Truth in Accounting Issues: California’s ‘Financial State of the State’

December 21, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Taxes, Truth in Accounting, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Institute for Truth in Accounting…

Chicago (November 29, 2010) Today, the Institute for Truth in Accounting released California’s “Financial State of the State.” After a review of the State’s 2009 audited financial report, the Institute determined the State is in a precarious financial position because it does not have the funds available to pay more than $195 billion of the State’s commitments as they come due. Each taxpayer’s share of this financial burden equals $18,000.

California law requires a balanced State budget. “If governors and legislatures had truly balanced the State’s budget, no taxpayer’s financial burden would exist,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA). She continued, “A State budget is not balanced if past costs, including those for employees’ retirement benefits, are pushed into the future.”
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Congressman-Elect Walsh to Sit on Three Committees

December 21, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Cook County, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Joe Walsh, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Congressman-Elect Joe Walsh (8th District)…

Washington, DC. – Congressman-elect Joe Walsh (R, Illinois-8) will be a busy man during committee time in the 112th Congress that begins in January. The Republican Steering Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has assigned Walsh to three committees: Homeland Security, Small Business, and Oversight and Government Reform.

“I am proud to accept these positions, and I thank the Steering Committee for entrusting me with these responsibilities. I believe that these committees will allow me to advocate for the issues that I campaigned on and those issues which are important to my constituents in the eighth district,” Walsh said.
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The Village of Palatine Passes Its Own Cap and Trade Ordinance – Part 2

December 21, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Cap and Trade, Chicago, Climate Change, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Nanny State, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Palatine Tea Party…

The Village of Palatine Passes Another Cap and Trade Ordinance

(Palatine, Illinois) – The Palatine Village Council is following in the footsteps of the Obama Administration moving his progressive agenda forward at the local level. At the Village Council Meeting on December 13, 2010 the village unanimously passed its own version of Cap and Trade Ordinance without the “trade”. This would generate additional revenue to offset the Village of Palatine’s 2011 budget shortfall.
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Republicans Block DREAM Act, Another Old Media Lie

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under Associated Press, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Old Media is up to its old tricks again, this time making the GOP the fall guy for the failure of the latest immigration bill. Nearly every news outlet is reporting that the Republicans have blocked the DREAM Act, many of these reports even say so right in the headline. The truth, however, is not that the GOP blocked it, but that the Democrats didn’t get all its own members to vote for it.

In fact, if the Democrats could have gotten five more of their own members to vote “yea” the bill would have passed cloture. As it happened they had five members vote no and one didn’t vote at all. If the Democrats could have marshaled all its strength it would have won the day. This is rightfully a Democrat failure, not a GOP blocking, as it should be remembered that the Democrats still have the majority in Congress, enough that if they’d have stayed together on this they could have won.
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SHOCKING: Soros Funded University Poll Says Fox News Viewers Most ‘Misinformed’ Politically

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Fox News, Government, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

A poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a “project” run out of the University of Maryland, was the toast of the left-wingers last week for its finding that Fox News viewers were the most “misinformed” during the 2010 election cycle. Sadly, few of the news pieces on this poll mentioned that WorldPublicOpinion.org is funded in part by such far left-wing organizations as the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, the United States Institute of Peace, and the George Soros backed Tides Foundation.

The report was big news throughout the lefty blogs and the Old Media, as well. Longtime Internet lefty site Slate blurbed the report assuming the fact that Fox fans are misinformed was obvious. The New York Time’s Brian Stelter reported the poll but didn’t bother to try and size up the source, reporting it as straight news. Extreme leftist columnist Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer also treated the claim as fact. Associated Content did as well.
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40% of Chicago Public School Teachers Send Own Kids to Private Schools

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Children, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Liberals love to claim that the public school system is the shining success story of the American political system. And even when the schools break down in effectiveness, liberals double down on their support for them and insist that we spend ever larger chunks of the taxpayer’s money to “fix” them.

