Why don't the pinheads in Springfield feel the need to reform Illinois' government pension problems? They must not take it too seriously, and who would? Good ol' Governor Giveaway's master plan rolled out today is based on a spiffy new mascot Squeezy the Pension Python...
... and the school children of the state with red plastic megaphones to rescue us.
But take heart, citizens of Illinois!
"Quinn went so far as to encourage families gathering at the Thanksgiving dinner table to 'speak to each other' about the pension crisis."
Yep. Talk, talk and more talk by people who don't have a vote in Springfield. That oughta fix it. After all, that's the Illinois way.
(Let's hope to God that Obama doesn't end up being inspired to deal with the national debt crisis in the same manner.)
You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.
This sounds like fun, and I'm thinking it could make for some serious mayhem for a blogmeet:
An assistant museum curator who questioned the authenticity of a Leonardo da Vinci has been murdered — but before he died, he left a code in his appointment calendar and a cryptic trail of clues connected to secrets in works of art that point to the killer.
Now, would-be gumshoes must figure out what drove one of four suspects to kill him. Was it greed? Fame? Lust? Or revenge?
That’s the plot of Murder at the Met, a murder-mystery scavenger hunt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York run by Watson Adventures, a private company offering a series of such games at 27 museums in seven U.S. cities, including Chicago.
Anybody interested?
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Quote of the Day:
Pat Quinn is Jerry Brown without the hot-chick past. Like California Moonbeam, our Governor Soybean is signing the Dream Act. The Dream Act is a boilerplate pander piece that gets good press and WOW Progressive support. A Progressive would step over a starving Mexican blocking his way into Whole Foods.
Who wrote that? The same guy who wrote this:
I worked to help Pat Quinn, become Governor and I voted for Pat Quinn. It took the Governor no time at all to prove to me that he does in fact believe in the Easter Bunny: Gov. Quinn immediately paid off Planned Parenthood by wedging in Terry Cosgrove for a State salary; Quinn sprung more felons than George Ryan in much less time; pushed the Civil Union and made war on Catholic Charities; ran business out of Illinois; crawfished on Real Labor as well as his bet with Gov. Walker; and now is signing the Illinois Dream Act that completely ignores immigration and the economic jackpot that is our State economy in the hope that Ralph Martire is correct that more people will vote for Pat Quinn again. Hug that Bunny, Guv....
Pat Quinn will sign the Illinois Dream Act on Monday.
Way to go, Hickey. Way to vote.
When you alienate your base, you're really screwed here in Illinois. _____
(Yes, it made me giggle, although the subject matter did not.) _____
Is buying organic produce really better? Apparently that's a yes and a no. Go here to check out which fruits and veggies contain higher levels of pesticides and which ones don't. _____
Is it rude to text in at the movies, during a live concert or during a live theater performance?
So we really don't have to go green? All we have to do is encourage Asia to pollute more and that'll stop global warming? Or we could simply burn more coal here in order to save the planet?
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!!! _____
Has anyone else out there gotten a bazillion emails of posts to Google+ from friends who are beta testing the site?
Jeepers Creepers! It's like having Facebook invade your email. Ugh.
If anyone knows how to opt out of receiving every brilliant thought that crosses someone's mind out of my gmail, please, please, please let me know.
(No. I will not be signing up for this one.) _____
Quote of the Day #2:
"I'm really not a 'What Would Jesus Do?' kind of guy. I'm more of a 'Why Would Jesus Do That?' kind of person." -- My Baby Bro, 7/4/11
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Holy crap. I almost forgot that ADWD lands six days from now... or so they promise. Seems I'm not the only skeptic.
I couldn't have done it at all. That's beautiful... and awesome. I really admire people with talent like that. _____
Once again our brainiacs in Springfield seek solutions to our financial problems that will drive business from our state. Howzzat, you ask?
Some Illinois-based Web businesses were furious Thursday at a legislative plan that would require online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com, to collect a 6.25 percent state tax if they have commissioned affiliates in the state.
That puts at risk huge revenue streams for such Illinois-based Web sites as FatWallet.com, CouponCabin.com and BradsDeals.com, which receive much of their commissions from sending customers to major online retailers. Their commissions are at risk because large retailers have shown in the past that they will sever business relationships with affiliates like those to avoid collecting state sales tax, called a use tax in Illinois, on products they sell.
