|
|
By Mark Rhoads
Barack Obama believes in himself and he believes in audacity. He reminds me of the motto of the British special services which is "He who dares, wins." Who can blame Obama for having such supreme confidence in his own destiny? His family had no money or social connections, yet he managed somehow to manuever his way from a mediocre west coast college to a more prestigious eastern one to a very prestigious law school where he wound up as editor of the Law Review and graduating with honors. That alone would make a person extremely confident. But that was followed by a nearly unbelievable meteoric rise in politics from a state lawmaker of modest accomplishments and no leadership role; all the way to the U.S. Senate and the first non-caucasian President of the United States in the space of only four years.
It would be very hard for any mortal man not to let that kind of almost instant success go to his head. Until last June Obama seemed to have the political equivalent of the Midas touch for millions of his true believers many of whom looked upon him almost as a super natural savior or cult leader. Obama's inner circle did little to discourage the notion that he was super human in his post-partisan leadership skills. Only Teddy Roosevelt had a similar fast rise in American politics and Teddy did have a reputation as a hero of the Spanish-American War and had a family of wealth and social connections that Obama did not. But both men had the advantage of a worshipful news media that encouraged the myth that they could walk on water. But for Obama, reality and the gravity of American divisions and foreign challenges closed in quickly last summer as his approval ratings started to fall.
So it is very hard now for Obama to set aside his old audacity playbook that has served him so well for many years. His instinct for audacity told him to ignore the Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey and the Scott Brown Senate victory in Massachusetts to push ahead on a radical government power grab for the health industry no matter what the cost to lesser mortals in his party in Congress. It is of no importance to Obama if his allies win or not as long as he is seen to be a personal winner because that is the essence of his audacity.
If he wins his health industry takeover and he will come very close, his cult may come back to life for a short period of a few months to look down their wannabe elitist noses on middle America. Like in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, his soothsayers will spin any Democratic defeats in November as the personal failings of bad candidates and not connected in any way to the sublime hubris of Obama. But the downside of audacity is that it does not always work. An undisciplined and inexperienced person can mistake an incredible streak of good luck in timing, popportunity, and weak opponents as the call of an inevitable personal destiny that can never be derailed. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all had a common touch that appealed to ordinary citizens and that common man image helped them to build a reservoir of good will to draw against when uncontrollable events turned against them as they often do with any president. The Obama problem is that when one is seen as a super human savior, it is then hard to turn on a dime and cultivate a common-man image. Most Americans see Obama as an elitist and he seems to like that image. Also like Clinton and Newt Gingrich, he likes to lecture others as the know it all teacher in the room who has no peers. But even the youngest generation of Americans now living has some idea of how truly wise and mature leaders behave when they seek broad agreement from many perspectives and that is not and cannot be Obama's style. His obessive need to alwaya be he center of attention has driven him to being one of the most over-exposed media celebrities in history who is not in show business. But all that attention and media coverage has not improved his poll standings and in fact the opposite is the case. The more exposure he gets, the faster the novelty wears off. For the first time, the formerly worshipful news reporters, producers, and editorial writers are starting to do their jobs again and asking challenging questions of the president as they normally do in the default adversarial relationship of any administration.
The Obama cadre is already spinning his win on health care, if it happens that way, as the resurrection of a savior and more of a comeback kid story than Bill Clinton. Many media mavens will follow that spin if it happens that way but only for a month or two before details of the ultimate deals and cost of the bill leak out. If the bill does not pass, it will of course spin will be the it was the fault of incompetent Nancy Pelosi or incompetent Harry Reid but it will NEVER be the fault of Obama for over reaching. That is the downside of too much audacity even on the personal level. If you think you can do no wrong then that belief can lead not to winning audacious gambles but to humiliation due to recklessness with no thought of the consequences on others.
by Joe Calomino, AFP
Make sure your Member of Congress knows that if they vote yes on health care, you'll vote no on them.
AFP has secured over 100,000 signatures in the last 24 hours.
