GOPUSA ILLINOIS March 31 2010

Fellow Republicans:



News clips and upcoming event information:



WASHINGTON POST

-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: What if instead of living in conservative Republican Wheaton, Diersen lived in liberal Democrat Beverly Hills? What if instead of being the GOPUSA Illinois Editor, Diersen was the GOPUSA California Editor? What if, in his role as the GOPUSA California Editor, Diersen had attended and written reports on the Young Eagles dinner and the Voyeur visit? Of course, Diersen's reports always include the names of the Republican candidates, the Republican elected officials, the Republican party leaders, and other high profile Republicans who attend. Sadly, certain Illinois Republican Party leaders, certain DuPage County Republican Central Committee leaders, and certain Milton Township Republican Central Committee leaders make it clear that they do not want any record kept of who attends their events.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/30/AR2010033003584.html?hpid=moreheadlines

(FROM THE ARTICLE: Fired RNC staffer led program to recruit young donors - Dan Eggen The Voyeur visit took place after an official Young Eagles dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel, attended by about 50 donors, according to the RNC and other officials. Hotline, citing unidentified sources, said Meyers organized the official RNC event and the after-party at the club. About a dozen Republicans, including Meyers, attended the Voyeur gathering, GOP officials said.)

-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Nasty Steele cartoon

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/tomtoles/2010/03/steele_shackles.html

-- Party over for Steele and the RNC? - Doug Feaver

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2010/03/party_over_for_steele_and_the.html

-- University of Wyoming cancels William Ayers speech - Bob Moen

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/30/AR2010033002390.html



DUPAGE COUNTY REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE

-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: Back in the good old days of openness and transparency, the DuPage County Republican Central Committee (DCRCC) used to allow DuPage County Republican Precinct Committeemen, which includes me, to attend DCRCC Executive Committee meetings as observers.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/27389871/DuPage-Republican-Party-Calendar-of-Events



HUFFINGTON POST

-- The GOP Is "Shooting the Messenger" - Joan Dowlin (DIERSEN: Since I became the GOPUSA Illinois Editor in 2000, many who claim to be Republican and some who even claim to be conservative have threatened to harm me if I didn't follow their directives on what to include and what to not include in GOPUSA ILLINOIS daily emails. Some have harmed me because I did not succumb to their threats. Most of the threats came from political thugs who presented themselves as spokespersons for Illinois Republican Party (IRP) leaders. Most wanted me to blacklist Jack Roeser and blacklist anyone associated with Jack Roeser. Now that Jack Roeser has been embraced by the IRP, it will be interesting to see how those political thugs treat me. Of course, I reserve the right to a) expose those who threaten me, b) to obtain restraining orders against those who threaten me, and c) to take legal action against those who threaten me.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-e-dowlin/the-gop-is-shooting-the-m_b_516056.html



ABC7

-- Kirk isn't saying if he wants health care repealed - Charles Thomas

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=7358698



NBC5

-- DISGUSTING: "Scarface School Play" Causes Trouble for Local School The video is a hoax - Andrew Greiner and Lora Lesage

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Scarface-the-School-Play-Causes-Trouble-for-Local-School-89533267.html

-- Mark Kirk Backs Off "Repeal" Charge Kirk implores Giannoulias to do some straight talking as well - Mary Ann Ahern

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Kirk-Talks-Healthcare-Reform-89519812.html



CBS2

-- Beverly Hills: Rove Abandons Book Signing After 'Arrest' Attempt

http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/karl.rove.book.2.1599344.html

-- Obama Takes Care In Sizing Up 'Tea Party' Movement - AP

http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/obama.tea.party.2.1601135.html



CHICAGO TRIBUNE

-- COYOTES AND THEIR PROMOTERS ARE OVERJOYED: Wheaton ends coyote culling program - Clifford Ward

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/03/wheaton-ends-coyote-culling-program.html

-- CLARENCE PAGE: "Ironically, exasperated Republican insiders tell me that Steele probably would have been gone by now if the party didn't have such a severe shortage of Republicans-of-color in key positions. Republican leaders find themselves in the awkward position of trying to reach out to nonwhites without calling attention to race. These leaders favor a colorblind society as a policy position and oppose affirmative action "quotas." Yet, they are not comfortable with looking increasingly like a white party, especially when they have to go up against the country's first black president." (DIERSEN: Which group does Page despise the most -- Whites or conservative Blacks?)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-oped-0331-page-20100331,0,7820555.column



CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

-- VERY SAD: Mark Kirk refuses to say he'll repeal health care overhaul - AP

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/2131452,kirk-health-care-repeal-033010.article



DAILY HERALD

-- FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD IN DUPAGE EDITION: COYOTES AND THEIR PROMOTERS ARE OVERJOYED: Wheaton officials halt coyote trapping program - Robert Sanchez

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=369587

-- VERY SAD: Foster gets support of Provena hospital CEO for health care vote - Jim Fuller

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=369677&src=5

-- Perhaps they'll hear us come November - Rafael Rivadeneira, Elmhurst

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=368946&src=

-- Lisle commission sets Navistar hearing date - Jake Griffin

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=369618

-- Health care takeover unconstitutional - Paul White, Naperville

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=368947&src=

-- Does the Left know why we're angry? - Doug MacGregor, Naperville

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=368949&src=



SUBURBAN CHICAGO NEWS

-- Video gaming debate something to chew on - Denise Crosby

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2131940,2_1_AU31_DENISE_S1-100331.article

-- AS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY'S STRANGLEHOLD ON ILLINOIS AND ON AMERICA TIGHTENS: Economy magnifies domestic violence issue Economic hardship magnifies domestic violence problem - Susan Carlman

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2131759,6_1_NA31_DOMVIOLENCE_S1-100331.article



SUBURBAN LIFE

-- New legislation would turn water commission operations over to DuPage County - Dave Heitz

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/elmhurst/newsnow/x1009765692/New-legislation-would-turn-water-commission-operations-over-to-county



PIONEER LOCAL

-- Local leaders hit Springfield to oppose governor's budget plan - Amy Deis

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/clarendonhills/news/2131415,clarendon-hills-managers-040110-s1.article

-- Opposition rises to county control of water commission - Amy Deis

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/clarendonhills/news/2131436,clarendon-hills-managers-040110-s2.article



BLOOMINGTON PANTAGRAPH

-- Illinois AARP seeks safeguards on power of attorney

http://pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/article_e6bd3177-a44b-576d-8fb4-ba332e5b35fa.html



