Free Republic

Illinois should go to a military strongman form of government. Instead of the pretense of representative democracy, we should submit to one of those charismatic, totalitarian dictators with the Captain Kangaroo get-up who makes people disappear. After all, isn't that what the "Chicago 9" are doing? The Chicago 9 are the nine Chicago Democrats who live within about five squares miles of one another and who control more than $70 billion worth of government and more than 125,000 public sector jobs in Illinois. [The 9: Daley, Blagojevich, (Lisa) Madigan, White, Hynes, Giannoulias, Jones, (Mike) Madigan, Stroger] It was reported last...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 Village of Morton Grove to Repeal Gun Ban Friday, July 18, 2008 Fairfax, VA. – Today the Village of Morton Grove moved to avoid imminent legal action by the National Rifle Association by amending its Village Code to remove the current handgun ban and incorporate sections of the Illinois Criminal Code. “We are pleased that the Village of Morton Grove took steps to repeal its draconian gun ban,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. “Finally Village residents can exercise the same constitutionally-protected rights that the rest of the country enjoys.” Final...

Get online and check it out.

Illinois Senate Bill 1093 Introduced February 22, 2001 Amended in Judiciary Committee March 27, 2001 Passed by the state Senate on March 30, 2001 - - - - - 92_SB1093eng SB1093 Engrossed LRB9207891WHtm 1 AN ACT concerning abortion. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The Illinois Abortion Law of 1975 is amended 5 by changing Section 6 as follows: 6 (720 ILCS 510/6) (from Ch. 38, par. 81-26) 7 Sec. 6. (1) (a) Any physician who intentionally performs 8 an abortion when, in his medical...

Reason Number 64,112 as to why Republicans in Illinois lose: opposition to their own party platform. Here's the setup for latest skit in the Illinois GOP's long-running burlesque show: At the quadrennial Republican State Convention in Decatur last month, Illinois Republicans adopted the following plank in their party platform, "We call on the Governor and the General Assembly to balance the state budget and provide for a responsible capital development program without resorting to the expansion of gambling..." (page 3 of the "2008 Platform", bullet point #6 for those scoring at home). That plank was proposed and ratified by Republican...

Ties to Illinois governor threaten DemBy JOSH KRAUSHAAR | 7/8/08 6:49 PM EST While Barack Obama figures to be an unalloyed asset to down-ballot Illinois Democrats this fall, another statewide politician is threatening to become an equally significant drag on one of the Democrats’ leading congressional recruits. Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich is proving so politically toxic that he has become a central issue in the campaign to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Jerry Weller. Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson and Republican concrete magnate Martin Ozinga III are each accusing the other of having closer ties to the two-term governor,...

1 shot to death, 1 injured in South Side drive-by Tribune staff report 7:54 AM CDT, July 5, 2008 A second man shot as he sat in a vehicle on Chicago's South Side late Thursday has died. Martin Hoard, 29, of the 6000 block of South Indiana Ave., died at Stroger Hospital following the shooting. He was parked in the 6700 block of South State Street when a car pulled up about 10:50 p.m. and fired shots into their vehicle, said Officer Amina Greer, a police spokeswoman. John Duncan, 22, of the 8000 block of South Paulina Street, was pronounced...

New Push To Prevent Gas Gouging At Illinois PumpsReporting Dorothy Tucker Jul 3, 2008 6:27 pm US/Central CHICAGO (CBS) With the price of gas well over $4 a gallon, consumers want every drop they pay for. But sometimes Pamela Smith wondered if the gas was flowing when she was pumping. "While I'm pumping the nozzle is clicking and it's going on and off and I'm not certain if the gas is going into the vehicle," Smith said. She is among the hundreds who have registered their concerns with the state. The state has had 700 complaints since January, compared to...

A Machesney Park minister faces additional counts of sexual assault charges. Jonathon Christopher Powell, 40, was arrested last week after accusations he sexually abused an underage girl. The Winnebago County Sheriff's Department said there could be a second victim. Now, Powell's been charged in that case too. He now faces two more counts of Criminal Sexual Abuse, for a total of four counts in the two cases. Powell is still in jail, with no bond. Detectives tell us Powell was a minister at New Hope Baptist Church in Machesney Park. 13 News has tried contacting the church and has not...

No, we don't suppose that's going to happen any time soon. But it should. The 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is evidence that, while the founding fathers were brilliant men, they could have used an editor. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. If the founders had limited themselves to the final 14 words, the amendment would have been an unambiguous declaration of the right to possess firearms. But they didn't, and it isn't. The amendment was intended to...

