Obama: Follow the Money

UPDATE (more updates below): John Fund, WSJ, "Obama and Chicago Mores". And the Tribune blogs the Rezko trial--all Rezko all the time site.
***
The trial of Barack Obama's fundraising friend Tony Rezko starts today. I'm no journalist, but as I understand it one of the first rules of investigative journalism is to follow the money. Here's an excerpt from my first follow the money piece, back in May, 2006:

In Chicago, developers have sought major subsidies. Rezko had an major application pending for a TIF last year, when some of his other activities came under investigation, so the Metropolitan Planning Council backed away from its support. In Crain's:

A real estate developer whose dealings are under investigation by City Hall is a leading member of an investment group that is asking the city for what would be the largest property-tax subsidy ever for a Chicago development.

Seeking as much as $140 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) is a partnership headed by Antoin S. "Tony" Rezko, whom the city recently accused of benefiting from a phony minority front for two Panda Express restaurants at O'Hare International Airport. The money would cover infrastructure costs for Riverside Park, a massive $1.7-billion mixed-use project the partnership plans to build along Roosevelt Road in the South Loop. Yet the recent news about Mr. Rezko's O'Hare restaurants — breaking just days before the city received the TIF request — was less than optimal timing.

Mr. Rezko first caught my notice because he lived in my village of Wilmette and was allied with Governor Blagojevich and local state senators and representatives in targeting lucrative real estate on the North Shore. This area promised particular profitability for developers with fat upfront fees and government subsidies under the guise of bringing in "affordable" housing. Does this sound familiar?

Again, does this sound familiar on the South Side of Chicago? On an international scale? Who owns Riverside Park now? (Because Rezko is broke, and was broke in 2005 when he bought the neighboring lot to Obama's under his wife's name. His wife was broke too, but her property was sheltered from the law. And when she sold a strip of it to Obama for $100,000 that was sheltered too. Nice piece of change.) Who gave Rezko a hidden loan that landed Rezko in jail before his trial? Nadhmi Auchi. Tribune:

Nadhmi Auchi, who heads General Mediterranean Holding SA, or GMH, bought about 15 Wisconsin pizzerias from Rezko, court records show, and took a stake in Rezko's most ambitious real estate venture—his effort to develop a 62-acre site at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street.

Rezko's lawyers said the $3.5 million was a loan primarily provided to pay legal fees and family expenses. It was to be repaid in a debt restructuring involving the 62-acre development, the defense said.

From the Times of London story:

An aide to Mr Obama said he did attend an event at the Four Seasons at which Mr Rezko was present but does not remember meeting Mr Auchi. "He shook a lot of hands and met a lot of people," the aide said. "We do not remember individual people."

Prosecutors say that, after Mr Auchi was unable to enter the United States in 2005, Mr Rezko approached the US State Department to get him a visa and apparently asked "certain Illinois government officials to do the same." Mr Obama denies he was approached. Mr Auchi's lawyer has emphasised to The Times that it would be entirely false to imply that money had been lent by GMH to Mr Rezko in return for Mr Rezko seeking to assist Mr Auchi to obtain a visa. The two men's relationship, the lawyer stressed, was a business one.

Where does Barack Obama fit in? How come he was so important to Rezko and Auchi? Auchi would still like a visa to come here--though he somehow managed it in 2004. Sun Times:

Auchi was listed on the last Forbes magazine list as the 279th richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $3.1 billion. He owns a portion of a 62-acre tract just south of downtown Chicago in which Rezko also is a shareholder.

Auchi, who visited Chicago in 2004 and posed for a photograph with Blagojevich, was barred from entering the country in 2005, federal prosecutors say.

None of this may be illegal, but all of this makes me uneasy.

I would imagine Hill and Bill's as yet unreleased tax returns show some income that would make Americans uneasy as well.

But what does this say about Obama's judgment--his counter to his obvious lack of experience?

Maybe he'll just take the Al Gore line--no controlling legal authority. But then he was a professor of constitutional law. He should know...better. And he wants to be President--the commander in chief.

Do we trust Barack Obama to do what's right?

For a cause greater than himself?

UPDATE: Robert Novak, "Obama's Former Friend":

But the case against Rezko prepared by the always determined U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald poses possible new pitfalls for the Democratic front-runner by introducing into the proceedings Auchi, who has been convicted on corruption charges in France and given a suspended sentence. While his friends describe Auchi and his family as victims of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, Pentagon sources call him a "bagman" who laundered money in London for the Iraqi dictator.

Attracting attention now. Howard Kurtz, WaPo:

During a campaign stop in Ohio last week, ABC's Jake Tapper asked Barack Obama about what he called "an attempt by conservatives and Republicans to paint you as unpatriotic."

Tapper's litany: "That you didn't put your hand over your heart during the national anthem, that you no longer wear an American flag on your lapel pin, that you met with some former members of the Weather Underground, and now they are questioning your wife's comments when she said she hasn't been proud of the U.S. until just recently."

Obama dismissed the criticism as "nonsense." But did the exchange mark the end of a long period in which the media have gone easy on the man who could all but clinch the Democratic nomination in tomorrow's primaries?

Nonsense? We'll see. These things resonate with the American people. And Kurtz mentions Obama voted present in Illinois over 130 times. Present=AWOL. No doubt the MSM has given Obama the benefit of the doubt. Could be that star treatment is over. Obama has not been vetted by the liberal-leaning MSM to date--because he is a liberal. The most liberal Democrat candidate to run for president since George McGovern.

UPDATE: Financial Times, "Obama could feel heat from Rezko trial" (I didn't realize it was quite this bad):

Given Chicago’s enduring reputation as America’s unofficial capital of political sleaze, a corruption trial in the city does not normally attract the attention of the rest of the country.

More than 1,000 local and state governmental officials and business people have been convicted on corruption charges in the city since the 1970s.

And this:

While there is no suggestion the deal was illegal or that Mr Rezko received any payback, Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, an non-partisan group, says Mr Obama has changed his account several times. “Rezko has apparently gone from somebody he hardly knew to someone he toured the house with before he bought it.”

