Next Monday at 6:20 a.m. I will be getting on a plane for Denver as one of our credentialed "state bloggers" representing Prairie State Blue (PSB). After months of hearing nothing suddenly I am being barraged with invitations and events -- both official and non official. This is my favorite so far:
Shake Your Money Maker - Denver Mint, August 25, 5pm It's time to redistribute the wealth. Between security and corporate pay-offs, the DNC will cost over 100 million dollars for a party. We think the people deserve that money. Join us as we encircle the Denver Mint (where U.S. currency is produced) and use our collective power to raise the mint building in the air and shake the money out of it for the people. Don't forget a sack to put all of your loot in. Bring noise makers, energy, spells, magic, costumes, anything that gives you power. We'll need it!
http://www.recreate68.com/
Plus it looks like I will have a roommate in Denver -- 43rd Ward Democratic Committeeman Michele Smith!
The move by Jones comes as he prepares for the Democratic National Convention, where his protege and former state Senate colleague, Barack Obama, will accept the Democratic nomination for president.
My own encounters with Emil this year center around Obama's presidential campaign. We were in the same offices in both Iowa and Wisconsin, and while I think he traveled with different aides to the two states, it was amazing how they (Emil's aides) pushed the same lines. The one that was the most memorable (and startling, given what I know about Barack) was that, when asked what job Emil would get in an Obama Administration, the answer was always the same: "Anything He Wants."
(good discussion - bumped... - promoted by bored now)
I'm no longer on the fence on a proposed Illinois Constitutional Convention. Decidely not so. After doing some research on the last Con Con, the issues at hand, and especially delegate selection, I can't support a Con Con. Not even remotely.
I have many reasons for this decision. The four largest are:
1. Cost
2. Delegate Selection
3. Unfocused proposal
4. Pensions Obligations
The Harvard program matches elected officials with senior-level executives from state, county and local government and executives working with state and local governments. Students from all over the world participate in the program. The program "offers participants a rare opportunity to learn from the nation's top educators, researchers, and practitioners; to share experiences and network with peers from the U.S. and international governments; and to become part of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government community - all in a short amount of time. For more than twenty-five years, participants from all over the world have shared in this fine learning experience." (from the brochure [PDF] )
House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, South Carolina
Rep. Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania
Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth
VP Pick
Just asking. This is the list of Convention speakers for what's billed as the Democratic Party convention Wednesday national security evening. Is someone being assisted to higher office? Just asking, because 7 of 43 voters here would be ok with her as Senator from Illinois. Now maybe it's simply that the convention organizers were desperate to include a women in a poltential all male situation. So then why not Jill Morgenthaler? That's what they did for Obama four years ago, that is helped him win his Senate bid. So why Tammy who's not running instead of Jill who is? Just asking.
A week doesn't go by in my district offices without some constituent, often several, calling in a panic about a personal health care crisis. These calls come not only from people who aren't insured, but increasingly from those who are - or think they are. Most of the time, they are shocked and furious that, now that they actually need the coverage, their policies don't seem to apply.
Yesterday we were all amused by brownsox' Kos post about Mark Kirk's admitted inclusion of the sexist song Baby Got Back in his iPod list particularly in light of his recent votes against gender pay equity. However, today it's not all that funny in light of an email he sent to constituents this morning defending his vote against the Paycheck Fairness Act.
While State Senator Debbie Halvorson and husband Jim Bush are with their severely injured son at Walter Reed, her millionaire opponent Marty Ozinga decides to attack her with nasty robocalls into the Illinois 11th Congressional District.
Captain Jay Bush is in the Special Forces. He was severely injured late last week when the truck he was riding on came under attack in Afghanistan. He jumped out of the truck on a bridge and fell 20 feet to rocks below. I believe he has broken his back and neck.
In 1932, at the rock bottom of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt swept into office with the promise of bold reforms to jump-start the American economy. Although conservative critics of the day cast his ideas as too radical, policies implemented in The New Deal stabilized the banking system within one month, cut skyrocketing unemployment in half and increased our gross domestic product by 50 percent.
Over the past three decades, the pendulum has swung from this New Deal ideology to conservatism. Tax cuts for the rich were supposed to "trickle down" to the masses, spurring job creation and an economic boom. The current economic crisis we are experiencing has shown us that conservatism - tax cuts for the rich and bailing out big businesses - has failed. Tax cuts for the rich have only made the rich richer, the poor poorer... and the middle class isn't doing all that well either. Instead of the promised job creation, we find more and more of our jobs being shipped overseas while unemployment has skyrocketed to the highest level in a decade.
We would like to invite you all to join the Illinois 11th District Democrats at our second annual fundraising event happening on Friday, August 22nd. The event will be held at Angelino's Restaurant, 9301 W. 191st St in Mokena (near I-80) from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. Come enjoy appetizers, soda, and a cashbar, and listen to, among others, Congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson. Tickets are $50 for regular and $200 for host committee. For more information or to confirm your attendance, please call Nikhil Bhatia at 815-557-3528
Friday 22 August
Angelino's Restaurant
5:30-8:00
$50-$200
Yes, right here in Illinois, legislation is being pushed to provide basic healthcare coverage to everyone ...HB 311, essentially a single payer alternative to the ever-for-costly, ever-less-inclusive system we now have in place.
Time and place:
Kane County Government Center
719 S Batavia, Geneva, IL
Thursday, August 14th
6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
(A lot of us are on the fence about this. It seems good to hear from those that have been there. - promoted by BobB)
August 12, 2008
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
SGI Cultural Center 1455 S. Wabash
Should Illinois Hold a Constitutional Convention? A referendum on the November general election ballot will ask voters to decide whether Illinois should hold a Constitutional Convention to amend or rewrite the state constitution.
"Georgia is sacred ground and must be defended. It is as sacred and New York or Massachusetts. Just because separatist movements of the past may have failed there does not entitle Russia to send in troops."
When it was pointed out to McCain that bringing Georgia's national guard troops back from Iraq might endanger the effort in Iraq, McCain further said:
"We are in Iraq so keep the Muslims out of places like Georgia. But if that means the Russians will be marching on Atlanta then we will just have to bring them back home."
McCains' Democratic Opponent, Barck Obama, says that McCain is confused.
One of these things doesn't fit with the others. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn is asking people to tell their legislators what they think about this huge pay raise that they have given themselves with his new Vote Now! Vote No! website.
Ok, so Illinois isn't dead last in state funding, as a percentage of the state's share of education funding, but that isn't anything to be proud of. Under Rod Blagojevich, Illinois has continued the death spiral to the bottom, making education (apparently) the lowest priority in his lacklaster administration.
So what does the governor do? Why, call a special session of course, so that he can leverage the state's dismal education record in his obsessive and increasingly bitter feud with the speaker.
