Illinois Review

Lots of questions about huge Metra lobbying contracts

from Greg Hinz

A suburban state legislator is starting to ask lots of questions about why Metra spends more money on Washington lobbying than perhaps any other transit agency in the country.

In the latest sign of the new scrutiny Metra is drawing since the suicide of longtime Executive Director Phil Pagano, Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Lake Forest, says Metra may not have followed proper procedure in spending at least $3.5 million on Washington government-relations firm Carmen Group Inc. in the past five years.

via www.chicagobusiness.com

Amid budget woes, state police get hundreds of new cars

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois' budget may be a wreck, but you might not know that by looking at the Illinois State Police motor pool.

In the past year, the agency purchased 327 new vehicles -- a figure that is about six times higher than the number added in previous years.

The new vehicles came compliments of a boost in vehicle registration fees. The $1 surcharge has raised more than $8.1 million since last July 1.

via www.pantagraph.com

Pestiferous President to Pitch Amnesty Thursday Morning

by Sam Pierce

The post-... partisan, racial, American (take your pick) President will be giving a "major" teleprompter reading Thursday morning. TOTUS will be helping the man who can read like few others attempt to sell poison to the populace. The poison will, of course, be presented as a necessary cure. This should not pose much of a challenge for the presidential teleprompter, which seems to be the only thing in this administration that works well. The source of all the President's orations is well-practiced at putting a bow on a pile of equine fecal matter and making it appealing to a majority of the electorate.

This particular "major" reading is purely political and aimed at paying off one specific group of supporters. This group among whose leadership includes the detestable Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-La Raza), is none other than the 'open borders', 'amnesty for illegals', 'what can American citizens give you?' group.

CBO says debt will reach 62 percent of GDP by year's end

The national debt will reach 62 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of this year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Wednesday.

The budget office said the debt will reach its highest percentage of GDP since the end of World War II. The jump is driven by lower tax revenues and higher federal spending in the recent recession.

via thehill.com

Sending Out an SOS to Michelle

by Teri O'Brien

Do we still put missing persons on milk cartons? I got to wondering about that because I was just about to suggest that if we do, we need to put Michelle Obama on one. As I noted previously, she was recently seen on the Left Coast, with Mama Robinson and her daughters, with her ample posterior planted in a seat at Staple Center at a Lakes’ playoff game or at one of L.A.’s trendy restaurants, enjoying life as one of the lucky first recipients of the long overdue reparations owed to certain groups by this “mean” country. By all appearances, even her husband on a man date, eating greasy burgers with Russian president Medvedev, didn’t seem to flush her out to talk about her pet cause, obesity, particularly the child variety. 

What happened to all the coverage of Mighty Michelle, as the Lame Stream Media (LSM) called her during her first European trip last year, when she and her husband enjoyed a romantic dinner in Paris, and she took the girls on a London shopping spree? Who can forget watching the Obamas on  that glamorous whirlwind, and thinking “Wow, I should have gone into public service!”

When is the National Debt Too Much?

by Mark Rhoads

Forty years ago the standard cliche of Left Wing economists, professors, politicians, and journalists was that "the national debt does not matter because we owe it to ourselves"  That was partly true when Americans owned most of the debt instruments and long-term bonds but now the Communist Chinese government does and the national debt is only one trillion dollars behind the total US gross domestic product (GDP) for one year.

Dart and Madigan on Immigration Reform

Thursday, Barack Obama will tell the nation he's pushing for immigration reform.  For an insight into what Obama's likely to say, we can look to his old friends back in Illinois for ideas. 

Check out Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan -- Obama's old Democratic friends -- that addressed an Illinois Coalition of Immigrants and Refugee Rights' gathering of activists, law enforcement officers and concerned citizens this past June 25th in Chicago.  The SEIU's liberal blog Progress Illinois covered the conference and provided all of us a peek into what Dart and Madigan told the attendees that day.  The only thing we ask is -"What the heck did they say?" 