Quite the post-political guy, our Barack. A real stranger to the truth. The FT also mentions Lester Crown, Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, and our man Alexi "Granny-Grifter" Giannoulious and Alexi's buddy "Jaws" Giorengo. Just a little local color. Maybe someone's been reading the blog.

ABC. Newsweek. Times of London. Chicago Tribune.

UPDATE: Sun Times, Rezko's Day in Court, some things to know:

2. Hottest trial in town: If you want a seat, come early.

It's the highest-profile case since last year's Conrad Black trial, which could mean seats will be scarce in U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve's 12th floor courtroom, at least during the opening days. "We did plan for an overflow and will have an overflow room available," U.S. District Clerk of Court Michael Dobbins said. The extra spectators will go to room 1719 in the federal courthouse, which will have an audio and video feed of the trial.

UPDATE: Clinton campaign calls for Obama to release all correspondence with Rezko.

UPDATE: John Batchelor, Human Events on the handshake between Auchi and Obama at the Four Seasons in 2004:

The most an unnamed aide for Mr. Obama who was present that evening has told the Times about the handshake was, "We do not remember individual people," which is possible but is not a sound response when the question concerns a billionaire investor in the room with the governor of the state and the hot new U.S. Senate contender.

Why was Mr. Auchi in the luxury room? [snip] And yet the handshake by Mr. Obama, a vivid opponent of the Iraq war, did more than look away from the fact that Mr. Auchi had a Baathist party past in Iraq that was associated with Saddam Hussein and a present that was associated with felony in France and unusual schemes in free Iraq. Mr. Obama's handshake also meant that the candidate was willing to entangle himself in the strange connection between Mr. Auchi and Mr. Obama's long time supporter and fund-raiser Mr. Rezko.

Related posts: Hardball Obama II, All (about ME) Obama, Oliver Stone Hearts, Obama's "Foreign Policy" Advisers, Who Gets the Girl?, Mocking Barack Obama, McCain Hopes Castro Meets Marx, Clout List: Rezko Realtor on Obama Sale, The Obamas Get a Look, Obama Buyer's Remorse, Obama Toured with Rezko, Rezko on the Radar for Obama, sOap, Obama Responds on Che Flag

Save A Life, Letter to Lisa Madigan's Office

We need answers Jan Schakowsky. We need an investigation, Illinois AG Lisa Madigan. From Lee Cary:

Robyn Ziegler

Press Secretary, Office of Lisa Madigan

Attorney General, State of Illinois

Robyn,

As you requested, here’s the first installment of information we’ve surfaced in our examination of the now-defunct Save A Life Foundation (SALF). The primary link in the posting below on the American Thinker (AT) website is to a spreadsheet (attached separately for your convenience) that the AG’s staff can use to navigate through the relevant FOIAs assembled in tracking government grant monies the foundation received from 1993-2009, with the exception of the early years when amounts were small and the granting agencies nowhere indicated.

The discrepancy noted, between what the granting agencies report as having given SALF versus what SALF’s Form 990s reported to the IL AG as having received, is based on the assumption that the grant totals supplied by the state and federal agencies involved are accurate.

Please consider this the first installment in that more information – not pertaining to grant numbers but relevant to your inquiry – will follow as soon as it can be presented in an orderly fashion for the AG’s consideration.

As I promised several weeks ago, in the AT article I’ve indicated that the $25K given to SALF by the IL AG’s office did not happen under the current AG’s administration.

I trust the AG’s office will find this information of benefit in the pursuit of thorough and accurate data concerning the Save A Life Foundation.

Lee Cary

Return to the Article

July 26, 2010

The Save A Life Foundation Story: Featuring $850K in Unreported Government Grants

By Lee Cary

This is about what happens when governments, both state and federal, pump money into a politically connected enterprise with little accountability on both ends. If you're an Illinois taxpayer, be advised: Reading this may raise your blood pressure.

On June 9, 2010, the American Thinker reviewed how the now-defunct Chicago suburb-based Save A Life Foundation (SALF) was founded under false pretenses, promoted by Chicago and national news outlets, and supported by some big politicians -- mostly from Illinois. AT also noted how SALF, with bipartisan political backing, tapped into several money rivers flowing from state and federal agencies.

Turns out, on further investigation, that not only were the rivers that flowed money into SALF deep, but they are also elusive to track. Here's that part of the SALF story -- the follow the money part.

If you add up SALF's required annual accounting to the Illinois Attorney General (AG)'s Charitable Trust Bureau throughout its lifetime (1993-2009) for government grant monies it received, the total is $7,856,869. Grant monies SALF got from private entities pale in significance and are reported under another headine.

But when you ask the four Illinois State granting agencies -- including $25,000 from the Attorney General's office during a previous administration, the state agency tasked to monitor Illinois charities -- and one federal agency, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC/HHS), how much they gave to SALF and add up the numbers, the total is $8,710,578.

In the old math, that was a discrepancy of $853,709, or about a 10% reporting error. That's if it is a reporting error, and not evidence of something more...well, more nefarious. But then, the corruption of public monies in Illinois is practically unheard of -- as rare as, say, road repairs on I-294 between Chicago and Indiana.

Want more details? Download this Excel spreadsheet and find these: the annual incomes SALF reported on its AG Form 990s and corresponding IRS Form 990s (except for the last two reporting periods when no IRS 990 was submitted to the AG, as is required); a list of the granting agencies, along with the e-mail addresses, of officials who responded to queries about grants to SALF from their agencies; links to documents (the longest is 472 pages) provided by those agencies in response to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests; and links to e-mail exchanges with agency officials who confirmed the total grant amounts their agency gave SALF. Enjoy.

Here's what you'll discover. Documentation of how SALF spent the grant money they received ranges from slim to none. Where it does exist, reporting narratives are replete with vagaries and unsubstantiated claims made by SALF. My wife retains better records from our honeymoon, which happened over four decades ago.

