From John Patterson of the Daily Herald:
SPRINGFIELD - Perhaps the biggest political debate at the Capitol this year focuses on an extremely boring topic - pension payments.
Quick, before your eyes glaze over, think of school kids, paychecks, and poor, disabled or old people needing health care.
How much money the state has for them, and if and when it takes a bigger bite of your salary, may well depend on how lawmakers handle the irksome topic of pensions for thousands of past, present and future government workers. Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to endorse several key changes designed to save millions when he unveils his state budget plan Wednesday.
Exactly how Blagojevich and lawmakers handle the issue holds the key to not only this year's budget but every budget for the foreseeable future.
For perspective, consider a year-old child crawling around on the floor today. Fast forward 40 years and that now-41-year-old adult is among the Illinois taxpayers who, if nothing changes, will collectively shell out $15 billion to cover the 2045 pension payment because past politicians ignored pension contributions and spent the money elsewhere.
"We're damning our grandkids," said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat.
The whole article is here. http://www.dailyherald.com/news_story.asp?intid=3839652
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
Culture of Sleaze, Springfield Style
Joe Birkett, DuPage County State's Atty and potential GOP candidate for governor, is calling on Governor Rod Blagojevich to joinMayor Daley in banning state contractors from donating to his campaign funds. Always the cautious politician, Blagojevich is "considering it." The CBS 2 Chicago site has the entire story.
One sad but accurate quote from Birkett:
“We're a national disgrace, because we're known not as the State of Lincoln and Reagan now. We're known as the Land of Corruption,” Birkett said."
One sad but accurate quote from Birkett:
“We're a national disgrace, because we're known not as the State of Lincoln and Reagan now. We're known as the Land of Corruption,” Birkett said."
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Chicago culture of sleaze (and worse) runs in the family
As I type this, on the front page of the Internet edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, there is an article about John "Quarters" Boyle, who despite being convicted of stealing over $4 million in tollway change in the 1990s, still manages to hold a City of Chicago job. This guy couldn't pass a background check to work at Target or Wal-Mart.
Always busy, "Quarters" has apparently has been shaking down private trucking firms for political contributions. Yes, the Hired Truck Scandal continues to grow. Read about that here.
Meanwhile, also on that same front page is a story about Chicago Fire Department Lieutenant, Jeffrey Boyle was arrested yesterday for setting fires on Chicago's far northwest side and in the suburb of Park Ridge. Coincidentally, in the neighborhood where I work!!
John and Jeffrey are brothers. Read about the firefighter by day/arsonist at night here.
Only in Chicago.
Always busy, "Quarters" has apparently has been shaking down private trucking firms for political contributions. Yes, the Hired Truck Scandal continues to grow. Read about that here.
Meanwhile, also on that same front page is a story about Chicago Fire Department Lieutenant, Jeffrey Boyle was arrested yesterday for setting fires on Chicago's far northwest side and in the suburb of Park Ridge. Coincidentally, in the neighborhood where I work!!
John and Jeffrey are brothers. Read about the firefighter by day/arsonist at night here.
Only in Chicago.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Sun-Times Michael Sneed Caught Peddling Stale News (Again)
This is the second time this year Eric Zorn has caught Michael Sneed hawking news "scoops." A knowledgeable source has told me Sneed has been doing this four years, but the new media is not letting her get away with it:
From Eric Zorn's renovated blog:
BE LIKE MIKE (SNEED)
Today's lesson from the Michael Sneed Famous Columnists School:
WRONG: Daily Herald columnist Erik Krol’s column last Friday, “Schillerstrom is likely to skip statewide run in 2006,” concludes that DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom’s statements make it highly doubtful that he will enter the GOP gubernatorial primary.
RIGHT: Tipsville . . . Sneed hears DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom will not run for statewide office in 2006…
From Eric Zorn's renovated blog:
BE LIKE MIKE (SNEED)
Today's lesson from the Michael Sneed Famous Columnists School:
WRONG: Daily Herald columnist Erik Krol’s column last Friday, “Schillerstrom is likely to skip statewide run in 2006,” concludes that DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom’s statements make it highly doubtful that he will enter the GOP gubernatorial primary.
RIGHT: Tipsville . . . Sneed hears DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom will not run for statewide office in 2006…
Bush's Popularity Jumps
From Newsmax:
President Bush's popularity ratings have climbed to their highest level in a year, mostly due to the successful elections in Iraq and optimism stemming from the president's State of the Union address.
According to a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll, Bush's job approval stands at 57 percent, the highest since January 2004, after U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein.
The new numbers are definitely an improvement from the election season, said The Washington Times, which noted that Bush "had the worst job-approval numbers of any re-elected president since World War II."
Gallup showed the president with only a 48 percent job approval rating, coupled with a Time magazine poll showing only 49 percent.
Now, however, the president's popularity has rebounded, as has the public's opinion of his actions and goals.
