Good question

A Quad City Times reader gets it:

Bush is failing in the business of running a country

When I ask a good number of my Republican friends what they like about George W. Bush, they are quiet for several moments, and the finally come up with, “He knows how to run a business, and manage people.”

We’ll ignore the fact for the the time being that he ran every business he was handed by his father’s debtors into the ground, to focus on a fun analogy.

Let’s pretend the United States of America is a giant business who has made an enormous investment. Untold billions of dollars in capital and even more in human life. The investment is not going well and continues to drop in value. Turns out, the insider information the public was fed was a bunch of lies. GWB continues telling investors that it is going great. Fires anyone who disagrees. Repeats the same marketing jingo over and over hoping that stock will go up.

However, the investment is rapidly turning into a real bum decision, and GWB is running out of jingo. So what comes next? The most surreal of all possible explanations: “That we must honor the $10 billion we have lost, by losing $20 billion more.” Is this a sound way to run a business? Or a country?

Todd Reed

Davenport

Any Bush supporters care to answer? Didn't think so.
By the way, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll asking, "Has Bush's Presidency Been a Success or Failure?" resulted in fully FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT of respondents saying they think it's been a failure, while 42% feel it's been a success.

But what really puts it in perspective, is that when the exact same question was asked about the Clinton Presidency only ONE MONTH after he was impeached by the by the house, SEVENTY-ONE percent felt his presidency was a success, while only 25% felt it was a failure.

Perhaps some of our Republican bretheren might comment on that as well?

Sarah Kolb trial begins

In what will undoubtedly prove to be a showcase trial for all involved, drawing enormous amounts of publicity even on a nationwide scale, the trial of Sarah Kolb, the now 17 year old charged with the grisly murder of 16 year old Adrianne Reynolds.

8 of the 12 jurors who will hear the case were seated today, with jury selection to continue Tuesday morning, with opening arguments slated to begin Wednesday.

Politically, this is Terronez's golden moment, but he's going up against some very tough opposition in public defender Dave Hoffman, an experienced, tough, tenacious, and very sharp attorney in his own right.

Of interest is the fact that another defendant, Cory Gregory, was not listed on the witness list for the prosecution.

Cory C. Gregory, 17, of Moline, is also charged with murder in the case. Nathan Gaudet, 16, of Moline, pleaded guilty in March to concealing a homicide in connection with the case.

During jury selection this morning, prospective jurors were read a list of 46 names of people who may testify for the state, and a list of 28 names of people who may testify for the defense. Mr. Gregory, who last week was negotating with prosecutors about the possibility of testifying against Ms. Kolb, was not among those listed by the state. Mr. Gaudet was listed, as were various police officers, forensic experts and teachers and students from the Black Hawk Outreach Center.

Twelve jurors and two alternates will be chosen to hear the evidence. Selection of the 14 was expected to take up to two days, and the presentation of evidence about 10 days to two weeks.

State's Attorney Jeff Terronez is the lead prosecutor. Public Defender David Hoffman is the lead defense attorney. The trial is being held in the Rock Island County Justice Center.

Ms. Kolb, dressed in black slacks, a white turtleneck and a gray sweater, turned occasionally and smiled at members of her family. She was arrested and charged in the case Jan. 26, hours after Ms. Reynolds body was found. She's been in custody since.

NOTE: this is an old story on this case. To get to the main page, click here and scroll down for a more recent post.

To get to a post on the verdict, click here.

Iowa's first primary status on shaky ground

Hoping to scare the stuffing out of your favorite Democratic activist tonight? Just show up at his or her door dressed as a 2008 presidential nominating calendar that dumps Iowa’s first-in-the nation caucuses.

And don’t forget the smelling salts.

Iowa Democrats have been spooked for more than a year since the Democratic National Committee set up a commission to consider changes in the nomination calendar. The panel was formed after an Iowa-anointed Democratic dream team of John Kerry and John Edwards lost a bitter fight for the White House.

Party leaders from Michigan, New Jersey and other states turned up the volume on chronic complaints that Iowa and New Hampshire – home of the first presidential primary – are poor places to start picking a nominee. They’re too white, too rural and too cold, critics charge. And besides, they stuck us with losers.

Democrats did what they do best – they lost, searched furiously for a scapegoat and appointed a big commission. All that’s left to do now is make things worse.

After several meetings, the 40-member commission has decided that Iowa and New Hampshire should share the early spotlight with two or more other states. Ideally, those new additions would have a population of less than 5 million, a minority population of 15 percent or more and would be closely-contested “purple’’ swing states.

South Carolina often is mentioned, although President Bush’s 14-point win there hardly makes it a battleground. Nevada and New Mexico, with large Hispanic populations and tight 2004 presidential contests, are the best examples. Colorado and Arkansas also are possibilities.

The commission is scheduled to meet for the final time on Dec. 1 to vote on a revised strategy and submit that plan to the Democratic National Committee and its chairman, Howard Dean. But the Washington rumor mill already is churning out proposals allegedly being considered.

The good news for Hawkeye State Democrats is that nearly all of those rumored options keep Iowa in its traditional pole position, at least for 2008.

“If there is a consensus, it appears to be that Iowa goes first, in my opinion,’’ said Roxanne Conlin, a veteran Democratic activist and Des Moines attorney who is representing Iowa on the commission along with fellow attorney Jerry Crawford.

“I think it’s possible we will be struggling the rest of, at least, my natural life to keep our state first. I’ve been through this battle myself three times,’’ Conlin said.

New Hampshire Democrats, on the other hand, are freaking out.

Their latest bout of anxiety was sparked by a plan detailed on the National Journal’s Hotline Web site. The “leaked’’ proposal called for putting Iowa’s caucuses on Jan. 14, 2008, and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 29 while allowing two or more other states to hold caucuses in between.

Under than scenario, New Hampshire would slip to the fourth slot or worse. Granite State Democrats have vowed to fight.

But if party leaders do decide to demote New Hampshire, clearly Iowa is next. Once Democrats vanquish one half of the dynamic duo, booting the other will be effortless.

That would be bad news for Iowa Democrats who have successfully used the caucuses to build organizations, raise money and cover their walls with photos showing them arm-in-arm with party luminaries.

But the argument could also be made that Iowa, once a unique and intimate presidential proving ground, has become merely a stage prop in a national campaign that starts too soon, costs too much and offers little more than a daily drumbeat of charges and counter-charges.

What's your opinion? Would letting states other than New Hampshire and Iowa essentially pick the Dem nominee be a good move? Why? What are the downsides to having these two states play such a prominent role in chosing the Democratic presidential candidate?

Bush veers right in second go at Supreme Court nominee

U.S. President George W. Bush nominated conservative judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court on Monday in a move likely to set off a partisan battle with Democrats as he tries to right his struggling presidency.

Bush acted quickly to find a nominee to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor for the lifetime appointment on the highest U.S. court, after loyalist Harriet Miers withdrew from consideration on Thursday under fierce attack from conservatives within Bush's Republican Party who questioned her credentials.

Bush, appearing with Alito in the White House, emphasized Alito's lengthy resume, after Miers was attacked for lacking much of a background.

Alito is a former Justice Department official and federal prosecutor and has been an appeals court judge for 15 years. He has argued a dozen Supreme Court cases.

Bush said Alito has "shown a mastery of the law, a deep commitment of justice, and he is a man of enormous character."

"I'm confident that the United States Senate will be impressed by Judge Alito's distinguished record, his measured judicial temperament, and his tremendous personal integrity," he said.

Democrats vowed to give careful scrutiny to Alito, who is considered a conservative in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia, who they frequently criticize as too far to the right.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wondered whether Alito was "too radical for the American people."

"I look forward to meeting Judge Alito and learning why those who want to pack the court with judicial activists are so much more enthusiastic about him than they were about Harriet Miers," Reid said.


STOP 'HEMORRHAGING OF SUPPORT'

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy called Alito a choice made from weakness and said Bush had picked a nominee "whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his right wing."

"Alito could very well fundamentally alter the balance of the court and push it dangerously to the right, placing at risk decades of American progress in safeguarding our fundamental rights and freedoms," Kennedy said.

Republicans quickly rallied behind the beleaguered president, who is coming off one of the toughest weeks of his time in office after the withdrawal of Miers and the indictment by a federal grand jury of Lewis Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

"With this selection, the president has chosen a proven nominee that meets the highest standards of excellence," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.

Conservative activist Manuel Miranda, who helped lead the charge from the right against Miers, voiced strong support of Alito.

In a reference to the Miers pick, Miranda said that with Alito, Bush "has ended the corrupting practice of stealth nominations, a presidential act of statecraft for which he will be long remembered."

Alito, 55, is sometimes given the nickname "Scalito" -- a comparison to Scalia, who shares his Italian heritage as well as his reputation for conservatism and a strong intellect. He is a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

"Scalito"?? That can't be good.

It's Chili Season, y'all

Chili is a wonderful dish. Like barbeque, it lends itself to improvisation and people can put their individual stamp on it in many ways.

Some like it with beans, or, as in major chili cook-offs where beans are strictly forbidden, without. There are endless possibilities, but only some are truly great.

When I make chili, I never have a clue as to what it will end up being or how I'll end up cooking it. I start with the intention of pretty much following accepted practices, but never fail to veer off into improvisation, flying by the seat of my pants until I finally step away and let the concoction simmer and blend and await the results.

Such was the case last night, and, though a final definitive judgement isn't in just yet, I think I have a winner.

Any chili heads out there? What's the best chili you've ever eaten, why, and where did you get it? Got any hot tips or killer recipes? Let us know! If we get enough, I'll put 'em up on a separate page for future reference.

And if you're nice, I just MAY share my recipe for Chile del estilo de Dope. You might hate me, hate the blog, hate life, but you might love my chili. (Of course my recipe is just a guideline. It will be YOUR chili when you make it.)

"Bug bite" or big problems? GOP figures differ

Two of the no doubt endless stream of presidential hopefuls from both parties who manage to make their way to speaking gigs in Iowa have offered up diametrically opposed views of what the recent flurry of horrible news for the Bush administration mean for the Republican party.

Newt Gingrich, reponsible for showing the Republicans how to lie and use language to portray liberals and Dems as truely evil, reprehensible, loathsome, immoral creatures, was in Iowa to stir the pot for his expected run. When asked about the recent revelation that the Republican run government is an unmitigated failure, he had this to say:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Saturday that Republicans must "get our act together" or face a significant defeat in next year's midterm elections.

Gingrich said voters gave Republicans virtually blanket control of the government and the party hasn't responded by living up to expectation.

"When they give you the White House, the House and the Senate, they really do expect you to deliver," Gingrich said. "If we don't get our act together, we could lose a lot of seats in the House and Senate -- we might lose control of the House and Senate."

Gingrich, who has expressed interest in seeking the Republican presidential nomination, was in Iowa Saturday, raising money for legislative candidates across the state.

"I think Republicans have a real challenge," Gingrich said at a fundraiser at a pumpkin farm near Grinnell. "We're either going to be the party of change or we're going to be the party of defeat."

"People did not hire us to have a big deficit, to have government fail totally in New Orleans," Gingrich said.

He said the problem is made worse because Republicans have spent decades persuading voters that the GOP understands how to run the government.

"We're supposed to be the party of management," Gingrich said.

He said Republicans are in danger of becoming the party of ineptitude, which he said is the worse label any party can be given.

"There's no way you can look at New Orleans and not think we have to have profound change in the way government operates," Gingrich said.

The problems grow for Republicans with the potential spread of the Avian flu, Gingrich said.

A worldwide pandemic would require fundamental reassessments of the way health care is run and financed, Gingrich said.

He said there is little indication the government understands that.

"I'm not reassured by anything I've seen," he said.

Gingrich said Republicans have the opportunity to rebound but haven't shown signs of understanding what needs to be done.

He said the fight over failed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers could fade quickly if President Bush names a new nominee with solid judicial credentials.

It was Gingrich's third visit to Iowa since he expressed interest in seeking the GOP presidential nomination.

Gingrich said he'd make a decision on a presidential bid after next year's midterm elections.

Seems even Newt can't ignore the obvious any longer. But it's refreshing to hear a Republican tell it like it is.

But it's never hard to find a Republican who's perfectly willing to ignore reality in defense of their precious power. Mitt Romney, the Mormon pretty-boy who also harbors delusions of becoming president, speaking in Davenport described the unraveling of the Republicans as nothing more than "bug-bites".

"I look at what's happening in Washington and I'm sure in the realm of wish fulfillment and dreams, the Democrats are hoping that a couple of irritating bug bites that we've gotten over the past few days in Washington are going to cause us to turn around and run in the other direction," Romney said.

Which is it?

And Republican readers, feel free to chime in too. Perhaps your comments won't devolve into some bitter personal feud monopolizing the comments and driving others off.

Video Saturday

Today I offer four pieces to amuse, enlighten, and perhaps disturb you. Check them out, and don't forget to leave your thoughts and/or reactions.

Chicken Soup for the Bush Hater's Soul

The Dope was just sent this from a friend in Italy. The rest of the civilized world still has a free press and a vast majority loath Bush and his administration's policies, and increasingly fault Americans themselves for not doing more to stand up and stop them.

--CAUTION--
--Contains naughty language and shows absolutely zero respect for our glorious leaders. And for our more delicate Dems, be aware that it doesn't contain any postive policy alternatives from a Democratic perspective either. Sorry. --

CLICK HERE

Requires Macromedia Flash Player. You probably already have it. If not, click here.

And as an extra special Halloween bonus feature, here's an oldie but goodie along the same theme but with a bouncier beat.

CLICK HERE and sing along!

But be warned. You'll be humming it in the back of your mind for days.

America

The following clip is NOT for everyone. I post it due to my belief that any readers who want and can handle the brutal truth should have it available to them. It shows graphic scenes of carnage involving our incredibly brave and dedicated servicemen serving in Iraq which the American public is prevented from seeing in our media. It is powerful and not for the faint-hearted.

With the 2000 dead soldier milestone recently past, there were those on the right that attempted to dismiss the number's significance, suggesting that compared to other more deadly wars, this really isn't too bad.

Watch THIS PIECE and then try to suggest that 2000 soldiers slaughtered and countless mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, wives, lovers and friends left in anguish and pain that will linger for the rest of their lives, and the hundreds of thousands of severely wounded, paralyzed, blinded, and psychologically scarred servicemen and women is really not that high a price to pay.

And as always, the question remains. Why?


On a more hopeful note, THIS CLIP was shot in Los Angeles.

I see it as inspirational proof that we still have a country and constitution worth fighting to preserve.

A Chicken Voting for Col. Saunders

Kurt Allemeier has this story in the Dispatch:

A group of Quad-Cities area women who say they've been taken for granted by an ineffectual Democratic Party have formed the African-American Republican Women's Party, a first-of-its-kind organization in Illinois.

The group will install its officers at a 3 p.m. meeting Sunday at Bennigan's in Rock Island.

The Rev. Jacqueline Walls, who serves as the group's president, said it shouldn't be surprising that the first GOP party for African-Americans starts in Rock Island County, a long-standing Democratic stronghold.

"I think it is a prime place to have it because it is so Democratic," said Rev. Walls, of Rock Island's First Judeo Apostolic Church. "They take the African-American vote and take it for granted."

Locally, the party in charge has failed, with jobs leaving the area and little to show in economic development, especially in Rock Island's west end, said Lois Allison, the group's vice president.

"I haven't seen anything for 30 years," Ms. Allison said. "A long time ago, this used to be a place where, if you didn't have a job, you didn't want a job.

"It needs to change here," she said. "If it isn't working, try it another way."

African-Americans are just assumed to be Democrats, with grandparents and parents before them brought up with the party, Rev. Walls said. That has to change.

"The Democratic Party needs to hear us," Rev. Walls said. "We're not going to be pushed aside every two years until they need us.

"I don't think it is inclusive any longer, but exclusive," she said. "They only come to us when they want something."

The group has immediate goals, she said, including building a membership of 100-150 active women ready to work for the primary in March, registering voters and volunteering with candidates.

"It is time to retire some of the people who have been working for us," Rev. Walls said, singling out U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, D-Rock Island. "We need to get someone else in there, some women in there."

There is nothing as blatantly fake as these groups of Republican Blacks. There's been a huge and lavishly funded effort by the Republican party to try to make inroads with black voters, and judging by the recent poll that put black approval of Bush at 2%, it's not going too well.
But they've managed to snag a few black preachers who are willing to do their bidding, and despite massive efforts to get them book contracts, speaking tours, and media appearances, it's gone largely nowhere.

While some of their complaints are likely legitimate, this group and others like them are only in existence due to the efforts of the Republican party to take away tradidional black support from the Democrats. The fact remains that without the black vote, the Democratic party would never again win an election, and the Republicans know it.

Now they've decided to start this supposed grass-roots group here. What do you think?

IL House votes to abolish riverboat gambling

Aiming at an industry that is "broke," House Democrats voted overwhelmingly Thursday to abolish casino gambling -- a move that could end talk of gambling expansion and bolster the political fortunes of socially conservative, Downstate Democrats.

The surprise development came on a busy legislative day that also featured a defeat for Gov. Blagojevich on gun legislation, but victory for him with final passage of his children's health insurance plan.

The plan to dismantle the state's casino industry passed the House 67-42. It likely will be blocked by the Senate, where Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), an ardent supporter of new casinos, branded the proposal "irresponsible."

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who played a key role in allowing a House vote, said riverboat gambling as an Illinois institution is "broke" and needs retooling.

"A small group of people became millionaires because of Illinois riverboat gaming, but the people of Illinois have never received a fair return in exchange for these monopolies," Madigan said. "I think we should go back to the drawing board and start over."

What can Sen. Jacobs think of this attempt to wipe out the industry his father was largely responsible for creating in the state?

Blago nominee for utility regulator faces opposition

The head of the Senate committee that must approve Governor Rod Blagojevich's nominee for head state utility regulator says the nominee should consider withdrawing.

Last month, Blagojevich nominated prominent consumer advocate Martin Cohen as chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Cohen is former director of the Citizens Utility Board.
Democratic State Senator Rickey Hendon of Chicago said yesterday that there's bipartisan concern Cohen might not be impartial on utility rate increase requests. Hendon co-chairs the Senate Executive Appointments Committee.

Cohen has insisted he'll be evenhanded and Blagojevich is standing by the nomination. The governor says consumers need an advocate on the I-C-C.

Cohen could face a Senate vote next week.

Cohen can be nothing but good news for the consumers of Illinois. I hope the legislators who are more beholden to the utility companies than the citizens they represent don't scuttle his nomination.

Blago's "All Kids" program a done deal

SPRINGFIELD -- Despite Republican protests, it took all of three days for Democrats to push through Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to provide health care to Illinois' uninsured children.

The final hurdle had been the Illinois House, which approved the All Kids program Thursday afternoon. The fast-tracked legislation flew through the Senate the day before.

Chalk one up for Blagojevich and the Dems, but now let's see if the plan is just an inspirational gimmick or actually workable.

Margery Benson, a true trailblazer

Though this is belated, I thought it appropriate to honor and make note of the remarkable career and life of Margery Benson, a woman who certainly made her mark on local Democratic politics and the community.
As a Dispatch/Argus editorial states:

Quad-Cities women lost a trailblazer and future public servants a role model when Margery R. Benson, 76, of Rock Island died Saturday. [Oct. 8th]

She was the first woman to be elected to the Rock Island City Council, the first to be elected city clerk and she ran a high-profile, though unsuccessful campaign for mayor in 1988, another first for women.

A Rock Island High School and Augustana College graduate, Ms. Benson taught physical education in the Rock Island public school system and was later a successful businesswoman. Throughout it all, however, she remained an active community servant and volunteer. That included serving the Rock Island Planning and Zoning Commission, Martin Luther King Center Board, as an active members of the Rock Island County Democratic Party and with Illinois Women in Government.

For a time she was a political animal, and a successful one. "I'm not glib enough to say I have an answer for everything," she said during her successful city council bid. But she did have opinions and ideas. While she didn't shy away from her trailblazer status, neither did she emphasize it. For example, when ran became the first woman to run for Rock Island mayor in 1988, she told The Dispatch, "Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman," while adding, "hopefully we're at a point in time when sex is no longer a determining factor."

She once said her role models tended to be women "who have made sacrifices in their personal lives to make contributions to others." That included Eleanor Roosevelt, who resigned her membership in the DAR after the organization rescinded an invitation to contralto Marian Anderson based on her race. "She had the courage of her convictions. I really admire that," she said. The same could have been said of Ms. Benson, who besides politics also served the community through such organizations as Rock Island Junior Baseball, the NAACP, St. Anthony's Auxiliary, and the United Cerebral Palsy of Northwestern Illinois.

Though she gave up running for office after a failed bid for county board, she continued to give to the Quad-Cities and the larger community. For example, she served on the American Red Cross National Disaster Action Team after after hurricanes in Florida in 1992 and in San Francisco in 1990. Her commitment to disaster relief continues even after her death. Her family asked that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the Red Cross.

She said, "I think it's wonderful when you have the opportunity to contribute to your community based on your education and experience and interests."

Ms. Benson did all that and more, by serving as a role model for future leaders, male or female. Our condolences to her family as we join them in celebrating a public life well lived.

In face of soaring gas prices, Oil giants post record profits

By most familiar comparisons, the $9.92 billion profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corp. in just three months is almost unimaginable. It would cover all Social Security benefit payments for three months. It would pay for an Ivy League education for about 60,000 kids. It would pay the average list price for more than 160 Boeing 737s. It would fund the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than two months.

