Illinois Review

Alert: Sign on-line petition telling Senate Democrats to stop obstructing Child Custody Protection Act

Today the IL Federation for the Right to Life launched a nationwide on-line petition drive telling U.S. Senate Democrats to stop obstructing the Child Custody Protection Act.

This is an urgent matter.  The Congressional Pro-life Caucus reported this morning the clock is ticking: "If we hope to see this important legislation signed into law this year, the Senate must act this week to send the bill to conference."

Please sign this petition now at www.ifrl.org/ccpa and forward the link to pro-lifers and blogs.

Read IFRL's press release here.

Thank you.

Beaubien Gets $22,000 from Personal PAC

Having had a contested primary election with Denny Driscoll, it would be expected that Barrington Hills Mark Beaubien spent the most of any of the legislators representing McHenry County.

Representing south central McHenry County, plus southwestern Lake County and Barrington Township, this liberal Republican spent $101,074 to defend his seat in the General Assembly. During the six months, he took in $76,000 to off-set that $101,074. 

Sign the "End Lawsuit Abuse" Petition

By Thurlow Weed

The Illinois Justice Project is starting an online petition campaign for Illinois citizens who want to put and end to lawsuit abuse:

Lawsuit abuse is threatening Illinois jobs, hitting the pocketbooks of Illinois families, and destroying Illinois' health care system.

Fight terrorism. Boycott Citgo.

Sunday, two of the world's most notorious USA-haters Venezuela dictator Hugo Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad joined forces in Iran, calling on Iranians to "finish off the U.S. empire" and "save the human race" (see story).

Major Dem Admits He's For Terrorist Hezbollah

Seems that Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) appeared on a Detroit television program Sunday alongside Republican Congresswoman Candice Miller. After Dingell said he would not take sides in the current Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the host asked "so you're not against Hezbollah?" Rep. Dingell replied with a resounding "no." Here's the audio: here.

Consider if the Democrats take control of the House in November. Dingell will be the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He's one of the eight Dems that did not vote for a resolution supporting Israel. This potential Democrat committee chairman has despicably chosen a terrorist organization over an American ally.

Powers 'Running On His Record'

by Thurlow Weed

The Macomb Journal this week followed up on Fran Eaton's interview with Judge Michael Powers by publishing a front-page piece on his campaign for the Third Appellate Court ... especially his record of fairness, and the fact that he is the only candidate in the race rated "Highly Qualified" by the Illinois State Bar Association:

Powers has served as an associate judge in Will County since 2004 and said during an interview with The Macomb Journal on Friday that he is running on his background. He cites his experience as a lawyer and judge as well as his experience in both government and private practice.

Cross proposes legislation making internet safer

Kudos to State Representative Tom Cross for taking on what many parents today consider their worst nightmare -- protecting their children from online predators.

Cross sent out a press release today announcing a bi-partisan effort with State Senator Arthur Wilhelmi (D-Joliet) to toughen penalties for adults who use the internet to find their sexual prey.  Included in the package of five bills are other issues concerning student online activities, child pornography and death threats.

Will the Tollway Signs Show Up on Blagojevich's D2s?

by John Ruskin

The Daily Herald reports today why Blago's big head shots over the toll booths cost so much more than the signs directing drivers how to use the new system safely.

Comptroller Hynes challenges Bush veto

Comptroller Dan Hynes, confident he is so popular with Illinois voters that his GOP challenger Carole Pankau doesn't have a chance to beat him in November, ripped President Bush's embryo experimentation veto in a Daily Southtown guest editorial last week.

IR Star Conservatives of the Week: Briane Kneynsberg and Brian Ferkaluk

Without the energy and stamina of interns, lots of important things in Illinois' conservative movement simply would not happen.  Illinois Review recognizes the outstanding efforts two college seniors have made to further traditional family values in Illinois this summer. 

Illinois Hall of Fame: Leon Lederman

By Mark Rhoads

Leon Lederman, Ph.D., moved to Batavia, Illinois 27 years ago in 1979 to become Director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.  In 1988 he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger for his research into the structure and behavior of the smallest of sub-atomic particles.  Lederman was born in New York in 1922 and attended City College of New York.  He completed his doctoral studies at Columbia University and served as a second lieutenant with the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II.  He had already made his mark in a challenging career as Director for the NEVIS Lab of the Office of Naval Research at Columbia from 1961 to 1978.  In Illinois, he took over directing the research of one of America's most prestigious national laboratories.

