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If you aren’t for hard caps on Illinois Governmental spending…

April 30, 2008 By 1 Comment

…then you are for tax increases as far as the eye can see


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That is the message that you should ram into the head of every politician in the state of Illinois. You should do this in every town hall and every “Dog and Phony” budget show that any Illinois politician attends.


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If you are an honest Illinois citizen, the text above should become your mantra though out the next couple years, and if Tom Cross (see post below), Frank Watson, and any gubernatorial contender wants to have any chance getting Republicans (or themselves) elected, they should start campaigning on that platform.

Illinois needs spending restraint at every level of government…

especially school districts

…and if you are too cowardly to start talking about spending restraint, then you really aren’t much use to Illinois Citizens.

We are in a position where our property taxes are skyrocketing, state officials are attempting to break the ‘flat tax’ provision in the Constitution, and the entities that are driving all of the wasteful spending continue to hire with out restraint. The only thing that anyone talks about at every level of government are more tax increases to pay for more bureaucratic bloat.

If you are reading this post, you simply have to understand the condition of the State Budget, as well as the budgets of most Illinois municipalities and school districts. There is no way to avoid massive tax increases as far as the eye can see unless we cap spending. Even with permanent caps, Illinois will likely be forced to increase taxes, merely by the operation of the promises already made.

When Blagojevich talks about health care for kids, and the school districts talk about fake “tax swaps,” and the downstate Republicans talk about “CapitOl Bills,” they know that 90% of the new taxes will go to pork, pensions, perks and payroll. If Illinois passes any one of the taxes (or gambling expansions) that we’ve seen talked about over the last two years, the new revenues will be spent to finance the Illinois Political Class and their wasteful feather-bedding. They will come back 1 year later, complaining that they didn’t get enough the last time they hiked taxes.

If you are a conservative, spending caps are the only way you will ever see an end to the tax increase proposals. If you are a liberal, spending caps are the only way you will ever see revenues applied to real healthcare, real edcuation, and real mass transit, or any of the other items you hold dear. Right now, massive amounts of current and future revenues are pledged to bureaucracy. It is time some one told you the truth, and it is time you accepted it.

Left or Right, Middle or Extreme, Green or Libertarian, with out hard caps on Illinois governmental spending, we will have nothing but waste, fraud, and abuse as far as the eye can see. Some one tell Tom Cross (and the ILL GOP) that this might be an idea that has a little more policy protein than the thin gruel (see post below) he is offering Illinois citizens.

Filed Under: Bankrupting Illinois, Illinois Politics

Tom Cross’ thin gruel for Illinois Republicans

April 30, 2008 By 1 Comment

I just got my “Capitol Insider” e-mail from Tom Cross. Apparently, Tom has decided to that it might be time to run on some ideas. That’s better than nothing, but let’s see what those ideas are.
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From the Insider…

“We need to show people, right now, there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats,” Cross said. “We haven’t had a message. We haven’t told people what we are for.”

Some of us were saying that about 3-5 years ago, Tom, but welcome to the party.

From the Insider…

“If we are going to have young people vote for Republicans, we have to have young people run for office,” he said.

Too often they have been discouraged or disillusioned, he said, or are told to wait their turn. Although mistakes may be made, State Rep. Cross said young candidates bring an “energy” and “ideas” to the party.”

It’s a little late for that, isn’t it Tom. With a gaggle of geese honking for more spending on capitOL pork projects, you’ve pretty much signaled that you only want “new” geese, not anyone with an actual idea to offer. If you were serious about “new blood,” you’d be running a strong campaign for a “Yes” vote on the Constitutional Convention, and finding that new blood to run for delegates. You know, party building ideas – the kind of ideas that new people run on and Republicans come out to vote for.

From the Insider…

Cross told the audience that within the first five days of a Republican-led House of Representatives, they would approve the following:

1. A jobs bill that would help Illinois rebuild its crumbling infrastructure while creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the state.

2. The requirement for a real balanced budget

3. Ethics legislation that bans “pay to play” in Illinois

4. Creation of an annual “sales tax holiday”

5. Suspension of the state sales tax on gasoline

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Let’s comment on each one of those items.

