11 Comments - Cassandra - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 9:59 am: I thought Medicaid already paid for emergency care for illegal aliens via some special federal allocagtion. If that is the case, illegal aliens are already entitled to emergency care, and I suspect emergency is defined rather broadly. We don’t need bills to limit foreigners’, including illegal aliens,’ access to free medical care. Unlike many legal citizens, they already have free access, regardless of employment status or prior medical history. - Federal Farmer - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 10:35 am: Great job by the Trib and other Chicago media. When 2000+ law-abiding citizens attempt to take part in the political process, as we are supposed to do, you ignore them and publish idiotic anti-gun screeds calling for more useless gun restrictions. Nevermind that the anti-gun people can’t even muster one tenth the number even providing free buses, a free lunch, and $10 gas cards yet they get front page coverage. You’d almost think gun owners have no voice in the political process. - BannedForLife - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 10:43 am: “A bi-partisan group of sponsors led by Democratic State Reps. John Fritchey and Paul Froehlich and Republican Mike Fortner pulled together unanimous support in the House last week to add the Constitutional Convention question to the November 2008 ballot. The ballot referendum was immediately picked up by State Senator Don Harmon … ” Oh, look. Whadda ya know. Incumbent Illinois legislators up for re-election in the fall championing a constitutional convention. Mr. Voter Taxpayer sir, all that bad press you might have read about Springfield, that’s not us! Vote for us! We’re for the Con-Con! - Johnny USA - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 11:02 am: BannedForLife…spot on, brother. I betcha the first proposal at the Con-Con is going to be increase the representatives term to 4 years, and the senators to 6, citing ‘everyone else is doing it’ and ‘running for re-election is a distraction’ Man…we think we are screwed now…. - plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 11:59 am: So if it is true that the state is broke, why is the state spending dollars it does not have for an airport that no airline wants to serve? We already have 3 underutilized airports in the region. Milwaukee, Rockford and Gary. Who is going to get rich off this boondoggle? - Bruno - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 12:12 pm: Insiders with access to the levers of power should be against a Con Con because it offers the opportunity to give some of that power back to the citizens. Everyone else in Illinois should be for the Con-Con. Vote “Yes”. Get informed. - Judy, Judy, Judy - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 1:06 pm: What a good point plutocrat03 makes. The state is broke, not paying bills, and not providing money to programs for our veterans, yet they keep sinking money into the proposed Peotone airport. The exact dollar amount is not known because FOIA’s requesting that information is constantly denied. But the amount that can be accumulated from the papers showing federal, state, and local tax dollars for studies and promoting it well exceeds $115 million. The local communities, school districts, fire districts, drainage districts, the Will County Farm Bureau, the Will-South Cook Soil and Water Conservation District, and other have all adopted resolutions opposing the airport. But those in office refuse to listen to the airlines or to their constituents. They haven’t learned from the fiasco of the Mid America airport in Mascoutah, IL either. Instead they enjoy seeing their names in the papers promoting Peotone as the savior of the south side, if they push it through once it’s built unfortunately they aren’t held accountable. plutocrat03 is also right in that ‘We already have 3 underutilized airports in the region. Milwaukee, Rockford and Gary.’ Don’t forget the underutilized Kankakee Airport - which would make the proposed Peotone the 5th-3rd Chicagoland airport. Plus add to that the newly renovated general aviation airport, Bult Field that exists within the proposed Peotone airport footprint and is meeting the needs of local businessmen who have brand new heated hangers for their planes. With all these existing and underutilized airports, building another is an utter shame - taking property from homeowners and farmers by condemnation without FAA approval or demonstrating need by the airlines or support of the airlines is ludicrous. When plutocrat03 asks ‘Who is going to get rich off this boondoggle?’ You have to wonder because the state owned 24,000 acres of land at the Joliet Arsenal and it was one of the proposed sites, but not chosen. It wouldn’t have taken any tax dollars to buy it or taken away homes and family farms via eminent domain to acquire the land - that tells me someone must be getting rich on it. Pingback UPDATED: The Southern covers the potential for a Constitutional Convention | Extreme Wisdom - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 1:20 pm: […] Other links here […] - Sir Reel - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 1:50 pm: I agree with much of what Judy says, but the State doesn’t and never did own the former Joliet Arsenal land, the federal government does. However, the State could have requested some of the land for an airport. - BannedForLife - Wednesday, Mar 12, 08 @ 3:18 pm: The 3rd airport idea is an artifact of Illinois laws that permit land ownership to be concealed in LLCs & trusts. If the public knew who was in that footprint it could never get off the ground. - Pro-Gunner - Thursday, Mar 13, 08 @ 6:51 am: I have not bought a new firearm in years. I have enough firearms now for recreational shooting and self-defense. However, if Illinois passes a law limiting the purchase of firearms to one per month, I will consider buying more. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.