ALTON TELEGRAPH

-- AS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY'S STRANGLEHOLD ON ILLINOIS AND ON AMERICA TIGHTENS: Nearly 1.5 million in Illinois short on food - Bill McMorris

http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/food-38258-state-illinois.html



REPUBLICAN NEWS WATCH

-- NBC Chicago hits Kirk for backtrack but gives him pass on taxes

http://republicannewswatch.com/wp/?p=1475



ILLINOIS REVIEW

-- OUTSTANDING: Judge says contractor can sue IDOT chief over highway work quotas

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2010/03/judge-says-contractor-can-sue-idot-chief-over-highway-work-quotas.html

-- DISGUSTING: Video: Your public school tax dollars hard at work

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2010/03/video-your-public-school-tax-dollars-hard-at-work.html

-- Democrats' Chicago-Style Threats Against Job Creators Continue

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2010/03/democrats-chicagostyle-threats-against-job-creators-continue.html



AMERICANS FOR TRUTH ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

-- VERY SAD: 'Gay Liberation Network' Leader Pronounces Catholic Church 'Haters' - Peter LaBarbera

http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-liberation-network-leader-pronounces-catholic-church-haters.html



NANCY J. THORNER

-- The Flourishing of Statism

http://nancyjthorner.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/the-flourishing-of-statism/



ILLINOIS FAMILY INSTITUTE

-- Obama's Controversial Recess Appointment to the EEOC: Lesbian Chai Feldblum - Laurie Higgins

http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=34815



CHICAGO NOW

-- Palin Endorses Kinzinger - Blake Dvorak

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/voting-booth/2010/03/palin-endorses-kinzinger.html



ARCH PUNDIT

-- Mark Kirk: Man of Principle

http://archpundit.com/blog/2010/03/30/mark-kirk-man-of-principle/



HUFFINGTON POST

-- Sheila Simon: Learning About The Democrats' New Lieutenant Governor Nominee

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/30/sheila-simon-learning-abo_n_518778.html



ACCURACY IN MEDIA

-- DISGUSTING: NBC Partners With Gay Magazine (DIERSEN: All the religions of the world discourage homosexual activity.)

http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/nbc-partners-with-gay-magazine/



THE HILL

-- GOP leaders seek to distance themselves from Michael Steele - Molly K. Hooper and Bob Cusack

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/89831-gop-leaders-seek-to-distance-themselves-from-michael-steele

-- Nev. GOP chief quits - Sean J. Miller

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/other-races/89949-nev-gop-chief-quits



HUMAN EVENTS

-- Democrats Awash in Corruption Scandals - Donald Lambro (FROM THE ARTICLE: In Illinois, a state notorious for its political corruption, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office last year for trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama to the highest bidder. Blagojevich, who now faces charges that include fraud and solicitation of bribery, goes on trial June 3.)

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36271



WORLD NET DAILY

-- University of Wyoming to Bill Ayers: Thanks but no thanks! Radical's appearance at university canceled

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=134157



NATIONAL POST

-- Sex-club expense leaves Republican chairman red-faced - Victoria Wells

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/posted/archive/2010/03/30/sex-club-expense-leaves-republican-chairman-red-faced.aspx



GOPUSA ILLINOIS

-- Clowns to the Left, Jokers on the Right - Debra Saunders

http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/dsaunders/2010/ds_0330.shtml



NATIONAL REVIEW

-- Obamacare Costs Illinois Tool Works $22 Million

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTY5NDhhMGQxYzhlOTQ0MjAyMzRjZTRjYWU1Mjc1Zjg=



HOUSTON CHRONICLE

-- Republicans say Steele will survive nightclub flap - AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6936937.html



SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

-- Karl Rove says GOP must deal with scandal - Carla Marinucci

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/30/MNQS1CNJ2V.DTL&type=politics&tsp=1



MSNBC

-- GOP watch: Strained relationships

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/03/31/2253064.aspx



NATIONAL JOURNAL

-- Hotline After Dark -- Steele Yourselves - Rachelle Proulx

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/03/hotline_after_d_736.php



CBS NEWS

-- GOP Committee Investigating $2K Trip to Topless Bondage-Themed Club - Stephanie Condon

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20001355-503544.html?tag=mncol;lst;3



ABC NEWS

-- Is RNC Chairman Michael Steele's Job in Jeopardy? Republican Leader Comes Under Fire For Spending Spree - Claire Shipman

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/rnc-chairman-michael-steeles-job-jeopardy/story?id=10247675



CANADA FREE PRESS

-- Do Democrats commit hate crimes against black Republicans - Frances Rice

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/21522



WINDY CITY TIMES

-- What about Brady's running mate?

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=26030

-- Bill Brady: A closer look

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=26029



CITY OF CHICAGO

-- Mayor Daley Proclaims 2010 The Year Of Mexico In Chicago (DIERSEN: Needless-to-say, individuals like Daley, governmental entities like Chicago, organizations, companies, etc. that encourage people to come into America illegally and/or to stay in America illegally should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.)

http://mayor.cityofchicago.org/mayor/en/press_room/press_releases/2010/march_2010/0310_mexico_in_chicago.html







UPCOMING EVENTS: FOR EVENT DETAILS, VISIT THE EVENTS PAGES AT: www.illinoisreview.com, www.weareillinois.org, and/or www.dupagegop.com



3/31 Event: Grogan to speak at DuPage County Young Republicans Party in Wheaton

4/6 Event: Kelly to speak at TEA Party Express in Rockford

4/8 Event: Millner reception in Des Plaines

4/8 Event: IRP National Committeeman vacancy applications due

4/8 Event: Wayne Township GOP meeting

4/9 Event: Bill Brady to attend Vernon Township GOP candidate night in Wheeling

4/9 Event: NTRO Annual Pizza Party

4/9 Event: Vernon Republican Candidate Night

4/10 Event: Bill Brady, Dan Sugrue, and Joe Walsh to speak at breakfsat meeting in Grayslake

