Progressive ballot initiatives passed by huge margins

Yet the ultimate dichotomy in this election is that while ballot initiatives like increasing the minimum wage, passed by overwhelming majorities these same voters gave Republican candidates that adamantly oppose those same policies, their vote as well.

Proudly and Enthusiastically Supporting Gov. Quinn

Governor Quinn has done what voters say they want in a leader. He has made tough , principled, unpopular decisions to fix the cluster f he inherited from that asshat Blagojevich and 24 years of Republican governors before that.

We paid the pension funds the proper amount once in the last 50 years. You don't undo that kind of FUBAR overnight and without pain.

When Governor Quinn took office our back due bills were 18-24 months old. We are now down to a 30-60 day schedule.

It's about damn time we Democrats quit dumping on our office holders that are making the tough decisions we all say we want them to.

Just look at who the Republicans have driving their clown car here in Illinois. Mitt Rauner wants you to trust him with the keys to the Governor’s mansion, but he doesn’t trust you with his tax returns. What’s he hiding? His budget has a 4 billion dollar shortfall in it that he promised to explain 15 months ago. He still has not. If what he is peddling sounds like a con job, it’s because that is exactly what it is!

If you want a preview of what Illinois would face under Rauner just look at what Governor Sam Brownback did to Kansas. Brownback’s Voo-Doo economics has pushed Kansas so far into the red that they are auctioning off a warehouse of sex toys to pay off their debt. What’s wrong with Kansas! I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Kansas! They elected a Republican Governor! And God help us if we elect one here in Illinois!

I am. Proudly and enthusiastically.

Governor Quinn has done what voters say they want in a leader. He has made tough , principled, unpopular decisions to fix the cluster f he inherited from that clown Blagojevich and 24 years of Republican governors before that
We paid the pension funds the proper amount once in the last 50 years. You don't undo that kind of FUBAR overnight and without pain.
When Governor Quinn took office our back due bills were 18-24 months old. We are now down to a 30-60 day schedule.
It's about damn time we Democrats quit dumping on our office holders that are making the tough decisions we all say we want them to.

Mitt Romney Needs To Apologize To Every American

Reagan may have set the stage, but greedy, vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney swung the clubs that beat the heads of Middle Class Americans bloody. Below is a snip from my 2012 John Mitchel Bureau County Illinois Democratic Dinner speech:

-snip- Jim Sinegal, co-founder of Costco says, “… we need companies that plant and grow, not executives that reap and run.” While men like John Mitchel and my grandfather’s built this nation one shovel full at a time, Romney has made his millions tearing companies apart and outsourcing our jobs to China.

Romney loves America. He does! He loves America, the way a tick loves a dog! Middle Class America can’t stand any more love’n like that!

Mitt Romney, the son of power and privilege, was born on third base, thinking he hit a home run. His vision of America is a sugar coated, Ayn Rand, survival of the fittest philosophy of “I got mine, the hell with you 47% ‘ers.”

Romney is fond of singing and reciting verses of the 1893 poem “Pikes Peak,” written by Kathy Lee Bates, that is today known as “America the Beautiful.” There are two lines from that poem however that he never recites, he never sings.

Till selfish gains no longer stain,
The banner of the free!

I can’t help but believe that Mrs. Bates took inspiration for those lines from the example of Jesus throwing the money changers out of the Temple. Romney avoids those two lines because they are a damning indictment of his life and his vision of America. Mitt Romney is a modern day money changer looting the temple of Democracy.
-end of snip-

Romney is not the answer. He and blood suckers like Bruce Rauner, and the Koch bros. are the problem.

The Obama Clown Posse

I feel sorry for the insane clown posse, running around with their hair on fire, besmirching and vilifying President Obama. To a point of course.

They debase and demonize a good, competent, accomplished, man who has served this nation in a manner and scope they can never hope to match. Blinded by hyper-partisanship, entitlement, hatred, and a perverted sense of persecution they will never see the good he has done. They have deserted the American People and America's best interests to give aid and comfort to the enemies of prosperity and all that is good and decent.

They self-segregate in the deafening echo chamber of Fox News that resonates and echoes with scurrilous lies, and half-truths. They will never hear of the hope President Obama has given to the uninsured, to the uninsurable with a pre-existing condition, to the working poor, to women striving to be paid as much as a man that performs the same job, to the family broken by a disfunctional immigration policy.

Their leading voices are smug charlatans like Ted Cruz and Bill Kristol, chest thumping chicken-hawks like Bill O’Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh, and the queen of snark, Sarah Palin, the ½ term Chillbilly, the mean girl of Republican partisanship. Individually and collectively a foul pestilence, and personification of a party that is pinched on both ends. They are unaccomplished, woefully misinformed, shamelessly dishonest, arrogant, angry, and entitled. They are the face of a party that shrinks 2% every 4 years and yet can’t find a kind thought in their collective soul to reach out to others who do not share their dyspeptic world view, even for the most selfish of reasons, self preservation.

