Free Republic

Last week, the body of Chicago school board president Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River with a single bullet wound in his head. The big story was that this powerful, well-connected public official had, according to the Cook County medical examiner, committed suicide. The less-noticed story was that he did it with an illegal weapon. After all, handgun ownership is not allowed in Chicago, which has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and Scott killed himself with a .380-caliber sidearm. Unlike most Chicagoans, Scott could have been a legal handgun owner. Because he had...

SNIPPET: “In about less than a week, India will mark the first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks. After the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Chicago breakthrough, now Italy has achieved some headway in the investigations relating to last year’s terror events(26/11). The Italian police have arrested, after almost a year long monitoring and surveillance, two Pakistani nationals (Father and Son duo) from Brescia city who are accused of sending funds from their money transfer agency and providing the logistical support to Pakistani terrorists. The suspects Mohammad Yaqub Janjua and Aamer Yaqub Janjua, owners of the Madina Trading telephone...

Tell me who that is standing next to Barack Obama. It sure looks like Bill Ayers. Anyone know who it is?

War On Terror: Sen. Dick Durbin calls a plan to transfer 100 Guantanamo detainees to northwest Illinois "a dream come true." It would paint a bull's-eye on America's heartland in time for the 2012 Iowa caucuses. It seems the question of where to put the Guantanamo detainees is being settled as we speak, with liberal Democrats in the very blue state of Illinois welcoming them with open arms and outstretched hands for the federal dollars that will come with them. Federal officials last Friday inspected the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a town of 500 on the Iowa border,...

In a follow up to my earlier post advocating for an actual debate on this issue here in Illinois on this business of bringing terrorists to live in Illinois, a new effort to try and stop this mess has been launched. Go to Not In Illinois and sign the petition and tell Governor Pat Quinn that we do NOT want terrorists living among us. We the undersigned ask you to not bring terrorist into Illinois. They should be tried in military courts and not in civilian courts. They are a danger to the citizenry of the United States and should...

Welcome to the Terrorists-for-Jobs Exchangeby Kevin McCullough, FOXNews.com Updated November 16, 2009 Shouldn't the voters of a state that have the chance to weigh in on whether or not terrorists should be housed in a prison in their state? It appears that officials in three states--Illinois, Montana, and Colorado--are salivating over the hope of landing a federal contract to house some of the remaining Gitmo detainees. The reason for such desperation appears mostly to be driven by desperate economics. Amid reports this weekend that President Obama's home state of Illinois is hoping to sell a prison facility to the federal...

Some folks in this dying Mississippi River town would rather take their chances with suspected terrorists in their backyard than watch their neighbors continue to move away in despair over the lack of jobs. News that the federal government may buy the nearly empty Thomson Correctional Center and use the maximum-security state prison to house Guantanamo Bay detainees has given people in Thomson hope that things might be about to turn around in this woeful town of 450. "This town is slowly but surely dying off, and I mean that literally because the people that are retired are dying off...

Security Increased at Indian Nuclear Sites Over Possible Attack Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 SNIPPET: "Security at nuclear power facilities in India has been boosted following indications that the sites might face a terrorism threat, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 17). New Delhi put its nuclear sites on alert following reports that a U.S. citizen, arrested Oct. 3 in the United States in an unrelated case, had visited Indian states with nuclear facilities, the Press Trust of India reported. "The step is precautionary in nature," said an Indian Home Ministry official. "The states have been asked to increase the vigil...

Once again we see how clueless Democrats like Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin are on matters of national security. With Barack Hussein Obama's decision to treat the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay as if they are common American criminals, as the president bestows all American rights upon them, and with his decision to spread these monsters out across the U.S.A, we see Quinn and Durbin idiotically asserting that terrorists equal "good paying jobs." These jobs might come from the sale to the federal government of the Thomson correctional facility in west central Illinois where Obama could send some...

SNIPPET: "Mumbai, Nov. 14: David Coleman Headley personally visited every target site of the 26/11 terror strikes last year, carrying out a recce on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a police source said today. Posing as a Jew, he even visited Nariman House, the Jewish Chabad centre, in July 2008. The Mumbai police today carried out raids in Bandra, its adjoining suburb Khar and BPO hub Goregaon in search of Headley’s local acquaintances and contacts. “He (Headley) mapped the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House. We are interrogating (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s son) Rahul to find out when...