4/12 Event: Dillard fundraiser in Downers Grove

4/12 Event: Downers Grove Township GOP meeting

4/13 Event: Annual Township meetings

4/14 Event: Milton Township GOP meeting

4/15 Event: Andrzejewski to speak at TEA rally in Palatine

4/15 Event: IPR SCC meeting to fill the National Committeeman vacancy

4/16 Event: Day of Silence Walkout

4/16 Event: Senger fundraiser at White Eagle in Naperville

4/16 Event: Pawlenty to keynote Lake County Republican Federation gala

4/17 Event: TAPROOT breakfast meeting in Lombard

4/17 Event: Bachmann to speak at Family-Pac Federal breakfast in Oak Brook

4/17 Event: Kelly to speak at Clark County TEA Party

4/19 Event: Lisle Township GOP meeting

4/20 Event: York Township GOP meeting

4/21 Event: Winfield Township GOP meeting

4/22 Event: IRP fundraising dinner

4/24 Event: Naperville Township GOP meeting

4/26 Event: Radogno to speak at City Club of Chicago luncheon

4/27 Event: Bloomingdale Township GOP meeting

4/28 Event: DuPage Young Republican meeting

4/28 Event: David Kohn on Theodore Roosevelt at the Union League Club

5/2 Event: Kachiroubas fundraiser in Lisle

5/5 Event: Cinco de Mayo RNHA fundraiser in Aurora

5/12 Event: Palin to speak at the Rosemont Theater

5/21 Event: Naperville Area Republican Women's Organization fundraiser in Lisle

7/4 Event: Wheaton & Glen Ellyn Independence Day parades

7/17 Event: Operation Support Our Troops concert in Wheaton

9/9 Event: RNHA of Illinois Meet the Candidates event

9/18 Event: Glenn Beck to speak at URF event in Chicago area

10/8 Event: Milton Township GOP Oktoberfest at the Carlisle

11/2 Event: General election



Each and every morning, I send a GOPUSA ILLINOIS email to each and every GOPUSA ILLINOIS subscriber. If the email does not appear in your inbox, to view a copy of it, please visit: http://www.gopillinois.com. Also each and every morning, I post a link to that copy on the Illinoize page at http://www.capitalfax.blogspot.com. Since January 1, 2005, GOPUSA ILLINOIS has brought to your attention 62,002 internet postings and information on many upcoming events free of charge and without any advertising. GOPUSA ILLINOIS asks that its subscribers use the information in the emails to help elect and reelect Republicans who can and will defend and advance the Illinois Republican Party platform.



Thanks,

Dave Diersen

Phone: 630-653-0462

Fax: 630-653-9665

Supply fears start to hit Treasuries

By Michael Mackenzie in New York and David Oakley in London

Published: March 26 2010 19:18
Last updated: March 26 2010 19:18

The bond vigilantes are finally flexing their muscles. A long period of stability for the US government bond market showed signs of cracking this week as a lack of investor appetite for new debt sent the benchmark 10-year yield to its highest level since last June.


For more than a year, analysts have been warning that record sized debt sales by the US Treasury were at odds with a 10-year yield sitting comfortably below 4 per cent. This week, the yield on 10-year notes jumped from 3.65 per cent to a peak of 3.92 per cent on Thursday. On Friday it was 3.87 per cent.

Falling inflation, rising unemployment, the housing market slump, the Federal Reserve’s policies of a near zero overnight borrowing rate and its purchase of up to $1,700bn in bonds have all helped keep Treasury yields near historic lows.


But this week the mood shifted as yields for $118bn of new US debt were much higher than forecast, sparking overall selling of Treasuries. Sentiment also deteriorated in the UK bond market after the government’s budget ahead of a general election expected in May failed to resolve doubts over future spending and debt reduction.

The term “bond vigilantes” was coined in the 1980s when bond investors pushed up long-term yields to force central banks into taking action to curb inflation. This time, bond investors are less worried about inflation: they are fretting about huge fiscal deficits and the looming bond supply needed to finance them.

“Everyone thought we would see rising rates due to higher inflation, but it appears the bond vigilantes are demanding a higher real rate due to concerns about Treasury issuance,” says George Goncalves, head of fixed income strategy at Nomura Securities.
Falling inflation, rising unemployment, the housing market slump, the Federal Reserve’s policies of a near zero overnight borrowing rate and its purchase of up to $1,700bn in bonds have all helped keep Treasury yields near historic lows.

Worries about the debt loads of developed economies have come into focus this year amid the crisis threatening Greece and other members of the eurozone periphery.The fact that German Bunds have outperformed both Treasuries and gilts in recent months highlights this increasing worry over public debt. Germany’s budget deficit is much lower than the US and UK and inflation there is also expected to remain low.

“The spotlight on Greece only helped to reveal that the US’s kitchen – with Federal and state budget balances – was itself full of cockroaches,” says William O’Donnell, strategist at RBS Securities.
It hasn’t helped that the US announced a big overhaul of its healthcare system this month, adding to worries about the scale of US spending. Moreover, the Fed completes its bond buying programme next week, leaving the market to absorb the supply of new debt on its own. Next week’s March employment report, which economists say could see 150,000 jobs created, also looms as a test for bond market sentiment.

“The environment for debt auctions has turned negative,” says Rick Klingman, managing director at BNP Paribas. “Long-term rates are rising and it is no coincidence that this has occurred after the passage of healthcare reform and the end of Fed buy-backs.”Also rattling US investors this week was a report by the Congressional Budget Office that falling payroll taxes due to high unemployment, means that the social security programme will pay out more in benefits than it receives for this fiscal year. “A sustained rise in yields is upon us and bond funds will start to incur losses,” says Jim Caron, global head of interest rate strategy at Morgan Stanley. He expects 10-year yields to reach 4.50 per cent in the second quarter, as investors pull their money from bond funds. March looms as the first month for negative returns for investors in Treasuries this year.

For now, other key markets such as equities and the dollar have not been affected by the rise in yields, but that may change if the 10-year rises decisively above 4 per cent and big auctions next month are also poorly received. “This appears as a credit shot across the Treasury market bow and concerns over the US fiscal spending could well move to the dollar and equities,” says Mr Goncalves.A sign of the strains across US fixed income markets was this week’s historic rupture between the 10-year Treasury yield and its close derivative, the interest rate swap.

For the first time since swaps emerged in the mid-1980s, the 10-year swap rate traded below that of the “risk free” 10-year Treasury yield. Analysts say this reflects how government debt issuance has altered the dynamics between “risk-free” yields and swaps, which reflect borrowing costs for non-sovereign borrowers.
In the UK, swap rates have been below those of 10-year gilt yields since January. The yield on 10-year gilts was at 4.03 per cent on Friday, up from a low of 3.91 per cent earlier this week. The peak yield so far this year was 4.27 per cent in February. In Europe, however, swap rates are 20 basis points higher than 10-year yields. “If we get clarity on what the UK will do on deficit reduction once the election is behind us, then the market and gilt yields could stabilise,” says Mike Amey, UK portfolio manager for Pimco.

