Illinois State Fair - Bills and Prizes

Illinois has money to pay for the State Fair, but not to pay its bills.  Hmmm. Scott Reeder, in his story at The Southern Illinoisan brings up good points about prize money doled out for "flower arranging" and other vastly important activities and contests. He differentiates between the prizes given to adults and those given to children, their lambs and 4H and other such educational venues.  Since the 944 dollars in prizes at the first State Fair in 1853, prizes awarded have had a growth rate of 36 times the rate of inflation and now top out at over $883,500.
"Separate line items exist in the budget for youth programs like 4-H  and FFA..." ($786,400 for 4-H) and ($325,000 for FFA).

The 4H and FFA prizes make some sense. The other 3/4 of a million plus do not make much fiscal sense in a state that can't make ends meet.

Gingrich - NBC

Newt Gingrich handled David Gregory gently, never calling him anything worse than "elite media," during this Sunday's "Meet the Press." Naturally, Gregory decided to open the interview with "access to contraception," and attempting to link Rush Limbaugh's comments and apology with Newt, and Newt would have none of it.
Newt was astonished at the desperation of "the elite media" to AVOID talking about rising gas prices, President Obama's many apologies, the trillion dollar deficit, the longest period of unemployment since the Great Depression, and suddenly deciding that Rush Limbaugh is the crisis of the week. There is no debate about access to contraception, but there is a debate about the administration's war on religion while apologizing to foreign extremists. Gingrich called Gregory out for intentionally misleading by framing the issue falsely.

Santorum last week, Gingrich this week. Will Romney dare enter the Mordor of NBC news next week for a session of "Meet the Bully?"
Side note: GOP majority leader of the House of Representatives, Eric Cantor was interviewed after Newt, and during the course of the interview, he mentioned three different times that both he and Gregory were Jewish. I still wonder what that was about.
At the end of the Cantor interview, Gregory tried to get a comment about the primary that Cantor had already said he wouldn't answer, and didn't answer the second time either.
The last comment of the March 4, 2012 interview was from David Gregory. "Here...I thought I might catch you in a weak moment."
This is standard operating procedure for him and I'm surprised that he said it out loud like no one already knew.
Here is a link to the opening of Gingrich's NBC interview on YouTube.

SOPA - PIPA

Find out which of your Senators and Representatives support this invasive attempt at control of the internet by the Motion Picture and Music industry.
These bills will seriously impact the internet and stifle innovation. Find out more and contact your Reps.
SOPA Opera
Where Do Your Members of Congress Stand on SOPA and PIPA?

Evacuation of Illinois continues

Illinois metals company moving operations to Indiana

Last one out, turn off the lights. If there are any lights left.

Illinois citizens: Disarmed, overtaxed and tightly ruled by incompetent and dishonest politicians north of I-80 and their helpless accomplices to the south/downstate. It is not surprising that more and more companies are abandoning this state. Indiana will gain nearly 100 jobs, Illinois loses more, continuing its destructive cycle.

"Shovel Ready" President O's Joke on US

Ban Chicago Politicians, not trans fat

The “Artificial Trans Fat Restriction Act,” an amendment to House Bill 1600, would bar the sale at restaurants or school vending machines of items containing more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving or that contain vegetable shortening, margarine or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Restaurant News
The bills sponsor, Rep. LaShawn Ford (D)of Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune the legislation was “a step in the right direction.”
I call B.S., Mr. Ford. This is yet another intrusion into the the lives of the citizens by the state. This is NOT what our government is for. State government has more than its share of things to get figured out in Illinois. And besides, food manufacturers are eliminating it as an ingredient already. (Private sector is already at work on this)
Quit screwing around, wasting valuable time making laws about food ingredients and other methods of intruding on personal decisions of your constituents, and instead, balance the budget, pay your bills, and make Illinois a place that someone wants to set up shop and hire people, not a nanny state closely following the lead of the failed state of California.
Let the people think for themselves, or do you not trust your constituents to do that? Considering that they voted for you, Mr. Ford, maybe you are right, they may be ignorant sheep that really need some herding, unable to figure out what to eat until you tell them it is safe.

Riding the Unicorn, We will not rest...

Chicago Communists Join Wisconsin Rally

Wisconsin public sector union protesters now have Chicago Communists on their side.

What a wonderful thing to have such allies.

Illinois - Destination of Choice for Dems on the Lam

Wisconsin, and now even Indiana Democrat lawmakers are hiding out in Illinois to avoid their duties. Welcome to Illinois, you constitutional cowards! Like you, Illinois Democrats have been avoiding their fiscal public duty for years. You'll no doubt be made welcome by our Chicago governor, Mr. Quinn, who won't have you arrested and returned to your own state. He may just borrow some more money and pay for your stay.