Brady criticizes Quinn Administration for day care in homes of sex offenders

Governor candidate Bill Brady today criticized Pat Quinn's administration for funding child care in the homes of registered sex offenders. A recent report from the state's Auditor General revealed the practice.

"Last week we learned that dozens of dangerous parolees were on the lam under a secret program under Governor Quinn," Brady said. "Today, independent auditors now show that the state has paid for day care in the homes of registered sex offenders. Once again, this Administration has failed to protect the safety of Illinois families. He has failed the people of Illinois, and the citizens are paying for it. Who will he blame this time?"

China’s Illegal Subsidies to Its Paper Industry Threaten U.S. Jobs

24,740 Illinois Jobs at Risk as China Primes Global Overcapacity in Paper

WASHINGTON – Heavily subsidized by the Chinese government in violation of global trading rules, the Chinese paper industry has tripled production over the past decade, killing jobs throughout the United States and driving up the massive U.S. trade deficit with China, according to a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

The EPI report, No Paper Tiger: Subsidies to China’s Paper Industry from 2002–2009, says that China’s rapid rise in the global paper industry has been fueled by more than $33 billion in government subsidies from 2002 to 2009. The full report can be found at www.americanmanufacturing.org.

The U.S. paper industry is large and highly competitive, employing 474,000 workers in nearly 5,000 plants in the 2005–2007 period. However, thousands of U.S. paper producers, and the more than 470,000 remaining jobs, are at risk due to the rapid growth of highly subsidized paper exports from China. Almost every state has workers in the paper sector, with California, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin having the highest number of paper industry workers.

"Just One Mom" Crenshaw goes national

Andrew Breitbart's national news blog www.BigGovernment.com is featuring an appeal from state senate conservative GOP candidate and local Tea Party favorite Cedra Crenshaw (R-43) for help in fighting the Chicago Machine.  Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan's trying every trick in the book to keep Crenshaw -- who refers to herself as "Just One Mom,"  off the November ballot against Joliet's incumbent State Senator A.J. Wilhelmi. 

The harder the Chicago Machine tries to muffle the feisty Cedra, the more she kicks and resists.  Springing off an Illinois Review update story Tuesday, Crenshaw's building momentum while reaching out for help from beyond her district.  Calls are going into the Will County Board of Elections to keep Crenshaw in the race.  The Board's final decision is expected this week or next.

Related stories/YouTubes:

• Chicago machine fails to eliminate Crenshaw - so far
• Cedra Crenshaw at Will County Tax Day Tea Party

Watch: The Chicago Way

Quincy Tea Party leader meets with Gingrich, other activists

Steve McQueen was one of about 15 grass roots leaders from around the Midwest who met with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich last week.

The purpose of the meeting in St. Louis was to discuss grassroots strategy and how that strategy might enhance American Solutions. American Solutions is a  citizen action network of over 1.5 million members founded by the former Speaker of the House.

via quincynews.org

Chicago condo 'vacation rentals' to now be regulated

Never missing an opportunity to nanny-state or regulate, houses and condominiums leased as "vacation rentals" in Chicago will now be treated like bed-and-breakfast establishments after aldermen today unanimously voted for a plan aimed at getting a handle on such leases in residential areas.

Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, a proponent of the stricter regulations, has said it's important to set standards for the businesses, which he said have been operating like pop-up hotels across the city.

"We've got hundreds of rentals being offered, with no thought to the health, safety and welfare of those staying there," Reilly said recently. The new ordinance would require that such establishments maintain cleanliness and meet requirements for fire safety, Reilly said.

It also means those citizens who own the condos will have to pay more fees for the licenses to the City of Chicago.

via newsblogs.chicagotribune.com

Never missing an opportunity to nanny-state or regulate, houses and condominiums leased as "vacation rentals" in Chicago will now be treated like bed-and-breakfast establishments after aldermen today unanimously voted for a plan aimed at getting a handle on such leases in residential areas.

Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, a proponent of the stricter regulations, has said it's important to set standards for the businesses, which he said have been operating like pop-up hotels across the city.

"We've got hundreds of rentals being offered, with no thought to the health, safety and welfare of those staying there," Reilly said recently. The new ordinance would require that such establishments maintain cleanliness and meet requirements for fire safety, Reilly said.

It also means those citizens who own the condos will have to pay more fees for the licenses to the City of Chicago.

The real spill

IL Policy Institute Urges Governor Quinn To Make Responsible, Effective Budget Cuts

CHICAGO - As Illinois struggles to provide essential services to taxpayers, Governor Quinn is about to enact cuts in state spending that culminate a broken budget process. Yet again, state leaders are failing to make the tough choices needed to bring spending in line with revenues.

The Illinois Policy Institute urges Governor Quinn to make responsible budget cuts-cuts that are a result of a thorough review of government priorities rather than short-term political calculation.

In March, the Institute released a detailed alternative budget, Budget Solutions 2011, which balances the state budget without raising taxes and does not rely on borrowing. This department-by-department budget illustrates how the state can restore sanity in its budget-making process.  Budget Solutions 2011 balances the budget, funds core government services, and respects taxpayers by following four guiding principles:

As cuts loom, thousands of state workers to get raises

SPRINGFIELD - Despite a state budget that is billions of dollars out of whack, more than 46,000 state workers will see bigger paychecks Thursday.

Judges, prison guards, welfare office workers and mental health specialists will see raises and cost-of-living adjustments worth an estimated $105.6 million.

"I just think it shows how Gov. Quinn isn't serious about getting a handle on this problem," said state Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth.

State Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria, said companies throughout the state have cut back on raises during the economic meltdown and the state should follow suit.

"I think everybody ought to share in the pain," Leitch said.

via thesouthern.com

Roy McCampbell was paid almost half a million dollars to run Bellwood

For running a blue-collar western suburb, taxpayers paid Roy McCampbell $472,255 last year — the highest total compensation of any suburban municipal executive — and village officials now say they're not sure why.

McCampbell, known as one of the first suburban officials to push red-light cameras, said he did the work of 10 people for Bellwood — comptroller, administrator, public safety CEO, finance director, budget director, human resources director, mayoral assistant, corporation counsel, property commission director and development corporation officer — and was paid like it.

via www.chicagotribune.com

Video: Mark Kirk - the real environmentalist

Schock: No stimulus funds for stimulus signs

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock is readying a proposal that would prohibit stimulus funding for promotional signs about certain projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The measure would save an estimated $20 million nationwide and $650,000 in Illinois, according to estimates provided by Schock's office.

The signs, often along highways, provide no meaningful information, create no jobs and have been criticized as taxpayer funded advertisements for the stimulus bill, said Schock, a Peoria Republican.

More HERE

Pollak launches first web ad: "Stop Chicago Corruption"

NRCC promotes Kinzinger to "Young Gun" status

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced today that Adam Kinzinger (IL – 11) has reached the top level in its Young Guns Program. By advancing to 'Young Gun' status, Kinzinger has proven his ability to build a winning campaign and achieve substantial fundraising goals.

“People across the 11th District are motivated and looking to make a change in representation in Washington D.C. They are excited about our campaign and its commitment to economic growth, lower spending and responsive government, and it is heartening to have that confidence reflected in our nation’s capital as well,” said Kinzinger, who was leading his incumbent opponent by 6 percentage points according to polling released this Spring. “This distinction will provide more resources for our campaign to grow and reach voters throughout the District as we push toward victory in November.”

Video: Roskam on the uncertainty of the economy

A disappointing look behind the curtain

by Fran Eaton

In my Southtown Star column today, Mike Madigan's recently- published explanation for the pitiful condition of Illinois budget is the topic. For the average Illinoisan, that commentary published Sunday in Phil Kadner's column is a peek behind the House Speaker's curtain, revealing Madigan as disappointing as the Wizard of Oz was to Dorothy and her co-horts.