Since the UK budget on Wednesday, the negative spread, or inversion, has widened with swap rates trading nearly 20 basis points below gilts for 10-year maturities compared with a negative spread of 10bps just before the government statement on public finances. In other words, huge issuance is already creating unexpected distortions and stresses in the market. It is far from clear that we have seen the last of them, given the amounts that still need to be raised.











.

Brady campaign update

On March 5th the Brady for Governor campaign kicked off its official campaign. Even though this was a time for celebration, Bill got right to work with an intense schedule. On Monday, March 8th, Bill met with supporters in a statewide fly around. His day was packed with stops in Chicago, Rockford, Quad Cities, Quincy, Cahokia, Marion, Champaign, Peoria, and Bloomington. Brady held a celebration party for his supporters, staff, and family at the Double Tree Convention Center in Bloomington following the day's events with hundreds of attendees. On the 15th, we launched the Chicagoland campaign with a unity rally in DuPage County that featured all the former GOP candidates for governor and most of the 2010 statewide Republican slate for statewide office.


In the last couple weeks, Bill has been busy attending statewide events, reaching out to voters, and tending to his duties as a State Senator. Due to the national interest in this race, Bill has been in contact with several national Republican organizations that are very interested in assisting our race. His hard work and dedication are paying off, as indicated by three recent polls, each of which show the Brady campaign solidly leading in each survey. Comexpress just released numbers Friday that indicated that Brady was beating Governor Quinn 45 to 36 percent. Not only is Brady winning, but he is also leading or in a virtual tie in every part of the state except for the City of Chicago.

A We Ask America poll from earlier in the month put Brady ahead of Quinn 44.6 percent versus 31.6 percent. And a Rasmussen Poll confirmed both of these findings with its poll illustrating that Brady is leading Quinn 47 to 37 percent. With the continued efforts of Bill and his supporters, these numbers can remain steady and we can take back the state of Illinois. We believe that Governor Quinn's announcement Friday he wants Sheila Simon as his running mate, and the controversy it has generated in the selection of a Democrat candidate for lieutenant governor, adds even more momentum to the Brady/Plummer campaign.



Thank you for your continued support to take Illinois back..

Illinois GOP.org Roots: White men shun Democrats

Illinois GOP.org Roots: White men shun Democrats: "Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=915922&category=OPINION&TextPage=2#ixzz0jOwzVsUQ"

White men shun Democrats

By DAVID PAUL KUHN

First published in print: Saturday, March 27, 2010

Millions of white men who voted for Barack Obama are walking away from the Democratic Party, and it appears increasingly likely that they'll take the midterms elections in November with them. Their departure could well lead to a GOP landslide on a scale not seen since 1994.
For more than three decades before the 2008 election, no Democratic president had won a majority of the electorate. In part, that was because of low support -- never more than 38 percent -- among white male voters. Things changed with Obama, who not only won a majority of all people voting, but also pulled in 41 percent of white male voters. Polling suggests that the shift was not because of Obama but because of the financial meltdown that preceded the election.

It was only after the economic collapse that Obama's white male support climbed above the 38 percent ceiling. It was also at that point that Obama first sustained a clear majority among all registered voters, according to the Gallup tracking poll. It looked for a moment as though Democrats had finally reached the men of Bruce Springsteen's music, bringing them around to the progressive values Springsteen himself has long endorsed. But liberal analysts failed to understand that these new Democrats were still firmly rooted in American moderation.

Pollsters regularly ask voters whether they would rather see a Democrat or Republican win their district. By February, support for Democrats among white people (male and female) was three percentage points lower than in February 1994, the year of the last Republican landslide. Today, among whites, only 35 percent of men and 43 percent of women say they will back Democrats in the fall election. Women's preferences have remained steady since July 2009. But white men's support for a Democratic Congress has fallen eight percentage points, according to Gallup. White men have moved away from Obama as well. The same proportion of white women approve of him -- 46 percent, according to Gallup -- as voted for him in 2008. But only 38 percent of white men approve of the President, which means that millions of white men who voted for Obama have now lost faith in him.

The migration of white men from the Democratic Party was evident in the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts. His opponent, a white woman, won 52 percent of white women. But white men favored Brown by a 60 percent to 38 percent margin, according to Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates polling. It's no accident that the flight of white males from the Democratic Party has come as the government has assumed a bigger role, including in banking and health care. Among whites, 71 percent of men and 56 percent of women favor a smaller government with fewer services over a larger government with more services, according to ABC/Washington Post polling.

Obama's brand of liberalism is exactly the sort likely to drive such voters away. More like LBJ's than FDR's, Obama-style liberalism favors benefits over relief, a safety net over direct job programs, health care and environmental reform over financial reform and a stimulus package that has focused more on social service jobs -- health care work, teaching and the like -- than on the areas where a majority of job losses occurred: construction, manufacturing and related sectors. This recession remains disproportionately a "he-cession." Men account for at least seven of 10 workers who lost jobs, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Nearly half of the casualties are white men, who held 46 percent of all jobs lost.

In 1994, liberals tried to explain their thinning ranks by casting aspersions on the white men who were fleeing, and the media took up the cry. The term "angry white male" or "angry white men" was mentioned 37 times in English-language news media contained in the Nexis database between 1980 and the 1994 election. In the following year, the phrases appear 2,306 times. Tarnishing their opponents as merely "angry" was poor politics for the Democrats. Liberals know what it's like to have their views -- most recently on the war in Iraq or George W. Bush -- caricatured as merely irrational anger. Most voters vote their interests. And many white men by the 1980s had decided the Democrats were no longer interested in them.

