Pity me: I have two goofs representing me in Springfield

Twice in two days I've come across stories about the two General Assembly members who nominally represent me in Springfield. The Daily Caller reports on state Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) who wants to ban anonymous commenters on the internet.

I allow anonymous comments here--and yes, I get insulted by these people.

Anonymous political discourse has a long tradition in America, the Federalist Papers and X's The Source of Soviet Conduct come to mind.

In the lower chamber I have to suffer with Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) voting in my name. Lang wants to make permanent the 67 percent temporary income tax hike. That cash was intended to pay down Illinois' backlog of bills, but instead, that cash has gone to pay for state worker pensions. Lang and Silverstein's party has controlled Springfield for 10 years--the Democrats refuse to institute meaningful pension reform because it will alienate their union cronies.

That's why it's called ILL-inois.