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.

Guest Opinion/Editorial - Union Transparency

Ruling clears way for union accountability
By Michael Reitz

As Stephen Covey, the best-selling author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, once said: “Accountability breeds response-ability.” Thanks to a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals, labor unions will finally be required to show some accountability and transparency for how they spend their members’ money—a crucial step in making Big Labor more responsive to its membership.

On August 1, Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg ruled the U.S. Department of Labor can require state affiliates of the National Education Association to provide detailed financial records to members.

The federal Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) requires labor organizations to annually file detailed reports, including information about staff salaries and benefits, income, and expenditures. Congress declared the law was “necessary to eliminate or prevent improper practices on the part of labor organizations.”

In 2002, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao undertook a comprehensive effort to modernize regulations that had remained unchanged for 40 years. These union disclosure reports are now posted online, rather than gathering dust in a Washington, D.C. basement.

Union members have benefited from a new era of union transparency. They have learned that labor organizations use their dues for a host of things that have nothing to do with collective bargaining. For example, in 2005, organized labor spent $1.3 million on golf, $7.3 million at plush resorts, nearly $1.3 million for amusement park events, and $641,000 for sporting events. Ironworkers Local 40 in New York spent $52,879 on a new Cadillac for a retiring president. SEIU Local 660 in Los Angeles spent $153,000 on movie tickets.

For the past four decades, federal disclosure requirements applied only to unions that represented private sector employees. Unions that consisted wholly of government employees, such as the Washington Education Association or the Washington Federation of State Employees, were exempt. As a result, millions of union members have no idea how union officials spend their dues.
Secretary Chao addressed this issue by requiring local and state public sector unions to also comply with the law if they are affiliated with a national union that falls under the Act. The implications of this change are enormous and will affect local unions in all 50 states.

Thirty-two affiliates of the National Education Association, including the Washington Education Association, sued to avoid disclosure in 2003. The recent Court of Appeals decision overturned a lower court ruling and stated the U.S. Department of Labor did not exceed its authority by applying federal rules to state government unions. The Court instructed the Department of Labor to reissue its analysis for why the change was necessary. This process will likely require several months to complete.
This ruling brings organized labor a step in the right direction. Washington state’s government collective bargaining agreements mandate union representation for tens of thousands of public employees. These employees are forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment, but have little information about how their dues are spent.

Financial transparency is essential to good stewardship. As a matter of public policy, we give voters access to information about the finances of political candidates. Shareholders of corporations receive regular financial reports. But when union funds are mismanaged, union members are often unknowing victims. Establishing financial disclosure rules for labor organizations will ensure accountability to union shareholders and will reduce the potential for corruption.
Public employees cannot make informed decisions about the benefit of union representation unless they know the details of the union’s income and expenditures.

Unions routinely argue against this level of accountability to their members. The AFL-CIO objected to Secretary Chao’s modernized reporting forms, claiming that compliance would cost organized labor over a billion dollars. In reality, as reported by National Review, the AFL-CIO spent only $54,000 for the bookkeeping and related expenses.

The Washington Education Association actually argued in court that it had no fiduciary responsibility to the teachers it represents. In other words, the union doesn’t have to account to its own members for how dues are spent.

Labor unions will continue to use and abuse their members as long as they are permitted to operate in the shadows. Only accountability will breed the responsiveness the modern labor movement is in such dire need of recapturing, and Washington state can be a leader in this process.

The Washington Legislature need not wait for a federal directive. The American Legislative Exchange Council has state model legislation that mandates disclosure. If the legislature does nothing, however, the U.S. Department of Labor may soon require unions to open their books.

Michael Reitz is legal counsel and director of the Labor Policy Center. He earned a juris doctorate from Oak Brook College of Law in Fresno, California. He is a member of the Washington and California Bars and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Embryonic Stem-Cells For Beauty? Not Pretty!

