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Morning shorts
Thursday, Aug 31, 2006 - Posted by Rich Miller · Mayor dodges 6th-term question · The same Congress that has put our nation trillions of dollars in debt has the gall to come to Illinois and criticize how we handle our pension funds. Granted, Illinois is not doing a great job with the pension funds, but Congress ought to get its own act together before casting a stone this direction. · “In a show of how far immigrants have moved to fulfill the American dream, scores of immigrant advocates will skip their barbecues and lakefront picnics this weekend to join in a 44.9-mile walk from Chinatown to the home office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Batavia.” · Blagojevich, Topinka tout alternative energy plans · Selling to state is roundtable topic · “Visiting ISU for the first time during his term as Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich set out to talk about the importance of higher education and to congratulate ISU for being an outstanding university, applauding in agreement with a statement made by ISU President Al Bowman who cited the university as the first and the best public university in the state.” · “[Frankfort Township assessor, Paul J. Ruff] says he hasn’t paid up because “a bunch of Mexicans” working for Fence Outlet made more than $2,000 worth of mistakes, like installing part of the structure in his neighbor’s yard.”
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- wndycty - Thursday, Aug 31, 06 @ 6:12 am:
A Republican making an insensitive racial comment? Why am I not shocked? Ruff refering to employees of Fence Outlet as a bunch of Mexicans is in keeping with Allen’s macaca moment. Tram Hudson (Republican in Florida seeking Katherine Harris’s seat) comment about Black’s not being able to swim; Oberweis’s Soldier Field ad; Trent Lott’s comments about the country being better had Strom Thurmond been elected; the lack of diversity in the party; etc. The list goes on and on.
The GOP has no qualms calling Democrats and liberals anti-American; terrorist sympathizers etc., but there is actually more evidence that racism is acceptable to the majority of Republicans. I don’t expect Ruff to lose any support over this, he is probably just preaching to his choir.
- Budget Watcher - Thursday, Aug 31, 06 @ 8:07 am:
Rich,
From a fiscal perspective (not to mention moral or ethical reasons), it’s certainly fair to say the Bush administration has put us in a bad position by committing us financially to the war in Iraq. The Congress claims to have been duped and if so, we need to collectively re-evaluate our national leadership. It would appear that the upcoming elections will be such a referendum, and we’re probably going to see some significant changes as a result.
Nevertheless, public pension underfuding is still the biggest financial problem facing Illinois, followed closely by Medicaid. Solutions have to developed or we’re going to have a crisis very soon (Medicaid providers will tell you the crisis is already here). If not Congress, who should be working on solutions?
- Pat Hickey - Thursday, Aug 31, 06 @ 9:16 am:
John Kass gave Terry Peterson short shrift in his regular hammer of Daley’s inner circle - My God, man the world is prosaic! It is the quotidian tasks of every day grinders and drudges that make the world and the City go round. But, arch-fiends behind the curtains make better melodrama.
Terry Peterson is no slouch and Daley is well-served by a man not afraid to be considered a grind and a drudge. Don Rose backed any winners at Arlington lately? Without the snow, what would be the Rose?
- Cassandra - Thursday, Aug 31, 06 @ 11:18 am:
Not that I want to defend Filan, but I would point out that a number of those testifying before the Congressional committee on pension, while acknowledging that there are problems,
did not consider even the Illinois system to be in crisis.
If this is not a system in crisis, one could question JBT’s plan to fund it all at once to the tune of several billion dollars of our money.
Perhaps it would make more sense to use some of that money to shore up pensions and some of it to provide property tax relief and guaranteed access to affordable health care for Illinois’ one million uninsured adults. State of Illinois pensioners are not the only group in Illinois
in need of more government assistance.
Funding the pension system fully just so we can say it is fully funded may be a poor use of state resources and also may reflect the political grandstanding Blago has frequently (and rightly) been accused of doing.