1. Jobs Bill???!!! Here we have a state that is approaching bankruptcy, and Tom wants a “Jobs Bill?” Jobs for whom? CapitOl Bill Insiders. This is a meaningless plank. There is no “jobs bill” to bring jobs to Illinois. The political class is not to be taken seriously, the state is corrupt, and the Republican Party has now lowered itself to hawking “jobs bills.” Grade – F-

2. Balanced Budget! Now there is an idea!! Too bad that Republicans have a record of using debt financing as “revenue” under Illinois awful Constitution. A “real” balanced budget?! Welcome to the show, Tom. If you campaigned on a constitutional convention platform, and had a “Real Balanced Budget” clause in that platform, then this idea might actually resonate. In it’s current form and location, it looks more like a gimmick. Grade – C+

3. Ethics Bill – Easy to campaign for when Emil won’t let it pass, but let’s give you the benefit of the doubt. Again, it would appear more credible if it were wrapped in an aggressive Convention campaign. Grade – B

4. Sales Tax Holiday?! Brain Candy for the masses. It is utter nonsense, not to mention bad policy. When you consider how deep Illinois financial difficulties are, it’s down right irresponsible. Grade – F

5. Suspension of Gas Sales Tax – See above. Grade – F
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Here is the sad fact, everyone. Tom Cross may be trying, but he is failing miserably. To find out what he (and the ILL GOP) should be running on, read the post immediately above.

Filed Under: Bankrupting Illinois, IL Constitutional Convention

How you undermine your own financial future

April 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Hiring Leaps in Public Sector

Governments added 76,800 jobs in the first three months of 2008, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That’s the biggest jump in first-quarter hiring since a boom in 2002 that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. By contrast, private companies collectively shed 286,000 workers in the first three months of 2008. That job loss has led many economists to declare the country is in a recession.

Job numbers for April, out Friday, will show if the trend is continuing. Some economists say a government hiring binge could soften a recession in the short-term.

Such economists are called “idiots,” BTW.

State and local governments have run deficits for the last nine months, the Commerce Department reports. Tax collections went flat in the middle of 2007, but spending has continued to rise.

The USA has nearly 88,000 units of government, mostly local, that employ 22 million. Hiring has been strong at every level, from new CIA spies to preschool teachers. Some of what’s happening:

•The federal government increased its workforce by 13,800 in the first three months of 2008. Local governments added 47,000 and states 16,000.

•The Rochester, N.Y., school system added 289 teachers while the school population shrank by 1,300 students. It’s part of a state-funded effort to reduce class size. New York City is adding 1,300 teachers. Florida and Texas are also hiring to reduce class size.

•The Texas city of Weatherford (pop. 25,000) added an assistant city manager, nine firefighters, three police officers and extra crews for roads and parks. “We have serious infrastructure issues that we need to get a handle on,” says City Manager Jennifer Fadden.

As you get old, fat and lazy, you vote for more government support than your children can afford. Hence, you bankrupt your own childrens’ future. Thus is America’s financial epitath written.

Filed Under: Bankrupting Illinois, Economics

Is Billy Ray Cyrus pimping out his daughter?

April 30, 2008 By 6 Comments

That’s a pretty strong rhetorical question, but what kind of dad allows his daughter to become a sex symbol (at 15??!!)? Who is responsible for a 15 year-old’s career. How many more “Britanny Spears” does America need?

These are all questions might ask of a dad who is, at the very least, very involved in his daughter’s career.

Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus apologises for Vanity Fair shoot

The singer and actress issued a statement saying she was “embarrassed” by the pictures taken by Annie Leibovitz, the celebrity photographer.

Cyrus appears apparently topless with a satin sheet draped around her in the photographs, which will appear in the June issue of Vanity Fair.

The Miley Cyrus Uproar

Next to what crosses TV and computer screens every day, Miley’s photo is relatively tame – save for the fact that Vanity Fair was trying to lower the bar on this stuff to the age of 15. Parents have enough difficulty teaching their daughters how not to expose their bodies in a vulgar way; this makes it harder. If there’s good news here, it’s that folks in Buffalo, Charlotte or Iowa City are still insisting on cultural norms alien to the elites of Manhattan or Hollywood.

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Neither of the the above articles take Miley Cyrus’s (achy breaky Billy Ray Cyrus) father to task. The “Telegraph” article points out that he was “on the set all day” during the shoot. What the hell is the guy thinking?

Filed Under: Culture & Society

Moore and more on the brewing Property Tax Revolt

April 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Stephen Moore, now an editor at the Wall Street Journal, talks about the issue that I’ve been talking about for about 2-3 years now.

Here is the video at the Wall Street Journal’s newer TV blurbs.

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Here is the bottom line on Property taxes, everyone.

Property Tax Pain = Education Establishment Greed

If your Republican Representative isn’t campaigning against Education Establishment Greed, he’s campaigning to increase your taxes. Once you wake up to that fact, you can understand why Illinois is bankrupt.

Filed Under: Bankrupting Illinois, Property Tax Revolt

Hastert, another Republican schlub unworthy of respect

April 29, 2008 By 1 Comment

Why this poor party and the poor citizens of this state have to saddled with such poor, incompetent, and un-ethical leadership is beyond me. Somewhere, a poison seeped into the ILL GOP. It seems doubtful that the party can recover.

