15 Comments - livinginexile - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 4:43 am: Giannoulias has a brilliant idea, it just needs a catchy name, like I-Bid…maybe CMS could, oh wait…nevermind. - wndycty - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 5:52 am: While Sistah Judy and Company do what Republicans do best, DIVIDE US (remember Judy’s buddy W being a “uniter not a divider” who has ended up dividing everybody domestically and internationally?) the Blagojevich administration rolls out a program that helps ALL KIDS statewide. Its obvious the lady is desperate, very desperate. She can continue to pit downstate versus Chicago or she can actually role out solutions and ideas that benefit EVERYBODY! - Budget Watcher - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 6:09 am: Windy, Solutions that benefit everybody - like the $200 million in pork projects that went exclusively to Dems? - Bill - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 6:39 am: The Governor is committed to providing health care for veterans,seniors, and children in Illinois. His opponent, on the other hand, offers vague plans with no details, to cut those same benefits. The governor is committed to raising state funding for education by significant amounts. His opponent promises to triple that amount with vague plans and no details and no identifiable funding source. The so called “pork” went, not to “dems”, but to programs to improve the quality of life in communities that demonstrated a need. It seems that Judy wants to roll back the clock to the bad old days of Ryan and Edgar where the average citizens received nothing and the real pork went to Repub cronies, contractors, and various assorted flunkies like Fawell who couldn’t keep their hands off their secretaries. They should have brought some policy wonks along on the bus to educate Judy. Maybe then she would not constantly sound like a shrill, uninformed, mouthpiece for those out of power and out of the money. If she wants negative,she’ll get negative, but not before the governor has a chance to show the voters what his administration has accomplished over the last 4 years and what he hopes to accomplish in the future. Her main campaign theme is “vote for me because I’m not Rod”. That won’t be enough. If she wants to remain a viable candidate she needs to come up with some substance and tone down the brassy, barfly image. I don’t think she can do it. - Disgusted - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 6:49 am: So the governor is riding the state promoting AllKids - surprise, surprise. He is also targeting physicians with a letter that promises to pay their past due bills from the state if they will take AllKids recipients as patients. I wonder if he’ll promise hospital, nursing homes and other health care providers something similar also. And why don’t the ads and articles about AllKids mention that a child has to be without insurance for a year before they can qualify? Flim-flam once again. The money spent on promoting and paying postage on the AllKids promotion is another astronomical bill we taxpayers will have to pay. If the governor was such a good samaritan about provide care for kids, vets and seniors, how come he can’t put out any print material on these programs without plastering his face and name on it multiple times. Because it’s election time!! - Budget Watcher - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 7:02 am: Bill, Come on - the pork went only to the “demonstrated needs” of democratic lawmakers. There were a lot of “average” citizens in republican districts that got nothing. If average means low-income, then yes, dems have represented them very well. However, if our average citizen is low-income, then the state is going to continue to have revenue problems. There has to be more emphasis upon policies that build wealth in order to pay for the policies that redistribute that wealth. I haven’t seen that balance in the last four years. - Wumpus - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 8:56 am: Disgusted, I know Rod wants to be president, but he may be in line for a guest role on the SOpranos. Wow, Rod the “Hairdo” Blagojovich is a good mafioso name. “You’ll get paid if you use our service”. So he promises to pay people who are already owed money if they take patients that they will lose money on. - Little Egypt - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 9:26 am: #1, the Gov is sending a team to high schools to tout the ALLKIDS program. NEWS FLASH ELVIS: These kids can’t vote yet. #2, can’t wait to see what Alexi’s feedback score will be on Ebay. - Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 10:52 am: Can’t wait until Alexi has his “associates” help him organize a statewide “Fell Off a Truck” sale. - Alan - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 11:24 am: The press gets bamboozled by Bobbie Steele (see “Send in the Clowns” above), misleading readers into thinking she gave Stroger’s patronage chief “the boot.” Now the newspapers are getting suckered again–this time by Daley, who jumps on public opinion to ridicule aldermen for passing the foie gras ban. As this column points out, WHY DIDN’T DALEY VETO IT? Last time I checked, he was considered a powerful mayor with the veto pen sitting on his desk. Do you think even one reporter, other than Rich Miller, mentioned this rather dramatic inconsistency? Why aren’t reporters covering the aldermen who voted against this Nanny State measure “ridiculing” Daley for having gone along with it? Rich, you need to take over the Chicago media. You’re the only one pointing out the obvious truths that press institutions with armies of reporters can’t figure out! - jaundiced eye - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 12:52 pm: Oh that cruel Alexi … you mean to say he might abolish Judy’s “Cash Dash” program: printed rosters of people owning unclaimed property and dollars; State staffers sent to community, union and ethnic events to do “Cash Dash” searches for voters and assorted citizens; and other opportunities of this sort? Why … that would make unclaimed property a simple function of the office of the Treasurer and not a photo op for the permanent campaigner. - Cassandra - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 1:05 pm: I think Alexi’s e-bay plan is actually rather clever. Regardless of its merits, it’s supposed to enhance his image as a savvy young person running against those fusty old Republicans. - Squideshi - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 1:29 pm: The governor doesn’t have only one opponent, Bill. He has two ballot-qualified opponents in 2006; and of all three, Rich Whitney is strongest on healthcare, calling for a single-payer universal healthcare system in Illinois, with your choice of private provider. - Truthful James - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 4:15 pm: The Education Wars are getting more intense than Iraq. In respnse to the NYT and WaPost Article on Charter Schools, CATO opines: According to The New York Times: “Fourth graders in traditional public schools did significantly better in reading and math than comparable children attending charter schools, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Federal Education Department. The report, based on 2003 test scores, thrust the Education Department into the center of the heated national debate over school choice. It also drew a barrage of criticism from supporters of charter schools, the fastest-growing sector in public education, who sent out press statements casting doubt on the report’s methodology and findings even before they were announced.” In “What Does a Voucher Buy? A Closer Look at the Cost of Private Schools,” David Salisbury, former director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, gives one explanation for this discrepancy: “For the maximum benefits of school choice to be realized, it is important that private schools remain independent and free of regulations that would prohibit specialization, innovation, and creativity. Private schools should not be required to administer state-sanctioned tests or adopt state curriculum guidelines or ’standards.’ “Requiring private schools to give state selected achievement tests would have deleterious effects on the participating private schools. Some private schools would have to give up the curriculum they have designed for their own students and teach the state sanctioned curriculum instead. That would be a drastic blow to the diversity and vitality of the private education sector. Many state tests emphasize ‘new math’ over traditional math and stress the use of modern ‘culturally diverse texts’ over traditional literature, a staple of many effective private schools.” In Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle Over School Choice, Clint Bolick, president and legal counsel of Alliance for School Choice, recounts the dramatic 12-year battle to finally give families a choice in education and looks ahead to a future when every child can get the best education possible. Beginning the journey in Milwaukee and going on to Maine, Vermont, Florida and Cleveland, Bolick shares with the reader both the joy and sorrow with each child, parent, and teacher as the journey unfolds. The battle over educational freedom is not yet over, but as Bolick notes, school choice “will begin to help our nation finally deliver on its promise of opportunity.” - Wumpus - Wednesday, Aug 23, 06 @ 8:29 pm: the Green party is likely to stay on the ballot. If the Ill BOE does not follow the recommendation of this IL Hearing officer, what will happen? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0608230277aug23,1,6588024.story?ctrack=1&cset=true Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.