Using Tax Dollars to Get Votes

The quid pro quo use of Chicago Streets and Sanitation Department services for votes described by the Sunday Chicago Tribune story is excellent and difficult reporting, even though most is posted as one really bid run-on paragraph. Reporters Lauie Cohen, Todd Lighty and Dan Mihalopoulos found new garbage carts, tree trimming, graffiti removal were used to help allies win tight elections.

Danger of those pesky embryos

Glenn McCoy's July 27, 2006 Washington Post.com cartoon makes the point . . .

Wake up, homeschoolers, you've overslept

  by Fran Eaton

I'm going to express some frustration this morning with my homeschooling friends.  I know it's Sunday and all, but come on, folks.  Whoever is leading the homeschooling movement in Illinois needs to wake up.  They are lethargic, tired and disengaged.  Maybe they're too busy raising their families.  Whatever the reason, the current situation is not acceptable.  Something's got to change.

Time to think about our national addiction

If you've got some time to sit and read online today, take time to read a fascinating piece entitled "A tank of gas, a world of trouble," by Chicago Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek. 

The piece reads like a novel, but describes -- from his perspective --the story behind (or is it under?) your local gas station.   

You'll think differently about the people who run the BP up the street, what it takes to get gasoline into those underground tanks and whether it's time we as a nation reassessed our fuel addiction.      

Illinois Hall of Fame: Vince Lloyd

By Mark Rhoads

Some Illinoisans may only have been famous primarily in the state or region rather than nationally.  But they are memorable for the emotional response they evoke in our collective memories.  For example, last Sunday, July 23, 2006, I was sitting with about 200 Chicago Cubs fans in a block of upper deck seats high above home plate at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. Tickets had been sold to members of the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC and DC area alumni clubs for Loyola Univeristy, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, Northern Illinois University, and others. The Cubs were losing to the Washington Nationals by a score of 7 to 1 in the top of the ninth inning as the Cubs came up for their final at bat.

All of a sudden, a middle-age guy wearing a Cubs hat two rows in front of me put down his beer and punched out the bottom of a large empty popcorn box to use as a megaphone.  He shouted at the top his lungs, "Its time to turn over the mic to our rally specialist, Vince Lloyd!"  The 200 cheered loudly as they all remembered a famous and typical Jack Brickhouse introduction of Vince.

Is Meeks Running for Mayor

by Cal Skinner

When the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks was threatening to run for governor as a third party candidate and courting conservatives as running mates, I suggested that he might very well be running for Mayor of Chicago instead.

The summer before Harold Washington won the office, Chicago blacks were energized through numerous demonstrations about Chicago Fest, I think.

I figured running for governor and losing would serve a similar purpose of uniting blacks around Meeks, not to mention the necessary job of registering many who are currently unregistered.

Meeks said some pretty energizing words in Springfield before he sold out to Governor Rod Blagojevich's lottery fantasy.

After looking at television news Friday night and seeing the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times Saturday, I’m wondering if Meeks might be thinking about reaching for that goal again.

He would pretty much be the ideal black candidate—much less threatening to ethnic whites than Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.-- first, because his name is not Jesse Jackson, and, second, because he is a social conservative.

Am I completely off base?

Health Planning Board Task Force sets first hearing

Do we claim that Ford duplicates GM and therefore one of hem should go away?  Coke and Pepsi offer duplicative products.  Do we need to sep up a board that tells where the two can set up shop?  Do we have a board that identifies the need for Coke and Pepsi in a given area?  Sounds stupid doesn't it?

That's because it is.  We derive efficiency and savings from Ford and GM competing with one another.  We get (and yeah I know using American brands doesn't strengthen what I'm going to say) innovation, higher quality and lower prices when Ford and GM, Coke and Pepsi compete for our favors.  One area where we don't do that is health care.  Exhibit A is the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, that under both Republican and Democratic Administrations has been rife with corruption.

At Spontaneous Solutions I suggest that maybe instead of holding hearings on the reforming the board on Monday, maybe the Senate GOP should be talking about eliminating it:

"It would be a great way to burnish ones small government credentials by pushing for the abolition of the Health Facilities Planning Board. On the corruption front, you'd be taking away the cookie jar. On the small government front you'd be shrinking the size and scope of governenment -- as well as bringing down a central planning relic. Finally, anything that brings more competition into health care will bring with it, innovation efficiency and greater quality while lowering the costs of health services (albeit marginally)."