Of course, even as liberal politicians constantly extol the virtues of the public schools they are quietly sending their own kids to private schools. These hypocrites don’t seem to mind sending the public’s kids to subpar, failing schools but they’ll be damned that they’ll do so with their own kids.
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Taking a Stand Against Political Correctness

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Nanny State, PCism, Regulation, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Nancy Morgan

Political correctness is loosely defined as “avoidance of expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.”

In other words, millions of Americans have willingly allowed themselves to be placed in the losing position of continually being forced to prove a negative. “I’m not a racist,” “I’m not homophobic,” “I’m not a greedy capitalist”…ad nauseum.

Political correctness is a hugely successful campaign that has effectively altered traditional standards of behavior in order to advance the political agenda of mostly left-leaning groups. From gay rights, to feminism to open borders, PC rules dictate that you conform with the prevailing group-think at the risk of social ostracism.
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Combine TSA and Healthcare, Killing All Birds With Two Stones

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under 9/11, Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Resa LaRu, "Warchick" Kirkland, Taxes, TSA | Comments Off

-By Resa LaRu Kirkland

There’s been a lot of talk lately about two things: stopping the out-of-control spending by the elite and the airport grope-fests we who choose to take flight like the birds must now face so that none of the real terrorists get their pathetic feelings hurt.

Since both the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Health Care (HC) are under the control of our bloated, belching government, my friend Peter Gourley had a brilliant idea.

Why not combine the two? You know, a whole fleet of neurosurgeons, proctologists general practitioners, OB/Gyns, gastroenterologists; make a trip AND get a thorough (and I do mean THOROUGH) checkup. Our airports could double as doctors’ offices. It’s the old two birds-one stone scenario. Just think of the savings…and the conversations…
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Schilling Urges Chairman Skelton to Ban Guantanamo Bay Terrorists From Coming to the U.S.

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under 9/11, Bobby Schilling, Cuba, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Guantanamo Bay, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Regulation, Security/Safety, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Congressman-Elect Bobby Schilling (17th District)…

In letter to Skelton, Schilling opposes new provision in House defense bill that could bring terrorists to our soil

EAST MOLINE, IL–Congressman-elect Bobby Schilling has released the following statement in regard to a new provision in the House defense bill that could bring terrorists to the United States:

“Ike Skelton and Nancy Pelosi have buried a provision in the Defense Authorization Bill that could bring al-Qaeda terrorists to the United States. This is unacceptable. The American people fired Ike Skelton and Nancy Pelosi for these radical, out of touch policies that put Americans in danger. I strongly oppose transferring Guantanamo detainees to The United States and especially any attempt to place them in Illinois, as has been proposed. I support Senator Mark Kirk’s decision to put this bill on hold if it reaches the Senate with the terrorist transfer provision. And, once I assume my position on the House Armed Services Committee, I will fight any attempt to house terrorists on American soil.”
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The Village of Palatine Passes Its Own Cap and Trade Ordinance – Part 1

December 20, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Cap and Trade, Cook County Board, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Palatine Tea Party…

(Palatine, Illinois) – The Palatine Village Council is following in the footsteps of the Obama Administration moving his progressive agenda forward at the local level. At the Village Council Meeting on December 13, 2010 the village unanimously passed its own version of Cap and Trade Ordinance without the “trade”. This would generate an additional $900,000 to offset the Village of Palatine’s 2011 budget shortfall.

2011 Electric Utility Tax

* Electric Utility Tax – Tax based upon consumption of electricity. The taxes are collected by the utility company and remitted to the Village. Those using less electricity will pay less. This is projected to raise $900,000. Village officials see an electricity tax as a stable source of revenue even in poor economic climates.1
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RIP Captain Beefheart

December 19, 2010 | Filed Under Entertainment, Music, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in the late 70s and early 80s I got into a band called “Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.” Really great, wacky, seemingly improvised, music. Strange, haunting, exuberant. Did I say strange?