The British Daily Mail has been writing about the disgusting practice of using Human Embryonic Stem Cells for the ultimate in cosmetic surgery. The cell apparently are very helpful for face lifts. Did someone say slippery slope of growing humans for spare parts?

You may view the latest in the series of articles, here.

Illinois Gubernatorial Poll

Here are the latest poll numbers from Rasmussen Reports:

Date… Blag. Topinka

Aug 7… 45% 37%

Jul 6….. 45% 34%

Apr 18… 38% 44%

Mar 27… 41% 43%

Feb 22… 42% 36%

Jan 25… 37% 48%

These are "likely voters". Just thought y'all might like to see the trend.

Hillary's Primary Bid

The Boston Herald reports:

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Dick Bennett has been polling New Hampshire voters for 30 years. And he’s never seen anything like it.
“Lying b**** . . . shrew . . . Machiavellian . . . evil, power-mad witch . . . the ultimate self-serving politician.”
No prizes for guessing which presidential front-runner drew these remarks in focus groups.
But these weren’t Republicans talking about Hillary Clinton. They weren’t even independents.
These were ordinary, grass-roots Democrats. People who identified themselves as “likely” voters in the pivotal state’s Democratic primary. And, behind closed doors, this is what nearly half of them are saying.
“I was amazed,” says Bennett. “I thought there might be some negatives, but I didn’t know it would be as strong as this. It’s stunning, the similarities between the Republicans and the Democrats, the comments they have about her.”
Bennett runs American Research Group Inc., a highly regarded, independent polling company based in Manchester, N.H. He’s been conducting voter surveys there since 1976. The polls are financed by subscribers and corporate sponsors.
He has so far recruited 410 likely voters in the 2008 Democratic primary, and sat down with them privately in small groups to find out what they really think about the candidates and the issues.
His conclusion? “Forty-five percent of the Democrats are just as negative about her as Republicans are. More Republicans dislike her, but the Democrats dislike her in the same way.”

Hillary Clinton is probably a very beatable Democrat in the primaries but only if someone steps up to the plate.

Mark Your Calendars For Stossel - Redux

The following is a note from John Stossel. Mark your calendars now and spread the word to all your friends and family.

Another bit of good news: Our special on the destructive government monopoly in education, "Stupid in America," will rerun Sept. 1st! This gives me a chance not just to show the surprisingly well-rated documentary again, but also to tell the story of what happened after "Stupid" aired: the teachers union protest, their demand that I teach for a week, my acceptance, and the revealing bureaucratic response to that.

"Stupid in America," 9 p.m. Friday, Sept 1st, (in 20/20's usual time slot)

Illinois Unfunded Liabilities Mess

Just in way of a not so sublte reminder, we present these numbers for your perusal:

Teacher's Retirement System $21,989,800,000
State Employees System $8,810,500,000
State Universities Retirement System $6,999,700,000
Judges Retirement System $671,600,000
General Assembly Retirement System $129,600,000
Total Unfunded Liability $38,601,200,000

Media attention has been focused upon these underfunded systems for which the State is responsible for making contributions. However, there are several other publicly funded systems not accounted for in the above which municipalities and counties fund. Here are their unfunded amounts:

Chicago Police $3,101,300,000
Chicago Fire $1,610,900,000
Cook County Employees $2,750,000,000
Chicago Municipal Employees $2,465,400,000
Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund $2,154,200,000
Downstate Police $1,921,800,000
Downstate Fire $1,114,900,000
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District $416,600,000
Cook County Forest Preserve District $158,800,000
Chicago Park District $128,300,000
Chicago Laborers $24,600,000
Chicago Teachers $1,713,500,000
Total Unfunded Liability $17,560,300,000

We've highlighted those applicable to Woodford County. All of these pension systems together carry a cumulative cost of $56,161,500,000 in unfunded liability. In other words, these public pension systems have over 56 billion dollars in obligations for which no money has yet been set aside. To put this into perspective, the Governor's proposed FY 2007 budget calls for 45.4 billion dollars in spending; total!