Gun Rights: Obama claims he believes the Second Amendment says you can own a gun but that local communities can still opt out of the Constitution. What will he say as his political hometown is sued by the NRA?While campaigning in Pennsylvania earlier this year, Barack Obama was having breakfast with his Democratic Senate colleague Bob Casey. A reporter asked Obama about Jimmy Carter's trip to see the terrorist group Hamas. Obama responded: "Why is it that, like, I can't just eat my waffle?" There's going to be another waffle Obama's going to eat as he tries to explain his...

If you can get to Chicago (and even if you normally make a point of avoiding Chicago--an easily understandable policy) on July 11th, you need to do so. The Illinois gun rights movement, with the help of ISRA and Illinois Carry, has a little surprise for the purveyors of the forcible citizen disarmament agenda in Illinois. (Click on image for larger view, or click here for the pdf version). That's right--a Second Amendment rally in downtown Chicago, featuring Suzanna Hupp (if you don't know who she is, or how compelling she is as a speaker, see this). IGOLD was a...

By Michelle Malkin  •  June 19, 2008 09:02 PM Last night, John McCain met with a carefully screened group of Chicago-area Latino voters. The town hall was closed to the media. Several readers e-mailed an eyewitness account of the event. Here’s an excerpt: I was one of the 150 people at the Drake Hotel in Downtown Chicago Wednesday night who came to hear John MC Cain speak to Illinois Hispanics.I had e-mail in my request to attend after seeing an article in the news paper announcing this event.This is what i received……….We are pleased to confirm your invitation to attend the...

PITTSBURGH – Days before the start of the 2007 season, running back Rashard Mendenhall said he considered quitting the Illinois football team. "I sat down and I was like, 'If this is what football is, I don't know if I want to do that anymore,' " Mendenhall said. "I'm not soft at all. I'm not scared of adversity. I don't care if somebody's yelling at me. That's not what it was about at all. "I want to be happy in my life. I know I can walk away from this. I know I can finish school, get a job." Fortunately...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., right, fills sandbags surrounded by the media at a sandbag station in Quincy, Ill. Saturday, June 14, 2008

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL 614 PM CDT SAT JUN 7 2008 ILC031-197-080015- /O.CON.KLOT.TO.W.0024.000000T0000Z-080608T0015Z/ COOK IL-WILL IL- 614 PM CDT SAT JUN 7 2008 ...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 715 PM CDT FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN WILL AND SOUTHEASTERN COOK COUNTIES... AT 613 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A LARGE TORNADO ON THE GROUND ONE HALF MILE WIDE APPROXIMATELY 1 MILE WEST OF MONEE. NUMEROUS REPORTS HAVE DAMAGED HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM THIS TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR MONEE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 26 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... MONEE...UNIVERSITY PARK...AND FRANKFORT BY 620 PM...

The Illinois State Police are using vans with cameras and radar guns to photograph motorists and other drivers who speed through highway construction zones, and are enforcing strict penalties for alleged offenders. Citations for a first offense are $375, and a second offense can cost $1,000 and a 90-day suspension of driver’s license. State Police officials said four white vans, which are equipped with radar guns, cameras and a monitor to show drivers their speed, have been deployed at different construction zones in the state. As of Thursday, June 5, those vans are deployed at the widening project on the...

Will Sen. Barack Obama declare that, if elected president, he would not pardon his fundraiser and personal real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, who was convicted Wednesday of multiple corruption charges in a Chicago federal court? Obama is Mr. Reform, isn't he? And that's a legitimate question, isn't it? The National Republican Party is making a big deal out of Rezko, with a snazzy new Barack-Rezko video, questioning Obama's judgment for buying that $1.6 million dream house, with the Rezkos purchasing the lot next door on the very same day in what looked like an old-fashioned back-scratching. "On the day Barack...

SPRINGFIELD -- As the state's unpaid medical bills continue to climb, Illinois has enrolled thousands of undocumented immigrant children into Gov. Rod Blagojevich's All Kids insurance program, yet officials don't know how much taxpayers are spending on their care. "The figure is not available," Mark Iocca, an attorney handling information requests for the administration, said in responding to a Daily Herald legal request about those costs. A total of 1.4 million children receive state-provided health care under All Kids. Many of them were previously enrolled in Kid Care, which was folded into the new All Kids program in 2006. All...