Posted: Nov 13, 2009 3:14 PM Updated: Nov 13, 2009 3:15 PM MARION, IL (KFVS) - SNIPPET: "Ali Al-Marri, 43, is serving an eight year sentence for being a so called "sleeper agent." He has admitted to training in Al-Qaeda camps and having contact with the alleged planner of the September 11th attacks."

SNIPPET: “With the National Investigation Agency registering a case, officials have begun a sprawling investigation into rail, air and phone records to track the trail in India of US national David Coleman Headley and his Canadian associate Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the two men arrested by the FBI last month for allegedly plotting terror strikes. While preliminary investigations are expected to go on for at least six weeks, sources said there is evidence to show that Headley checked in at least twice in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Towers more than a year before it was targeted by the Lashkar’s...

<p>CHICAGO — A White House official says the Obama administration is considering buying a northwestern Illinois prison to house a limited number of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, along with federal inmates.</p>

A near-empty prison in rural Illinois has emerged as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said Friday. PHOTOS As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago. With Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and other key officials warm to the idea of a federal purchase of the prison, federal officials have stepped up investigations into turning Thomson into a super-maximum facility with a unit for former Guantanamo detainees....

Until this Summer Andy McKenna was the Chairman of the Illinois GOP. He presided over a party that saw every single state wide office lost to it. He presided over a party that tried as hard as it could to make sure that Illinois' Republican voters would be barred from voting their own leaders into place (even though Democrat voters do elect their leaders). McKenna presided over a GOP that seemed little more than a junior partner to the corruption plagued Democrats. …and now McKena's running for governor. And guess what? House Republican leader Tom Cross is backing McKenna. Yep,...

OK, say you are running for the Cook County Board. And say your daddy is the village clerk in the very district where you are hoping to get a whole slew of by-mail and early votes. Also say your cousin is running for Governor and he's already the State Comptroller now. Do you think your opponent might casually wonder if the fix is in? ... well, it is Crook County, after all. Naturally, the above isn't just some bad TV script, but a real situation in southern Cook County. In Orland Park where Democrat Patrick Maher is running to unseat...

If you think the recession has hit hard where you live, consider the little Northern Illinois town where almost half the working age adults are out of work. It's called Pembroke. Imagine a community so deep in the hole, the government has fired the police force and closed two of three elementary schools. It's happened in Pembroke, a little town of some 3,000 in eastern Kankakee County near the Indiana border. It's a town where these days, many folks don't rebuild after a fire. The charred remains just sit there. Mayor Sam Payton puts it this way: "I'd say we're...

How can we best honor the judge who granted a $50,000 yearly firefighter's pension to a convicted serial arsonist? Hear ye, hear ye, Cook County Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. You've just been inducted into the judicial wing of the Chicago Way Hall of Fame. Martin's ruling, handed down late Friday afternoon -- when all bad political news oozes out -- involves the strange case of former Chicago Fire Department Lt. Jeffrey "Matches" Boyle, a prolific arsonist. On Tuesday, I visited Martin in his Daley Center courtroom, to inform him of his prestigious honor. "You know very well that a judge...

Federal Bench: Yet another judicial nominee seeks to impose the "empathy" standard on the courts. He thinks judges should base rulings on a plaintiff's status, legislate from the bench and amend the Constitution. Indiana federal judge David Hamilton stands poised to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to assume a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals serving Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. He's a former fundraiser for Acorn and a former leader of the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is also another in a series of activist judges who believe the U.S. Constitution is not...

"U.S. cites al-Qaida DVDs in pressing for suspect's detainment Chicago man allegedly plotted to attack Danish newspaper, target in India" SNIPPET: "A federal judge could decide on Nov. 19 whether to release Rana, owner of a Chicago Immigration business and a Grundy County meat processing plant, on bond pending trial." SNIPPET: "Last week prosecutors alleged that Rana and Headley, also of Chicago, had discussed targeting the National Defense College in India, a military school. Rana also allegedly told an associate of the Pakistani terror organization Lashkar-e-Taiba how to use loopholes in U.S. Immigration procedures to get others into the country...