In fact, according to USA Today, "majorities now say that going to war in Iraq was not a mistake, that things are going well there and that it's likely democracy will be established in Iraq."
Read more here.
President Bush's popularity ratings have climbed to their highest level in a year, mostly due to the successful elections in Iraq and optimism stemming from the president's State of the Union address.
According to a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll, Bush's job approval stands at 57 percent, the highest since January 2004, after U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein.
The new numbers are definitely an improvement from the election season, said The Washington Times, which noted that Bush "had the worst job-approval numbers of any re-elected president since World War II."
Gallup showed the president with only a 48 percent job approval rating, coupled with a Time magazine poll showing only 49 percent.
Now, however, the president's popularity has rebounded, as has the public's opinion of his actions and goals.
In fact, according to USA Today, "majorities now say that going to war in Iraq was not a mistake, that things are going well there and that it's likely democracy will be established in Iraq."
Read more here.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Birkett weighing run for governor
Joe ran a good race for Illinois AG three years ago....
Birkett weighing run for governor
By Eric Krol Daily Herald Political Writer
Posted Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Joe BirkettDuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett is exploring a bid for governor, focusing his political aspirations on the state's top elected office instead of a rematch for attorney general.While the 49-year-old, three-term Republican from Wheaton won't make up his mind until mid-summer, Birkett said the thrust of a campaign would be cleaning up a state government in which Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich "has festered the pay-to-play culture."
"The governor inherited the office from George Ryan and said he was going to change the way we do business in Springfield, and he's made a mockery of that promise," Birkett told the Daily Herald Monday in an informal announcement of his exploratory bid. "He's raising money at a record pace. He's outpacing George Ryan. There's no question this state is hungry for new leadership."
Blagojevich campaign spokesman Pete Giangreco declined to engage in a war of words.
"The governor hasn't declared for re-election yet," he said. "If (Blagojevich) does run, we'll look forward to exchanging ideas with whoever the (Republican) nominee is."
Blagojevich, who has $11 million in his campaign fund, has taken his ethical lumps lately. His father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Dick Mell, claimed and then recanted allegations that appointments were being traded for campaign contributions. State and Cook County authorities are probing nonetheless.
Read more here.
Birkett weighing run for governor
By Eric Krol Daily Herald Political Writer
Posted Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Joe BirkettDuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett is exploring a bid for governor, focusing his political aspirations on the state's top elected office instead of a rematch for attorney general.While the 49-year-old, three-term Republican from Wheaton won't make up his mind until mid-summer, Birkett said the thrust of a campaign would be cleaning up a state government in which Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich "has festered the pay-to-play culture."
"The governor inherited the office from George Ryan and said he was going to change the way we do business in Springfield, and he's made a mockery of that promise," Birkett told the Daily Herald Monday in an informal announcement of his exploratory bid. "He's raising money at a record pace. He's outpacing George Ryan. There's no question this state is hungry for new leadership."
Blagojevich campaign spokesman Pete Giangreco declined to engage in a war of words.
"The governor hasn't declared for re-election yet," he said. "If (Blagojevich) does run, we'll look forward to exchanging ideas with whoever the (Republican) nominee is."
Blagojevich, who has $11 million in his campaign fund, has taken his ethical lumps lately. His father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Dick Mell, claimed and then recanted allegations that appointments were being traded for campaign contributions. State and Cook County authorities are probing nonetheless.
Read more here.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Chris Matthews: What Eason Jordan story?
From the National Review's "TKS," formerly "The Kerry Spot" column:
EASON JORDAN, CHRIS MATTHEWS, HUGH HEWITT, AND INFORMATION NETWORKS [02/07 09:54 AM]
Hugh Hewitt was on the Chris Matthews Show on Sunday. During the “tell me something I don’t know,” section of the show, Hugh brought up the Eason Jordan comments:
CM: Hugh?
HH: Senior CNN News Executive Eason Jordan at Davos last week accused the American military of targeting journalists and killing 12 of them, repeating the same assertion that he had made earlier in Portugal a month — that American military had tortured journalists. This has become a huge story on the internet and the new media, it broke through in The Washington Times on Friday, it will break in the major media over the weekend —
CM: He blames US officials for trying to kill Americans?
HH: American military targeted 12 journalists and killed them. Big story next week.
CM: I think you've beaten the band, Hugh.
Fascinatingly, from this exchange it seems clear that Chris Matthews hasn’t heard anything about this story.
More here: http://www.nationalreview.com/tks/tks.asp
EASON JORDAN, CHRIS MATTHEWS, HUGH HEWITT, AND INFORMATION NETWORKS [02/07 09:54 AM]
Hugh Hewitt was on the Chris Matthews Show on Sunday. During the “tell me something I don’t know,” section of the show, Hugh brought up the Eason Jordan comments:
CM: Hugh?