The Captain was one Don Van Vliet. He was a friend and contemporary of Frank Zappa (hence the “strange” part). Well, I missed the news a few days ago, but I just found out that the Captain has passed away on Dec. 17th. He was 69.

If you’d like to learn more about Don Van Vliet, here is a great profile of the man written by Lester Bangs of Village Voice.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Vliet’s odd musical excursions inspired many later hit makers. Johnny Lydon, Devo, PJ Harvey, Joe Strummer, the Residents, Tom Waits, Pere Ubu and the Fall all claimed to have been inspired by Captain Beefheart.

Even though his musical career was never a giant financial and popular success, he did have critical acclaim. Still, where he made an even larger mark was in the world of abstract painting.

I never did go back and try to get any of the Magic Band’s work on CD. All my albums are still on vinyl! I haven’t listened to them in years. Now that the Captain has passed on, maybe I’ll break them out again.
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Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Delivers Weekly GOP Address On Preventing High Taxes And Spending

December 19, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Earmarks, Economy/Finances, Elections, Financial Reform, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Mitch McConnell, President, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

The message to the voters: “We got the message from the voters.”

America Held Hostage‏

December 19, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Chicago, Dan Proft, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Dan Proft

Why am I always the last to know?

Apparently earlier this week the American people were taken hostage.

Thankfully President Samuel L. Jackson intervened to negotiate our release.

Explaining his philosophy when it comes to engaging hostiles, the President said, “I think it’s tempting not to negotiate with hostage-takers, unless the hostage gets harmed. In this case, the hostage was the American people and I was not willing to see them get harmed.”
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Rep-Elect Joe Walsh Comments on Importation of Guantanamo Bay Terrorists to Illinois

December 19, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Cuba, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Guantanamo Bay, House of Representatives, Illinois, Joe Walsh, Liberals, PCism, Republicans, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

From the office of Congressman-Elect Joe Walsh (8th District)…

Today Rep.-elect Joe Walsh made the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s plans to import Guantanamo Bay terrorists to Illinois:

“It is imperative that terrorists from Guantanamo Bay not be brought to Illinois. Such action would pose a grave national security threat and create unnecessary challenges in the war against Al Qaeda. As the only member from Illinois serving on the Committee on Homeland Security, I will make this one of my top priorities on the committee.”
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Chicago Activist William Kelly Offers Statement at Emanuel Residency Hearing

December 18, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Rahm Emanuel, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

William J. Kelly, local Chicago activist and candidate for Alderman, appeared at the hearing to determine if former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a legal resident of Chicago so that he can run for mayor next year.

According to William Kelly, Rahm and his minions are trying to force WIND radio from accepting Kelly’s brokered radio program, The Kelly Truth Squad.

In any case, if the audio above is too hard to discern, below is the text of Kelly’s statement…
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To Be Clear, It’s Not the Government’s Money

December 18, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Capitalism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Founders, Frank Salvato, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Money, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
– James Madison, Fourth President of the United States and considered the Father of the United States Constitution.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in Washington DC, especially on the Left side of the aisle, about the revenue surrendered to the federal government through taxation. For some reason, many Democrats – and all Progressives – seem to believe that they have a right to the citizens’ money, for whatever cause, whatever initiative and/or whatever programs they deem necessary. Not only isn’t this even close to the truth, but to believe so is to have a non-functional understanding of the Constitution and the proper limits of government.

If this needs to be said once it needs to be said a thousand times; it is not the right of the federal government to do with tax revenue what it pleases. Tax revenue, privately earned money that is surrendered to the federal government under law, is meant to fund the vital processes of the federal government as outlined in the enumerated powers of the US Constitution and the whole of the Charters of Freedom.
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Illinois Republican State Central Committee Meeting Report

December 18, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Pat Brady, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

I’ve attended one of these meetings in the past and to tell the truth, the Party does not take much effort to make what goes on there relevant to anything in the general electorate. Then,. after the public session they shoo everyone out and have the private leadership meeting and the public is not invited.