Think about the average working man. He has already seen financial bailouts for the rich folks above him. Now he sees a health care bailout for the poor folks below him. Big government represents lots of costs and little gain. Meanwhile, like many women, these men are simply trying to push ahead without being pushed under. Some once believed in Obama. Now they feel forgotten. Government can only do so much. But recall the Depression. FDR's focus on the economy was single-minded and relentless. Hard times continued, but men never doubted that FDR was trying to do right by them. Democrats should think about why they aren't given that same benefit of the doubt today.
David Paul Kuhn is chief political correspondent for RealClearPolitics and the author of "The Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma." He wrote this for the Los Angeles

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=915922&category=OPINION&TextPage=2#ixzz0jOwzVsUQ

Little-Known Health Care Law Provision Is a Budget Buster, Critics Say

By William La Jeunesse


- FOXNews.com



While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year.
The Class Act, otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, is the federal government's first long-term care insurance program. Under-reported and the under the radar of most lawmakers, the program will allow workers to have an average of roughly $150 or $240 a month, based on age and salary, automatically deducted from their paycheck to save for long-term care. The Congressional Budget Office expects the government will collect $109 billion in premiums by 2019. Supporters say the program will relieve pressure on Medicaid and should help keep us out of nursing homes by enabling Americans to save for something most will eventually need -- assistance in eating, bathing or dressing in their old age.Opponents say the provision is little more than a short-term revenue fix that will eventually add to the federal deficit.


"This is a scary proposition where the government passed a huge new entitlement program with gimmicks and tricks and the American people don't know they will be automatically enrolled in it by their employer if they don’t watch out," said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). Nunes says Republicans were blindsided by the provision because they were unable to see the final bill until the very end.

 But Democratic supporters say the provision, which was championed by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, should not be controversial. "It promotes independence and choice for people who need long-term care, and over time it will help millions stay where they want to, which is at home," says Jim Firman, director of the National Council on Aging. Scheduled to go into effect in January, actual deductions could take place in 2012.

Here's how the program will work:
-- The federal government will approach employers next year about alerting workers to the proposed deduction.

-- The deduction will work on a sliding scale based on age. Younger workers will be charged less, older workers more. The Congressional Budget Office pegged the average monthly deduction at $146. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put it higher, at $240.


-- After a five-year vesting period, enrollees who need help bathing, eating or dressing will be eligible to take out benefits, estimated to be around $75 a day for in-home care.

"Seventy-five dollars a day in flex cash will be enough for most people who are at home to stay at home, which is where they want to be," Firman said. "We are convinced a cash benefit is the best way for consumer to get what they want." While the plan's opponents don't question the need for long-term care, they say the federal government should not be managing it, and they believe the program will eventually add to the deficit.
"This creates a whole new bureaucracy that is going to break this country," Nunes said. "In the early years there will be money in it, but at the end of the day there won't be enough money to cover the problems because there will be too many people in the program."

The statute says the program is designed to be self-sustaining, with an advisory board to assure the fund remains solvent. But opponents say the fine print already tells another story. Unless modifications are made, according to a CBO analysis of the bill, "the program will add to future federal budget deficits in a large and growing fashion."Supporters and detractors admit much needs to be worked out, and eventually premiums will be based on how many Americans actually sign up for the insurance.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/26/little-known-long-termhealth-care-provision-budget-buster-say-critics/

Roeser story used to help Oberweis in 2006

The other night I was asked to introduce State Sen. Bill Brady at a Christmas party for his governor’s campaign contributors and well wishers—and I told this story: in much less time than I’m devoting now or else I would have been thrown out. (Incidentally, if your Republican candidate holds a party and wants an introducer, I’m available—also for wedding toasts and bar mitzvahs). But in an elongated fashion, this is the story I told and it will have to be divulged in two parts.




This political year with many Republicans divided about whom they will support for governor seems a lot like the year 1979 when state Republicans were split up seven different ways in their presidential choices. As the government relations officer at Quaker, I worked for a man who was for John Connally, the silver-haired ex-treasury secretary, ex-navy secretary and survivor of the JFK assassination who was just cleared of a corruption charge and was hailed as a champion of big, decisive yet conservative (on foreign-military policy) government and pro-choice on abortion. The entire Republican establishment was for Connally, headed by the state Republican chairman, Harold Byron Smith, Jr. who was both enormously influential money-raiser and political activist.



Most of the big money and the big political influence, with Gov. Jim Thompson staying neutral, was for Connally. Others, however, were for George H. W. Bush who like Connally touted his resume: former Congressman, former UN ambassador, former CIA director, former representative to China, former RNC chairman. Bush was a moderate and pro-choice. Others supported Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), the Senate minority leader who made his reputation at Watergate and had Illinois connections through his tie by marriage to Everett Dirksen’s daughter, Joy. He was pro-choice. Still others supported Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kansas), a moderate though discreetly and somewhat quietly pro-life. A group endorsed the most conservative of the lot, Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill), a member of Ways and Means, an author and according to the women, devilishly handsome, who was pro-life. Another endorsed Rep. John B. Anderson (R-Ill.) of Rockford, chairman of the House Republican Conference, a decided liberal, author of a campaign finance reform law which was expected to drive all corruption from fund-raising—a pro-choicer.



That was a lot of people: Connally, Bush, Baker, Dole and Crane. And then we had some people for Reagan, headed by philanthropist Dan Terra, although Terra’s organization was, by no means, more than a few hundred names on a list. My boss, Bob Stuart, was for Connally but was the most tolerant chief executive I ever heard of before or since, in that if I wished to express my views in the papers or on the radio I could do so if I did not tie Quaker to it: a highly enlightened view that I cherished and still do. At any rate I hadn’t made up my own mind about who to back (not that my weight would add any importance). I knew Connally rather well, having hosted him at my Northwestern University seminar and spent many hours with him. I met Bush at a City Club event and heard lots from his campaign. I knew Baker, knew Dole, new Crane. Baker struck me as too flexible with malleable views. Crane was too rigid with a polarizing argumentative style. Anderson whom I knew the best and personally liked was the polar opposite to Crane, an oracular Old Testament prophet on liberal ideas. Dole was another ultra-flexible lawmaker with no set convictions who by his own words became a Republican because he lived in a Republican county and wanted to get elected its prosecutor. Reagan I had met once and while he was memorable at that time, we were surrounded by others and I couldn’t get over the view that he may have been an actor with a good script: possibly dumb, too dumb to be president.



It was about at that time that my phone rang with a call from John Sears. Sears and I were close friends, both having been booted out of our jobs in the Nixon administration at the same time and who toasted our good fortune occasionally in Washington. Sears was reputedly the world’s best delegate counter; he managed Nixon’s delegate count in 1968 and came very close as Reagan’s delegate counter to toppling President Ford in 1976.



