November 10, 2021

Redistricting in Illinois.

The following represents my own personal opinion.

The media has covered the remapping process in Illinois, and the fact that, as part of that process, two Democratic Representatives were placed in the same District.

Those Representatives are Marie Newman, currently representing the IL 3rd District, and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, currently representing the IL 4th District.

Because the IL 6th District was extensively changed, and because most of the proposed IL 6th District is currently the IL 3rd District, Newman decided to run in the IL 6th District against Sean Casten.

First, in the interest of transparency, I must say that I have volunteered on the Newman campaign, among others, and during the remapping process, I submitted witness slips and gave direct testimony to the Illinois House and Illinois Senate Committees that handled the redistricting process.

Second, I am a member of a coalition in the IL 3rd District. That coalition is comprised of actual voters, not paid lobbyists. And to be quite frank, we were disgusted with our former, long time Representative, and disgusted with his refusal to listen to, or meet with, his actual constituents, so we gathered and vowed to work for change.

To give testimony, and to submit witness slips is an unnecessarily complicated process. It is one designed to limit input from average voters, while giving the illusion of transparency. And Illinois Senate President Don Harmon said that both Committees solicited input from voters, and politicians.

And many of us gave our input, and many of those giving input were from the Illinois 3rd District. So much so that one Committee member noted that it seemed like all the criticism came from the Illinois 3rd District.

But in spite of all of the criticism, in spite of the fact that members of our coalition submitted maps to the Committees, the massively changed map was passed during a late-night Senate vote after that last day of testimony. Interestingly enough, during the public hearing, Senate President Don Harmon assured everyone that the final map would be what we had commented on, except, perhaps, for some very minor editing.

That final “very minor editing” process resulted in one border of the IL 4th District being slightly moved, with the result that Marie Newman’s residence was removed from the proposed IL 6th District, and placed in the IL 4th District.

Was this move political payback for Newman defeating the long-time incumbent of the IL 3rd District? Remember that the previous Representative was essentially gifted his seat by his father, who was an integral part of the Madigan political machine, and was himself the Representative in the IL 3rd District for many years.

November 9, 2021

Sure, it is easy to criticize Aaron Rodgers,

but he does have horse sense.

September 4, 2021

There is freedom, and there is freedumb.

Freedom knows that responsibility is an integral part of freedom.

Freedumb insists that it has no responsibility for others.

Freedom respects the freedom of others.

Freedumb ignores the freedom of others.

Freedom understands that in a society, "me" counts for less than "we".

Freedumb is only concerned with "me".

I could go one, and I have on Facebook, and I am writing to various local media outlets about this. But the GOP, the proclaimed values Party, has no values except greed, hatred, and violence.

August 28, 2021

Mask mandates and political opportunists who are wasting taxpayers money.

In mid-2020, Illinois State Representative Darren Bailey made headlines by suing the Governor for imposing a mask mandate. He lost that frivolous suit when it rose to the Circuit Court level. But he did receive a lot of publicity, which undoubtedly made this GOP gubernatorial candidate happy.

In 2020, Keith Pekau, the Trump supporting Mayor of Orland Park, also initiated an expensive lawsuit about the same issue. That lawsuit cost the Orland Park taxpayers in excess of $70,000 dollars. This came at a time of greatly reduced revenues in the town due to Covid restrictions.

In 2021, in Oak Lawn, Robert Cruz, a new member of the Oak Lawn High School District 229 Board, and also an announced GOP candidate, has just introduced yet another frivolous lawsuit over the same already adjudicated issue.
Cruz had already announced that he was thinking of running for the US Senate, but has decided instead to run for the House of Representatives in the Illinois 3rd District. Cruz, a political newcomer, won his seat in an election where less than 10% of registered voters actually voted, but he obviously feels that this is some sort of mandate.

GOP politicians claim to favor fiscal responsibility, so it is surprising to see these multiple frivolous lawsuits. And Illinois taxpayers are footing the bill for these exercises in political theater because our tax dollars pay for the Illinois Attorney General to defend the Governor.