Women and children first . . .

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's cartoonist Gary Markstein yesterday . . .

Wash Times on Durbin et al hold-up of parental notice bill; quotes IFRL

Abortion-consent stall riles GOP, pro-lifers
By Amy Fagan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 28, 2006

Republicans and pro-life groups are outraged that Senate Democrats are, at least for now, blocking a newly approved bipartisan Senate bill aimed at protecting parents' right to be involved in an underage daughter's abortion decision.

"It is underhanded and disingenuous, and it needs to stop now," said Sen. John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who sponsored the bill, which would make it illegal to skirt a state's parental consent or notification law by taking a pregnant minor to a more lenient state to obtain an abortion.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.

By Mark Rhoads

Showman and impressario Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. was one of the most famous producers of the American theater.  He born four years after the end of the Civil War in Chicago in March of 1869.  His father, Florenz, Sr., was a German immigrant to Chicago and Director of the Chicago Musical College (CMC).  The CMC burned down in the great Chicago fire of October 1871 but it was back in business the next year with 900 enrolled students.  CMC eventually became part of Roosevelt University in the 1940s.  Florenz had two brothers and one sister.  Even as a teen, he had a creative penchant for publicity.  According to a family legend he got in trouble by selling tickets to kids in the neighborhood who wanted to see his "invisible fish."  What they saw was just a bowl full of water and Florenz returned the money and was punished.  At about age 16 his parents sent him to a ranch in Wyoming because he thought he wanted to try the life of a cowboy but that hard life only lasted a few months before he came back to the city.

When Florenz, Jr. was 24, his father opened the Tracadero night club in Chicago just before the start of the 1893 World's Fair.  At first, the club was not a success.  The odd combination of variety acts with classical, not popular, music did little to attract patrons.  But Florenz, Jr. returned from Europe where he was supposed to be looking for musical talent for the fair. 

Howard Dean is Still Lucid

By Mark Rhoads

For those who have any sense of humor at all, Howard Dean is a really interesting person with many unique ideas.  Republicans in Florida should stop picking on Howard Dean just because he might have implied at a speech this week that Congressman Katherine Harris had something in common with former Soviet dicator Joseph Stalin. 

For more about this story, see The Palm Beach Post.

"In God We Trust" today. Will we in 2056?

by Fran Eaton

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of Congress voting the words "In God We Trust" as America's motto. 

A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution "re-affirming our nation's acknowledgement of and dependence on God," Concerned Women for America wrote in a press release yesterday.

The idea that our U.S. Senate agreed on such wording caused me to doubt CWA's assertion, so I looked up the wording of Sen Res. 96 for myself, and to my surprise, their description was accurate.  The actual wording is perhaps even bolder than I would have ever imagined, especially without a floor squeak from Illinois' notoriously open-minded U.S. Senators Durbin or Obama.

This all led me to think about who was in the U.S. Senate the summer of 1956, and what the national atmosphere was like when this discussion took place fifty years ago . . .

News from McHenry on Marriage Petition challenge

by Cal Skinner

Thought folks might be interested in what’s happening with regard to the validating the Protect Marriage petitions. McHenry County volunteers did their part at the County Clerk's office, as I explained here on McHenry County Blog.

Since then, I have been looking at petitions in north central Illinois and have found numerous "bad signatures" in DeKalb County. Given the fact that I registered to vote over 40 years ago, I think the odds are good that my signature does not closely resemble the 21-year old version on record in Woodstock.

Shake hands via internet?

The day is coming, a Chicago Tribune story says today, when you'll be able to shake hands and carry on a conversation via 3-D internet.

Can you imagine such use for good -- or for bad?   

Read about the fascinating developments in web technology stemming from Chicago's Northwestern University that is coming to your home . . . here

Radogno vs Giannoulis before women's club

In a one-on-one candidate forum at downtown Chicago's Maggiano's this morning, state treasurer GOP candidate Christine Radogno and Democratic opponent Alexis Giannoulis agreed more than they disagreed.

Who's the owner?

You gotta love Colorado Springs Gazette's political cartoonist Chuck Asay who never fails to nail the issue of the day . . .