Sears said that Reagan was coming to Chicago after having toured the south, would be coming into O’Hare alone and would have four hours or so to spare before he was to board a flight for Los Angeles. Reagan hated flying and needed the break, he said. And by the way, could you round up a group of business types for lunch as Reagan would be arriving about 11 a.m. at the O’Hare Hilton (we’ll pay the freight, he said) and see that he gets back on the plane for L.A. at 4:30? Sounded good to me so I called around only to be turned down by everybody of any financial worth in the Ilinois GOP. Dan Terra was Reagan’s fund-raiser and even he would be overseas. So in summary, I had nobody but myself. I called Sears and said that this might well be the first time I ever flopped on an assignment like this, but I had. Sears was not surprised, given the state of the Illinois GOP. He said, well what are you doing for lunch that day? I said nothing but Reagan wouldn’t want to eat with a punk like me. No, he said candidly, but Reagan’s got to eat with somebody and he’s an extrovert so you’re elected. Here’s what you do, he said. You hire a room at the O’Hare Hilton, order him a lean steak sandwich and take him over there. I asked: why a room for just us? He said there’s not going to be just you two, but two off-duty Chicago cops who volunteer to guard him. You don’t have to feed them but they’ll come along.



I said: why don’t we just go to the Seven Continents restaurant at O’Hare and save the trouble. I remember his reply: You don’t understand. This guy is the most recognizable of Americans, having been in the films beginning in the 1930s and on TV with “Death Valley Days” and having garnered media attention as governor. Why, he said, at Warner Brothers there was only one guy who got more fan mail than he and that was Errol Flynn. I was not impressed but said I’d do as he said so long as he paid the tab. So on a fall day in 1979 I went out to O’Hare, met the two off-duty cops and waited for the Allegheny airlines plane to come in. He was just about the last one down the ramp, carrying his own bags, looking very much as old as he was—69. I introduced myself and he put down his bags and said, “Mr. Ro—ser?” I asked him if he had had a good flight. He didn’t hear me very well and cocked his head to catch it. We chatted a bit and started off, me wondering what the two cops would do.



Very shortly, they were very busy. I met Reagan at Gate K8 and by the time we got to K5 we were having trouble getting through the crowd, with the cops gently leading the way. Somebody said, “that’s Reagan!” to which he bowed his head deferentially, smiled and we moved on. There was a ripple of shouts in the crowd, and he acknowledged it in the same way he did later with the press when he walked to the helicopter on the White House lawn. By the time we got to K1 we were pushing through the crowd. I was amazed. Some weeks before I had escorted Connally through O’Hare and while there was scattered recognition (being a survivor of the assassination at Dallas had some star-power), there was not the buoyant familiarity I saw here. As we went down the escalator there was a group at the topmost rail. . One guy shouted, “Hey, Ron! What was your name in `King’s Row’? I got a bet with this guy!” He heard it, looked up and smilingly said, “Drake McHugh!” The guy said to his chum, “See? I was right! You owe me $50!”



When we got to the room, the lunch was set. As we sat down I started to pop the questions about the country, foreign policy but he held up his hand and said, “Wait. Do you hear that?” I didn’t know what he was talking about. “The bathroom sink is running,” he said. “When I was an actor and traveling around I usually got the room with the running faucet.” The cops who evidently knew the drill said, watch this one. He got up, pealed off his suitcoat and opened up his suitcase, took out a cloth such as women wrap silverware in. Then he beckoned me to go with him. And so I tell my grandchildren, I entered the bathroom with the man who was to become the 40th president of the United States. He produced a wrench and expertly undid the faucet, tightened the screws and quickly replaced the faucet. Smiling he said to me: “There, that sonuvabitch won’t keep anybody else awake.”



After he fixed the faucet, Ronald Reagan returned to the table in the hotel room and we started talking. I asked him this provocative question, almost an insulting one—more of a statement than a question (a style I discourage on my radio shows but this was long before there was one). It went: “Governor, here we are in 1979 when the nation appears to be in solid disagreement with everything you stand for. It seems like the nation doesn’t want to see us involved in a continued internecine war with the USSR but wants détente. It feels it’s been stung in Vietnam. Yet you seem to be talking about America winning the Cold War when so many believe it is a war that cannot be won but only settled.”



Continuing: “On domestic affairs, it seems like the nation has accepted a larger role for government in everything from the GI Bill to farm subsidies to student loans. Yet in listening to your radio programs, it seems you’re hearkening back to the old days of Calvin Coolidge, if I may say so. On social issues, the rise of feminism and so-called reproductive rights is embraced by many in the Congress including your prospective opponents. In short, you’re pretty much of a minority even in your own party. How are you going to win the nomination and even granting that you win it, how are you going to win the election against a Democratic party which seems to have subsidized the interest groups and is tough to counteract. Let me also say that I agree with you on almost everything—top to bottom—but for the life of me I can’t figure out how you’re going to win unless you change your stance, and that would cause cynicism.”



I don’t intend to go into the details of his answer because after years of familiarity with his views, you know the answers. But I want to leave this with you: he responded with as thorough a grasp of domestic policy as I’ve ever heard and, in fact, recited more statistics than I ever imagined. I was shaken and exultant because I had found my presidential candidate. We talked for a long time, he working the cops into the discussion so they felt they belonged. The one lesson I took with me, besides the fact that here was a very knowledgeable guy was significant. I asked him how he would win. He asked if I had ever seen him in “Knute Rockne: All American.” I had not once but many times on midnight re-runs.



He said: There was a scene in there that was ultimately cut but it was meant to capture the first time George Gipp met Rockne. I’m playing Gipp and throwing a baseball on the campus of Notre Dame. Rockne—played by Pat O’Brien (he was a big star, much bigger at the time than I or anyone else in the film)—sees me throwing the baseball. He strides over to me and has this line (O’Brien never flubbed a line): Hey, kid, if you can throw a football like you throw that baseball, you’ve got a job of my team. Are you game?” The cameramen said: it’s a wrap, Pat. Terrific. Then they set up for my response shot. My line was supposed to be: “Gee, Rock, I sure would like to try.” I did that line seventeen times with poor O’Brien having to stride over to me and toss out his line which was always perfect: Hey, kid, if you can throw a football like you throw that baseball you’ve got a job on my team, are you game?” And here I go with what I thought was a snappy way of delivering the line but the director would keep yelling “cut—give me some humility.” Give me some humility? What did that mean? I didn’t know how to deliver it.