I see their lives as failures, their politics a farce. They are forced to play at false outrage, lies and low ideals because the truth burns. They don't get it. They never will.

Bitterness plays poorly in history, and wise men don't debase themselves by partaking of it. But like hogs drawn to slop, they sup that bitter cup of foolishness, a vessel filled with the dregs of humanity and overflowing with bile and malice.

UPS Uses An Off Shore Tax Dodge in Bermuda to Escape Millions in Taxes

UPS, which is dependant on US infrastructure to operate, shelters millions of dollars per year in an off shore tax dodge named Over Seas Partners.

Based in Bermuda, Overseas Partners Limited, (OPL) sole design is avoidance of United States income taxes. The IRS won the largest back taxes judgment in history against them in the late 1990's. The Bush administration dropped the case during the appeals process.

UPS pretends to be good corporate citizens. They are not good guys. I was in management there for 12 years. They are no fan of Democrats either. I was repeatedly informed by upper management that Democrats were a pale shade of the Communist Party.

Their lobbying organization, UPSPAC, one of K Street's biggest, gives overwhelmingly to Republicans. UPS was a corporate sponser of Newt Gingrich's "Contract on America.'When I left UPS in 1992 I turned in testimony and documents that detailed their tactics of forcing supervisors and management into donating to UPSPAC. The Federal Elections Commission filed a charge against UPS, in which, after a four year legal battle UPS agreed to pay a $4,000.00 fine and to never engage in this behavior again (never get caught again).

I turned over to the EEOC internal company documents that resulted in a sealed judgment against UPS for age discrimination.

I turned over to attorney David Mark of Seattle, Washington, documents that proved UPS was aware of tactics that resulted in employees being forced to work through their unpaid lunch hour. The documents proved that UPS was aware of these facts and were actually tracking the number of affected employees on a national level, in spite of years of legal testimony to the contrary. The case resulted in a multi million dollar judgment aginst the corporate entity.

UPS, may be an authoritarian dinosaur in the business world, but they are extremely astute in avoiding bad press. Press clipping are gathered at a national and world wide level and studied with an intent to how best to influence positive press coverage. Example: one of the biggest contributors to National Public Radio is the Annie E. Casey Fund, This fund is named after the daughter of UPS's founder Jim Casey.

mike kohr

Great Post Samplegirl.

I do not support President Obama because he is African-American or because he is Irish. I support him because he is a good man. He is competent, accomplished and pragmatic. He is a dedicated family man, and an inspirational leader.

His realistic supporters understand there was a tremendous amount of projection onto this president, irrational hatred from the far right and unrealistic expectations from the far left and some in between.

I worked to give President Obama the votes he needed in Congress. Not enough of us did. He was elected President, not crowned King.

He inherited the 2nd greatest economic free fall in US history. His policies, entirely without support and with unprecedented obstructionism from the radical right in Congress, produced the quickest return to positive job growth in 25 years. His policies saved the auto industry. He has oversaw the greatest turn-a-round in job creation in US history. President Obama has oversaw the greatest turn-a-round in the DOW in US history. He has reduced the yearly deficit more than every other president combined. He has presided over the most scandal free administration in US history. By next year he will have ended both of the wars he inherited. President Obama passed the first step to universal health care, a goal talked about for 100 years.

He is not short of accomplishment, but many of his critics are short of perspective and balance.

I believe Reverend King is smiling down upon President Obama today just as I believe history will smile upon him tomorrow.

"O'Bama Boy" sung to Danny Boy

(Apologies to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton)

The Corrigan Brothers: "Welcome Home President Barack O'Bama"

I believe Reverand King is smiling down upon President Obama today

And I believe history will smile upon him tommarrow.

I support President Obama because he is a good man. He is competant, accomplished and pragmatic. He is a dedicated family man, and an inspirational leader.

His realistic supporters understand there was a tremendous amount of projection onto this president, irrational hatred from the far right and unrealistic expectations from the far left and some in between.

I worked to give President Obama the votes he needed in Congress. Not enough of us did. He was elected President, not crowned King.

He inherited the 2nd greatest economic freefall in US history. His policies, entirely without support and with unprecedented obstructionalism from the radical right in Congress, produced the quickest return to positive job growth in 25 years. His policies saved the auto industry. He has oversaw the greatest turn-a-round in job creation in US history. President Obama has overrsaw the greatest turn-a-round in the DOW in US history. He has reduced the yearly deficit more than every other president combined. He has presided over the most scandal free administration in US history. By next year he will have ended both of the wars he inherited. President Obama passed the first step to universal health care, a goal talked about for 100 years.

He is not short of accomplishment, but many of his critics are short of perspective and balance.

?