Congressional Mystery "earmarks" (pork)

The U.S. Congress is considering a bill — the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations measure — that presently contains 1,867 earmarks worth more than a half-billion tax dollars and averaging nearly $268,000 each. Many are for things that sound like worthy causes such as "hospital facilities and equipment," yet none of the sponsoring congressmen put their names on their earmarks, and the specifics are fairly lacking in every instance.

And the winners are - for Illinois, which total $20.83 millions:

$700,000
Joliet
Joliet Junior College for the Integrated Systems Technology program

$500,000
Aurora
Rush-Copley Medical Center for facilities and equipment

$500,000
Peoria
Bradley University, for facilities and equipment for the Collaborative Health and Education Center

$500,000
Peoria
Children's Hospital of Illinois, for facilities and equipment

$500,000
Chicago
Illinois Masonic Medical Center, for facilities and equipment

$500,000
Chicago
Loyola University Center for Public Service for equipment and programming

$500,000
Chicago
Shedd Aquarium for exhibits, and for its community outreach and mentoring initiative

$450,000
Godfrey
Lewis and Clark Community College for its National Great Rivers Research and Education Center

$400,000
Glencoe
Chicago Botanical Gardens, for facilities and equipment at the Center for Seed Conservation and Medicinal Plant Research

$400,000
Chicago
Northwestern Memorial Hospital for facilities and equipment for Prentice Women's Hospital

$400,000
Chicago Heights
St. James Hospital and Health Centers for facilities and equipment

$400,000
Chicago
Access Community Health Network for facilities and equipment

$375,000
Chicago
Chicago Family Health Center, for facilities and equipment

$375,000
Chicago
St. Xavier University for development of an early childhood professional development center and other program enhancements

$355,000
Aurora
Provena Mercy Center for diabetes education and prevention

$350,000
Rockford
Swedish American Health System for facilities and equipment for the Swedish American Health System and Crusader Clinic

$350,000
Chicago
Erie Family Health Center, for facilities and equipment

$350,000
Chicago
Hektoen Institute for Medical Research, for facilities and equipment for a health clinic

$350,000
Chicago
Academy for Urban School Leadership, for the Chicago Academy and Chicago Academy High School, which may include support for resident teachers

$350,000
Grayslake
College of Lake County to develop and implement English as a Second Language instructional classes

$315,000
Kankakee
Helen Wheeler Center for Community Mental Health to increase service capacity

$300,000
Carbondale
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, College of Education and Human Services for the Saluki Kids Academy

$300,000
Chicago
Museum of Science and Industry for its Science in Your World exhibit

$300,000
Jacksonville
MacMurray College for technology upgrades

$300,000
Jacksonville
Passavant Area Hospital for facilities and equipment

$300,000
Peoria
Heartland Community Health Clinic, for equipment

$300,000
Alton
St. Anthony's Health Center for community health center operations

$300,000
Chicago
LaRabida Children's Hospital for education and outreach related to diabetes and sickle cell disease

$300,000
Springfield
Illinois Primary Health Care Association, for electronic medical records systems

$275,000
Chicago
Saint Xavier University for equipment for the Nursing Skills Laboratory in Orland Park

$275,000
Chicago
Chicago Public Schools, for after school and extended learning opportunities

$250,000
Chicago
University of Chicago Hospitals for facilities and equipment for Comer Children's Hospital

$250,000
South Holland
Thornton Township High School District 205 for its Mastery Learning Labs project

$250,000
Wheaton
DuPage County Convalescent Center, for facilities and equipment

$250,000
Highland Park
Opportunity, Inc. to expand the Secure Document Destruction for Disabled Persons Division

$250,000
Chicago
Swedish Covenant Hospital for facilities and equipment

$250,000
Chicago
Rush University Medical Center for facilities and equipment

$250,000
Mattoon
Coles County Council on Aging, for facilities and equipment for the LifeSpan Senior Center

$225,000
Maywood
Loyola University Health System for facilities and equipment

$225,000
Chicago
Children's Memorial Hospital, for a medical records project

$210,000
Arlington Heights
Clearbrook Clinical Services, for services to children with developmental disabilities