Finally the director, Lloyd Bacon called us both over and said flatly, “Reagan we don’t have to have you in this picture at all. We can get somebody else. I couldn’t imagine what was wrong with the way I delivered the line. He kept saying, “it’s not right; it’s not right. I want some humility and you give me cocky kid.” Finally he said to O’Brien: Pat, you know what I want. Take him out and tell him, show him. And if that doesn’t work, tomorrow we’ll get somebody else.” And he stalked away.



So, Reagan said, we were in LA with a cardboard backdrop of Notre Dame on the set. So we went to a quiet bar with a glass mirror over the bar. Pat filled up his drink. I ordered a very light one and stayed with it. Pat said, Reagan, in order to play this scene well you’ve got to be a very humble kid. You understand the line: Gee, Rock, I sure would like to try? You deliver the line like a cocky kid. That’s not the approach. You got to show you’re humble.



Reagan said: I was desperate and said Pat, how do I do this?



O’Brien said: Remember this, the camera is seduce-able. The old line that the camera always tells the truth is goofy. The camera can be seduced, even by a cocky kid like you. The way to con the camera is to bob your head deferentially—like this [and he did it], sort of speak haltingly, maybe use the word “well” before you begin. This is how I would give the line. [I will always remember Reagan imitating Pat O’Brien teaching Reagan]. A lot of it is in the bobbing of the head which shows you’re humble. Now try it. Reagan said he did it fifteen or so times. O’Brien said: I think you’re getting on to it but it needs work. Tonight after dinner, you stand in front of the mirror and do it over and over. Tomorrow is a big day. You’ve got to do it right. Then O’Brien added these very important words: Incidentally, Reagan, that style of deferential appeal could really help you in this business. You’re somewhat of a cocky kid yourself. You might adopt it as a style. It could get you a lot of roles.



Reagan said he went home and followed O’Brien’s orders. The next day on the third take, it was a wrap and his role was safe. For all the anxiety about the scene, it was scrubbed in the final film cut and another scene written and filmed quickly without the humility. But it was clear that Reagan agreed with what O’Brien had said: incidentally, Reagan you’re a cocky kid and you’re more attractive when you seem humble. Reagan applied this to his persona. Actually it became so much a part of him, he said, that when he played his biggest film, “King’s Row” and he had the part of a cocky kid named Drake McHugh, he had to work himself over to get the part down and he sat down again with O’Brien to re-make himself as an upstart kid. “But don’t forget the old Reagan,” O’Brien said. “It’s your trademark.” (O’Brien’s own trademark, incidentally, was that of a very cocky Irishman, not unlike Jimmy Cagney’s).



Hearing him relate this story was so fascinating that I had forgotten my question, but he didn’t: how was he going to sell his ideas? He said that when he ran against Pat Brown for the governorship, he was given a sheaf of manuscripts full of statistics six inches high to master for a television debate. It was clear he was coming to this political game late and couldn’t pound it all into his head so he gave up. He called O’Brien on the phone and they got together. O’Brien said: Ron, you know what you believe should happen to state government, don’t you? Reagan said: yes. Do you remember what you learned years ago? You get humble. You bob your head deferentially and say this is what I want to do and I sure would like to try.



At the outset, I thought it was simplistic. But when I saw him later in a debate with John Anderson, a man who knew not only the fine points of legislation but the sub-paragraphs and phrases, I saw him bob his head deferentially and say what he wanted to accomplish and “I sure would like to try.” The audience understood that he wasn’t going to rival Anderson who served in the House for decades. They felt he was conservative—maybe too conservative, I don’t know—but maybe we’ll give “the kid” (Reagan was hardly youthful but appeared as such) “a chance.” When he debated Carter he used the technique, plus (bobbing the head to show humility) “there you go again.”



In essence, I recognized in the hotel room that afternoon that here was a genius, every bit as much a genius as the man he originally admired so much: Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had learned his own persona differently: with uplifted cigarette-holder to display his jaunty confidence when the nation was hurting. Whenever I saw Reagan as president in a TV news conference being confronted by Sam Donaldson who would say: the government did this-and-this and you said this-and-this and how do you square these things, I’d see him bob his head and indicate virtually, he’d just like to try. Believe it or not this story isn’t finished yet. I just thought of something else: it has to go to a third chapter tomorrow. It’ll begin with his statement made when he was walking through O’Hare with me that he once lived as a child in Chicago. I thought: if this guy gets elected, he will have been the only president to have actually lived in Chicago. The only two other Illinoisans—Lincoln and Grant—didn’t (they weren’t actually Illinoisans by birth anyhow). Reagan was the only Illinoisan by birth. What transpired then, trying to find his original home may be fascinating—and tell you very much about how comfortable he was in his own skin

Tom Roeser Story Reagan 's chicago address

Ronald Reagan was the only president ever to have lived any part of his life in Chicago. Private citizen Reagan mentioned that he had lived in Chicago when we talked through the O’Hare concourse—or rather struggled to walk through the concourse, given the crowds—in 1979. It struck me then that should this guy get elected, somebody ought to find the house.




At the O’Hare Hilton following the celebratory repair of the leaky bathroom faucet and the story drawn from his George Gipp days, I asked him when he lived here and where. He said: I lived here for two years when I was a little kid, from about four to six. And I don’t know where but I think it was on the Southside. When you’re that young you don’t have much of a recollection.



Even before he was elected, I was interested in finding out but set it aside. After he got elected, I set to the task at once. First, he was born in 1911 which, following his words, would put him in Chicago roughly from 1915 to 1917. His father was John R. Reagan. I went to the Chicago public library and looked up the old phone books from that era but phones were scarce for a lower middle class family of that era. Then I looked at the Chicago directories which listed families but the family wasn’t listed. Looking at his biographies, I saw that at most they only spent two years in town, probably before they could get listed. I considered trying to get in touch with his older brother, Neil but didn’t know how to do it. So I pondered some more.



I read where his father had worked as a shoe salesman at Marshall Field & Company. I checked Fields for personnel records but records from that far back had been destroyed. I let it pass until well after he was inaugurated and started again. It so happened that Henry Hyde’s wife, Jeanne, was working in the correspondence unit in the basement of the White House for a very wonderful woman named Anne Higgins (who had also done the same job for Richard Nixon). I asked Jeanne if she could pass the word “upstairs” and checked with her every so often. One day when I checked in, Jeanne was laughing. She said that she passed the word upstairs that this guy from Quaker Oats was interested in finding out where he lived in Chicago. He suggested trying Marshall Field’s but was told that was a dead end. Then he told Jeanne something very revelatory.