HH: Senior CNN News Executive Eason Jordan at Davos last week accused the American military of targeting journalists and killing 12 of them, repeating the same assertion that he had made earlier in Portugal a month — that American military had tortured journalists. This has become a huge story on the internet and the new media, it broke through in The Washington Times on Friday, it will break in the major media over the weekend —
CM: He blames US officials for trying to kill Americans?
HH: American military targeted 12 journalists and killed them. Big story next week.
CM: I think you've beaten the band, Hugh.
Fascinatingly, from this exchange it seems clear that Chris Matthews hasn’t heard anything about this story.
More here: http://www.nationalreview.com/tks/tks.asp
Friday, February 04, 2005
Al Sharpton Calls for KFC Ban
Al hasn't been in the press recently, so this gets him back in the game...
From Yahoo!
Sharpton is urging the black community to join the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' boycott of the franchise, the animal protection group announced Thursday.
"If KFC wants to take our money and use it to pay for sloppy practices that hurt animals, I say we send them a message that this is not going to happen," Sharpton says in the ad.
Sharpton and PETA are seeking improvements to KFC's practices regarding the defeathering and debeaking of chickens, as well as a halt to using growth-promoting drugs. Last June, PETA recorded footage of the mistreatment of birds at a KFC supplier in West Virginia.
From Yahoo!
Sharpton is urging the black community to join the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' boycott of the franchise, the animal protection group announced Thursday.
"If KFC wants to take our money and use it to pay for sloppy practices that hurt animals, I say we send them a message that this is not going to happen," Sharpton says in the ad.
Sharpton and PETA are seeking improvements to KFC's practices regarding the defeathering and debeaking of chickens, as well as a halt to using growth-promoting drugs. Last June, PETA recorded footage of the mistreatment of birds at a KFC supplier in West Virginia.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Big Story in Blog-land--But ignored by the Mainstream Media
This excellent scoop is from Forumblog, The World Economic Forum Weblog:
"During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others. "
The whole blog entry is here.
Eason Jordan, to be fair, did backpedal a bit. But he did not retract his statement.
HOWEVER, I discovered on Free Republic.com that Eason Jordan is the same CNN executive who said he withheld reports of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq so he could keep the CNN Baghad bureau open and have the ability to interview the since-ousted thugs and killers from the Baathist regime.
This article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review nicely sums it up.
Very little (so far) about this in the mainstream media. Do a Yahoo! News search, you'll see.
"During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others. "
The whole blog entry is here.
Eason Jordan, to be fair, did backpedal a bit. But he did not retract his statement.
HOWEVER, I discovered on Free Republic.com that Eason Jordan is the same CNN executive who said he withheld reports of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq so he could keep the CNN Baghad bureau open and have the ability to interview the since-ousted thugs and killers from the Baathist regime.
This article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review nicely sums it up.
Very little (so far) about this in the mainstream media. Do a Yahoo! News search, you'll see.
Congressman Gutierrez on the new American Girl doll
It's no wonder that the Democrats keep losing elections when they choose trivial issues such as this.....
Politicians beat up on American Girl doll, by Andrew Herrmann, Chicago Sun-Times
Feb 2, 2005
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Chicago) Tuesday invited the president of the company that makes American Girl dolls to visit Pilsen after the firm angered some Hispanics by describing the neighborhood in a storybook as "dangerous.'' Meanwhile, Ald. Daniel Solis (25th) said he had set up a meeting for next week with a representative from Mattel, American Girl's parent company, to discuss what he said was "probably an unintended mistake.''
The Wisconsin-based American Girl rankled some when it set the back story of a new doll in Chicago. The storybook describes how a Mexican-American girl named Marisol Luna moves to suburban Des Plaines after her parents fear for her safety. In the book, which accompanies the $84 doll, Marisol's parents tell her "It's time we get out of this neighborhood.''
Pilsen is not specifically named but the family is described as living across the street from Harrison Park at 18th and Damen. Says Marisol in the book: "[My mother] explained it was no place for me to grow up. It was dangerous, and there was no place for me to play.'' More to read here.
Politicians beat up on American Girl doll, by Andrew Herrmann, Chicago Sun-Times
Feb 2, 2005
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Chicago) Tuesday invited the president of the company that makes American Girl dolls to visit Pilsen after the firm angered some Hispanics by describing the neighborhood in a storybook as "dangerous.'' Meanwhile, Ald. Daniel Solis (25th) said he had set up a meeting for next week with a representative from Mattel, American Girl's parent company, to discuss what he said was "probably an unintended mistake.''
The Wisconsin-based American Girl rankled some when it set the back story of a new doll in Chicago. The storybook describes how a Mexican-American girl named Marisol Luna moves to suburban Des Plaines after her parents fear for her safety. In the book, which accompanies the $84 doll, Marisol's parents tell her "It's time we get out of this neighborhood.''
Pilsen is not specifically named but the family is described as living across the street from Harrison Park at 18th and Damen. Says Marisol in the book: "[My mother] explained it was no place for me to grow up. It was dangerous, and there was no place for me to play.'' More to read here.
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