reduce corporate income tax to attract businesses and jobs. He's a lawyer from Palatine.
Bob Schillerstrom: Has served as DuPage County Board chairman since 1998. Boasts that he's cut property taxes in that county seven of the past 10 years. He's a lawyer and resides in Naperville.
Dan Proft: A Wheaton resident, Proft is a political commentator and consultant who has worked on numerous candidates' campaigns.
Adam Andrzejewski: It's pronounced And-jee-ef-skee. He's a businessman from Hinsdale who started a phone book company, then established an organization that promotes transparency in government by encouraging government bodies to post their checkbooks online.
Frank Edwards: Edwards has been a Springfield City Council member since 2002. He previously served as the city's fire chief and owns an automotive shop.
Constitution:
Randy Stufflebeam: Stufflebeam is a retired U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who resides in Belleville. He says both of the established parties have managed to produce a string of corrupt governors for Illinois, and that it's "time for something different." He has served as the state chairman of the Constitution Party.
Green:
Rich Whitney: Whitney is a lawyer from Carbondale. He was a member of the Socialist Labor Party from 1975 to 1993, but has since rejected socialism. He proposes increasing the income tax for wealthier people and favors a single-payer health care system. His memberships include: American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace, and Illinois Coalition for Peace, Justice and the Environment.
Independent:
Michael White: He's a Gulf War veteran from Lindenhurst who is retired from the military, having served 22 years combined in the Illinois National Guard, U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves. He's a manager for a speech therapy clinic.

Dan Proft has no friend in Planned Parenthood which owns a hunk of most Illinois Democrats –Sen. Durbin, Gov. Quinn, and Comptroller Hynes. Dan Proft has no friend in the Illinois Education Lobby (Teachers Unions & Program Larded Industries) and has not only called for the creation of more Charter Schools but continues to advocate vouchers – Real School Choice – for all Illinois families. Dan Proft has no friends among the tax-salaried PACS like SEIU that spend millions on buying candidates, but not nickel one on vocational training for the rank and file, but ensure that an SEIU member remains a low-paid serf for life. Real Labor (The Skilled Trades) provides the path to the American Middle Class, which Andy Stern’s SEIU is hell-bent on destroying ASAP.
Dan Proft has no friend in the editorial board grandees who take policy dictates from Planned Parenthood, The Education Lobby, and SEIU. So far I am more than friendly to Dan Proft’s positions on most things. There are more than a few Democrats in the 3rd Congressional District like-minded in voter affection. Dan Proft has made a great beginning toward February and more than a few friends.
*In 1839, Douglas helped Shields gain appointment to the post of Illinois state auditor. Shields insisted that debtors pay the state's bank the face value on money they owed it and not the devalued price. This stance angered Lincoln and the Whigs, but saved Illinois from economic ruin.

http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/jshields.html

What the GOP Needs to Do!

Wait. Chill. Chow Down. Cracka Rack. Dip the Line! Q. Quaff. Chill!

Forget the Special Election - 1. Senator Burris is Just That - Senator 2. The Governor Appoints Vacancies - Gov. Quinn, Appoint a Republican!

There is a great deal of talk about replacing Senator Burris only a score so of days into his appointed term of office. My pal John Rubery, Illinois' Marathon Pundit with a National reputation for insight and raising poignant political issues to the fore, wants a Special Election:

Sheesh. The people of our state could have been spared this. Forgive me for repeating myself, but since the mainstream media isn't doing it's job, I have to yell this out again: After Rod Blagojevich was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat, Durbin called for a special election to decide Obama's replacement. But Durbin, who at first not want to spare the people of Illinois this mess, was more concerned about keeping this seat in Democratic hands. So Durbin the coward flip-flopped. It's sickening.
Burris: Resign now.

And we want a special election!

Hold on there, Rubes. 'We' as in the Roland Burris-Papal We - could do without it. We - that's me. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold* agrees,'The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators. They should have the same power in the case of unexpected mid term vacancies, so that the Senate is as responsive as possible to the will of the people. I plan to introduce a constitutional amendment this week to require special elections when a Senate seat is vacant, as the Constitution mandates for the House, and as my own state of Wisconsin already requires by statute. As the Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee, I will hold a hearing on this important topic soon.'




We do not need a Special Election. Illinois Constitution holds that the power to appoint vacancies in office lies with the Governor.Adopted by Constitutional Convention September 3, 1970 Ratified by vote of the People December 15, 1970 and
became effective upon Admission July 1, 1971. Sorry guys. That is the Constitution.

Now, lawyers might think otherwise - I am sure. Roland Burris was Illinois' Top Lawyer for Years and I do believe that he will sit on the 'Golden Thing' - the U.S. Senate Seat until his term runs out. Why not? He should. It is his right and it is legal.

Now, Governor Quinn painted over Blago's name all over the State Tollway System. Fine. Now, if and when Sen. Burris decides to resign ( as if!), Governor Quinn, the Breath of Fresh Air in Illinois, should appoint a Republican.

He would be an example to our nation and a Governor of Illinois. We have not had one in about eight years, or so.


*http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/fill-senate-vacancies-by-elections-not-gubernatorial-appointments/

James Joyner Challenges the Right - Start Thinking!

Cop pulls over a guy with a McCain/Palin bumper sticker on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. The Cop walks up to the McCainiac's window, 'Got any I.D.?'

