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 First of all, I know it looks impossible to even say, so let's clear up that last name. It's pronounced An-gee-ef-ski. I know, I know, that means here in Illinois we could possibly go from a Governor Blagojevich to an Andrzejewski. But the difficult last name should stand as the only similarity between the two men, for Adam seems to have some ideas on how Illinois might get out of its fiscal nightmare. I interviewed him not long ago and he had some very interesting thoughts on how to fix Illinois. (adamforillinois.com/)
In fact, Andrzejewski has already made some headway in shining the sunlight of accountability on various sate and local agencies through his self-funded program -- self-funded to stay independent, he said -- dubbed "For the Good of Illinois." Andrzejewski has been at the vanguard of encouraging school boards and county governments in Illinois to put their check registries and finances on the Internet for all citizens to see. In fact, his catch phrase is "every dime online in real time."
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-By Warner Todd Huston
 I hope I have this story all wrong, I really do. But it seems that Representative Mark Kirk has signed onto an effort that could criminalize the free political speech of bloggers or anyone else that uses the Internet to communicate. Kirk, a Republican who has been making noises about running for governor of Illinois, has his name attached as a sponsor to the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act (HR 1966 IH), a bill in the House proposed by Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D, CA), that would make it a federal felony to use the Internet to cause "emotional distress" through "severe, repeated, and hostile" speech.
Why is Representative Kirk signing onto a bill constructed with such overbroad language that it could criminalize bloggers?
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 I have been saying for some time that we will have our recalcitrant Illinois Senator Roland Burris representing himself... er, I mean us... at least until 2010 and quite probably during the upcoming primaries for those seeking a full term afterward, as well. This weekend more proof to that eventual end was arranged by a room full of black ministers from Chicago.
ABC channel 7 news televised a report of Senator Burris' appearance in a church on the south side of Chicago for a laying on of ministerly hands and a defiant claim that he isn't going anywhere but right back to Washington D.C.
The black church was full of hosannas for Roland Burris as he kept race front and center by reporting that his most cherished vote thus far was for a resolution recognizing the black slaves that helped build the Capitol back in the late 1700s.
"It's a long overdue recognition for the part they played during our nation's earliest days," Burris told the congregation.
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 Captain Adam Kinzinger, 30, officer in the Air National Guard, was enjoying a night on the town in Milwaukee in May of 2007 when he saw before him a woman clutching her neck and bleeding profusely, a man with a knife standing behind her. Acting quickly, then Lt. Kinzinger subdued the man and stopped any further harm from coming to the unknown woman.
Others also came to his aid to keep the attacker subdued and still others whisked the injured woman off to a local hospital for treatment. It is reported to have taken about 100 stitches to close the wound. The attacker is in jail awaiting trial for the assault.
Immediately after the incident, Lt. Kinzinger was off to Iraq to serve his country, not to meet the woman whose life he saved until much later. In the meantime, Lt. Kinzinger won the Valley Forge Cross for Heroism for his service in Iraq among other accolades.
Then came the day when he finally met the woman he so selflessly helped on that night in Milwaukee.
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-By Warner Todd Huston
California has always been a destructive force in American politics. All too often the worst ideas from the farthest Euro-left spectrum have leaked out of the Golden State to blight the rest of America. Just one of those currently destructive ideas is the absurdly stringent fuel economy standards that California has foolishly enacted. Several western states have pegged their standards to California's and many other states are attempting to do the same. The current effort in Illinois is one of those attempts.
Illinois H.B. 422 (see .pdf of legislation), sponsored by Karen May (D, Highland Park) creates the Illinois Clean Air Act establishing new motor vehicle emission standards based on California's Low Emission Vehicle Program requirements.
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-By Warner Todd Huston
 OK, we all know how corrupt and venal the various governments in Illinois are, right? Well, let's talk about some good news in the Land of Lincoln for a change.
Republican Bob Grogan, County Auditor of DuPage County, Illinois (The populous county just to the west of Chicago's Cook County), has launched an impressive transparency in government effort on the county website. Grogan had pledged recently to "provide the citizens and taxpayers of DuPage County with timely and pertinent information regarding the operations of DuPage County Government" and it looks like he is making good on his promise.
Only one month after starting his new, elected position, Grogan has launched a section of the website where county expenditure reports can be viewed by anyone. The reports are broken down in several ways; by department, vendor or individual project. Each report has a search feature and Grogan's office will be updating the reports monthly.
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