Madigan's opining lends us valuable insight into his worldview and how he has led this state for almost three decades - through several Republican and Democratic governors, countless lawmakers and appointees. He's become a political legend in his own time, consistently promoting the power of government, collectivism, highly regulated commerce through his trademarkable pragmatic means, doing "whatever it takes" to hold tight to his powerful reins.

Reading Madigan's explanation about our state's crisis mode was de-mystifying. It revealed to Illinoisans their legendary Wizard of Oz, the man behind the curtain. Sadly, he's a disappointment. He's not as fearsome and cunning as his reputation led us to believe.

The rest of today's column is HERE.

"Nobody wants to be governor," Blago says on wiretap

Illinois Statehouse News' report on Tuesday's developments in the Blagojevich trial and plays excerpts of a scheming conversation between Rod and Patti in which Rod plots to get out of  being governor and becoming Illinois' next U.S. Senator:

Exposed! Kagan's partial-birth abortion scheme

by Jill Stanek

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology is well-known in pro-life circles to be radically pro-abortion. For instance, ACOG supports the most heinous of all abortion practices, partial-birth abortion. When in 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the partial-birth abortion ban of 2003, ACOG released an indignant statement, which read, in part:

"Today's decision...is shameful and incomprehensible to those of us who have dedicated our lives to caring for women," said Douglas W. Laube, MD, MEd, ACOG president. "It leaves no doubt that women's health in America is perceived as being of little consequence.

Kirk's new "Risky" ad

Predictions for Illinois' FY 2011 budget are sobering

The Bond Buyer has an extensive piece on Illinois' dire financial condition, and gives little hope for improvement in the short term.

Quinn is expected to make steep spending cuts in the plan. Lawmakers — who along with the governor must face voters in November — left those ­decisions to him when they ­approved the budget last month. The $52 billion  spending plan for fiscal 2011 includes a general fund of $26.2 billion, down slightly from the current fiscal year.

Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service recently downgraded the state’s $25.7 billion of GO debt. Fitch lowered Illinois’ rating to A from A-plus and assigned a negative outlook. Moody’s downgraded the credit to A1 from Aa3 and assigned a stable outlook. Standard & Poor’s affirmed the state’s A-plus, which is on negative watch.

Kirk apologizes again

Following U.S. Senate GOP candidate Mark Kirk's speech Tuesday (as published HERE on IR) Kirk was pressed by reporters for a response to the findings that his longtime published military record contained numerous exaggerations and inaccuracies, Kirk replied:

“I have made mistakes concerning certain aspects of my accomplishments and experiences, and I apologize for those mistakes and I pledge to correct those errors,” he said today. “I am not perfect and was careless. I will do better and I will make sure this never happens again.”

He went on to mention questions about his teaching experience claims as well:

Cross answers Madigan: a contrast in governing style

Today in the Southtown Star, House Republican leader Tom Cross delivers a powerful counter punch to House Speaker Mike Madigan'sweak explanation for our state's budget drowning in red ink published Sunday.  Cross pushes aside Madigan's blame game and points to the seriousness of our state's financial condition, offering solutions that Madigan has consistently ignored time and time again. 

This back-and-forth published in the Southtown Star isn't just a little public scuffle.  A study of the dueling House leaders' comments gives us insight into those who would lead our struggling state out of its troubles.  Illinois voters should become familiar with the Speaker's rare public explanation and Cross' feisty response because they encapsulate a stark contrast in public policy and governing style. 

Madigan broke his 30 year silence with a left punch HERE.  Cross' right cross knockout reply is HERE.  Read and compare.  

Chicago council committee moves toward another WalMart

WGN-TV reports on the Chicago City Council's Zoning Committee's decision to move ahead with WalMart in the city's Pullman neighborhood.