Go to http://novemberiscoming.com/ and send a clear message to your member of Congress.
Sign the Petition Today! Dear Member of Congress: Your vote isn't the only one that counts. November is coming and you can't hide from the voters. Corrupt backroom deals are driving a government takeover of our health care, and I don't like it. If you vote YES on the health care bill, I will vote NO on you in the next election. We ARE ALL making a difference!
The Dow Jones newsletter reported that Friday Peoria's Caterpillar wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner that the U.S. Senate's health care plan will cost their company $100 million. The obvious question is, if that's true for Caterpillar, what about other major corporations?
CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Caterpillar Inc. (CAT: 59.38, -0.39, -0.65%) said the proposed overhaul of the U.S. health-care system could increase its costs by $100 million, signaling disquiet in corporate America about the controversial plan.
The heavy-equipment maker's concerns are focused on the potential loss of subsidies to prescription drug costs it covers for retired employees.
In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio), Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan "because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees."
Illinois' industry base would be irreparably harmed if Caterpillar were forced to move out of the state and the country, due to Obamacare's mandates. More HERE.
Does history repeat itself when it comes to the economy? Stephen W. Mack, certified financial planner, will discuss the economy, specifically the investment markets, the deficit, and how they will affect one’s personal finances, at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 21 at Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., Evanston. The presentation is free and open to the public, and is being held in conjunction with “Money Smart Week,” (April 17-24.)
In his presentation, “The Four Most Dangerous Words: This Time Is Different,” Mack will speak on the U.S. economy, drawing comparisons to historic periods. He will discuss how the economy’s history foretells the future. His talk is co-sponsored by The Republican Club of Evanston and Evanston Public Library.
“The market has been standing up well to a series of surprises, but in the longer term, the bears are probably right,” Mack said. “We’re beginning to know more about whether and when we can expect another downturn in stock prices. As has been said, one thing we do know, is that even if history doesn’t repeat itself, it does echo.”
Mack is President/CEO of Mack Investment Securities in Glenview, a full-service financial management and planning firm he founded in 1986. He is regularly quoted in financial publications such as Barron’s. For 25 years, he has written and published Mack Tracks, a monthly newsletter that provides research and analysis on the economy, investment markets, and fiscal/monetary policy.
Since 2006, Mack has been registered as one of the financial advisors for The National Football League Players Association. He is also an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the primary private sector regulator of the U.S. securities industry.
Mack has been involved in the securities and investment business for nearly 30 years. He joined Merrill Lynch in 1981 as a broker, was promoted to resident manager of the Rockford office in 1984, and rose to an assistant vice president of the firm in 1985.
Before working for Merrill Lynch, Mack was general sales manager of Mack Cadillac Corporation, a family business.
Mack’s firm is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, The Securities Investors Protection Corporation, and The Financial Planning Association. A 1976 graduate of the University of Michigan, he received a Bachelor’s in Finance.
The Democratic State Central Committee will begin interviews Saturday to fill the slot on the ballot Scott Lee Cohen left when he was blasted out by party officials shortly after the February 2 primary. Downstaters are pushing for the late Paul Simon's Carbondale-residing Sheila Simon while Chicago area State Senator Susan Garrett grabbed the MSM spotlight:
"I’ve often thought that sometimes, as a legislator, you can go so far, but maybe as a constitutional officer, you might be able to have more say into how reforms are made,” Garrett told the Tribune. “In this case, you have the ear of the governor.”
Garrett, who's part of Senate President John Cullerton's top tier, has nothing to lose if she gets in the race. Before becoming a senator in 2003, she served four years in the House.
So, how has Garrett fared in the conservative United Republican Fund's legislative scorecard? In 2009, she scored a 25, in 2008 -- 17 and 2007 -- 35, with a Lifetime score of 26.
Garrett scheduled a series of four community meetings on Saturday. Ya gotta wonder when that LG interview will fit in.