Yet oil industry representatives and Exxon Mobil yesterday made a game effort to cast the record profit, earned during a quarter in which the Gulf Coast was shattered by hurricanes and gas prices rose well above $3 a gallon, as middling at best.
~~~~~~~~~
On Tuesday, ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly-traded oil company, announced net income of $9.9 billion for the most recent quarter, eclipsing analyst expectations and dwarfing the $5.68 billion reported for the same quarter a year ago. It was the largest quarterly profit ever for a U.S. company.

ExxonMobil wasn't alone. Royal Dutch Shell said today that profits grew 68 percent, to $9.03 billion, last quarter. Earlier in the week, BP announced profits at 34 percent above last year's levels, and ConocoPhillips saw revenue jump 43 percent.

The reason? High gas prices.

"The recent hurricanes in the U.S. have impacted our results. However, underlying performance is strong, amplified by high but volatile prices of oil, gas and products," BP Chief Executive Lord Browne said in a statement announcing the company's performance.

Despite temporary interruptions to refinery and delivery operations after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Gulf Coast, an accompanying surge in prices at the pump allowed oil companies to bolster their earnings.

"What might have been lost in terms of production and refining capacity was more than made up for by the hurricanes driving oil prices up a couple dollars a barrel," said John Parry, an analyst with John S. Herold.

The oil giants' windfall is a stark contrast to the ugly scenes around U.S. gas stations in September — hours-long lines of drivers desperate to fill up, despite prices that often topped $3 per gallon. Some politicians are questioning why oil companies profited so much while consumers struggled to fill their tanks.

Isn't the free market beautiful? It couldn't be clearer. Gas prices go up, you fork over more hard earned dollars, it goes directly from your pocket to the oil company's bottom line. No shortage of refinery capacity, or any of the other justifications put forth for the huge jump in gas prices. Just pure unadulterated price-gouging.    

NYT: Scooter indicted, Rove spared... for now

Just in.....

The NY Times is reporting that Cheney Chief of Staff Scooter Libby will be indicted tomorrow.

Rove will not be indicted... for now, but he is still "under investigation" and the prosecutor Fitzgerald is asking to re-institute a Grand Jury, which would indicate he well may have more up his sleeve.

This could be the beginning of something big.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

Illinois Democratic Central Committee members up for election once more

Each of Illinois' 19 congressional districts elects two representitives, one male, and one female, to serve on the Illinois State Democratic Central Committee, which in essense is the Democratic party apparatus in the state.

They serve as party organizers and fund-raisers and are generally charged with maintaining and invigorating the Democratic party in their districts.

Our two 17th district Central Committee representitives are, and have been for some time, Don Johnston and Mary Boland, both of whom can be expected to appear on the March '06 primary ballot.

Will anyone emerge to challenge either Johnston or Boland? Should someone? Is new blood called for? And if anyone were to challenge either of them, who would be a good candidate or candidates?

Speculate to your heart's content.

President Dilbert

So now they tell us. With the Bush administration spiraling into political free fall, conservative elder statesmen have suddenly begun speaking publicly about the regime’s manifest failures. Meanwhile, aides whisper to reporters that the president’s losing it, pitching temper tantrums, lashing out at junior staffers and blaming everybody in the White House for his problems except himself. “This is not some manager at Mc-Donald’s chewing out the help,” a source close to George W. Bush told the New York Daily News. “This is the president of the United States, and it’s not a pleasant sight.”

No, I don’t reckon it is. Naturally, Bush, like Richard Nixon before him, also gives the press a “big share “ of the blame. Backstairs gossip aside, however, the most powerful indictment of the administration’s malign incompetence is coming from former insiders. Col. Larry Wilkerson was Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff throughout Bush’s first term. A career soldier, he’s also served as director of the U. S. Marine Corps War College. In short, he’s anything but a fuzzyminded pacifist.

MORE

Republican congress slashes programs benefiting middle class

Largely to find money to pay for damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and to ensure that even more tax cuts for the wealthy are rammed through, the Republican controlled congress is busy slashing programs which benefit the middle and lower class. This includes blocking efforts to increase spending for programs to assist the poor with exploding heating costs this winter.

The Senate decided yesterday the money was not there for a substantial spending boost for the federal home heating program, deflecting arguments that soaring energy prices could force the poor to choose between heat and food this winter.

Senators voted 54 to 43 in favor of a proposal to boost the fiscal 2006 budget for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program from $2.2 billion to $5.1 billion. A 60-vote majority was needed to approve new spending not coupled with equivalent spending cuts.

Republicans also took advantage of a need to cut budgets to find money for disaster relief by slashing many other programs for the middle class, rather than touching one dime of the massive tax breaks for the most wealthy in the country and corporations, though they are considering cutting farm subsidies.

The Senate rejected several other efforts to stretch the budget to obtain more money for popular programs. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) sought an extra $5 billion for education grants for low-income children, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) wanted $4 billion more for the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

Meanwhile, House Republicans voted to cut student loan subsidies, child support enforcement and aid to firms hurt by unfair trade practices as various committees scrambled to piece together $50 billion in budget cuts.

More politically difficult votes -- to cut Medicaid, food stamps and farm subsidies -- are on tap today as more panels weigh in on the bill. It was originally intended to cut $35 billion in spending over five years, but after pressure from conservatives, GOP leaders directed committees to cut an additional $15 billion to help pay for hurricane recovery.

The House Agriculture Committee announced a plan to cut the food stamp program by $1 billion as part of a larger effort to slice $4.2 billion from federal agriculture programs.

Bastards

The right is always trumpeting their moral convictions, as if they have exclusive claim to such things. Well, one thing appears likely, and that's that, though they may not have morals as we know them, they'll have a lot of convictions soon. Get it? Convictions...
Thanks, I'll be here all week. Try the veal, and don't forget to tip your waitress.

Harriet Miers withdraws name from consideration

Is this good, bad, or neither? Will the radical right now bully Bush into sending up an even more out there movement conservative ala Janice Rogers Brown? Here's a rogue's gallery of potential Bush picks, most of which don't bode well for the court. It was published before John Roberts was appointed Chief Justice.

And for yet more evidence that this gang not only can't shoot straight, but have less than no respect for telling the truth, we have this attempt at spin:

Miers said she abandoned her quest for confirmation rather than give in to Senate demands for documents and information detailing her private advice to the president.

Senior lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they had made no such request. Instead, Republicans and Democrats said politics forced her to withdraw, particularly the demands of Republican conservatives who twice elected Bush and now seek to move the high court to the right on abortion and other issues.

"They had a litmus test and Harriet Miers failed that test," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

NO Doubt About It, White Sox 2005 World Champions

Far be it for The Dope to inject politics into a sporting contest, but... The solid blue state working class team handed the Bush-loving red state team's their asses! OH! That's gotta hurt. And right in front of Babs "Let Them Eat Cake" and Poppy Bush. Choke on it, Texas. There, I've gotten that out of my system.

The SOX played like losing was simply not an option. What a solid, gutty, amazingly skilled team. From a die-hard Cub fan.... ALL HAIL THE SOX!!!! Thanks for beating the Texans like a rented mule.

After reading all kinds of touching emotional and heartfelt messages from Sox Fans at the White Sox Interactive World Series post game thread with many grizzled Sox fans confessing to shedding tears of joy over their guys, I came across this from a young female Sox fan:

"Screw all you guys that CRIED. I BARFED!!! Chunks of joy..."

Her website explains, "How did I celebrate the Sox winning the WS? By barfing...Yes. I screamed, cried, and then ran upstairs and barfed because of happiness."

Now that's a White Sox fan!

Adam's not off to a good start with this driving thing

Maryella Wallace was sleeping peacefully in her bedroom June 23 when she awoke to the sound of squealing tires and a car crashing through the wall.

A driver had crashed into the one-story home, hitting her bed and destroying the mattress and frame. She was covered in plaster that fell from the wall, but escaped without serious injury.

The driver pulled out of the house, leaking oil all over the front lawn before driving away.

Four months later, the house is repaired and, with the exception of a patch of dead grass killed by the motor oil, it is hard to tell what happened. The Davenport home in the 2300 block of Rusholme Street sits one house away from the nearest intersection and at least 20 yards from the road.

Maryella and her husband, Ronald Wallace, were surprised to learn this week that the man who allegedly crashed into their home finally was arrested.

Adam Carney Conn, 22, of 2857 Fillmore Lane, Davenport, is charged in Scott County District Court with five counts stemming from that night, including striking fixtures upon a highway, control of a vehicle, driving under suspension, speeding restriction and driving under suspension with habitual violations and non-payment of fines.

Afterward, the Wallaces found pieces of their house several blocks away. Aluminum siding was left scattered across the bedroom floor.

“You could see where his tires spun on the carpet,” Ronald Wallace recalled.

Conn was in custody Tuesday at the Scott County Jail on $10,500 bond — the same amount as the property damage listed in the court file, but the Wallaces say it cost about $15,000 to repair their home.

According to the charges, Conn allegedly avoided being caught by police a couple of times the night of the accident. A Davenport officer tried to stop a vehicle at 2:30 a.m. June 23 at 2399 W. Central Park Ave. for speeding, court records state, but as the officer was walking to the vehicle, the driver took off.

About five minutes later, while turning from Pine Street onto Rusholme Street, the driver lost control and crashed through two yards before hitting the Wallace home, according to court records.

A Davenport officer later identified Conn through a police mug shot. An arrest warrant was filed, but Conn was not found until Saturday morning.

Some walk the walk

The Times has a piece on a local group, including a mother whose son is soon to ship out to Iraq, who have had the courage and conviction to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk as well.

For Caryn Unsicker and about 25 other people who joined her as usual on the corner of 16th Street and John Deere Road in Moline protesting the conflict in Iraq, Wednesday marked another emotional milestone in the war.

They joined people in communities across the nation conducting vigils to mark the 2,000th death of a U.S. service person.

“We’ve been out here every Wednesday at this time for the past seven weeks,” Unsicker said. “I’ve now heard that 2,001 young men and women have died.”

Unsicker, of Silvis, Ill., drove to Crawford, Texas, in August to support Cindy Sheehan who lost a son in Iraq and was trying to get an audience with President Bush.

She said that each death in Iraq has been needless and should be lamented.

“I had a problem with marking the 2,000th death,” she said. “Each death, beginning with the first, is equally important. Every time one dies my heart breaks.

“My 20-year-old son, a Marine, will be heading to Iraq in March,” she added. “He’s gung-ho and believes in his cause.”

But she said she believes him to be wrongheaded.

“I’m just a Midwest mother and I even knew there were no weapons of mass destruction,” she said.

Mary Woods of Moline said she cannot believe the state of things.

“I just keep shaking my head,” she said. “It just seems to get worse.

“I can’t believe the apathy of the people,” she added. “They don’t seem to care how badly they’ve been treated. We’re becoming a third-world country and nobody seems to care.”

MORE

If you happen to see them at their spot, give them a thumbs up or honk in support for what they're doing. I'm sure that they get constant abuse from wing-nuts and anything positive must be appreciated. Those who disagree with this government should not be made to feel isolated and alone.

Better yet, if you agree that the war is a mistake, by all means consider joining these patriots even if only for a short while.

The apathy about what our government is doing in our names and with our money by the American public is nothing short of appaling. Our cozy little consumer culture stupor is what Bush and his ilk depend on to get away with their thefts and quest for empire.

This is OUR government people, no matter how much it often appears otherwise. Sometimes you just have to snap out of it, as these people have. Your grandchildren will wonder why you sat by and did nothing.

How the Moline Council voted on automated garbage collection

VOTED FOR:
Dick Potter, 4th Ward
Phone: (309) 764-7213e-mail: dpotter@moline.il.us

Bill Adams, 5th Ward
Phone: (309) 762-1811e-mail: badams@moline.il.us

Mike Crotty 6th Ward
Phone: (563) 529-1916(309) 755-1101 ext. 223 (work)e-mail: mcrotty@moline.il.us

Dorothy Armstrong, 7th Ward
Phone: (309) 762-0256email: darmstrong@moline.il.us

VOTED AGAINST:
Alds. Arcilia Dominguez, 1st Ward
Phone: (309) 757-1296(309) 736-3646 (Floreciente Off.)e-mail: adominguez@moline.il.us

Michael Carton, 2nd Ward
Phone: (309) 912-3552e-mail: mcarton@moline.il.usAOL Instant Messenger: MichaelTCartonWeb Site address:

Scott Raes, 3rd Ward
Phone: (309) 762-6103e-mail: sraes@moline.il.us

Kent Breecher, At-Large
Phone: (309) 762-1062e-mail: kbreecher@moline.il.us

Home addresses found in post below.

On a related note, Davenport is currenty considering whether to institute automated trash collection, and a Times editorial thinks the idea is just peachy.

Evans acts to protect area residents, workers

Rep. Lane Evans, upon hearing complaints from a watchdog organization about shoddy and dangerous practices by the company employed to demolish the old Case/IH plant on the Moline/East Moline border, contacted the appropriate agencies and got action to protect both workers and area residents from being exposed to hazardous asbestos.

In addition to finding several workplace safety violations, it also found that the company was not taking appropriate measures to ensure that the massive amount of asbestos contained in the building was contained and prevented from contaminating the area.

Sometimes government works. If Zinga or another Republican was in office, they'd likely consider allowing tons of cancerous asbestos dust to be released into the air and blown over thousands of residences to be environmental nit-picking. They just hate OSHA and think it should be abolished. They'd feel that any sanctions against the company would be an unfair impediment to business and likely would have protected the demolition company. Especially if they'd invested in a fat donation to their campaign.

As an aside, the Bush administration, led by Dick Cheney in this instance, rammed through legislation protecting asbestos companies from being sued for causing the deaths of thousands of workers, mainly because Cheney had business interests with the asbestos mining and producing corporations out west.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has slapped $56,000 in penalties on a company demolishing the former CNH Global Case-IH plant for violating a total of 17 workplace safety rules.
...
OSHA gave out other penalties for violations ranging from making sure employees didn't eat or drink around asbestos to not making sure employees wore protective gear and not disposing of asbestos-containing materials properly.

A watchdog organization, which wanted to stay anonymous, contacted U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, D-Rock Island, and his district representatives in May about safety and health violations at the site. Rep. Evans and his office notified state offices, including the OSHA Peoria office.

"We would like to see a temporary restraining order put on the company," said Phil Hare, Rep. Evans' Moline district representative. "They're still not complying. The company ought to cease and desist" demolition.

Asbestos is a common, naturally occurring mineral fiber in the ground. If inhaled at high levels over a long time, however, it can cause severe lung damage and lung, chest or stomach cancer that develops many years later, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

OSHA ordered Champion officials to stop breaking workplace safety rules last week. Champion has 15 working days to pay the $56,000, unless the company contests the violations within that time period.

The Illinois Attorney General's Office filed a complaint in May with the state's Pollution Control Board against the company.

In 1997, Champion also violated federal law by causing asbestos to become airborne by not properly disposing of materials containing it.

Note to anyone living on the east side of Moline or west side of E. Moline. Try not to breath.

Moline council mandates automated trash collection

Dispatch Argus photo by Dan VidetichADDENDUM**

The Moline Council vote on automated garbage collection:

VOTING FOR: Alds. Dick POTTER, 4th Ward; Bill ADAMS, 5th Ward; Mike CROTTY 6th Ward; and Dorothy ARMSTRONG 7th Ward.

VOTING AGAINST: Alds. Arcilia Dominguez, 1st Ward; Michael Carton, 2nd Ward; Scott Raes, 3rd Ward; and Kent Breecher, At-Large

POTTER, ADAMS, CROTTY, and ARMSTRONG need to hear from you. (see contact info below)

The Moline City Council voted to institute automated trash collection at Tuesday night's council meeting, deciding to give residents less service at a higher cost.

The move will cost the city $720,000 to purchase specialized garbage cans, and will result in much poorer service and increased costs for residents, but supposedly could save the city $100,000 a year.

So let me see. It will take over 7 years just to recoup the cost of the trash containers, and this isn't even taking into account the cost of new automated trucks?

From yesterday's Dispatch article:

The city council is scheduled to vote on automated garbage collection tonight, a proposal that would cut services to residents but could save the city $100,000 a year.

To launch the program in late summer 2006, the city would need to spend $720,000 to buy 16,000 specialized garbage carts. The resolution calls for the carts to be bought with an eight-year loan out of capital improvement fund reserves at 3.5 percent interest.

Automated collection could cost residents more. Only one 48- or 96-gallon cart would be picked up each week per household. Anyone needing more than one cart would pay $45 a year and a $45 a year disposal fee.

Under the current system, residents can dispose of as much garbage as they want.

Right now, bulky waste pickup is free each week. That would change, allowing residents one free pickup a year. Each call thereafter would cost $25.

The potential savings to Moline comes from a combination of fewer needed workers, reduced worker compensation costs and less trash, said public works director Mike Waldron.

The city would need four less sanitation workers, as only a driver is needed to work each route.

Because the system is automated -- a large arm extends from the truck and picks up the cart -- the city expects fewer workers’ compensation claims. The sanitation department has the most claims in the city and in the past year has had the equivalent of two full-time workers on light duty or off work due to injury.

Mr. Waldron has said when automated systems are implemented, recycling increases. The city expects to save money by paying for less trash to be put into the landfill.

The city is scheduled to replace five rear-loading dump trucks next year. Mr. Waldron has said those could be replaced with five automated trucks, which cost about the same, so there would be no extra cost for equipment.

To sum up, for Moline residents:

BEFORE: Any size container.
NOW: Choice of ONE 48 gal. or ONE enormous 96 gal. trash cart.

BEFORE: Any amount of containers could be set out.
NOW: If you sometimes have more garbage than would fit in one 48 gal. container, you'd need to either lug a mammoth 96 gal container to the street and back and then store it somewhere during the week, or pay NINETY dollars a year for the priviledge of having a back-up 48 gal. container.

BEFORE: The elderly or those who don't generate much garbage could use a small container or simply set out a trash bag. If it was not in an exact spot, the garbage men would retrieve it.
NOW: It doesn't matter if you are only throwing out one banana peel, you have to lug at least a 48 gallon container to an exact spot on the street or alley and back again.

BEFORE: If you had problems with racoons getting into trash, you could get containers with locking lids.
NOW: If they are like other municipalities with automated pick-up, containers have flap lids which fall open once container is knocked over.

BEFORE: Residents can place garbage can anywhere convenient where garbage men can access it within several feet of curb.
NOW: Must lug cart to spot where truck can get within a couple feet of it. Container must not be anywhere near parked cars or other obstacles.

BEFORE: Garbage men did a good job of picking up cans and keeping spillage to a minimum.
NOW: Mechanical arms will grab can and shake it out. Anything spilled on the street will remain there as the truck lumbers off.

BEFORE: Garbage men would put cans back in the same spot or toss them up into yard.
NOW: If you have to put your huge cart out in the middle of the street to avoid parked cars, it will remain there until you can get to it, likely blowing over and blocking the street.

BEFORE: If you had large objects, you could put them out with your garbage any time.
NOW: Large items will only be picked up ONCE A YEAR and $25 a pop thereafter. It's not clear if this once a year pick-up is scheduled or they plan to somehow keep track of whether a resident has already had their one allowed large item pickup per year.

And worse yet, it will put an end to the decades long Dope family tradition of giving each of the garbage guys a nice little envelope with some cash in it and a bottle of good liquor around Christmas time each year. Somehow driving a truck around pulling a lever and never having to get wet or cold or deal with garbage just doesn't seem to inspire the same gratitude.

Next time you see the Mayor or your alderman, be sure to let them know how grateful you are that they got themselves into a giant financial hole and decided to implement this scheme. Or better yet, give 'em a call or send 'em an e-mail by clicking on the e-mail links below. One alderman even publishes his AOL Instant Messenger handle.

CLICK HERE if you'd like to see their mug shots and be able to find out a little about who you're dealing with.

If you're not sure who your alderman is, a ward map can be found HERE.

Alderman, Ward One
Arcilia 'RC' Dominguez
711 1/2 - 4th Avenue, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 757-1296
(309) 736-3646 (Floreciente Off.)
e-mail: adominguez@moline.il.us

Alderman, Ward Two
Michael Carton
359 29th Avenue, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 912-3552
e-mail: mcarton@moline.il.us
AOL Instant Messenger: MichaelTCarton
Web Site address:

Alderman, Ward Three
J. Scott Raes
1813 - 27th Avenue Place, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 762-6103
e-mail: sraes@moline.il.us

Alderman, Ward Four
Dick A. Potter
1136 25th Street, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 764-7213
e-mail: dpotter@moline.il.us

Alderman, Ward Five
Bill Adams
2937 16th Avenue, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 762-1811
e-mail: badams@moline.il.us

Alderman, Ward Six
Michael Crotty
1141 - 48th Street, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (563) 529-1916
(309) 755-1101 ext. 223 (work)
e-mail: mcrotty@moline.il.us

Alderman, Ward Seven
Dorothy Armstrong
4603 - 50th Street, Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 762-0256
email: darmstrong@moline.il.us

Alderman, At Large
Kent Breecher
1516 45th Street
Moline, IL 61265
Phone: (309) 762-1062
e-mail: kbreecher@moline.il.us

Sox up 3-0 in Series

1:20 AM CST
In the longest game in World Series history (for real) it took the White Sox 5 hours and 41 nailbiting minutes to knock off the damn Texans 7-5 in game 3 to threaten a 4 game sweep. Another great game
Game 4 today at 7 CST.

Legislators in Veto Session... AllKids hot issue

The General Assembly met Tuesday for the start of the veto session which is to run through Thursday, then resume Tuesday, Nov. 1, for three more days.

A plan to cover uninsured children is undoubtedly the hot topic before the General Assembly today, said State Senator Gary Dahl.

“But, if I were asked to vote on it today, I would have to vote no,” the Granville Republican noted Monday, prior to the start of the six-day fall veto session, which got under way this morning.

“I know nothing about the governor’s All Kids healthcare insurance program. There’s thousands of questions and no answers. What we know about it is what you know — what’s in the newspapers about it,” he added.

“You’d think he’d come up with a really good, viable plan for children and their families, and legislators would work on it — work the bubbles out, get a good plan and get it going, before he did the round-the-state publicity thing promoting it.”

The All Kids program, covering about 125,000 children, is estimated to cost taxpayers $45 million the first year, and upwards of $100 million. The Blagojevich Administration proposes to pay for the program by moving a good share of the state’s Medicaid recipients into a managed care system, Dahl’s office noted in a prepared release.

There are concerns, though, that expanding the Medicaid system will further delay payments to state healthcare providers. Illinois currently owes $1.5 billion to healthcare providers throughout the state, the release added.

“The governor has just a ton of people promoting this program,” Dahl said. “He’s pulling out all stops. He’s got 200 endorsements, supposedly, but now people are saying they didn’t agree to endorse it.

“I have no idea how you stop this — it’s all abut the next election, and has nothing to do with the kids. A year ago, during my very first day on the Senate floor, it became very obvious it’s all about the next election.”

More

And meanwhile, the trial of former Illinois Governor George Ryan continues. A good spot to keep abreast of it's progress is at CBS WBBM channel 2's Ryan Trial Blog.

Keithsburg, the new Sin City?

Keithsburg, IL is a very sleepy little river village on the Mississippi about 50 miles from the Quad Cities, southwest of Aledo and south of New Boston.

It was devastated by the 1993 flood, which all but destroyed the tiny town. Now it seems a Peoria businessman sees big things for the town, as in big ta-tas, evidently.

KEITHSBURG -- A little more than a year ago, Guy Brenkman was a very unpopular man in many parts of Keithsburg.

Last fall Mr. Brenkman, owner of FantasyLand in Peoria, suggested opening a lingerie shop and gentlemen's club at the former Lighthouse Restaurant. It would have been the only adult entertainment business in Mercer County.

News reports of the proposal caused a swarm of phone calls and walk-ins at city hall by people voicing displeasure with the city council for even considering a gentlemen's club. City officials yanked a presentation on the business from a council agenda, and the issue seemed to die away.

Now Mr. Brenkman's back with a proposal, under the name Keithsburg Properties LLC, to refurbish about 60 percent of the downtown.

Mayor James Stewart said Mr. Brenkman's interest in Keithsburg stems not only from a business standpoint, but because "he just liked Keithsburg and he thought it would be a good place to call home."

Now Mr. Brenkman wants to turn the former Lighthouse Restaurant into a bar and grill called "Bikinis." On his application for a liquor license, he said the restaurant will be similar to the national chain "Hooters." The north half of the former Lighthouse property will be his home.

The liquor license was approved earlier this year by the city.