Little Barry Sells Out his Shop Steward

by John F. Di Leo

Wisconsin Democrats are suffering a crisis of faith this summer.  No, they haven’t suddenly learned how the economy works… or why criminals keep committing crimes after you’ve been nice enough to set them free again and again… or why when you over-tax and over-regulate employers out of existence, they cease to be around to employ people.

No, this is something much less abstract, both more concrete and very close to home:  Wisconsin Democrats are trying to figure out why the inexperienced, superficial, radical environmentalist president they worked so hard to elect is now commanding an administration whose main commitment is to kill the jobs they so desperately need in Wisconsin.

"Right to Carry" rally permit denied by Chicago officials

Valinda Rowe of Illinois' Right to Carry just informed us that they have been forced to move Wednesday night's planned rally to another location.

"Due to the Chicago City Park District rescinding the Right to Carry group's permit to use the Tuley Park facility, we have had to change the location of Wednesday night's town hall meeting to Chicago State University, William Science Center, Room 116, from 7 pm to 9 pm," Rowe wrote via email.

Please notify any Illinois Review readers you know which may be planning to attend. 

More to come on this story ...

Illinois' Dangerous Example of Incompetent Bureaucracy

by Sam Pierce

Leave it to the miserably governed state of Illinois to spawn a news story that should be shocking... but given that this is Illinois, isn't. No, this isn't about the Chicago mayor's war on potential victims of violent crimes. This is about a failure so egregious, it should give even the most vocal proponent of increased government involvement in further aspects of the lives of citizens reason to reevaluate his warped thinking.

AP is reporting that our illustrious state government has been paying (on a need-based sliding scale) for child care... in the homes of sex offenders! Not necessarily for children who happen to live with sex offenders, but for child care provided at the homes of the vermin. (Mr. lib, please spare the whiny reply: "But, but, not all sex offenders are really 'offenders', some might have just been 18 year old boys convicted of having sex with their 17 year old girlfriends.")

The AP headline via The Telegraph, "Ill. provides child care in sex offenders' homes" is horrifying, yet not all that shocking.

Brady's wedge issue strategy pulls Daley in

GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady is shrewdly using opening WalMarts in the Chicago area as a "wedge issue" just as he promised a few months ago.  The desperation for jobs and the need for economic savings in the Chicago area has brought around even Democratic Chicago Mayor Daley.

Check out this YouTube link to hear da Mayor explain why he supports WalMart ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_I1IAYdado&feature=youtu.be

If used right, this could be a huge development to show Brady's leadership potential.  In April interview with Illinois Review, Brady said about using WalMart as an "wedge issue":

Tony Peraica's Cook County Update

Obama buzzes SEIU prez about Senate seat

SEIU president Tom Balanoff testified during the Blagojevich trial Tuesday that the night before Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, he was on the phone with Balanoff, scheming a way to get Rod Blagojevich to appoint Obama's close confidante and White House insider Valerie Jarrett to fill his U.S. Senate seat.

Why did Balanoff have that much influence?  What would he get with Jarrett in place?  We already know what Blagojevich had gotten from SEIU during the 2006 election.  Blagojevich asked for a White House cabinet post because he was bored with being governor of Illinois ... or something like that.

Speculation that Obama interviewed with the feds when he was in town over Memorial Day continues to percolate...

Say No to Joe: Kill the Obama "Kill" Switch

from FreedomWorks.org

Joe Lieberman’s Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA) passed the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and now moves on to a full vote in the Senate. The bill gives the president the power to “kill” the internet and cyberspace in times of “emergency.” Individual innovation has made the internet a bastion of creativity and an unparalleled marketplace of ideas and goods, not government regulation.

 Lieberman claims that people are overreacting over the bill, and on  State of The Union with Candy Crowley he told Americans to “relax,” and went on to say, "Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too.” Joe Lieberman cites China as a model that the United States should follow. Joe fails to mention that in times of “unrest” like government protests, China has shut down the internet to restrict users from communicating to one another.