The bill, passed Thursday afternoon, needs approval from Gov. Pat Quinn.
"I feel like I've been completely flipped the bird," said Tim Storm, chief executive of FatWallet, based in Rockton, near Rockford. "Essentially, 30 to 40 percent of our revenue gets shut off instantaneously."
FatWallet officials were busy Thursday scouting ways to leave Illinois, Storm said.
"The reality is that as a business owner with 52 employees, we're not going to just get shut down because of a law Illinois passes. Our customers don't care whether we're in the state of Illinois," he said.
Brad Wilson, founder of BradsDeals, in Chicago, said about half his revenue would be in jeopardy, along with 20 jobs at his company.
"We don't have much choice. If this is going to stick, we literally can't physically be in Illinois," Wilson said. "My wife is from Cleveland and would be thrilled if we moved back there. That's the kind of thing that's going through my head."
Good going there, Governor. We're going to lose business and see more people out of work because of this short-sighted bit of legislation. And, on top of that, people who are hurting and who can buy things more cheaply are once again given the shaft. _____
I don't know about you, but this is change I can believe in:
You know I am a fan of Nic Cage and Ron Perlman (whose very existence made the “Hellboy” movies possible). Here, like cows, they devour the scenery, regurgitate it to a second stomach found only in actors and chew it as cud. It is a noble effort, but I prefer them in their straight-through Human Centipede mode.
TMPAE has drunk the Kool-Aid. It's nice know I'll be able to send her a little something every once in a while that isn't ridiculously over-priced. _____
Five different military buildings in Virginia have been shot at and this is the first we've heard of it??? _____
It's idiotic articles like this that make me want to disown most feminists:
It’s a wise child, they say, that knows its own father. Nowadays, however, wisdom is hardly required; DNA tests can do the job with scientific certainty. For the entire course of human history, men have nursed profound, troubling doubts about the fundamental question of whether or not they were fathers to their own children; women, by contrast, usually enjoyed a reasonable level of certainty about the matter.
Now, a cotton-wool swab with a bit of saliva, plus a small fee, less than £200, can settle the matter. At a stroke, the one thing that women had going for them has been taken away, the one respect in which they had the last laugh over their husbands and lovers. DNA tests are an anti-feminist appliance of science, a change in the balance of power between the sexes that we’ve hardly come to terms with. And that holds true even though many women have the economic potential to provide for their children themselves. [Emphasis mine]
I want to tar and feather this bitch myself for her breathtaking egocentrism and profound stupidity.
Gawd. It's no wonder so many men dislike and distrust women. _____
For all you people who think only cat people are nuts, think again:
The PAWsitive Therapy Troupe is hard at work preparing to present "A Canine Version of the Nutcracker" in Glen Ellyn and Downers Grove this holiday season. Their 45-minute production will feature 28 dancing therapy dogs and one human, said Becky Jankowski, founder of the troupe, organizer of the show and wife of the human (Don Jankowski).
Some dogs are unleashed for solos, and others perform on leash with their owners in group dances. All are in costume, or as much as a dog will tolerate.
At least cats are smart enough that they'd never put up with this nonsense! _____
Oklahoma voters have approved a measure that would forbid judges from considering international law or Islamic law when deciding cases.
Republican Rex Duncan, the sponsor of the measure, called it a "pre-emptive strike" designed to close the door on activist judges "legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law."
Urk. It'll be days until we know who are next Governor will be. I have no idea what the voters in this state were thinking that made the race this close. _____
How's that for freaking lazy... not to mention disingenuous? This is astroturfing, pure and simple. (And I'm half tempted to start asking picketers to see their union cards, and alerting the local media if they don't have 'em.)
If this is what senior GOP strategists are thinking, they're NOT listening to the Tea Party folks, who are just as distrusting of the incumbents whose inactivity and/or ineffectiveness have brought us to the wreck this country's in today.
I'm an independent, and I'm not voting for anyone if I don't have a clear picture of what his or her agenda is.
Pay attention. Put your freaking cards on the table, folks.
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I know that the localpapers expect Blagojevich to testify in his own defense, and the Blagoviator himself has said over and over again that he couldn't wait for the opportunity to tell the jury his sad tale... but I'm beginning to lean in Zorn's direction.
Blago likes to pick his audience to make sure it's friendly.
He certainly didn't choose to testify in Springfield when he was impeached...