Friday, the Illinois House voted to change new judges' pension plans, creating a 2-tiered crack in the service worker union's golden pension egg. Sponsored by a Democrat and blessed by the Democratic Party's state chairman, House Speaker Mike Madigan, future judges will have to work longer and get less in their pensions. Maybe those judges should have unionized or organized to give huge campaign donations to lawmakers ...
Under the plan, which passed 109-0, incoming legislators and judges would have to wait until they are 67 to draw full pension benefits. Now, they can draw full benefits as young as 55 years old.
The plan would base their pensions on 60 percent of their final salaries rather than the current 85 percent.
Annual, post-retirement, cost-of-living adjustments would be capped at half the rate of inflation or 3 percent, whichever is less. Now, retirees in the General Assembly Retirement System and Judges Retirement System get automatic 3 percent annual increases.
While the pension system should have been revamped years ago, tackling this segment of the state employees was easy. Indeed, there's no unions, no millions of campaign dollars buying lawmakers and their votes, and there's no laborers in this segment that will go out and knock on doors during the days leading up to elections.
Don't get your hopes up -- the Democrats haven't seen the light on two-tiered pensions enough to make more changes UNLESS the group of employees affected by those changes aren't politically involved, specifically AFSCME and SEIU members. Their golden eggs are safe and their pension nests remain soft and very cozy as long as the Democrats are in control.
While the Democrats say they'll be focused this Saturday and next on picking an LG replacement for the knife-wielding Scott Lee Cohen, we have to wonder if the real topic of discussion won't be what to do about Giannoulias?
Andrew Breitbart's national BigJournalism news blog asks a series of questions today -- similar to the ones we've been asking for a while on IR -- as to the Dems' pick for U.S. Senate Alexi Giannoulias, his mounting family bank problems and what's really going on ...
So, how long will it be before Alexi Giannoulias gets a call, if he hasn’t already, from his basketball friend the President and is told to remove himself from the race?
And how long after that will it be before Ms. Madigan is selected by the Illinois Democratic Party, chaired by her father, to be the replacement candidate – after not having faced opposition in a contentious primary race and with plenty of campaign money still available?
And then, how long will it take after Ms. Madigan announces her senatorial candidacy for the Machine tabs David Hoffman, former Inspector General of the City of Chicago (2005-2009) who lost to Alexi, to replace Ms. Madigan as the Democratic candidate for AG?
All as Alexi gets thrown under the bus.
If all that happens, the question that the MSM won’t think to ask is this: Was this bait-n-switch in the works from the get-go?
by Phyllis Schlafly
"Don't Mess with Texas" is a popular slogan in our most prosperous state. By a 10-to-5 margin, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) just told liberals to stop "messing" with social studies textbooks.
For years, liberals have imposed their revisionist history on our nation's public school students, expunging important facts and historic figures while loading the textbooks with liberal propaganda, distortions and cliches. It's easy to get a quick lesson in the virulent leftwing bias by checking the index and noting how textbooks treat President Ronald Reagan and Senator Joseph McCarthy.
When parents object to leftwing inclusions and omissions, claiming they should have something to say about what their own children are being taught and how their taxpayers' money is spent, they are usually vilified as "book burners" and belittled as uneducated primitives who should allow the "experts" to decide. The self-identified "experts" are alumni of liberal teachers colleges and/or members of a leftwing teachers union.
In most states, the liberal education establishment enjoys total control over the state's board of education, department of education, and curriculum committees. Texas is different; the Texas State Board of Education is elected, and the people (even including parents!) have a voice.
Texas is uniquely important in textbook content because the state of Texas is the largest single purchaser of textbooks. Publishers can hardly afford to print different versions for other states, so Texas curriculum standards have nationwide influence.
The review of social studies curriculum (covering U.S. Government, American History, World History and Economics) comes up every ten years, and 2010 is one of those years. The unelected education "experts" proposed their history revisions such as eliminating Independence Day, Christopher Columbus, Thomas Edison, Daniel Boone and Neil Armstrong, and replacing Christmas with Diwali.