Anyway, this year Doug Ibendahl attended the one held in Bolingbrook and posted a report on Republican News Watch.

Here is an excerpt…
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Democrats Slip Bringing Terrorists to American Prisons into Defense Bill

December 17, 2010 | Filed Under 9/11, Anti-Americanism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Guantanamo Bay, Illinois State Government, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Mark Kirk, Military, President, Regulation, Religion, Security/Safety, Senate, Taliban, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Mark Kirk (R, IL) is raising a red flag over the defense bill because the Democrat led House of Representatives and Democrat led Senate has slipped in a provision that would allow accused terrorists to be housed in prisons in the interior of the United States.

In an apparent effort to get around the President’s decision to ignore his own deadline to shut down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba terrorist detention facility, the Democrat leadership included the provision in order to give terrorists and detainees in Guantanamo a place to go so that the Cuba-based facility can eventually — and sooner rather than later — be shut down.

Senator Kirk blew the whistle on this horrible idea and vowed to put a hold on the defense bill until that part gets stripped. Kirk appeared on Chicago’s WLS radio and told hosts Don and Roma why he wanted to put the bill on hold.
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Our Idiotic Courts: Car Gets Stolen, Then Owner’s Held Liable For Theft, Also Trees Get ‘Rights’

December 17, 2010 | Filed Under Animals, Civil Rights, Climate Change, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Environment, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Law, Liberals, PCism, Property Rights, Regulation, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

All too often it is an upside down world in our American court systems. Here we have two more stories that really argues for the word “impeachment” to get far more of a workout in our nation than it currently does. In one case, a woman whose car was stolen is held liable for the theft of her own car merely because the keys were inside and in the second, more egregious tale, several courts across the land have decided that trees have “rights” not to be cut down.

First up in our cavalcade of lunacy is the case of the stolen car in Nashville, Tennessee. As it happens a car owned by one Rubye Jarrell was stolen and in the course of the theft and the resulting police chase the thief crashed the car into that of the Newman family. The Newman’s promptly sued the police department for daring to chase a thief. The penchant for people to sue police for doing their job is bad enough but even worse, the owner of the car was also charged with “negligence” because her grandson left the keys in the car “in a high crime area.” This is a crime, apparently, because in this foolish court’s opinion a person that leaves keys in a car is just as bad as a thief that steals a car.

This moronic decision absurdly making the victim just as blamable as an actual thief is yet one more example of our overly litigious society. Was it stupid to leave keys in a car? Sure. Should someone so stupid as to leave their keys in their car be surprised that the car gets stolen? If they are surprised they are doubly stupid. But are they liable for the thief’s actions? Hardly.
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The 11 Republicans on the Powerful House Ways and Means Committee

December 17, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Conservatives, Economy/Finances, Florida, Georgia, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Peter Roskam, Republicans, Taxes, Tennessee, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Veteran fiscal conservative Congressman Peter Roskam (R, IL) has announced the names of the 10 Republicans that are joining him on the House Ways and Means Committee, the powerful committee that has jurisdiction over taxes, trade, and programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Peter Roskam is the Representative for the 6th Illinois Congressional District which is situated just west of Chicago. He is about to begin his third term in Congress and will advance to the position of Chief Deputy Whip in the 112th Congress. Roskam ranks fourth in the House GOP leadership. His American Conservative Union (ACU) ranking is 97.33 percent.

Two freshmen Representatives will be taking their place on this powerful committee.
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LGBT: Kansas, you’re not in Kansas Anymore

December 17, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Family, Gay Marriage, Gays, Paul A. Ibbetson, PCism, Society/Culture, Western Civilization | Comments Off

Paul A. Ibbetson

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Those were the troubled words of Dorothy Gale as she found herself in a foreign world in the movie The Wizard of Oz. Many have used that sentence over the years for different reasons but in general it highlights a feeling of being somewhere that is so alien to our sense of normality that we cannot fully articulate where we are, only where we are not. As a lifelong Kansan I have felt that my state, as well as its location within the heartland, is a special place where traditional American values tend to be unbending to the onslaught of the political left. When I hear liberals scream words like, “gun toter” and “bible clinger” as they fail to advance their agenda in the heartland I have to say it puts a spring in my step. However, today as the sun shines down on the plains of Kansas, a liberal storm of great consequence is brewing.