The highest court in the land refused to hear his plea. Now only one person can help George Ryan: President Bush. » Click to enlarge image Former Gov. Jim Thompson will ask President Bush to commute former Gov. George Ryan's prison sentence. The Supreme Court rejected Ryan's appeal to overturn his conviction on corruption charges on Tuesday. (Sun-Times) RELATED STORIESComplete Ryan trial coverage Pardon vs. commutation What's the difference between a pardon and a commutation? Pardon: Erases a conviction, such as a felony. Commutation: Conviction stands, but erases prison term, or trades a longer sentence with a shorter one. (Gov....

Seven thousand miles away, state Rep. Jim Watson is performing duties that exemplify his seven years in the Illinois House.And it's that legislative experience that the Jacksonville Republican draws upon in helping build the provincial government in the Anbar Province of Iraq."I can download Illinois state bylaws, show it to the (provincial council) and show them what minutes mean, show them what a (legislative) session is," Marine Corp Staff Sgt. Watson said Thursday by telephone from his camp near Ramadi.Americans need to remember, he said, that the Iraqi people are starting from scratch in building a democratic country. Jim Watson...

Sometime soon, drunken driving suspects in Kane County will have a new choice: Get your blood-alcohol level measured in a breath, blood or urine test, or have your blood drawn involuntarily. On No Refusal Weekend the option of refusing to take a test will not be available. At least not to drivers arrested by St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva police and Kane County sheriff's deputies. Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti announced the proposal Wednesday. He refused to say what weekend the program will be instituted. The idea was brought to his attention by First Assistant State's Attorney Clint Hull,...

QUAD CITIES -- Illinois officials have grounded state highway workers, and that means you'll be seeing more dead animals along highways and interstates. ''There's alot more road kill, it's disgusting'', said a driver parked at a rest-stop along Interstate 74. ''It's not a very good image for the state. People drive through and see all that stuff in the road. '' Al Mustafa says he drives all over the country and noticed this week how bad it was on roads in Illinois. ''Dead deer. I've seen alot more. I seen a trucker almost have an accident trying to avoid one....

When some parents at Prairie View Middle School asked for a separate lunch table for their children during the Ramadan fast, Principal Joel Martin thought the request seemed reasonable. As long as the gathering of fasting students didn't disrupt and didn't cost the district anything, Martin had no qualm with offering the religious accommodation. » Click to enlarge image Ryan Vandewiel collected about 60 signatures on a petition at Prairie View School to have the administration set aside lunch tables for practicing Catholics during the Lenten season. (Carol Dorsett/SouthtownStar) If you go ... The Kirby School District 140 board will...

MARION, Ill. --- A southern Illinois newspaper carrier is credited with rescuing an elderly woman who apparently spent days trapped beneath her dead husband's body. Authorities say Blanche Roberts had been pinned by the body of 77-year-old Fred Roberts for at least two days before she was found by Bruce Pitts and his wife on Sunday. Pitts says he became concerned about the couple after seeing the Southern Illinoisan editions he'd delivered stack up in their mailbox. He found Blanche Roberts when he went into the couple's home to check their well-being. Williamson County Coroner Mike Burke says there's nothing...

A friend of mine sent me a link to a great website http://www.theobamafile.com Not sure if it's been posted before, but whoever put this together definately did their homework on this clown (no offense to the clowns of the world). There is alot of sourced info on the site, but just the list of supporters is worth a read......

Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from Blackwell's firm that eventually totaled $112,000. A few months after receiving his final payment from EKI, Obama sent a request on state Senate letterhead urging Illinois officials to provide a $50,000 tourism promotion grant to another Blackwell company, Killerspin.

Mayor Richard Daley said Saturday Chicago police officers will he armed with high-powered assault rifles when they're on the streets fighting gangs and other criminals. "Many times they're outgunned, to be very frank," Daley said at an event in the Englewood neighborhood. "When they come to a scene, someone has a semi fully-automatic weapon and you have a little pistol, uh, good luck." The city's police officers carry pistols, and Daley suggested they will start carrying "M4 rifles." Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the department still is working out details about the M4 carbines.

Illinois Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich is facing impeachment talk from within his own party in the wake of the plea agreement of Rezko pal Ali Ata. The Chicago Sun-Times reports The impeachment drumbeat at the Statehouse grew louder Wednesday, a day after the blockbuster accusation by a former state official that he got his state job after pouring money into Gov. Blagojevich's campaign fund -- including a $25,000 check in an envelope he presented to the governor.Two House Democrats said discussions on a possible impeachment resolution targeting Blagojevich accelerated after Tuesday's disclosure by Ali Ata, whom the governor appointed to...