Letters From: Macon County (Decatur)

One of our buddies down in Decatur writes:
"As taxpayers, it is very discouraging to realize that because our government is not willing to cut their spending, we as taxpayers are forced to cut ours."

We agree. He continues:

We have always advocated lower local taxes, both sales and property taxes. Today (June 19, 2006), we held a rally on the steps of the County Court House to promote a petition drive to call for Lower Property Taxes Now. Decatur and Macon County have some of the highest sales and property taxes in Illinois. If we require more fiscal discipline from our elected leaders, they can "Show Us The Money" and let us keep our taxes.

Blago's "Pre-school For All" (well, for some)

Let's all just agree that the names for the Health Insurance and Pre-School initiatives are political branding, and have nothing to do with really covering expenses "for all". That will save us considerable time and effort.

Now, with regard to the 10,000 or so 3 and 4 year old children proposed to be "guaranteed" pre-school the first year, wouldn't it just make a lot more sense to mandate attendance for 5 or 6 year olds at kindergarten? Illinois doesn't require schooling until a child reaches 7 years old!

Illinois also keeps no statistics what-so-ever on what age children do start kindergarten nor how many skip straight to first grade!

Thus, aren't we putting the cart a bit before the horse with a pre-school initiative? Of course, "Kindergarten for all" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

Illinois "Early Retirement Program" scam

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (ICGFA) published its study last month, saying the state will have to increase pension contributions by $10.3 billion over nearly 40 years.

That increase is necessary because of legislation that allowed the state to avoid pension contributions in fiscal 2006 and 2007. Illinois currently has the most underfunded pension program in the nation, the report said.

Dan Hankiewicz, pension manager for the ICGFA, authored the pension report. He said the state now has a goal of catching up on pension obligations by 2045. Carrying that debt for so long will put the Illinois budget under constant pressure, Hankiewicz said.

(above courtesy of the Capitol Fax Blog)

Let's Make Like Rhode Islanders

Illinois is drowning in debt and deficits.

Rhode Island is looking at major reform which Illinoisans would be wise to examine.

Lawmakers there, in June, enacted a package of tax and spending reforms that were quickly signed into law by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri (R). Rhode Islanders now have an optional flat-rate income tax, tighter caps on property taxes, the eventual elimination of an automobile excise tax, lower capital gains taxes, and controls on growth in education spending.

The session saw Democrats, who control the legislature, join Republicans to push for the reforms.

Rhode Island employers have complained about being unable to attract top people to their firms because of the heavy income tax burden imposed on high-income earners. High-income earners in Rhode Island pay an income tax rate of 9.9 percent, one of the highest state income tax rates in the country.

House Speaker William Murphy (D-West Warwick) and fellow Democratic leaders responded with a plan to allow high-income earners to pay taxes under the existing tax structure, with its multiple tax rates depending on income level, and income tax deductions and exemptions, or under a new flat-rate tax structure without deductions or exemptions. The tax rate will fall over several years, ending at 5.5 percent in 2011. Neighboring Massachusetts has a flat-rate income tax of 5.3 percent.

Lawmakers also strengthened the property tax cap. Over six years, the current 5.5 percent cap on annual increases in property tax levies would drop to 4 percent. A four-fifths vote of local governing bodies would be needed to exceed the tax cap limits.

The tax package also continues a phase-out of Rhode Island's motor vehicle excise tax.

Lawmakers also gave Rhode Island citizens the chance to vote on a constitutional amendment this November to limit state spending to 97 percent of the estimated revenues from all sources, with the balance to be deposited into a budget reserve account that can total no more than 5 percent of revenues. If the payment made to the budget reserve account would increase the amount beyond 5 percent, the excess would go to the Rhode Island Capital Fund for the funding of capital projects only, not to debt service as currently permitted.

Under the proposed amendment, debt service transfers would no longer be allowed to pay for general fund spending. The state would have to cut general fund spending or boost revenues to make up for the loss of debt service money.

Any of this sound like it might address some of our problems in Illinois?