The slack jawed patriot replies, ''Bou Wha'?'

Looky here, Rubes -A War Hero was beaten by a Community Activist - think about it. A man with a resume featuring decades of distinguished service to his country was beaten by a first-term, back bencher whose Illinois Senate record was distinguished by votes of 'Present' - think about it. A grassroots army of unemployed and unemployable voter registration clipboard artists, wiped out the broad GOP coalition of cultural conservatives - think about it.

The conservative movement so vital in the late 1980's quit thinking when Old Dutch took the oath of office. Democrats became Liberals and Republicans became real Americans.

The Democratic Party is thick with patriots and thinkers. The GOP is thick with Air-waves loudmouths and snotty snipers.

James Joyner is calling on conservatives -not GOP swan-singers, or Democrats to think.

Part of the reason I’m drawn to the center-left blogs, including those cited above, Kevin Drum, Steve Benen, and others despite disagreeing with them while finding it increasingly difficult to find center-right blogs worth my time is that the former are much more likely to get beyond the debates of the 1980 election. There’s almost no serious analysis of health care reform, urban planning, education, and many other issues that regularly crop up on the best lefty blogs on their conservative counterparts. If we read about those issues at all, they’re framed as if Ronald Reagan were still aspiring to high office: Say No to socialism! Abolish the Department of Education! Government IS the problem!

While traditionalist grand theory is still valuable and worth discussion, it doesn’t work as a blanket response to micro-level issues. And defining conservatism solely by “What would Reagan do?” is a political non-starter in a world that simply looks much different than in did twenty-eight years ago. It would be as if Reagan constantly droned on about the evils of Harry Truman. Time marches on. Debates must, too, in order to be interesting.

So, where are the right-of-center counterparts to Yglesias, Klein, and company? Perhaps the ever-moving James Poulus (now with a mixed bag of co-bloggers)? Pejman Yousefzadeh, perhaps, but his writings are not handily consolidated. All the others who come to mind are my age or older.

Good thinking, Mr. Joyner. Get to thinking.

John McCain: Hero v. Illinois Same-Old/Same Old GOP - the Folks that Imported Nutty Al Keyes!

This is Mr. Roland Vanderwagon of Nice Streets Terrace, Wasp Hollow SubDivision, Unincorporated Lake/Du Page County - He Has a Cordial Hatred of John McCain and all of His Straight Talk!


This is pretty much the rest of us.












I love the boys and girls at Illinois Review! John, Frannie, Mark, and especially George ! Shoot, a Democrat gets treated better by these folks than on the snarling, humorless Daily Kos wannbee sites here in Illinois.

They provide the editorial and feature ground work for the Progressive Tin-Foil Hat whinners at Illinois Reason - or as I call it No Comment Alley View: If Robin Vagicill or whatever his name is - did not prompt his sock puppets, no one would read that Blog but me - it's amusing and like watching little kids play Ghost and Super Hero: dead serious but harmless.

John McCain still faces an uphill battle against GOP (I AM THE REAL CONSERVATIVE)establishment.

Today my buddy John Ruskin posts a fair question as to John McCain's stand on Tax Cuts - well, kinda fair as John pulled out McCain's response from 2000. Click my post title for the Illinois Review post.

John McCain is a leader who brings together all Americans. My daughter is a McCain delegate - Irish Princess college girl to be sure - and so is Thomas Hayes. Tommy Hayes is an African American Pro Boxer/ Chicago Police Department Candidate - same age as Nora, of the Not-Two-Nickles to Rub Together Hickeys.

Here is my response to What Kind of John McCain will we get - raised by Pal Ruskin:
Brother Ruskin,

This is the John McCain I have come to know and love: ( from Blogs for McCain)

McCain introduced "a slew of cost-cutting amendments. While many of these measures did not pass, they served an important role in shining a glaring light on congressional profligacy. These amendments include:

A 2006 amendment to cut $74.5 million for various agriculture programs[17] A 2006 amendment to cut $6 million for sugarcane growers in Hawaii[18] A 2003 amendment to reduce funding for the Yazoo Basin Backwater Pump Project in Mississippi[19] A 2002 amendment to eliminate $2.5 million for coral reef mapping of the waters off the coast of Hawaii[20] A 1998 amendment to cut $78 million in projects from an emergency supplemental appropriations bill[21] A 1994 motion to kill an amendment to provide $40 million for the conversion of a New York City post office into an Amtrak train station[22]
Senator McCain has also voted against a number of pricey bills, even when most of his colleagues preferred to toe the party line.

These include:

A vote against the 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan[23] A vote against the Farm Security Bill in 2002[24] A vote against the 2005 Highway Bill, one of only four senators to object to the pork-stuffed bill[25] A vote against providing Amtrak with an extra $550 million for the fiscal year 2007[26] A vote against $2 billion in milk subsidies[27] One of fifteen senators to vote for Senator Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment transferring $223 million for the "Bridge to Nowhere" to the repair of a Louisiana bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina.[28] Senator McCain was also one of only thirteen senators to vote for an amendment by Senator Coburn to eliminate $950,000 for a parking lot for the Joslyn Art Museum in Nebraska[29] A vote for welfare reform[30]

John McCain is about governance...not politics.

In answer to your question you would get John McCain - not an empty suit; not a great former mayor; not a great actor; not a great
Preacher; not a great Blimp owner/Revolutionary . . .

. . . You'd get a great American!