Cook County GOP spoofs Blago

The Cook County GOP announces the launch of a new website: www.blagowatch.com . This website is a spoof of the Blagojevich campaign's www.topinkawatch.com .

Illinois Hall of Fame: Ann-Margret

By Mark Rhoads

Swedish-American singer and actress Ann-Margret Olson was born in Stockholm, Sweden on April 28, 1941 and the family moved to the small town of Valsjobyn, Jamtlands Ian, Sweden that same year.  Still later in 1941, Ann-Margret's father moved to the U.S. with a plan for the rest of the family to follow shortly but World War II delayed the plan.  Ann-Margret and her mother arrived in New York Harbor on November 29, 1946 aboard the SS Gripsholm.  She was five years old and spoke no English. The family moved to Fox Lake, Illinois in 1946 and to Wilmette in 1948. 

A chance to help fellow humans help themselves . . .

by Fran Eaton

Last fall, the Illinois homeschooling network was saddened to learn of one of their own being thrust into a raging battle with cancer.  Geneseo's Moeller family responded to their crisis as an example of strength and courage.

This morning, we learned of how the Moellers are teaching the next generation to deal with adversity by showing ingenuity and creativity.

If you're inclined to help fellow humans help themselves, respond to young Amber Moeller's simple request . . .

Some Advice for Judy

by Cal Skinner

A Chicago Tribune article  reminds me of some advice I wanted to pass onto GOP gubernatorial candidate Judy Topinka’s staff.

Just how do you spell R-E-L-I-E-F?

With the temps in the high 90s, wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, a rising threat of nuclear attack from North Korea, gas prices soaring, the feds investigating anyone in City or State government, the state budget indicating we're on the edge of state bankruptcy and conservatives taking pot shots at each other, well, we live in a stressful environment these days.

Just how do you spell R-E-L-I-E-F? 

Illinois Review Contributor Lee Newcom Hits The Airwaves

Our own Illinois Review contributor Lee Newcom was the featured guest on a Central Illinois NBC station Tuesday evening. The subject was Illinois Review...conservative blogging...and politics.

Check out what Lee said, and watch a clip of the video here.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Clarence Darrow

By Mark Rhoads

A century before the television celebrity lawyers of modern times, readers of newspapers in all parts of America and many overseas knew the name of the famous defense attorney, Clarence Seward Darrow of Chicago. 

Look for your name on Blago's D2s

by Fran Eaton

If you're wondering why we're not spewing disgust about Governor Blago's universal preschool bill signing yesterday, well, there's nothing more to be said. 

IR contributors voiced our opinions last spring (here, here, here), and the whole Illinois House (both Dems and Republicans) jumped on board in support of Blago's constituency-buying plan and only ten courageous Republican senators resisted.

Durbin in front holding up Child Custody Protection Act

From the National Right to Life Committee:

Despite a 65-34 vote in the U.S. Senate [yesterday] to pass a bill to prohibit transporting minors across state lines for abortions in violation of parents' rights, the Senate Democratic leadership immediately erected a procedural roadblock in an attempt to kill the bill.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Bob Newhart

By Mark Rhoads

Bob Newhart almost never uses vulgar words in his comedy material for shock value.  About the most shocking thing he has ever been known to say is in his Driving Instructor routine when he shouts at another driver, "Same to you fella!"  He tells another, "No sir, I don't suppose it is so damn funny."  Newhart's commedy is universal and never offends his audience.  He is an innovative comedy pioneer who has starred and succeeded in many venues including films, record albums, night clubs, and television.  Bob was born on Sept. 25, 1929 in Oak Park, Illinois and grew up there.  He claims it was only a coincidence that the stock market crashed a month after his birth. 

Boxing In The Competition

By Ralf Seiffe

Wal-Mart is one of those subjects on which nearly everyone has an opinion including the fifty aldermen who run Chicago.  The upcoming vote on the “Big Box” Ordinance pits the largest company on earth against Chicago--which has been trending smaller since its mid-century high-water mark--mandating the wages the company must pay for the privilege of building a store on land no one else wants. The politicians have positioned this as another battle between their good and corporate evil but, as usual, they have it wrong.  The real reason for the aldermen’s  enmity towards the “big boxes” is much more fundamental and much more sinister.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Frank O. Lowden

By Mark Rhoads

Frank O. Lowden was a widely-respected, hard-working, honorable, decent, and effective governor of Illinois during World War I who won a national following in the Republican Party. A former U.S. Congressman from Oregon, Illinois, he was married to the daughter of Chicago rail car company president George Pullman. Lowden was born in Minnesota in 1861.  He graduated from Union College of Law (now Northwestern University School of Law) in 1887 and he taught law at Northwestern University for three years from 1889 to 1902.  He moved to Oregon, Illinois in Ogle County and represented a northern Illinois district in Congress from 1907 to 1911. 