After a public outcry, the SBOE responded with common-sense improvements. Thomas Edison, the world's greatest inventor, will be again included in the narrative of American History.
Schoolchildren will no longer be misled into believing that capitalism and the free market are dirty words and that America has an unjust economic system. Instead, they will learn how the free-enterprise system gave our nation and the world so much that is good for so many people.
Liberals don't like the concept of American Exceptionalism. The liberals want to teach what's wrong with America (masquerading under the code word "social justice") instead of what's right and successful. The SBOE voted to include describing how American Exceptionalism is based on values that are unique and different from those of other nations.
The SBOE specified that teaching about the Bill of Rights should include a reference to the right to keep and bear arms. Some school curricula pretend the Second Amendment doesn't exist.
Texas curriculum standards will henceforth accurately describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic" rather than as a democracy. The secularists tried to remove reference to the religious basis for the founding of America, but that was voted down.
The Texas Board rejected the anti-Christian crowd's proposal to eliminate the use of B.C. and A.D. for historic dates, as in Before Christ and Anno Domini, and replace them with B.C.E., as in Before the Common Era, and C.E.
The deceptive claim that the United States was founded on a "separation of church and state" gets the ax, and rightfully so. In fact, most of the original thirteen colonies were founded as Christian communities with much overlap between church and state.
History textbooks that deal with Joseph McCarthy will now be required to explain "how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of Communist infiltration in U.S. government." The Venona papers are authentic transcripts of some 3,000 messages between the Soviet Union and its secret agents in the United States.
Discussions of economics will not be limited to the theories of Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and Adam Smith. Textbooks must also include Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market theory.
History textbooks will now be required to cover the "unintended consequences" of Great Society legislation, affirmative action, and Title IX legislation. Textbooks should also include "the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s."
Texas textbooks will now have to mention "the importance of personal responsibility for life choices" instead of blaming society for everything and expecting government to provide remedies for all social ills.
It's no secret that the people who control public schools are at war with our nation's history, culture and achievements. Since taxpayers foot the bill, it is long overdue for a state board of education to correct many textbooks myths and lies about our magnificent national heritage and achievements.
After a public comment period, a final vote on the Texas standards is expected in May.
By Mark Rhoads
US Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Cook) attends the same parish I grew up in. Last November he posted on his web site that he voted on for the Pelosi health bill because he promised President Obama "to help keep the process moving" which I thought then and still do is a stupid reason to help a very bad bill to advance a step in the legistlative process. But Lipinski has a reputation for being pro-life and promised he would vote no on the bill if it came back from the Senate without the Stupak Amendment (the 1976 Hyde Amdendment) and I predicted Lipinski would never stand up to the pressure and he would cave in to Obama. So far, he has not caved and he still appears to stand with Stupak and the pro-life cause. But the roll call has not yet been taken. If it turns out I was wrong about Lipinski, I apologize and I am glad I was wrong.
Today a Catholic-in-name-only Nancy Pelosi said she prayed to St. Joseph to pass Obamacare. If she wants St. Joseph to help enable the deaths of unborn innocent children she is taking guile and mendacity to a new level. Former State Senator Barack Obama could have his precious crown jewel if he would only allow present law (the Hyde Amendment) to stay as the law. He said several times he would not disturb existing law on that topic. He lied repeatedly about that and his staff helped make the Cornhusker Kickback deal with Sen. Ben Nelson which included pro-abortion language. Obama wears as a badge of honor his anti-life shame. I predicted in November that Lipinski and Stupak would never see the Stupak language enforced by Attorney General Eric Holder or Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius. Hundreds of Obama staffers will always work against the right to life because that is what their boss wants to the core of his being and he cannot change.
Even as Stupak tries so hard to negotiate it is pointless because if Obamacare is defeated in total there is no need for any Stupak language since the old Henry Hyde language remains the law as long as it is renewed each year as part of the DHS budget bill.