Government officials in the city of Manhattan, Kansas are about to pass a modification of an existing anti-discrimination ordinance that will create the most intrusive pro-homosexual ordinance in the country. A gay advocacy group called LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) that enjoys an office at Kansas State University has been part of a five-year movement to pressure city officials to create a radical alteration to the city’s existing anti-discrimination ordinance. So, what will these changes look like and how will it affect Kansans within its jurisdiction? I interviewed Dr. Paul Barkey, a Kansas pastor who has been researching the potential ordinance change on my radio program Conscience of Kansas and we covered the issue in detail. You’ll need to sit down.
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Schilling to Serve on Armed Services and Agriculture Committees

December 17, 2010 | Filed Under Bobby Schilling, Congress, GOP, Government, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Military, Peter Roskam, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Congressman-elect Bobby Schilling…

Rep.-elect Schilling successfully pursues two committees important to our area’s interests

EAST MOLINE, IL–Representative-elect Bobby Schilling has received his committee assignments for the 112th Congress. He will be serving on both the Armed Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee. Illinois will get a representative on the House Armed Services panel after not having one during the 111th Congress. Schilling said he was pleased with his assignments and ready to start working for the 17th District.

“When I decided to run for Congress, I promised to deliver excellent constituent services to the people of our area,” Schilling said. “I will protect the Rock Island Arsenal and our area’s military interests on the Armed Services Committee and I will work hard for our farmers and producers as a member of the Agriculture Committee. I look forward to serving the people come January.”
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Ill. Policy Institute: Tax Hikes for Christmas

December 17, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Chicago, Illinois, Illinois Policy Institute, Michael Madigan, Pat Quinn, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Illinois Policy Institute…

Governor Pat Quinn and House Speaker Mike Madigan want to stick a lump of coal in your stocking this holiday season — in the form of a lame-duck tax hike. They’re spoiling to raise taxes before the new General Assembly is sworn into office in mid-January.

Despite receiving less than 50 percent of the popular vote, Governor Quinn believes he has a “mandate” to pad his public employee union friends’ pockets while sticking Illinois families with the bill.

We’ve been here before. Remember 2009, when everyone said a tax hike was “inevitable”? Well, we stopped it then and, with your help, we can stop it again.
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Sen. GOP Minority Leader McConnell’s Remarks After Sen, Reid Pulled Omniporkulus Bill

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Harry Reid, Liberals, Mitch McConnell, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

After Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid decided he’d better put off a vote on the pork-stuff Omnibus Spending Bill, Senator GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a few words to say about the situation on the floor of the Senate.

“And so what we ended up with, Mr. President, was this, this almost 2,000-page omnibus appropriation bill which we only got, it was yesterday? Yesterday. And so the point here is the work that the Appropriations Committee did in many respects was squandered because the full Senate didn’t do its job. And this is precisely the kind of thing the American people have gotten tired of. And so I think the message we ought to take out of this is that next year we’re going to listen to the American people, we’re going to do our work, do it in a timely fashion.”

“I don’t agree with the priorities we’ve had here in the Senate about what things are important. And as a result of not doing the basic work of government, here we are at the end struggling with this issue.”

“Now, there’s only one reason why cloture is not being filed and the Majority Leader, to his credit, already said it — he doesn’t have the votes. And the reason he doesn’t have the votes is because members on this side of the aisle increasingly felt concerned about the way we do business.”