Witness says Hastert linked to alleged plot

The name of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was added Monday to the roster of political heavyweights linked by witnesses to an alleged plan to dump Chicago’s top federal prosecutor and kill a criminal investigation into a top fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

A witness at the corruption trial of Blagojevich insider Antoin “Tony” Rezko testified that Rezko told him in February 2005 about an effort under way to fire U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald and replace him with someone more compliant to be hand-picked by Hastert, then the top Republican in the House.

Rezko said the Hastert designee would then “order the prosecutor to stop the investigation,” recalled Elie Maloof, a former Rezko business associate who also testified that Rezko had told him to keep Rezko’s name to himself if he were questioned by authorities because it could damage Blagojevich.

Hastert spokesman Brad Hahn said the accusation that Hastert might be in on a scheme came “out of left field” and was without basis.

To the contrary, it sounds 100% reasonable.

Filed Under: Bankrupting Illinois, Culture & Society

McCain will be ridiculed…

April 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

But he’s 100% correct on this health care press release.

America could reduce much of it’s health care costs just by making people responsible for more of their own health. An aggressive campaign against obesity would pay for itself many times over. It appears McCain understands this.

From the Press Release…

Watch your diet, walk thirty or so minutes a day, and take a few other simple precautions, and you won’t have to worry about these afflictions. But many of us never quite get around to it, and the wake-up call doesn’t come until the ambulance arrives or we’re facing a tough diagnosis.

We can make tremendous improvements in the cost of treating chronic disease by using modern information technology to collect information on the practice patterns, costs and effectiveness of physicians. By simply documenting and disseminating information on best practices we can eliminate those costly practices that don’t yield corresponding value. By reforming payment systems to focus on payments for best practice and quality outcomes, we will accelerate this important change.

Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Race, Current Affairs

Only a party interested in vote fraud would be against ID requirements

April 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

For all those “conservatives” mewling about how awful the Bush presidency has been, there is a two word response. “Roberts, Alito.” If the ONLY difference between the parties are the Supreme Court picks, it’s enough of a reason to vote for the Republican nominee for President.

Supreme Court Upholds Voter Identification Law in Indiana

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter-identification law on Monday, declaring that a requirement to produce photo identification is not unconstitutional and that the state has a “valid interest” in improving election procedures as well as deterring fraud.

Which party has a “valid interest” in MORE vote fraud.

Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Race, Culture & Society

Good luck predicting oil prices…

April 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

As all the presidential candidates are blathering on about their dumb ideas to “reduce gas prices,” T. Boone Pickens is saying that oil is going to $150. The report from Lehman says that won’t happen.

Oil bubble will burst soon, Lehman Report says

Mumbai: The oil boom is on its last leg and may last a few months before a clutch of new refineries start operations amid slackening economic growth across the world, consultancy firm and investment bank Lehman Brothers has predicted in a report.

The report said supply is in fact outpacing demand growth even as inventories have been building up for quite some time now. This announcement must surely come as a huge relief for consumers reeling under high oil prices for some time now.

Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Race, Economics

Bill Moyers is a hack and a shill

April 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The articles below offer a brief recap on just how much of a fraud Bill Moyers really is.

I put the articles up on the site in honor of Jeremiah Wright’s “coming out party” on Moyer’s cheesy program. Nothing like a puff piece interview to bring Wright onto the Barack Obama campaign team.

PBS Pontificator

In his dual roles as head of the $75 million Florence and John Schumann Foundation and PBS Pontificator-in-Chief, Moyers regularly interviews the people he funds (conflict of interest). He has gotten rich at “the public trough,” producing shows partially financed by taxpayers and lining his pockets with the royalties (profiteering). And while he demands strict disclosure of others in the public sector, Moyers rarely tells his viewers when his interview subjects are the recipients of his foundation’s grants or discloses details of his own financial relationship with public broadcasting. The Enron-like lack of transparency at PBS has caught the attention of Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has oversight of PBS. Tauzin has asked the General Accounting Office to look into government-funded broadcasting, indicating a particular interest in Moyers and his refusal to let taxpayers know what’s happening with their money.

Not surprisingly, Moyers didn’t like the scrutiny.

PBS’s Televangelist

WHEN PBS executives asked themselves the question so many Americans asked after the September 11 attacks–what can we do?–their answer was obvious: Bill Moyers. We can give America Bill Moyers. Lots of Bill Moyers.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting promptly set aside some $440,000 in public funds for “emergency programming” featuring Moyers and friends. First there was “Moyers in Conversation,” six half-hour episodes beginning September 12. Also on September 12 came “New York Voices: The Day After,” an hour-long special co-hosted by Moyers. Then, on September 20, “America Responds: A National Conversation with Bill Moyers,” two hours of live dialogue between Moyers and, among others, author and rapper extraordinaire Cornel West, O.J. attorney Alan Dershowitz, and “Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler.

Filed Under: 2008 Presidential Race, Culture & Society
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