Rally outside Rep. Melissa Bean's Office this Saturday, March 20 at noon. Bean is one of the handful of Illinois Democrats still undecided on the government takeover of healthcare. Let's keep the pressure on and urge her to vote "NO" this weekend. When: Saturday, March 20 at Noon Where: Rep. Melissa Bean's Office, 1701 E. Woodfield Road, Schaumburg, IL What to Bring: Your signs, your flags and yourselves
circulated by the Office of the Republican Leader:
NUMBERS TO KNOW:
· $569.2 billion in tax increases
· $523.5 billion in Medicare cuts
· $48 billion more for Medicaid
1. A Job-Killing Government Takeover of Health Care. No amount of changes or legislative tricks can hide the true destructive nature of this bill: $17 billion in new taxes on Americans who do not comply with the individual mandate, $52 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide health coverage deemed “acceptable” or “affordable” by government bureaucrats, and new taxes on capital gains, dividends and interest that will further stifle economic growth and job creation.
2. New Tax on Capital Formation and Job Creation. The Medicare tax on capital gains, dividends, and other investment income gets bigger, magnifying the destructive power of this new tax. The bill increases the tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent, pushing the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent and the top rate for dividends to 43.4 percent in conjunction with tax relief expiring at the end of this year. As The Wall Street Journal editorialized this week, this tax will “permanently skew the incentives to work, save and create jobs.”
3. Democrats Continue to Say ‘I Do’ To Marriage Penalty. The bill leaves in place a massive marriage penalty, which will mean higher premiums for those that tie the knot. As highlighted in January by The Wall Street Journal, “the disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance … are pegged to federal poverty guidelines.” The final bill leaves this unfair penalty on married couples in place. 4. Lower Wages and More Unemployment. The final bill imposes $52 billion in new taxes on employers, including small businesses, that cannot afford to provide health coverage or that don’t offer coverage. The effect of this type of tax, similar to a payroll tax increase, would ultimately fall squarely on workers in the form of lower wages or reduced employment. In fact, the Tax Policy Center concluded that “economists generally believe that the burden of payroll taxes is borne by workers in the form of lower wages, regardless of whether the tax is levied on the employer or the employee.” The tax proposed in this bill will likely have the same effect. 5. Employers Targeted By Even Higher Taxes to Enforce Employer Mandate. The final bill incorporated President Obama’s suggestion to rake in a little more cash to pay for a massive government-takeover of health care by nearly tripling the job-killing mandate tax on employers who do not offer health coverage to $2,000 per employee. Sure enough, the President’s suggestion raises an additional $25 billion on the backs of American employers, according to CBO. 6. Individual Mandate Tax Reduced? No, Not Really. Democrats are highlighting their generosity by lowering the amount of the tax for not complying with the mandate. But just how generous are they? Not very. Democrats propose to reduce the individual mandate tax flat payment amount by a scant 14¢ a day. And, while Democrats “reduce” the individual mandate tax flat payment amount, they actually raise $2 billion more by making other alterations to the individual mandate, according to CBO. 7. The Power to Tax Our Health Care. The Democrats’ final bill doesn’t just tax individuals and employers if they don’t comply with the complex mandates in the bill. The bill sends the IRS out to tax the very products Americans use to maintain and restore their own health. New taxes on medical devices, on prescription drugs, and on health insurance itself are all targets of the bill. And, with $10 billion in new enforcement resources, you can bet the IRS will be taking its full share out of the pockets of every American who uses any of these products or services. 8. Even More Subsidies, Even Greater Threat to the Economy. The bill increases the subsidies provided under the bill from those provided in the Senate bill by $65 billion, a significant and unsustainable increase. In fact, the Associated Press reported a warning from Massachusetts’ state treasurer, who stated that Congress will "threaten to wipe out the American economy within four years" if it adopts a health care overhaul modeled after the Bay State's. 9. Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Coverage. The final bill does not include the Stupak amendment language that would prohibit federal funds from being used to fund elective abortions. Instead, states are given the option to opt-out of providing insurance coverage of abortions. Still, taxpayers in a state that opts-out would still see their federal tax dollars fund elective abortions in other states. Additionally, each state through the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) can provide access to two multi-state plans, and only one of them will exclude abortions. OPM’s current health care program – the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) – does not include any plans that cover elective abortion. For the first time, a federally funded and managed health care plan will cover elective abortions. 10. Medicaid Rolls And Waiting Lines to Swell Even More. CBO estimates that as a result of the Democrats’ bill, one million more Americans will get their coverage from Medcaid, which is plagued with financial woes and wreaks all kinds of budgetary havoc on cash-strapped states. The Democrats’ bill, as the New York Times highlighted, will push even more Americans into a program where they will have trouble finding doctors and have to wait for potentially months to receive care. That’s not meaningful reform by any measure. BONUS: Republicans have proposed a health care bill based on common-sense reforms that, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, would reduce premiums for families and small businesses by up to 10 percent. It is not too late to start over.