But the plans don't stop there, according to city officials. Mr. Brenkman wants to turn buildings, which have been mostly vacant since the 1993 flood, into such businesses as a barber shop, a women's clothing store, a salon, a hardware and general merchandise store, a laundromat, an outdoor sporting goods store and possibly a branch office for a bank, and then lease them out.

He also bought the Keithsburg Motel, which he plans to keep open year-round with daily, weekly and monthly rates.

Mayor Stewart said community reaction to the plans has been mixed. Some support the plans, while others don't like the Bikinis bar idea -- or any idea from the man who wanted to bring in a strip club.

"I just tell them, 'If you don't want him to buy them, go and buy them yourself and refurbish them,'" Mayor Stewart said. "We need to get these off and running and build from there. Maybe things will start to be abuzz."

Mr. Brenkman didn't return calls seeking comment.

Sounds like Mr. Brenkman found an out of the way town which is on the ropes and is pretty much attempting to create his own town, complete with titilating restaurant, motel, bank, and other businesses.

It could be he's planning to eventually create a little sin city, with strip clubs, restaurants, motels, and whatever else dovetails with selling sex and booze, right in Mercer County. Can gambling be far behind?

Mercer County is up against it financially as well, which might weaken their objections.

Maybe Keithsburg can re-invent itself in the image of the East Dubuque of old, where along about a mile of Sinsinawa Street, known as Sin Street, there was an unbroken string of stip clubs, bars, and motels down both sides of the dead end street. It thrived on the sin and booze business especially since it bordered Iowa where the drinking laws were quite a bit more restrictive.

In this respect, perhaps Mr. Brenkman is wanting to get things set up in anticipation of the proposed bridge over the river near Keithsburg.

It's just a happy coincidence that he found a dull, unattractive, largely ruined river town so attractive that he decided it would be a good place to live.

¡Hey gente! ¡Hay un gran restaurante mejicano nuevo en Moline céntrico!

...and it's called "La Flama". I enjoyed a Mexican feast there the other night and highly recommend it. It's located in the old Josephson's Jewelry store in downtown Moline and they've retained the old tile floor, which is nice touch.

They offer home made tortilla chips and homemade salsa at the table and it's delicious. The menu is varied and allows a lot of choice. You can mix and match various Mexican standards to create your own meal, as well as being offered several choices of fillings. The menu also includes dishes not normally found at lesser Mexican places. The food isn't standard americanized Mexican either, but very well prepared and quality dishes. And the prices are very reasonable to boot.

They also offer a variety of Mexican cerveza as well as top-shelf tequilas for those who enjoy a cocktail or two with their meal.

It's a bit hard to spot, as it occupies a narrow portion on the west side of it's building and the other side is dominated by a new sports bar, apparently. There's parking in back along the alley and the entrance door is just around the corner on the west side of the building near the bank drive-thrus.

It's really a thrill to have a good restaurant in downtown Moline where you can get a good meal without having to make a bank withdrawal to pay for it. Business appears to be good, and I wish La Flama success. It's taken Moline about 15 years, but as the numerous bars and restaurants come and go and the popular ones start to stick, they just might succeed after all.

La Flama Restaurant
1514 5th Avenue, Moline
Phone: (309) 797-3756

Note: The Dope has no affiliation with La Flama. Not being able to weasel a free dinner for a mention is one downside to anonymity.

Cliche question of the day

I'm curious. Though it's a trite question, if you could spend a few hours at an intimate, leisurely dinner with any person, either historical or current, who would it be and why?
An artist? Musician? Athlete? Politician? Religious figure? Writer? Scientist? Explorer? Inventor? Ancestor? It can be anyone. Give it some thought and share it here.

Try to pick one, but if you find that impossible, give a short list and include reasons why.

(Sorry, no sexual fantasies allowed. We're talking conversation here.)

Powell aide blasts administration foreign policy "cabal"

Here's how two sources reported the speech by former Colin Powell aide Col. Lawrence Wilkerson to the New America Foundation.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. foreign policy is being made in secret by a small "cabal" of powerful people like Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, a former top Bush administration official charged yesterday.

Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired U.S. Army colonel who was chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell until they left office in January, unleashed possibly the broadest attack on the Bush administration from one of its own since former Counter Terrorism Chief Richard Clarke last year.

Wilkerson said "we have courted disaster in Iraq, North Korea and Iran" and said that if there is another attack in the U.S. such as a nuclear explosion in a U.S. city "you are going to see the ineptitude of this government."

He accused President George W. Bush of "cowboyism" in dealing with foreign leaders and said that Cheney and Rumsfeld and others could not be kept under control by a president "not versed in international relations and not too interested in them either."

The White House did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Speaking at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, Wilkerson said his central complaint was that too much power was centered in too few people who kept the rest of the bureaucracy in the dark.

There was a "cabal between Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld on critical decisions that the bureaucracy did not know was being made."

Asked what role Bush played with the "cabal," Wilkerson said the president "was very integral to the process. When the president's [intervention] was needed the president's office was entered by one person and the president's consent was obtained," Wilkerson said.

Then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, who succeeded Powell, failed to intervene to stop the "cabal" because she made a calculated decision "to build her intimacy with the president," rather than confront his other advisers, Wilkerson charged.

He indicated that this flawed, secretive process contributed to what he thought was a bad decision to go to war in Iraq.

But Wilkerson said that any decision by the Bush administration to leave Iraq "precipitously" would result in Iraq's neighbors sending in troops and creation of a breeding ground for terrorists like Afghanistan, leading to another major war involving the United States.

"We will have to go back and take the Middle East within a decade," if that happens, he said.

The Bush administration never planned for what would happen in Iraq after the war, he said.

"There was simply no plan with regard to postwar Iraq," other than some contingencies for humanitarian assistance, he said.

Wilkerson said that Powell, for whom he worked for 16 years at the Pentagon as well as at State, did not agree with his decision to go public with his criticisms, and it had led to a breach between them.

Powell is "one of the world's most loyal soldiers and feels we will overcome these problems," Wilkerson said.

Colin Powell's right-hand man has launched a blistering attack on the White House, describing President George W Bush as "cowboyish", his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as "extremely weak" and American foreign policy as "courting disaster".

The attack came from Col Larry Wilkerson, who for four years was Mr Powell's chief of staff at the state department during the first Bush administration.

In a sometimes savagely phrased speech at a Washington think-tank, the former US marine said that the Bush team had so damaged the country's foreign policy machine that he was "not sure that the state department even exists any more".

The result was that America's relations with the world had taken a pounding. Asked about the efforts by Mr Bush's key aide Karen Hughes to sell America to the Muslim world he said: "It's hard to sell shit." In remarks quoted by the Washington Post, Col Wilkerson said: "If you're unilaterally declaring Kyoto dead, if you're declaring the Geneva Conventions not operative, if you're doing a host of things that the world doesn't agree with you on and you're doing it blatantly and in their face, without grace, then you've got to pay the consequences."

The speech lifted the lid on the disagreements that were hinted at but rarely admitted for most of the first Bush term.

Mr Powell was known to feel that he was cut out of foreign policy-making by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, and the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

Col Wilkerson said that had damaged America's foreign policy. "What I saw was a cabal," he said. Bypassing the state department, America had "courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran".

He added: "You've got a president who is not versed in international relations and not too much interested in them either."

The tragedy is that not many people spoke up sooner about this run-amuk "cabal" and that Powell let his loyalty to Bush destroy his highly regarded reputation.

The full transcript of Wilkerson's damning remarks as well as commentary can be found at "The Washington Note" here.

More Arrogance of Power

This story is a couple days old, but worth noting.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, while Rush Limbaugh has been carried on U.S. Armed Services Radio, broadcast to our troops and by extention, millions of people in countries around the world, there is no comparable voice on the left to counter Rush's lies and distortions. The fact is that many people around the world are getting their political information about the U.S. from ... yep.... El Rushbo. And you're paying for it.

AFR's mission is described on their site as, "AFRTS is the American Forces Radio and Television Service. It is part of the Department of Defense, and is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The AFRTS mission is to communicate Department of Defense policies, priorities, programs, goals and initiatives. AFRTS provides stateside radio and television programming, "a touch of home," to U.S. service men and women, DoD civilians, and their families serving outside the continental United States. AFRTS includes the Radio and Television Production Office (RTPO), The Pentagon Channel NewsCenter, and the Defense Media Center." Apparently, the consider the blatant right-wing propaganda of Limbaugh to be "a touch of home".

It reports that AFR, "...provide(s) multiple television and stereo audio services to over 1,000 outlets in more than 175 countries and U.S. territories, and on board U.S. Navy ships."

Taxpayer funded broadcasting of Limbaugh around the world is, of course, yet more evidence of the sheer arrogance of power in this administration, and amounts to us paying Rush Limbaugh to broadcast Republican propaganda around the world.

Iowa's Sen. Tom Harkin long ago got a non-binding resolution passed asking Armed Services Radio to either drop the big fat idiot or add a comparable show from the left to provide balance. Showing that the administration truly believes that they OWN the country and government, they did nothing.

Now, after years of this outrageous situation existing with nothing being done, , the Pentagon finally indicated that it would begin airing the first hour of the Ed Schultz show on ASR beginning on Oct. 17th. Ed Shultz is a moderate-left radio host based in Fargo, North Dakota. He's been carried on Air America's network, though he's not affiliated with them. I've listened to him a lot and he's good. Not only is he an experienced and professional host, he tends to be a moderate, midwestern brand of liberal with a broad appeal.

Just hours before the show was supposed to begin airing, in a fit of arrogant pique, the same Pentagon press flack that was caught rehearshing troops for Bush's phoney "chat" with them informed Schultz's producers that they were not going to air the show. Then they lied and said it was all a mix up and that it was never decided that they'd air the show.

Schultz explains:

"Armed Forces Radio notified us that we were supposed to start on (Monday)," said Schultz, who broadcasts from Fargo, N.D. "Then my producer got a call from Allison Barber at 6 a.m. saying it's not going to happen. I don't know now if it's ever going to happen. They never gave us a reason."

Barber is the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary for internal communications.

She was at the center of an embarrassing episode last week when an open mike caught her rehearsing with soldiers in Iraq who were about to talk with President Bush on a televised teleconference call about improving conditions there.

Among those criticizing Barber for "a publicity stunt" was Ed Schultz.

"I called it a joke, an organized event, and compared it to Bush's phony town meetings on Social Security (reform) and the campaign rallies last year where people had to sign a loyalty oath to get in," Schultz said in an interview.

"I might have poked a little fun at Allison Barber, too. But that's talk radio."

Barber was traveling yesterday and couldn't be reached. But Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said "an unfortunate communication from a staff member to the Schultz show" led to the mix-up.

"The Schultz show was never actually scheduled," Whitman said, adding that "it is one of several shows being looked at" as the network considers schedule changes. "This has nothing to do with (Schultz's criticism of Barber and Bush). I understand how one could be suspect, though, given the timing."

AFR, which reaches more than 800,000 military listeners overseas, has long carried Rush Limbaugh's conservative talk show. Democrats had complained for equal time, and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, secured a nonbinding resolution in the Senate urging AFR to offer more political balance in its programming.

Schultz said his show's distributor, Jones Radio, was informed by e-mail on Sept. 29 that the first hour of his three-hour program would be broadcast daily on AFR beginning Monday.

Then came Barber's call pulling the plug.

Schultz, who calls himself a "gun-toting, red-meat-eating lefty," said AFR badly needs political balance.

"I'd say there probably are some Democrats serving overseas who might appreciate a different point of view," Schultz said. "What am I going to say about the Bush Administration that Rush Limbaugh hasn't already said about Hillary Clinton or Ted Kennedy?"

Gen. Wesley Clark's political action committee has sent out an e-mail urging people to take action against this injustice,

Last year, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced a resolution that was unanimously passed by the Senate, urging Secretary Rumsfeld and Armed Forces Radio to ensure more political balance in programming.

It looked like progress was being made when the Pentagon agreed to air the first hour of Ed Schultz's daily radio show live on Armed Forces Radio every day. Then, only hours before the first show would have been broadcast, the Pentagon suddenly reversed the decision and refused to air Ed's program.

We must let our voices be heard and exercise leadership to help ensure that the spirit of Senator Harkin's resolution — and the spirit of fairness — are at play on taxpayer financed programming.

Send an email to your Members of Congress now — urge them to enforce fair play on Armed Forces Radio!

Sign the petition here.

The sample letter found at Clark's site which people can edit and sign makes perfect sense:
It was just 11 years ago when 70 Republican Members of Congress, led by then Congressman Robert Dornan (R-CA), demanded that President Clinton's Secretary of Defense Les Aspin broadcast Rush Limbaugh's radio and television programs to the military.

Well if Armed Services Radio is good enough for Rush Limbaugh, it's certainly good enough for Ed Schultz.

I urge you to call on the Pentagon to honor their promise and air the Ed Schultz Show on Armed Forces Radio. It's time to restore political balance in the programming being broadcast to our men and women in uniform.

State sets up web site for Blago's Kids Health Initiative

Those who want to find out more about Govenor Blagojevich's proposed health care coverage for all Illinois kids can find information from the Governor's perspective at http://www.allkidscovered.com/

If anyone finds any solid information there on where the funds for this worthy intitiative are to be found, let us know.

Some stats from the area.

Percent of kids uninsured / number of kids uninsured

Rock Island County - 9.2% - 3,477
Whiteside County - 7.6% - 1,220
Henry County - 8.1% - 1,106
Mercer County - 8.0% - 357
Caroll County - 7.9% - 337

IL House Dems like reform... a little.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois House Democrats floated a proposal Friday that tightens state ethics and purchasing laws but leaves out the sweeping changes backed by other party leaders.

The plan crafted by House Speaker Michael Madigan's staff ties together reforms for state and local pension systems, state purchasing, ethics rules for state employees and naming rights at state facilities.

The State Government Administration Committee discussed the proposal but took no vote. House leaders hope it will serve as a framework for action in the Legislature's fall veto session, which begins Tuesday.

"Clearly, I think these are important issues that need to stand on their own merit," said state Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield. "We need to move forward with them, and they're an effort to try to raise the standards here in Illinois."

The proposal does not include Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposal to sharply limit the size and source of donations that politicians accept. It also omits Comptroller Dan Hynes' plan to restrict donations by people who do business with the state.

Madigan wouldn't comment after the hearing. His spokesman said there were too many questions surrounding those ideas.

It's unfortunate that the House Dems won't endorse measures which would have a direct effect on the corrupting influence of big money influence, but rather seek to preserve the status quo and nibble around the edges of true reform.

Any insiders who can provide some insight into this issue?

Evans fundraising surpasses rivals

From the Times:

U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., raised far more money between July and September than his Republican rivals, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, or FEC.

Evans raised $239,962 during the 3rd quarter, nearly three times what he took in during the 2nd quarter of this year. The Rock Island congressman, who will seek a 13th term next year, reported $178,503 in the bank at the end of September. That is more than twice what he had at the end of June.

Evans also began to make payments on a $185,000 fine he agreed in June to pay in order to settle FEC allegations that he violated election law during the 1998 and 2000 campaigns. Evans, who did not admit to the allegations, agreed to pay the fine over nine months. The first installments totaled $80,000, leaving him with $105,000 left to pay.

The payments amounted to more than half the $141,816 Evans reported spending during the quarter.

Meanwhile, Jim Mowen, a Rock Island real estate broker and developer, reported raising $30,616 during the three-month period, making him the top fundraiser of the three Republicans who have said they want the job.

Mowen spent $10,564 and ended the period with $43,881 in the bank, according to the report. So far, he has raised $67,451.

Andrea Zinga, the party’s 2004 nominee who announced last week that she would run again, reported raising $2,645 and spending $4,810 for the quarter. She ended the period with $1,697 in the bank and $55,909 in debt.

Thus far in the campaign cycle, Zinga has raised $32,056.

Brian Gilliland, an Aledo man who has said he also will run, did not file a financial disclosure report, according to the FEC Web site.

Straight outta Whiteside

MORRISON, Ill. — Whiteside County State’s Attorney Gary Spencer made a public plea for increasing funding for his department before the Whiteside County Board this week.

In a presentation to the board, Spencer said the Public Safety Committee had recommended that the state’s attorney’s office budget for 2005-06 be set at $795,000. Although this is an increase of about $9,000, or just under 2 percent, from the previous year’s budget, it was $61,000 lower than Spencer had requested.

Spencer’s request for $856,325, an 8.9 percent increase, includes funding for a new investigator’s position and pay raises for existing staff. Fifteen people currently are employed in the attorney’s office, including Spencer.

Spencer noted that the workload for his office is four times larger than when he became state’s attorney in 1981. He said new crimes such as identity theft, online fraud and child pornography have added to that total.

Whiteside board honors retiring county clerk

MORRISON, Ill. — The Whiteside County Board has honored outgoing County Clerk Dan Heusinkveld, who has worked for the county since 1954.

Heusinkveld joined the county clerk’s office in 1954 as a deputy clerk and won election to the top job in 1970. He last won re-election in 2002.

He recalled many of the changes in his career that started with lugging large containers of paper ballots up stairways and ended with electronic voting machines and Internet access.

Deputy clerk Dana Nelson is scheduled to take over Heusinkveld’s position on Nov. 2.

Overwhelming crowds, security, theaten Port Byron Tug-Fest

PORT BYRON, Ill. — Port Byron Police Chief Steve Rathburn’s surprise request to resign from his duties as head of Tugfest security has the mayor and at least one village trustee thinking of scaling back or scrapping the party that surrounds the annual tug-of-war contest with neighboring LeClaire, Iowa.

Rathburn’s request — brought up at a recent Village Board meeting — was voted down with Mayor Mike Ferretti casting the deciding vote. Still, Ferretti shares his police chief’s concern with the massive crowds and difficult law enforcement logistics surrounding the summertime event.

“I think the festival is outgrowing the village,” he said. “I believe there are some trustees on the board that feel that way as well. It’s lucky we’ve never had a catastrophe or fire where the crowd is congregated. It would be very hard to get necessary equipment to the area.”

Ferretti said he is not in favor of halting next year’s Tugfest, but “whether it will be there in 2007 is still up in the air.”

MORE

Sox-Astros. Well?

Here's a place for all you armchair managers to tell us all just how the World Series is gonna go. Extra points for predicting a humiliating defeat for the Astros.

IL Comptroller Dan Hynes not optimistic on state's grim budget picture

Despite the massive budget hole the state is in, it's notable that Hynes still supports Blago's child health care initiative.

SYCAMORE - State Comptroller Dan Hynes told the DeKalb County Democrats Thursday that he doesn't know where Illinois can find new revenues to balance the state budget.

“We're not real long on ideas in that area,” he said. “That's kind of why we're in the situation we're in. ...We're seeing economic growth, but we're spending it as fast as we're bringing it in.”

Hynes said Illinois has $2.5 billion in debts it can't pay, with much of the money owed to health care providers who are waiting to be paid through Medicare.

“We're basically borrowing on the backs of our providers,” he said. “I don't think there are any major health care providers with the state that do not have a line of credit and have to go to the bank in anticipation of getting paid by the state. We're making them borrow so we don't have to.”

Hynes said a $1 billion short-term loan to pay down the backlog of bills is only a temporary fix, as the loan has to be paid back within the year. Nonetheless, he came out in favor of Governor Rod Blagojevich's program to provide health benefits to all children in the state, an initiative Republican opponents say can't be financed when Illinois is having trouble paying Medicare bills as it is.

Delay booked for corruption charges

Smile now, bug man, pretty soon you'll be the girlfriend of the guy with the most cigarettes.

Despite high poll numbers, Topinka expected to bow out of Governor's race

State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka set an end-of-week deadline to reveal her decision on running for governor -- but as of today, the answer is no.

Topinka, 61, the only Republican statewide officeholder, instead is looking at a bid for a fourth term as treasurer, where she can still be a major player in state policy.

Polls show Topinka leads a crowded Republican gubernational primary field. And she is well-positioned to win the Illinois GOP nomination for governor.

But a primary could leave her broke. Topinka would start a general election campaign against Gov. Blagojevich staring at his war chest, expected to swell to $20 million by next year. Blagojevich will be able to save money because he faces no substantial primary challenger.

Topinka's was on top of a poll of Republicans for their pick to run for governor.

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Judy Baar Topinka is the leading contender in the race for the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination in Illinois, according to a poll by Market Shares Corp. released by the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV. 44 per cent of Republican voters in the Prairie State would back the state treasurer in the party’s primary.

Investment manager James Oberweis is second with 15 per cent, followed by state senators Bill Brady and Steve Rauschenberger with seven per cent each, and businessman Ronald Gidwitz with four per cent. The Republican gubernatorial primary is scheduled for Mar. 21, 2006. The general election will take place in November 2006.

Rod Blagojevich—a Democrat—has acted as governor in Illinois since January 2003. The former U.S. congressman defeated Republican Jim Ryan in the November 2002 election with 52 per cent of the vote.

Since 1949, Illinois has had five Republican and five Democratic heads of government.

Polling Data

Who would you vote for in the Republican gubernatorial primary?

Judy Baar Topinka
31%

James Oberweis
15%

Bill Brady
7%

Steve Rauschenberger
7%

Ron Gidwitz
4%

Source: Market Shares Corp. / The Chicago Tribune / WGN-TVMethodology: Interviews to 450 likely Republican primary voters, conducted from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9, 2005. Margin of error is 5 per cent.

I've long felt that Topinka wouldn't go for Governor. She has a lot of baggage and subtle signs led me to believe she's not inclined to put herself through it.

If Topinka bows out, how then would the remaining Republican candidates match up against Blagojevich, who is enduring some truly awful poll numbers these days?

The more things change...

Nixon looks looser than Bush.

The anti-life Pro-Lifers

And alert friend of the blog pointed me to this piece by blogger/humorist/writer Bill Shein which makes an important argument for Democrats and progressives.

The tragic irony is that today's allegedly pro-life politics have given us increased poverty, millions without medical care, war, rapid environmental destruction, and fiscal policies that put the short-term economic interests of the few ahead of the long-term survival of the human race — a state of affairs that is anything but pro-life.

Until we broaden the meaning of pro-life and change the way it is used in our political discourse, we will continue to endure government priorities that are nothing of the sort.

Read the entire essay here.

Former RI lawyer, now IL Supreme Court Justice sues over bicycle accident

Showing that he firmly believes in product liability lawsuits, former Rock Island lawyer and current Illinois Supreme Court justice Tom Kilbride has filed a lawsuit stemming from a bicyble accident in June of 2003 in which he suffered serious injuries.

The suit filed by Justice Thomas Kilbride, who lives in Rock Island, claims that he was injured June 12, 2003, while riding a 2001 Sedona Men’s LX Comfort Mountain Bike.

The suit names several companies as defendants, including Alhonga Enterprises, Chang Star Corp. and Lee Chi Enterprise Co., all of Taiwan; Promax USA and Austin Enterprise Inc., both of Hermosa Beach, Calif., and Giant Bicycle Inc. of Newbury Park, Calif.

The suit originally was to be heard in Rock Island County Circuit Court but recently was moved to U.S. District Court, Rock Island, at the request of the defendants.

The lawsuit has 12 counts of both negligence and product liability, and claims Kilbride suffered internal and external injuries of a “permanent and lasting nature.” It did not give details of the injuries.

The suit claims the bicycle contained a manufacturing and design defect which caused the brake coupling to fail. Because of the defect the bicycle broke and became uncontrollable and inoperable, the suit claims.

The suit was filed by the Healy Law Firm of Chicago. It does not seek a specific dollar amount.

Full Bio and Statement from Rep. Mike Boland

Due to space constraints, only basic info was provided in the Boland discussion post.