The Form 990s submitted to the AG by SALF contain significant internal inconsistencies. For example, here are two pages from their 2001 submission to the AG's office. Did the $870,000 grant received in fiscal year 2001 come from the IL Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA), as listed on one document, or from the federal CDC/HHS, as listed on another? Maybe it depends on whether you're reporting the numbers to the IL AG or to the IRS. And does anybody at the IL AG's Charitable Trust Bureau even read the documents that charities submit each year? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Nowadays, the memory among SALF's former political supporters in Illinois is as sketchy as the granting agencies accounting of how SALF spend their money. When the critical light began to shine on SALF, the pols ran for the shadows. For example, just phone the offices of IL Democrat U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, IL Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate), and Democrat State Senator Donne Trotter, long a supporter of SALF in the Illinois Senate, and ask their staffs about their bosses' support of SALF. What little you'll be told, if anything, will fit on that tiny strip of paper inside a fortune cookie.

Is it any wonder that the State of Illinois is in financial trouble?

Follow the Money

In case you missed it, the Sun Times had an excellent editorial the other day, digging into the inexplicable contributions in the 17th Ward Democratic Organization:

As Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association, says, the first rule of investigative journalism is "to follow the money," and that's exactly what his organization did, sniffing out political contributions sent to the 17th Ward Democratic Organization by public housing contractors. The contributions would have made sense if the 17th Ward was home to Chicago Housing Association developments, but there is no CHA building anywhere in the ward.

What was the connection then? The only link appears to be Terry Peterson, the former alderman of the 17th Ward who is now head of the CHA. Hmmmm. Why would contractors -- some from out of state, want to send cash to the 17th Ward, now represented by Peterson's former chief of staff, Latasha Thomas? Although the ward took in fewer total contributions last year than it did in 2004, a greater percentage came from CHA contractors -- 61 percent vs. 37 percent in 2004. And almost two-thirds of the contributions from CHA contractors went to the 17th Ward, with the $27,595 left over sent to other wards. "Does it raise a red flag?" asks Stewart. "Does it concern us? Absolutely . . . I can't think of a logical reason why CHA contractors are so interested in a region where none of those CHA facilities are located." Neither can we. And no one is answering the questions posed either by Stewart or our reporter Eric Herman.

The revelations by the BGA add to the concern about general City Hall corruption and the way aldermen operate within their wards. Aldermen protest they do not want the city's inspector general looking into their business, and they want federal monitor Nicole Brennan out of their way. But it's obvious they really do need someone to keep an eye on them.

This brought to mind other connections in the realm of housing on the taxpayer's dime, between Governor Blagojevich and one of his major campaign fundraisers and contributors, "Tony" Rezko, a developer, who at one time listed a Wilmette address. (Rezko's protege Kelly King Dibble just happens to be head of (IHDA), the Illinois Housing Development Authority). The State Journal Register:

Meanwhile, KELLY KING DIBBLE, who has been named executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority since Blagojevich became governor,was vice president for business development at Rezmar Inc. before joining IHDA.

Crain's Chicago Business reported last year that, before Dibble's appointment, Rezmar pulled out as general partner from at least eight IHDA housing developments. Dibble told the publication she had played no role at Rezmar in the IHDA dealings.

IHDA, under the "Affordable" Housing Act, is extending its reach into the suburbs, with lucrative opportunities for developers for up-front fees, etc.

With north suburban real estate being so pricey, any "affordable" housing development would require taxpayer subsidies... a misuse of scarce public resources to benefit only a few. See previous post, Profitable Non-Profits. This post features Richard Koenig, of the Wilmette-based Housing Opportunity Development Corp., a member of the Metropolitan Planning Council's Housing Committee. And then there is BPI, with its roots in Evanston and deep ties to local Democrats, including Rep. Julie Hamos, one of the chief proponents of the housing legislation targeting suburbs in her district, which she pushed through with no hearings in the district she claims to represent. Members of BPI's board have been heavy contributors to her campaigns.

In Chicago, developers have sought major subsidies. Rezko had an major application pending for a TIF last year, when some of his other activities came under investigation, so the Metropolitan Planning Council backed away from its support. In Crain's:

A real estate developer whose dealings are under investigation by City Hall is a leading member of an investment group that is asking the city for what would be the largest property-tax subsidy ever for a Chicago development.

Seeking as much as $140 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) is a partnership headed by Antoin S. "Tony" Rezko, whom the city recently accused of benefiting from a phony minority front for two Panda Express restaurants at O'Hare International Airport. The money would cover infrastructure costs for Riverside Park, a massive $1.7-billion mixed-use project the partnership plans to build along Roosevelt Road in the South Loop. Yet the recent news about Mr. Rezko's O'Hare restaurants — breaking just days before the city received the TIF request — was less than optimal timing.

"I suspect that anyone who is having current business dealings questioned by the city is going to have future business dealings questioned by the city," says Peter Skosey, vice-president for external relations of the Chicago-based regional advisory group Metropolitan Planning Council.

According to the Washington Post, via Archpundit, the governor's wife Patti, a realtor, had also worked with Rezko.

In a recent editorial, the Chicago Tribune lauds the "40-year fight for fairness" undertaken by fair-housing groups, and cites The Metropolitan Planning Council and BPI as carrying on the fight. An astute letter to the editor takes issue with the Tribune:

For these groups, "fairness" is not the traditional idea of ensuring equal opportunity by removing explicit racism and discrimination, but equal outcomes and socialism. For these groups, the fact that there are no formal or informal barriers to integrating neighborhoods is not enough; there must be forced and/or subsidized economic or racial integration. This is a far cry from the "equality" that many of us have fought for over the years, and one which, fortunately, most Americans do not support. These organizations do not deserve the Tribune's endorsement either.

No one would argue with the necessity at the time to actively promote non-discrimination in housing, which is now the law of the land and has been achieved in practice. But any fair observer now can only conclude that those who pay lip-service to "fair housing" benefit from a political spoils system that rewards developers and their political sponsors.....

An invitation to corruption on our dime.