Illinois Spending

Are Illinois voters beginning to wake up to what has been taking place for the last few years? You know, unlike the federal government, the State of Illinois is not allowed, by statute, to have "deficit spending". The "budget" by definition is to be balanced. So how have our elected representatives 'solved' this dilemma? - "creative funding". We rob Peter (the pension funds, the earmarked-special project funds, the accounts payable, and we auction off assets) to pay Paul (the Unions, the Chicago special interests, the politically connected and political contributors).

The Illinois State Comptroller has calculated the State'’s Fiscal Year '05 GAAP Budget Balance at a deficit of $3.1 billion . This represents a $600 million deterioration from last year's GAAP deficit of $2.5 billion.

We suppose it could be worse. We could be living in New Jersey.

Independence Day

As we reflect upon this 230th anniversary of that summer in 1776, we realize that those men (and Mrs. Adams) were truly visionaries.

They asked, and we ask today, to be left alone. We are born rebels. We don't like others telling us what to do, and we don't "cotton to" those which wish to tax us without true representation.

We Americans maintain that we have no desires what-so-ever on others' lands or properties. When we feel we must fight with another nation, we choose to fight for what's right - not to conquer; and we alone among nations choose to fight with morality of the highest standard.

READ the Declaration and the subsequent Constitution of the United States of America. You will be proud. THEY were the greatest generation. Our WWII brothers and sisters were the second greatest generation, Mr. Brokaw not withstanding.

This country has done amazing things. This July 20th is the 37th anniversary of our landing two Americans on the moon - Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin - Michael Collins orbited to await their return from the surface of the moon.

China intends to visit the moon "sometime around 2020".
Japan can't do it. Russia can't do it. North Korea can't do it. Only the United States could do it - 50 years before anyone else. There is no other nation on this planet which has a machine roving around on Mars; and it is purely scientific - for the benefit of all mankind.

Our Space Shuttle fleet is aging. Our "International" Space Station's future is in jeopardy.
However, no other country on this good earth could have fielded such endeavors. The Shuttle technology is from 1970's America. Has anyone else in the world matched this feat - a reusable launch-to-space-and-return vehicle? The old Soviet regime tried; and failed.

We as Americans have much of which to be proud. We have a proven legacy of huge goals accomplished. Let us have serious discussions about what we must do next; not for ourselves, but rather for the world. To quote the plaque sitting on the moon:

"We came in peace for all mankind".

Governor Backs Off Toll Roads Sale/Lease

The Associated Press today reports that Blagojevich says that he won't sell or lease the Illinois tollway to come up with extra money.

We guess all of those new signs with his name on them were enough.
Now we need to take the Illinois Lottery off the table.

Indiana has agreed to a $3.8 billion lease of its 157-mile tollway in the northern part of the state. Indiana will use the money from the deal to pay for highway and other construction projects, they say.

Illinois "Higher Education" Cost Gets Higher - Again

The University of Illinois plans to raise tuition by 60 percent over five years to meet budgetary needs. Students also must pay a $250-per-semester fee to cover "routine maintenance".

Every state college in Illinois has raised tuition rates and fees. Illinois Board of Higher Education spokesman Don Sevener has said, "It looks like a significant increase, but spread over four years is really a pretty modest year-by-year increase."

Ahem.

We must wonder if Mr. Sevener has any kids attending college.

Stop The Growing Quantity Of Taxing Districts!

Yes, we have had this discussion before, but the Herald-Review puts it so succinctly that we are forced to revisit the issue. Take a moment and read this last of a four-article series.

There are just too many taxing districts (authorities) in Illinois at large and Woodford County in specific. Illinois leads the nation.

The most recent count which we have (from the Illinois Department of Revenue) for "taxing authorities" in Woodford County is 140 unique bodies - for a County population of 37,000.

There surely must be some duplication of administrative costs in such a system. Couldn't we adopt a more efficient model without making it into an "us versus them", polarizing discussion?