There may be many adjectives to describe the 14 union-loving Wisconsin Democrats who hot dogged it to Illinois in order to prevent a quorum on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget bill. There is only one, truly accurate descriptor though: Elusive. (more)
A three-day-long stand-off at the Wisconsin state capitol between union supporters and those backing the Republican governor’s budget cuts just went to another level Thursday as Democratic senators apparently fled the area to prevent a vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill, which would cut public employee union collective bargaining rights and require them to contribute to pensions and health care. (more)
More than one-fifth of House freshman have taken the “bring your work home with you” concept to another level by opting to sleep in their D.C. offices. (more)
1.) Obama writes editorial against regulatory excess, can name only one excessive regulation — Overly schoolmarmish regulations have to go, Pres. Obama writes in an op-ed in the morning’s Wall Street Journal. In it, Obama pays lip service to America’s semi-free market system as the source of “dazzling ideas and path-breaking products” and “the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever known.” The op-ed is a curtain-raiser for this afternoon, when Obama will sign an executive order that “requires that federal agencies ensure that regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth,” as well as “a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.” But do not get your hopes too high: Apparently, the only regulatory excessiveness that Obama could think of was artificial sweetener: “The FDA has long considered saccharin, the artificial sweetener, safe for people to consume. Yet for years, the EPA made companies treat saccharin like other dangerous chemicals. Well, if it goes in your coffee, it is not hazardous waste. The EPA wisely eliminated this rule last month.” Meanwhile, a spox for Rep. Eric Cantor wishes Obama had released this executive order in 2009, when House Republicans proposed it first. (more)
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels isn’t as worried about his own state’s reputation as he is with that of Illinois, according to a WLS Chicago radio interview in which he compared Illinois to “The Simpsons.” (more)
As if Illinois weren’t already steadily chasing businesses and citizens away with policies of economic destruction, Illinois lawmakers are poised to raise taxes by as much as 75%, effectively wiping out the benefits of Obama’s recent extension of the Bush tax cuts for citizens of his home state. What’s more, Chicago machine boss and Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan is pushing a faux TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) to give his members and on-the-fence Republicans cover to pass this job-killing, prosperity-stifling plan. My colleague Kristina Rasmussen was lined up to testify against this bill at a hearing this past week but the only testimony allowed was by the Speaker himself. I suppose it was a hearing in a way — Illinois lawmakers heard marching orders from the powerful Speaker. (more)
Chicago-area police are undoubtedly feeling like a bunch of asses after an inadvertent cell phone “butt dial” sent more than 30 gun-toting SWAT team members storming into a middle school looking for a hostage situation. (more)
Rep.-elect Joe Walsh, a Republican from Illinois, will make good on a campaign promise and forgo government provided health care for himself and his wife in protest of the Obama’s health care plan — in spite of his wife’s a preexisting condition. (more)
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A northern Illinois couple welcomed their new daughter to the world in the last minute of 2010 — and a twin son in the first minute of 2011. (more)
1.) Every player in the higher education subsidy debate is a parasite — “When you inject government into an industry, you get some pretty unsavory results.” That’s the conclusion that the Examiner’s Tim Carney arrived at when he dived into the murky debate over federal subsidies for for-profit colleges. Institutions like University of Phoenix and Kaplan have been horning in on the market traditionally held by community colleges. But while claiming to offer a private alternative, for-profits aren’t offering a market-based alternative: They get most of their money from federally provided (or backed) student loans, which they are allowed to keep even if their students drop out. Short-sellers have set their sites on these companies, with one sending out employees to collect signatures from homeless shelter directors complaining about for-profits enrolling homeless people in order to swipe their federal aide money. “In effect,” writes Carney, “the for-profit colleges created a clash between two evils, with one side exploiting the homeless and the other side exploiting the homeless shelters.” (more)
Frosty’s a dead man this holiday season. (more)
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A 53-year-old man is facing charges after police say he was watching porn while driving drunk early Wednesday morning. (more)
Let’s be honest: This weekend is just killing time until next weekend, when a season’s field could get flipped at Tuscaloosa’s Iron Bowl and Reno’s “Biggest Little Football Game in the World,” Boise State at Nevada. (more)
Member David Guaspari writes in, asking: (more)
Bloodied by Tuesday’s election, Barack Obama can still achieve the grand objectives that once captivated Americans across the political spectrum. He can still unite this fractured country. He can still coax politicians from opposing camps to resolve the massive problems that America must resolve. (more)
Americans living in the most industrialized regions of the country have a special stake in the outcome of a California ballot initiative that would suspend implementation of that state’s global warming law until after unemployment drops, according to policy experts who favor a free market response to energy needs. (more)
Under constituents’ heat to deal with corruption exemplified by the multiple-count indictment of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), Illinois legislators on Oct. 15 approved placing a recall of governors law on the November 2 ballot. (more)
Conservative Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.) said over the weekend that voted against his own party when he went to the ballot box to vote for president in 2008. (more)
SAN FRANCISCO — Online advertising offers marketers the chance to aim ads at very specific groups of people — say, golf players in Illinois who make more than $150,000 a year and vacation in Hawaii. (more)
Republican Congressman Mark Kirk is now barely ahead of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois’ up-and-down race for the U.S. Senate. (more)