by Sam Pierce
I would have never imagined I would be commending Rep. Mark Kirk (R – IL – 10), especially after he won the Republican nomination to replace Roland Burris in the U.S. Senate. The very Senate seat that was deftly used as a stepping stone by the ambitious Statist, Barack Obama is up for grabs this cycle and the two major parties have nominated candidates that truly make this a “lesser of two evils” election… or so I thought.
It appears that Mark Kirk is bucking the system and campaigning for independents! This seems strange, especially given the “if you don’t vote for Kirk, you are voting for Giannoulias, who will be with Obama and Pelosi 100% of the time instead of Mark Kirk’s 50 or 60%” weapon so furiously employed by his supporters. I am giving Congressman Kirk, the benefit of the doubt here and assume he is campaigning for independents. The alternative would be that Kirk knows Republicans and conservatives are trapped between a rock and a rino so he is campaigning against Republican values. Let’s assume that the Kirk campaign is not that diabolical and give them kudos for their support of independents!
It is indeed refreshing to witness a a major candidate reach out to his lesser known opponents and offer support. In the spirit of candidate Kirk’s recent campaign pieces which extol the virtues of opposing Republicans, here is a list of the independent and third party candidates who are either running or considering a run for the same Senate seat:
Robert Zadek (Independent)
Alton Franklin (Independent)
Randy Stufflebeam (Constitution Party)
Mike Labno (Libertarian Party)
LeAlan Jones (Green Party)
From politics1.com:
John Blyth (Independent)
Will Boyd Jr. (Independent)
Michael Dorsey (Independent)
Stan Jagla (Independent)
Eric Wallace (Independent)
I do hope these gentlemen appreciate the unusual gesture being proffered by a major candidate. This is a year when so many are disgusted by the actions of the political elites in both parties. This is a time when, although the arguments against the viability of independent and third party candidates still fly fast and furious, regular people seem to be thirsting for actual representation as opposed to those who aspire to nothing more than their next higher elected office. Congratulations Mark Kirk… your suggestions that independents deserve a look is truly magnanimous!
I suppose there is another possibility. Can the winner of one party’s primary, change his mind and run as an independent? Is that what Mark Kirk is doing, running as an independent? If so let’s get busy picking a Republican (perhaps a real Republican this time) to challenge him, Alexi, the Green Party candidate, the Constitution Party nominee, the Libertarian Party nominee, and the other independents this November!
Originally posted 3/17/10 at Grizzly Groundswell
As the U.S. House races towards a vote on Obamacare, Illinoisans in five congressional districts are watching closely how their Democratic House members will be voting -- with or against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate President Harry Reid? U.S. Reps Melissa Bean (8 CD), Bill Foster (14 CD), Debbie Halvorson (11 CD) and Phil Hare (17 CD) could be vulnerable in November, a We Ask America poll shows.