Change Nobody Believes In

From the Wall Street Journal
Change Nobody Believes In
A bill so reckless that it has to be rammed through on a partisan vote on Christmas eve.

Climate Conspiracy

Hide The Decline - Climategate

Congress may probe faked global warming data

meanwhile... Rome burns...

Barack Obama 'vows major greenhouse gas emissions cuts'

And...
Overheard in Tam's Hallway

More Climategate links

Cash For Clunkers-Japanese and Korean Style

Top ten trade-ins - Cash for Clunkers
1. Ford Explorer
2. Ford F150 Pickup 2WD
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4 WD
4. Jeep Cherokee 4 WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan
6. Chevrolet Blazer 4 WD
7. Ford Explorer 2 WD
8. Ford F150 Pickup 4 WD
9. Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2 WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD Van

Top ten new car purchases - Cash for Clunkers

1. Toyota Corolla

2. Ford Focus FWD

3. Honda Civic

4. Toyota Prius

5. Toyota Camry

6. Ford Escape FWD

7. Hyundai Elantra

8. Dodge Caliber

9. Honda Fit

10. Chevrolet Cobalt
The top ten trade ins are all American brands, but the top 10 models purchased with U.S. taxpayer subsidies include 5 Japanese models and a S. Korean. This may be yet another of the unintended consequences of yet another "taxpayer supported bailout" for auto manufacturers and dealers. Using a blunt instrument like this legislation to attempt to shape consumer buying by using government subsidies (the giveaway of taxpayer dollars) shows that central planning by our government is not the way to go for the U.S. economy.

Another unintended consequence is the elimination of maybe half a million perfectly functional used cars that the economically challenged, young and old, can actually afford to own and operate to get to a job. The smaller number of used cars inventoried will now cost more due to supply and demand unbalancing. As another side track, the engine (which must be destroyed) contains some of the most valuable used parts of a scrapped vehicle, which will increase the cost for used motor parts for the most popular trade-ins. Take that track further, and the price of scrap metal will likely fall because of the sudden increased supply, damaging the scrap industry. The demand for the scrap may have to come from the Japanese, who will gain many of the benefits from this giveaway program.


The "environmental" angle is also a bogus add on, because much more serious emissions are produced during manufacturing than are being accounted for with this spin, recalculating for the drastically shortened expected life cycle of the vehicle. Maybe the program will be so successful that we can fire up a couple of extra coal power plants to manufacture some replacements. The employment side of that is arguable, but the "saving our environment" angle is phony.

Read the Bills Act

The light of day is still exposing some liberals as the hypocrites that they are. When the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee states matter of factly at a National Press Club luncheon that reading the bills before voting on them is useless, unless you have 2 days and two lawyers to explain it to you after you read it, then the bill is also going to be too complicated to work as planned, and will fail.

To stop this kind of nonsense, we should strongly consider asking our representatives to pass the “Read the Bills Act”

“No LEGISLATION without representation.”

We hold this truth to be self-evident, that those in Congress who vote on legislation they have not read, have not represented their constituents. They have misrepresented them.

This clip of Michigan's rep, John Conyers, husband of Monica Conyers, a convicted bribe taking Detroit City Council member, should make the average American quite angry with liberal "politics as usual."

Decatur Coal Gasification Plant update

Emerson, Secure Energy partner on $800M coal gasification plant

"An Emerson unit has formed a strategic relationship with Secure Energy Inc. to help build an $800 million alternative energy plant in Decatur, Ill.

The project would be the first coal gasification-to-synthetic natural gas plant to be constructed in the United States in two decades..."

more info about the gasification plant (H&R)

Cash for clunkers - defense appropriations?

Senate votes 60-36 to keep cash-for-clunkers in bill.

US Senate keeps car sales stimulus in war bill.

The cash-for-clunkers bill is bogus and could be the topic of another post, but including it with the war appropriations bill seems like an obvious way to steamroll a boondoggle into action.

Sausage recipe - Porkulus

"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." -- Otto von Bismarck, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (1815-1898)

The Democrats certainly know this and they didn't want the ingredients known to the public before serving it up less than half-baked. This is not the way that laws should be made and our government representatives know better. There was such a rush to get this passed that the 1073 page bill was delivered, still unfinished, at midnight Thursday. At 2:24 pm, the House Democrats passed it. At 5:29, Senate Democrats passed it.
14 hours to read a 1073 page package, presented with hand written notes, insertions scrawled in the margins, and other interesting markings and immediately voting on it. My guess is that not even one House or Senate member read the entire completed bill before voting for it.
To further conceal the recipe, it was only made publicly available as a pdf file, which doesn't allow text search, making it even harder to directly access particular topics which are sprinkled and hidden throughout.

Here are the links to the sausage recipe that now is on our table, do you dare to read it?

