State of our state ping.
I just slammed your toll road hikes on another thread. We avoided your state on the return trip, went through WI & MI on the way back, they got our commerce.
Ill stated state of the State?
My dad who happens to own a truck avoids the toll roads. It is too expensive for him to go on the tollway.
Pat O'Malley is the best available candidate. But the real question for we Illinois GOP-ers is:
Who else do have with the last name "Ryan" who is going to ultimately wind up on the ballot for the 2006 race?
The IL GOP, now led by Judy Barr Topinka, will look for a Corrine Wood-type Republican to push in the hopes of bleeding-off Dem votes. This doesn't bode well for the chances of a true conservative like Pat O'Malley, or a popular political veteran like Ray LaHood. But let's face it, the IL GOP is in ruins right now.
Alan Keyes will be used as an example of how a conservative Republican cannot win in Illinois. This despite getting more than 1.3 million votes. The Judy Barr-led GOP is refusing to end the "good old boy" system that has cost the GOP everything in our fine state.
Look for a blowout either way. Right now our state is so blue that Blagojevich could go to prison on October 31st, 2006 and still get re-elected on November 2nd.
We are going to have about a generation before Illinois turns around. It is very sad.
This must really be from The Onion. Blago has no achievements unless he considers good hair an achievement.
I have to congratulate these gentlemen for rebutting Governor Blagojevich's State of the State Address, which in essence, with respect to the State of Illinois, is like putting lipstick on a pig.
Everybody knows that this State is not functioning, that it is contaminated with insider deals and corruption, yet, when it comes to correcting this malaise, everybody appears to be afflicted by the tale of three monkeys; hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil, with the exception of Former State Senator Pat O'Malley.
Congressman LaHood and Governor Blagojevich may as well be joined at the hip, coming from their old fraternity in Washington D.C. where every witless solution fits every problem, whether it is rural or urban, or whether it works or not. They are part of the insider deal makers for special interest groups, remote from principled, reform thinking.
It was Congressman LaHood, an inside member of Speaker Hastert's crew, who villified former U.S. Senator, Peter Fitzgerald, and perpetuated the climate for Fitzgerald to move on, turning over a safe conservative seat to a team of liberal Marxists, representing the State of Illinois, a move just as disasterous as Governor Blagojevich's insidious remarks in his State of the State Address.
Congressman LaHood already showed that his loyalty isn't for the people of Illinois, his allegiance lies with the liberal tenacles of the National Republican Party in Washington D.C. Most of our fiscal destruction comes out of Washington, in the form of regulations, fines, and fees, thanks anyways congressman LaHood...go play in Peoria, or D.C. Springfield will do just fine with out you and your elitist, global, ideas.
State Senator Brady doesn't seem to understand the philosophy of taking an oath, or the purpose of laws in a civil society. He wants to eliminate a rule that bars children of illegal aliens from enrolling in pre school. He and our governor should be impeached.
Why isn't our Immigration Laws being obeyed or enforced in the State of Illinois?
Article 4 section 4 of The United States Constitution guarantees to every state, protection from invasion. These gentleman want to thumb their fingers at our laws, so I'd like to ask them just what laws I can violate and not be held accountable for. Maybe bank robbery for starters. My grand children can't afford a university education in this state but our public officials think it's okay to send illegal immigrants to school on the backs of Illinois citizen tax payers. US Code Title 8 sub section 1324 (a): Encouraging? Inducing: Makes it an offense for any person who--encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing, or in reckless disregard of the fact, that such coming to, entry, or residence, is or will be in violation of law. The Illegal Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 adds to Title 8 USC ss. 1324, offenses for employers who unlawfully hire illegal aliens, so worrying about people who do not belong here should be of no consequence to these rogue politicians who pander for votes, and violate our laws.
Only Pat O'Malley addressed the devastating problem which is affecting our school system nation wide. Enrollment in grades 9-12 projects an all time high of 15.8 million students in the year 2005. One half of immigration is illegal, therefore approximately half of the impact of immigration on our school system is due to illegal immigration. If mass immigration continues the education of all children in America will continue to rise while the quality of education will continue to decline. Instead of excellence, we will witness the effects of a third world illiterate country, thanks to politicians like Brady, Blagojevich, and LaHood, unscrupulous, un-constitutional stooges, for the special interest groups of scab employers.
These gentlemen were all on the mark when they stated that this governor is bad for business in Illinois. He has a penchant for discriminating against the trucking industry. He chased most large trucking fleets out of Illinois by increasing license, and user fees, the balance will follow with his unconscionable toll way hikes, discriminating against truckers who are already paying the largest license and Federal Road Use Taxes in the State of Illinois.
This governor is running around like a mad man hitting everybody up for new regulatory or user fees, to make good on old promises rather than cut spending. I never heard of a state becoming prosperous buy borrowing money, as Senator O'Malley observes. Mr. Blagojevich governs with the proclivity of a hapless gambler, seeking juice loans to bail himself out of short term deb,t while he risks a fiscal tsunami for the tax payers of Illinois.
Everybody knows what the problem is, lack of leadership, but not many candidates seem to exhibit any solutions for the reforms needed to wrest back our government and restore confidence back to the public.
Fortunately, it's good to see Patrick J.O'Malley, a person of integrity, speaking up for the people of Illinois. What is needed in this state, is a principled leader of O'Malley's caliber and experience, to reform this funky state government. I hope that his remarks to this governors "pie in the sky," State of the State Address, were an indication that he may choose to run for office in 2006, and reign in control of this adulturated government.
Rick Biesada
Lindenhurst, Il.