More HERE

Cong. Pete Starks' astounding arrogance and ignorance

California Congressman Pete Starks (D-Fremont) held a  town meeting last Saturday and mocked Minutemen and NRA members while insisting "the borders are secure."

Starks' arrogance and ignorance is astounding and appalling, and shows what happens when any elected official is unchallenged during 38 years in Congress.How many similar minded Democrats are in Illinois' congressional delegation?

Kagan Reaffirms Extreme Pro-Abortion Position

WASHINGTON -- Moments ago, responding to a line of questions from Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Kagan confirmed her belief that "Roe (v. Wade) and Doe (v. Bolton) require" that any state "regulation" of abortion protect the "health" of women seeking abortion. Kagan isolated the Supreme Court's holding in the 2007 case, Gonzales v. Carhart -- which upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban of 2003 without a "health" exception -- by stating that the Gonzales decision only pertained to a particular abortion procedure.

"Elena Kagan, for the benefit of her supporters in the abortion lobby, reaffirmed her support for abortion in the extreme, without limitations or restrictions," said Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President and CEO of Americans United for Life. "The American people don't support this out-of-the-mainstream position and they don't want a judge who has already pre-judged the issue."

Kirk points to himself as "fiscal conservative, social moderate, independent-minded servant"

Congressman Mark Kirk's Remarks as Prepared for Delivery at Chicago press conference June 29, 2010

Good morning – thank you all for coming today. 

The problems our country and our state confront in the summer of 2010 are among the most difficult and urgent as any we faced in our lifetimes.  This year’s election will determine whether or not we chart a new course toward restoring the confidence in the ability of our government to meet America’s challenges.

The United States is mired in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.  Economic growth is anemic. 

Unemployment hovers around ten percent nationally and even higher in Illinois.  The numbers increase when you include people who gave up hope of ever finding a job and withdrew from the workforce. 

Your tax dollars: U.S. Paid $1.44M to Study 'Social Milieu' of Male Prostitutes in Hanoi

(CNSNews.com) - The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has so far awarded $1.44 million in federal funds to a project that, among other things, is estimating the size of the population and examining the “social milieu” of male prostitutes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

via www.cnsnews.com

We have the Technology. We have the Capability.

by Ghost of John Brown

The title to this article comes from the TV show in the 1970's - "The Six Million Dollar Man".  I think it is a fitting statement for our THAAD system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense).  While we have nutcases like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who want to bring on a Caliphate by wiping all non-believers off the face of the earth, our Administration seems opposed to the technology that can help save us.  I've written about this before - click here.  I bring this up because McKittrick at Closing Velocity has yet another excellent post about the THAAD system and the ability to knock missiles out of the sky.  Click here for the article.  It's an amazing bit of technology that should be deployed immediately.  As the doctors in that early 70's TV show said - We have the technology.  We have the Capability.  Now all we need is the will to put national security over politics.

Ghost of Uncle Joe Stalin lives in Virginia

by Mark Rhoads

This is one of those many stories you read and wonder what were they thinking? Some buffoon who heads up the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia decided to include a bust of former USSR dictator Josef Stalin in the memorial.  His excuse was that the Soviet army was an ally during World War II and they also fought the Germans.  Indeed they did, with terrible losses on the Eastern Front.  But this is not a World War II Memorial, it is a D-Day Memorial and not one Soviet soldier was in Normandy with the British, Americans and Canadians or Free French on June 6, 1944.  The irony is that Stalin's hometown in the old Republic of Georgia redcently took down their bust of Stalin as most Russian towns have.

Chicago machine fails to eliminate Crenshaw - so far

Bolingbrook's Cedra Crenshaw has become one of this election's conservative darlings, fighting the system by launching her own efforts to challenge an incumbent Democrat State Senator A.J. Wilhelmi. Her first public appearances were at Will County Tea Party events, where she declared war on the corrupt Chicago machine as "just one mom." 