Several Republicans and candidates here in Illinois have spoken out on the passage of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's version of Obamacare. Here are a few of them (in no particular order). Republican State Chairman, Patrick Brady, warned Illinois Democrats that what they have wrought is "wrong for Illinois." Today is a disappointing day for Illinoisans as Nancy Pelosi, Melissa Bean, Debbie Halvorson and Bill Foster ignored the concerns of voters and rammed a trillion dollar 1,990 page government-run health care bill through Congress ignoring pledges of transparency and bi-partisanship. Illinois for generations will be forced to deal with...

Two Illinois soldiers lost their lives from the evil, criminal actions of Muslim Nidal Hasan in Texas last week. Private Francheska Velez, 21, of West Kamerling was one of the thirteen killed by Hasan at Fort Hood Army base on Thursday. "She was the best I have. The light of my family," Juan Velez said of his only daughter. "She was living my dream -- to be part of the military, part of the United States. To be part of something. Just to give back to the United States because this is where we are from." Pvt. Valez was three...

In August, I created a blog which brought attention to U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's campaign for the U.S. Senate. The blog, titled "Republicans United Against Mark Kirk" included information regarding Kirk's voting record as a member of the U.S House of Representatives. The "No To Mark Kirk" blog referred readers to articles, letters to the editor and columns which were posted by numerous Internet sources. My intent was to shed light on this so-called Republican's position on issues which social and fiscal conservatives care deeply about. Kirk's pro-abortion, anti-Second Amendment and anti-traditional marriage views were exposed on my blog. The...

Only a few months ago, Representative Mark Kirk voted for Cap and Tax… er, I mean Cap and Trade. Conservatives and Republicans in general lit into Kirk with a vengeance. Then he started running for the Senate and at a subsequent September 5 campaign stop he reversed himself and decided he wouldn't support Cap and Trade. Kirk is not a strong pro-life supporter, he is bad on the Second Amendment, Kirk is only middling on free trade, and he has drifted back and forth on sometimes support for Obama's left-wing, big spending agenda in Washington… though he is sometimes good...

IFI Media Watch A little over a year ago, I wrote a column regarding the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' (DCFS) supposed confidential hotline. The DCFS hotline itself was a means by which Illinois citizens could report cases of child abuse and/or neglect. I had a personal experience regarding the use of the confidential hotline which was disturbing, to say the least. I was aware of a family who lived near me in which children were exposed to an unhealthy environment according to anyone's standards. During a visit to the home, three children (all under the age of...

State doc group fighting health care bills By Paul Merrion Nov. 02, 2009 (Crain’s) — The largest physicians’ group in Illinois, in a break with the American Medical Assn. on health care reform, is writing letters to Congress and running full-page ads in major newspapers across the state opposing legislation nearing critical House and Senate votes. “Our physician members are very concerned health reform is moving in the wrong direction,” the Illinois State Medical Society wrote in an “open letter to Illinois patients” posted on its Web site last week. Like the AMA, the Illinois State Medical Society has expressed...

As we at SayNoToACORN.com are fighting to help inform you about what you can do to impress upon our local and federal officials to distance themselves from ACORN, the other side -- those that support the actions of ACORN -- are also organizing. This fact proves that we cannot just sit idly by and hope that things go our way. We must act to make sure our politicians listen to us and defund this criminal organization. We must speak because our opponents definitely are. Once again, Byron York reports on this story and he finds a webpage trying to cajole...

From RFFM.org's Executive Director, Dan Zanoza: RFFM.org will post an op-ed submission from all Illinois pro-family statewide candidates. An op-ed posted on RFFM.org from a particular candidate is not an indication of an RFFM.org endorsement. Op-ed submissions from candidates must meet the following criteria...

SNIPPET: “WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s Consul General in Chicago personally knew both David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, nabbed by the FBI for planning to carry out a major terror attack in India at the behest of LeT, the US authorities have claimed. The FBI in its revised chargesheet filed before a Chicago court said the Consul General of Pakistan in Chicago personally knows both Rana and Headley alias ‘Daood Gilani’, as all three of them are from the same high school. According to the website of the Pakistan Embassy here, Dr Aman Rashid is the Consul General in Chicago. “On...