The Choice Couldn't Be More Stark

You can also find this at Spontaneous Solutions.

Brenden Miniter of WSJ concisely states the choice the GOP faces between immigration and the welfare state:

"Today the Republican Party again confronts the choice of whether to cut the overall size of the welfare state--by reforming Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other entitlements--or going after illegal aliens (emphasis added)...

Good news for Peraica, bad news for Topinka

Cook County Board President GOP candidate Tony Peraica says today he is polling ahead of Democrat Todd Stroger 42 to 38.

A Tarrance Group poll on 407 Cook County residents July 19 and 20 indicates "Toddler" Stroger is not the shoe-in some Democrats assumed he would be.

Where has all the money gone?

If candidates are wondering where all the big donor dollars are hiding this year, they should look under statewide initiatives.  Evidently frustrated with the non-response on issues that stir millionaire's fancies, at least two Illinois-based big dollar donors are focused on promoting issues, not candidates, this campaign cycle.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Mother Jones

By Mark Rhoads

"I am not a humanitarian, I'm a hell-raiser." -- Mary Harris Jones

American labor organizer Mary Harris Jones was a colorful advocate for radical union activism in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  Mary was also known as "Mother Jones" and sometimes as "The Miners' Angel."  The first moniker has become more famous in the last thirty years since the publishers of a magazine called Mother Jones took her name, life, and work as inspiration for their mission when the publication was launched in 1976.  Mary had strong admirers and critics in her own lifetime.  While a West Virginia district attorney once branded Mary as "the most dangerous woman in America," Chicago defense attorney Clarence Darrow called Mary "one of the most forceful and picturesque figures of the American labor movement."

The Media's gettin' it, now for the GOP

The dominant media is getting it about Tony Peraica and the outraged Democrats in Cook County. 

Cross-ing party lines

State Rep. Kurt Granberg [107th Dist.] is the Democrat House Assistant Majority Leader.  State Rep. Tom Cross [84th Dist.] is the Republican House Leader.  Their positions on Democrat Gov. Rod Blagojevich's second executive order in as many years to force taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell and cloning experimentation via hidden money in the budget is interesting....

IR Q of the day: Is porn viewing morally acceptable?

Morality in Media released a poll today showing 64 percent of men and 81 percent of women say that watching porn is not morally acceptable.  The younger those polled, the more tolerant of porn viewing they were. More Democrats than Republicans seem to find porn viewing acceptable.

Illinois $3 billion in the red, Rockford Register-Star finds

Congratulations to the Rockford Register-Star's Aaron Chambers for doing good, old-fashioned reporting and digging up the embarrassing fact that Illinois is the state with the nation's worst fiscal problems.

Rather than simply swallowing the Governor's press release administrative policy, Chambers took time to locate the facts.  And they aren't pretty.

At a whopping $3 billion, Illinois has the nation's worst deficit.  But that's not all. 

To Elect, or Not to Elect ...

By Thurlow Weed

An interesting post at Illinois Justice Blog on the eternal discussion of whether we should elect or appoint judges in the state of Illinois. 

IR Star Conservative of the Week: Will County's Barb Kneynsberg

This week, IR recognizes Barb Kneynsberg (on left in photo), a conservative activist who is in the thick of Republican politics in one of the nation's top ten fastest growing counties.

Illinois Hall of Fame: Paul Harvey

By Mark Rhoads

Hello Canadians and Americans, stand by for news.

Page One.

Paul Harvey Aurandt was born on Sept. 4, 1918 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  When he was only three years old Paul lost his father.  Dad was a Tulsa Police officer trying to make an arrest when he was gunned down in the line of duty.  Now it hardly seems possible that it was only seventy-three short years ago in Tulsa that a 15-year old high school student got his first part-time job at KVOO-AM to start his broadcasting career.  He didn't start at the top---or even on the air.  In fact, he swept up the place at night.  But it was a start.