The following is the complete unedited statement submitted by request from Boland's Cheif of Staff, Mike Huntoon. It contains comprehensive background and information about Rep. Boland and press releases regarding Rep. Boland's work in the Illinois House.

Comments are not allowed for this post. Please leave any comments in the Boland discussion thread.

Submitted October 20th, 2005

-----------------------------

Hello Inside Dope and Inside Dope readers. I am Mike Huntoon. I serve as the Chief of Staff for Representative Boland's Legislative office located at 4416 River Drive in Moline. I'll be making the initial responses on Representative Boland's behalf, in order to fulfill the request by the Inside Dope for comments from local politicians and/or their staff.

I would like to begin by thanking the Inside Dope for this opportunity to present Representative Boland's recent record of accomplishments in greater detail than is often allowed in small news bites on television, or on radio, or even in newspapers.

Representative Boland prides himself on providing quality public service for his constituents, and he has brought a wonderful background of public service to his job as our State Representative. His past record of service before being elected to serve as State Representative includes:
Being one of the original founders of the Citizens Utility Board (C.U.B.)
A 30 year record of service as a school teacher, as well serving on the local school and library boards, and a wide variety of Democratic political activities.

So perhaps in order to give the readers of the Inside Dope the best possible picture of Mike Boland, it would be best to begin with a brief biography as an introduction to our current State Representative.

State Representative Mike Boland Biography

Full Name: Michael J. Boland
Occupation: Educator, State Representative
Past Government Experience: School Board, Library Board
Education: B.A. in History, Upper Iowa University . M.S.ed in Social Science (History, Political Science, and Sociology) from Henderson State University. 48 semester hours Post-Masters from Western Illinois University and University of Iowa.

Committee Assignments
Financial Institutions (Chairperson)
Appropriations-Public Safety
Labor; Telecommunications
Agriculture & Conservation
Workers' Compensation and Unemployment
Pay Day Loans, Subcommittee (Sub-Chairperson).

Past Committee Assignments
Appropriations-General Services - Vice Chair
Appropriations-Higher Education
Elections & Campaign Reform - ChairGaming
Chairman - Elections and Campaign Finance Reform
Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Distribution
Registration and Regulation
Veterans - Vice Chairman
Elementary and Secondary Education
State Government and Elections
Commerce and Labor
Transportation
Insurance
Children and Youth

Honors/Awards
"Outstanding Legislator of the Year" - Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois
"Taxpayers' Friend" - National Taxpayers United of Illinois
Advisory Board for the Boys & Girls Club 2001
Retired Teachers Award
Veterans of Foreign Wars- Loyalty Day Award
National Alliance for Mentally Ill Award
Farm Bureau Activator Award
Exemplary Friends of Libraries Award
American Legion Award
"Golden Helmet" Award from Firefighters

Mike Boland was born on August 20, 1942 in Davenport, Iowa. A former teacher with the East Moline school district, Representative Boland is married and has two daughters. His education includes Upper Iowa University, where he received his B.A., Boland earned a masters degree at Henderson State University. Boland also completed 43 semester hours of post masters degree work from Western Illinois University and the University of Iowa.

Mike Boland has been active in his community throughout his entire life. In 1970 he was elected delegate for the District, County and Iowa State Democratic Conventions. Boland served several years on the East Moline Library Board and was also elected to the United Township High School Board of Education. In 1976, Boland was a member of the East Moline Bicentennial Committee. Boland was elected as an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Midterm Convention in 1978 and as delegate to the Democratic National Presidential Nominating Convention in 1980 & 2000.
Boland was one of the founders of the Citizen's Utility Board (C.U.B.) and served on the Board of Directors for ten years, including two terms as Vice-President. Boland's tenure as State Representative is a perfect compliment to his outstanding 30-year teaching record. Mike Boland has represented the 71st District since January of 1995.

In order to properly recount Representative Mike Boland's accomplishments of 2005, it's necessary to revisit the final days of the prior General Assembly and discuss the passage of an amended HB 1000. The Senate version of HB 1000 would have seriously weakened the current state laws regarding professional fireworks displays. Representative Boland spoke against these changes on the House floor, but the amended Senate version of HB1000 was passed (a vote to concur with Senate amendment #1) by the Illinois House on 1/11/2005 by a very narrow 61-56 tally.

Working together with a variety of firefighter organizations, Representative Boland then called on Governor Blagojevich to veto this legislation. Here then is a copy of Boland's news release on that topic.

Boland Calls On Governor To Veto Bill That Weakens Fireworks Law

MOLINE - Representative Mike Boland is calling upon Governor Blagojevich to veto legislation pushed through in the final hours of the 93rd General Assembly which would greatly weaken the Pyrotechnic Displayers Licensing Act. The current law requires those displaying Class C firework to be trained, tested, and requires the person securing the fireworks permit to carry liability insurance. It also requites the local fire chief to sign off on all fireworks displays and allows indoor fireworks to only be used in buildings with a sprinkler system.

Boland said "HB1000 would gut the current law by removing the indoor displayers of Class C fireworks from state training and testing requirements and would also take out the sprinkler requirement if Class C fireworks are used in an indoor show." The East Moline Democrat argued against HB 1000 in debate on the House floor saying that Class C fireworks are the cause of 88% of fireworks related injuries seen in hospital emergency rooms.

"The majority of fireworks injuries are to children under the age of 15," Boland said. "It is irresponsible to put these types of fireworks into untrained hands, the majority of whom are children," Boland stated. "This is undoubtedly why the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians opposed this dreadful legislation," he added.

Boland, a 10 year veteran of the Illinois House of Representatives, listed the other groups opposed to HB1000, including the Office of the State Fire Marshall, the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance, the Illinois Firefighters Association, the Illinois Fire Service Association, Associated Firefighters of Illinois, the Chicago Fire Department, Professional Firefighters of Illinois, the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, the Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts, the Illinois Fire Inspectors Association and the Illinois Fire Service Training Institute.

"The experts in the field know this is bad legislation, They know that Class C fireworks were involved in the Rhode Island Night Club fire and the recent Argentina fire. They know that last July two people were killed (one in Calumet City, Illinois) because of misuses of Class C fireworks.", Boland stated. "If this bill is not vetoed by the Governor medical and property insurance claims will rise and greater burdens will be put on local fire, police, and EMS services which are funded by taxpayer dollars. " Boland emphasized. "A veto by Governor Blagojevich of HB 1000 will be a win- win- win situation, a win for public safety, a win for insurance consumers and a win for taxpayers," he concluded.

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

In the end, Boland and his firefighter allies were successful in their effort to prevent the final passage of this legislation. On 4\8\2005 Governor Rod Blagojevich Vetoed HB1000 as amended by the Illinois Senate, putting to rest this attempt to weaken Illinois law concerning fireworks displays. Although this effort will never show up on a list of standard legislative accomplishments, the defeat of HB1000 was truly representative Boland's first legislative accomplishment of 2005.

Another important, but often overlooked facet of serving as State Representative includes supporting local organizations in their efforts to receive grants from State, Federal and Private sources. Here is a news release from Februrary 2005 outlining one successful effort to help a local non-profit better serve the needs of the community. In this particular example, it was the second time Boland and his staff had been able to help assist this particular non-profit group in getting grants to fund their efforts to bring computer technology to under-served communities.

Boland Support for Non-Profit Group Helps to Net Grant

MOLINE, IL State Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) announced today that due to Boland's and his office staff's assistance, a local non-profit group is due to receive a $15,000 grant. The head administrator of Technology Now Associates, Jim Garbet, recently notified Boland of the award and thanked the State Representative for his district office's efforts in helping to secure the grant. Technology Now Associates is a local non-profit group working to bring computer and technology training to under served communities. The $15,000 grant award is from telecommunications giant SBC as a part of that company's Excelerator Competetive Grant Program.

"I am very proud that my office could help Technology Now Associates' effort to get this grant and help to bring technology to under served communities here in the Illinois Quad Cities," Boland stated. "My office staff helped to get the ball rolling, by taking the initiative to notify Technology Now Associates of this grant opportunity back in July, and then following up with a letter of support for the actual grant application in August," he added. "All too often my staff and I never hear back from non-profit groups after providing letters of support, so we were absolutely thrilled to hear from Jim Garbet that his organization was going to get an award," Boland continued.

"I'm told that Technology Now Associates had applied for SBC grants without success in the past, so I'd like to think our efforts and assistance helped make a difference in this success," Boland commented. "My office had already provided assistance to Technology Now Associates in securing a state grant to provide computer access and training for the Hispanic community in Moline, so we already knew of their good work and were happy to assist again with support for this grant proposal," he said.

"I've always been willing to put my personal efforts and support behind worthy ideas and ideals, like Technology Now Associates shows in working to gap the €˜ €˜digital divide' for minority youth," Boland said. "Whether it was in the days when I was working as a founder of the Citizen's Utility Board, or during the many other battles I've fought for working men and women, I've been a man willing to put my personal time and effort into worthwhile projects and causes," he emphasized. "I hope my continued efforts and support for non-profit groups and agencies serving the community speaks loudly that I remain true to my core constituencies and ideals; I have not, and will not, forget my roots and the folks who elect me to serve them," Boland concluded.

Boland's district office regularly receives notices about available grants and assistance to non-profit groups in Illinois from Federal, State and business sources. Interested non-profits groups are encouraged to contact Boland's district office to be added to his grant information notification e-mail list. Boland's office also can provide assistance to local agencies seeking grants by providing letters of support for worthwhile grant applications by non-profit groups. Boland's district legislative office is located at 4416 River Drive in Moline and can be reached by phone at 309/736-3360 or via email at ILRepMikeBoland@aol.com.
# # # #

Representative Boland has a longstanding record of working with Firefighter's and first responders to craft and pass legislation to benefit these brave public servants. During the most recent session of the Illinois General Assembly, Boland sponsored and passed into law a measure to make the impersonation of firefighters a crime. Boland's legislation (which was initiated due to an incident in the wake of the tornado that ravaged Utica, Il) closed a loophole in the law concerning firefighters, it was already a crime to impersonate a Police Officer, a Doctor or an Attorney.

Governor Signs Boland Bill Making Impersonation of a Firefighter a Crime

SPRINGFIELD - Legislation sponsored by State Rep. Mike Boland (D -East Moline) that makes impersonation of a Firefighter or an Emergency Management Worker a felony passed was signed into law last week by Governor Rod Blagojevich. House Bill 596 makes the impersonation of a firefighter a Class 4 Felony in Illinois, carrying a possible prison sentence of up to 6 years and a fine of up to $25,000.

"This is common sense legislation and I am pleased to see such broad bipartisan support," Boland said. "Currently in Illinois it's a crime to impersonate a police officer, a doctor, or a lawyer," he continued. "Our communities depend on the bravery of our Firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians, and there's no doubt in my mind that they deserve the same kind of protection," Boland added. "This bill will help to assure that nothing interferes with the trust that the public places in these dedicated men and women," Boland asserted.

Boland's legislation was written in response to an incident which arose after a tornado devastated the town of Utica last spring and claimed the lives of six people. While emergency crews worked hard to coordinate the rescue efforts, a fire truck approached with men claiming to be trained and authorized firefighters. Authorities discovered this to be untrue, and they denied the men access to the site and detained them. However, law enforcement officials were not able to charge the imposter Firefighters with any criminal act.

"More than anything else, this bill addresses a serious safety issue," Boland said. "It takes years of hard work, dedication, and training to become a Firefighter or an Emergency Management Worker. If an unqualified person tries to intervene in an emergency situation they are not only putting themselves at risk, but also endangering the lives and well being of the of the trained professionals actually responding to the emergency. This bill sends a clear message that there is no room for amateurs when lives are on the line," Boland concluded.

Mike Boland represents the 71st District, which includes portions of Rock Island, Henry, Whiteside, and Carroll Counties. Boland is serving his 6th term as State Representative, and has been awarded the Legislator of the Year award by Illinois Firefighters, as well as one of their highest honors, the Golden Helmet Award.

# # #

In two prior sessions of the General Assembly, Representative Boland served as Chairman of the House Committee on Elections and Campaign Reform (he is currently Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Institutions), so he has a strong background in working to help make elections and government more ethical, accountable and efficient. The following news release outlines the provisions of HB 2455 which was signed into law by Governor Blagojevich on 8/16/2005.

Boland Calls For Free Flow of Financial Data on Public Officials
State Representative Calls on Governor to Sign HB 2455

MOLINE - State Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) called today on Governor Blagojevich to sign into law reforms concerning individuals who view the economic interest statements of candidates or public officials. Representatives Paul Froehlich (R-Schaumburg) and Mike Boland's teamed together to advance this proposal which would do away with existing "Soviet-style" provisions in the law that impede the free flow of information about the financial interests of those holding or seeking public office.

Froehlich and Boland's House Bill 2455 would do away with the requirement that County Clerks send a notice to any public official or candidate required to file a Statement of Economic Interests with the Clerk whenever a reporter of anyone else looks at the Statement. The current Illinois Government Ethics Act requires the person looking at the statement to first fill out a form stating their name, occupation, address, telephone number, date of examination, and their reason for looking at the statement. The Clerk must then send a copy of this form to the official whose statement was examined.

"The effect of the provision is to intimidate individuals into not looking at information that should be available to them just for the asking," Boland said. "A person who considers looking at a politician's Economic Interest Statement may very well decide not to because they don't want to risk the wrath or disdain that the politician may have in response," Boland added.

Froehlich and Boland introduced the bill at the request of Sangamon County Board Representative Sam Cahnman, who recently received a notice from the Sangamon County Clerk that someone had looked at his Economic Interest Statement, and was surprised this law was still on the books. Sam Cahnman also related stories to Representative Froehlich and Boland about instances where politicians have launched verbal attacks on researchers, lobbyists, or reporters because of receiving a notice that their Economic Interest Statement had been viewed. A similar provision in Illinois Election Code existed for people who looked at a candidate's financial disclosure reports, a listing of who made campaign contributions and how they were spent, but it was repealed in 1998.

"The purpose of the Statement of Economic Interest, which must be filed annually, is to disclose potential conflicts between the official or candidate's financial interest and their official or their potential official duties," Boland stated. "The theory is to let the sun shine in by putting everything out in the open and then letting the voters decide if they want a public official who, for example, acts in his own financial interest as opposed to the interest of the governmental entity they are serving," Boland said. "For Economic Interest Statements to do their job, there must be free and unimpeded flow of the information in the statements, and under current law there is not," Boland. concluded.

The notice provision in existing law does not apply to legislators' Economic Interests Statements that are filed with the Secretary of State, because those documents are already available for inspection on the internet. HB 2455 passed out of the Illinois House with unanimous support in March, and the State Senate approved the measure without a single dissenting vote in May. Froehlich and Boland's proposal currently awaits signature into law by Governor Rod Blagojevich.
# # #

Another legislative accomplishment of Representative Boland's during the 2005 legislative session was the passage into law of a bill known as a "Child Labor Ban". As mentioned in the following news release, this bill was modeled on legislation passed by Boland in an prior session of the General Assembly that was known as the "Slave Labor Ban".

Child Labor Ban Signed Into Law
Boland Bill Will Help Prevent Foreign Child Labor Abuses & Protect American Jobs

MOLINE - State Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) announced today Governor Blagojevich signed a bill that Boland had passed from the Illinois General Assembly to prevent Illinois tax dollars from being used for the purchase of goods made by foreign child labor. HB 2460 would create the State Prohibition of Goods from Child Labor Act, which would require contractors providing goods to the state to certify that the products were not made by child labor. Boland's "Child Labor Ban" passed from both houses of the General Assembly with strong bi-partisan support and was signed into law by the Governor yesterday.

"The exploitation of children in foreign countries to produce goods exported to the United States is a serious problem facing both our state and nation," Boland stated. "Many citizens who carefully track their purchases and investments to avoid contributing to the exploitation of children would be shocked and appalled to hear that their tax dollars might not be used as carefully," he added. "With the passage of this legislation, folks will be assured that their tax dollars aren't being used to purchase goods made by exploited children," Boland said.

"The problems associated with goods produced by foreign child labor are not just a moral issues, they create economic problems as well," Boland stated. "No hardworking men or women here in the "Land of Lincoln" should be forced to compete with children from third world countries for a job," he continued. "By passing this "Child Labor Ban" we can help to protect both the jobs of Illinois workers and the welfare of foreign children," Boland emphasized.

"Child labor is a pervasive problem in the developing world," Boland said. "According to the International Labor Office, the most current estimate is that there are as many as 211 million children between the ages of 5 and 15 working across the globe," he added. "Banning the State's purchase of goods made with child labor is one way we can think globally and act locally' to end the physical exploitation of children in the developing world, and the economic exploitation of working men and women in Illinois," Boland concluded.

Boland's Child Labor Ban is similar to legislation he passed in a previous session of the General Assembly to prevent the State's purchase of goods made by political and religious prisoners overseas.

Not long after the terrorist attack on 9-11 and the ensuing invasion of Afghanastan and Iraq, Representative Boland was the primary sponsor of legislation which created the Military Family Relief Fund - a bill which created a voluntary income tax check-off with procedes to go to help relieve the financial burden of the familes who have had a member called to active duty with the National Guard or Reserves. Illinois was the first state to take this sort of action, and now following the template of Boland's Military Family Relief Fund Act many other states have created similar military family relief funds.

Again working to provide support and assistance for our brave men and women serving in the various branches of the Armed Services, Boland sponsored and helped to pass legislation creating a special lottery game with proceeds to help with the health care costs for Veterans.

Boland Bill Will Create Illinois Veterans' Assistance Fund
Dedicated Lottery Game Could Generate $10-12 Million To Help Illinois Veterans' With Variety of Problems From Homelessness to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

SPRINGFIELD - State Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) proudly announced today that Governor Rod Blagojevich has signed legislation that Boland had sponsored to aid soldiers returning from military service in the war against terrorism. Representative Boland was the Primary Sponsor of HB3472 which would create a special dedicated fund to assist all veteran's with post-traumatic stress disorders, homelessness, health problems, disability benefits and long term care. A special lottery scratch-off game dedicated to Illinois' veterans will provide the mechanism to finance the "Illinois Veterans Assistance Trust Fund" which this bill creates. Boland's HB3472 passed from both the Illinois House and Senate with bipartisan support and was signed into law by the Governor on August 15, 2005.

"Many active duty and returning soldiers, as well as their family members, are now reporting clinical signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, such as depression or marital and family discord," Representative Mike Boland stated. "Many will come home suffering from physical or mental health problems, and some face the prospect of inadequate health care or even homelessness. The Illinois Veteran's Assistance Trust Fund can provide a way to help address these problems," Boland added.

"Our great 'Land of Lincoln' is home to more than 900,000 veterans dating back to World War II, and we currently have 5,900 Illinois National Guard members and reservists on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan," Boland said. "And while many assume that our country's veterans are well taken care of, the reality we face here in Illinois is quite different," he stated. "Knowing when and where to turn for help can make a real difference for some of these valiant folks who have put their lives on the line for freedom," Boland asserted.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) often result in a domino effect of negative consequences. The first signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorders often begin as sleep disorders, panic attacks, violent outbursts and acute anxiety. If untreated, PTSD often culminates in drug abuse and even homelessness. A national survey from 2003 estimated that nearly a half million veterans experienced homelessness, and that as much as 25% of all homeless males were veterans of military service.

The VA currently funds fewer than 200 beds in Illinois homeless shelters, yet it is estimated that there are about 20,000 veterans without roofs over their heads in Illinois. And veterans lucky enough to have a home may still lack health insurance. A recent study - "America's Neglected Veterans" - revealed that 1.7 million veterans nationwide did not have health care insurance nor did they receive ongoing care at VA hospitals.

"The funding to assist our brave protectors of freedom, to create and fund the Illinois Veteran's Assistance Trust Fund, will come from a new lottery scratch-off game modeled on West Virginia's popular €˜Veterans Cash 5' game," Representative Boland stated. "The simple addition of that one game to their lottery lineup raised $2.4 million to benefit West Virginia's veteran's nursing homes. It's estimated that a similar game here in Illinois would generate $10-$12 million to assist the brave soldiers who have come home from their role on the front lines," he added.

"The bottom line is that the people on the homefront are eager to help the troops," Boland said. "And the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our safety, are finding that they return from one war only to face a different battle at home, the battle to get the health care assistance they both need and deserve," he continued. "This proposed new lottery game gives everyone a convenient way to express their appreciation to Illinois vets, and to make sure they get what they deserve when they come home," Boland concluded.

In a previous session of the legislature, Boland helped pass legislation known as the Military Family Relief Fund, which is an voluntary income tax check-off that funds financial assistance for the families of Illinois National Guard and Reservists who were called to active duty to fight the war on terror. For further information about the already existing Military Family Relief Fund or the newly created Illinois Veterans Assistance Trust Fund please contact Representative Boland's district legislative office. Boland can be reached by phone at 309/736-3360 or by mail at: 4416 River Drive; Moline, IL 61265.
# # # #

NOTE: The following additional press release was submitted as a comment in the Boland discussion post October 21, 2005 and moved here due to it's length.

In my earlier submission on behalf of Representative Boland I briefly mentioned legislation Representative Boland had passed in a prior session of the General Assembly creating a Military Family Relief Fund. As the following news release will describe in further detail, this legislation provided Illinois Taxpayers with the ability to make voluntary donations to a state fund to assist National Guard and Military Reserve families across Illinois.

Not only was this effort a success in Illinois, it has served as a template for many other states to follow suit in creating similar funds. Here is the full news release announcing the signing of the Military Family Relief Fund into law.


Tax Checkoff Will Fund Aid for National Guard & Military Reserve Families

MOLINE, IL—Illinois State Representative Mike Boland (D-71) looked with pride today, as Governor Rod Blagojevich signed legislation to provide aid for families of Illinois National Guard and military reserve members called to active duty as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and our ongoing war on terror. House Bill 2742, which Boland introduced to the legislature and sponsored, will create the Illinois Military Family Relief Fund. This newly created fund will provide financial assistance for military families during this time of national crisis. Funded by a voluntary state income tax check-off, Boland’s proposal is similar to current voluntary check-offs for wildlife preservation, child abuse prevention and breast cancer research. This legislation passed both the Illinois House and Senate without opposition before being signed into law by Governor Blagovich.