To the surprise of many, the earthquake on April 18, 2008, about 120 miles east of St. Louis, originated in the Wabash Valley Fault and not the better-known and more-dreaded New Madrid Fault in Missouri's bootheel. The concern of Douglas Wiens, Ph.D., and Michael Wysession, Ph.D., seismologists at Washington University in St. Louis, is that the New Madrid Fault may have seen its day and the Wabash Fault is the new kid on the block. The earthquake registered 5.2 on the Richter scale and hit at 4:40 a.m. with a strong aftershock occurring at approximately 10:15 a.m. that morning, followed...

Magnitude 4.5 Date-Time * Monday, April 21, 2008 at 05:38:30 UTC * Monday, April 21, 2008 at 12:38:30 AM at epicenter Location 38.473°N, 87.823°W Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region ILLINOIS Distances * 8 km (5 miles) NW (323°) from Mount Carmel, IL * 12 km (7 miles) WSW (238°) from Allendale, IL * 12 km (8 miles) NE (37°) from Bellmont, IL * 35 km (22 miles) SW (230°) from Vincennes, IN * 60 km (37 miles) NNW (337°) from Evansville, IN * 211 km (131 miles) E (94°) from St. Louis, MO Location Uncertainty...

Decatur, Illinois My wife and I just felt a very noticeable earthquake.

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Illinois: Anti-gun Extremists in Springfield Expected to Push for Ban on Firearms!   Monday, April 14, 2008   Make Your Voice Heard Today! House Bill 4357, introduced by Representative Edward Acevedo (D-2), seeks to ban countless semi-automatic handguns, rifles, and shotguns, as well as .50 cal. rifles and ammunition.  Any person who lawfully owns a firearm that matches the criteria would be permitted to keep that firearm so long as they have registered their firearm with the Department of State Police within 90 days of the ban's activation date.  This registration includes...

-By Warner Todd Huston There is no doubt that the State of Illinois is broken. We have crooks running every state office on both sides of the aisle -- Republican AND Democrat. We have $106 BILLION of unfunded liabilities and that debt to the State Government is growing every single day. Nearly on a daily basis we have our representatives and officials being indicted and sent to jail. We have a Democrat Governor who cannot work with either party (yes even the one that voted him into office) and who constantly goes on TV and announces new spending measures that...

A resolution supporting a person's right to "keep and bear arms" was approved by the Kankakee County Board, but not by a wide margin. The resolution, supplied by the Illinois State Rifle Association in retaliation of anti-gun legislation coming out of Cook County, passed the county board by a 14-9 vote on Tuesday. For some county board members, the rub lies in the fact that the resolution indirectly opposes a legislative bill that would ban the possession and sale of assault weapons, among other things. County board member Ann Bernard, the resolution's main opponent, also pointed out the resolution opposes...

Much still to be learned about Cahokia Mounds By ELIZABETH DONALD, AP COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (Map, News) - It's so much a part of the landscape that metro-east residents often don't even notice it, except when a visiting relative notices: "Look, there's the mound." Rising from what once was an endless grass sea parted by the Mississippi River, Monks Mound isn't even named after the Native American Indians who built it centuries ago, but the Trappist monks who lived there for only five years in the 19th century. No one knows what the long-vanished people who built the mounds called themselves,...

High-profile Democrats stump in state By Mike Wereschagin and Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW To hear Sen. Dick Durbin tell it, Nebraska -- a state that gave nearly 66 percent of its vote to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in 2004 -- will become a swing state in November if Illinois Sen. Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination.

It should be required reading for every member of the Illinois General Assembly, particularly as they contemplate new and exciting ways to fleece the state's producers. At the end of 2007, the bipartisan American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) published a study done by noted economists Art Laffer and Steve Moore entitled "Rich States, Poor States" (http://www.alec.org/2/rich-states-poor-states-alec-laffer-state-economic-competitiveness-index.html). The study did two things. First, it provided an economic performance ranking over the past 10 years (1996-2006) state-by-state. Second, it provided an economic outlook ranking, again state-by-state, based on a comparative review of 16 separate economic indicators. Am I boring you yet? Well,...

CHICAGO - As Illinois secretary of state, Jesse White's usual domain consists of licensing drivers, registering corporations and publishing the state's blue book manual. But he recently turned his attention to people walking across the street in addition to those in automobiles. According to an article on WBBM Radio's Web site, White wants the state to pass a law prohibiting people from walking across the street while using a cell phone. A bill along those lines has already been introduced in the Illinois House.

Frustrated with the number of students killed by gunfire, community leaders are calling for the passage of new gun legislation. Hundreds of students joined in the movement to reverse a deadly pattern of young people being shot and killed. So far, 20 Chicago public students have been killed by gunfire this school year. Students from Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes, left school Tuesday with the superintendent's blessing. The students took part in an anti-violence rally at the Thompson Center. Empty desks and pairs of shoes symbolized the young men and women who have been killed... ..."When young people stand...