Right now, We Ask America shows GOP challenger Adam Kinzinger leading by 12 points over Debbie Halvorson and GOP challenger State Senate Randy Hultgren slightly over Bill Foster. Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh is within striking range of Melissa Bean and yet-unknown downstate Bobby Schilling is within 8 points of Phil Hare.
In Mark Kirk's open seat, right now GOP challenger Bob Dold is slightly behind 3-time Democrat candidate Dan Seals.
More HERE.
The Champaign County Board passed redistricting reform last night, and WDWS is reporting on it, but I can't find anything about it online other than twitter. This is from the NG's Tom Kacich on twitter:
Champaign County Board approves independent redistricting commission, 16-9. Believed to be first by a county in nation. TV "news" a no show.
If anyone knows any more or has any details, please let me know, and post it in the comments.
UPDATE: The NG has a story, but won't publish it online, and nobody else on the internet has covered this. Kevin Sandefur was kind enough to email me the County Board resolution, along with this explanation:
There were a couple of very minor clarifying changes in wording before passage, none of which involved substantive change. Still, this is not the exact final wording that was passed, and that should be made clear.
I don't understand why the NG makes decisions like this, that some stories are internet worthy and some aren't. They're just crippling their own online news operations. Regardless, perhaps if IP.com readers and commenters will share their experience and expertise, we can fill in the gaps.
In a letter dated March 10, Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno urged IL GOP State Party Chairman Pat Brady to take up party rule reform as it relates to the election of the party's State Central Committee. Cross et al suggest the party's grassroots - precinct committeemen -- are being ignored in the selection process:
H/T Adam Andrzejewski's Facebook Page
The Kirk for U.S. Senate campaign responds ...
Northbrook, Ill. - The Kirk for Senate campaign released the following statement regarding today's Weekly Standard report that Alexi Giannoulias and his family refinanced their real estate portfolio in 2007 using a French bank with significant ties to Iran's energy sector:
"Once again, Alexi Giannoulias demonstrates a pattern of reckless decisions and questionable relationships,” campaign spokesman Richard Goldberg said. “Alexi Giannoulias pushed risky ‘hot money’ lending schemes at Broadway Bank and loaned millions of dollars to organized crime figures like Michael ‘Jaws’ Giorango. Now it appears Mr. Giannoulias’ family real estate portfolio is financed by a French bank known for its investments in Iran’s energy sector and connections to Iran's Central Bank. As a Senate candidate, Alexi Giannoulias says he supports divestment from companies doing business with Iran's energy sector; the State Treasurer should do the same with his personal finances.” On his campaign website, Alexi GIannoulias writes: "The U.S. government should publish a verified list of all companies doing business with the Revolutionary Guard and Iran’s energy sector so that Americans can make informed decisions about their investments."
From today's Weekly Standard ...
Alexi Giannoulias is no stranger to controversial business relationships: As chief loan officer at his family’s Broadway Bank, the Illinois Democrat running for President Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat authorized loans to convicted organized crime leaders like Michael “Jaws” Giorango (a pimp and bookmaker) and Demitri Stavropoulos (an illegal gambling operator). Giannoulias also serviced loans for convicted felon Tony Rezko.
And, just last week, a Chicago businessman who contributed $115,000 to Giannoulias’s campaign and received millions in loans from Broadway Bank was arrested on bank fraud charges as he attempted to flee the country.
Giannoulias, currently the state treasurer of Illinois, has some disturbing, if indirect, business connections to Iran.
More HERE.
On March 27th, the Illinois Democratic Party's committeemen will meet to decide who will run with Pat Quinn as the party's lieutenant governor candidate for 2010. Scott Lee Cohen, the primary winner, stepped down due to party leader pressure when it was found Cohen had been alleged domestic violence issues and questionable financial dealings.
House Speaker Mike Madigan is also the Democrats' state party chairman. He's trying to eliminate the LG spot altogether, but until then, King Mike will ultimately decide who will team up with Quinn. Madigan's the party despot that specializes in making a bad scenario turn out well for his own good.
|
|
|
|
| There are currently 7 users and 64 guests online. |
|