“The brave men and women patriots who have been placed on active duty are on the front lines of our ongoing battle against terrorism,” Boland stated. “Here on the homefront, our obligation is to make sure the families of our fighting men and women are not in financial distress,” Boland said. “Many Illinois military families have taken dramatic reductions in their income because military pay is substantially below their normal civilian salary,” he continued. “The Military Family Relief Fund can, and will, provide some much needed assistance for these families while giving Illinois taxpayers a direct and efficient way to contribute to our fighting men and women,” Boland explained.

“I’ve met with the spouses of some of our civilian solders who’ve been called up,” Boland said. “For example, I talked with one mother who has three children under the age of 6. Her husband has been called to active duty, and their family is struggling to make ends meet,” Boland explained. “This example strongly illustrates why I introduced this legislation. We need to provide appropriate support and assistance for military families so our soldiers can worry about the enemy and not the everyday welfare of their wives and children,” Boland stated.

Boland’s proposal includes assistance for the families of reservists from all branches of the United States Armed Services who are Illinois residents and have been placed on active duty status due to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Families of Illinois National Guard members would also qualify if they had also been placed on active duty. Under Boland’s proposal, the Illinois Department of Military Affairs will be responsible for establishing eligibility requirements and setting rules for the grant program.

Current voluntary donation checkoffs already on the State of Illinois individual income tax form include: wildlife preservation, child abuse prevention, Alzheimer’s research, homeless assistance, breast cancer research, prostate cancer research, and the World War II Memorial fund.

During a previous term in office, Boland served as Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. For more information on the Military Family Relief Fund, please contact Boland’s district legislative office at 4416 River Drive; Moline, IL 61265; or by calling 309-736-3360.

# # #

Katrina victims still suffer

The Bushy administration's inaction to help victims of Hurricane Katrina is well documented, but they haven't been idle. They immediately made efforts to ensure that corporations and donors were able to make obscene profits from the suffering of others and allowing them to further loot the treasury. Rather than moving to give hiring preference to the the tens of thousands of out of work victims who have lost everything and desperately need employment and income, they instead waived rules to allow companies to hire illegal immigrants, and waived the law that required any federally funded contractor to pay the prevailing wage of the area they work in. They let no-bid vastly inflated, name your price bids to corporate cronies, and as if making 5 or 10 times the normal profit they'd usually make wasn't enough, they had to allow them to take advantage of desperate workers and pay them peanuts, thus inflating their profits even further.

The death, suffering, and loss of thousands and thousands of predominately poor people has turned into a field day for the greedy, aided and abetted every step of the way by Bush.

What sort of business, in response to such suffering in the country that has allowed them to thrive and prosper, goes into the situation grabbing with both hands as much as they possibly can, seeking to make a killing out of a national disaster? Is that the patriotism they so loudly crow about?

Cards Game 5: Incredible!

I know it's a bit late, and if you haven't seen the footage, you've probably been living under a rock, but the Cardinals Game 5 of the National League Series was nothing short of amazing. Facing elimination down 3-1 in the series, and after holding a 2-1 lead for most of the game, the Cards saw Lance Berkman hit a 3 run homerun put the icing on the Astros cake. Going into the top of the ninth, the Cards were down 4-2 and there was no joy in St. Louis.

The stadium in Houston was a madhouse, with a deafening roar continuing for the last couple of innings. With two outs in the top of the ninth, the Astro fans and the Astros dugout were going nuts and jumping up and down; they were going to the Series. They were ecstatic. This was it! Two down and they needed at least two runs to tie. It was in the bag.

Fox Sports even picked Berkman as the game MVP as if it was over.

David Eckstein was at the plate, the scrappy 5'7" shortstop squaring off against perhaps the best pitcher in the league. It was all but over. Nobody on base, 2 outs. The roar was so loud you could barely think, and the count ran to two strikes against Eckstein. Then he caught a pitch and gutted a shot through the infield and made it to first safely.

The power hitter Jim Edmunds came to the plate, and with amazing self control, took a walk. Now it was "Lights Out" Lidge, the league's best closer, against Albert Pujols, perhaps the best hitter in the league. But Pujols was 0 for 3 for the game. Pujols swung at a low and away pitch and the crowd went into a frenzy. They could taste it. Then......

As Keith Olberman put it, Pujols, "hit the ball out of an indoor park."

And it wasn't just a homerun, it was a shot that sailed up into the further reaches of the rafters. A blast of amazing proportion.

But what was even more amazing, if that's possible, is the fact that, at that second, before the ball had even landed, while it was still soaring through space, the entire Astros stadium went silent as a tomb.

It was as if someone hit the mute button. No groans, no moans. Nothing. Just silence.

All you could hear was the sound of thousands of Astro fans gears grinding to a stop. It was mass shock. And I for one, found it particularly delicious.

And the miraculous win sends the series back to St. Louis and Busch Stadium, which gets to see at least one more game before it suffers the wrecking ball.

As posted at Capital Fax, here's a place where you can listen to 5 different calls of the play.

Cards, Astros at it again for Game 6 tonight.

Tibetts provides money snapshot of Iowa 1st District race.

Drawing on his own bank account, Bettendorf entrepreneur Mike Whalen raised more than $129,000 in the third quarter of this year for his 1st Congressional District campaign, boosting his year-to-date total to slightly more than his rival, Iowa Rep. Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock.

Dix, though, still has more money in the bank.

Whalen pumped $27,500 of his own money into the campaign for the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The $129,271 he raised during the quarter brought his year-to-date total to $268,885. That is slightly more than the $267,070 Dix raised during the same period, $66,034 of it during the third quarter.

About 30 percent of Whalen’s money has come from his own pocket. Through the third quarter, he had contributed $82,742 to his campaign. Brian Dumas, his campaign manager, said Whalen’s lead in contributions and his hard work over the past several months show he is “solidifying the momentum in the race.”

Still, when Whalen’s contributions are discounted, Dix, the chairman of the Iowa House Appropriations Committee, maintains a lead in individual contributions as well as money in the bank. At the end of the third quarter, he had $184,728 on hand. Whalen reported having $131,040. “I’m flattered with the support we’ve received from Iowans,” Dix said.

MORE

Republican Moline City Government to raise taxes, cut services

The council will meet Nov. 5 to discuss a long list of possible service cuts or tax hikes, including:

• Closing the downtown library, which has experienced declining usage. Two library assistant positions and one library associate’s post would be eliminated as well for a cost savings of $197,360.
  
  
• Creating a special service area for Bass Street Landing, reducing city costs by $69,000.
  
  
• Increasing property taxes by 10 cents from the current levy of $1.91 per $100 of assessed valuation.
  
  
• Turning the crossing guard program over the school district for a savings of about $125,000.
  
  
• Increasing the sewer rate by 8.2 percent, or about $5 per quarter for the average residential customer.
  
  
• Creating a utility tax or sanitation fee, increasing the food and beverage tax, or levying a tax on alcohol or gasoline.

“Please understand, if raising taxes was not an option, services would have to be cut,” Steinbrecher told the council in a 13-page budget memorandum. He said revenues have not kept up with increases in wages, retirement benefits and health-care coverage.

Public Works Director Mike Waldron called the automated trash collection system “pay as you throw.” Residents would be allowed one refuse container for free but would have to pay $45 annually for additional, 96-gallon containers. Customers also would be charged a $45 annual disposal fee for each additional container.

With the automated system, a robotic arm on the side of the garbage truck clamps onto the container and dumps the trash inside. The trucks can be run with one worker instead of two and saves on personnel and workman’s compensation costs.

Sanitation worker Alex Sierra spoke against the proposed change. “It’s political suicide. You’re going to have an angry mob down here.”

“We have a Cadillac service and now you’re trying to change it to a Ford Pinto,” city union president Kaye Whitley added.

This is a big deal. The automated system will be a hardship for the elderly and others who simply can't maneuver the enormous standardized trash container to the curb. It will also eliminate many city jobs, which seems to be contrary to all the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of tax dollars that the city has seen fit to dole out to subsidize business and development primarily for the stated reason of creating jobs. (though many of the hand-outs were for real estate projects which created nothing but profits for the developers and no jobs whatsoever after construction. I guess all the supposed tax revenue that was supposed to flow from such huge subsidies just didn't cut it.)

Moline already has sky-high property tax rates, high hotel taxes, and with many struggling to afford gas, this is JUST the right time to raise gasoline taxes. That would drastically hurt every station in Moline, as people would simply go elsewhere for their gas.

Once again, the so-called party of fiscal responsibility has managed to spend Moline into a deep hole with no good way out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related note... the Moline leave sucker-uppers are out on their rounds looking for almost non-existant leaf piles. Get those leaves to the curb.

Casino move delay irks Jacobs

Members of the Big Island Conservation District say they are not opposed to the planned move of Jumer's Casino Rock Island to a site off Interstate 280 and Illinois 92, but concede that concerns they have raised about how the project would impact Big Island's levee system have delayed its approval.

Casino officials and proponents hoped the Illinois Gaming Board would greenlight the move at its regular meeting in September, but a final vote was tabled, in part because of issues raised by the conservation district, Gaming Board spokesman Gene O'Shea confirmed Thursday.
...
"We've never been against the project," conservation district president Eugene Rebello said Thursday. "But we want to know if there's anything there that will affect our levee system."

The district tried to get drawings and information from casino officials before the September meeting, but never heard back from them, he said. That is why they requested a vote on the move be tabled.

"We wanted to make sure they had this material before they voted on it," he said. "Our duty is to make sure to protect the people on Big Island."

Though a deal that allowed the casino to acquire the I-280/Illinois 92 land angered some Big Island supporters, their dispute is with Moline-based RiverStone Group, not the casino, said Randy Wlaskolich of the Big Island Soil and Water Preservation Commission. The deal involved an agreement between the city and RiverStone for the company to sell the downstream site to the casino in exchange for a zoning change that could pave the way for a gravel mining operation.

"We're all for the riverboat," Wlaskolich said. "Nobody in their right mind is against economic development. We are against the gravel pit."

Project delays have irritated Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline. Back in the spring, he led the charge to draft legislation upholding the Gaming Board's right to approve the move after the Illinois Attorney General's office issued an opinion stating that the Riverboat Gaming Act did not grant that power.

That legislation was approved in August, and Jacobs expected the September meeting of the Gaming Board to be a slam dunk.

"It is frustrating to see an Illinois company that wants to expand, wants to grow, that is being stymied time and again by government," he said.

Still, he added, the board "has a responsibility to come down, look at the site and the Big Island issue." But if it does not vote soon, he vowed to act.

"If the board stalls the project any longer, I'm going to move to take legislative action to disband that board and get a board that will be more responsive to the needs of job creation," he said.

Bill Renk, the Casino Rock Island's vice president of sales and marketing, said he believes the relative newness of the Gaming Board, the current makeup was convened in July, is part of the reason the project has been delayed.

"These are new members and they haven't been hearing about our project for years," he said. "It's just been one thing after another. We're hoping for an answer on Tuesday."

O'Shea said a final vote could be taken during Tuesday's special meeting, but that is not guaranteed.

"The board is looking into every aspect, as they'd do with any casino," he said. "It's my understanding the conservancy district is a government body and has come to the board and raised these issues. The Gaming Board is duty-bound to look at those issues."

It's understandable why Sen. Jacobs wants action on this matter. After all, it's been repeatedly held up, first for months by the delay by Governor Blagojevich in appointing members to vacant seats on the state Gaming Board, and then by the legal snafu regarding the Board's ability to OK the casino relocation. And Jacobs has had to sign onto legislation to clear that hurdle already.

It's easy to see how this latest delay would be very frustrating to those who have been working for the move and who thought the finish line was in sight. And Jacobs' threat to purge the board may be just a bluff to spur them to action.

But there's also an interest in doing right by all parties involved, and apparently the Board feels it needs a bit more information before going forward.

But after all the delays and now that the full board is in place, if it doesn't rule the way Sen. Jacobs wants, or do it fast enough, Jacobs contemplates in essense firing the board members and replacing them with people who will rule quickly in favor of the Senator and casino operators? Or am I reading that wrong?

Substitute "gambling interests" for the buzz words "job creation" in Jacobs' quote above, and how does it sound?

Yes, jobs will be created, temporarily at least during the construction, and perhaps some expansion of casino jobs, but does anyone truly believe that's the primary concern of those pushing for the move? What about the angle of River Stone, who wants to open a stone quarry on Big Island? Can one really fault the Gaming Board and those on Big Island for wanting to take a little more time to make sure things are done right?

No one likes to be sucker punched or rolled in matters affecting the enviroment, their property, and lives. When the big boys make their moves, little guys often get hurt in the process. As the spokesman for the Big Island Soil and Water Preservation Commission stated, they have no beef with the Casino expansion, but rather are concerned with protecting the residents of Big Island from possible effects on the levees protecting their properties.

"Follow the money" holds true here as always. Board members don't stand to be enriched by delaying the proposed move. Neither do Big Island residents, though they most definitely stand to be harmed if levee work is not done properly.

But the other parties stand to make a boatload of money (excuse the pun) if the move is approved without further scrutiny or delay. It's worth noting that both Riverstone Group and numerous gambling interests have been large campaign donors, which of course is their right. (Riverstone Group has donated $10,790 to the Rock Island County Republican Centeral Committee alone in just over three years. To see all their contributions, go here, and enter Riverstone in the name field.)

Jacobs stated intentions to toss out the Gaming Board and replace it with one more amenable to his desires begs the question, if you're just going to purge them until you find people who will do your bidding, and by extention, the bidding of the gambling interests they're supposed to regulate and oversee, does not that defeat the entire purpose?

The Gaming Board is there for a reason, presumably to regulate a potentially damaging industry which is ripe for corruption due to the torrent of skimable money flowing through it, not to mention the historical attraction it holds for organized crime figures. It's duty is to listen to all those impacted by this proposed move and ensure that all interests are given proper attention and weight.

If a governmental body such as the Gaming Board can not be independent and has no ultimate authority, the whole thing is a charade, is it not?

Iowa QC pols utilizing blog, Illinois, not so much.

Today the Times runs a featured piece on the "Daily Davenport Politics" blog and how it's affecting the races and politics within the town.

This is well-deserved publicity for the good folks at DDP, three anonymous bloggers who have maintained an interesting, well written, and attractive blog beginning at around the same time as The Inside Dope.

A source for my eternal jealousy is, as the article points out, the fact that, unlike pols on this side of the river who appear to be hoping that if they ignore or harass the blog it will go away, politicians on the Iowa side often utilize blogging and participate in discussions and comments on "Daily Davenport Politics" and it makes for a much more stimulating, informative, and beneficial atmosphere. I'd encourage local candidates and politicians to give the story a look.

For Bill Boom, running for 3rd Ward alderman in Davenport is as much about clicking the mouse as it is about knocking on doors.

Boom and other candidates have found a new campaign tool in an online blog called Davenport Daily Politics.

“We found it was a great opportunity for a grass-roots campaign to be able to get our name out, get attention and be able to float ideas and see how they fly,” Boom said. “It’s like the proverbial ‘run it up the flagpole and see how many holes get shot in it.’ From that standpoint, I think it helped us formulate our message.”

While "The Inside Dope" has more readers than DDP, alas, it's not mentioned in the article which focuses on the Davenport political scene. (The article also botches the subject blog's web address and the link in the online version does not work. The correct address is http://qcdavenport.blogspot.com/

DDP founder "Fly on the Wall", and co-blogger "QC Images" have been frequent and welcome commenters here in the past and I admire their work. Congratulations to them on their mention in the QC Times.

For future reference, they're listed in the blogroll in the sidebar.

Sox clinch pennant, Cards on the ropes...

The White Sox are going to the World Series for the first time in 46 years, and the Cards are down 3-1 in their cursed series with the Houston Astros. St. Louis is battling injuries and bizarre calls and appeared to be unraveling in their 2-1 loss, with star outfielder Jim Edmunds and manager Tony LaRussa both being ejected from the game.

The Cards faced Houston in last years National League series, and remarkably, heading into the pivotal Game 7 of the series, both teams had exactly the same batting average at .246, the same number of runs scored at twenty-nine apiece and the exact same ERA at 4.80. In the end, the Card's clutch, 5-2 win brought the World Series back to St. Louis for the first time since 1987.

But this year, St. Louis is without Carlos Beltran, Jeff Kent, Edgar Renteria and Scott Rolen.

It would be great if the Cards could pull it off and win the NL title for four reasons:

To redeem themselves after being swept in a humiliating drubbing last year at the hands of the Red Sox.

As a fitting send off to Busch Stadium which after 39 years, is seeing it's last year of baseball.

To set up an I-55 series. (296 miles, just over 4 hours, stadium to stadium. Thousands of speeding and/or intoxicated fans all on one interstate. A true state police dream.)

The country has suffered enough from Texas. We could live without the Astros going to the World Series.

What's it going to be? Sox-Astros? Sox-Cards? Who wins it all?


And bonus trivia question. What was the saying which referred to St. Louis when it was the home of the AL Browns?

Failed News Reader Going for Two

Apparently, the area Republican candidate bench isn't exactly deep, as evidenced by newsreader Andrea Zinga's announcement that she's going to take a shot at becoming a two-time loser.

Zinga, a Republican, of Coal Valley, Ill., will begin a three-day campaign tour to announce her candidacy at 2 p.m. today at Longview Park in Rock Island. Her tour will conclude Tuesday in Canton.

Zinga is a former local television news anchor who lost to Evans in November 2004 in her first attempt at political office.

“We still have an ineffective congressman,” she said Saturday.

“I said last time that if he got elected again this area would lose jobs during the cycle,” she added. “And that’s what happened. We lost nearly 1,700 jobs at the Rock Island Arsenal.” [Like Andrea, or anyone, could have changed that.]

She said she has received a lot of support during her travels around the district the past 2 ½ years.

“We had a record vote from the base in 2004,” she said. “And there have been a lot of people waiting for me to announce to give both financial and moral backing.”

Charlie Johnston, general consultant to Zinga’s campaign, said that during the last election there were likely about 20,000 under-votes, or people who may have wanted to vote for Zinga but were not ready to make the change. [As far as excuses for getting your ass handed to you, that doesn't pass the laugh test.]

“People don’t like to change,” Zinga said. “They have to have a good reason to change, and the reasons are piling up.” [Not to be rude or anything, but it's not change people don't like Andrea, it's you and your platform.]

Not only has the district lost more jobs, she said, but then there is the issue of the fraud settlement the Evans campaign made with the Federal Elections Commission, or FEC.

In June, Evans agreed to pay a $185,000 fine to settle the FEC’s allegations that he violated campaign finance law. The civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court Rock Island in 2004, contained 17 alleged violations of federal law.

The FEC alleged that hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised and spent illegally during both Evans’ 1998 and 2000 campaigns.

During the 2004 election, Evans won with 61 percent of the votes cast.

Evans spokesman Steve Vetzner said that Evans fought hard against the loss of jobs and the decisions made by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC.

“We disagreed with the commission’s recommendations on the Arsenal and thought they were not justified,” he said.

He added that Zinga raised a lot of charges during the last campaign, “and she was soundly defeated at the ballot box. If she wants to try again she’s welcome to it.”

Zinga will be pitted in a March, 2006 primary against fellow GOP candidates Brian “Gilligan” Gilliland, an Aledo, Ill., businessman, and Jim Mowen, a Rock Island real estate developer.

This oughta be good. It should be Evans in a walk, but the usual Republican cash spigot will likely be gushing even more than usual as they perceive Evans being vulnerable due to the huge financial hit their fishing expedition caused his campaign. Mowen will be a vocal presence as well, though he appears to be targeting the hard right fundie base and can be expected to fail. And "Gilligan" will provide comic relief for the whole drama.
Let the games begin!

How do you handicap this race? What dynamics will the race hinge on?
And if you're really feeling lucky, what do you think Evans must do to prevail?

Blagojevich appears on Air America Radio

Listening to the opening of the Al Franken Show on Air America Radio this morning, something caught my ear. Franken was announcing his guests for the show and said that Governor Blagojevich was going to be one of them. But Franken was stopped cold in trying to pronounce the Governor's name, and after several mangled attempts, was put straight by an assistant. Franken then quipped that in the original Slav, Blagojevich meant "Son of a Dull Person."

I was away from the radio during Blago's appearance this morning, but I'm listening to the re-broadcast of the show via the streaming live broadcast available at Air America's site.

Despite Blago putting the show on hold for a couple minutes before he finally came on, the interview went very well, with Franken citing many stats about the number of children who don't have access to health care, the effects of this lack of service, and the economic costs associated with the lack of preventive care and attention to health problems at their onset.

Blago did a great job, speaking rapidly and getting a lot of talking points across while not appearing overly scripted or pushy. It was a good back and forth with Franken, and after Blago's segment was over, Franken went on at length in support of the merits of universal health care for kids, saying he was "moved" by Blago's proposals.

This issue is doubtless going to be the flagship issue for Blago going into the election season. While he was effective in putting forth the need for and rationale for such a program, and effectively batted down Republican objections. But he noticeably said not a word about how the massive program would be funded, other than to say that it could be done. This is the initiative's Achilles heel.

While I've read a rather general and hazy explanation that the funds for this enormously costly initiative would somehow be found by making some of the current programs more efficient, it is far from convincing. The fact remains that while the selling of the program by conjuring the image of sick and injured children unable to get the care they need will be very effective, the effort would seem to be very vulnerable to any serious inquiry into just how it would be paid for.

But it must be driving the Republicans nuts, as it leaves them to be cast as the heartless grinches who oppose helping sick little poor children (though of course, this measure will cover even millionaires if their children are uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions, it will not be tough to cast the Repubs as heartless bastards, mainly because it's not that much of a stretch.)

This is going to be a big battlefield as the elections approach, and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

The House of Cards is Falling

A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows Bush's approval rating among blacks to be 2%. If the margin of error is more than 2, his numbers could be negative. HA!

And Bush has long been unwilling or unable to face ordinary people and speak on his feet. The vast majority of his appearances outside the White House have been in front of military audiences under orders to go along with the White House script. Bush's painfully obvious choreographed appearances have long been noted, though little serious attention has been given this fact by the press.

But then again, until now, there weren't "pictures", to use the TV jargon for video tape. Unless they have tape, it isn't "news".

In a revealing incident yesterday, a mid-level pentagon flack was shown coaching and rehearshing a group of hand-picked soldiers in Tikrit Iraq prior to what the White House falsely claimed was a spontaneous "chat" between Bush and the soldiers.

But as usual, prior to going live, the camera was on and a signal was going out on the raw satellite feed, which is able to be picked up by anyone with access to the feed. It was picked up and aired by the media providing stark evidence of just how phoney Bush's appearances are, despite their suggesting otherwise. This mistake was being pointed to by some as evidence of Karl Rove's absence from the operation.

It showed a pentagon flack saying to the troops, "The president's going to ask some questions and he may ask all 6 of them, all 3 of them. He might have such a great time talking to you. He might come up with some new questions. So what we want to be prepared for is to not stutter. If there's a question that the president comes up with that we haven't drilled through today I expect the microphone to go through to you Captain Kennedy."

During the actual "chat", the soldiers were stiff and robotic, appearing as if they were making a hostage tape.

The Washingtom Post writes:

President Bush yesterday sought to rally U.S. troops behind his Iraq strategy -- and he and his aides left little to chance.