Earlier I noted that we need your voice to keep the pressure on our representatives to keep government funds out of the hands of the criminal organization ACORN. Today Byron York posted another reminder of this salient fact in his headlined, "Will Congress' Defunding of ACORN Expire Saturday?" York concludes that it is unlikely that ACORN funding will be restored on Saturday, but the simple fact of the matter is that it could be. Either this Saturday or during the very next budgeting process, ACORN funding can be easily slipped right back into a budget any time Congress feels like...

Mad at your job? Torked at your neighbor? Snoop around in their tax info and if you find something damning… REPORT THEM! And the kindly folks down at Chicago’s City Hall are happy to help with their new tax rat program. The Sun-Times reported that Daley’s Rat Line program could be added to the 2010 budget. Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

Who are the the DIABLOs (Democrats In All But Labels Only)? Who are the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only)? Unfortunately, the American Conservative Union's rankings are pretty useless. In search of being non-partisan and having an even spread of votes, they include many votes which are very lopsided, and so therefore Republicans can fake conservatism without upsetting their media masters and liberal donors. At the same time, a conservative who thinks that a bill is too liberal can get lumped in with all the liberals who thought the bill was too conservative. Combining these two factors, it's impossible to tell...

IFI E-Alert:: Marriage Rally and Lobby Day -- Oct. 29th 10/20/2009 8:10:00 AM By David E. Smith, Executive Director -Illinois Family Institute Approximately eight hundred Illinois citizens from around the state joined IFI & other Christian leaders in Springfield last year to rally, pray, and lobby for natural marriage, religious freedom, parental rights and the innocence of our children. Click HERE to download a flyer to distribute at church and in your community. Join IFI and Illinois families from around the state to take a stand for protecting marriage, religious freedom, parental rights and the innocence of our children! Plan...

Not long ago I posted a piece with news that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) had decided to cut off its association with the Association for Community Activists for Reform Now (ACORN). I also reported that the RIS and several other Federal agencies had stopped their dealings with ACORN, essentially defunding them of federal dollars. But that was then... On October 22 Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D, Calif) was sadly successful in getting an amendment passed in the House Financial Services Committee that would allow ACORN to become an official government actor in setting regulations for financial institutions. You read...

< snip > After Headley’s arrest, dozens of FBI agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 18 raided a Grundy County meat-processing plant owned by Rana that specializes in Islamic foods. Rana was arrested at his North Side home the same day as the raid on his First World Management Services plant in Kinsman, a farming town northwest of Dwight. Agents seized records from the plant, as well as a related North Side business also raided that day, said the source, who is familiar with the investigation. Rana is accused...

Republican Candidate for the 11th District House seat Adam Kinzinger is still trying to find out how much Vice President Joe Biden's August 20 appearance at a Democrat fundraiser for Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D) cost the taxpayers for police protection and city services. Along with Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R), Kinzinger, a U.S. Air Force pilot, has filed several Freedom of Information Act requests with Chicago and Cook County to discover the costs of Biden's fly-by visit at least to those two municipalities. Police interrupted travel from the airport, cleared city streets, monitored protesters and helped the vice president's...

The work of the Medill Innocence Project has already led to the exoneration of 11 inmates in Illinois. In 2000 Governor George Ryan cited the Medill Innocence Project of Northwestern University as one of the reasons he suspended the death penalty in the Land of Lincoln. It has yet to be fully reinstated. The Medill Innocence Project has recently set its sites on the case of Anthony McKinney, convicted of murdering a security officer in 1978. The students of the Project feel that they have successfully proved that McKinney was wrongly convicted and have also succeeded in getting a judge...

Illinois Senator James Clayborne wants to raise the Illinois State Income tax a whopping 67 percent on the citizenry and 33 percent on businesses. It amounts to thievery by the state and has earned Clayborne the title of "Tax Villain" for the month of October from the watchdog group National Taxpayers United of Illinois. In this day when Illinois is almost bankrupt from its profligate spending, Clayborne wants to give this irresponsible government even more of the taxpayer's money to waste. Of course, the out-of-control spending isn;t Illinois' only problem... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

Paul Kroenke wrote a great piece on the empty bravado of Mayor Richard Daley and his populist claims that he won't raise property taxes. Kroenke pretty much shows that because of the tax zones that Daley has set up across the city, he really can't raise property taxes even if he wanted to do so. Back on October 14, Daley played the populist by claiming that he was ruling out property tax hikes. "You can't [raise property taxes] ... That would hurt people tremendously," Daley said. "You can only take so much. People are being laid off on a daily...