Choking on Mendacity. Barack Obama's Way

ShoreBank and the Chicago Way. Turnip Trucking: Have We Learned Nothing from the Financial Crises? John Powers, Chicago Daily Observer. One snapshot:

Howard Stanback, presently on the Board of Directors for the Shorebank Neighborhood Institute. He has also previously served as President of the Hyde Park Community Association and is a former Board Chairman of the Woods Fund. Before joining Shorebank he was employed by the New Kenwood LLC, a real estate development co-owned by Allison Davis (Barack Obama’s former boss at the Davis, Miner, Barnhill Law Firm) and Tony Rezko. He and Barack Obama previously served together on the board of the Woods Fund.

Read on, full turnip truck.

Wall Street "Reform" Just More Crony Capitalism - Rep. Paul Ryan, RCP

...And let's not forget what the Woods Fund did:

Could it be because together, through Annenberg, the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation, Barack Obama and Bill Ayers funded Bill Ayers' extremist projects to the tune of two million and that school grants not only went to ACORN but for hate-filled, anti-American political purposes rather than educational ones? Chicago schools still rank among the worst in the country. Obama's ACORN and other allies are out stealing votes. Bill Ayers is a respected Chicago citizen. How very amusing.

More. Heritage Morning Bell: Dodd Bill is Just the Beginning of ‘Too Big to Fail’:

Specifically, Cantwell wants to criminalize violations of the bill’s extremely complex new derivatives provisions, and Feingold is demanding the resurrection of Depression Era prohibitions on banking diversification. Not only has our federal government already criminalized the violation of far too many arcane regulations, but the derivatives provisions already in the bill are sure to drive investment, jobs and revenues out of our domestic markets and into foreign ones. And Feingold’s claims that restoration of the Glass-Steagall would prevent “too big to fail” bear no relation to reality. None of the major entities at the core of the 2008 financial crisis would have been affected by Glass-Steagall because none of them are commercial banks. Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all dug their financial crisis graves by making terrible decisions that would have been perfectly legal under a Glass-Steagall regime.

Speaking of Fannie and Freddie, there is still nothing in this bill that addresses the perverse incentives and moral hazard that is created when the federal government sticks its nose into the housing market. Last year, the two financed or backed about 70% of single-family mortgage loans. They hold about $5 trillion in their investment portfolios. Both are losing money fast, with those losses being covered by the U.S. taxpayer. Last month, Freddie announced it had lost $8 billion in the first quarter of 2010 and would be asking for another $10.6 billion in taxpayer help. Not to be outdone, Fannie announced an $11.5 billion loss and asked for another $8.4 billion from taxpayers. That’s atop the nearly $145 billion of your dollars that Fannie and Freddie have already received. Fannie and Freddie alone prove this bill does nothing to end “too big to fail.” Fannie and Freddie should be partly wound down, the rest broken up and sold off — not replaced, reformed, or rejuvenated. The Dodd bill does none of that.

Read on. There's more bad stuff in this bill, especially pernicious for small business.

God save us from The One and his cronies.

Related: Biggert has questions on ShoreBank, Crony Capitalism Shores Up ShoreBank, Will (Obama) Bail out ShoreBank?, Obama's Chicago Way Avenues to Power, Rep. Luis Gutierrez is a Crook, The ShoreBank, Serious Windows Story, Schakowsky for ShoreBank Bailout, Schakowsky's Obscene Spouse Creamer,, The House that Hate Built, Civics Chicago Style, Business as Usual Obama, Obama, Dancing with Tony, Obama Lies on Rezko. Obama Haunted by Sleaze, Obama's Dogpatch Democrats.Follow the Money Hits O?, Follow the Money

Follow the Money Hits O?

Wow, is this under the radar. An Illinois connection to the Richardson scandal. The American Spectator Blog:

One reason the Obama transition team pushed New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson overboard was concern that other close associates of Obama might be drawn into the burgeoning "pay for play" scandal that is now enveloping not only Richardson, but also the administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, as well as other prominent Democrats.

"The biggest concern is [Valerie] Jarrett and anyone associated with the public housing industry in Chicago," says an Obama transition team adviser. "Some of Obama's earliest and most influential fundraisers came from the low-income housing industry."

In fact, according to federal law enforcement sources, the company at the center of the "pay for play" scandal, CDR Financial, was about to announce the opening of a new office in Illinois. "They were expecting to make some money there, just how and how much isn't clear yet, but it's something that is being looked at."

Web pages on the CDR website that announced contact information for the Illinois office mysteriously were taken down about a week ago, about the time that Richardson announced he was withdrawing from consideration for Commerce Secretary.

And because of Obama's ties to the housing industry in Illinois, there is growing concern that the CDR story is not something that will go away any time soon, and it threatens to touch some of Obama's closest advisers.

It's not just Rezko, either. Read on. For a refresher, an early housing post, Follow the Money and early mention of Obama's old boss, Alison Davis. Oh, and Dinner with Barack.

UPDATE: Here's the story on Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Win-Win School Choice

Clarence Page, Tribune, via RCP, on school choice, inspired by a movie about a pilot school:

The earnest parents in this movie, mostly moms and grandparents, fighting hard to get their kids a better chance at life, illustrate why polls show growing support for private school vouchers among African-American parents, as long as they do not take money from the public schools.

But most private schools spend less per pupil than public schools, so the difference could be viewed as a savings to the public school system.

But whose money is it anyway? For whose education? The beauty of having education dollars follow the student is that the money will most likely be spent wisely, by parents who care the most about their child's education. Accountability will follow, as public schools compete with private for students. And it might settle some spats between public schools competing for resources---they have to convince students to gift them with their education choice. Special needs children are a special case, and will need more help. But special interest groups would be sidelined, as the most equitable distribution of dollars would be to each child directly.

And Page cites housing vouchers as a successful experiment in Chicago, helping school achievement as well---a win-win.

UPDATE: Sun Times has an editorial on Chicago schools needing improvement, but suggests money is the answer. Of course the grasping teachers' unions and their Dem allies are big supporters of this---after all, in their minds the education system runs for them, they come first, the children are just an afterthought. Supporters of more money talk about ending the achievement gap and inequities. But without real reform and innovation that put kids first, the money will most likely go first into bigger offices or heftier salaries for administrators and their pals. What monopoly is ever responsive to those who are forced to use its product? And there will always be inequities in some people's minds. What better way to defuse this than to give each child a voucher?