Before the president spoke via a video link, his event planners handpicked 10 soldiers from the Army's 42nd Infantry and one Iraqi soldier, told them what topics the president would ask about, and watched them briefly rehearse their presentations before going live.

The soldiers did not disappoint. Each one praised the president, the war and the progress in training Iraqi troops. Several spoke in a monotone voice, as if determined to remember and stay on script.

The Iraqi, Sgt. Maj. Akeel Shaker Nassir, who is in charge of the Iraqi army training facility in Tikrit, had only a few words for Bush, but they were gushing: "Thank very much for everything. I like you."

Nassir's comments came near the end of one of the stranger and most awkwardly staged publicity events of the Bush presidency. It started with Bush, in Washington standing at a lectern, talking to the soldiers via video on a large flat-screen. They sat shoulder to shoulder and stared dutifully at the camera.

The president's delivery was choppy, as he gazed frequently at his notes and seemed several times to be groping for the right words. Bush told the soldiers they are facing a "ruthless and coldblooded" enemy intent on "the killing of innocent people to get the American government to pull you out of there before the mission is accomplished."

Two days before Iraq votes on a new constitution that Bush considers essential to creating a democracy in the Middle East, he said the United States is making steady progress in defeating the insurgents and in training Iraqi troops to take over full control of the military operation.

"We got a strategy, and it's a clear strategy," Bush said. "On the one hand, we will hunt down these killers and terrorists and bring them to justice, and train the Iraqi forces to join us in that effort." The soldiers were in complete agreement.

The Defense Department yesterday provided Congress a markedly more sober assessment of the progress in Iraq. It touted advances in the development and involvement of Iraqi troops, but also noted a recent increase in the number of insurgent attacks and problems meeting targets for the production of electricity and oil. At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said the troops at Bush's event were told "what to expect."

Before they spoke, Allison Barber, a mid-level Pentagon official, helped coach the troops on who would be asked what by Bush. Afterward, according to Reuters, she told reporters that "we knew that the president was going to ask about security, coalition and training" but not the specific questions.

This not a new technique for Bush; his White House has perfected the public relations strategy of holding scripted events featuring the president's supporters. During the first part of the year, Bush traveled the country to discuss his Social Security plan, while aides stacked the audience with Republicans and tutored participants in these town hall events on what to say.

Message from Randi Rhodes

Randi Rhodes is a very talented and passionate lady. And she happens to have one of the best shows on Air America Radio. She's quick witted, funny, exremely knowledgable, unflinching, and tells it like it is. And she fires off some of the funniest quips and one-liners ever, such as, referring to Bush, "This guy is running TWO countries when he couldn't even run ONE company!"

Her show is aired on local station WKBF-AM 1270 weekdays at 5-6 p.m.

Her latest newsletter included this message.

The question has been out there for five years...What will in take for the Republicans to stop goose-stepping in perfect unison?

With all the lies, bloodshed, thievery, incompetence, corruption and flat-out treason, you would think that someone's conscience would get the best of them. But it hasn't happened. Why? Because PARTY LOYALTY trumps all, no matter how many suffer or die because of it.
Until now!

The GOP is in chaos!

But not because of all the damage done to our soldiers, or the neglect of thousands of families who survived a massive hurricane only to die waiting to be rescued or worse, seperated from their children!

And not because of the wholesale slaughter of innocent Iraqis, or because those who lived through thousands of tons of bombing never saw the security, water and electricity we swore we'd bring.

Not even because of the corruption and indictments of their own leaders.

Nope, they stayed firmly behind this President even when it became clear that a criminal investigation into an act of TREASON was underway because someone in the White House wanted to exact revenge on an Ambassador who did his duty to this country.

The GOP is in chaos because the Rapture Right is learning a bitter lesson:

George W Bush doesn't have religion. Unless worshipping power, money and crony capitalism counts as religion. I'll leave that up to you. But the charismatic fundamentalist, "love the fetus-hate the child" crowd that helped elect this maniac finally feels like the rest of us do...cheated, lied to and disoriented.

All of the bloodshed and death both here and abroad, all of the stealing, all of the ineptitude in the aftermath of Katrina, the proof that this country can not respond to emergencies in a POST 9/11 world, all of THIS death didn't move opinion quite like the REVELATION that George W. and the NeoCons care NOTHING about overturning Roe v. Wade.

Bush has no respect for life, unborn, born or born-again.

Oddly, it took a pathetic, fawning, corporate groupie to be nominated to the Supreme Court for the so called "Christian" Conservatives to FINALLY realize that what makes a liar a liar is nothing more than the willingness to lie.

Need a job in the Bush Administration? Have we got the jobs site for you

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TESTIMONIAL: "I just love my FEMA corner office with the mahogany furniture and the perky little secretary. And thanks to CronyJobs, my Florsheim penny loafers have slipped in their last pile of Arabian horse dung!"



NAME: Cheryl Halpern
POSITION: Chair, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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TESTIMONIAL: "Having overseen major Federal propaganda projects like Radio Marti in Cuba and Radio Free Iraq, I'm proud CronyJobs picked me to make NPR 'fair and balanced.' Who says donating $319,250 to the GOP is a thankless task?!"

The Illinois Channel

The Illinois Channel informs The Dope that they are continuing their contact with Mediacom in their effort to get the channel picked up locally. We wish them success, as this would be a great means for local viewers to stay abreast of Illinois government happenings as well as educating them about many aspects of the state.

In the meantime, you can visit their website (www.illinoischannel.org) and get live streaming video of their programing and many other useful services. Give it a look.

They've also launched a blog which provides news related to state government as well as photos and other information.

Your chance to meet a political footnote

New York Gov. George Pataki will visit the Quad-Cities on Oct. 27 for a pair of political events and to visit the American Red Cross chapter here.

Pataki, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Brian Dumas, a candidate for Davenport City Council in the 8th Ward. “I think it’s a great opportunity to meet one of the political leaders of this country,” Dumas said Wednesday.

In addition to the Dumas event, Pataki will attend a dinner with Clinton County Republicans in Clinton. He also will visit with disaster volunteers at the American Red Cross of the Quad-Cities Area.

Pataki has less of a chance of becoming the Republican presidential nominee than Alan Keyes.

Oil, free market worship, and the QC Times

Read the following:

Slamming the oil companies over their profits is pointless.

...

Drivers whine of price gouging. There is no such thing. People who do not like the price of a product have a choice not to buy it. There are other modes of transportation available.

That the people of the United States ask their federal and state legislators to enact communistic rules that would inevitably restrict freedom is ample testimony to their lack of understanding of the laws of free market economics that when unfettered efficiently distribute the nation’s goods and services.

The above free-market zealotry and blindness emitted from none other than the Quad City Times editorial staff.

No such thing as price gouging? If people were selling bottled water at $10 a bottle and gas at $50 a gallon to desperate survivors of Hurricane Katrina, I guess they'd endorse it?

Oil companies have been making record profits, at such a level that oil executives report that the largest challenge facing them is what to do with it all. Where they once made profit margins of $0.25 a gallon, they're now making $0.50 or $0.75 a gallon, all in the midst of a supposed supply crisis.
Yet the Times seems to think that anyone with a problem with that is a lousy commie.

And it's simply hard to fathom the simple-minded ideology that resulted in their suggesting that if people don't like being gouged at the gas pump, they should just find another way to get around. If we don't like paying $3, $4, $5, or $10 for a gallon of gas we can just use solar-powered roller skates to get to work and take the kids to school I guess. It's just wrong to complain and expect something to be done about it.

I should note that I don't think rising gas prices are a bad thing necessarily, in that it will spur investment and research into alternative energy sources, increase conservation and efficiency, and wean us off our addiction to cheap gas. In that respect, the free-market works. But when huge price increases are coupled with enormous oil company profits, it is not "communisitic" to expect government to attempt to correct the situation or at least put some heat on oil companies to bring prices in line.

I suppose that if the private water company in Davenport doubled or tripled their rates overnight, the Times would tell people to stop whining, there's other sources of water. Go take a bath in the Mississippi. Do your dishes with water caught from the downspouts. Wash your clothes and your kids in Duck Creek. As to getting rid of waste, figure something out, you're on your own. But just don't whine about the fact you can't afford water. It's pointless. Ask the Times.

This ignores the fact that with corporations increasingly gobbling up more and more companies, and becoming global behemoths, often there is no option whatsoever for a consumer, as there is effectively no competition allowed. Wanna start a grocery store? Go ahead and try. Want to start an electronics store similar to Best Buy? HA!

Have you invented an exciting new software program? The best you could hope for is to not get ripped off too badly when Microsoft buys you out and then sits on your product to keep it off the market.

Want to challenge a corporation in court for an injustice? Go ahead and try. Your chances are slim that you'll prevail, as they'll simply spend you into the ground.

Contrary to right wing ideologues and apparently the Times' religious belief in the infalability of the free market, it isn't a magical solution to everything as they fervently believe. It ingores the moral duty to provide for those who are left behind and suffer from its often negative results. There's very large inherant problems with pure capitalism, and government has a legitimate role in mitigating the often serious disparities and hardships unfettered capitalism can create. The "survival of the fittest" attitude displayed in this zealous belief in the free-market without any effort to prevent people from simply falling through the cracks is both immoral and impractical and reflects a belief that those who can't make it are simply expendable. Let 'em die in the streets.

And every single one of these people spouting this belief are most assuredly profiting handsomely from the system already. They just fret that they may have to give up a little of it for the benefit of others who are not similarly situated. The thought of spreading the wealth to prevent suffering really pisses them off. Sure, they could give up a lot and still be living very, very well, and they begrudge intensely what they are forced to give in taxes, even though the US tax rate is among the lowest in the world, and they go to great lengths to avoid paying even those, with the result that the very wealthiest often pay much much lower effective tax rates than the poor and middle class. And as evidenced by the editorial, they whine mightily at the thought that windfall profits at a time of scarcity and exploding prices is so much as questioned.

Meanwhile, the predominately poor and middle class soldiers are fighting and dying for their economic interests. But if these soldiers parents are struggling or failing while corporations post record profits, tough luck. Shut up and start your own oil company.

Bear in mind that the Bush energy bill recently passed in the middle of the night by strong-arm tactics in the House of Representitives provided for millions and millions of dollars in subsidies for the very oil corporations currently making record profits.

Reported first quarter profits

Interesting, is it not, that the very free market the Times touts as the solution for everything actually isn't at work here. The Times labels any attempt to regulate oil company profits as communistic, yet these very oil companies are being subsidized up the yazoo by you and I. Is that the free-market capitalism the Times is so enamored of?

Nope.

I guess it's communism.

But, I should heed the Times' lesson. If I don't like editorial opinion like this, I shouldn't whine. There are other papers available.

Plan to keep your house warm this winter? Bend over.

A projected spike in natural gas costs would hit the Midwest harder than the rest of the country this winter, pushing up bills an average of $522 per season per household, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

The Energy Information Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, projects an average household natural gas cost of $1,377 in the Midwest, up 61 percent over last year.

While this has been a topic of discussion for some time, it's a serious issue. Legislators and Gov. Blagojevich have issued calls for congress to increase funding for LIHEAP, or the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the federal program established to help subsidize energy bills for those in need and at risk this winter. As should come as no surprise, the Republicans had actually cut the funding for this program last year leaving it with even less money than usual in the face of this crisis.

It's probably a smart idea to consider adding insulation to your home if it needs it, as well as breaking out the caulk and ensuring your house is as tight as possible. The money spent now will pay for itself in the future, as much like the oil companies, once the utility companies get people used to inflated prices, they're not likely to come back down to prior levels perhaps ever. It seems that the accepted strategy these days is to make enormous price hikes taking advantage of natural events as the reason, and then perhaps dropping the price slightly in the future, with the net effect being that you've raised prices by 30-40 percent with barely a murmur from the public.

In the long-run, these prices are only a fraction of what they will be. Perhaps they're trying to wean the American public to the reality that there will be an energy crisis of unprecidented proportions within the next several decades unless a massive government effort is made to ease the transition away from an oil based lifestyle and economy. But in the meantime, expect oil, gas, and natural gas prices to skyrocket to previously unimaginable levels.


The LIHEAP program in Rock Island County is administered by Project Now. If you or someone you know would like to find out more about the program and eligibility requirements, the Illinois LIHEAP website has the answers.

NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll show hope for 2006

With the 2006 congressional elections a year away, 48 percent of respondents said they preferred a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 39 percent who said they preferred Republican leadership, NBC said.

The 9-point difference was the largest margin between the parties in the 11 years the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll had been tracking the question, NBC said.

This is indeed cause for cautious optimism for a sea change in congress in 2006. Will the Dems be able to capitalize on public sentiment and actually mount a credible and coherent drive to regain majorities in congress?

The poll also reveals that the public is finally seeing past the Bush smoke screen of lies and mythology. His approval rating has hit a new low, 39%, while only 28% of respondents believe the country is headed in the right direction.

That is NOT good news for the Repubs.

Yepsen mulls Kerry redux

So, should John Kerry run for president again?

It appears Iowa Democrats may be asked to answer that question. The Massachusetts senator was back in the state on Sunday doing appearances and looking as if he were ready for another bid for the White House in 2008.

The conventional wisdom is that Kerry shouldn't do it. He's had his chance and muffed it. He's so scarred by the 2004 campaign, he'd still be damaged goods in 2008. A Kerry candidacy would be a rehash of the past, just as it would be if Al Gore ran again or if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton runs. Instead, goes this logic, Democrats should look for a fresher face.

As with all conventional wisdom, there's some truth to it. And as with all conventional wisdom, it may be wrong. Presidencies are won by risk-takers who beat conventional wisdoms.

Kerry's advice to Iowa Democrats this week could easily apply to himself: "You can't sit around and cry in your teacup and lament about it. You've got to take that frustration and, in some places anger, and channel it into doing what we know how to do."

Hope spings eternal in the breast of those let down by Kerry last time around.

Bush Forced to Act Like He Cares

No George, use the flat end!

It's only 6:17 a.m. Central time, and President Bush is already facing his second question of the day about Karl Rove's legal troubles.

"Does it worry you," NBC's Matt Lauer is asking him at a construction-site interview in Louisiana, that prosecutors "seem to have such an interest in Mr. Rove?"

Bush blinks twice. He touches his tongue to his lips. He blinks twice more. He starts to answer, but he stops himself.

"I'm not going to talk about the case," Bush finally says after a three-second pause that, in television time, feels like a commercial break.

...

The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was "trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression," Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.

When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling. Laura Bush, by contrast, delivered only three blinks and stood still through her entire answer about encouraging volunteerism.

Perhaps the set itself made Bush uncomfortable. He and his wife stood in casual attire, wearing tool belts, in front of a wall frame and some Habitat for Humanity volunteers in hard hats. ABC News noted cheekily of its rival network's exclusive: "He did allow himself to be shown hammering purposefully, with a jejune combination of cowboy swagger and yuppie self-consciousness."

How stupid can they get?

Perhaps it's a sign of the times (no pun intended) that a Molly Ivins column is picked up by the QC Times?

The frontrunner is the anti-torture amendment. Sen. John McCain proposed an amendment to the military appropriations bill that would prohibit “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of prisoners in the custody of the U.S. military.

This may strike you as a “goes without saying” proposition — the amendment passed the Senate 90 to nine. The U.S. has been signing anti-torture treaties under Democrats and Republicans for at least 50 years. But the Bush administration actually managed to find some weasel words to create a loophole in this longstanding commitment to civilized behavior.

According to the Bushies, if the United States is holding a prisoner on foreign soil, our soldiers can still subject him or her to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — the very forms of torture used by the soldiers who were later prosecuted for their conduct at Abu Ghraib. Does this make any sense?

So deeply does President Bush feel our country has a right to torture that he has threatened to veto the bill if it passes. This would be the first time in five years he has ever vetoed anything. Think about it: Five years of stupefying pork, ideological nonsense, dumb administrative ideas, fiscal idiocy, misbegotten energy programs — and the first thing the man vetoes is a bill to pay our soldiers because it carries an amendment saying, once again, that this country does not torture prisoners.

How the Repubs blew it

David Ignatius offers an interesting pre-post-mortem on the Bushies demise.

Bush squandered this opportunity by falling into the trap that has snared the modern GOP -- of playing to the base rather than to the nation. The Republicans behave as if the country agrees with them on issues, when that demonstrably isn't so. The country doesn't agree about Social Security, doesn't agree about the ethical issues that were dramatized by the torment of Terri Schiavo, doesn't agree about abortion. Yet, in a spirit of blind partisanship, House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced last year that bills would reach the floor only if "the majority of the majority" supported them. That notion of governing from the hard right was a recipe for failure.

He suggests that the desire to be ideologically pure while ignoring the center is what's spelled disaster for the GOP.

Get your "Get Your War On"

What with my action-packed life and everything, for some time now I've somehow neglected to check in on "Get Your War On", one of my all-time favorite comic strips.

Nothing approaches GYWO for both putting the idiocy and suffering caused by this administration and others into sharp focus and seriously cracking me up. I have to make sure I'm not drinking anything as I read it lest it come shooting out my nose. (OK, not a pretty picture, but you get my point.)

In my opinion, when the history of political cartoons is written, David Rees will rank up there with Thomas Nast, Bill Mauldin, and Herb Block.

The two most recent GYWO pages are found HERE, in which he deals with various issues beginning in June, and HERE, where he deals with the response to Hurricane Katrina in a way only Rees could.

If you'd like more of Rees, browse back from the above pages or go to his home page where you can delve into his other various series. It's fascinating and thought provoking stuff.

(A word to my more delicate readers. Rees uses "dirty" words. LOTS of them, and to great effect. Don't say I didn't warn ya.)

Maybe there will be justice?

If Karl Rove goes down in this investigation it'll be a disaster for the president, both in terms of the damage occasioned by such a high-level White House indictment and, frankly, because he needs the guy like most of us need legs.

Tea leaf readers are predicting impending justice for the gang that couldn't shoot straight. If the thought of Karl Rove doing a perp walk gets you hot, read the rest of Joshua Micah Marshall's post here.

It's Winborn vs. Ahrens for D'port mayor

Former Scott County Board chairman and auditor Ed Winborn and Davenport alderman at-large Steve Ahrens will square off in the Nov. 8 election for mayor of Davenport.

Unofficial results from the county auditor's office show that Winborn tallied 3,181 votes in Tuesday’s primary election to lead the four-person field. Ahrens placed second with 2,270. Former Davenport school board president Denise Hollonbeck tallied 2,031 votes, and Niky Bowles garnered 1,988.

And it looks like MaybeSomeday, the only predictor in the post below, got it right.

Aldermanic candidates advancing to the general are:

At-large:
Jamie Howard, 4,276
Dan Vance, 3,324

1st Ward:
Pat Gibbs, 347
Ron VanFossen, 354

2nd Ward:
Shawn Hamerlinck, 474
Donna Bushek, 223

3rd Ward:
Keith Meyer, 219
Bill Boom, 198

4th Ward:

No primary. Candidates Ray Ambrose and Jennifer Olsen both advance.

5th Ward:
Bill Lynn, 495
Joel Franklin, 265

6th Ward:
No primary. Candidates Charlie Brooke and Dale Gilmour both advance.

7th Ward:
Barney Barnhill, 673
Eric Swanson, 346

8th Ward:
Brian Dumas, 826
Tom Engelmann, 312


More results here.

It's Election Day!

Today is primary election day for those of an Iowa persuasion.

In Davenport, 43 candidates filed petitions to run for office, the largest number in years. One candidate for alderman, Jo Graller-Hintz, withdrew late last week, decreasing the total number to 42 and the number of hopefuls in the crowded 3rd Ward race from 10 to nine.

Four mayoral candidates — Alderman Steve Ahrens, at large, Niky Bowles, a developer, former Davenport School Board President Denise Hollonbeck and Ed Winborn, the retired former Scott County Board of Supervisors chairman and county recorder — are seeking to be among the two top vote-getters whose names will appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.

There also are aldermanic contests in six of the eight wards, with the top two in each race moving on to the general election. In the 4th and 6th wards, voters will make choices on the mayoral and at-large races, but the total of four candidates running for seats in those two wards will automatically advance to the general election.

Meanwhile, six candidates are vying for two at-large seats. The top four in that race will head on to the general election.

Any predictions on the results?

Moline in the hole to the tune of $1 million

Whaddaya know?

Let's see the tax and spend Republican city administration hike those taxes even more.

The Line on Illinois 2006

Here's the line on the 2006 elections in Illinois according to Modern Vertebrate, a site from northwest Chicago.

Think they have it right across the board? Where would you differ? They offer the opinion that Evans may step down due to health concerns, but if not, he'd be all but impossible to beat.

Beginning of the End?

David Broder, the increasingly out-of-touch "dean" of the D.C. press corp apparently can no longer ignore the obvious.

Three front-page headlines on a single day last week testified to the unraveling of the Bush presidency.

The lead story in The Washington Post on Thursday reported that “the Senate defied the White House yesterday and voted to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere,” with 46 Republicans joining the Democrats to pass restrictions on prisoner abuse so unacceptable to President Bush that he has threatened his first-ever veto.

A second story on the same page recounted that “the conservative uprising against President Bush escalated yesterday as Republican activists angry over his nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court confronted the president’s envoys during a pair of tense closed-door meetings.”

And elsewhere on the page was the news that the CIA’s director had rejected a recommendation from its inspector general that he convene a formal “accountability board” to judge the possible complicity of senior officials in the failures that preceded Sept. 11. The action triggered a statement of concern from the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and criticism from families of 9/11 victims.

These developments came against a background of rising conservative criticism in Congress of runaway spending, of investigations of the administration’s faltering response to Hurricane Katrina and of criminal indictments and grand jury probes that have forced out the chief White House procurement officer and the House Republican majority leader and may implicate other top officials of both branches.

The article touches on an amazing story which got little play, namely, that John McCain's bill to establish some sort of standards and guidlines for "detainee" interrogations was immediately opposed by Dick Cheney and the White House. They argued that establishing any limits to torture and disgusting abuse would hamper their ability to successfully wage the "war".

Torture and abuse has been authorized and condoned at the very top levels of our government. They've been thumbing their noses at the Geneva Convention since the beginning of their excellent adventure. How can they now argue that torturing and occasionally murdering prisoners is necessary for them to succeed when, despite their use of torture, they've been utter failures?

JFK loves Iowa

DES MOINES — In a return trip to Iowa, former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry told a group of women activists it is time to reopen the values debate in America.

During a Sunday morning speech, the Massachusetts senator said it is good that religion has become more of a part of the public dialogue in the country as long as faith translates into action.

“Faith without works is dead,” Kerry said.

Close to 150 people packed a small Asian restaurant in Iowa’s capital city for Kerry’s speech in front of a Democratic women’s group.

Kerry's got a good message. But his visit to Iowa raises the troubling spectre of another Kerry presidential run. I'd hate to see that.

GOP fat cats swing sweet deal with state

SPRINGFIELD -- Investors in a luxury hotel developed by Republican power broker William Cellini have benefitted from more than $1.8 billion in state deals despite failing to pay off a taxpayer-backed construction loan for the hotel.

Of 85 original investors in the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center in Springfield, the Chicago Sun-Times found seven who either own or help lead firms with state contracts.