Does anyone know anything about Robert Hughes? Evidently, he is running against Mark Kirkham (RINO) for senator. I am interested in helping conservative candidates and I have been told that Mr. Hughes is very conservative.

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

For Democrats determined to get a health care bill, Sen. Roland Burris is like the house guest who couldn't be refused, won't soon be leaving and poses a plausible threat of ruining holiday dinner. Suddenly, he can no longer be ignored.

U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R, Hinsdale, IL) introduced legislation last week intended to prevent misuse of federal housing counseling funds. "It's abundantly clear that ACORN and its affiliates cannot be trusted as a federally certified entity," said Biggert, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. "Given the group's clear links to illegal and inappropriate activities, how can we knowingly give them federal certification to divert precious resources from legitimate housing counselors working overtime to help struggling homeowners?" For years federal funds have flowed into ACORN's coffers for services given to low-income home buyers across the country. These services...

If CBS News has it right, the majority of in-home healthcare workers in Illinois voted not to join a union despite the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Governor Quinn's best efforts to force the issue. Earlier in the year, Governor Quinn signed Executive Order 09-15 that gave away the private information of every in-home healthcare worker in the state to several unions so that they might begin a campaign to cajole these workers into joining a union by calling them on the phone and visiting them at their homes. In-home healthcare workers receive a stipend from the state in...

One of Chicago's top five trade shows may be leaving the gigantic McCormick Place Convention Center and taking up business with Orlando, Florida. Why? Because the extremely high costs forced on Chicago by the various unions that have a hammer lock on the service side of the trade show business are driving trade shows to other states. Crain's Business reports that the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. is considering the move to sunny Florida as a cost cutting measure. The show has been held in Chicago since 1971 but organizers are considering the move because of a "need to...

I first became a social activist nearly 20 years ago. At that time, I did not realize that activism and politics are inexorably linked. Perhaps I was naive to believe this was not the case. I had hoped with all my heart that pro-family conservatives held to a higher standard than those on the left which practice the dark arts of innuendo, ad hominen and character assassination as a means to gain political power. Again, I was naive. I am learning battles between factions of the Republican Party can be just as ruthless as our Democratic opponents. Republican U.S. Senate...

When I started to think about running for governor, and began the process of asking those closest to me about the race, one of the first questions I was always asked (by those who didn’t already know) was, “What is your position on abortion?”. “I’m pro-life” was always my immediate response. This often led to the next obvious question, “Why are you pro-life?” ...

When Gerald Harsen walks at night with a flashlight, his Elmhurst neighborhood "comes alive with eyes looking back at you," he said. Many of those eyes belong to skunks. Too many of them, he believes. "I grew up on a farm and I've always had the opinion there are certain critters I should not have to live with," he said. So, recently Harsen did something about it. He set a trap in his backyard, luring skunks with peanut butter and bread. On the morning of Sept. 30, Harsen caught one, grabbed his pellet gun and shot it dead. Then he...

Mr. (Forgiven Sinner) (Street) Peoria, IL Dear Mr. (Forgiven Sinner): Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). I appreciate hearing from you. I've seen the videos and I am appalled by them. I am also troubled by the discoveries of voter registration fraud, and I am glad ACORN reported the incidents to the authorities. These employees have been fired, and ACORN is being investigated by state and federal agencies for misconduct and potential misuse of government funds. Anyone who has broken the law should be...

Obama Appointee Tied to Effort to Unionize Home Health-Care Workers October 15, 2009 The plot thickens -- as in SEIU's pay-to-play plots in state government, including its most recent naked power grab: Its repugnant effort to intervene between children with disabilities and their parents by making home health care workers for disabled children in Illinois a closed shop. In an editorial today on President Obama’s nominee to head the National Labor Relations Board, the Wall Street Journal shines a light on Craig Becker, an associate general counsel at SEIU whose career is traced back to Gov. Rod Blagojevich:One of the...