(Video) I Was a Guest on NRA Radio’s ‘Cam And Company’ Show

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Guns, History, James Madison, John Adams, Judges, Law, Liberals, Police, Revolutionary War, Supreme Court, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I was a guest on Cameron Gray’s National Rifle Association radio program “Cam and Company” last night.

I was on the program to discuss my article about Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s wrong-headed interpretation of the Second Amendment as one that doesn’t really protect the individual’s right to bear arms.

My article under discussion was: “Supreme Court Justice Breyer: Founders Were For Restricting Guns… Why Breyer is Wrong.”

It was a great segment, I have to say.

A Detailed List of Earmarks in The Omnibus Spending Bill

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Earmarks, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Harry Reid, House of Representatives, Liberals, Nancy Pelosi, President, Regulation, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Pork, pork, pork. It’s enough pork to make a Southside Chicago BBQ joint greasy with envy. Yes, it’s a bacchanalia of pork spending and earmarks in the Omnibus spending bill, for sure, and we now have the database to prove it.

Senator Tom Coburn has posted a Google Spreadsheet data base document on line and there you can see how much the earmark costs us, where it is going, and which of our congressmen asked for the earmark.

There’s One million, five hundred eighteen thousand dollars for animal vaccines in Greenport, New York. There’s three hundred grand for the study of phytoplankton in Boothbay, Maine. Millions going to various drug enforcement programs across the country. Ten mil is being shelled out to the “John P. Murtha Foundation” for… well, just because John was such a prince of a guy. There’s a mil six hundred thou for the “Brain Safety Net,” so that brains can be safe… and stuff. Lots of cash for the study of renewable energy, various road and bridge projects, and educational efforts. Even more cash to the Department of Energy for the “Office of Science” because, well, only government can do science, ya know?

So far there have been 6,715 earmarks attached to the Fiscal 2011 Omnibus Spending bill that Congress is now considering.
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Illinois to the Elderly: Retire Somewhere Else, Will Ya?

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Guess which state is the single worst state to try and retire in? Yup. Illinois.

TopRetirements.com, a site that tracks the best values for retirees, recently posted its top ten worst states to retire to and Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois tops the list of the worst. California comes up a close second worst.

Of Illinois the sites says, “Illinois’s fiscal health could be the worst of any state, which is what tipped the scales. It has even borrowed money to fund its pension obligations.”
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Reid Still Looking to Introduce Forced Unionizing Bill

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Harry Reid, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

As we discussed a few days ago, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid still intends to push the bill that wold nationalize all police and firefighter unions.

The bill is titled the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (S 3391) and would force all local, city, county, and state police and firefighter unions to operate under nationalized union rules created by union bosses based in Washington D.C. This bill would take away the power of local governments to control their own first responders and this would necessarily take away all power from you, the voters, too.

Reid tried to get cloture on this one last week but did not get it done. We are still on the watch for him to push this abomination against local control at any time.
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Salvation Army Bells Deemed Offensive

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Economy/Finances, Frederick Meekins, Liberals, PCism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Frederick Meekins

Giant, a prominent Washington DC area supermarket chain, has curtailed the number of days that the Salvation Army will be permitted to solicit donations this Christmas season outside of the grocery retailer’s locations.

In a number of media reports, it was claimed that the bells were offensive and irritating to a number of shoppers.

So what about those food solicitation campaigns where the grocery chain doesn’t simply set out a receptacle for those wanting to contribute food items to charity but instead gets broadcast news outlets involved?
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Ill. Policy Institute: Capitol Day, Fight Quinn’s Tax Hike, Education Reform‏

December 16, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois Policy Institute, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Illinois Policy Institute…

Capitol Day: Join Us January 5!

A number of highly important issues including the proposal to hike income taxes, a landmark voucher bill, and pension reform are anticipated to be voted on early in the new legislative session. That’s why the Illinois Policy Institute is going down to Springfield on January 5 with our Liberty Leaders. We’re chartering a bus from the Chicagoland area. Join us on Capitol Day!
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