To top it all off, in a town with more than 30 hotels, the state has done substantial business directly with the President Abraham Lincoln, spending more than $975,000 since 2001 to book rooms for traveling state workers and to host conferences or training seminars, records show.

Since loan repayments are required only when the hotel makes money, under a controversial 1991 pact with the state, Cellini and his fellow investors have made just two quarterly loan payments since 2001 totaling $143,000. The loan for $15.5 million in 1982 has nearly doubled in size as interest grows at a whopping rate of $70,000 a month.

Investor: Four partners in the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw. The firm's state business: $1.2 million.

So while the state tries to collect the $27.5 million still owed on the hotel, it finds itself providing lucrative government business to the same investors in hock to the state.

It's good to be wealthy and connected. With your politician pals, you can use the state treasury like your private piggy bank... with "piggy" being the operative word.

Here's some of the figures involved and their business ties from the Sun-Times piece:

THE BIGGEST STATE DEALS TO HOTEL INVESTORS

Investor: William Cellini. Companies linked to him: Commonwealth Realty Advisors, Pacific Management, Public Asset Services Corp. The firms' state business: $1.3 billion.

Investor: Michael Cullinan. Companies linked to him: R.A. Cullinan & Son, Rowe Construction Co., United Contractors Midwest. The firms' state business: $494.9 million.

Investor: Four partners in the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw. The firm's state business: $1.2 million.

Note: Cellini's total includes all state pension investments with Commonwealth, which he founded and is now controlled by his children. In other cases, the value attached to firms' state business was a cumulative total dating back to 2001.

Dust off your crystal balls

Will Rob Blagojevich run unopposed, or will a primary opponent emerge? And if so, who do you think it might be and how would the candidate or candidates influence the governor's race. Is there any Dem who might actually have a shot at winning? How would they do it?

And on the Republican side, with Edgar out, who's going to emerge as their sacrificial lamb in the governor's contest?

Here's your chance to play armchair strategist. We can look back later and see who was most accurate in their predictions.

Wolcott

Harriet Miers is George Bush's Miss Jane Hathaway.

What's new?

On this rather lazy Sunday, I'd like to turn the blog over to my wise and knowledgable readers. Tell us what you're talking about. What political scuttle-butt have you been hearing? What has caught your interest lately? Any outrages? Anything worthy of praise? What are your thoughs on current issues and events? Any stories you feel aren't getting enough attention?

What's on your mind? Have at it.

The Not-so-popular War Time Preznit

Oct 7, 2005 — Evangelicals, Republican women, Southerners and other critical groups in President Bush's political coalition are increasingly worried about the direction the nation is headed and disappointed with his performance, an AP-Ipsos poll found.

The growing unease could be a troubling sign for a White House already struggling to keep the Republican Party base from slipping over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Gulf Coast spending projects, immigration and other issues.

"Politically, this is very serious for the president," said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University. "If the base of his party has lost faith, that could spell trouble for his policy agenda and for the party generally."

Public sentiment about the nation's direction has sunk to new depths at a time people are anxious about Iraq, the economy, gas prices and the management of billions of dollars being spent for recovery from the nation's worst natural disaster.

Only 28 percent say the country is headed in the right direction while two-thirds, 66 percent, say it is on the wrong track, the poll found.

Ewwwww

As has been rumored for some time, it appears that Rush Limbaugh and Daryn Kagen, the CNN news bunny, are having an affair.

But after you get past the gagging part, it really raises an ethical issue. Is it just peachy to have a news reporter on a news channel viewed by millions around the globe being involved with such a rabidly partisan media figure? What would be the reaction if some female news reader on Fox News or MSNBC was seriously dating, say, Michael Moore or Al Franken? (IF they were single. Limbaugh is a three time loser who found his last wife in an internet chat room.)

Now this, courtesy of Media Matters (with a link to video and audio):

Limbaugh read note from his "mistress in Georgia" (aka CNN's Daryn Kagan?): Bush's speech was "great," "sounds like you giving this speech"


On the October 6 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh read a "note" that, he said, came from his "mistress in Georgia," an apparent reference to CNN anchor Daryn Kagan. According to Limbaugh, his "mistress" said of President Bush's October 6 speech on the war on terror, "This is great. This sounds like you wrote this speech. This sounds like you giving this speech." Limbaugh said he agreed: "And I was going, 'Rah, rah. That's exactly right.' "

It's clear that Kagan must have some self-respect issues. Ewwwww.

Attorney Jeff Neppl sentenced in cocaine bust

A Rock Island attorney was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, to nearly four years in federal prison for using his law office as a "stash house" for cocaine.

Judge Joe B. McDade sentenced Jeffrey J. Neppl, 41, of 1400 33rd St., Rock Island, to 46 months in prison on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute.

Dressed in a Mercer County Jail uniform, Mr. Neppl, a staunch man with slicked-back black hair, apologized for his actions and thanked his family for their support. "I see what I did and how wrong it was," he said.

Authorities say Mr. Neppl started dealing cocaine in early 2004, and in the summer of that year allegedly let another drug dealer, who was scared of being arrested, hide cocaine in a safe hidden in the ceiling of his law office.

"He betrayed the trust that was placed in him by the public as an attorney," assistant U.S. attorney John Mehochko said. "He turned his law office into a stash house."

Mr. Neppl also told the other dealer, who later became a police informant, that he could protect him with the attorney-client privilege, authorities say.

Judge McDade said that was the worst mistake Mr. Neppl made. "The one thing that's really sacred in our profession is the attorney-client privilege," he said. "What the defendant did goes to the very fabric of our profession. He abused that."

Mr. Neppl was arrested in February and pleaded guilty in July as part of a plea agreement.

At the request of Mr. Neppl's attorney, Donovan Robertson, Judge McDade said Mr. Neppl would serve in a minimum security prison in either Wisconsin or South Dakota so he could be close to his family.

In the immortal words of Rick James, "Cocaine is a hell of a drug."

Wow... Blago, Dem leaders propose sweeping children's health care initiative

From the Governor's press release:

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today unveiled a landmark proposal that would make Illinois the first state in the nation to provide affordable, comprehensive health insurance for every child in the state. At a meeting with several middle-income families from the Chicago area who all make too much to qualify for state-funded healthcare, but cannot afford the high cost of private insurance, the Governor laid out his plan to ensure that every child in Illinois has access to affordable health insurance. Of the 253,000 children in Illinois without health insurance, more than half come from working and middle class families who earn too much to qualify for programs like KidCare, but not enough to afford private health insurance. The Governor’s program would make comprehensive health insurance available to children, with parents paying monthly premiums and co-payments for doctors’ visits and prescription drugs at affordable rates.

“At one point or another, nearly everyone has lived through the experience of seeing a loved one cope with sickness or a serious injury. You only have to go through that experience once to know just how much it means to have health insurance. Yet hundreds of thousands of children in Illinois don’t have health insurance. That means they can’t see a doctor when they need to, can’t get the medicine they need, can’t get the care they need. And when they do get medical care, it’s often in the emergency room, after a small problem has grown into a big problem. Children should have health care and our new program makes affordable, good health care available to every child in Illinois,” said Gov. Blagojevich.

State Senate President Emil Jones and House Speaker Michael J. Madigan have signed on as the lead sponsors of legislation creating the All Kids health insurance program and have vowed to push for its passage during the upcoming fall veto session so the program can be up and running by July 1, 2006.

It's a little sketchy as to how this expansion of state health care benefits would be funded, but if it's anything near being feasible in the real world, it would be a great accomplishment. The proposal is getting international coverage.

What do you think?

Kurt Vonnegut to appear on NOW

PBS's news and public affairs program "NOW" routinely offers excellent investigative and news programming that tends to focus on issues and stories that the mainstream media shys away from.

It was launched by Bill Moyers who recently retired from the show, but who has threatened to return in the face of the nasty attempt by the right to de-fund PBS, and the revelation that Bush's stooge whom he appointed to head the CPB, or Corporation for Public Broadcasting, had paid someone $10,000 to "monitor" the NOW program for "objectionable" content. Hell, that's not bad pay for watching an hour long television program once a week.

At any rate, this week's show will feature an interview with famed novelist Kurt Vonnegut. It should be very interesting. Vonnegut rarely appears on television, and this should be a treat for his fans.

NOW is aired Fridays locally on WQPT (ch 10 on Mediacom cable) at 7:30 p.m. and on KIIN (ch 12 on Mediacom) at 9:00 p.m.

Of note is that when the right wing-nuts started attacking PBS and threatening it with destruction, railing about it's one supposedly "biased" show, NOW, WQPT quickly knocked NOW off it's Saturday prime time slot and replaced it with the slanted "Journal Editorial Report", which is nothing but the ultra-conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board sitting around expressing their views.

While the conservative minders wailed about unfair liberal slant on NOW, they have no problem with a show, paid for in large part by taxpayer funding, which amounts to subsidizing a news company for advertising their product. The Wall Street Journal corporation makes a lot of money. Why should taxpayers pay them to produce and air a show promoting their product and their views?

The conservatives have no problem with this. Nor do they have any problem with Tucker Carlson's biased program either. The right has suceeded in bullying and intimidating PBS into airing more programing reflecting the conservative corporate ideology, while attempting to silence the only truly independent non-commercial public affairs programming available.

And don't get me started about the fact that Rush Limbaugh has been being aired over Armed Services Radio for years and years now, yet there is no equivelent voices from the other side of the political spectrum allowed.

Cool stuff

These are nice... and pretty cool as well. Interesting charts on the history of political parties.

And while I'm at it, I've had a screen saver for the past couple years that political types might find interesting. You can download it here. Just click on screensaver.

Shoes about to drop

The federal prosecutor investigating who leaked the identity of a CIA operative is expected to signal within days whether he intends to bring indictments in the case, legal sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday.

As a first step, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was expected to notify officials by letter if they have become targets, said the lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Fitzgerald could announce plea agreements, bring indictments, or conclude that no crime was committed. By the end of this month he is expected to wrap up his nearly two-year-old investigation into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

The inquiry has ensnared President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The White House had long maintained that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with the leak but reporters have since named them as sources.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to say whether his client had been contacted by Fitzgerald. In the past, Luskin has said that Rove was assured that he was not a target.

Libby's lawyer was not immediately available to comment.

"It's an ongoing investigation and we're fully cooperating," said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.

The outcome of the investigation could shake up an administration already reeling from criticism over its response to Hurricane Katrina and the indictment of House Republican leader Tom DeLay on a conspiracy charge related to campaign financing.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified to the grand jury on Friday about the conversations she had with Libby.

Plame's diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, has accused the administration of leaking her name, damaging her ability to work undercover, to get back at him for criticizing Bush's Iraq policy.

Fitzgerald's agreement to limit the scope of Miller's testimony to her conversations with Libby -- a proposal he rejected a year earlier -- suggested that Libby had become "the focus of interest," said one of the lawyers involved in the case.

After initially promising to fire anyone found to have leaked information in the case, Bush in July offered a more qualified pledge: "If someone committed a crime they will no longer work in my administration."

Looks like "Turdblossom", (Bush's nickname for Karl Rove), might have some 'splainin' to do pretty soon.

Just wondering

Perhaps some of our legal brethren out there could help me out with my humble question.

Does becoming head of a law firm and having served as president of a state bar association qualify a lawyer to be appointed to the highest court in the land for life?

That and the fact that she's lacking a y chromosome are the only qualifications Bush can come up with for why congress should appoint his nominee Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court justice. Oh yeah, and she also thinks George is "the most brilliant man I've ever met." That helps.

This article by leading conservative George F. Will, who appears and sounds as though he's had a migraine since age 4, is getting a ton of attention. It lays out a pretty devastating argument against confirming Harriet Miers, and more broadly, against Bush.

It's not easy being sleazy

As former Gov. George Ryan's political corruption trial plays out in federal court here, his legal defense fund has doled out more than $369,000 so far, a report filed with the state shows.

That leaves a $104,000 balance in the fund, which was set up as a charitable trust, according to a report on the fund's assets filed with Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office. Madigan's office received the report on Sept. 13, two weeks before Ryan's trial started.

The fund collected more than $240,000 from last December until Aug. 4, the report shows. It does not detail who contributed or how specifically the money was spent, except to say that money was distributed "for the benefit of one or more of the beneficiaries and for expenses of administering the trust."

Attorney Dan Webb has said Ryan's legal team was working on the case pro bono.

East Moline Marathon story has legs

(apologies for the bad pun)

The story of former East Moline mayor Joe Moreno, who pulled a donated pace truck into the path of a freight train and sat in it in order to prevent a train from interfering for the third time with runners of the marathon he is instrumental in creating is ongoing.

While some are quick to condemn the mayor for what was a pretty reckless and potentially dangerous act, there's more to the story. From reading accounts from both sides, it's apparent that the railroad company weren't exactly cooperative either, and seemed to act with a disapointing arrogance, basically telling the organizers, who had made every attempt to work with and coordinate things with the railroad, tough, we're going to run our trains whenever we feel like running them, and your race can go to hell.

It's hard to imagine that the railroad couldn't find a way to avoid having three trains running in both directions right in the middle of the marathon. It almost seems as if they did it to spite Moreno, and displays an utter lack of civic spirit in doing what they could to ensure that a community event ran smoothly. In light of that, perhaps Moreno's seemingly desperate act is a bit more understandable, if no more excusable.

I don't agree with abortion, so you shouldn't have one.

Nearly 40 people gathered around the Bettendorf Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa Tuesday morning to protest abortions.

While local groups such as Helpers of God's Precious Infants are a familiar scene among the daily protesters, a few other groups in town took part in what they called a "prayer siege."

Mr. Gallaway said he "loves" every person who enters the clinic and wants them to know they don't have to make this decision and don't have to go through their pregnancy alone.

"One girl has already turned around today," he said. "She went with one of our girls to get an ultrasound. In Charlotte, we had 18 girls turn around one day, and we had a huge baby shower for all of them. They saw that someone cared. That's what we're about."

While the protesters are peaceful, their presence can intimidate Planned Parenthood patients, whether they're coming to the clinic for an abortion or just for contraceptives and a yearly exam.

"It's definitely a distraction for patients," said Kathi Di Nicola, director of marketing and communications for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa. "Every woman has the right to get her health care unimpeded and unobstructed. What they're doing ... it takes away their privacy."

Ms. Di Nicola said 98 percent of the clinic's patients come for prevention and family planning. As long as protesters don't block access to the clinic, Planned Parenthood respects their right to freedom of speech and their right to be there.

"Women coming to pick up pills are intimidated. For women seeking general health-care services, this is very threatening to them ... Our staff in the Quad-Cities is very, very adept at handling these situations, and we're proud of how the clinic operates," she added.

I'm sure that none of these committed people would ever have an abortion. Good. But why they feel the need to impose their beliefs on others I will never understand. One wonders just how much commitment and support these people give to the women whom they intimidate out of getting abortions once the women are further along in their pregnancy and after the birth when they're struggling to adequately care for the child.

These folks profess a desire for a "culture of life", but a cynical person might wish that they'd all get one themselves and stop interfering in other people's personal lives.

Moline leaf burning ban goes down in flames

The Moline City Council voted against a burn ban Tuesday, an issue one alderman said he will bring up again.

Aldermen voted 5-2 against banning leaf burning, a practice now allowed three days a week. Ald. Dick Potter, 4th Ward, and Ald. Dorothy Armstrong, 7th Ward, voted for a ban.

Ald. Bill Adams, 5th Ward, was out of town and not at the meeting.

"I'll continue to press the issue. Not this season, but it is an important discussion to have," said Ald. Potter, who introduced the idea on the council floor about a month ago.

The Quarter Million Dollar "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon"

It took a team of 30 painters 24 days to adorn the 120-foot-long Boeing 737 passenger jet with the shimmering likeness. The average 737 takes about a week to paint.

The plane already needed a new paint job, and Alaska Airlines covered about $75,000 of the tab, company spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said.

The federally funded Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board paid for the rest of the roughly $300,000 project, said Bill Hines, the board's executive director.

Hines, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official, has led the board since Congress created it in 2003 to give Alaska's then-struggling salmon industry a boost.

"Three years ago, the salmon industry was at rock bottom. Now demand exceeds supply," Hines said during a recent tour of the Goodrich Aviation Technical Services plant in Everett, where the plane was being repainted.

Last weekend, Seattle's Alaska Airlines rolled out its new "Salmon-Thirty-Salmon," the world's most intricately decorated jet. It took a crew of 30 — including three Hollywood set-design specialists — almost a month to paint a giant chinook on both sides.

It cost five times the standard rate. The airline's marketing director, Greg Latimer, enthused: "There is no way we could even entertain such a project if we had to incur this cost ourselves."

So — and you knew this was coming — we picked up the tab. The paint job was paid for with a $500,000 federal grant designed to encourage people to eat Alaska salmon.

The Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which made the grant, has doled out $29 million the past two years, all of it taxpayer money to urge people to buy Alaska salmon.

Screw those poor hurricane victims down south, they probably don't even eat salmon.
Remember this when you start hearing Republicans calling for de-funding public broadcasting and eliminating Pell Grants to enable more young people to attend college in order to pay for Katrina and Rita.

A Sign of the Apocalypse?

lifted from Crooks & Liars

50 Miles Out of the Loop

In addition to having a great title, 50 Miles Out of the Loop is a blog by a fine female who has the misfortune to live in Denny "Neckless Wonder" Hastert's district. Lot's of stuff about politics in his area as well as national issues, and she seems to provide plenty of new content daily.
Worth adding to your blog list.

Bass Street Landing

The Dope and the Dopette thought they'd check out Moline's latest pride and joy, the "Bass Street Landing" area, which has been in planning and construction for years and which came at a hefty price for taxpayers.

I'd dinged it in previous posts as it's nothing but an expanse of uninviting concrete hundreds of feet from the river with no view of the water whatsoever.

It also neatly benefits "The Blue Ribbon" restaurant, as they apparently have dibs on catering the outdoor events. I guess this is the "public/private" partnership thing we hear mentioned so glowingly. The taxpayers foot the bill for a very expensive project and then one "private" interest reaps the profits. What a deal!

But there's supposed to be more to it than just lining the pockets of a handful of players. The projects are touted as adding to the beauty and quality of life for the residents of Moline. I hope so.

The plaza had it's inaugural event last Saturday, and natch, it involved a large company, in this case, WOC, who sponsored the event. It featured a performance by long-time Iowa musical fixtures, The Blue Band, featuring front man Bob Dorr. They're a great good-time band which features a repertoire of rock and R&B that is guaranteed to satisfy the middle of the road crowd.

The area has a bandstand with a canopy supported by enormous cables and anchored with gigantic plate steel anchors in huge concrete anchor blocks. It truly looks like it's engineered to support a suspension bridge rather than a smallish vinyl canopy. But it should be there a loooooong time. It looks like it would survive a nuclear attack.

The plaza has many nice, and no doubt pricy details, such as cast metal fishes along the sidewalk, designer lamp posts with colorful metal swirls, and perhaps the nicest touch, strings of bare blue bulbs strung criss-cross across the wide concrete slab, giving it the appearance of an Italian festival, though a couple strings were already not functioning.

There's also a fancy fountain installed in a corner of the expanse of concrete which spouts columns of water from the surface of the concrete to create a pleasing "dancing waters" display, though the entire fountain wasn't lit at all and was in such a dark area that you could barely see it for some odd reason.

They had done a lot of work setting up plastic folding tables and chairs all over the slab, and there was an outdoor bar staffed and run I'm assuming by the Blue Ribbon, the restaurant which abuts the plaza.

But sadly, you could count the number of people in attendance on both hands and feet. It was kind of a shame, as so few people on hand in such a vast slab of concrete made it looked particularly desolate. The evening was pretty chilly after a string of warm nights, and that no doubt depressed the turn-out.

I wish the area luck, though apparently the city is relying on corporations to provide the entertainment, and corporations or large companies aren't always the best talent bookers. It will likely result in them playing it so safe that it ensures there's never any bands with much to a large number of people, let alone younger people. But if you enjoy your music bland, hey, you'll love it.

Let's hope that at the end of the day, if you divide the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the city coughed up to construct and maintain Bass Street Landing by the number of Moliners that actually enjoy it, that the figure comes in somewhere below $15,000 a head. Hey, it could happen.

Hynes steps in to freeze part of Blago's big giveaway

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- State Comptroller Dan Hynes has frozen about $55 million in a fund set aside for so-called "pork-barrel" projects around the state.

Hynes says the money in the fund he froze Monday could be used to help pay for health care for the poor.

Governor Rod Blagojevich has said he's releasing $195 million earmarked for special projects by lawmakers.

Up to $14.8 million of that was to come from the fund frozen by Hynes.

Obama post at Daily Kos

Barack Obama has posted a "diary" or blog entry at one of the premier liberal blogs, The Daily Kos. In it, he lays out some interesting perspectives on how he sees the political landscape and the Democrat's position in it.

The bottom line is that our job is harder than the conservatives' job. After all, it's easy to articulate a belligerent foreign policy based solely on unilateral military action, a policy that sounds tough and acts dumb; it's harder to craft a foreign policy that's tough and smart. It's easy to dismantle government safety nets; it's harder to transform those safety nets so that they work for people and can be paid for. It's easy to embrace a theological absolutism; it's harder to find the right balance between the legitimate role of faith in our lives and the demands of our civic religion. But that's our job. And I firmly believe that whenever we exaggerate or demonize, or oversimplify or overstate our case, we lose. Whenever we dumb down the political debate, we lose. A polarized electorate that is turned off of politics, and easily dismisses both parties because of the nasty, dishonest tone of the debate, works perfectly well for those who seek to chip away at the very idea of government because, in the end, a cynical electorate is a selfish electorate.

Dispatch editors almost heart-broken over Edgar

In an editorial that almost caused this humble writer to want to pat the editor on the shoulder, say "There, there", and offer them a tissue, the Dispatch laments that it won't be able to charge into battle on behalf of the valiant Jim Edgar.

It's not hard to imagine that it's depressing being an Illinois Republican these days. The frustration could end up turning them into mean drunks, which is exactly the character trait a certain stripe of conservative seems to revel in. But I trust that the Dispatch breed of Republican will maintain their equalibrium without resorting to anything more reckless than an extra glass of wine with dinner, biding their time until they need to spring into action to bite Democratic ankles and hope that the time when Democrats inevitably get caught doing something dumb and greedy comes sooner rather than later. After all, in Illinois, a state whose motto should be "Where's mine?", corruption seems to be a bipartisan trait.

Weird crime edition

The guy who expressed his apparent displeasure with his wife by giving her a spritz of gasoline and sparking her off has been sentenced to 30 years and a day in prison, which will mean he'll have to serve at least 25 1/2 years before being eligible for parole.
The woman, who suffered horrible burns yet begged the court to allow Kristopher Lee "Bo" Jones to stay out of jail because she wanted to be with him, will apparently not get the chance to enjoy the sizzling relationship he proved so capable of providing.

