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Put Down Your Nanowrimo And Leave The House
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The Illinois state legislature is sort of a mess this. The House is in session, trying to fix the state budget, but the Senate isn't scheduled to return until after the November election.
Why the long break? Because there's a pay raise on the table, and if the Senate waits to approve the raise, they won't have to face the topic during reelection campaigns. State Senator Susan Garret (D-Lake Forest) says "Some people in leadership would rather us not be in Springfield because we would not have to address the pay raise." By "some people," she means Emil Jones. Jones's spokeswoman denied that that's Jones's plan.
Over at the House, Democrats have come up with a $1.8 billion capital program, which isn't quite the $34 billion the governor's pushing for. Quoth a Blago spokesman: "This House action puts us 1 percent closer to meeting our state's infrastructure needs." Snerk.
Mayor Daley says the problem is Mike Madigan and Blagojevich's ongoing dick-wagging contest. "It's a personal feud. It's the Hatfield and McCoy's, you know that. When people don't trust each other in politics or in families, you have issues." [WBEZ, S-T, Trib]
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Anyone want to start boostering for some mentally capable poiliticians?
Remember folks: These are the people who are giving themselves hefty pay raises while many of us citizens get by with "raises" that are less than inflation (assuming no pay cuts, of course), increased health-care costs and fears about whether we will have a job by the end of the year. These officials are getting richer while many of the people they are supposed to serve are getting poorer. And the people getting richer have done nothing to deserve their new money. And we, the taxpayers, are funding these undeserved raises.
Never forget: We allow this to happen. These hopelessly corrupt and immoral hacks serve only at our pleasure. Even leaders as evil as Hitler and Stalin would have had a hard time ruling had they enjoyed no popular support, tacit or otherwise, for their regimes.
I hope this hasn't been said already, but that picture of Blago looks eerily familiar:
http://www.toxicshock.tv/news/wp-content/uploads/step_brothers_will_ferrell_john_reilly_comedy.jpg
it looks like blago's photographer also did the pictures for my junior high yearbook ...his photo also looked familiar:
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/10/06/virgin,1.jpg
Wouldn't $1.8 billion be more like FIVE percent of $34 billion? No wonder they can't balance the budget. They can't even do basic math.