Thoughts & Musings
Illinois Never Met a Tax it Didn’t Like: Sneakers? Really?
The cost of a new pair of basketball shoes could jump by 25 cents under a proposal floated this week by an Illinois lawmaker. State Rep. Will Davis, D-Hazel Crest, wants to create a new tax that would generate an estimated $3 million annually for a youth job...
Bacteria Creates Microscopic Gold Nuggets
Among the more peculiar organisms that inhabit our Earth exists a bacterium that turns water-soluble gold into microscopic nuggets of solid gold, scientists said Sunday. ... The answer, suggest researchers in Canada, lies in a molecule excreted by the microbe that...
Red-Light Camera Co.’s Chicago Corruption
The chairman of the Australian company behind Chicago's red-light program resigned this week and trading in the company's stock was suspended amid an intensifying investigation into allegations of corruption in its Chicago contract. Redflex Holdings Ltd. announced the...
No Warrant Required: The G Knows Everything About You
... by law, utilities must hand over customer records — which include any billing and payment information, phone numbers and power consumption data — to the DEA without court warrants if drug agents believe the data is “relevant” to an investigation. So the utility...
Wanna See Our Future?
Hundreds of people jostled for free vegetables handed out by farmers in a symbolic protest earlier on Wednesday, trampling one man and prompting an outcry over the growing desperation created by economic crisis. Images of people struggling to seize bags of tomatoes...
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz Writes a Letter
Letter from Senator Ted Cruz to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Bank of America, TD Bank Group Putting folks in their place.
What Quinn Didn’t Say
"Yes, we are going to continue milking Illinois taxpayers like a dairy cow..." what Gov. Quinn didn't tell you State of State Address February 6, 2013 Word cloud of State of State Address (what we heard) Yesterday, Gov. Quinn gave the "State of the State". Here's the...
15 y/o Arrested 19th Time After Armed Robbery
A 15-year-old boy with nearly 20 arrests on his record has been charged with armed robbery after he held up a man near his home, police said.It was Jesus Castaneda’s 19th arrest, according to police, and his second gun-related charge. He was last arrested in August...
New Manufacturing Institute Coming to Chicago
Gov. Pat Quinn will announce today in his State of the State speech that the Urbana-Champaign school, in partnership with its National Center for Supercomputing Applications and private companies, will be forming an Illinois Manufacturing Lab likely to be located in...
Quinn’s Motto: Move Your Business Out
Today's Local Bad News: Illinois companies warned in January that they may lay off as many as 1,200 workers in the next two months, according to filings with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. viaChicago Tribune. The economy sucks and the...
Cook County Keeps Crazy Judge
A Democratic Party-backed judge who won re-election in November while facing battery charges was found not guilty Monday — by reason of insanity. ... Bar associations have recommended since 2000 that Brim be tossed from her $182,000-a-year job, but voters have kept...
Lincoln Quote
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of...
UNO Charter Schools Engaging in Graft & Corruption
Kudos for the Sun-Times for shedding light on this. Business as usual. The friends of the friends get rich on the backs of the taxpayer.
Crain’s Propaganda on Illinois vs. Indiana
My comment on a brainless story: Since when is Crain's the new PR mouthpiece for Quinn and Rahm? Except for the graphic this piece is nearly 100% opinion. So Indiana spent $300k on a campaign and got 20 or so companies to move. Those companies may provide several...
Feds investigating finances of former Ald. Sandi Jackson: sources – Chicago Sun-Times
A federal financial probe of the once-politically powerful Jesse and Sandi Jackson has evolved into two separate investigations, with federal authorities taking an independent look at former Ald. Sandi Jackson, sources close to the probe told the Chicago...
Obama Admin Claims it can Kill Americans
Think about this for just a second. A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no...
Immigrant Knows More About US than Most Citizens
Kudos to this guy!! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY2JR92Scmk]
Gun Laws and Common Sense
Karl Marx summed up Communism as “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This is a good, pithy saying, which, in practice, has succeeded in bringing, upon those under its sway, misery, poverty, rape, torture, slavery, and death. For the...
Illinois’ Obnoxious Cell Phones Taxes
Illinois was fifth in a ranking of extra wireless costs, the Tax Foundation said, with the user paying an average of about 21.8 percent in additional federal, state and local taxes and fees. Only callers in Nebraska, Washington, New York and Florida pay more. via...
Quinn Balks at Illinois’ Fresh Interest Rate
Gov. Pat Quinn's administration delayed Wednesday's planned sale of $500 million in construction bonds, saying a recent credit downgrade because of inaction on government worker pension reform left the market "unsettled." The decision was made after officials with the...