But these lawsuits, as costly and frivolous as they are, also serve to put the politician in the news. One would assume that Cruz hopes that the free publicity will help him. But this free publicity comes at a cost. The obvious financial cost to Illinois taxpayers, and the attendant health costs, and financial costs associated with possible illness.

Science shows that masking works. Science shows that vaccines work. Science and statistics tell us that the unvaccinated make up over 99% of current severe cases of death or illness due to Covid, yet among GOP voters, large numbers reject the vaccines, and insist that wearing a mask is tyranny.

Cruz will insist that he has the right to decide whether or not his children should wear a mask, and his lawsuit takes that much farther by rejecting the idea of mask mandates in favor of what he calls freedom.
But his freedom, as he calls it, could easily lead to a dramatic increase in Covid cases in Illinois among schoolchildren, and their families and surrounding communities. We can see that in GOP controlled states like Florida and Texas, where Covid cases and fatalities are increasing rapidly. We can see the results in hospitals that have no room for more patients.

No one has the freedom to endanger others. No one has the right to infringe on the freedoms of others. What Cruz and far too many others like him call freedom, most people would call selfishness.

July 29, 2021

I have an idea for a horror movie.

Imagine being on a 10 hour transoceanic flight, in the middle seat.

On one side is Donnie Trump, on the other, Cruz.
Ted, not Penelope.


Oh, and the buckle on your seatbelt is jammed and cannot be opened.

July 26, 2021

Consider H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, and what it can mean for US taxpayers.

H.R.3 is designed fix the enormous problem of many Americans being unable to afford their prescription drugs. In 2016, the last year for which figures are available, Americans spent $460 billion on drugs, 16.7% of total spending, while people outside of the US spent 56% of those US numbers for the exact same drugs.
Many seniors speak of having to choose between food and medication, and speak also of splitting pills to reduce refill costs.
Every time that Congress suggests doing something about pharmaceutical costs, Big Pharma warns that research and health outcomes will suffer.

Big Pharma is quick to take credit for developing new drugs, or modifications to existing patented drugs, but much basic research is done by the NIH, the National Institute for Health. Our tax dollars fund basic research, and the drug companies profit from that research.
Many are unaware that Big Pharma spends far more on advertising than research. And this advertising is taxpayer subsidized in that those advertising costs reduce taxable income by the companies. Much of that advertising is spent to influence physicians, and much is spent on the commercials that we all see promoting one drug over another.

Many might also not know how massively profitable Big Pharma actually is. In fact, the median annual profit margins of pharmaceutical companies were significantly greater than those of S&P 500 companies. Research has found a 39.1% difference in gross profit margin, 76.5% for pharma companies and 37.4% for the S&P companies.
In addition, pharmaceutical companies contribute heavily to US politicians. Money, being speech, speaks very loudly.
H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, is designed to reign in these out of control costs. Costs that have no relationship with actual research. Costs that ensure that you and I will pay more for the exact same drugs that our Canadian neighbors can buy at a much lower cost.
The exact same drugs.

Please contact your Representative about this Bill.

This is the text of a letter that I sent to local papers.

June 8, 2021

A question about the filibuster for DU members:

If the GOP were in the situation of the Democrats right now, does anyone doubt that the filibuster would have been dead for 4 months? And that they would have claimed a mandate to do everything on their wish list?

May 28, 2021

My explanation for the epidemic of spinelessness in the GOP.

Has every GOP politician undergone a spinectomy? That is the surgical procedure that removes any trace of spine, and for an extra fee, the integrity can be removed as well.

I understand how many Trumpers can be repeatedly fooled by an idiot like Donnie Trump. Many Trumpers, unfortunately, are on the wrong end of the bell curve when it comes to intelligence and/or sense. These are the people who can always be fooled.
And some of them, (not to mention Ron Johnson by name here), actually hold political office.

The procedure that leads to loss of integrity might even be more dangerous than COVID19 to the future of the country.

May 21, 2021

What a Prince of a musician.

May 20, 2021

I heard a rumor that Lauren Bobblehead, Marjorie Traitor Greene, and Louie Gohmert

are starting a new group in the House. They will call it the Freedumb Caucus.

Rumor is that many GOP Senators want to establish their own Freedumb Caucus in the Senate.

I saw it on Facebook, so it must be true.