$200,000
Peoria
County of Peoria, for facilities and equipment for the Bel-Wood Nursing Home

$200,000
McHenry
Pioneer Center of McHenry County for facilities and equipment for the Senior Residence Center for Adults with Disabilities

$200,000
Chicago
Roseland Christian Health Ministries for facilities and equipment for a health center in Dolton, IL

$200,000
Shelbyville
Sparks College for a closed captioner training program

$200,000
Galesburg
St. Mary's Medical Center for facilities and equipment

$200,000
McHenry
Family Service and Community Mental Health Center, for information technology

$200,000
Lake Villa
Expand its multi-systematic therapy program for Kids Hope United

$200,000
Kewanee
Kewanee Community School District #229, for equipment and technology

$200,000
Naperville
Learning Point Associates/North Central Regional Education Laboratory, to help schools implement No Child Left Behind

$200,000
Des Plaines
Network for Closing the Achievement Gap, for Project AYP in suburban Cook County, IL

$200,000
Chicago
Safer Foundation, for training and support services to ex-offenders

$175,000
Glenview
Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago, for the Early Childhood Connections Outreach Initiative

$175,000
South Holland
South Suburban College for equipment and technology for its allied health and nursing programs

$175,000
Dekalb
Northern Illinois University for its Vibration and Acoustics Center

$150,000
Bloomington
Home Sweet Home Ministries, for facilities and equipment for the residential treatment program

$150,000
Wheaton
Dupage County, for a countywide physical fitness assessment project pilot

$150,000
Brookfield
Community Support Services, for counseling and services for people with developmental disabilities and their families

$150,000
Chicago
Department of Housing for assistance to chronically homeless families

$150,000
Watseka
Iroquois Memorial Hospital and Resident Home, for facilities and equipment

$150,000
Charleston
Eastern Illinois University, for the nursing program

$150,000
Princeton
Bureau County Community Health Clinic, for facilities and equipment

$150,000
Chicago
Home of Life Community Development Corporation, for a financial services training and placement program

$150,000
Kankakee
Riverside Medical Center for equipment

$150,000
Chicago
Heartland Health Outreach for mental health services to refugee children

$125,000
Grundy County
Grundy County Health Department, for facilities and equipment for the Senior Citizen Support Center

$125,000
Waukegan
Christian Outreach of Lutherans (COOL), for Latino leadership development in underserved areas

$100,000
Chicago
Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center, for its Art Smarts after school program and for in-school workshops

$100,000
Chicago
History Makers for digitalization of an oral history archive of interviews with African Americans

$100,000
Moline
Western Illinois University for a counselor education program

$100,000
Naperville
North Central College for the Community Connections Program

$100,000
Lincoln
Lincoln College for the Lincoln Barat Teacher Training Initiative

$100,000
Normal
Illinois State University for Chicago teacher education pipeline programs in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools and City College of Chicago

$100,000
Woodstock
Woodstock Challenger Learning Center for Science & Technology for equipment for the Edventure Area

$100,000
Aledo
Mercer County Hospital for facilities and equipment

$100,000
Lockport
Milne-Kelvin Grove School District 91, for enhanced technology and computing systems and professional development

$100,000
Chicago
Eta Creative Arts Foundation, Inc., for arts education programs

$100,000
Chicago
Center for Community Transformation, to support faculty, student fellowships, and ongoing secular educational activities in community leadership transformation

$100,000
Arlington Heights
Clearbrook, to enhance its residential services for persons with developmental disabilities

$100,000
Chicago
Loretto Hospital, for facilities and equipment

$100,000
Chicago
Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago, for facilities and equipment

$100,000
Decatur
Community Health Improvement Center, for facilities and equipment for the Frances Nelson Community Health Center

$100,000
Decatur
Community Health Improvement Center, for facilities and equipment

$100,000
Fairfield
Frontier Community College to help create a lineman training program

$100,000
Peoria
Peoria School District 150, for the Tapping Future Leaders for Urban Schools Initiative

$75,000
Chicago
Signature Academy Inc. for its Exodus to Excellence After School Youth Program

$75,000
Rock Island
Augustana College for facilities and equipment for its Center for Communicative Disorders

$75,000
Rock Island
Community Health Care, for facilities and equipment

$50,000
Chicago
Broadtree Adventures in Education, for alternative and environmental education programs for at-risk youth

It sure will be nice if and when congressmen/women are forced to sign their names to these spending initiatives!