You'll recall Hillary Clinton's recent speech in which she attempted to play up her foreign policy experience by recounting her "harrowing" 1996 trip to Bosnia. "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Well, mainstream media has discounted that account, and such luminaries as comedian Sinbad have chimed in as well. It appears, however, that Clinton caved in too soon when she admitted overstating the dangers, as Barely Political...

Barack Obama's speech about racism in America was splendid, flawed, misleading and unlikely to accomplish anything other than help his political career. Yet Obama, the agent of change, still is just another politician. His great speech on race relations was provoked by a political attack that threatened his candidacy. Hateful words spoken by his minister during a church sermon were caught on videotape, and the presidential candidate was deemed guilty by association. So Obama used the moment to discuss race relations, to explain to white folk how black folk behave differently in church. In addition, Obama said he could not...

Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor. Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin. They torched what few clothes she had, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle. Dixon -- six months...

Mr. Obama’s Philadelphia speech, in spite of its eloquent passages expressing his hope for better racial relations in America, is a mastery example of literary subterfuge, the broadening of the scenery whereby an object of inquiry becomes blurred and lost in the background, or more bluntly, the escaping of a slippery fish from a pond into a lake to hide in a wider expanse of water. His speech is essentially a sophisticated lawyerly defense of Rev Wright’s sin on the basis of self-defense. While Mr. Obama’s understanding on the root causes of America’s racial problems is quite apt, he attempts...

ISRA URGENT ALERT – YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION REQUIRED 03/15/08 Larry Suffredin and his cohorts on the Cook County Board are up to their old tricks again. In order to justify passage of gun control ordinances designed to close all gun shops and ban and confiscate most guns owned by citizens of the county, the Cook County Board is conducting a telephone poll where callers can vote for or against the gun control ordinances. Like everything else in Cook County, this poll is probably rigged. So, it’s very important that you do the following: 1. Call 1-312 -603-6400 and select Option...

URBANA – A 30-year-old illegal immigrant faces possible prison and his third deportation following his recent arrest by federal authorities. Fernando Delgado-Cruz, also known as Fernando Lopez, was arraigned and pleaded innocent Wednesday to a federal charge of unlawful reentry of a removed alien. Magistrate Judge David Bernthal, through an interpreter, advised Delgado-Cruz that he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The judge set a pretrial hearing for May 2 and a trial for May 12. The judge had previously ordered that Delgado-Cruz be held in the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending resolution of the case....

Officials with the Spanish toll road operator Cintra have announced that the company has secured $430 million in loans from the U.S. government to build and operate two segments of a toll road in central Texas. Cintra officials announced the company’s financial plan for the $1.36 billion Highway 130 segments on Monday, March 10. OOIDA Senior Government Affairs Representative Mike Joyce told Land Line that the Association does raise red flags when federal dollars are used to subsidize private investors. Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association are not, however, categorically opposed to a state using future toll revenue to...

CHICAGO -- Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today named two of the state’s most influential leaders, former Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert and Southern Illinois University (SIU) President and former U.S. Congressman Glenn Poshard, as co-chairs of the newly created Illinois Works Coalition. The new bipartisan working group will draw expertise from business, labor and local leaders across the state and will focus on helping pass a statewide infrastructure plan in Illinois. Last month in his annual budget address, Gov. Blagojevich proposed Illinois Works, a $25 billion capital plan, as the central piece of a statewide stimulus package aimed...

FBI agent says Rezko raised $1.4 million for BlagoPosted: Friday, March 07, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. CHICAGO (AP) -- An FBI agent testified Thursday that investigators have identified more than $1.4 million raised by political fundraiser Tony Rezko for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich from 2000 to December 2004. Charles Willenborg was one of the first witnesses in Rezko's political fraud trial. A chart compiled by the FBI using the Blagojevich campaign's own records showed that Rezko had raised thousands of dollars from contractors, insurance people, lobbyists and individuals who later got seats on state boards that were involved in an...

Presidential candidate Alan Keyes may be leaving the GOP. In a conference call last night, Keyes is said to have told supporters that staying in the Republican Party would be "an occasion of sin" and he's ready to bolt. Keyes ... reportedly wants no part in selecting the "type of deodorant we need to make a stinking candidate acceptable to conservatives." A Keyes supporter confirms to Radar that the former Reagan administration official "stated in the conference call that he could no longer remain in the Republican Party." As for what's next, a third party bid seems like a good...