Across the country, homeschooling is increasing by 10% a year, by religious and non-religious parents alike, who are searching for excellence for their children.

Why can't education consumers have more choice in their schools? Must we be stuck with an archaic one-size fits all model?

Taxing Water and a Cool $3 Trillion

Tribune parrots the Left's talking points on global warming in a front page story today. Question for Tribune--do you want more costly and less reliable fuel? In the cold of winter, in the heat of summer? Let's talk about this cap and trade idea and other do-gooder alarmism. Hugh Hewitt already has:

HH: Now Stephen Hayward, you know this subject up and down. What do you make of John McCain’s assertion that global warming is leading to violent weather patterns which are on the increase?

SH: Well, you know, I suppose it’s too much to expect that a politician actually keeps up with the day to day science on this. And this is something I tell people all the time, is that the media reports all the scary stuff, and they never report the anti-scary stuff. And when I say anti-scary, there’s a steady stream of scientific research that appears almost daily that calls into question all these familiar assertions. So for example, there’s an article out two days ago in the Geophysical Research Letters, one of the premier journals of this subject. The title of the article is called Global Warming and the United States Landfalling Hurricanes. And what is says is, look, hurricanes striking the United States have actually been going down. And the reason they’ve been going down is that oddly enough, global warming, which I say is happening, although I think it’s less severe than McCain says, increases wind shear. Now you’ve got to follow the bouncing ball here. Wind shear actually diminishes hurricane activity and tears them apart. That’s why, by the way, we have fewer hurricanes in years we have high El Nino conditions out in the Pacific. So I mean, McCain just simply doesn’t know what the facts are, and by the way, this isn’t the only study that said that. Even the UN body, the Inter-governmental Panel On Climate Change, the IPCC, says the same thing in their 3,000 page report, if any reporter would ever trouble to read the whole thing.

[snip]

Now by the way, one estimate by a couple of very good economists at Princeton suggest that staying even, meaning holding our greenhouse gas emissions where they are now, with our growing economy and population, would cost at least $3 trillion, trillion with a T dollars, over the next twenty years.

And while we're at it, Suitably Flip is suitably flip on the hurricane business. Sorry, the science isn't settled. Newsbusters covers a New York Times New Year's story:

Today's interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year's end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record - it was actually lower than any year since 2001 - the BBC confidently proclaimed, "2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend."

There's more.

Of course this eco-zealotry of the Left is seized on by the pols--usually Dems, as the latest excuse to raise taxes. In Chicago this has taken the form of a tax on bottled water, which even some liberals view as arbitrary, shopping at our local Jewel across the border. Heartland Institute:

On January 4 the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court to overturn the tax. Other plaintiffs in the suit include the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois Food Retailers Association, and American Beverage Association.

"When you look at Chicago, with the taxes and regulations and bureaucracy that people have to put up with, and you hear complaints that there aren't enough grocery stores, this tax is another reason people don't open groceries in the city," said Tim Bramlet, executive director of the Illinois Beverage Association.

"Store owners can go to the suburbs and don't have to put up with this," Bramlet said. "It's another burden to collect and pay the tax, not to mention it will discourage sales of bottled water in the city. And that will probably reduce sales of other items that people buy with water. Anyone who lives near the boundary of the city can easily go outside the city and save money."

The American Spectator, The Tax Foundation. Of course this will hurt small business, and also make it more difficult for poorer people to buy reasonably priced groceries in their neighborhoods. But well-heeled liberals can feel good about this, even as they drive to the suburbs to evade the tax.

It's no wonder people are leaving the state. Or failing that, let's join in a rousing chorus with Minnesotans for Global Warming.

UPDATE: A reader emails that Charlie Sykes has been covering this same kind of idiocy next door in Wisconsin:

Is Madison suffering from a smugness deficit? Have the smoking bans lost their rush of moral superiority? Has the railing against phosphorus lost its panache? Is it no longer enough to sport bumper stickers that proclaim: “My Other Car is a Tibetan Yak?”

Or has Madison simply decided to move beyond satire?

The latest Madison idea: banning bottled water, or at least its sale at public events. To save the planet, no less.

Meanwhile, in Britain they're turning out the lights.

UPDATE: Thank God NYC Mayor Bloomberg isn't running. NY Sun: "Mayor compares threat of global warming to terrorism." Really? He's addressing a climate change conference at the UN :

Other participants in the conference called for a "war" against climate change, in which the United Nations would serve as a front-line combatant.

Good luck with that. Maybe in the style of Waterkeeper Warrior Bobby Kennedy Jr. More hilarity:

"Terrorists kill people. Weapons of mass destruction have the potential to kill an enormous amount of people," Mr. Bloomberg told reporters after addressing the U.N. General Assembly, but "global warming in the long term has the potential to kill everybody."

Channeling that seer Joycelyn Elders. To paraphrase the Clintons' esteemed Surgeon General from Arkansas...

"In the long run, we'll all probably die of something anyway".

P.S. Maybe he's angling for a foreign policy job with Obama:

Like smoking, Mr. Bloomberg said, these are preventable killers. "We should go after terrorists every place in this world, find them and kill them, plain and simple," he said.

Who knew?

Terror Tempo Increases in Chicago, USA

It was just a few weeks ago we had the Pepto-Bismol taped to the cellphone incident out of O'Hare. Nothing to see here? Just the other day a casual mention of WMD near The Friendly Confines of the Cubs, with another "amateur" arrested. One of the Mumbai terror cell operated out of the Windy City. From FBI Director Robert Mueller's Senate testimony yesterday:

U.S. citizen David Headley was arrested in October 2009 in Chicago for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and two of its employees. During the course of this investigation, the FBI collected intelligence that uncovered Headley’s operational role in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, and connected him to a separate plot to kill an individual in Denmark. On January 14, 2010, a superseding indictment was filed against Headley relating to his conspiring with others to plan and execute attacks in both Denmark and India, and in March 2010, he pled guilty on all counts.

Chicago is on the terror radar, isn't it?

Significant Developments in Terror Threats Since 9/11, Officials Say. ABC The Blotter.