The Democrat Stimulus Bill.
Porkulus Bill, part 1

Porkulus Bill, part 2

Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of Conference, Division A

Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of Conference, Division B

"All applicable provisions in the Act are designated as an emergency for purposes of pay-as-you-go principles."

This is how our Illinois Reps and Senators voted.
Yea IL-1 Rush, Bobby [D] Yea IL-2 Jackson, Jesse [D] Present IL-3 Lipinski, Daniel [D] Yea IL-4 Gutierrez, Luis [D] Nay IL-6 Roskam, Peter [R] Yea IL-7 Davis, Danny [D] Yea IL-8 Bean, Melissa [D] Yea IL-9 Schakowsky, Janice [D] Nay IL-10 Kirk, Mark [R] Yea IL-11 Halvorson, Deborah [D] Yea IL-12 Costello, Jerry [D] Nay IL-13 Biggert, Judy [R] Yea IL-14 Foster, Bill [D] Nay IL-15 Johnson, Timothy [R] Nay IL-16 Manzullo, Donald [R] Yea IL-17 Hare, Phil [D] Nay IL-18 Schock, Aaron [R] Nay IL-19 Shimkus, John [R]
Yea IL Burris, Roland [D] Yea IL Durbin, Richard [D]

His reign has ended

Hello Governor Quinn
"I haven't done anything wrong. I look forward to proving my innocence, clearing my name and that's what's gonna happen."
Blagojevich, speaking after the state Senate's vote to convict him of abuse of power.
Good luck with that, Mr. Blagojevich.

As he drove "down there" to Springfield today, the Governor said this to a NYT reporter doing a feature article, “I come out of the alleys of Chicago politics. That’s a tough place. The politics there is not motivated by idealism or high purpose. It’s nuts and bolts, and you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. I came up that way.”

This was part of the response from Andy McKenna, the Illinois Republican Party's chairman.
"Change for the people of Illinois will come when elected officials actually impose ethical reform, fiscal reform, create jobs and bring greater transparency and accountability to our government."
My only contention with Mr. McKenna is that I don't want the government creating jobs, I prefer that government make the business conditions favorable for private enterprise to create jobs.

Stimulus Pork Flooding

The lines at the Stimulus Pork Dollar feed lots are growing, even pet projects here in Central Illinois. Taking the federal dollar when it comes our way, but complaining if it goes elsewhere is a real problem. It is ALL coming out of our own pocket, and it certainly is not free. The cost of the bureaucracy will continue to drain the value of the taxes taken. Our economy needs to be weaned from the federal pork, not flooded by it. The "Stimulus Bill" will weaken our economy by rewarding the same "Give me mine" attitude that pervades the national liberal mindset that helped to create many of the economic problems we face. The solution to fiscal problems is not to add more debt, it is to produce more product or value added, enhancing revenue. Handing a huge debt burden to our children and grandchildren is an irresponsible solution.
If the promised "middle class" tax cuts that the President calls for are enacted, the balance of tax payers and tax consumers will tilt to over the 50% mark for the tax consumers. This is meant to be a way of growing government and ensuring a voter base tidal wave that will support the Democrats, which the DNC thinks will help grow their power base. After all, who would support tax cuts if most people didn't pay taxes at the time? The smaller number of economic producers that will still pay will not be equally represented by our increasingly socialism oriented elected officials. This state owned and operated economy would weaken the incentive for big businesses or the smaller ones who make up the REAL American economy, to grow or prosper. They will be too busy keeping the government pickpockets from taking nearly everything they work for to cover for the tax consumers who choose not to produce, and of course, the tax consumers will likely vote for the candidate who promises more of the same gravy.
How many jobs might the stimulus bill create?

$825 Billion, and Not One Job May Result
by Connie Hair
"...The creation of jobs is key to any stimulus of the economy, and House Republicans in the alternative are pushing for the free market solution of tax cuts to let working families and business who create the jobs in this country keep more of their own money to put back into the economy. The fundamental differences in the solutions to the economic morass offered from each side of the aisle could not be any clearer.I spoke with House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) outside the committee room about any Republican plans to try to bring some sanity into this effort. Cantor told me, “I am going to be meeting with the President next week with the Republican working group to try and lay out our vision of how we believe a stimulus bill should look, a bill that should be focused on the preservation, protection and creation of jobs. Given what Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the rest on the Democrat side on the Hill are doing, I am very fearful that we are not going to get it right, which is why we have to all speak out and say, look, we can’t keep going borrowing money to spend on favorite pet programs just to put us trillions of dollars more in debt when what we could be doing is doing it the smart way by providing tax relief for middle class families, small business, entrepreneurs, so that we can get this economy going again. … It is very clear that the White House is going to be able to shape this, which is why it is very important that we go to the White House and bring the President our proposals to make this a bill that works.”...