~~~~~~~~~

And this guy...


...besides being every woman's dream date, is the reason Mad Mothers exists and is the type of habitual drunk driver that deserves to be locked up until he's too old to drive.

Bruce L. Fish, who spent nearly five years in prison for the 1998 drunk-driving deaths of a Sherrard woman and her grandson, was arrested Saturday in Mercer County and charged with aggravated drunk driving.

Mr. Fish, 48, of 2980 155th Ave., Sherrard, had his first appearance Monday. The public and media were not allowed in the hearing.

Mr. Fish faces three counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of driving while his driver's license is revoked. He is eligible for up to three years in prison for two of the aggravated DUI charges and up to 10 years for the third aggravated DUI charge because of his past criminal history.

Mr. Fish spent four years and 11 months in prison for the Oct. 8, 1998, traffic deaths of Shirley Matkovic, 62, of Matherville, and her grandson Cole, 6. He was released from parole earlier this year.

Mr. Fish had a blood alcohol of .235 -- nearly three times Illinois' legal limit of .08 -- when he rear-ended Mrs. Matkovic's vehicle near a construction zone on U.S. 67 north of Viola.

In Saturday's incident, Mr. Fish was driving "erractically" on 147th Avenue in Cable shortly after 9 p.m., with two children -- ages 7 and 10 -- and open alcohol in the car, Mercer County State's Attorney Greg McHugh said.

But this is only the latest of Mr. Fish's encounters with the law. You'd almost think the guy was an alcoholic.

First, Fish was only relased from parole for killing the elderly woman and her grandchild less than a month ago. And when he killed them, he'd already had two prior DUI convictions.

After he got out of prison that time, he was arrested for fighting with an off duty police officer at The Mark in a humorous incident where Fish was scuffling with the cop, who was in street clothes, and another man mistook Fish for a woman and stepped in and decked the cop. Fish was aquitted of the charge of aggrevated felony assault and so it did not violate his parole.

Fish has also agreed to sell two lots near Shale City to pay off the victim's family. He must have next to nothing to live on, has spent years in prison, and only recently completed parole. What do you do then? Go to Disneyland? No, not this guy. He goes out and gets plastered, finds a car and goes out driving. But that apparently wasn't stupid, reckless, and dangerous enough, so just for good measure, he has a couple young kids and open alcohol in the car as well.
I think Mr. Fish must have a subconcious desire to spend the rest of his life in prison. I hope he gets his wish.

Dispatch/Argus story here, with links to previous related stories.

Trib Columnist Bob Greene forced to resign in sex scandal

This truly is a weirdly fascinating tale, and Neil Steinberg's excellent writing makes it even more so. Steinberg's piece in Salon recounts Greene's quirky 30 year career and how it came to a sudden and shocking end.


Thanks to Roger Ailes for linking to the piece.

Delay slapped with another indictment

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A Texas grand jury indicted Rep. Tom DeLay on a new charge of money laundering Monday, less than a week after another grand jury leveled a conspiracy charge that forced DeLay to temporarily step down as House majority leader.

Both indictments accuse DeLay and two political associates of conspiring to get around a state ban on corporate campaign contributions by funneling the money through a political action committee to the Republican National Committee in Washington.

The RNC then sent back like amounts to distribute to Texas candidates in 2002, the indictment alleges.

One related aspect of the whole Delay mess is why David Dreier, the California representitive who was initially assumed to be the pick to replace Delay as whip, suddenly vanished from contention. Roy Blunt, a Missouri rep who is widely regarded to be just as ethically challenged as Delay, only less visible, was then named as DeLay's stand in.

It has been widely stated and not refuted that Dreier, a somewhat moderate and reasonable Republican, is gay. He's lived with his chief of staff (make your own pun) for some time, and the contention has never been denied. Some say that this is the Republican's passing over a qualified and more honorable candidate simply because of their sexuality.

It's also widely reported that Ken Mehlman, Bush's campaign manager in '04 and current RNC chair is gay as well.

It's only worth mentioning in light of the rampant hypocrisy on the right, and the fact that these two can somehow square working their asses off for a party that considers them abominations, while endorsing and, in Dreier's case, voting for anti-gay legislation.

The fact that Dreier is gay is likely what caused the Republicans to drop him like a hot potato. This is widely known in D.C. but yet the mainstream media abdicated their duty to report this obvious aspect of the story.

This oughta make everyone feel better.

Wonder how our fine right wing friends would attempt to spin this.

Liked the color coded terror alert system? You'll LOVE Bush's solution to the impending energy crisis

I'm not making this up, though I wish I were. There's never a crisis so large that the Bush administration doesn't think it can be solved by a massive and stupid PR offensive while doing little or absolutely nothing to effectively address the problem.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - With U.S. heating bills expected to hit record highs this winter, the Bush administration on Monday launched a conservation campaign featuring a cartoon mascot "Energy Hog," which critics said does little to discourage energy use.

Via Atrios

Democratic State Central Committee picks 2006 slate

The Illinois Democratic Party has decided their 2006 slate, backing incumbants Rod Blagojevich for governor, Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White and Comptroller Dan Hynes.

The Central Committee settled on a downstate candidate to fill the only state office currently in Republican control, endorsing Knox County State's Attorney Paul Mangieri, 46, for Treasurer.

Mangieri took nearly 20 minutes to introduce himself, as he makes another attempt at a statewide office. The Galesburg resident began the 2002 election season as a candidate for lieutenant governor, but dropped out to pursue the state Senate seat for the 37th District left open by Republican Carl Hawkinson's bid for lieutenant governor. Mangieri was defeated by Dale Risinger of Peoria by a 53-47 percent margin.

Mangieri said his downstate roots in Abingdon - a town of about 3,500 just south of Galesburg - would bring a key element to his campaign for treasurer.

"It would be my hope that I would serve in the tradition of other great downstaters who have held constitutional offices, individuals such as Adlai Stevenson, Alan Dixon and Paul Simon," he said.

Mangieri, 46, has served as Knox County state's attorney since 1996. He and his wife, Felicia, have 12 children and two grandchildren.

With that many kids, I have no idea how he's had time to do anything else. Perhaps they decided to have a dozen kids so he could practice arguing to a jury at home? I suppose it might explain his drive to launch a campaign which will no doubt ensure that he's rarely, if ever, home.

DeLay tentacles all over Illinois Republicans

Philosophe has done some digging and publishes an interesting post at SoapBlox/Chicago showing the close ties between Tom DeLay and the Illinois U.S. House delegation. Interesting.

Bush picks another Texas crony to fill O'Connor Supreme Court vacancy

Memo to self: Buy stock in eyeliner

Bush's little gang is getting smaller and more incestuous all the time, and it was pretty small to begin with. Now Bush reaches once again into the stagnant pool of Texas conservatives, apparently the only people he knows or trusts, circling the wagons and dipping back into the whacky well of Texas corporate conservatism for his second Supreme Court pick.

Texas conservatism has been a deep pool of stupidity, corruption, and bizarre notions for decades, as anyone who has read Molly Ivins or has paid even glancing attention to Texas politics knows well.

And we've all gotten to go along on the ride Bush and his gang of Texans have taken the country. They're corrupt, bizarre, and apparently from another planet, full of hot air and bombast, and possessed of some notions that defy catagorization.

59 year old Harriet Miers (Who?), a woman who has never spent a minute in judges robes or on the bench, is Bush's pick. She's been a long-time crony of Junior's since back when he was a do-nothing Governor of Texas, and has never issued an opinion in her life, which Bush thinks is an asset. That way there is absolutely no record of prior rulings to judge her fitness for the position, suggesting strongly that the White House wants to sneak her onto the court as they did Roberts. It's clear that the Republicans seem to suggest that anyone who actually tries to discern the temperment or inclinations of any of their nominees to the Supreme Court of the land is horribly out of line. They want us to believe that the mere fact that Bush picked them ought to be all the assurance the American people need that these lifetime appointments affecting every citizen is just fine.

Bush is touting her status as a woman, noting that she was the first woman to become head of her law firm, and first female president of the Texas Bar Association.

Wow!! They let a WOMAN be president of something? In Texas?

Miers has never been married or had children, and with a record of clawing her way to the top in the swamp of the Texas bar, you can imagine just how warm and cuddly she is.

Besides being a current White House council, she used to be Junior's personal lawyer. And Lord knows you'd have to be ready for anything in that position.

Much like Cheney before her, Miers was actually responsible for finding a nominee and picked herself.

An interesting Law.com article on Miers notes how she, like many others in the Bush administration has "failed upward".

David Frum, Bush's former speechwriter who attained infamy for authoring the phrase "axis of evil". His bragging wife then sent multiple e-mails all over town crowing about it's inclusion in Bush's SOTU speech. Frum was forced out shortly thereafter. Oooops... sorry dear. But even little David is pretty bummed about Miers, as revealed on his blog at the National Review where he reveals that Miers considers George W. Bush "the most brilliant man she has ever met." (she's GOT to get out more. That's scary, is it not?) Frum apparently has since amended his blog.

And Miers has already started her own blog. (CAUTION: Extremely funny. Don't click if you've recently had surgery or suffer from a weak bladder.)

A Culture of Corruption

Jonathan Chait has an excellent piece which could serve as a primer for those who are still in ignorance of just how completely the Republican congress has integrated with corporations, to the point where we're essentially already living under a plutocracy. Chait urges that sooner the Dems realize the size and scope of the problem, the better.

Karen Hughes...diplomat?

George knows his conservative Texas women. Karen Hughes was practically his mother for years, and now he's got her in the middle east in charge of "public diplomacy", trying to convince the Muslim world (by means other than blowing them and their children into a pinkish mist) that Bush really only wants the best for them. She recently assured a group of Saudi women that someday, they too would drive cars.

A group of Turkish professional women essentially told her to can the crap, that as long as the U.S. occupies Iraq, nothing she could say would make any difference. Not even assuring them she's a working mom.

She condescendingly lectured some Egyptians who asked why Bush insists on talking about God almost every time he opens his mouth by explaining that the U.S. Constitution contains the phrase, "One nation, under God..." For those of you not up on the constitution, it doesn't.

Hughes trip was a disaster from all accounts, including this one in The Guardian by Sid Blumenthal, with the former TV reporter mouthing childish cliches over and over and over and over again, just like she taught George to do, hoping to impress people by mentioning she was a working mom, and saying at one point, "I love all kids. And I understand that is something I have in common with the Turkish people -- that they love children."

She repeated endlessly, including three times in one short interview with the Al-Jazeera network, that Bush was the first president to have called for a Palestinian state. Actually, Clinton was. But what's facts or reality to Karen? She's been lying for Bush for decades.

Moreno brings worldwide attention to himself, East Moline

Former East Moline mayor Moreno's recent decision to risk his life by parking himself in a truck directly on railroad tracks to stop a freight train in order to allow marathon runners to pass has made Moreno and the town he formerly led an international laughing stock.

A Google search on the words "east moline marathon" returns over 161,000 hits. AP wrote a piece on it which was distributed world-wide.

A partial list of news outlets and websites carrying the bizarre story includes:

The Daily Times (Pakistan)
The Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
CJAD Radio, Montreal, Quebec
The Washington Post
USA Today
ABC News
The Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Sun Times
MSNBC
The Boston Globe
CNNsi (the CNN/Sports Illustrated channel)
Yahoo News
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The New Jersey Star-Ledger
The Baltimore Sun
Daytona Beach News
The Sapulpa Daily Herald of Sepulpa, OK
Cox.net of New Orleans
The Memphis Appeal
Rednova.com (where it's listed under "oddities")

and hundreds more.

But perhaps the most interesting is the message board at Trains.com, which offers a few considered opinions of Moreno from professional railroaders. To give you a flavor for the comments there, the entire thread is titled, "What a Dumbass!"

So it appears that Moreno has accomplished what he perhaps failed to do when he held office - getting himself and East Moline world-wide publicity. Too bad it's as the objects of scorn and derision.

To the cronies go the spoils

Gene Lyons

The Bush administration’s fundamental problem is that it has substituted ideology for practicality and loyalty for competence at every turn. It’s running the country like a business, all right. Unfortunately, that business is Enron, combining fantastical theories and astonishing greed. Because the Republicans also control both houses of Congress and have voted in lockstep on virtually every key issue, partisan dogma has taken precedence above all competing values.

The result has been mismanagement and incompetence on an heroic scale: ignoring the terrorist threat until 9/11 because al-Qa’ida was a "Clinton issue," driving the country into war in Iraq by conjuring imaginary nuclear "mushroom clouds," forcing the retirement of military leaders (e. g., Gen. Eric Shinseki) who warned that pacifying Iraq would require hundreds of thousands more troops than neo-conservative theory dictated, getting rid of a treasury secretary (Paul O’Neill) who correctly predicted that the war would cost tens of billions more than White House philosophers dreamed, rejecting detailed State Department plans for rebuilding Iraq in favor of pie-in-the-sky schemes to turn the fractured nation into a corporate utopia, turning a $300 billion budget surplus into a $550 billion (and counting) deficit through reckless tax cuts—such a list could go on almost indefinitely. Slashing FEMA’s budget and replacing its experienced professional staff with hacks and cronies wasn’t a mistake; it was absolutely characteristic of the Bush administration’s vision of government as a partisan spoils system. Even worse than its reliance upon abstract ideology has been the White House’s remarkable inability to admit error. Partly due to its Republican-style political correctness, partly to the cult of personality surrounding Bush himself — his fabled "gut instincts" were supposed to make up for his manifest intellectual shortcomings - the administration finds it almost impossible to adjust to altered circumstances. They’ve created their own reality all right. Alas, the rest of us have to live there, too.

More

Edgar's decision has area Republicans bummed, Dems not so much.

Jim Edgar's decision Friday not to run for his old office came as bad news to some Republican lawmakers who saw him as the party's best shot at beating Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat.

"It's a huge disappointment," said Sen. Todd Sieben, R-Geneseo.

This time they wanted him to run for governor and because he was taking such a long and deliberate look at it, Sen. Sieben said he thought this time Edgar might be willing to jump back into the race.

"I really felt that he was getting all his ducks in a row," he said.

Rep. Jerry Mitchell, R-Sterling, was skeptical early on, but even he had come to think in recent days that Edgar might be leaning toward a run.

"Mine was more hope than belief," he said, adding he can understand some of Edgar's reluctance.

"How many times do you want to inherit a state that's financially strapped?" Rep. Mitchell said.

Even Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, thought Edgar might try to run for one more term, if for no other reason than to shape his legacy on education.

In his second term, Edgar tried to reform the way the state funds education, but his idea went nowhere in the Republican controlled Senate. Now, Democrats control the House and Senate and have shown a willingness to consider the idea, so he might have been able to push it through, Mautino said.

If Republicans are disappointed, Democrats have to be relieved.

Edgar's decision to run might have prompted many in the growing field of Republican gubernatorial hopefuls to drop out and could have eliminated what will likely be an expensive and divisive Republican primary.

Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, was pleased with Edgar's choice and said that by holding out for so long, it will make the other Republican candidates look like second choice.

If nothing else, though, a battle between a former governor and the incumbent would have made for good political theater, Jacobs said.

"Roving Patrols" vs. Checkpoints

In light of my recent post about a local official getting ensnared in a police checkpoint and charged with DUI, this story from the Dispatch/Argus is of interest.
I argued that looking for drivers who are driving erratically or violating traffic laws is a fairer and better method than simply stopping every single driver at a single point.

It seems that some statistics would seem to indicate that states which rely on roving patrols looking to spot drunk drivers are more effective at stopping DUI fatalities than those which employ the checkpoint approach.

More here.

And in a related story, a Davenport Alderman got pinched for OWI Friday evening in Bettendorf after police responded to a report of erratic driving. Alderman Bob McGivern was charged with his first OWI.

(It's interesting to note that the Dispatch had this story while the QC Times, supposedly the Davenport paper, at the time of this posting had nothing on their site about it.)