Wilhelmi, she says, is clearly a part of the Chicago machine although he's based in Joliet. A faithful go-along vote with the Democrats, Wilhelmi is a part of the state's problems, and ousting him along with other lawmakers who've created the embarrassing state budget crisis is just what Illinois needs, Crenshaw says.

And that's just enough energy and threat from Republican ranks to scare the Democrats into doing everything they can to scratch Crenshaw off the November ballot. She's got enough acceptable petition signatures to get on the ballot. But her candidacy is still in limbo because the Senate Democrats insist that accompanying paperwork may not have been filed on time, although the reason for the lack of clarification is because the Illinois election law itself was in transition. 

Daley definition of freedom: registration, training, finger prints, and tests

Chicago gun owners could be required to register their weapons, purchase liability insurance and undergo criminal background checks and periodic firearms training, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has shot down the city's strictest-in-the-nation handgun ban.

Washington, DC requires gun owners to get five hours of safety training, register their firearms every three years, face criminal background checks every six years, submit fingerprints and allow police to perform ballistic tests. They must keep revolvers unloaded and either disassembled or secured with trigger locks unless they have reason to fear a home intruder.

Those provisions apparently don't go far enough for Daley, who hinted strongly at an insurance component to protect public safety workers and taxpayers.

More HERE

Video: Quinn talks the state budget

Chicago State's first transgender professor celebrates one-year anniversary

Last week Das Janssen, 41, marked his first anniversary teaching at the mostly black Chicago University. Janssen's professorship as a white person is unique, Windy City Times says, and its his skin color, not the fact that Janssen is Chicago State's first transgender instructor that gets the most attention.

Janssen, 41, first came across the word "transgender"—a word that would help define his life—at the age of 33, and began to transition from female to male about "three or four years ago."

Chicago State has worked with Janssen to make him feel comfortable and safe, he says.

The Kind of Nakedly Corrupt Patronage Waste That Quietly Goes on Wherever You Have Government

At first glance, Congressmen Hal Rogers and Chaka Fattah don't have much in common. Rogers, a Republican, represents a rural district in Kentucky. Fattah, a Democrat, hails from an urban district in Philadelphia.

Thanks to Rogers, this year's federal spending will include $18.9 million funneled to a half-dozen non-profit groups he founded that do everything from research homeland security technologies to clean litter along his district's highways. One sponsors summer camps for students called "Rogers Scholars" and "Rogers Explorers."

Fattah directed $3.5 million this year to three non-profit groups he founded that provide scholarships and educational programs. One organizes the annual "Fattah Conference on Higher Education."

Fattah and Rogers are among eight lawmakers who have used special legislative provisions called "earmarks" to fund charities with close personal connections.

via reason.com

Walsh on SCOTUS ruling

from the Walsh for Congress campaign

8th District Congressional Republican Nominee Joe Walsh released the following statement in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the 2nd Amendment,

The Supreme Court's decision today in McDonald v. Chicago makes clear what law-abiding Americans instinctively knew already: we have a fundamental right as written in the Second Amendment to provide for our protection and the protection of our families.  When we preemptively curtain the Constitutional rights of a law-abiding citizen, as Chicago has done with the handgun ownership ban, we in effect make no distinction between the criminal and the law-abiding.  The Court recognized this contradiction in properly defining the Second Amendment as the individual right that it is.  This is a historic day for individual freedom as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our nation.

Supreme Court rules against religious freedom

Monday the Supreme Court ruled against the Christian Legal Society (CLS), which sought official recognition as a student group at Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. The school, which is part of the state university system, refused to recognize CLS because the group demands that voting members adhere to a traditional moral code that rejects "unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle." Hastings said that rule, which excluded nonabstinent homosexuals as well as heterosexuals who engage in extramarital sex, violated the school's nondiscrimination policy.

CLS said the school's position violated the freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment. All nine justices seem to agree that CLS, as a private religious group, has a right to discriminate against people who do not share its beliefs. But they disagree about the significance of recognizing CLS as a student organization, a status that allows access to campus facilities and university funding.

via reason.com