Risk of small-scale attacks by al-Qaeda and its allies is rising, officials say. WaPo.

The Muslim Brotherhood in America (video) Creeping Sharia

Shariah: The Threat to America Center for Security Policy

And then there was the sharia supremacist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir's recruiting conference in the Chicago suburbs in 2009 and the eventually successful meeting in 2010 (at the Hilton) with no media scrutiny. Multiculti concepts in terror. The Holy Land Foundation operated out of the Chicago suburbs, convicted of funneling money to terrorists, and its unindicted co-conspirator the Islamic Society of North America meets in Chicago on July 4th every year, inviting luminaries such as Bill Ayers' domestic terrorist spouse Bernardine Dohrn and the president of Iran. Fatima Mohammadi made an appearance. This year the Obama administration allowed Tariq Ramadan back in the country, a man who believes there should only be a moratorium on the stoning of women. He headlined their conference and then moved on around the country. One brave woman took him on.

Something more to read.

The Nexus between Barack Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States, written by my friend Eric Voogd. Read it all. But note this:

At the end of September 2010, Chicago will become a destination point for the international community’s top Islamic representation which includes the entire top leadership of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) together with the top leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. HYPERLINK “http://www.oicun.org/9/20100727101615770.html” http://www.oicun.org/9/20100727101615770.html In a post 11 September 2001 world, the red flag warning should be most clear that the Muslim Brotherhood is a high level national security concern for both Israel and the United States. The leadership of the OIC, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood are meeting at the American Islamic College in Chicago on the 28 to 30th of September 2010.

You decide. [CAIR has also been cited as an undicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land case--but the Obama Justice Dept. has refused to prosecute, see video above. Now they are co-hosting a conference with the Obama administration.]

In other news: Maine: Muslim teen sets off chemical bomb near mosque -- nothing to see here

Mob Attacks Turkish Art Gallery Crowds For Public Drinking - Yahoo ...

P.S. But can we absorb Obama?

Related post: Stimulus $$$ for Sharia?:

Coming August 31: ‘Direct Access’ Stimulus Grants for the Muslim Brotherhood. Big Peace:

The event was announced in an email newsletter sent August 27 by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial, long associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the global Islamist network (great backgrounder here from Hudson Institute). Here are three key paragraphs from the email (the entire article on the August 31 event from the ISNA email is pasted below this post as reference):

More Obama/Dem connections here.

P.P.S.

Release the Obama Khalidi Tape, Trib

Gee, Chicago Tribune, last I checked the Tribune owned the LA Times. So what's this hot tape from a Chicago dinner with Barack Obama, Bill Ayers and former PLO terrorist spokesman Rashid Khalidi doing out in LA, hmm?

And in case you missed this: Ground Zero Mosque’s Hidden Websites: Follow the Shariah

... (connect the dots)

Given Woodward's disclosures, Axelrose's question was well-founded.

A classified exercise in May showed that the government was woefully unprepared to deal with a nuclear terrorist attack in the United States. The scenario involved the detonation of a small, crude nuclear weapon in Indianapolis and the simultaneous threat of a second blast in Los Angeles.

Obama noted that if only Indianapolis had been targeted, "since it's a Red State, I'm not sure anyone notices."

Okay. I made that part up.

More. Got an email:

that backpack bombing attempt outside a nightclub on Clark Street in Wrigleyville this past weekend....this reminds of Israel....in June 2001, a bomber exploded himself and murdered 21 people while injuring 120 in Tel Aviv outside a disco club

TAS: The Sharia-Compliant American Left:

Robinson finds it absurd that Gingrich would say, "How we don't have some kind of movement in this country on the left that understands that sharia is a direct mortal threat to virtually every value that the left has is really one of the most interesting historical questions." But Gingrich is hardly the first person to make this point. Liberals such as the late Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci and Salman Rushdie complained about the obtuseness of progressive Islamophiles long before Gingrich talked about it. When Tony Blair wowed progressives in 2005 by naming Sir Iqbal Sacranie as the face of moderate Islam in the U.K, Rushdie had to remind his peers that Sacranie approved of the fatwa on his head (saying "death is perhaps too easy" for Rushdie) and had boycotted a Holocaust remembrance.

ABC7Chicago: Judge orders accused Chicago bomb plotter held

Tribune: No bond for man accused in Wrigleyville bomb plot. Sami Samir Hassoun's lawyer calls him "a troubled young man who was scattered in his thoughts.":

Hassoun was born in Lebanon and raised in Ivory Coast, where his parents owned a store and the family enjoyed a privileged lifestyle that changed abruptly following a military coup in the late 1990s, Auerbach said. The family then moved to Beirut "in the time of Hezbollah and bombs" and lived there until moving to the U.S. about two years ago, Auerbach said.

"He saw death and mayhem and destruction as a very young child," said Auerbach, who met Hassoun for the first time a few hours before the detention hearing. "Sometimes people who have lived through that kind of trauma, they embellish."

Kirk, Schock Intro Bill to Block Gitmo North Funds

Here's the statement. And it's a good thing:)

Kirk and Schock Introduce Legislation to Block Transfer of Gitmo Detainees to United States

Measure intended to plan for orderly trials and incarceration at $400 million facility already paid for by the U.S. taxpayer

CHICAGO—Determined to plan for the orderly prosecution and incarceration of terrorist detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Peoria) unveiled legislation today that would block the expenditure of federal funds to move the suspected terrorists into the United States. The legislation also blocks the use of federal dollars for any future transfer of any new foreign detainees onto U.S. soil.

“After learning of Administration plans to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to Illinois, Congressman Schock, myself and the other members of the Illinois congressional delegation joined to protect Illinois from this action,” Senator Kirk said.

“Just last month after the Administration attempted to insert a last-minute provision into the Defense Authorization bill giving the Administration power to transfer terrorists to the heartland, we realized the fight to protect Illinois from hosting terrorists is not over.”

While Congressman Schock, Senator Kirk and other Illinois lawmakers successfully protected Illinois from the proposed transfer, Administration officials remain committed to bringing detainees into America.