Open Meetings Act

The Open Meetings Act was revised in a major way effective July 1, 2006. Under the new law, government bodies who maintain their own websites must post agendas of meetings prior to the meeting and must post minutes after the meeting.

By the way, what ever happened to the much vaunted Woodford County Website that was supposed to be happening months ago?

TSA is loosing it.

Here is a graphic from the New York Times that illustrates what the Transportation Safety Administration will now regard as suspicious behavior:
















Ah, yes, the six faces of the terrorist.
We feel safer already.

Straight Talk On School District Taxes

We get so tired of the obfuscation when local school districts decide they need some new buildings, additions, and/or programs.

In some instances, a case can be made on it's merits. Too often though districts rely on sleight of hand when it comes referendum time. Particularly at this time of year come the promises of lower fees with a passed referendum and the concomitant threats of program cuts without one.

If school districts hope to persuade people to vote "yes" on referenda, their leaders and surrogates need to level with the voters about the additional costs.

Instead, what we often hear is something along the lines of "The tax rate will remain unchanged because we are restructuring our bonds", or " We were due to retire our bonds; we're just going to get new ones in the same amount", and "There will be no new taxes".

Of course, they're right about the tax rate, but the 'no new taxes' part simply isn't true. New spending is not free. Additional taxes are needed to repay the bonds. If voters reject the referendum, the property tax rate would go down. One must also remember that even with a level property tax rate, taxes will increase if property assessments increase.

These are simple principles, and the voters are not stupid.

School districts' goals should be to convince voters that the price of a new buildings, programs, or additions are reasonable and necessary, not pretend there will be no extra costs. Trying to fool the voters is probably the quickest way to lose a referendum.

Peter Jennings/Mike Wallace c. 1987

We were stunned, saddened, and disgusted to listen to an audio on clip last night from a 1987 PBS series on "Ethics in America". With apologies for not having access right now to the audio, below is from an excerpt from that March 7th program.

The moderator was Harvard University professor Charles Ogletree Jr. He asked ABC anchor Peter Jennings and 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace what should a TV reporter do if he learned the enemy troops with which he was traveling were about to launch a surprise attack on an American unit?. Both agreed getting ambush footage for the evening news should come before warning the U.S. troops.

For the installment on battlefield ethics Ogletree set up a theoretical war between the North Kosanese and the U.S.-supported South Kosanese. At first Jennings responded: "If I was with a North Kosanese unit that came upon Americans, I think I personally would do what I could to warn the Americans."
Wallace countered that other reporters, including himself, "would regard it simply as another story that they are there to cover." Jennings' position bewildered Wallace: "I'm a little bit of a loss to understand why, because you are an American, you would not have covered that story."

"Don't you have a higher duty as an American citizen to do all you can to save the lives of soldiers rather than this journalistic ethic of reporting fact?" Ogletree asked. Without hesitating Wallace responded: "No, you don't have higher duty...You're a reporter." Jennings immediately caves, conceding, "I think he's right too, I chickened out."

Ogletree turned to Brent Scrowcroft, now the National Security Adviser, who argued "you're Americans first, and you're journalists second." Wallace was mystified by the concept, wondering "what in the world is wrong with photographing this attack by North Kosanese on American soldiers?"

A few minutes later Ogletree noted the "venomous reaction" from George Connell, a Marine Corps Colonel. "I feel utter contempt. Two days later they're both walking off my hilltop, they're two hundred yards away and they get ambushed. And they're lying there wounded. And they're going to expect I'm going to send Marines up there to get them. They're just journalists, they're not Americans."

Wallace and Jennings agreed, "it's a fair reaction." The discussion concluded as Connell said: "But I'll do it. And that's what makes me so contemptuous of them. And Marines will die, going to get a couple of journalists."

Indeed.