He said: My father was picked up often as a common drunk. The police records should have that fact.



I checked with the police and sure enough, they listed a John R. Reagan picked up often for common drunkenness in the 1915-17 years. And the address they had was 832 east 57th street, in Hyde Park, on the Southside. It was a two-flat and the Reagan’s lived on the second floor.(I paid a visit to the place, knocked on the door and told the black residents that their apartment was once inhabited by President Reagan. They didn’t seem impressed. I wrote the story later as an Op Ed for the Sun-Times which also published the picture of the very ordinary building in what was now a slum and indeed which when he lived there was not much better.



What struck me about that experience was the comfort that Reagan had living in his own skin, the son of an alcoholic, who suggested that his father’s detention records be looked up. Not many successful men—much less the president of the United States—would so voluntarily give out that information. Reagan referred to his father’s alcoholism several times notably in his first autobiography, “Where is the Rest of Me?,” recounting that he once he came home from school and found his father lying on the sidewalk, arms akimbo resembling very much a crucifix. This was the first time he had mentioned his father’s police record. There’s a greatness to that anecdote about the 40th president that means very much to me. I never saw him up close again: only from afar, at the 1984 convention and the 1985 inauguration.

Tomroeser.com

Democratic State Sen. Michael Bond introduced resolution honoring drug dealer who tried to kill cops

"Bond issues apology for offending officers"

By Joseph Ryan - Daily Herald - March 26, 2010

http://www.facebook.com/l/c2d00;www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=368821

State Sen. Michael Bond of Grayslake was scrambling Thursday to apologize to law enforcement after he passed a resolution honoring a Zion man who allegedly ran over three police officers before being shot to death.

"It was a mistake," said Bond Thursday night.

Bond submitted a resolution honoring Mycol French, 29, and conveying the General Assembly's "sincere sympathy" to his family, including five daughters, on March 3.

Such resolutions honoring the dead are submitted by the hundreds at the Capitol with lawmakers seeking to recognize deceased constituents and console their families. They regularly are approved en masse without any vetting or debate.

The families receive a copy of the resolution.

The problem this time, however, is that French was shot by officers of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group Feb. 1 when authorities say he ran three of them over in his car as he tried to escape during a drug bust.

French has a long rap sheet that includes battery, domestic battery, cocaine dealing, DUI, criminal trespass and drug possession dating back to 1997.

At the time of the incident he was facing felony charges for heroin possession and dealing, according to Rod Drobinski, Lake County's senior assistant state's attorney on drug crimes.

Bond says the resolution was submitted because a staffer copied the information from his obituary in a paper and the cause of death and other details were not known.

Word of the resolution made it to officers Monday morning, sparking a chain reaction of outrage across the top brass of suburban police departments. The task force is made up of officers from departments throughout Lake County.

Bond says he talked with the task force's deputy chief, Jeff Padilla, and apologized Thursday. Padilla couldn't be reached for comment late Thursday.

However, the apology and reason behind the resolution clearly had not yet reached other law enforcement officials involved.

Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose, a member of the task force's advisory board, said Thursday night he found the resolution "outrageous."

Rose said he learned of the resolution from an officer in his department who was run over by French, pinned between his car and another. The officer received treatment for weeks and still is in rehabilitation for leg problems, he said.

Rose e-mailed the resolution and information on French's criminal history to seemingly every police chief in Lake County and beyond, encouraging them to express their opinion to Bond and other local lawmakers.

Told that Bond said it was a mistake made by staff, Rose said "there should be some editing of this practice."

Rose said French had three outstanding warrants at the time officers tried to arrest him at a location where a drug deal was taking place.

"For the Senate of the state of Illinois to be recognizing a violent drug dealer is just outrageous," he said. "This guy is a serious player."

Numbers

In the movie, "Good Will Hunting" a scene occurs when the seemingly malleable Matt Damon character foreshadows his deeper fearlessness by challenging a full-of-himself BMOC with the philosophically imponderable: "How d'ya like dem apples?" Well, today we have, "How d'ya like dem numbers?"

To wit:
157      New panels and commissions created
1,000s  New political appointees – most start at $67,500 per year
10,000s New Federal employees for just those commissions’ staffs
16,000  New IRS agents to enforce the HC bill and to collect insurance premiums/taxes
50,000,000  New, additional people alleged by Democrats to receive insurance
11,000,000 Actual number of newly eligible who are:
   A. Not illegal
   B. Transient between jobs, and
   C. Willing to purchase insurance

And then there's this:

66% U.S. population who believe that the HC Bill will make things worse
65% Rasmussen poll results of US population opposed to HC Bill at time of vote
50.3% Percentage of House of Representatives who voted the HR Bill into law over the strenuous objections of the two figures immediately above.

Other numbers, such as the understated costs and the overstated revenues lose meaning when needing to have 12 zeroes lined up behind them; so also when conjuring imaginative numeric metaphors like the stars in the sky, angels on a pin, chad in Florida or the blatant misstatements made by the poseur president. That doesn’t even touch on the little matter of counting the Medicare money twice. How is it that the press hasn’t skewered that matter?

No conversation on the subject of government and governing is thorough without citing the pathetic lapse, the maladroit casting of the national dialogue by a malpracticing press.

Mr. Boehner is right, of course, in calling shame upon Pelosi and her confederates. But face it, like the Irishman who was told on the occasion of being bitten by the snake he had taken in and nursed back to health, “You knew I was a snake when you met me!” Pelosi, Reid, Durbin without any shame evident whatsoever even forsaked their professed religions' core tenets to win this political prize. That itself delineates their reptilian natures more than mere words could ever do effectively. (Come to think of it, it was the snake Satan impersonated in Eden to offer Adam and Eve the conceit to believe they were greater than and independent of God, our Creator. Hmmmmm.)

No, the real shame inures to a press profession that would have us believe that it is objective and thoughtful. Emotionally charged sentimental slop, yes. They can ooze that all day long. But hard data? No. Too much thinking required there. Since it can’t seem to gather critical facts especially when they are numeric, much less triage them, it is not in the cards to expect them to report, certainly not to evaluate, numbers.

Maybe we should think of the press as a cold blooded reptilian crawler whose arithmetic skills are limted to the number of appendages they have.