“This isn’t the first time Senator Kirk and I have teamed up to ensure terrorist detainees are not transferred to Illinois or the United States,” Congressman Schock said. “The big issue for me is the total lack of transparency from the White House on their intentions regarding potential transfers of terrorists located in Guantanamo, or abroad, to the U.S. There seems to be a complete disregard for sharing this information with the American public or the safety of the communities they put at risk by housing these terrorists in our back yard.

“The United States has a multi millions dollar, state-of-the art facility, including court rooms, in Guantanamo Bay, and that should be where enemy combatants captured on the battlefield are held, tried and brought to justice.”

Senator Kirk and Congressman Schock said the Administration’s long-term goal raises the possibility that Thomson Prison in Illinois or another facility on the mainland could be viewed as a potential site to house the terrorist detainees. Plans for the State of Illinois to sell Thomson to the Federal Bureau of Prisons hit a snag last December when federal officials unexpectedly failed to submit a bid for the $219 million facility. But federal officials reportedly remain interested in buying the prison to house non-Gitmo U.S. federal prisoners.

Closing Guantanamo raises questions about whether the detainees ultimately would face trial for their alleged crimes in a civilian court or in front of a military tribunal. Congressman Schock and Senator Kirk both favor providing stability to the trial and detention of terrorists by holding military tribunals and incarceration at Gitmo.

“Since the federal government spent over $400 million to build courtrooms and a terrorist detention facility at the 45-square-mile Guantanamo Bay facility, we should use it and not waste money on a new facility during this time of fiscal austerity,” Senator Kirk said.

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Congress passed the Authorization to Use Military Force, which granted the President the authority to “use all necessary and appropriate force against those…(who) planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks” against the United States. Subsequently, non-uniformed combatants captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere were transferred to Guantanamo.

While approximately 800 combatants were transferred to Guantanamo for prosecution, a substantial majority of detainees were re-transferred or released. Unfortunately, many of those released resumed jihad against the United States or her allies. Defense Department officials classified the remaining 174 detainees into three categories: 1) detainees in preventative detention to prevent them from rejoining enemy forces; 2) detainees expected to face criminal charges; and 3) detainees cleared for release.

Both Senator Kirk and Congressman Schock favor justice for the detainees through military tribunals.

“We should follow the legal precedents of Presidents Lincoln and Roosevelt by bringing the detainees before military tribunals for final justice,” Senator Kirk said. “For the greatest mass murderer in U.S. history, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, I would hope the prosecution in his military tribunal would seek the death penalty.”

Previous post here.

Angelina 1, Obama 0

UPDATE: See below on Obama creating unease among Jewish voters.
***
OpEd by Angelina Jolie outlines the success and her support of the surge continuing for humanitarian reasons. Angelina 1, Obama 0. In full from the Washington Post 2/27, "Staying to Help in Iraq:

The request is familiar to American ears: "Bring them home."

But in Iraq, where I've just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country.

In the six months since my previous visit to Iraq with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this humanitarian crisis has not improved. However, during the last week, the United States, UNHCR and the Iraqi government have begun to work together in new and important ways.

We still don't know exactly how many Iraqis have fled their homes, where they've all gone, or how they're managing to survive. Here is what we do know: More than 2 million people are refugees inside their own country -- without homes, jobs and, to a terrible degree, without medicine, food or clean water. Ethnic cleansing and other acts of unspeakable violence have driven them into a vast and very dangerous no-man's land. Many of the survivors huddle in mosques, in abandoned buildings with no electricity, in tents or in one-room huts made of straw and mud. Fifty-eight percent of these internally displaced people are younger than 12 years old.

An additional 2.5 million Iraqis have sought refuge outside Iraq, mainly in Syria and Jordan. But those host countries have reached their limits. Overwhelmed by the refugees they already have, these countries have essentially closed their borders until the international community provides support.

I'm not a security expert, but it doesn't take one to see that Syria and Jordan are carrying an unsustainable burden. They have been excellent hosts, but we can't expect them to care for millions of poor Iraqis indefinitely and without assistance from the U.S. or others. One-sixth of Jordan's population today is Iraqi refugees. The large burden is already causing tension internally.

The Iraqi families I've met on my trips to the region are proud and resilient. They don't want anything from us other than the chance to return to their homes -- or, where those homes have been bombed to the ground or occupied by squatters, to build new ones and get back to their lives. One thing is certain: It will be quite a while before Iraq is ready to absorb more than 4 million refugees and displaced people. But it is not too early to start working on solutions. And last week, there were signs of progress.

In Baghdad, I spoke with Army Gen. David Petraeus about UNHCR's need for security information and protection for its staff as they re-enter Iraq, and I am pleased that he has offered that support. General Petraeus also told me he would support new efforts to address the humanitarian crisis "to the maximum extent possible" -- which leaves me hopeful that more progress can be made.

UNHCR is certainly committed to that. Last week while in Iraq, High Commissioner António Guterres pledged to increase UNHCR's presence there and to work closely with the Iraqi government, both in assessing the conditions required for return and in providing humanitarian relief.

During my trip I also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has announced the creation of a new committee to oversee issues related to internally displaced people, and a pledge of $40 million to support the effort.

My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.

Today's humanitarian crisis in Iraq -- and the potential consequences for our national security -- are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won't explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?

What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made. In fact, we should step up our financial and material assistance. UNHCR has appealed for $261 million this year to provide for refugees and internally displaced persons. That is not a small amount of money -- but it is less than the U.S. spends each day to fight the war in Iraq. I would like to call on each of the presidential candidates and congressional leaders to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy.

As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.

Angelina Jolie, an actor, is a UNHCR goodwill ambassador.

Story on her visit to Iraq last month.

UPDATE: Unease among Jewish voters about Obama. Frederic U. Dicker, NY Post:

Assemblyman Dov Hikind yesterday predicted that Jewish voters would make "a mass movement toward Sen. McCain" if Barack Obama knocks Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the race in tomorrow's critical Democratic primaries.

Hikind, an Orthodox Jew whose Borough Park district includes the largest Hasidic bloc in the United States, blasted Obama for what he called his half-hearted support of Israel and his ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who has repeatedly praised anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has endorsed Obama.

Hikind, a Democrat who has yet to endorse a candidate for president, said Obama had not satisfactorily distanced himself from Wright, his Chicago-based personal pastor, noting, "This is a man who thinks Farrakhan is a great guy and God's gift to the world."

Hikind went on, "Obama has said that you can be a supporter of Israel even if you're for giving up land to the Arabs, which is true - but for a guy running for president to take a position like this in advance of getting into office, combined with everything else going on in the Middle East, that scares the hell out of me.

UPDATE: And he may have a Catholic problem, a bellwether vote. The Politico:

In state after state, with only a few exceptions, exit polling shows Hillary Rodham Clinton is the choice of Catholic voters. Clinton even defeated Obama among Catholics in his home state of Illinois. It seems the more Catholic the state, the more likely she is to have won it.

Related posts: Obama In Over His Head, Obama: Follow the Money

Give Choice a Chance

The Tribune has a story on the efforts of a Chicago school to give high school dropouts a second chance. The article notes this:

In Illinois, an estimated 210,000 young people ages 16 to 24 are not in school and do not have a high school diploma, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data. In Chicago, almost half the students who begin high school never finish.

Most of them are boys. You have to read almost to the end of the story to find out that the school is part of a charter school--the Youth Connection Charter School.

Yet Illinois law caps the number of charter schools. Why? And why isn't this successful model replicated in the public schools? You know the answer as well as I--the teachers' unions block real reforms and keep mediocre teachers on the payroll. Former Reagan-era Secretary of Education Bill Bennett was in town this Sunday and made some remarks on the subject of education in Chicago, which hasn't changed much in 25 plus years. At the time, Bennett said that Chicago schools were the worst in America. When he visited the city, school officials were upset and said they had many good schools. Bennett asked to see one. They said, let us get back to you. They finally came up with LaSalle Language Academy in Lincoln Park. Bennett recalled the principal had the philosophy that parents were allies---"not all teachers are parents, but all parents are teachers", and the district let her choose her own teachers and pay them on merit. Bennett asked the head of the school board, why not try this throughout the system? The response was that about one-third of the teachers no principal would want, and if parents had the choice, some schools would be empty. In fact, at the time, some schools at times were empty--they had a 100% dropout rate.

According to Bennett, surveys of public school teachers in Chicago show they are twice as likely as the general public to send their kids to private schools. They know.

Americans embrace choice in every other realm. Why should we stand for a one-size-fits-all approach to the education of our children? Why should poor parents suffer their kids being locked in failing schools?

Carol Marin, in a conversation with the Rev. Meeks, sounded off recently:

Anybody who thinks Illinois' public school children don't live in a segregated land of economic educational disparity, has not been to North Lawndale and compared its classrooms with New Trier's.

Anybody who thinks that is a useful comparison is deluding themselves.

Liberals always think it's always about the money. For them and the teachers' union it is. For the kids it should be about education. There is no correlation between dollars and educational excellence. But for the sake of argument, let's accept the liberal premise-- what better way to ensure a fair distribution of resources than to have the education dollars follow the child? Special needs children should receive more as their needs are greater. Let's empower parents and let them vote for excellence with their feet. Let's have a child-centered approach to school funding.

Yesterday's change in Federal rules to allow single sex schools by the Bush administration's Dept. of Education encourages desperately needed flexibility and innovation to address underperformance and ease the gender gap in learning. According to the story in the NY Times, the bullies at the ACLU are considering flexing their reflexively liberal muscles on this issue. But underperformance, especially among some minorities, and especially among boys is undeniable. Boys learn differently and our public schools are failing them. You might say it's a matter of civil rights, ACLU.

The gender gap has been documented, (more commentary here), in urban and suburban schools. And single sex schools might help both girls and boys in recovering from the wrong-headed fuzzy math curriculum. Here's Tom Carroll of the Brighter Choice Charter Schools, in the NY Times story:

He said his schools’ research showed boys were stronger in math and girls were stronger in literacy. But in recently released test scores, he said, his schools did better than any other public schools in Albany. “Paradoxically, by educating them separately,” he said, “we were able to do much to reverse the gender gaps that typically leave girls behind in math and boys behind in literacy.”

All we are saying, is give choice a chance.

UPDATE: Voter Guide of the Center for Education Reform. Also Alliance for School Choice, another active group and resource.

The People's Business

John Kass invites your ideas on a job for Blago, post-impeachment. He has some of his own. After hearing the tapes yesterday, who can deny the governor was a hard-working guy? Yup, the governor was eager to do business...

Absorbed from the tapes, though, the tale plays out more clearly: On Nov. 13, Rob Blagojevich assures the governor that he's spoken with Monk—and that Johnston is "good for" a contribution. "Right—before the end of the year, though, right?" the governor asks, adding later, "OK, so . . . but clearly before the end of the year, right?"

On Dec. 3, Monk tells the governor he's warned Johnston that "there's gonna be some skittishness" if Johnston's contribution coincides too closely with the governor's signing of the horse racing bill. Monk recounts telling Johnston, "My point is this has all gotta be in now."

...just not the people's business. Carol Marin-- national media failed to follow the money. At root, it's not the money, it's the sense of entitlement by too many politicians in this state--and their lack of accountability and transparency. It's gotten worse, as we are virtually a one-party state now, and nearly bankrupt to boot. Why sh0uld they worry, they keep getting voted in again and again. Had enough Illinois?

UPDATE: RCP has a Blago impeachment guide. Also Dennis Byrne on the coming tax increase.

More. The MSM lets us down again. Name that party, and note it's The One ('s) party. Powerline:

The AP reports that Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is resigning from his powerful position under an ethical cloud. Winding down to paragraph 17, the careful reader can infer DiMasi's party:

The resignation of DiMasi has some in the state wondering if there's something about the power of the office, or the increasingly one-party nature of Massachusetts' politics, that makes the job of House speaker particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted wounds.

House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, who has seen the number of Republicans in the 160-member House dwindle to just 16, said the lack of political competition "creates a sense of being impervious."

Ya think? Emphasis mine.